buying in blessington

shaz21

Hi, I am just wondering can anybody give me information on the Blessington area?
I have being looking at apartments in the area around the Woodleigh Grove.
Any advice would be highly appreciated.

x

laraghrider

Hi Shaz, sure thing. What are you looking to find out, what would you like to know?

shaz21

is the area a quite area? We are a young couple looking to settle down in nice area. Is Woodleigh grove close to all amenities?
What to do on weekends?
Bus routes to Tallaght/city centre?

laraghrider

Hi Shaz,

Having lived in Dublin for a large chunk of my life I would say Blessington is a quiet area. It's certainly a lot quieter than where I used to live. In general I love living there and wouldn't move. My house is in an estate which I would class as very quiet and nice. I have a couple of friends who live in Woodleigh. Bar the ridiculously oversized speed bump at the entrance to the estate it's a nice spot. It's a mix of 2-3 bed houses and some town houses with apartments under.

As for how far or close Woodleigh is to amenities it's quite close. If you're coming from Dublin Woodleigh is in on your right at the very start of the village. You turn off at Aldi to get to Woodleigh which means you're very close to Aldi. You're also very close to the playground and sake park, maxol and easy walking distance to the rest of the village i.e. pubs etc... Also they've just started building the new medical center which aims to be open by the end of the year right in front of Woodleigh.

Weeekends and bus routes/city center is always the make or break thing. I've originally from the country (username is a clue) so I settled straight away. What gets to a lot that move out from say Dublin is the whole thing of night in the city and taxi home just doesn't happen unless you want to spend €60-70 on one. I've seen many people move out to Blessington give it a year or so and find they can't settle into the whole outside of Dublin life and move back. I guess it just depends on what you're after. Bus service (65) is like any other dublin bus i suppose but the times in the evening outside of peak are wide apart. I work in the city so if I'm having some drinks after work if I don't get the 9:30 bus the next one isn't until 11:00. But you just plan around that. In the town what to do it really depends on what you like I guess. There are 6 pubs of varying type, a late bar which is woeful but a bit of a laugh in plan b and some restaurants etc... A lot of people also head over to Naas for nights out as taxis are easy to get back from there and usually come in about 20. Plenty of sports clubs around if you like, running, cycling, rowing, football, gaa etc... It's also a very scenic area if nature is your thing.

If there is anything you'd like to know or find out I'm happy to help.

shaz21

Thank you Laraghrider for your reply.

I will be in touch if I need any other questions answered.

Have a nice day.
shaz

fussyonion

I lived in Blessington for years, OP, and it wasn't for me.

It was too quiet; the pubs were very cliquey,except the Lakes pub which I found very down-to-earth, and everyone seemed to know everyone else's business, especially in the post office where the staff seemed to think it was normal to ask personal questions.

If you like the country life you'll like Blessington, but laragh made a good point about nights out in Dublin.
We used to stay in hotels in Dublin if we were spending a night out on the tiles; it was cheaper than a taxi home.

We had our car stolen twice in Blessington, (Deerpark) too, and our tyres slashed on several occasions.

Our neighbour's house was broken into AND the biggest bug-bear is that the police station CLOSES for most of the day and only reopens at 7pm.
So there's a nice little window of opportunity for any would-be thieves, who know exactly when the Gardai clock on/off.

If you're a victim of crime in between these hours, your call will be diverted to Baltinglass.
Ridiculous.

chimmy chonga

My parents live close to Blessington and I can tell you that there is only one (1) pharmacy with no competition so they can charge whatever they like. My Dad goes to Tesco pharmacy in either the Square Tallaght or Tesco Naas and saves a fortune. OH and the petrol stations (3) all charge the same price for both diesel and petrol.

fussyonion

chimmy chonga wrote: »

My parents live close to Blessington and I can tell you that there is only one (1) pharmacy with no competition so they can charge whatever they like. My Dad goes to Tesco pharmacy in either the Square Tallaght or Tesco Naas and saves a fortune. OH and the petrol stations (3) all charge the same price for both diesel and petrol.

