Ballybane good area?

Precious flower

Can I ask ye guys as well, I'm not from Galway but moving there for work and I'm just looking for housing near Knocknacarra. Can I ask is Ballybane known to be a rough area or an area with a lot of students? Thanks

biko

Moved out from another thread so each topic can be answered separately.

In short - live on the same side of the river that you will work on. The bridges are bottlenecks and will add a lot of commuter time.
Ballybane and Knocknacarra are quite a drive/cycle/bus each morning.

Around what area in the city will you work in? Knocknacarra?

Precious flower

biko wrote: »

Moved out from another thread so each topic can be answered separately.

In short - live on the same side of the river that you will work on. The bridges are bottlenecks and will add a lot of commuter time.
Ballybane and Knocknacarra are quite a drive/cycle/bus each morning.

Around what area in the city will you work in? Knocknacarra?

Apologises Biko I'll be working in Knocknacarra so I was originally focused more around Knocknacarra/Salthill/Rahoon. I heard Rahoon was rough so I was planning to avoid that. I began looking at Renmore and Ballybane to widen my search, but I would prefer something closer, it's just so difficult to get housing. I not very familiar with Galway and didn't realise the housing issue was as bad.

Mrs OBumble

Ballybane is the east side equivalent of Rahoon.

Most of the people who live there are sound, contributing citizens.

But there is a higher than average proportion of social housing, and lower than average income, in many (not all) estates.

GalwayGrrrrrl

Knocknacarra has lots of big housing estates- you'd be better off trying to find accommodation there to save the headache of crossing the city twice a day. If you've got a car you could also look at Barna which is just outside the city, few mins drive to Knocknacarra (very nice area but could be expensive for housing).

Rahoon would be a better area (less rough) in my opinion than Ballybane, also it's in a nicer part of the city with Salthill nearby, there's plenty of accomodation in Knocknacarra, but Rahoon might be cheaper and it's much improved these days from what it was in the past, some good facilities have been added such as a running track & theres lots of shops, library etc nearby..

biko

Both Rahoon and Ballybane can be good and rough. It depends on the street and neighbours you get.
Move in on a 3-6 months lease and if you don't like it then move to another area.

biko

biko wrote: »

Both Rahoon and Ballybane can be good and rough.

Yes but one is closer to where they will be working and with better facilities & surroundings & would have less crime overall.

Mrs OBumble

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yes but one is closer to where they will be working and with better facilities & surroundings & would have less crime overall.

Can you link to crime statistics at a neighbourhood level?



Agree that Rahoon would be better due to the work location.

The rest is arguable.

The King of Moo

I don't think "rough" really applies to anywhere in Galway. Some parts of both Rahoon and Ballybane are less than swish, but by and large both areas are fine.
The best thing to do is look up specific addresses on Google Maps, and if they look ok, they are.

I'd definitely look for somewhere in Knocknacarra, Rahoon, or Salthill though. There's lots of accommodation on that side of the city, and even if you were paying a little more to live there instead of somewhere like Ballybane or Ballybrit, it'd be worth it for the savings on transport cost, time, and hassle.

what_traffic

Precious flower wrote: »

I heard Rahoon was rough so I was planning to avoid that.

Nah not at all. Looks like its still living off its old old name that was when the Rahoon flats were still around. Since they knocked them 2 decades ago (the last ones were in 1998) the area is on the up. Has pretty good public transport links and is only 25/30 min walk into the City & Salthill and 20min walk to NUIG/UCHG.

what_traffic

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

But there is a higher than average proportion of social housing, and lower than average income, in many (not all) estates.

Compared too....?
Galway City has the lowest level of social housing of any large City in Ireland -so what is the average you are comparing it against?

biko

Let's try to focus on what's important for OP to know and not get bogged down, cheers.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I'd say ignore Ballybane altogether, it's too much hassle for what it's worth. If you're working around Knocknacarra, then look for something that side of the city. There are loads of large estates on the west side. Commuting from one side of Galway to the other is much more hassle than in other towns/cities it's size.

inisboffin

I agree to try to live closer to where you work. Rahoon isn't rough. Rahoon has a huge variety of accommodation in its 'parish boundaries' (although have fun looking at threads arguing about where those boundaries are!), which include really basic student houses to million euro builds towards Mincloon etc.
'Westside' (which isn't really an area) can appear a bit rougher but plenty of great facilities around. There are one or two estates that are rougher around the edges than others, but even within those there are sound neighbours. Salthill would be an option too but probably pricier. As someone said, there are no real 'bad' areas in Galway anymore, just walk around a couple of areas to get a feel for them. Even the top end of Shantalla might suit you.

ronnie3585

Leaving aside the question of 'rough' for a moment, you'd be mad to live the opposite side of the river to where you work if you had the chance not to. I used to cross the city every day for work and it's horrible.

Plenty of nice places in Knocknacarra, Rahoon, Salthill or Shantalla.

Miss Informed

I would also perceive Ballybane to be more rough than Rahoon. If Biko's advising that there isn't much difference I'd trust his opinion over mine, but for some reason that's my sense of it. Perhaps because Rahoon is more centrally located between knocnacarra/salthill/westside, so maybe there's less of a sense of isolation there.

