Limerick Businesses Opening

mossym

Cookiemunster wrote: »

In fairness, it's up an alley off Foxes Bow. It's a terrible location for a coffee shop. There is no passing trade. Unless you knew about it you'd never even know it was there.

aye, may as well have stuck it in the flippin train station.


;)

mossym

bennyl10 wrote: »

blaming them for it is i think silly..

really? silly? pretty strong history of larger businesses, especially chains, driving smaller entities out of business. it's the way of business, so not blaming starbucks specifically, but i don't think you can label it as silly..

Tompatrick

Cookiemunster wrote: »

In fairness, it's up an alley off Foxes Bow. It's a terrible location for a coffee shop. There is no passing trade. Unless you knew about it you'd never even know it was there.

Ah jaysus that's where I used to get my tats done.

Cherrycoke

I think there's room for everyone. I love Starbucks, especially their mochas, but equally I love Carlton. I've been a regular there for years, the staff are A1, plus, you can sit outside and enjoy the sun! (when it's there )

I'm sure a lot of the people complaining here don't even visit these independent coffee shops at least once a week. Put your money where your mouth is, and support your favourite independent shops.

At the weekends, it's tough to get a seat in most of the cafes in town, so I think it will be great to have a new option

zulutango

I think, on balance, the arrival of Starbucks is pretty good for the city. There is no denying that it will impact to some degree on the smaller coffee shops. But that's competition.

One problem in this city (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that the rates system seems to favour high footfall, low margin businesses. The more interesting shops can't really compete on that basis so will get squeezed out. It's nothing new. It's been happening for a few decades at least, but it isn't a good thing.

dr.fuzzenstein

zulutango wrote: »

I think, on balance, the arrival of Starbucks is pretty good for the city. There is no denying that it will impact to some degree on the smaller coffee shops. But that's competition.

One problem in this city (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that the rates system seems to favour high footfall, low margin businesses. The more interesting shops can't really compete on that basis so will get squeezed out. It's nothing new. It's been happening for a few decades at least, but it isn't a good thing.

Its the same in city centers everywhere. Introduce a one way system, get rid of parking, hire wardens, bring in clamping, jack the rates and then throw your arms to heaven and whine "why is the city center dying?! I did everything right! I just don't understand this! Its all dem foreign chains, yeah, they did this! Better jack up the rates. Oh and parking while I'm at it."

Berty

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Its the same in city centers everywhere. Introduce a one way system, get rid of parking, hire wardens, bring in clamping, jack the rates and then throw your arms to heaven and whine "why is the city center dying?! I did everything right! I just don't understand this! Its all dem foreign chains, yeah, they did this! Better jack up the rates. Oh and parking while I'm at it."

And buy traffic lights like Oprah is handing them out, everyone loves them don't you know!

zulutango

The more enlightened city centres get the cars out of them as much as possible, but there's always huge resistance to this. The on-street parking situation in Limerick does the city no favours. I'm not sure what the solution is exactly but maybe the Council should get into building multi-storeys rather than leaving it to developers to do so in places that often aren't suitable.

zulutango

Berty wrote: »

And buy traffic lights like Oprah is handing them out, everyone loves them don't you know!

Traffic lights are fairly necessary for controlling traffic. The roundabout at Shannon Bridge really needs to be replaced with them. A lot of the problems of traffic on Mallow Street and upper O'Connell Street are caused by this roundabout and could be solved with traffic lights.

Insect Overlord

zulutango wrote: »

Traffic lights are fairly necessary for controlling traffic. The roundabout at Shannon Bridge really needs to be replaced with them. A lot of the problems of traffic on Mallow Street and upper O'Connell Street are caused by this roundabout and could be solved with traffic lights.

Wasn't that proposed about two years ago, or maybe back when they got rid of the roundabout at Baals Bridge?

zulutango

An File wrote: »

Wasn't that proposed about two years ago, or maybe back when they got rid of the roundabout at Baals Bridge?

