What is wrong with Dublin City Centre?

Stephen15

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

Well, if Naples can be turned around anywhere can.

Well maybe quite turned around its still not exactly spotless but has defiantly improved. It's true beauty is beinning show through the rubbish and crime they still drive like maniacs aswell. But then again very few cities have the same beauty and character as Naples.

listermint

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I have, I stayed in a hostel in the Downtown Eastside in 2001. It's a total kip yeah full of junkies. But it's a section of a huge city. It's not the historical and tourist centre. I have heard of scam artists and pickpockets in Barcelona but never encountered any myself, I've been there loads of times.

Dublin is tiny. So far you've done nothing to dissuade my opinion that you don't have a clue how to compare like with like.

Your earlier post indicated that there was no issues in all the places your visited. Now suddenly you met junkies.


Wow they appeared out of nowhere..

Spanish Eyes

Just noticed that instead of moving the problem...... i.e. the Merchant's Quay drug place on the quays just at the bus stop where there is often mayhem.

No. They moved the bus stop further up out of sight of commuters.

Now sorry. I have no words for those who have to pay for this. That's us in case you forgot!

punisher5112

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Just noticed that instead of moving the problem...... i.e. the Merchant's Quay drug place on the quays just at the bus stop where there is often mayhem.

No. They moved the bus stop further up out of sight of commuters.

Now sorry. I have no words for those who have to pay for this. That's us in case you forgot!

Reason behind that was the people hanging out there felt they were like fish in a bowl being watched and felt intimidated. Yes the intimidated.

Dr Crayfish

listermint wrote: »

As they say in Dublin, it's pure pony talk.

They don't say that in Dublin.

Folie a deux

I know Dublin isn't amazing or anything but I certainly don't think it is as bad as people make it out on here. Recently seen someone advising another poster not to visit Dublin 1 or 7! :eek:

There is the obvious junkie/skanger problem but from my experience if you just say no change or whatever they move on.

I live in Dublin 7 and walk home after nights out in town and I have never experienced any problems.

Maybe I have just been lucky or maybe people are just over sensitive these days! And I'm a country boy before anyone says I am a Dub being biased towards Dublin haha

newacc2015

Berserker wrote: »

I still think that Capel st is best avoided. I am not seeing the improvement that you are talking about. You still have the seedy sex shops and Panti bar does nothing to improve that area.

When was the last time you walked down Capel St? 2003? I am not not trying to be sarcastic but the area has completely changed in the last 10/15 years. There are some amazing new bars like the black sheep, the other one at the start of the street. Great Chinese and Eastern European stores. New restaurants like Musashi, Brother Hubbard, a few new ones past the Parnell St end. I think if you see the dozens of Mercs, Audis, BMW etc parked out the bars and restaurants you will see in the improvement in the street.

The sex shops are there, as there is a demand for them... If you go to Germany, you will sex shops that are a lot less vanilla than the ones on Capel St in family neighbourhoods. Unfortunately a lot of Dubliners are prudes and sex shops have no choice but to locate in commerical areas ie Phisboro, Camden St, Capel St. Someone tried to open one on Drumcondra Rd and the local politicans seized the opportunity to take advantage of the conservative nature of Ireland still

What is wrong with Pantibar exactly? The fact it is a gay bar? Should that just be confined to a back alley like sex shops too where no one can see it? Pantibar is possible one of the cleanest and modern bars on the Northside. There is nothing to indicate it is a gay bar other than a pride flag(which a lot of the businesses have in Dublin anyway) It is nice to see people socialising in the north inner city after 9pm, rather than it just being shops

RainMakerToo

James 007 wrote: »

This girl does not seem to think it is that bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19A53SyAUak&list=RD19A53SyAUak#t=0

That's brilliant!!!

Stephen15

newacc2015 wrote: »

The sex shops are there, as there is a demand for them... If you go to Germany, you will sex shops that are a lot less vanilla than the ones on Capel St in family neighbourhoods. Unfortunately a lot of Dubliners are prudes and sex shops have no choice but to locate in commerical areas ie Phisboro, Camden St, Capel St. Someone tried to open one on Drumcondra Rd and the local politicans seized the opportunity to take advantage of the conservative nature of Ireland

They're not exactly child friendly now are they. Would you want your child to go down the street to see hookers and people openly having sex now I consider myself to be liberal but that is where I draw the line. The majority of sex shops anyway are small independently owned businesses who wouldn't be able to pay rent in places like Grafton or Henry and wouldn't have the customer to open up in suburban locations.

