Best and Worst Towns in County Cork

staker

Can you say why JP?

Willlow

Buttavent is getting bad doing. Anyone remember the soap Soupy Norman that was set there, will all the high rise buildings in the opening shots?

JP Liz V1

staker wrote: »

Can you say why JP?

http://www.corkman.ie/premium/news/arsenal-of-weapons-found-in-charleville-2592942.html

Clareboy

As a frequent visitor to Co. Cork, I have to say that it has some of the most attractive towns and villages in Ireland. Towns such as Cobh, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Bantry and Glengarriff have an almost continental atmosphere. I love Ross Carbury, Baltimore, Skull, and so many other idyllic towns and villages in Cork. You have a county to be proud of!

Cork Boy

My take on Bandon...

In the 90's Bandon was dog rough when a certain same 20 or so locals were in their early 20's or late teens... bandon people know who I'm talking about.

To this day Bandon still has it's fair share of undesirables just like any other town but they seem to have quitened down big time now for some reason. Also, as a previous poster pointed out, at least half the fights I've seen always involve people from neighbouring villages such as Kilbrittan, Crossbarry,
and Newcestown. Same goes for Clon which like Bandon has a fair share of skobes but at least half the fights involve the above parishes.

As a daytime down it has come on leaps and bounds since the Celtic Tiger. Both quays got a massive facelift though the minor quay has been undone with albeit highwalls for flood defence. Needs must. Also, the one way traffic system has been a major help, and there is never a shortage of parking. The shops are pretty decent for the most part, especially the two butchers!

Location wise it's near perfect being so close to cork city and west cork, the beaches only being a half hour drive away.

Overall as a town to settle down in it's not the best but far from the worst. I'd probably give it 7 out of 10.

To those who get bad vibes in pubs, you should try other pubs, the ratio of skobe pubs to non skobe pubs is about 50/50. With regards the nightclub, it's the only nightclub and latebar in a huge radius so unfortunately yes, it is a dive full of scum. The 80's room is actually pretty decent though!

rockyb23

just moved to bandon a while back (originally from Wicklow), my gf is from west Cork and always said the name of the town with a shudder due its rep.

Have to say it seems like a grand town daytime-wise anyway, nice walking, decent shopping, decent food, handy for city/beach/rest of west Cork... rent is reasonable, amenities are pretty good.

Don't go out at night as we have a smallie so no idea what the pubs are like (tend to go out in city when I do have a visa) but interesting to read above post too...

We'd all love to live in Clon but the commute is a bitch...

Balmed Out

bandon isnt the worst.

I moved to clon a few years ago and commute was tough to get used to but dont mind now. Bandon is a grand spot during the day, wouldnt have as many good restraunts / pubs etc as clon though and it is far rougher at night. Think most people who go out for any other reason then get hammered go to clon or to cork.

V480

Passage West :mad:

DaithiOGormain

Co. Cork is absolute heaven compared to where I'm from, Co. Antrim. I have spent a fair bit of time in Cork, and I absolutely love Clonakilty, Leap, Unionhall/Keelbeg, Innishannon, Castletownshend, Schull, Rosscarbery, Castletownbere, Cobh, Glandore and Kinsale. Skibbereen is nice enough. I don't really like Drinagh, Drimoleague, Dunmanway, Bandon, Bantry, Mallow, Midleton, Macroom, Carrigaline or Ballincollig. Cork city is really good compared to Belfast in terms of the atmosphere and people, but there isn't as much shopping. (Merchant's Quay or Mahon Point shopping centres don't in any way compare to Victoria Square, Junction One or The Outlet) I have spent most of my Cork time in Leap, and it is absolutely gorgeous and so rural compared to my urban/suburban loyalist paramilitary stricken town(Carrickfergus). I also have stayed with relatives in Innishannon and Cork city.

