Ireland …. It just doesn’t feel like home!! 🙁

Phibsborough and Drumcondra have become gentrified over the last 20 years.

Agreed OP. In the past the north inner city was rough around the edges, but still fun to go for a stroll or a pint around Phibsboro or Dorset street. Some of this area is now just plain unsavoury and best avoided. The underlying reason is obvious and widely discussed outside online forums of this nature.

You never suggested it was, but yet you're straight in on a response mentioning foreigners which was quite clearly a sarcastic one. Poor trolling. 2/10.

The only person who thinks phibsboro ans Dorset Street were better 20 years ago is a person who never once set foot in Phibsboro and Dorset Street 20 years ago. Phibsboro especially has since a massive improvement in the last 20 years.

Lived close to Dorset St 25 years ago and had the flat (shared, btw, couldn't afford it on my own) cleaned out by light fingered locals within a couple of months. Me b0llix it was better then than now.

The Drumcondra side at the end of Dorset street has a few empty shops, Quinns closed and knocked the three buildings next door, still nothing happening with the land, there was Perki chicken(?) chipper that closed and the Diep restaurant(which shut a few branches around Dublin). The spar also closed a few years ago and is still sitting vacant but the larger centra is still there a few doors up. If you go by on a Monday a few of the other shops are closed on Mondays so it looks like a ghost town. Not sure why those places are vacant so long. Dorset is an odd area, just a mash of odd businesses. Nothing there to attract footfall. Kinda of like Caple street in that regard.

Capel St is one of the busiest streets in the city centre in the evenings.

Its very much a bar/food night time location now and once the resurfacing of the pedestrian area is complete, it should generate even greater footfall.

A few new hotels in the area help keep it busy and another one opposite the Staycity isnt far off opening.

Once the Smithfield Market reopens, Capel Street should be hopping, day and night.

Dorset Street has nothing like that future to look forward to, sadly.

Basically, the two streets could hardly be more different.

Once the Smithfield market reopens.....

I remember hearing something solar about the Iveagh market 25 years ago, I even remember some fantastic gigs in Mother Redcaps

I haven’t seen anything planned past the pedestrianisation of it. I don’t think they have a plan past that. Seems like they just expect it to sort it self out past that.

Drumcondra is further from the city centre so should have far cheaper rental costs, I’m just amazed that these buildings have been left empty so long. The owners are getting nothing from the lying idle and the location can generate a lot of revenue on those few days at a much lower cost.

Smithfield Market is being refurbed by the council early next year.

It has taken an embarrasingly long time to get to this point, considering it was sold 4 yrs ago.

But it has been put to use for various one off markets, Halloween events this year etc.

The part i dont understand is if a private venture can make the space work today, why does it take the council so long to do anything with it.

I find this an utterly bizarre post. The areas you mention have improved significantly if anything in the past 20 years (with the possible exception of Drumcondra, which was always somewhat posh and middle class). You're not telling porkies, are you?

I grew up in the area that the OP mentioned and am still up there every week.

Some like it hot, Quinn’s, Bamboo, Quinn’s off licence and Perki Chick are all gone now and there’s not much there now other than Centra. That’s a bit sad.

In terms of roughness though, it probably was worse before. North Circular road where it meets Drumcondra has a lot of dodgy characters.

What's with the posts seeing 'dirty and rundown' and immediately linking it to immigrants.

Traffic was always bad as you had/have three major routes converging, into phibs and drumcondra, plus people living in the areas on those routes such as Finglas, Whitehall etc travelling to work and schools.

We're here, we're queer, we don't want any more bears.

Slums and fear of walking around. Your words. Just a troll thread. Anyway, good luck with it.

’Improvement’ if you like pollution! Phibsboro, Drumcondra, Dorset St could be nice areas but are being choked to death by traffic congestion and poisoned by diesel fumes.

How it depresses me to come back to Dublin after visiting a European city with proper public transport to this dysfunctional country.

Dr Quirkeys

That's still going isnt it :)

Could Quinns be reopening?

That would be great.