Why does the whole area around Cork Street / Dolphin Barn have such a bad reputation?

hatrickpatrick

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Dolphins Barn is in a league if it's own if you're comparing it to dun laoighre, which is one of the most affluent places in Dublin. Only thing it has is the methadone clinics, but most addicts are gone by the night and even then they're usually just harmlessly loud. I'm not necessarily saying Dolphins Barn is terribly dodgy, although I've had some bad experiences there with a lot of intimidating youths(10 years ago albeit) and it has obvious social problems in the flats, played a match in Terrsas Gardens and my god was glad to get out of there, but to give the impression Sandycove and Dun Laoighre are on the same or even similar level of anti social behaviour is ludicrous.

Not saying it's the same, more that it certainly has a couple of "best avoided" spots after dark, which is the impression I'm getting of Cork Street and its surroundings from this thread - the difference being that as I say, there's a hysteria surrounding Cork Street online which I've personally found to be completely overblown. As I say, if anything it's the quiet that unnerves me, whereas the description of the place on Boards would give the impression that it's full of fights and what not.

Just would have thought that if Dolphin's Barn was really all that scary, I'd have had or heard of at least one bad experience after four years of so many friends living around it. Walk along Donore Avenue pretty often as well (not from the Cork Street end though, find it quicker to take that little lane beside Fallons whatever it's called), would never have picked up on its reputation had people not actually said it to me at some stage. It's not just that you don't see any dodgy characters around, depending on the time of day I find you barely see anyone around at all!
Mind you, people are always saying that the Boardwalk along the Liffey is best avoided and the only obvious junkies I've ever seen on it are usually pretty dead to the world and not at all intimidating

EDIT: To be fair, one of my friends did have something stolen out of his car one night, but that was parked across the road from St Teresa's rather than Dolphin - which would appear to indeed be a spot you wouldn't want to hang around for too long.

beauf

Hysteria? Can you link to an example?

Gavin "shels"

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Dolphins Barn is in a league if it's own if you're comparing it to dun laoighre, which is one of the most affluent places in Dublin. Only thing it has is the methadone clinics, but most addicts are gone by the night and even then they're usually just harmlessly loud. I'm not necessarily saying Dolphins Barn is terribly dodgy, although I've had some bad experiences there with a lot of intimidating youths(10 years ago albeit) and it has obvious social problems in the flats, played a match in Terrsas Gardens and my god was glad to get out of there, but to give the impression Sandycove and Dun Laoighre are on the same or even similar level of anti social behaviour is ludicrous.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dun-laoghaires-decline-leaves-its-traders-reeling-30462027.html

Also you say 10 years ago, I can tell you Teresa's Gardens isn't half of what it used to be, people being shot/found dead was a common thing 10 years ago, it's non-existent now.

strandroad

This is just last year:
http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/five-injured-in-spate-of-stabbing-attacks-in-dublin-29504193.html

But the low level crime/antisocial behaviour used to be quite consistent, it's much quieter now with St Teresa's and Dolphin flats being inactive and a lot of dodgy bedsits on SCR liquidated. You used to get a lot of burglaries, broken wing mirrors, keyed cars, fights etc. Hence the reputation.

BostonB

I think Dublin is a difference place now. So many transport options, cheap cars, mobile and the internet. Crime isn't constrained to hotspots as it was before. If you get a bad group in one area, they'll travel all over the country now using the motoways.

20yrs ago you'd get stoned, or bricked, walking or driving near some areas on a regular basis. Any car or van you parked would be stripped of tools. So you'd see people plating over van handles and putting shackles with padlocks on them. A lot of that doesn't happen anymore.

Stojkovic

Aah I was thinking of Dolphin Road anyway you went to alot of trouble so well done.

Anyway I work at that junction with the SCR and the place is still a dirty kip.

Not as bad as it was but still a dodgy filthy kip full of junkie scrotes.

RedemptionZ

Gavin "shels" wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dun-laoghaires-decline-leaves-its-traders-reeling-30462027.html

Also you say 10 years ago, I can tell you Teresa's Gardens isn't half of what it used to be, people being shot/found dead was a common thing 10 years ago, it's non-existent now.

