How is Limerick doing?Booming or slow?

bigpink

How do you feel the city is doing?
I feel its not kicking on just yet going into 2020
No accomadation being build the only projects seem to be atudent villages even hen id have my doubts about them

Mad_maxx

limerick is going through an economic miracle when you consider how things were as recent as five years ago .

its arguably stronger than galway right now

Millionaire only not

I heard lately from guys working there it has slowed , generally in the west it never got going proper!
Cork is supposed to be flying it

bigpink

I think we recovered 2013/14 but havent kicked on with any progress in building any accomadation

Cookiemunster

bigpink wrote: »

I think we recovered 2013/14 but havent kicked on with any progress in building any accomadation

That describes the whole country. You may have heard the phrase 'National Housing Crisis'. From a jobs and disposable income POV, Limerick is booming.

dominatinMC

I'm not an economic expert by any means, so my opinion is just that - an opinion based off anecdotal evidence. I would say that Limerick is doing well, relative to the rest of the country - excluding Dublin of course. Cork is probably doing somewhat better (seems to be more construction going on there which is usually deemed to be a barometer of economic health), Galway and Waterford less so. There is plenty of employment in Limerick at the moment, and maybe it is more diverse that it was before - I'm thinking of the "big employers" such as Regeneron and Northern Trust, who both offer completely different services. We could do with more tech companies here though, they all seem to be based in the pale.

mitresize5

try and get around the city an environs between 7 and 10 in the morning and 4 and 7 in the evening and that tells you everything you need to know about Limerick at the moment.

Roads bumper to bumper with people coming and going from work.

goochy

i heard it said in the past that alot of people were commuting to limerick for work but were afraid to commit to living there as if they lost their jobs- it would not be easy to get another job there ??

Berty

There are lots and lots of jobs in limerick right now, both skilled and semi skilled.

Cork is know as Silicon cork by many, Galway often known for its Biomed companies and Dublin itself is an attractive location for multinationals.

Limerick was often always a manufacturing town but recently the main stuff seems to happen in services, like Northern Trust, neighbours AMCS and there's a lot of ERP type businesses here. Just out the road them you've Jaguar who are pulling people from all over for jobs there. Granted you've got Molex but they may have just reached a tipping point with high earning staff who accrued it over a long working career with them.

Limerick/region also shared a large number of the global fleets of leased commercial aircraft companies so that's something as well.

If Limerick was booming I would said it's lead by software roles and IT.

Souness

I would say Limerick is flourishing atm. Combination of increased/varied job opportunities and regeneration of rundown/derelict areas, around train station and careys road/Edward st. Hanging gardens being completed. Large social housing project on Condell rd. All in, positive signs for the city.

dave 27

I think its hard to argue against how well Limerick has done in the last number of years. It needs to keep the momentum tho.

Having Shannon airport will always bring an upper edge to the other smaller cities

Twoman Fullbackline

Maybe the big scale projects like the Opera centre haven't kicked off the ground, but there's actually a lot of smaller scale construction going on. I think that side of things has only really kicked into gear lately.

goochy

what about all the job losses due at that factory in Shannon ? that will have a massive effect - like Dell but on smaller scale.

topper75

Nah goochy.
Molex = Sunset stuff anyway. Lots of paid off mortgages there I'd imagine after so many years. They'll all pick something up in 2020.
Traffic volumes evident on roads says the midwest is roaring year on year. City centre Christmas shopping in full swing last (Thurs) night. Little free onstreet parking between Abbey river and the crescent at 7pm. A seasonal distortion I realise - but the indication of copious disposable income is there.

Eire-Dearg

Limerick is definitely booming from a job sense and likely retail also, if the crowds in the Crescent on a weekend or evening are anything to go by. The increase in new cafes and fancy bars popping up around the place are also a sign that people are out spending more, possibly going out more often and definitely eating out more often. Most places are packed on Saturday and Sunday mornings and restaurants are really busy most evenings too. The Castletroy Shopping Centre is back to nearly a full house, there's a couple of new petrol stations in recent years and, of course, the traffic is heaving every day.

bazz26

goochy wrote: »

what about all the job losses due at that factory in Shannon ? that will have a massive effect - like Dell but on smaller scale.