V480

DaithiOGormain wrote: »

Co. Cork is absolute heaven compared to where I'm from, Co. Antrim. I have spent a fair bit of time in Cork, and I absolutely love Clonakilty, Leap, Unionhall/Keelbeg, Innishannon, Castletownshend, Schull, Rosscarbery, Castletownbere, Cobh, Glandore and Kinsale. Skibbereen is nice enough. I don't really like Drinagh, Drimoleague, Dunmanway, Bandon, Bantry, Mallow, Midleton, Macroom, Carrigaline or Ballincollig. Cork city is really good compared to Belfast in terms of the atmosphere and people, but there isn't as much shopping. (Merchant's Quay or Mahon Point shopping centres don't in any way compare to Victoria Square, Junction One or The Outlet) I have spent most of my Cork time in Leap, and it is absolutely gorgeous and so rural compared to my urban/suburban loyalist paramilitary stricken town(Carrickfergus). I also have stayed with relatives in Innishannon and Cork city.

It's funny you say that because I was talking to a friend of mine who visited Belfast recently and he said that Belfast people were far friendlier than in Dublin or even Cork and that it was generally a much nicer city.

I always hated Cork city growing up here but having had the mispleasure of living in Carlow town and parts of Wexford/Wicklow recently I certainly appreciate the place alot more since I moved back.

partyguinness

DaithiOGormain wrote: »

Co. Cork is absolute heaven compared to where I'm from, Co. Antrim. I have spent a fair bit of time in Cork, and I absolutely love Clonakilty, Leap, Unionhall/Keelbeg, Innishannon, Castletownshend, Schull, Rosscarbery, Castletownbere, Cobh, Glandore and Kinsale. Skibbereen is nice enough. I don't really like Drinagh, Drimoleague, Dunmanway, Bandon, Bantry, Mallow, Midleton, Macroom, Carrigaline or Ballincollig. Cork city is really good compared to Belfast in terms of the atmosphere and people, but there isn't as much shopping. (Merchant's Quay or Mahon Point shopping centres don't in any way compare to Victoria Square, Junction One or The Outlet) I have spent most of my Cork time in Leap, and it is absolutely gorgeous and so rural compared to my urban/suburban loyalist paramilitary stricken town(Carrickfergus). I also have stayed with relatives in Innishannon and Cork city.

I agree with all that except for Cobh which I think looks very grotty and run down which is a shame.

I grew up in Cork, went to college there, worked and lived there and now live abroad. While Corkcity is not very pretty and a lot of city centre areas need to be redeveloped, I have to say compared to other places there is a good buzz around and would love to move back.

Living in the UK for awhile, bloody hell it's grim over here. Gotham city...just an urban wasteland.

Every place looks the exact same with the exact same shops and exact same coffee houses everywhere. I fear that Irish towns are turning the same way

Tauriel

Carrigaline is the worst imo

smackbunnybaby

mustang shelly wrote: »

Carrigaline is the worst imo

How so?

Tauriel

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

How so?

Just hate everything about it. Hopefully one day I'll get the hell outta Carrigaline and never come back

Straight Talker

DaithiOGormain wrote: »

Co. Cork is absolute heaven compared to where I'm from, Co. Antrim. I have spent a fair bit of time in Cork, and I absolutely love Clonakilty, Leap, Unionhall/Keelbeg, Innishannon, Castletownshend, Schull, Rosscarbery, Castletownbere, Cobh, Glandore and Kinsale. Skibbereen is nice enough. I don't really like Drinagh, Drimoleague, Dunmanway, Bandon, Bantry, Mallow, Midleton, Macroom, Carrigaline or Ballincollig. Cork city is really good compared to Belfast in terms of the atmosphere and people, but there isn't as much shopping. (Merchant's Quay or Mahon Point shopping centres don't in any way compare to Victoria Square, Junction One or The Outlet) I have spent most of my Cork time in Leap, and it is absolutely gorgeous and so rural compared to my urban/suburban loyalist paramilitary stricken town(Carrickfergus). I also have stayed with relatives in Innishannon and Cork city.

Yeah the shopping could be improved but Cork is a city with so much heart and character compared to Dublin and Belfast.For some reason i just think that Belfast has a very weird vibe to it.