What about the chemist beside the doctor's surgery?

chimmy chonga

fussyonion wrote: »

What about the chemist beside the doctor's surgery?

It's just a branch of the other one and owned by the same chemist. Believe me, they have the town sewn up.

Coles

Quite a bit of price gouging by the businesses in Blessington. The garages don't compete on price and just set their prices at 5c higher than Tallaght. Since the various builders providers folded there is no real competition and the mark up is eye watering. At least Aldi has kept the supermarkets honest.

chimmy chonga

Coles wrote: »

Quite a bit of price gouging by the businesses in Blessington. The garages don't compete on price and just set their prices at 5c higher than Tallaght. Since the various builders providers folded there is no real competition and the mark up is eye watering. At least Aldi has kept the supermarkets honest.

Couldn't agree more. The supervalu owner drives a Bentley FFS:mad:

laraghrider

chimmy chonga wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. The supervalu owner drives a Bentley FFS:mad:

Well Supervalu had it all their own way for years. That's not the case anymore. Dunnes and Aldi have taken a good scalp off them and almost nobody now does a weekly shop in Supervalu anymore.

The garage thing does annoy me I have to say but I work around that and buy my diesel close to work which is one of the cheapest garages in the country.

On the pharmacy side of things I'd have to defend McGreals here. There are two pharmacys (both mcgreals) but on price they are cheaper for some things and more expensive for other things than any other pharmacy. A unicare opened up about 9 years ago which was cheaper and it closed down within 6 months. If price is your only consideration just buy online and be done with it. If on the other hand you actually want a reliable, super friendly and helpful pharmacy then go to McGreals. For me it's not about price it's about what a pharmacy can offer. I have kids and everyone in that pharmacy knows me, my wife and my kids and the support and help they've provided over the years with medications and illness is completely incomparable to saving a few euro in Tesco. It's not even a case of them having it wrapped up either Killian is constantly replacing expensive med's and pushing generics and they always have specials on lots of stuff.

chimmy chonga

laraghrider wrote: »

On the pharmacy side of things I'd have to defend McGreals here. There are two pharmacys (both mcgreals) but on price they are cheaper for some things and more expensive for other things than any other pharmacy. A unicare opened up about 9 years ago which was cheaper and it closed down within 6 months. If price is your only consideration just buy online and be done with it. If on the other hand you actually want a reliable, super friendly and helpful pharmacy then go to McGreals. For me it's not about price it's about what a pharmacy can offer. I have kids and everyone in that pharmacy knows me, my wife and my kids and the support and help they've provided over the years with medications and illness is completely incomparable to saving a few euro in Tesco. It's not even a case of them having it wrapped up either Killian is constantly replacing expensive med's and pushing generics and they always have specials on lots of stuff.

I found McGreals were charging me twice as much as Tesco were charging in both Naas and Tallaght. The staff in these outlets are extremely friendly and always remember my name. I have no problem in anyone making a profit that's why they are in business afterall, but I do think it is morally wrong to charge above and beyond what is a reasonable profit margin bearing in mind that they are dealing with sick people who would not wish to visit a pharmacy if at all possible. Making excess profits on others misfortune is abhorrant in anyone's language.

Coles

McGreals are great for advice and prescriptions but their prices are on the high side. With regards my earlier comments about building materials and hardware, I heard some very sad new about the tragic death of Tim Murphy of Bryko. Rest in peace.

laraghrider

chimmy chonga wrote: »

I found McGreals were charging me twice as much as Tesco were charging in both Naas and Tallaght.

And on the same token I find McGreals to be cheaper than the pharmacy beside K-Doc in Naas. You can't compare a local pharmacy who would be buying 50 boxes of a tablet to a multinational like Tesco who would be buying 500,000 boxes for all of their stores. Some things in McGreals I wouldn't buy as they are expensive but like I said others I find cheaper.