Most of Rahoon is family friendly. I'd advise you look around that area, include Knocnacarra, Salthill and Barna (all nice areas) in the search as earlier suggested but ignore anything on the other side of the river, again as earlier suggested. Both of those points are no-brainers, rather than subjective nuggets of advice.

If you find a place that you're interested in, you could post a link to the address (if that's allowed?) or the estate name here and we'll all be more than happy to advise.

Dr Jakub

Ballybane would be considered a 'vibrant' area. Best to avoid.

Precious flower

Thanks for all the replies guys, that has helped loads

ben.schlomo

Dr Jakub wrote: »

Ballybane would be considered a 'vibrant' area. Best to avoid.

Have lived in Ballybane for 10 months now, lovely neighbourhood where we are, nice neighbours all around us and within a minutes walk of two bus routes and a decent sized supermarket. Unless you live in the place you're commenting on then your opinion is largely invalid. As for the OP, then definitely live as near to where you work as possible, you'll be familiar with the traffic threads here soon.

Mrs OBumble

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Have lived in Ballybane for 10 months now, lovely neighbourhood where we are, nice neighbours all around us and within a minutes walk of two bus routes and a decent sized supermarket. Unless you live in the place you're commenting on then your opinion is largely invalid.

Indeed.

I laughed at the earlier comment about it being isolated: great access to the motorway and roads to Tuam and Oranmore, GMIT on the doorstep, close to the Bons and the Galway Clinic, and surrounded by workplaces (Parkmore, Ballybrit, Briarhill, etc).

thesandeman

ben.schlomo wrote: »

, you'll be familiar with the traffic threads here soon.

DON'T MENTION THE WAR!!!!

bobbyss

Precious flower wrote: »

Can I ask ye guys as well, I'm not from Galway but moving there for work and I'm just looking for housing near Knocknacarra. Can I ask is Ballybane known to be a rough area or an area with a lot of students? Thanks

I used to live in Knocknacarra but left many years ago. I did notice a rough element to it I have to say. Once brought my kids to the playground there and there was broken glass along the slides. You will find good and bad in every neighbouhhood however. But generally I thought it was a nice place to be. Not too far away from the sea air.

Are you going to rent or buy? If you are thinking of buying you might want to google myhome.ie. It should give you the prices of houses in both areas and that may help to inform your decision.

Dr Jakub

bobbyss wrote: »

I used to live in Knocknacarra but left many years ago. I did notice a rough element to it I have to say. Once brought my kids to the playground there and there was broken glass along the slides. You will find good and bad in every neighbouhhood however. But generally I thought it was a nice place to be. Not too far away from the sea air.

Are you going to rent or buy? If you are thinking of buying you might want to google myhome.ie. It should give you the prices of houses in both areas and that may help to inform your decision.

What breed of ****in knackers are living out there?

Dr Jakub

Dr Jakub wrote: »

What breed of ****in knackers are living out there?

It's the lesser spotted ones, tend to be more conniving and love playground devilment

biko

Dr Jakub wrote: »

What breed of ****in knackers are living out there?

You seem to be new here so I'll go easy on you.
Don't use that term in this forum again. It's not very nice and also kinda racist.

Precious flower

bobbyss wrote: »

I used to live in Knocknacarra but left many years ago. I did notice a rough element to it I have to say. Once brought my kids to the playground there and there was broken glass along the slides. You will find good and bad in every neighbouhhood however. But generally I thought it was a nice place to be. Not too far away from the sea air.

Are you going to rent or buy? If you are thinking of buying you might want to google myhome.ie. It should give you the prices of houses in both areas and that may help to inform your decision.

I'm looking at house sharing. Finding accommodation in Galway is pretty difficult. That's why I was widening my search to Remote. Currently I'm looking at Remore, Salthill, Rahoon, Knocknacarra, Newcastle, bohermore. Does any currently travel by bus from Remote to Knocknacarra/Rahoon. Is it really a lot of hassle if using public transport? Thanks

GerardKeating

Precious flower wrote: »

I'm looking at house sharing. Finding accommodation in Galway is pretty difficult. That's why I was widening my search to Remote. Currently I'm looking at Remore, Salthill, Rahoon, Knocknacarra, Newcastle, bohermore. Does any currently travel by bus from Remote to Knocknacarra/Rahoon. Is it really a lot of hassle if using public transport? Thanks

Living & Working on the same side of the city is a good idea, more so if you are depending on Public Transport, also best to avoid the need to change bus, so best to try to look at the bus route to your place of employment. For example, Salthill is not a great idea if you are working over in Dangan.

It might be best to try a house share first, perhaps for a few months at first. Once you get settled in work, you might first car pooling options that make other parts of the city more viable.

Mrs OBumble

stay on the same bus route if you can: so if it's the 405 which will get you to work, then lower Newcastle, inner city, Bohermore, Liosban / Sandy Road, Riverside, New Mervue, the Mervue side of Ballybane are all viable. The bus is every 20 minutes, and reasonably reliable (not perfect, not as bad as some would have you believe).