Straight Talker

V480 wrote: »

It's funny you say that because I was talking to a friend of mine who visited Belfast recently and he said that Belfast people were far friendlier than in Dublin or even Cork and that it was generally a much nicer city.

I always hated Cork city growing up here but having had the mispleasure of living in Carlow town and parts of Wexford/Wicklow recently I certainly appreciate the place alot more since I moved back.

Nah Cork is irelands nicest and most scenic city.

partyguinness

Straight Talker wrote: »

Yeah the shopping could be improved but Cork is a city with so much heart and character compared to Dublin and Belfast.For some reason i just think that Belfast has a very weird vibe to it.

I hear you on the weird vibe...I have felt the same...bit of a twlight zone feel to the place.

I think it stems from the culture clash....one minute it feels like Ireland and the next you are sharply reminded that UK influence is all around. It sits across two cultures....it's a cross between a tradtional Irish town/city and a dirty charmless industrial UK city like Glasgow or Birmingham.

RoyMcC

partyguinness wrote: »

a dirty charmless industrial UK city like Glasgow or Birmingham.

Oi, Birmingham's a great city - culture, sport, shopping and the rest. Many Irish, including my Cork-born parents, have settled there over the years and are proud to be part of the Brummie community.

Anyway, off-topic. At least Dunmanway's being left alone in all this :pac:

who the fug

RoyMcC wrote: »

Oi, Birmingham's a great city - culture, sport, shopping and the rest. Many Irish, including my Cork-born parents, have settled there over the years and are proud to be part of the Brummie community.

Anyway, off-topic. At least Dunmanway's bDeing left alone in all this :pac:

Dunmanway / Birmingham


never meet anyone who admitted coming from either place, so they do have that in common

Keith in cork

My word what a thread of shame.

Firstly, since this thread began in 2008, my views have changed massively.

My favourite towns would be,

Over-all. Ballincollig. Fantastic buzz about the place, plenty of selection no matter what it is you want and just seems to have a friendlier vibe of late.

Summer, kinsale. Again wicked buzz both daytime and night-time during the summer. But unless your eating or drinking theres very little to do after your first walk through the town to see the sights and your first trip out to the fort etc. The one constant though, for me, is the little "private" beach behind the dock bar. Its nie @ 12/3 am for a sit down, chat or alone to relax and think.

I was never a big fan of clon. Sure when you go out for beers its great but other than that its dull and boring.

Dumanway on the sunniest day of the year just always feels dull, glum and makes me depressed. I dont like the atmosphere there, either day or night.

Skibbereen is a great town IMO. You just get an electric feeling when your in the town due to the hustle and bustle by day or the relaxed feel at night.

Bantry, by day is a town of nothing for me. I'm impartial to all things bantry. At dusk, it just feels dirty and trampish.

Mallow is a rough town for me But not a patch on cobh for scummers. My god that place is full of filth. Some great sights, but its just a dirty town. I've lived happily in some undesireable areas of cork, dublin, galway and limerick, but i watch everything when i'm in cobh. Even walking around on a saturday is just volitile for one reason or another.

Charleville and buttevant. While theres some new stuff, and they try it just seems like time forgot these guys.

I personally think bandon is a fine town. For the latter 90's and early 2000's by night it was a kip. Now, like most towns it has its good pubs, its dull quite pubs and its bloody rough gaffs. The town by day is busy yet peaceful if that makes sense. Theres enough of shops/businesses to get you by on anything you would want but if it was clothes shopping or electronics i'd be off to mahon point / city/ a harvey normans etc.

As for scum population, it has subsided somewhat. I know this as for the early 00's i hung out in those circles. Now i don't and i notice 90% of the folk i rolled with and those i'd have known to be a bit rough, all grew up and grew out of it.Saying that, there is and will always be a minority.

