Help: Areas of Cork to live in...

mtmccallion

Hi

I've just got a job in Cork, out in Little Island and would like to know what areas would be good for me to look in to for accommodation. I'm coming from Donegal and know nothing about the area so any advice would be welcome.

I will have a car but would like to have access to pubic transport as well. I'm on my own so house sharing is ok but obviously, because I am working, a professional not student area would be ideal.

Any knowledge on room rent as well would be great so I know what to expect. Have looked on Daft a few times and see that 280-350 for a double room is pretty standard but not sure if I am looking in the right areas.

Thanks for you help!

Wyldwood

Little Island or Glounthaune would have you on the train connection into town & be very close to work. Alternatively, Glanmire would be handy for work but public transport into town would be bus.

rcdk1

While it's true that Little Island and Glounthaune would be convenient for work, I wouldn't be bothered living in either. It's not that they're bad areas but there's just not much to do in either of them.

Glanmire is a popular town/village and is between (-ish) the city and Little Island. Should be a nice enough place to live but it will mean that you'll have to travel to get to both work and the city.

My suggestions would be the city centre or Douglas (caveat: these are probably the more/most expensive locations to rent).

The city centre has the obvious advantages of being central to everything. Travelling to work you can either use the car or the train. Using the car isn't as bad as it sounds, as you'll be going in the opposite direction to the rush hour traffic (i.e. leaving the city when everyone is coming in and vice versa). I do this every day and never have any bother. As for the train there's a regular service between Kent station and Little Island. I would tend to look for accommodation in areas south of the river.

The other area is Douglas which, depending on who you ask can include Douglas village, the Douglas & back Douglas roads, Rochestown, Maryborough, Moneygourney, Grange and Frankfield. Any of these areas would be nice to live in, it just depends on the distance to the South Ring Road (which will take you to Little Island via the Jack Lynch Tunnel) and the city. Douglas village has a decent amount of shops and facilities that you wouldn't necessarily need to head to the city for everything. Traffic in the area can be heavy at times though (by Cork standards).

Student areas around UCC would be Victoria Cross, Western Road, College Road, Magazine Road, Glasheen Road, Bandon Road and the roads that interconnect these. Someone else can advise you for CIT but I guess a large chunk of Bishopstown would be taken up with either CIT students or students at CUH (Cork University Hospital).

Sorry for the long meandering post. Post up any places that take your fancy (just the general address) and we'll give you an idea of what it's like.

mtmccallion

Hi there - thanks for the response and advice. I've been on Daft again and just searched around the Douglas area...the rent isn't as high as I was expecting it to be so it looks good. Glanmire was mentioned to me by my new boss and will check it out as well but I get what you say about it not being as handy to the city centre and if you're new to an area being close to things makes settling in a lot easier.

JohnMearsheimer

I'd second Douglas. It has good access to the South Link. Public transport is pretty good. There's a bus around every 10 minutes until late evening. Douglas has everything you'd want and it's near Mahon Point too.

Kazbah

Glanmire will be about 10/15 minutes drive to work and Douglas probably 30/40 depending on time & traffic. If you have a car I wouldn't bother with the city centre. Parking is a nightmare even if you have a residents permit. I'd also include Turner's Cross which is near Douglas but walking distance to city and close to the South Link. Also the Ballinlough/Blackrock/Ballintemple area is really handy for the Jack Lynch Tunnel which will bring you to Little Island. Those areas are on the number 2 or 10 bus route. Turners Cross is number 6 and Douglas is 6 and 7 depending on which part. I'd stay away from Rochestown/Maryborough/Moneygourney/Grange/Donnybrook all of which are sometimes considered part of Douglas but will add a lot of time onto your travel to work.

Red Hand

I'd second the Douglas area...particularly Ballinlough. You're within walking distance of the city (10-15 minutes in some cases) and it's very handy for getting onto the south link to Little Island.


(What I do on daft.ie is to search by the price range, rather than the locality as sometimes it seems to miss areas that are the border between localities.)

mtmccallion

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

What I do on daft.ie is to search by the price range, rather than the locality as sometimes it seems to miss areas that are the border between localities.

