North Main Street - South Main Street

flo8s967qjh0nd

Rather than clutter the Capitol thread (or any other thread) with this discussion, I thought I'd open a new one.

Dunnes have announced the closure of their North Main Street Store.
http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/closure-dunnes-stores-major-blow-corks-north-main-street/2089125/

Is it time for a complete overhaul of the 'historic spine'? The likes of Reimagine Cork and other voluntary groups are doing nice work but in many ways they are making up for the slack attitude of Cork City Council and property owners. Shouldn't Cork City Council be planting trees and flowers in the area? Shouldn't property owners be painting their walls? Instead it's being left to volunteers. (Who, by the way, I think are excellent and I salute them. I'm just not sure why it falls to the voluntary sector to do it).

So, if we are overhauling and reimagining the North -South Main Street axis, what should we do first? What should we prioritise?
Let's keep this positive. Plenty of good people doing good work there. They need to be supported.

flo8s967qjh0nd

Interested parties might also like to look at the Cork City Centre Strategy (prepared by Colliers in 2014) and available to read here and has material relevant to the North-South Main Street area.

CHealy

Both streets have tons of potential but at the moment are a bit of a kip, in particular the northern end of North Main Street. I think the Event Center will spark life into South Main Street but that car park by the river across from Sullivans Quay needs to go, a nice park area would be seriously nice there, and you could extend the Grand Parade boardwalk up as far as South Gate Bridge and even up and around to the Event Center.

Herb Powell

You say that as if the Event Centre is ever actually going to happen. :pac:

roundymac

BAM the main contractors are already on site.

Lia_lia

Shame about that Dunnes. It's only down the road from me and handy out. Although the main reason I like it is because there's usually very few people in there The Subway on North Main Street has also closed down.

Pablo Escobar

roundymac wrote: »

BAM the main contractors are already on site.

They're using as a site office for The Capitol.

the beer revolu

Lads, there's already a thread for negative, pessimistic, unconstructive Cork whinging about the Events Centre.

farmerjj

the beer revolu wrote: »

Lads, there's already a thread for negative, pessimistic, unconstructive Cork whinging about the Events Centre.

Not a morning person?:pac:
Maybe a lidi/Tesco might come in instead of dunnes.

the beer revolu

farmerjj wrote: »

Not a morning person?:pac:
Maybe a lidi/Tesco might come in instead of dunnes.

Already a Lidl and Tesco nearby.
Aldi there, as mentioned, would be great.

Although, if Dunnes own the premises, they'd probably prefer to see it empty than have another supermarket in there.

opus

the beer revolu wrote: »

Already a Lidl and Tesco nearby.
Aldi there, as mentioned, would be great.

Although, if Dunnes own the premises, they'd probably prefer to see it empty than have another supermarket in there.

Didn't realise Dunnes owned it, was just thinking that Aldi would be great as well. Was in there recently and it did look a bit bleak for sure. I asked the person on the checkout & she wasn't sure what was going to happen to the boarded off former clothes area but didn't sound like she had any inkling of the closure. At least good to hear they're being redeployed to other stores.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Terrible store anyway, dead quiet any time I've been in there and completely soulless. Half the shop was closed up too, they got rid of the clothes & home area.

Aldi would be great, but I personally think the whole street is rubbish IMO. A lot of scum hang around there. Loads of closed shops. Not a pretty sight.

Nice to see a Mr. Price opened up there all the same.

the beer revolu

opus wrote: »

Didn't realise Dunnes owned it, was just thinking that Aldi would be great as well. Was in there recently and it did look a bit bleak for sure. I asked the person on the checkout & she wasn't sure what was going to happen to the boarded off former clothes area but didn't sound like she had any inkling of the closure. At least good to hear they're being redeployed to other stores.

I don't know whether they own it or not. I said, if they own it. I'd like an Aldi, though or a decent Supervalu - Merchant's Quay is rubbish.

Unfortunately, staff being redeployed with zero hour contracts doesn't mean much.

Corholio

Heard on the radio the other day that apparently Dunnes won't let someone else open up there instead even after it's closed.

The street has a few problems to be honest, at night it has been left to it's own devices pretty much with a fair bit of dodgy stuff going on in side streets there, the pharmacy prescribing methadone I've also heard as a reason for people to not really go down there, which you could argue of course but it doesn't particularly help.

Oafley Jones

Corholio wrote: »

Heard on the radio the other day that apparently Dunnes won't let someone else open up there instead even after it's closed.

The street has a few problems to be honest, at night it has been left to it's own devices pretty much with a fair bit of dodgy stuff going on in side streets there, the pharmacy prescribing methadone I've also heard as a reason for people to not really go down there, which you could argue of course but it doesn't particularly help.

The whole place was on the market for 750k a few months back. No takers. Bradley's is a fantastic spot on North Main St. Btw. I'm not sure how well the location serves them though. Especially since they've doubled down on the artisan stuff over the past year.

magentis

Such a shame to see this happening to North Main Street.I remember when growing up in Cork how busy it was with loads of excellent shops.

skwawk

Shame about the commercial decline of North Main St, when I lived in Cork I thought it was very dilapidated and more like the main street of a fading provincial town than the historic centre of a city. I can see that Dunnes was a bit redundant there, but surely the council can make sure the building finds a use and doesn’t lie empty. The rest of the street seemed to be charity shops or betting shops, only the area near Washington St seemed lively with bars and restaurants.

