Will Waterford ever pick up?

b0ardsUser

I moved away from Waterford a few months ago to work abroad, having studied in WIT for 4 years and obtained my degree I've really enjoyed living in Waterford.

While doing my degree a number of employers shut down in Waterford and as a result a lot of people lost jobs. A lot of people I know moved to Galway or abroad.

Besides having family back at home, I can't see any reason which would encourage me to move back to Waterford. I also hear from family back home that a lot of places are closing down.

Really what I'm curios to know is, is anyone happy living there anymore? Whats the general opinion of Waterford at the moment?

MitchKoobski

I give out about the place the whole time but it would take a lot for me to up and move. I still enjoy living here.

LuckyFinigan

I cant really see myself staying here permanently. When I finish my degree Ill probably head somewhere else. I'm not saying I hate the place, I have a lot of good memories growing up here, but with the way things have been going, lack of jobs, places closing down, people I know going away themselves, there's very little to keep me here.

bradknowell

Of course it will pick up eventually.
Im not going anywhere anyways, I cant lol.

Professey Chin

As of 2 weeks ago, I moved to Dublin.
Unfortunately to make any kinda career progress I had to. Like to be back someday!

Hogzy

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

As of 2 weeks ago, I moved to Dublin.
Unfortunately to make any kinda career progress I had to. Like to be back someday!

Im in the same shoes as yourself but from Cork originally. The recession sucks.

JenniFurr

I just came back to Waterford recently after studying elsewhere and I have a renewed love for the city despite it's flaws. It irks me when people only see the negatives of living here. The sad thing is that I would estimate that 80% of the people from my year at school have left the county or even the country so I'm starting to feel like I have very little social life. I wouldn't mind moving for a job if I had to but I can't really leave because I'm the only child in my family left in the area and my parents aren't well.

I still love Waterford though and I'm much happier living here than all the other towns and cities that I've lived in.

Media999

Itll never ever be back to the way it was but itll probably be less depressing for the next generation.

Bringthethunder

All depends on your expectations really. What is a "good place to live"? And whats this "it will never be the way it was" comment? As opposed to when? Two years ago or 500 years ago? People who want all year round good weather will never be happy and should just head off somewhere else, personally i wouldnt leave my family and friends behind for some regular sunshine. This town is what you make it at the end of the day.

Hoffmans

pick up? , theres as many new 520d's and general 12 reg cars scurrying around the place than ever, sure a lot of obselete businesses are closing but theres plenty of new start ups filling their places though they dont seem to be creating much extra jobs...

Dum_Dum

My view is that things are 'baked in' in at the moment. In other words the City, and the country at large, is in a period of stagnation; things are unlikely to pick up, but they're unlikely to decline further either. So, if you are unemployed - you are likely to remain unemployed 5 years from now, likewise if you are in employment you are likely to remain so. Ditto debt - if it's taking 50% of your disposable income now, the same debt will continue to take 50% in 5 years. Zombie banks and the dysfunctional financial services industry they are a part of, are not allocating capital properly into the productive economy (they where never good at it in the first place). So, while this remains the case the stasis continues. You will really need to be someone special to buck this trend. On average, most people aren't special - they're average!

Thinkingaboutit

There are a lot of shuttered premises in the city. Any replacements are not that apparent, even if you consider shopping centres in the area. Anyhow, while shopping centres replace some of these businesses, there has to be a decent level of city centre business. It is one of the nicest locations and only that eyesore of a hotel across the water from the quay is the only thing really spoiling the view, and that was tidied up a bit.

fricatus

b0ardsUser wrote: »

Really what I'm curios to know is, is anyone happy living there anymore? Whats the general opinion of Waterford at the moment?

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones - my wife and I both have good incomes, although we're in massive negative equity on our house.

I have to say though, having lived abroad, there's nowhere quite like home. I considered living in other places (Dublin, England and further afield) when I was in my 20s and early 30s, but I wouldn't swap what I have now for anything.

I love living in Waterford. I love the fact that we're so close to such lovely seaside places. I love the way the city is relaxed and friendly, but at the same time has loads to do (I don't see how people can say there's "nothing going on here" - believe me, I haven't got the money or the time to go to all the films, plays, concerts and restaurants I'd like to!). I'm not so much into getting hammered in a nightclub any more, so we spend our leisure money on eating out now, and Waterford has been a real revelation! I had no idea what a wealth of excellent places we have until we started going to them! Café Goa, La Bohème, Bodéga, L'Atmosphère, Sabai, La Palma, Azzurro, the Bishop's Palace, Mint, Waterford Crystal... I could go on!