As for "where would i choose to live"? I'll stick with bandon. No matter where you go you'll just find the same. The same "ah theres nothing here", some amount of rough people, same lack of pubs, same boring old hometown. No matter where you go, people frequent the places they prefer. Thats why we all have our own "local" pub / shops etc and you just stop noticing the bad stuff as i think, as bad as the outside views it, its actually nothing unusual for ireland in the current era.

I can bet safely, if we all sat in a room chatting, and not internet hiding behind a screen where our views are written in a more pronounced way, the stories we'd tell of our own towns would all match up. For example, people incl myself say kinsale is the favourite town. But i can vouch for the fact that there are some very nasty and troublesome folk in kinsale, much like bandon, much like clon, skibb, bantry, ballincollig.
I bet we all have our main pub, our sometimes pub and our rarely pub. We also have our NEVER NEVER EVER pub. We all have our shops we visit and then complain that there nothing in the town. But if i came to your town, was stuck for an item you'd be able to tell me exactly the shop to get said item. Problem and difference being is i'd be able to get the item, but have no choice i.e they'd have one type and one only where-as the city would have 10 choices be it brand/colour/style/price.

At the end of the day, Home is where you make it and if your any good you'll make the best of any situation.

partyguinness

RoyMcC wrote: »

Oi, Birmingham's a great city - culture, sport, shopping and the rest. Many Irish, including my Cork-born parents, have settled there over the years and are proud to be part of the Brummie community.

Anyway, off-topic. At least Dunmanway's being left alone in all this :pac:

Been living in Brum for the past 18 months...most of the Irish (not many left) I have met are middle aged up to old aged with a fair sprinkling of Travellers amongest them....we will just have to disagree on that one...:)

But yeah Dunmanway is grim.

who the fug

partyguinness wrote: »

Been living in Brum for the past 18 months...e...:)

But yeah Dunmanway is grim.

Still better than that over priced dump Kinsale

RoyMcC

who the fug wrote: »

Still better than that over priced dump Kinsale

Why a dump?

What is overpriced?

Genuinely interested as my impressions of Kinsale have always been favourable.

Keith in cork

RoyMcC wrote: »

Why a dump?

What is overpriced?

Genuinely interested as my impressions of Kinsale have always been favourable.

Kinsale has an over-inflated price bracket, be it dining, rent, house prices etc etc etc.

who the fug

RoyMcC wrote: »

Why a dump?

What is overpriced?

Genuinely interested as my impressions of Kinsale have always been favourable.

tourist trap D4 dump, always has always will be, any town that stands by whilst the old head is made into a gollf course :mad:

RoyMcC

who the fug wrote: »

tourist trap D4 dump, always has always will be, any town that stands by whilst the old head is made into a gollf course :mad:

But you can't just dismiss James Fort, Charles Fort, the incredibly historic church & cemetery, The Spaniard for a drink and a bite, the whole harbour ambience. Sure, it's got its share of tat for tourists but you've gotta look beyond that.

Agree about the Old Head :mad: but I'm not sure you can blame the town for that.

Keith in cork

RoyMcC wrote: »

But you can't just dismiss James Fort, Charles Fort, the incredibly historic church & cemetery, The Spaniard for a drink and a bite, the whole harbour ambience. Sure, it's got its share of tat for tourists but you've gotta look beyond that.

Agree about the Old Head :mad: but I'm not sure you can blame the town for that.

I'll agree here. Sure its very tourism focused but its a real gem.

On the Old head issue, I'd like to know what your issue with it is, because as far as i'm concerned Its probably stood to kinsale in the region of millions of added revenue for the town over the years. This and the fact it is an employer to 5 direct friends of mine at this moment. Prob 20 in the past 10yrs And we're not from the town. I'd hate to guesstimate the employment it has served for the local community down through the years because i'd fall well short i bet.

The knock on effect of the golf club is, the people it brings in locally, the tourism, the jobs but then further more to this is the revenue it creates for other business' in the town either directly or indirectly, the money they pay out to say veg suppliers, meat suppliers etc etc etc for the club restaurant. The list goes on. For me its a hell of alot more positive than your giving it credit for.

