Moving to Kilkenny?

sillymoo

Hello all I am in need of some advice

I am moving to the south east for work and I am considering living in Kilkenny. I will be working in Clonmel And I am wondering if it is a reasonable idea to be commuting to Clonmel everyday from Kilkenny. Does anyone do this journey and know what the traffic I'd like in the mornings etc? If I am living in Kilkenny I am hoping to rent - where would be a good place to rent and are the prices on daft inflated for a two bedroom place? It seems to vary from 500-750€. Is there anywhere else I should be looking for places apart from daft e.g a local paper?

up for anything

Can I ask why you're thinking of living in Kilkenny and putting yourself through a daily commute? It is doable. I know lots of people doing it because they have to but not by choice. It can be a pain of drive especially if you get caught behind slow traffic - not good for blood pressure - as while there are passing out places if you're caught in a run of cars you might miss your chance and have to wait till the next one which if you're running short of time due to getting out of bed a bit late/slow traffic is a sure recipe for a dose of road rage (or is that only me. ) Also the last four miles into Kilkenny are a minefield of changing speed limits and hidden camera vans. Anyone who travels that road regularly builds in a few speeding fines/points into their budget - based on what the people I know who do that commute regularly say.

The other downside to living and working in different places is getting to know people, unless you have a network of friends down this way already. You'll see more than few posts on here looking for ways to make friends in Kilkenny and that's from people who have moved here to work. How much harder if you don't have work mates built in?

There is the Kilkenny People newspaper and the free paper. Also myhome.ie. You could ring round the local estate/letting agencies but you'd have to do that regularly as they're useless at getting back to people. The Kilkenny People is also online but I'm not sure if the small ads are. The paper version comes out on Wednesday morning. The online version is updated every day.

I'm not familiar with rental prices at the moment but Kilkenny isn't cheap. Best places would be within handy walking distance of town but not in town (unless you like sharing your space with noisy drunken people). the MacDonagh Junction complex is supposed to be nice. Where depends on on whether you want to look out at a cityscape or green fields.

There's also rent.ie that you can have a look at.

mathepac

sillymoo wrote: »

... And I am wondering if it is a reasonable idea to be commuting to Clonmel everyday from Kilkenny. ...

As above, no way Jose.

Clonmel town-centre like Kilkenny is drunk central Thursday to Sunday as above and both places also have serious drug problems.

Why not spend a week-end in and around Clonmel and visit local villages with a view to renting close to Clonmel?

Sorry to rain on the parade.

Sky King

With a weekend like this one when the sun is shining and everyone is out for the music festival, i can see why you'd want to move here!

I knew a guy who rented in KK and commuted to Waterford because he liked it here. I knew another guy who lived in KK and commuted daily to Clonmel. Did it for years actually.

It's a scenic drive but not an easy one - crap road and if you get stuck behind something you're boned, but to answer your question, yes, it's do-able.

You could rent in Callan because it would be dirt cheap and you have all your amenities there. I read somewhere recently they even have an Aldi now! Commute to clonmel would be a lot more bearable from Callan, and you could head into KK for a night out then as well.

Susie120704

It is a bit of a nuisance drive. Why not just move to Clonmel? Its a nice town too

biffontour

Coming from a person who has moved to Kilkenny town from Tullamore city!

It is a fantastic place to live, a lot going on every weekend, people are friendly,
Plenty of ways to meet people, I met a lot of people with Tag rugby in Kilkenny rugby club.

I have also commuted to Dublin/Waterford/Clonmel regularly.
The road is a bit proxy but 45/50 mins would get you there comfortably.

For renting purposes I would probably think maybe -
College park/ St Margaret's Field/ Clongowan /Parc Na Gowan/ Rosehill
are all areas close to the Callan road

Also renting in Kilkenny is not cheap as it has held it's rental level through the years.

Hope this helps

sillymoo

Thanks for all your replies. I'm not going to go into details about why Kilkenny vs clonmel but my partner is probably also going to move and Kilkenny is a good compromise between where we both work.

I regularly spend 3/4 of an hour driving to work currently so it should not be a problem. Thanks for the heads up about the road though - its very hard to know the condition of a road by looking at a map! Does it be a very busy road between kk and clonmel?

Hopefully we will head down for a few days and make some plans soon. We will probably only be there for a year as my job will move again but we would like to live somewhere nice for the year. We will be sure to try be there on a Wednesday to see about getting the free paper also.

S28382

Kilkenny is a lovely place to live i moved up from Waterford over 3yrs ago and i love it here....i still work in Waterford so i travel up and down 6 days a week. The travel from Kilkenny to Clonmel is a pain in the ass i personally wouldnt travel that for work, as was said it can be done in 45/50mins but if you get caught behind slow moving traffic it will take you way longer.

road_high

S28382 wrote: »

Kilkenny is a lovely place to live i moved up from Waterford over 3yrs ago and i love it here....i still work in Waterford so i travel up and down 6 days a week. The travel from Kilkenny to Clonmel is a pain in the ass i personally wouldnt travel that for work, as was said it can be done in 45/50mins but if you get caught behind slow moving traffic it will take you way longer.