Yep, and the councillors in their infinite wisdom shot it down mainly because the public (in their infinite wisdom!) thought it was a bad idea. The public tends to be manic about traffic lights thinking all they do is hold up traffic. The truth is they do quite the opposite.

Swiper the fox

zulutango wrote: »

Yep, and the councillors in their infinite wisdom shot it down mainly because the public (in their infinite wisdom!) thought it was a bad idea. The public tends to be manic about traffic lights thinking all they do is hold up traffic. The truth is they do quite the opposite.

I think those lights you speak of could be useful at peak rush hour but I wouldn't feel they are justified throughout the whole day and night, that junction works perfectly well for everybody 95% of the time in my experience

jbkenn

zulutango wrote: »

Yep, and the councillors in their infinite wisdom shot it down mainly because the public (in their infinite wisdom!) thought it was a bad idea. The public tends to be manic about traffic lights thinking all they do is hold up traffic. The truth is they do quite the opposite.

Funny how well traffic flows on match days when traffic lights are switched to flashing amber.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

Yep, and the councillors in their infinite wisdom shot it down mainly because the public (in their infinite wisdom!) thought it was a bad idea. The public tends to be manic about traffic lights thinking all they do is hold up traffic. The truth is they do quite the opposite.

The other traffic lights on Mallow St/Henry St. and Mallow St./O'Connell St. cause as much hold up as the roundabout does.
One of the constantly backed up lanes on Mallow St. leads onto Henry St. which is always backed up due the multiple unsynced traffic lights at every junction.
Lights replacing the roundabout won't solve the issue of traffic backed up Mallow St.

zulutango

jbkenn wrote: »

Funny how well traffic flows on match days when traffic lights are switched to flashing amber.

That's pretty much because you've dozens of traffic gardai on duty, road closures, and a heap of regular traffic stays the hell away. It's a complete fallacy that traffic ordinarily flows better when there's no traffic lights.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The other traffic lights on Mallow St/Henry St. and Mallow St./O'Connell St. cause as much hold up as the roundabout does.
One of the constantly backed up lanes on Mallow St. leads onto Henry St. which is always backed up due the multiple unsynced traffic lights at every junction.
Lights replacing the roundabout won't solve the issue of traffic backed up Mallow St.

Professional traffic engineers say you're wrong about that. And to be fair, it's pretty obvious. The heavier Shannon Bridge traffic at peak hours has priority over the traffic coming down Mallow Street and causes it to back up. This causes further trouble at the lights on O'Connell Street. The roundabout is the key problem.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

Professional traffic engineers say you're wrong about that. And to be fair, it's pretty obvious. The heavier Shannon Bridge traffic at peak hours has priority over the traffic coming down Mallow Street and causes it to back up. This causes further trouble at the lights on O'Connell Street. The roundabout is the key problem.

Explain Henry St. then. Lights at every junction causing huge tailbacks which also back up Mallow St. In fact a big issue on Lower Mallow St is traffic coming from O'Connell Ave trying to get to Henry St. having to cross lanes.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Explain Henry St. then. Lights at every junction causing huge tailbacks which also back up Mallow St.

The traffic lights aren't a problem on Henry Street, the volumes of traffic are (at peak times). If you didn't have the lights there'd be mayhem there.

Cookiemunster wrote: »

In fact a big issue on Lower Mallow St is traffic coming from O'Connell Ave trying to get to Henry St. having to cross lanes.

That is a big issue, and I agree that the junction is a ****-up, but it would largely be solved by having lights further down Mallow Street at the Shannon Bridge.

phog

Two Hands - record (vinyl) store opening on Roches St, next to Emerald Alpine.

Swiper the fox

zulutango wrote: »

The traffic lights aren't a problem on Henry Street, the volumes of traffic are (at peak times). If you didn't have the lights there'd be mayhem there.



That is a big issue, and I agree that the junction is a ****-up, but it would largely be solved by having lights further down Mallow Street at the Shannon Bridge.

