Limerick ghost town

Maybe Limerick should just start marketing itself as a dilapidated old ghost town? I'd say we'd get €10million into the city no bother

We could stage reenactments of various shoot outs like they do in those old wild west towns in the states :pac:

William St.is an example of what has happened in other towns and cities:Tacky,if sometimes useful,Eurostyle stores have replaced the traditional shops;difficult and penal parking.Some stores blast ultra loud "music" to attract a particular clientele but imho that only diminishes the reputation of what was once a fine shopping area

Kess73 wrote: »

I agree with you to a point. Speaking for myself I have no problem paying for parking be it in Limerick, Cork, Galway etc. But the one thing I do want is a good range of stores that interest me and where I would want to spend my money.

Limerick city centre just does not have this range and it has been a number of years since it did.

The excuse that is often given about parking is just a white elephant that gets trotted out to avoid the fact that Limerick as a city centre has a store range closer to that of a big town than that of a city.

Completely agree. The range of shops in the city is terrible.
If your a male between 18- 40 and want some fashionible clothes that arent part of the scumbag uniform you have a choice of 3 shops in the cit center (River island, connelys or jack jones) ....3.... in the entire city center. What a joke.

I had to pick up a birthday present for my small brother last week and I live in the city center, off into town I trot to realise the ONLY place top get toys for a young child (not a toddler) was argos. WTF?

plenty of places to buy booze or video games which sounds great but in practice if you actualy just want to browse in the city its ridiculous.

Have to agree with what's said. Had to buy a new computer monitor and some networking equipment recently. I live in the city center but had to travel out to the childer's road to PC world to have any choice.

Jagle wrote: »

indeed, i mean i look at the thomas and now william street area, after putting down new footpaths the tourists just flock to watch scum drink on the street and cause fights...

who ever thinks that revamp will do anything other then waste is a joke.

and worst part of all is, there is never anyone around their anyway, why would someone walk up that part of town, nothing their but funeral homes, old churchs an offie and chipshop

Lets not forget the jewel in the squares crown that is Mr Binman!

Jagle wrote: »

indeed, i mean i look at the thomas and now william street area, after putting down new footpaths the tourists just flock to watch scum drink on the street and cause fights..

Yeah kinda surprised by that one guys, its kinda weird being form cork and having worked/studied in Cork City, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and seeing more than a few people wander about the streets of Limerick at all hours drinking away.....

constantg wrote: »

I haven't lived here really for long enough to be able to say with any certainty, but in 8 years I can say though the place has dis-improved, it wasn't too great to begin with. Can anyone tell me when the city was better? Like what yardstick are we using here to measuer success or failure?

Just thinking back to what Limerick city centre was like around 1991 to 1999 or so.

There was the O'Connell Mall (which was Woolworths before that) which had Tony's Music scene (there may be a theme here with me remembering music shops lol), the next block up had Nestors sports store and Empire music straight across from it (think Empire was in the Williamscourt mall before that).

Downstairs in Todds/Brown Thomas had a Golden disc store. Arthur's quay had a golden discs store. Tots to teens had a music store under it, and HMV is where it is now. Plus there were music shops like Black spot and the one in the celler on Cecil street.

Patrick street had a Forbidden planet store, and there were far more by way of clothes shops, electrical shops etc.

There was a Sony centre on O Connell street, plus genelles (spelling) newsagent. There were great pubs like Quins knocking about as well as places like Javas.

Cruises street had full units as did Arthur's Quay

Boyds was busy on William street and Roches Stores was where Debenhams is now. Sarsfield Bridge had Dunnes stores beside it and there were other shops in that centre. Around the corner on Liddy street there was an electrical store, a paint shop, and a few other shops.


There were cinemas at the Theatre royal, plus at the Carlton on Shannon street and Central on Bedford row. Then there was a cinema at the Savoy on bedford row which also had a bowling alley, and a venue for live gigs and for clubbing.

The Crescent Shopping centre was still busy (the new section, which is basically from Lifestyle sports to River Island, was not built until the late 1990's if memory serves right) as it had been since it opened in 1973.

The Parkway shopping centre was also pretty much stocked with full units.

The Jetland was a big Dunnes stores.

Towards the end of the decade the Dock road had the likes of Compustore etc in the Riverside Business park which at the time was full in terms of units as well.


I'm sure that there are plenty of Limerick heads on here that can remember lots of other busy stores during that time.

Its all the fault of the new polished sandstone on the upgraded streets,death traps I tell ya death traps.:eek:

The extension on the Crescent was built in the early 00's as I remember working in Tesco when I was 16 and from the canteen window you could see them building the underground carpark.

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Yeah it would have commenced in 2000 with the first shops opening in June 2001!

I worked in the Omniplex in 2000 and it was under construction at that stage because we had to cross the car park to get to the cinema, its mad how far away it was from the crescent, which used to end right about where that zumo juice bar and claires accessories is, from there on is the extension.

the town has gone to sh1t in recent months though, I go in there twice a month, once to get a prescription and another to buy a magazine that most places dont sell, if Easons had a shop in the crescent I'd have even less reason to go in there.

krudler wrote: »

I worked in the Omniplex in 2000 and it was under construction at that stage because we had to cross the car park to get to the cinema

It's mad to think the Omniplex once had a big set of steps up to it!

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Hmm, the rise of the Crescent and decline of the city centre....

More tellingly, a lot of shops went to wall when the internet came in, music shops, specialist stores etc.

The Crescent opened in 1973 so it should have had an effect on the city centre a lot sooner than the start of the 2000's. Even before the new section it had over 70 stores in it so blaming the Crescent for the decline of the city centre is a bit of a cop out imho.

Granted the internet would have had a big impact on some stores, but many of the brands (or very similar types of retail) that were in Limerick city centre 10 years ago, 15 years ago etc are still doing well in the likes of Cork city centre. A wide variety of clothes shops (both independent and chain), music shops, comic stores, book stores etc are all doing well on Patrick street in Cork and on many of the streets off of there.

What is interesting is how things like rates and rent in the city centre started to skyrocket towards the end of the 90's and have pretty much continued to do so to this day. Cork and Galway on the other hand have rates now that are something like 25% less than they were there 10 years ago. To me that looks like their city authoritioes reacted quickly when the downturn started whereas their Limerick counterparts continued to try to squeeze whatever they could from retailers and businesses. Hence why many businesses have left Limerick city centre in recent years to set up elsewhere and have quoted to the media that the high rates were a major part in why they moved.