I realise that it has improved, but saying that dead bodies aren't being found anymore isn't exactly the best endorsement! Dun Laoighre shopping centre and Main Street is a kip but it's just run down as opposed to being dodgy. One of the poshest places in Dublin id say, I just think it's disingenuous to compare it to Dolphins Barn. Don't live in or near either place either just been to both a lot.

hatrickpatrick

RedemptionZ wrote: »

I realise that it has improved, but saying that dead bodies aren't being found anymore isn't exactly the best endorsement! Dun Laoighre shopping centre and Main Street is a kip but it's just run down as opposed to being dodgy. One of the poshest places in Dublin id say, I just think it's disingenuous to compare it to Dolphins Barn. Don't live in or near either place either just been to both a lot.

I challenge you to take a walk alone down to "Little Egypt" on a weekend night (between the baths and the East Pier, down all the steps) and not fear for your safety. I've lived in Sandycove for 20 years and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It's improved recently, but a lack of decent street lighting and its sea-level down from the road make it an ideal spot for the handover of drugs, the settling of scores, etc.

To contrast, Dolphin's Barn just seems to be empty most of the time at night. Last time I walked home it was maybe 3AM and I think I encountered about four people along the entirety of Cork Street, with only a handful of empty taxis occasionally racing past.

hatrickpatrick

beauf wrote: »

Hysteria? Can you link to an example?

Not on my laptop atm but will when I'm home later! The real hysteria tends to be more from Gen X folk (relatives etc) who are always telling me to watch my back in the area, which is why I wondered if the reputation came from a specific past era as opposed to a current scenario.

Anyone know St Anthony's Road though? That seems to be the one spot that's universally agreed to be best avoided unless you have business there, looks very inconspicuous to me but there you go...

reprazant

Fatima Mansions was there. They have been knocked now.

hatrickpatrick

Just for those who are saying that Dun Laoghaire is very posh, this might change your minds

http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/video-a-look-inside-a-suspected-drug-den-in-dun-laoghaire-30784340.html

hatrickpatrick

reprazant wrote: »

Fatima Mansions was there. They have been knocked now.

Ah, so presumably the current gang issue there comes from the modern units which replaced it? Or is that also overblown? There was an article not so long ago which described it as practically a no go area due to an alleged new generation of young gang folk hanging out there

RedemptionZ

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I challenge you to take a walk alone down to "Little Egypt" on a weekend night (between the baths and the East Pier, down all the steps) and not fear for your safety. I've lived in Sandycove for 20 years and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It's improved recently, but a lack of decent street lighting and its sea-level down from the road make it an ideal spot for the handover of drugs, the settling of scores, etc.

To contrast, Dolphin's Barn just seems to be empty most of the time at night. Last time I walked home it was maybe 3AM and I think I encountered about four people along the entirety of Cork Street, with only a handful of empty taxis occasionally racing past.

I have walked that! I don't like walking it no tbf, but it's in the same category as walking in a park late at night, ie. every place has them. Herbert Park in Ballsbridge is going to be dodgy at night! But Ballsbridge is normally touted as the place people who wear monacles and top hats live.

Going by the thread dolphins barn is fairly inactive at night so can't disagree with that. And improving too which can only be a good thing. 10 years time who knows what the area will be like. But it's definitely a lot rougher on the whole than dun laoighre. Go to the worst council estate in either one and you'll see what I mean.

Luke92

Living on the old coombe all my life. In the 90s cork street was basically where all the junkies and dealers met to give out the heroin, it then changed to Thomas street from around the 2000s to 2008. Its pretty much quietened down a lot since those days. Still a few junkies and dealers but not as bad as it was. All the flats getting knocked down has helped I think.

There was literally gardai stationed at the entrance to theresas gardens 24/7 at one stage! Used to be terrible hard to buy some green!

Like every area there are scum bags, but they make up a very small percentage.

Are you in the new music college?

And yeah with ncad and the like its all becoming a bit hip and very multicultural. I reckon it be like the Bronx in about 10 years. A place most people feared and is now a thriving multicultural community.

Kalman

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Ask only because a load of my friends are living around this area at the moment, our college is in the Coombe near St Patrick's Cathedral so closest area to live.

First time I was heading to a session there my dad explicitly warned me that I should watch my back, googled it out of interest to see if he was just being OTT but it seems around here on Boards as well, any time someone's made a thread about potentially moving there they've been warned off it.