I can't get my head around these lights at the Shannonbridge at all. Is there anything similar around the country, I'd be fairly familiar with all the cities.
Would they be active 24 hours a day while the current system offers problem free access to the roundabout for about 22.5 hours? Considering that the vast majority of traffic on the Condell road is turning right onto the Dock Road it seems to me that they will be inconvenienced far more by the lights than anybody is currently.
Was there a plan drawn up by the traffic engineers you've mentioned, I don't doubt you but in my ignorance it seems crazy to me.

dr.fuzzenstein

zulutango wrote: »

The more enlightened city centres get the cars out of them as much as possible, but there's always huge resistance to this. The on-street parking situation in Limerick does the city no favours. I'm not sure what the solution is exactly but maybe the Council should get into building multi-storeys rather than leaving it to developers to do so in places that often aren't suitable.

Well, it's certainly keeping me out. I would go to the shopping centers and big shops outside the city center, the Crescent, TK Maxx, Aldi across from there, Lidl on the Ennis or Dublin road, the Tesco at Coonagh, even the Childers road is getting a bit jammed up and too close to the city takes too long to get in and out, I go there for the Argos and Maplins. I do like the B&Q cluster of shops (Harvey Norman + Halfrauds). You couldn't pay me to go into the city center. Terrible parking plus I hate disc parking, you have to run a marathon to find a bloody shop that sells the fcuking discs and all you do is run around the shops in a panic, what time is it, what time is it, nah, I figure they have long time decided they can do without my money. I very rarely go to the city center, there is literally not a single reason for me to go.

I wouldn't mind if the very heart of the city was traffic free, as long as there was good and plenty parking around it. And it wouldn't kill them to put a bit of greenery about the place. But if Limerick is anything like Ennis, the retailers would probably set up burning barricades if such a thing was even suggested. And the way it is, parking is terrible, the streets are jammed and looking at the shops there is nothing that entices me to go into the actual city center. There's nowhere nice to sit like a park or by the water. Its' not a nice place to be. If I can get a cup of tolerable coffee elsewhere (or in the case of La Cucina, great coffee) I see no reason whatsoever to go there.
But I also think a city center should not be about large scale retail like in the shops on the outskirts. It should be about nice places to eat and to buy unusual things not catered for by retail giants. A lot of councilors blame the Crescent SC for all the city's problems, but that is foolish IMO.

zulutango

Very much in agreement with you. If the city is to become truly vibrant again it needs to get its own house in order rather than complaining about the out of town outlets and trying to coerce retailers into the city centre. There's a heap of reasons why people don't want to go into the city to shop and these need to be addressed. The council is turning a blind eye to most of them though.

dr.fuzzenstein

phog wrote: »

Two Hands - record (vinyl) store opening on Roches St, next to Emerald Alpine.

Now there IS something to draw me into the city center!

zulutango

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I can't get my head around these lights at the Shannonbridge at all. Is there anything similar around the country, I'd be fairly familiar with all the cities.
Would they be active 24 hours a day while the current system offers problem free access to the roundabout for about 22.5 hours? Considering that the vast majority of traffic on the Condell road is turning right onto the Dock Road it seems to me that they will be inconvenienced far more by the lights than anybody is currently.
Was there a plan drawn up by the traffic engineers you've mentioned, I don't doubt you but in my ignorance it seems crazy to me.

Not sure what you mean when you ask if there's anything similar around the country?

You're right in that there's a problem only for a few hours a day (morning and evening peaks). The thing is, those peak times are very important so you have to design a system that allows traffic to flow during them.

Yes, the Condell Road traffic would be inconvenienced by lights but not to a greater degree than the two other high volume arteries leading into that roundabout (Mallow Street and Dock Road) are currently inconvenienced. Mallow Street (with major effects on O'Connell Street and even as far as Parnell Street) are chronic situations during those peak hours.

Swiper the fox

zulutango wrote: »

Not sure what you mean when you ask if there's anything similar around the country?

You're right in that there's a problem only for a few hours a day (morning and evening peaks). The thing is, those peak times are very important so you have to design a system that allows traffic to flow during them.