The downside for me is the frustration of knowing that with a tiny bit more political focus and a bit more investment (no more than say goes into Galway), we'd be in a much better position. The retail could do with improving, but it's fine, and there's always Dublin and Cork.

Most depressing of all is the level of unemployment though. Even when you're doing OK yourself, it's awful to know that just around the corner or across the street there are people really struggling. I've also begun to get angry every time I hear of a jobs announcement for Galway (whereas I should be happy for them) because we should be at or about their level in economic terms, and the IDA and government has clearly delivered for them and not for us.

On a positive note though, I don't think there's anywhere in the country making more of an effort to improve itself and cheer its people up than Waterford. The improvements in the Viking Triangle are really something, and the way we've got nearly one festival after another going on is very impressive to those of us who grew up in the '80s and only ever saw a crappy St Patrick's Day parade. Now we have the Tricolour Festival, Spraoi, Harvest, and soon we will have Winterval - not to mention the Tall Ships twice in the past decade and hopefully again soon.

As a friend of mine said to me at the end of the third night of fireworks at the Tall Ships last year, "in fairness buoy, this is some towen!" - and I kind of agree with her.

Jason Todd

^ Great post, as always fricatus. I'm from Waterford, born here to Wexford people who moved here for work during the rise of the IDA Estate in the 80's, and most of my friends from school are still here, (primary and secondary) I went to WIT and got a degree and most of the people who I met in my college class have stayed after our course finished, people from Wexford, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Laois and Cork... and they love it here! The place mustn't be all bad!

thomasm

fricatus wrote: »

On a positive note though, I don't think there's anywhere in the country making more of an effort to improve itself and cheer its people up than Waterford. The improvements in the Viking Triangle are really something, and the way we've got nearly one festival after another going on is very impressive to those of us who grew up in the '80s and only ever saw a crappy St Patrick's Day parade. Now we have the Tricolour Festival, Spraoi, Harvest, and soon we will have Winterval - not to mention the Tall Ships twice in the past decade and hopefully again soon.

Think think is very true. I hear the plans for the winterval festival are great. They think they will have the biggest festival of its kind in Europe within 5 years.

fricatus

thomasm wrote: »

They think they will have the biggest festival of its kind in Europe within 5 years.

:eek:

Jesvs, that's ambitious! Well I wish them well! If they get halfway to achieving that goal, it will be some job well done.

whiteblueman

No it won't pick up, either will the country.

Example; sick lecturer paid >€55k per annum since 2001. Nearly €700k to one person. Why?

Civil servant

Psychedelic

It's all relative.

What was Waterford City back in the 80's and 90's, or early 00's? To be honest it was fairly crap to what it is now.

It didn't have all the festivals we have now, it didn't have the infrastructure, it didn't have as many shops, the population was a lot lower, WIT was only an RTC with a lot lower number of students, now on its way (hopefully) to becoming a technological university. The upgrades to WIT, the sports facilities and research centres at Carriganore, the improvements at the RSC, and all the good stuff the City Council has done in the last few years (House of Waterford Crystal, Viking Triangle and new museums, nature park etc). The city looks better too.

Was the night life and the craic better back in the day? Maybe, I dunno, matter of your age/personal opinion really.

Overall, I think everything is better here that it ever was, despite all the businesses closing. It will pick up again, the city is 1,100 years old, it's not going to "die" any time soon.

looksee

whiteblueman wrote: »

No it won't pick up, either will the country.

Example; sick lecturer paid >€55k per annum since 2001. Nearly €700k to one person. Why?

Civil servant[/QUOTE]

Proof? Evidence? - CS muck-stirring.

Junior

I'll say it again, I'd love for Waterford to bid for something like the Cycling World Championships...

Max Powers

b0ardsUser wrote: »

I moved away from Waterford a few months ago to work abroad, having studied in WIT for 4 years and obtained my degree I've really enjoyed living in Waterford.

While doing my degree a number of employers shut down in Waterford and as a result a lot of people lost jobs. A lot of people I know moved to Galway or abroad.

Besides having family back at home, I can't see any reason which would encourage me to move back to Waterford. I also hear from family back home that a lot of places are closing down.

Really what I'm curios to know is, is anyone happy living there anymore? Whats the general opinion of Waterford at the moment?

YES, if people stopped whining about every little pathetic non-issue and started supporting Waterford busineses/arts/etc and demanded more from their pathetically inactive/ineffective public reps

Jason Todd

Psychedelic wrote: »

It's all relative.