Thanks for that bit of advice sounds like a good idea.

Lots of names there for me to have a look at so thanks everyone for all the advice!

dave1982

Cobh has a train service to little island,bout ten min journey:D

Crasp

My father used to live in Glanmire up until a few years ago. I haven't been back to the place since then (4/5/6 years or so) but it was a ****hole when I was last there.

Douglas would be my pick.. Plenty of amenities, very easy transport to city. Recently had a lot of developments/redevelopment completed. I don't know of any bus service to little island from Douglas, but by car you're looking at 5-10 minutes drive with a free road. the tunnel blocks up fairly badly at times, could be 30-40 minutes. but the traffic is usually leaving the city at 5pm, so going in the opposite direction to you.


My advice is to come down for a look around the place, see what the different towns are like.

rcdk1

Kazbah wrote: »

If you have a car I wouldn't bother with the city centre. Parking is a nightmare even if you have a residents permit. I'd also include Turner's Cross which is near Douglas but walking distance to city and close to the South Link.

I suppose I should have been more specific, but I would consider the likes of Turners Cross to be part of the city centre as opposed to suburbs like Douglas or Bishopstown.

I'd stay away from Rochestown/Maryborough/Moneygourney/Grange/Donnybrook all of which are sometimes considered part of Douglas but will add a lot of time onto your travel to work.

There's a convenient link down onto the N28/South Ring from Maryborough/Moneygourney but to be fair parts of them are a good distance out from the amenities in Douglas village and even further out from the city.

Diziet

St Luke's would be very handy. You can easily get out to Little Island and the train station and bus station are only a few minutes walk. Easy walk into the city too.

Olidolly

Another vote for Douglas here. Yes, you might need to use your car to get to work but once you are home you are in a well serviced lively area.
Good pubs, restaurants, shopping centres, Cinema ...etc. You can walk to them all.
I dont live in Douglas but if I was moving or had a decision to make as you do, this is where I would go.
Good luck with the new job !

mik_da_man

Douglas gets another vote

Dunno where the poster above got the 30/40 mins to little island :eek:
10/15 mins tops driving,

Douglas has plenty of pubs, some of the best resturants / take aways in cork (google KC's) and has 2 shopping centres

stevexo

i was in the same boat as u but comin from dublin.
lived in sullivans quay. took about 20 mins walk to train in mornin. 10 mins on train to little island.
then 10 mins walk from there to work.

moved out to douglas then with a car. took 10 mins to drive in every day. handy out.

as regards rent, i just gave mik_da_man money up there ^^^

Douglas is no doubt nice, however if you are working in Little Island I would consider Tivoli or Silver Springs to live in, very close to the City and closer to Little Island than Douglas is. Douglas is quite over rated in most Corkonian's eyes. Few nice pubs and restaurants accepted. I wouldn't rule out Turner's Cross, The Lough or Glasheen either, or the modern Estates in Spur Hill.

Kazbah

mik_da_man wrote: »

Dunno where the poster above got the 30/40 mins to little island :eek:
10/15 mins tops driving,

Maybe when there is no traffic but I lived in Douglas and worked in Sallybrook and there were looong queues to get through the tunnel and around the Dunkettle roundabout and that was only turning left at the roundabout. Plus the queues to get onto the link in Douglas. Defo 30 mins I still say. Although maybe someone driving that route can comment.

quietsailor

Douglas would get a vote from me too, I lived there for a few years, its got enough amenities (2*cinemas local to it, pubs, restaurrants, 2*shopping malls) to occupy you and the rare time you want more the buses/taxis are easy and quick to use into the city centre.

Can your finances extend to a B&B for a week? you should come down and look at the various areas for yourself, we (Cork boardsies) can post up maps off google maps if you want directions.

There's a June meetup thread in the Cork city forum so you could come to that and meet some of the Cork boards people (says the fella who's still plucking up his courage to go to a meetup ), it'd give you something to do/meet people in Cork city.

I'm living in the Glasheen road area so if you want any info just ask a question/post a link and I'll answer as best I can.

mtmccallion

quietsailor wrote: »

Can your finances extend to a B&B for a week? you should come down and look at the various areas for yourself, we (Cork boardsies) can post up maps off google maps if you want directions.