You seem to have bit of a distorted picture of the mid west region.

grenache

Mad_maxx wrote: »

limerick is going through an economic miracle when you consider how things were as recent as five years ago .

its arguably stronger than galway right now

I can only assume you mean in an employment sense. Because from a retail point of view the city is empty in comparison to Galway.

goochy

what about Cruises street ? heard shops closed a while back ? any new arrivals ?

Eire-Dearg

Cruises Street seems to be a black hole when it comes to retail. For a place that should have more of a Shop Street in Galway feel to it, is void of any character.

goochy

what about the Coonagh cross shopping centre ? - are LIT still moving in there ?

any plans for the ex Wickes premises ?- would make good swimming pool / sports centre or maybe Avoca

Berty

goochy wrote: »

what about the Coonagh cross shopping centre ? - are LIT still moving in there ?

any plans for the ex Wickes premises ?- would make good swimming pool / sports centre or maybe Avoca

Coonagh is on plan to open next year.

Wickes is the future site for ScrewFix.

Mad_maxx

grenache wrote: »

I can only assume you mean in an employment sense. Because from a retail point of view the city is empty in comparison to Galway.

no one ever judged limerick based on what is only happening in the city centre

Eoinbmw

Berty wrote: »

Coonagh is on plan to open next year.

Wickes is the future site for ScrewFix.

I taught Ben Dunne had planning permision granted for a gym at Wickes?

topper75

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

The Castletroy Shopping Centre is back to nearly a full house

Quite dramatic really, when I consider that I could have counted the cars in the carpark with a passing glance as recently as 2014.

grenache wrote: »

Because from a retail point of view the city is empty in comparison to Galway.

Not a holistic view grenache. Galway has no counterpart to the Crescent SC. The Terryland place is just a Shannon Town Centre tribute act. I love the buzz of Galway's pedestrian streets on a summer day, but surprisingly quite a few Galwegian ladies I know like to go on shopping trips to Limerick, sometimes even Athlone.

mdmix

Castletroy and raheen are doing well, but the city center is still dead. There will be a bit of life in the city over the next few weeks, after the city will go back to sleep for another 11 months.

There is construction going on in going on in every city in Ireland at the moment, even Kilkenny broke ground on a new 200 million developement earlier this year. Limerick is chugging along fine at the moment, but definitely not booming.

Moon Dice

Moved to Limerick in January.
Cost of living is a lot better than Dublin but as others have said the city centre is dead really. Nothing to bring you in unless drinking. Places like Kilkenny /Cork/ Galway would be far livelier mid week as well in restaurants and bars.
Lacking in real good places to eat as well I think

bigpink

Its funny how well the two Starbucks are doing after 5pm yet none of the other cafes bother to stay open the Buttery closes before 5

eljono

Moon Dice wrote: »

Moved to Limerick in January.
Cost of living is a lot better than Dublin but as others have said the city centre is dead really. Nothing to bring you in unless drinking. Places like Kilkenny /Cork/ Galway would be far livelier mid week as well in restaurants and bars.
Lacking in real good places to eat as well I think

I think Limerick has some nice places to eat, where have you been? Happy to offer suggestions if you like?

Mc Love

Moon Dice wrote: »

Moved to Limerick in January.
Cost of living is a lot better than Dublin but as others have said the city centre is dead really. Nothing to bring you in unless drinking. Places like Kilkenny /Cork/ Galway would be far livelier mid week as well in restaurants and bars.
Lacking in real good places to eat as well I think

Lacking in real good places to eat? Surely not!

keane2097

It's definitely lacking in really good places to eat, but there are loads of places that are quite nice. There's nowhere in Limerick City Centre that would be within a million miles of a Michelin Star for instance (unless there's somewhere I'm sorely missing).

Loads of decent places though, e.g. Sash, French Table, Absolut, Curragower, Bobby Byrne's etc. East Room is probably the best place to eat near the city centre and was very good the last time I was there.

mdmix

bigpink wrote: »

Its funny how well the two Starbucks are doing after 5pm yet none of the other cafes bother to stay open the Buttery closes before 5

the previous iteration of the buttery used to stay open in the evening but decided to close earlier due to lack of business, same with canteen who tried opening in the evenings but cited lack of people living in the city as the reason they decided to close early. Che le fab tried and it didn't work and there was also a late night cafe in the milk market that closed. some people it seems just prefer Starbucks

have to agree also that compared to cork or Galway, limerick city is a good bit behind for food options