What was Waterford City back in the 80's and 90's, or early 00's? To be honest it was fairly crap to what it is now.

It didn't have all the festivals we have now, it didn't have the infrastructure, it didn't have as many shops, the population was a lot lower, WIT was only an RTC with a lot lower number of students, now on its way (hopefully) to becoming a technological university. The upgrades to WIT, the sports facilities and research centres at Carriganore, the improvements at the RSC, and all the good stuff the City Council has done in the last few years (House of Waterford Crystal, Viking Triangle and new museums, nature park etc). The city looks better too.

Was the night life and the craic better back in the day? Maybe, I dunno, matter of your age/personal opinion really.

Overall, I think everything is better here that it ever was, despite all the businesses closing. It will pick up again, the city is 1,100 years old, it's not going to "die" any time soon.

Well put Psychedelic.

I said something similar on a thread last year (under an old account) and was attacked for trying to put a nice spin on what some people would have you believe is a cesspool of crime, drugs, unemployment and despair. :roll eyes:

You will get out of Waterford what you put in to it in a lot of cases and most of these people who were complaining don't even live here anymore! Like I said in an earlier post, a lot of my friends are people who moved here for college and have stayed. Over the years they have opened my eyes to how much you can have here, even on a strict budget. Things will pick up eventually, and things would move a long a bit quicker if things like a rates reduction etc happen imo.

Cabbage_Head

b0ardsUser wrote: »

Really what I'm curios to know is, is anyone happy living there anymore? Whats the general opinion of Waterford at the moment?

I love Waterford, my friends are great, the pubs are great, the restaraunts are great, the countryside is great, in fact other than maybe Dublin or Cork I can't see what any other town in Ireland has to offer that Waterford doesn't.

Wanderer2010

I am lucky to have a regular wage and also really like living in Waterford, its home and the people have a strong community spirit, we have lots of nice places to eat, shops are nice and varied plus we are close to so many great places like Woodstown etc for nice walks. What I dont like is how rough the place has become in recent times with a huge number of trouuble making scumbags emerging in new estates and bringing with them drugs and general criminal activity. Plus many people in Waterford have a big sense of entitlement, they are entitled to have a job, get huge wages etc, very obvious in some unionised factories. Finally, they are too defensive when it comes to criticism of the place "I will never leave here, I love it etc", yeah well other people have had to pack up and leave, just a lot of people have black and white view of the place.

Tom_Cruise

Cabbage_Head wrote: »

I love Waterford, my friends are great, the pubs are great, the restaraunts are great, the countryside is great, in fact other than maybe Dublin or Cork I can't see what any other town in Ireland has to offer that Waterford doesn't.

I have to agree about the restaurants,i think there are some excellent place so to eat that dont break the bank.

decies

That's half the problem the way things are going that's all we will have left is restaurants . I really think we need to promote ourselves outside the south east , that new motorway is practically empty coming from Dublin , surely we should be promoting only hour and half from Dublin . We need to look after ourselves and to be more greedy rather than the likes of Galway grapping everything for themselves .

Cabbage_Head

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I have to agree about the restaurants,i think there are some excellent place so to eat that dont break the bank.

They really are, and i would rate them high above Dublin restaraunts. A restaraunt in Dublin of the same quality as a Waterford one (e.g Emilianos, La Palma etc.) would cost you double the price!

stefan idiot jones

Being an outsider and curious about Ireland in general, I have read many guide books etc. for many a year and Waterford falls short compared to what is on offer in the other "big" cities. Yet having travelled around Ireland, Waterford has just as much to offer as the other places where the tourist board or whoever is doing to PR is doing a really good job. Try looking for a b&b between B&Q and Dungarvan and you might struggle. Waterford is falling short of it's competitors in capturing the tourists attention. The Comeraghs are extremely accessible from the city but who is organising anything there ? The place is surely missing a trick.:(

bilibob

I dont want to draw attention away from the previous post, but in my opinion there is too much attention drawn away form the city, in order to focus on the county of Waterford. I'm a cat living in Waterford for the last four years, college in Limerick and now working in south Kilkenny. I absolutely love it here.

People often think I'm raving but the city is beautiful to look at, the street layout, the different 'zones' for nightlife, shopping, culture and stuff. Nightlife seems to be buzzing, and Id say Waterford must have a record set with the ammount of high quality restaurants and cafes in the city centre, at bargain prices compared with other cities. the only thing that Dublin or Cork compare better in is the shopping. Its such a pity that some of the bigger shops like Zara, Hand M and others cant find suitable premises in the city centre.