John_Rambo

Stephen15 wrote: »

They're not exactly child friendly now are they. Would you want your child to go down the street to see hookers and people openly having sex now I consider myself to be liberal but that is where I draw the line. The majority of sex shops anyway are small independently owned businesses who wouldn't be able to pay rent in places like Grafton or Henry and wouldn't have the customer to open up in suburban locations.

Dude? Leap much? I bring my kid down Capel st. and the sex shops simply don't register with him.

There's nobody having open sex.

newacc2015

Stephen15 wrote: »

They're not exactly child friendly now are they. Would you want your child to go down the street to see hookers and people openly having sex now I consider myself to be liberal but that is where I draw the line. The majority of sex shops anyway are small independently owned businesses who wouldn't be able to pay rent in places like Grafton or Henry and wouldn't have the customer to open up in suburban locations.

Define child friend. Would you consider bookies and most inner city bars child friendly? I dont think so, yet you don't seem to have an issue with them. Since when is Capel St an area you raise children in anyway? Very few of the apartment buildings are suitable for families and very few people raise families in that area.

Speak for yourself, but I have yet to find myself in situations you are finding yourself in!

It is not about the price of rent. It is that fact people don't want them on Grafton St or Henry St. Ann Summers can afford rent on O'Connell St and yet in 2017, plenty of people believe it has no place on O'Connell St. These shops have chosen to locate on Capel St and Camden St as people have little issue with them being there. When they move to other areas there is uproar

I am amazed that you seem to think only people living within the canal seem to use the items of sex shops. It is amazing to think the 115k or so residents within the canal manage to support well over 10-20 sex shops in the city. Yet the million other residents in Dublin don't need the items from a sex shop... Sex shops would locate in suburbs but residents oppose them.

People from the suburbs travel to the city to buy from sex shops. They would use suburban sex shops too if they existed. But people refuse to have them in their area. One very close to Drumcondra opened (unrelated to the one that tried to open last summer) and people were demanding DCC law to be changed to make sex shops be required to have special planning permission.

Your opening line confirms that most people don't want sex shops in their area, so they locate in town

ongarboy

I imagine some people prefer the degree of anonymity shopping in a sex shop in town rather than in their local suburb which is another reason why such shops do better in city centres in secondary streets. Most sex shops would not be able to afford primary street rents. Ann Summers is an exception - it recently opened a second outlet in Henry Street. I've never been in Ann Summers but from what I can gather, they are rather tame in comparison to your usual sex shops as I understand Ann Summers to sell more racy lingerie and hen party type novelty items - hardly hardcore!

I also disagree that Capel Street is seedy or offputting. I think it has a lovely, original eclectic mix of shops, restaurants, cafes, ethnic stores (particularly a thriving mini Asian restaurant scene), furniture, antique and curiosity shops along with bars new and old (Slatterys, Nealons, The Boar Tavern, Pantibar and others) and lets not forget Louis Copeland, McQuillan Tools and Lenahans!! . I don't think there is any other street with such a diverse range of shops and I love it. Get over yourself if you think this street is seedy.:rolleyes:

As regards Dublin city centre in general, I agree it's a bit of a construction site currently but once the Luas cross city is opened and all the landscaping (paving/platforms/street furniture) that goes with it is finished, I really think those streets will be so much more attractive. Also, once (if) the Clerys and Hawkins/Apollo developments are completed, it will spruce up those neglected areas.

The issue with the junkies and scangers is well documented so I won't add to it but it is one of the issues that does drag the centre down along with a poor to non existent Garda presence.

humberklog

Stephen15 wrote: »

They're not exactly child friendly now are they. Would you want your child to go down the street to see hookers and people openly having sex now I consider myself to be liberal but that is where I draw the line. The majority of sex shops anyway are small independently owned businesses who wouldn't be able to pay rent in places like Grafton or Henry and wouldn't have the customer to open up in suburban locations.

Hookers having sex on the street? Huh? I haven't seen that since 1994 and that was on Fitzwilliam Square.
And the highest concentration of shops that sell sexy toys is surely on South William St. (4 on my last count).