I wouldn't be a slow driver but the last time I travelled that road N76 it was almost an hour during the day. I would be outside Dublin in the same time these days.
In OP's case his/her other half is working in the opposite direction somewhere so I guess to live together this makes sense to live in KK. But to just live in KK and commute to Clonmel would be mad in my view.
It's not like Carlow or even Waterford that is much closer and has motorway links.

barneygumble99

Depends what time you start work and what part of Clonmel you'll be working really, the ring road in Clonmel can be brutal in the morning and its long enough with a slow speed limit on it. If you start work at nine you'd be loads of time leaving Kk at 8 even allowing for traffic, providing you're working at the Kilkenny side of Clonmel.
I wouldn't say Kilkenny has a major drug problem, as posted above, its no worse than anywhere else in the country and its certainly no O Connell St.

mathepac

barneygumble99 wrote: »

... I wouldn't say Kilkenny has a major drug problem, ...

I stand by my statement, backed up by my professional experience.

Lump

Which is?

mathepac

That Kilkenny has a serious drugs problem.

Sky King

I wouldn't call it a problem.....maaaaaan!

blockic

mathepac wrote: »

That Kilkenny has a serious drugs problem.

A mad statement. I've been here 4 years and having been around the block living in a few different towns/cities, both in Ireland and abroad, this town is by far the quietest and safest I've been in.

This should not be considered by the OP when making the decision to move here or not.

S28382

In the time iv been living in KK iv seen one guy walk past me that was clearly on heroin after that iv seen nothing that would make me say that KK has anymore of a drug problem than any other town in the country.

mathepac

From HRB report published Spring 2013 for the South-east :-

"The total number of individuals seeking treatment in 2011 was 3,736, an increase of 218 on the 2010 figure. Some 217 concerned persons (family members or close friends of substance users) contacted treatment services in the south east in 2011.

Excluding clients who were assessed only and those who were treated for addictions other than substance misuse, the combined total of continuous care clients and new referrals treated for substance misuse in 2011 was 3,022.

Of these:

• 69% were male and 31% were female.
• 7% were under the age of 18, and 22.5% were aged between 18 and 24.
• 57% were aged under 35.
• Alcohol (61%) was the most common main problem substance for which treatment was sought, followed by cannabis (16%), heroin (15%), and cocaine (3%). Heroin, which had been second in this ranking between 2008 and 2010, was overtaken by cannabis in 2011.
• Between 2010 and 2011 the number of clients treated for alcohol as their main problem substance increased by 15%, the number treated for cannabis use increased by 9% and the number treated for benzodiazepine use increased by 21%.

"

All of the statistics point to a growing problem in the area.

http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/view/subjects/AA2.html#

http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/19690/

Sky King

Would the fact that the main youth drug treatment centre for the country is based in Kilkenny be anything to do with these figures?

S28382

Cannabis is no more a drug than alcohol

mathepac

Sky King wrote: »

Would the fact that the main youth drug treatment centre for the country is based in Kilkenny be anything to do with these figures?

No because all treatment facilities (private, public, residential, out-patient, primary contact and after-care, heroin substitution and so on) contribute their numbers to the HRB. The location of a single residential treatment facility several miles from Kilkenny City will not skew the stats or falsely concentrate problems in that area.

When anonymised data are gathered, the residential area of the client / patient is used in submitting, compiling, analysing and publishing these numbers, not the area where s/he is treated.

Captain Havoc

This is a thread about moving to Kilkenny not about a drugs, back on topic please.

S28382

It was said KK has a major drug problem some people are pointing out that it doesnt i think that it is very much on topic seen as it could be a deciding factor on the OP moving to KK.

Cabaal

S28382 wrote: »

It was said KK has a major drug problem some people are pointing out that it doesnt i think that it is very much on topic seen as it could be a deciding factor on the OP moving to KK.

Bit of a stretch,
Been in Kilkenny most of my life, I can count the number of times I've encountered drugs on one hand. Its hardly a big deciding factor.

Stuff that is far more important is the price of rent, commute times, local services, entertainment etc

Captain Havoc

S28382 wrote: »

It was said KK has a major drug problem some people are pointing out that it doesnt i think that it is very much on topic seen as it could be a deciding factor on the OP moving to KK.

I and those that reported posts, feel that the thread is being derailed into a drugs thread. For any further feedback, please PM me.

S28382

Cabaal wrote: »

Bit of a stretch,
Been in Kilkenny most of my life, I can count the number of times I've encountered drugs on one hand. Its hardly a big deciding factor.

Stuff that is far more important is the price of rent, commute times, local services, entertainment etc

What, how is it a bit of a stretch? if i was moving somewhere and i was told where i wanted to go had a big drug problem i would not move there.

When Ballymun was as bad as it was would you of gone and lived there?

Helpneeded86

Back on track with this.

I do this commute a lot it takes me 45 minutes to hit the first roundabout in Clonmel from the far side of KK city.

Even on a bad day you should not vary to much on either side of this time. Id imagine in the morning there would be less traffic headed for Clonmel.

konflikt

to be fair the road is'nt the worst i have ever used. the road surface is in relatively good condition.

Wimbago

If you are working on the Cahir side of Clonmel it could be worth moving there altogether, the ring road in Clonmel is a nightmare from 3-6.

theidiots

Its a great city, Don't mind any of the idiots here spewing on, they've obviously never been to Dublin, Cork, Waterford. Never any trouble in the city and u rarely if ever see scumbags around, they just stick to themselves to be honest and hassle no one. Its a great city

Captain Havoc

Please refrain from calling other users idiots.

ft9

He even called himself an idiot!