Although if some of the closed shops could be knocked together to make bigger spaces it might breath life back into the city centre. You would think Penneys was the only shop in town after the fantastic work they did on it. I think the quays will look fantastic when they are done too, although progress is ridiculously slow. A cheapish central carpark wouldnt go astray either Newgate street isn't very accessible.

spankmemunkey

I dont think things will ever pick up in Ireland and therefore Waterford.

The country is straddled with massive massive debts and all were facing is cuts cuts cuts in every dept(oh here comes another negative poster)

One of the biggest employers is gone Waterford Crystal and more and more places are shut down.

Foreign investment and the availability of easy credit are no longer a reality and Waterford is one of the places suffering the most.

There is no longer an ability to compete with the likes of China or now Nigeria who China are using for their cheap labour, If i wasnt shackled with a mortgage and kids id be long gone out of this place, my advice to any young up and coming people is to leave, I lived in other european countries france and Germany, German is easy to learn and should be obtained in 6 months and they do employ alot of english speakers for english jobs especially in Frankfurt they are crying out of english speakers,

stefan idiot jones

http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2012/01/18/expect-house-prices-to-hit-the-bottom-next-year This is something I found a little while ago which piqued my interest. The similarities between Ireland and Japan cannot be ignored, If Ireland pollows the same path then there may only be another year or less until things start picking up again. One can only hope !

Jason Todd

spankmemunkey wrote: »

I dont think things will ever pick up in Ireland and therefore Waterford.

The country is straddled with massive massive debts and all were facing is cuts cuts cuts in every dept(oh here comes another negative poster)

One of the biggest employers is gone Waterford Crystal and more and more places are shut down.

Foreign investment and the availability of easy credit are no longer a reality and Waterford is one of the places suffering the most.

There is no longer an ability to compete with the likes of China or now Nigeria who China are using for their cheap labour, If i wasnt shackled with a mortgage and kids id be long gone out of this place, my advice to any young up and coming people is to leave, I lived in other european countries france and Germany, German is easy to learn and should be obtained in 6 months and they do employ alot of english speakers for english jobs especially in Frankfurt they are crying out of english speakers,

Got any other ideas besides leaving? I kinda don't want to leave!

stefan idiot jones

There is always window cleaning ,I have never seen the same guy twice. Not cheap either !

spankmemunkey

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Being an outsider and curious about Ireland in general, I have read many guide books etc. for many a year and Waterford falls short compared to what is on offer in the other "big" cities. Yet having travelled around Ireland, Waterford has just as much to offer as the other places where the tourist board or whoever is doing to PR is doing a really good job. Try looking for a b&b between B&Q and Dungarvan and you might struggle. Waterford is falling short of it's competitors in capturing the tourists attention. The Comeraghs are extremely accessible from the city but who is organising anything there ? The place is surely missing a trick.:(

Jaysus you musnt be lookig too hard theres a heap load of B+B's all up and down the cork road from behind aldi a feck it theres too many to point out, if you drive from the start of the cork road in town all the way out youll see plenty of B+Bs

spankmemunkey

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2012/01/18/expect-house-prices-to-hit-the-bottom-next-year This is something I found a little while ago which piqued my interest. The similarities between Ireland and Japan cannot be ignored, If Ireland pollows the same path then there may only be another year or less until things start picking up again. One can only hope !

This was pointed out on one of the prime time or some show on RTE one evening, Japans difference with Ireland is that Japan for starts has their own currency, and there were a heap load of other reason why ireland isnt Japan pointed out so they kinda crossed that comparison out!

spankmemunkey

Jason Todd wrote: »

Got any other ideas besides leaving? I kinda don't want to leave!

You could just hope for the vaccum of people leaving to leave space for you!:D

It all depends on personal circumstances what kind of qualifications you have and how old you are, I think a stint living abroad is something that i can only recommend to young free and single people, it changes your whole perspective and i think people will be only better for it and gain better experience, I know i did.

Its not going to get better here for a long time, we'll be paying Quinns bills for another 25 years at least through tax's and premium increases.