I assume your issue is with the now lack of access to a sight, which is located in a town you dispise in anycase so would rarely visit?

RoyMcC

Fair comment on the Old Head, Keith. It's an aspect not usually considered. It's the intractibility of the owners in not allowing limited access to what is a renown and historic beauty spot that annoys many.

Keith in cork

RoyMcC wrote: »

Fair comment on the Old Head, Keith. It's an aspect not usually considered. It's the intractibility of the owners in not allowing limited access to what is a renown and historic beauty spot that annoys many.

I'd imagine there'd be a bit more movement on the issue if people didn't act like lemmings when they got up there and chucking themselves over the edge.

Jack53

Keith in cork wrote: »

My word what a thread of shame.

Firstly, since this thread began in 2008, my views have changed massively.

My favourite towns would be,

Over-all. Ballincollig. Fantastic buzz about the place, plenty of selection no matter what it is you want and just seems to have a friendlier vibe of late.

Summer, kinsale. Again wicked buzz both daytime and night-time during the summer. But unless your eating or drinking theres very little to do after your first walk through the town to see the sights and your first trip out to the fort etc. The one constant though, for me, is the little "private" beach behind the dock bar. Its nie @ 12/3 am for a sit down, chat or alone to relax and think.

I was never a big fan of clon. Sure when you go out for beers its great but other than that its dull and boring.

Dumanway on the sunniest day of the year just always feels dull, glum and makes me depressed. I dont like the atmosphere there, either day or night.

Skibbereen is a great town IMO. You just get an electric feeling when your in the town due to the hustle and bustle by day or the relaxed feel at night.

Bantry, by day is a town of nothing for me. I'm impartial to all things bantry. At dusk, it just feels dirty and trampish.

Mallow is a rough town for me But not a patch on cobh for scummers. My god that place is full of filth. Some great sights, but its just a dirty town. I've lived happily in some undesireable areas of cork, dublin, galway and limerick, but i watch everything when i'm in cobh. Even walking around on a saturday is just volitile for one reason or another.

Charleville and buttevant. While theres some new stuff, and they try it just seems like time forgot these guys.

I personally think bandon is a fine town. For the latter 90's and early 2000's by night it was a kip. Now, like most towns it has its good pubs, its dull quite pubs and its bloody rough gaffs. The town by day is busy yet peaceful if that makes sense. Theres enough of shops/businesses to get you by on anything you would want but if it was clothes shopping or electronics i'd be off to mahon point / city/ a harvey normans etc.

As for scum population, it has subsided somewhat. I know this as for the early 00's i hung out in those circles. Now i don't and i notice 90% of the folk i rolled with and those i'd have known to be a bit rough, all grew up and grew out of it.Saying that, there is and will always be a minority.

As for "where would i choose to live"? I'll stick with bandon. No matter where you go you'll just find the same. The same "ah theres nothing here", some amount of rough people, same lack of pubs, same boring old hometown. No matter where you go, people frequent the places they prefer. Thats why we all have our own "local" pub / shops etc and you just stop noticing the bad stuff as i think, as bad as the outside views it, its actually nothing unusual for ireland in the current era.

I can bet safely, if we all sat in a room chatting, and not internet hiding behind a screen where our views are written in a more pronounced way, the stories we'd tell of our own towns would all match up. For example, people incl myself say kinsale is the favourite town. But i can vouch for the fact that there are some very nasty and troublesome folk in kinsale, much like bandon, much like clon, skibb, bantry, ballincollig.
I bet we all have our main pub, our sometimes pub and our rarely pub. We also have our NEVER NEVER EVER pub. We all have our shops we visit and then complain that there nothing in the town. But if i came to your town, was stuck for an item you'd be able to tell me exactly the shop to get said item. Problem and difference being is i'd be able to get the item, but have no choice i.e they'd have one type and one only where-as the city would have 10 choices be it brand/colour/style/price.

At the end of the day, Home is where you make it and if your any good you'll make the best of any situation.

What abou ballydehob ? Resurrecting an old thread . What’s the opinions in 2018