Just wondering why, and is this essentially an out of date view of the area, or have I simply been lucky enough never to have seen trouble near it? I've walked to and from apartments around the Coombe women and infants hospital, both during the day and in the small hours of the morning, never had even the slightest air of menace or fear - had I not heard from so many people that one should watch out in the area, I wouldn't have guessed it at all and wouldn't have been searching for evidence online.

Not thinking of moving there, just wondering how these reputations develop in seemingly quiet areas, or whether I'm simply missing out on a very obvious "dodginess" around there which others are aware of but has slipped past me?

The only nearby spot that has ever actually frightened me is Marrowbone Lane, and that was at 4AM when I was lost and drunk and came across a smashed in van near the Guinness Storehouse. One such incident in four years of hanging around the general vicinity isn't bad going, I live in Sandycove and I've seen far worse around here over the years

Thoughts?

Nowhere is 100% safe! However, if you dwell too much thinking about these things, you would not leave home. I have lived in some "so called" deprived areas and never felt in danger. I never worried about such things. Dolphins Barn? I used to go to a cinema there years ago, I think it was called the Tivoli>>>that was light-years ago. Spent some years in Whitechapel, a tough area and I felt safe. If you go looking for trouble, it will come to you.

nxbyveromdwjpg

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

there are some parts of Dun Laoghaire and Sandycove I'd be very wary of at night (between the baths and the east pier is one spot I refuse to go anywhere near after dark, the rowdy roaring which can often be heard from the street above would scare anyone off

I think if you were to pick up these lads being rowdy and roaring in Sandycove, and drop them in Dolphins Barn, they would quiet down pretty quick.

stanley1

Been cycling through that area for the past 20 years,all hours, never seen any sign of bother.

hatrickpatrick

Asked a mate of mine who lives there today, he was saying Dolphin House is actually pretty quiet and Anthony's Road on the way to the Luas is what he'd now consider the dodgy part of the area. Would make sense that I've never seen this as it's a fair bit along the SSR from where we usually hang out.

Again though can someone explain something which isn't often mentioned in news articles about regeneration - how does a council both keep the same community and families in an area (which they've claimed they want to do with Dolphin's Barn and St. Teresa's) while not maintaining the same size of the individual living spaces? In Dolphin's House for instance they're turning 3 bedroom into 2 bedroom apartments, and 2 bedroom into 1 bedroom apartments (unless I'm misreading the proposal). So what happens to a family which was previously living in a three bedroom apartment? Move to a new two bedroom one and buy an adjacent one bedroom? That particular aspect of regeneration makes absolutely no sense from my own reading of it. The same kind of re-configuring would appear to have been done with the change from Fatima to Herberton, and yet in the same way the articles heralding the announcement of the project spoke of a desire to maintain the same community as per the resident's wishes.

Maths has never been my strongest skill but someone needs to help me out here as I'm pretty sure even I can't be that bad at arithmetic

salmocab

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Asked a mate of mine who lives there today, he was saying Dolphin House is actually pretty quiet and Anthony's Road on the way to the Luas is what he'd now consider the dodgy part of the area. Would make sense that I've never seen this as it's a fair bit along the SSR from where we usually hang out.

Again though can someone explain something which isn't often mentioned in news articles about regeneration - how does a council both keep the same community and families in an area (which they've claimed they want to do with Dolphin's Barn and St. Teresa's) while not maintaining the same size of the individual living spaces? In Dolphin's House for instance they're turning 3 bedroom into 2 bedroom apartments, and 2 bedroom into 1 bedroom apartments (unless I'm misreading the proposal). So what happens to a family which was previously living in a three bedroom apartment? Move to a new two bedroom one and buy an adjacent one bedroom? That particular aspect of regeneration makes absolutely no sense from my own reading of it. The same kind of re-configuring would appear to have been done with the change from Fatima to Herberton, and yet in the same way the articles heralding the announcement of the project spoke of a desire to maintain the same community as per the resident's wishes.

Maths has never been my strongest skill but someone needs to help me out here as I'm pretty sure even I can't be that bad at arithmetic

I would imagine that they give a lot of people the chance to move elsewhere, lots of people would be happy to move to a house in the suburbs especially if they have family there already. Plus there are probably some empty units already which could be done first to allow movement.