Yes, the Condell Road traffic would be inconvenienced by lights but not to a greater degree than the two other high volume arteries leading into that roundabout (Mallow Street and Dock Road) are currently inconvenienced. Mallow Street (with major effects on O'Connell Street and even as far as Parnell Street) are chronic situations during those peak hours.

I didn't realise the problem was as bad as you describe. The problem as I see it (I have zero expertise) is that it is a four cross road but the vast majority of users are making the same journey and turn (which unfortunately is a right turn), even at that and with them seeming to have the best in the deal as they only have to give way to traffic from the Dock Road which isn't turning left the traffic goes back the Condell Road a nice bit. At the moment it seems that the old problem of people flying up the left lane to turn right has improved considerably, if you delay this traffic then those two lanes will be used for turning right and people going straight ahead or left will be suffering more.
What about the cars coming from Howleys?? Quay? What kind of break will they get from these lights, the timing of the lights would be crucial to move the traffic. All in all I think it will just lead to increased road rage and annoyance like you see further out the Dock Road.
In my head it makes sense to keep it as it is, in the next few days I will take a spin down there at this time to suss it out.

zulutango

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I didn't realise the problem was as bad as you describe. The problem as I see it (I have zero expertise) is that it is a four cross road but the vast majority of users are making the same journey and turn (which unfortunately is a right turn), even at that and with them seeming to have the best in the deal as they only have to give way to traffic from the Dock Road which isn't turning left the traffic goes back the Condell Road a nice bit. At the moment it seems that the old problem of people flying up the left lane to turn right has improved considerably, if you delay this traffic then those two lanes will be used for turning right and people going straight ahead or left will be suffering more.
What about the cars coming from Howleys?? Quay? What kind of break will they get from these lights, the timing of the lights would be crucial to move the traffic. All in all I think it will just lead to increased road rage and annoyance like you see further out the Dock Road.
In my head it makes sense to keep it as it is, in the next few days I will take a spin down there at this time to suss it out.

Yeah, it's bad alright.

Bear in mind that most of the major junctions in town are linked to a central control system so the timing of the lights can be varied and adjusted depending on the traffic conditions. Roundabouts work well where there a low volumes of traffic but this isn't the case at the Shannon Bridge. One dominant traffic flow is greatly impacting on the others.

Berty

I hope everyone is happy I mentioned traffic lights.

dunworth1

zulutango wrote: »

Yeah, it's bad alright.

Bear in mind that most of the major junctions in town are linked to a central control system so the timing of the lights can be varied and adjusted depending on the traffic conditions. Roundabouts work well where there a low volumes of traffic but this isn't the case at the Shannon Bridge. One dominant traffic flow is greatly impacting on the others.

i use this route every morning and evening coming home.

and i'd much prefer for the roundabout to stay in place.

in my experience traffic lights would only cause more delays.

adding more lights would only add to the backups

i should be able to turn down shelbourne road and onto Shannon bridge from there. but it is actually quicker for me to drive straight on up past ivans and onto the condell road

than to be sitting waiting for the union cross lights which only leave two or three cars through at a time.

thesimpsons

One of the big problems in my opinion, is cars going through the orange and red lights and then hindering the traffic flow entering the junction. this happens alot at the O'Connell St/Mallow St when cars keep going through the lights from the Mallow St side meaning the cars on O'Connell St can't turn down to the bridge until these cars have cleared and half the lights sequence gone. similar story at the Henry Street/Mallow junction.

I travel the Shannon bridge roundabout at peak times in morning into and out of town, and again lunchtime and 4pm, and would never get delayed by the roundabout more than a few mins. A problem I see here is cars in the left lane on the bridge and going round the roundabout in incorrect lane. This hinders cars entering roundabout from the Howley Quay town side and from the Mallow St side. Drivers being slow to enter the roundabout and wait for an invitation to an open road are also a big problem.

Jofspring

I honestly think we have no real problems with traffic. I can't remember the last time I was stuck in traffic for more than 5-10 minutes. You can get to most parts of the city very easily and usually the only thing to slow you down going through town is idiots parked on double yellow lines blocking up lanes.