So South William St. is worse than Capel St.?

GTF.

Do you ever consider yourself to be a tad shrill?

Stephen15

newacc2015 wrote: »

Define child friend. Would you consider bookies and most inner city bars child friendly? I dont think so, yet you don't seem to have an issue with them. Since when is Capel St an area you raise children in anyway? Very few of the apartment buildings are suitable for families and very few people raise families in that area.

Speak for yourself, but I have yet to find myself in situations you are finding yourself in!

It is not about the price of rent. It is that fact people don't want them on Grafton St or Henry St. Ann Summers can afford rent on O'Connell St and yet in 2017, plenty of people believe it has no place on O'Connell St. These shops have chosen to locate on Capel St and Camden St as people have little issue with them being there. When they move to other areas there is uproar

I am amazed that you seem to think only people living within the canal seem to use the items of sex shops. It is amazing to think the 115k or so residents within the canal manage to support well over 10-20 sex shops in the city. Yet the million other residents in Dublin don't need the items from a sex shop... Sex shops would locate in suburbs but residents oppose them.

People from the suburbs travel to the city to buy from sex shops. They would use suburban sex shops too if they existed. But people refuse to have them in their area. One very close to Drumcondra opened (unrelated to the one that tried to open last summer) and people were demanding DCC law to be changed to make sex shops be required to have special planning permission.

Your opening line confirms that most people don't want sex shops in their area, so they locate in town

I'm surea there are from the suburbs that use sex shops but would they use them in their own many wouldn't want to be seen by people they know going into a sex shop

Ann Summers can afford O'Connell Street as it's the only large chain of sex shops.

power pants

I find the amount of adults who defecate or urinate in the city centre ridiculous

cactusgal

power pants wrote: »

I find the amount of adults who defecate or urinate in the city centre ridiculous

Big time. Give me a sex shop any day over a drunk guy whipping out his dick and peeing against a building in the middle of town.

Paulzx

cactusgal wrote: »

Big time. Give me a sex shop any day over a drunk guy whipping out his dick and peeing against a building in the middle of town.

Some people get off on both:D

Dr Crayfish

Stephen15 wrote: »

I'm surea there are from the suburbs that use sex shops but would they use them in their own many wouldn't want to be seen by people they know going into a sex shop

Ann Summers can afford O'Connell Street as it's the only large chain of sex shops.

People are worried about that in this day and age? I always liked having a look around them. Anyway, they are few and far between in Dublin, and not in your face at all. I can't believe anyone even mentioned them.

wakka12

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

We get rid of trams after decade's only to decide actually we should have kept them let's dig up the whole city again!

As did hundreds of cities around the world

wakka12

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Glad to see a bit of perspective in the thread.

I too remember Dublin 30+years ago and it was grim. It's a pleasure to walk around now even with roadworks. The choice of places to eat, drink coffee, have a beer has never been better.

I suspect that most of the whinging about begging /junkies/poor people comes from people with very limited life experience and no experience of other capital cities.

Yeh Dublin really is a safe place. If you think junkies and beggars are bad then please take a trip to Barcelona, though it is a beautiful city it is most definitely seedy. When you go out at night and are accosted by groups of in your face aggressive prostitutes(Im talking gangs of up to ten )pulling at your shirt and slapping your ass then maybe youll start to appreciate how good we have it in Dublin (post wasnt' directed at you, *you* as in people in general)

Dr Crayfish

wakka12 wrote: »

Yeh Dublin really is a safe place. If you think junkies and beggars are bad then please take a trip to Barcelona, though it is a beautiful city it is most definitely seedy. When you go out at night and are accosted by groups of in your face scary aggressive prostitutes(Im talking gangs of up to ten )pulling at your shirt and slapping your ass then maybe youll start to appreciate how good we have it in Dublin (post wasnt' directed at you, *you* as in people in general)

I've never had any trouble in many visits to BCN but I just thought the hookers were funny on the streets grabbing you etc.
I'm not really concerned with what goes on in Spain anyway, why do people keep bringing up other places when we talk about Dublin?
I'll take BCN's hookers and pick pockets if we can have their amazing metro, weather, and wonderful bars and restaurants.

wakka12

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I've never had any trouble in many visits to BCN but I just thought the hookers were funny on the streets grabbing you etc.
I'm not really concerned with what goes on in Spain anyway, why do people keep bringing up other places when we talk about Dublin?
I'll take BCN's hookers and pick pockets if we can have their amazing metro, weather, and wonderful bars and restaurants.