In fairness to the government theres too much money going out than coming in and that has to be addressed in the form of cuts, as terrible as it all is, this will cause things to contract seriously, lets hope the government start to look closer to home when they cut! as much as i want to say be positive you have to also be realistic and not bury your head in the sand, If your 20 and it takes 20 years to come good youll be 40 by the time things start to pick up so look at it that way, lets hope we hit the oil big time off dalkey!

stefan idiot jones

spankmemunkey wrote: »

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Being an outsider and curious about Ireland in general, I have read many guide books etc. for many a year and Waterford falls short compared to what is on offer in the other "big" cities. Yet having travelled around Ireland, Waterford has just as much to offer as the other places where the tourist board or whoever is doing to PR is doing a really good job. Try looking for a b&b between B&Q and Dungarvan and you might struggle. Waterford is falling short of it's competitors in capturing the tourists attention. The Comeraghs are extremely accessible from the city but who is organising anything there ? The place is surely missing a trick.:(

Jaysus you musnt be lookig too hard theres a heap load of B+B's all up and down the cork road from behind aldi a feck it theres too many to point out, if you drive from the start of the cork road in town all the way out youll see plenty of B+Bs

But those b&bs around the holy cross area are just serving the city, what I meant is there is a vacuum of choices for the tourist to avail of where there are no street lights i.e. the county proper

spankmemunkey

Ah i have to disagree there sorry im not picking on you in particular;) but there are a few B+B's in the country areas! you just have to look for them!

maybe there arent so well advertised!

BadCharlie

You will only find most B&B's in the villages on your way to dungarvan. Im trying to pick them out in my head now and i cant remember many at all.

BadCharlie

I think things will pick up but not like before, which i think might be a good thing. I felt when in the tiger people had lost the run of them selfs. I remember in 2006 when driving to work with my wife i would say... ireland cant keep building close to 100k houses each year and expect to fill them. I said this a number of times over the years & knew something had to give but i thought it could be another 10 years not like as it turned out to be 2ish years.

I think WCC have done a good job of late (the past 4 or more years) with less of a budget they seem to be doing more for the city.

I would also agree if your not working in waterford now. And have your qualifications but living here you should just move on and try and find something. Its going to be years and no one knows for sure how long. But your better off going now then spending another 2 years or so looking... 2 years down the road you will feel you just wasted a part of your life and your never getting that time back.
I moved away for a while when 22, and it was a ball. Would i do it now ? nope. It was the right time in my life, i got work after 3 days and i was with friends.

spankmemunkey

I cant see it happening to be honest, I think there will another 25 years of adjustments.
In Waterford there is a huge housing overhang, As long as this is the case the remaining house prices will keep dropping. People cant buy cos they cant get a mortgage due to job security that has a knock on affect to shops like harvey norman and their competitors who employ lots of people.

I think the main thing is Waterford needs a huge focus on Job creation the government needs to act, in order for it to pick up jobs need to be created my 2 cents

Totally Tropical

There was a post by someone on the now locked John Creedon cities thread that i would like to addrees.

The real hidden threat according to many people with the inside track, is Cork. De Real Capittle sees itself as capital not only of the People's Republic, but of Greater Munster, and sees Limerick, Clare, Waterford, etc. as its own Lebensraum.

You think I'm joking? Read Professor Ed Walsh's book about the founding and development of UL and you'll get a flavour of how much UCC tried to stymie it at every hand's turn.

And for a concrete, Waterford-related example, remember when WRTC was upgraded to WIT alongside DIT? Who kicked up an almighty stink? That's right! Cork RTC.

First of all this person seems to take offence that Cork sees itself as the capital of munster.Considering that Cork is the largest city in the region and taking into account the fact that the population of the greater Cork city area is bigger than both the populations of Waterford and Limerick cities combined i think it's reasonable to assume that Cork is the capital of munster.This poster complains about Cork institutions making objections to Waterfords detriment.Does he/she not remember that the port of Waterford authority objected to the port of Corks expansion!

My main point is that public representatives that have failed to promote Waterford,that have failed in their duties to fight for Waterford and say were a city just like Cork and Limerick are treat us like one are Waterfords biggest problem not Cork Galway or anywhere else for that matter.In other words the people of Waterford keep electing public representatives that are afraid to rock the boat.Compare that to Galway that place has marketed itself so well that people compare it to major european cities like Paris and Barcelona!In fact people are now under the illusion that Galway is bigger than Limerick!With a bit of investment Waterford would be flying but how often do you encounter Waterford people both in real life and on here that undersell the city and list a huge pile of negatives.It's a sad situation because Waterford was a city long before Galway was.It feels a lot more city like than Galway but people compare Galway to Dublin and Cork and see Waterford as a provincial town like Tralee and Clonmel.I honestly think that Waterford is now paying dearly for decades of poor political representation on a national level.