There's a June meetup thread in the Cork city forum so you could come to that and meet some of the Cork boards people (says the fella who's still plucking up his courage to go to a meetup ), it'd give you something to do/meet people in Cork city.

I've planned to come down for a few days the week before I move so I can view places as I have a friend who said they would drive me to them so that's handy. Between packing up here, finishing up other work commitments and a quick holiday in between I don't have much time to spare! :eek:

Any recommendations on a decent B&B?

Yeah I saw the thread on the meet up, which is prob something I would do once I'm down here as it'd be a good way to meet people.

professore

mik_da_man wrote: »

Douglas gets another vote

Dunno where the poster above got the 30/40 mins to little island :eek:
10/15 mins tops driving,

Douglas has plenty of pubs, some of the best resturants / take aways in cork (google KC's) and has 2 shopping centres

Not at rush hour ....

professore

RoverJames wrote: »

Douglas is no doubt nice, however if you are working in Little Island I would consider Tivoli or Silver Springs to live in, very close to the City and closer to Little Island than Douglas is. Douglas is quite over rated in most Corkonian's eyes. Few nice pubs and restaurants accepted. I wouldn't rule out Turner's Cross, The Lough or Glasheen either, or the modern Estates in Spur Hill.

Would have to agree there. Firstly as a blow in myself who move to Cork in 1998, there is a very distinct Northside / Southside divide in Cork. Many southsiders would need a satnav when on the northside and vice versa (insert joke about satnav being robbed on the northside). Having said that parts of the Northside are rough but so are parts of the Southside.

Douglas is a nice place granted, however it's on the southside, and is quite far away from Little Island in driving time at rush hour. You are easily looking at 30 minutes sitting in traffic.

If I were you I'd probably look at Tivoli or Silver Springs as you can hop on a bus or a taxi and be in town in ten minutes whereas you can't really do that in Glanmire. The commute to Little Island is painless. You won't go far wrong with Douglas though either.

professore

http://www.studentvillage.ie/english/summer/

You could try this while you find your feet - from €50 per week.

FTGFOP

^there's student accom. right across from the train station called arcadia hall too. Might get similar cheap rent there.

Kazbah

There's loads of student accommodation available til you find your feet.

http://www.southmallcourt.com/summer.html though problem with parking city centre I'd say

mtmccallion

Thanks for all the hints and tips people...got myself sorted last week with a very nice double ensuite in the Douglas area. Really happy with it so fingers crossed it goes well. Make the move tomorrow so Cork here I come! haha

leviathon

Don't forget to keep in mind that from October onwards the tunnel is going to be closed from 9pm for about 6 months, might be something to keep in mind if the job has late hours or anything- you can get back to the other side of the river but you'd have to go through city center - so if you were looking in douglas that's a fair long way round.

leviathon

D'oh, posted too late. Eh good choice tho, douglas is handy out but the tunnel closure will be a balls alright, still don't need to worry about that for another few months.

mtmccallion

Job is normal working hours so I'd say I'll be ok...thanks for letting me know though! Didn't hear about that

CorkMan

Not too many mentions of the Northside.

I have lived in both the Northside and Southside before, Gurranabraher and Lower Glamire Rd in the Northside and Togher, Wilton in the southside. There are rough parts in both sides, i'd choose Gurranabraher over some parts of Togher, or some parts of Mahon any day of the week. Having said that, the southside appears to have a better network as the south link goes all the way from before Bishopstown out to past Mahon Point.

It would be slower travelling through the Northside, but then again, not if you lived in areas only a bit away from the North Link rd, or in places live Tivoli or Lower Glamire Rd.

Cadyboo

mtmccallion wrote: »

Yeah I saw the thread on the meet up, which is prob something I would do once I'm down here as it'd be a good way to meet people.

Congrats on the move, and welcome to Cork. We will look after you if you come to a meet up. Should be one in July and you should be settled in properly by then, so do come along.:D

Kazbah

Welcome to Cork. Don't bother with Barry's bar head to the South County for a pint!