I didnt mind the hookers much either. I was with a group of other lads so it didnt bother me. But then again the harmless quiet beggars on the street in Dublin have nothing on these people so they barely even register in my mind, so I don't get why people have such a problem with them for instance.

Dr Crayfish

wakka12 wrote: »

I didnt mind the hookers much either. I was with a group of other lads so it didnt bother me. But then again the harmless quiet beggars on the street in Dublin have nothing on these people so they barely even register in my mind, so I don't get why people have such a problem with them for instance.

Maybe it's because it's our own city that we notice them so much. You're not looking for these things when you're on holidays. I work just off Nassau st. The same beggers are there for my nearly 3 years working there. The same ones. I don't think they're homeless, they just show up every day and beg. That kind of annoys me, surely if I know who they are the Garda do? Or do the authorities not mind them being there? Actually I don't even think it's illegal. It doesn't really bother me that much, I like Dublin and have a nice life here and enjoy being in town every day. The heroin thing isn't really noticeable that much on the Southside of the city, at least in the Grafton St area. I'm from the Northside and live there, I see a lot of heroin addicts on my way in as I cycle through Amiens st, but I really have no reason to go to the Northside of the centre these days where all the junkie action seems to be at. I prefer to shop or stroll about the Southside, it's just a lot nicer.

newacc2015

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Maybe it's because it's our own city that we notice them so much. You're not looking for these things when you're on holidays. I work just off Nassau st. The same beggers are there for my nearly 3 years working there. The same ones. I don't think they're homeless, they just show up every day and beg. That kind of annoys me, surely if I know who they are the Garda do? Or do the authorities not mind them being there?

It is illegal to beg within 200 metres of an ATM AFAIK. Begging was illegal unlike some PC bridge sued the state to make it legal, so the state banned it within 200 metres of an ATM. The Gardai regularly move on homeless people begging on Grafton St

Dr Crayfish

newacc2015 wrote: »

It is illegal to beg within 200 metres of an ATM AFAIK. Begging was illegal unlike some PC bridge sued the state to make it legal, so the state banned it within 200 metres of an ATM. The Gardai regularly move on homeless people begging on Grafton St

Right well Nassau, Molesworth, Dawson, St Stephen's Green, have the same beggers there or thereabouts every day, for years. I actually don't mind those ones, I just feel bad for not giving them coins very often.

taz96

If it's of any consolation guys, Edinburgh is no better(or worse) than anything that's been said. I love Dublin, and use the same common sense as I would here.
Please don't start me on trams...lol

BeerNut

newacc2015 wrote: »

It is illegal to beg within 200 metres of an ATM AFAIK.

It's not. Gardaí have the power to prevent people begging "at or near" an ATM, but it's not illegal to do it and no distance measurement is specified.

Section 3(2)(b) of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2011.

VonLuck

newacc2015 wrote: »

It is illegal to beg within 200 metres of an ATM AFAIK. Begging was illegal unlike some PC bridge sued the state to make it legal, so the state banned it within 200 metres of an ATM. The Gardai regularly move on homeless people begging on Grafton St

200 metres from an ATM?! It would be illegal to beg anywhere in Dublin city centre so.

odyssey06

VonLuck wrote: »

200 metres from an ATM?! It would be illegal to beg anywhere in Dublin city centre so.

Pretty much yes, certainly during business hours, as this is another one of the enactments:

A member of the Garda Síochána may direct a person who is begging at or near the entrance to a business premises, at any time when that premises is open for the transaction of business with members of the public, to desist from begging and to leave the vicinity of that place in a peaceable and orderly manner, if the member has reasonable grounds for believing that, by reason of the person’s behaviour or the number of persons begging at or near the premises, members of the public are being, or are likely to be, deterred from entering the premises

Dr Crayfish

Walking around town after being away for a bit it seemed really bad today in the Grafton St area. That woman drives me nuts, the slobby looking one who gets right up in your face going "Can you please help me" on St Stephen's Green. I mean it's intimidating to tourists and older people. Why is she allowed carry on like that? I walk these streets 5 days a week and I haven't seen a Garda for as long as I can remember.