I definitely think it should be promoted as the historic spine of Cork, from Shandon, down N/S Main St. to St. Finbarres Barrack St area. To some extent it is, I always liked the plaques on the ground showing where the old medieval lanes were, added to the sense of history, especially the names. The old churches as arts centres are nice, could both streets be the future artistic centre of Cork? Maybe entertainment centre as well, with the cinema and event centre as bookends.

opus

Spotted this at the bottom of Shandon St on the way home last night, a nice touch.

flo8s967qjh0nd

North Main Street has lots going for it, to be fair. A couple of banks, the excellent Bradley's supermarket, a few discounters (Euro plus, Mr Price) they're not high end but they do seem to drive footfall.
It's a shame the old Munster Furniture site hasn't been redeveloped. Massive gap in the streetscape there, right across from Dunnes. You can't blame Dunnes Head Office, on a visit to NMS, looking across the road and thinking that this place is on its last legs.
NMS especially is a local main street for local people. It can never compete with Patrick Street and shouldn't try. It has the opportunity (and I think is already on the way) to become a trendy, foodie, local street with a good amount of sole traders and small shops and businesses. I think an Aldi in the old Dunnes site would drive footfall up that end of the street and could help things.

flo8s967qjh0nd

A business owner from NMS was quoted in the Echo this week saying that parking was a huge problem and that widening the footpaths had removed much needed parking spaces.
This is such an outdated view of things. Apart from anything else, there is parking the length of NMS. Parking laws are rarely enforced there. Apart from parking cars on top of each other, there is little more can be done. Bottom line, cars don't buy stuff, people do.
I proposed in another thread that the historic spine should be pedestrianised (like Oliver Plunkett Street). Seems to have worked for that street.

ofcork

May be more bad news for cork as an examiner has been appointed to debenhams.

gimmick

Hasn't that happened before as well?

ofcork

Not sure but big losses by the company in ireland apparently.

sozbox

Surely Lidl opening on Cornmarket St was a factor?

flo8s967qjh0nd

sozbox wrote: »

Surely Lidl opening on Cornmarket St was a factor?

In the closure of Dunnes? Probably. Once any decent alternative arrived it became clear how little Dunnes were doing to improve/maintain their offering on NMS. This closure cannot have come as a surprise to Dunnes. They have been winding it down for a decade at least.

opus

Reimagine Cork have done a nice job on the laneway leading to Grattan St, of course the bit of sunshine this morning helps!

ofcork

Neil p said this morning there is talk of iceland moving into nms shopping centre when dunnes go.

North Main street while admittedly isn't perfect has a reputation that it doesn't deserve. I regularly stroll around there after dark, be it after the 11.15pm cinema slots (which haven't been on in months) or on the way to the Bodega etc.

I've never seen anything too alarming.

During the day there's a good amount of footfall there so incidents that involve innocent passers by are effectively unheard of.

Fair enough there's a few undesirables about but unfortunately that's in most cities nowadays given the prevalence of alcohol & substance abuse.

It might be grim enough in places to look at but there's nothing too much wrong with it, a handful or two of new openings would go a good way to rejuvenate the place, South Main Street from Wash' St junction to the bridge is as bad, if the scenic contribution supplied by the park and The Triskel wasn't present it's be worse. (and I'm from the South Side)

flo8s967qjh0nd

I see they have cleaned up most of the wooden bollards on North Main Street. It's amazing what a small action does to clean the place up a bit. More of this is needed!

CHealy

Ramona Fat Camp wrote: »

I see they have cleaned up most of the wooden bollards on North Main Street. It's amazing what a small action does to clean the place up a bit. More of this is needed!

It really is the small things.

A thought I had during the week, and it was while I was walking down Maylor Street, was wouldnt it be great if they choose a few of the smaller streets in the center, and put cobble stones on them. I was looking up Maylor Street towards Patrick Street and it was just boring, just another side street, if they were to replace the tarmac with old style cobble stones it would give the place a massive lift. Might not be logistically or financially possible but just a thought.

cardinal tetra

CHealy wrote: »

It really is the small things.

A thought I had during the week, and it was while I was walking down Maylor Street, was wouldnt it be great if they choose a few of the smaller streets in the center, and put cobble stones on them. I was looking up Maylor Street towards Patrick Street and it was just boring, just another side street, if they were to replace the tarmac with old style cobble stones it would give the place a massive lift. Might not be logistically or financially possible but just a thought.

bloody hate walking on cobblestones.

They should put the worlds longest fastest travellator there so you can get from pana to the bus station in 10 seconds. and have lads trying to stick you in the face with cream pies and water bombs. imagine going back to spain or croatia or leitrim and trying to describe that experience to your mates. would be alot better than " there was this street that had really nice cobblestones". oh yeah? what was down there? "dunno. hate walking on cobblestones."

CHealy

cardinal tetra wrote: »

bloody hate walking on cobblestones.

They should put the worlds longest fastest travellator there so you can get from pana to the bus station in 10 seconds. and have lads trying to stick you in the face with cream pies and water bombs. imagine going back to spain or croatia or leitrim and trying to describe that experience to your mates. would be alot better than " there was this street that had really nice cobblestones". oh yeah? what was down there? "dunno. hate walking on cobblestones."

Ok bud.

flo8s967qjh0nd

cardinal tetra wrote: »

bloody hate walking on cobblestones.

They should put the worlds longest fastest travellator there so you can get from pana to the bus station in 10 seconds. and have lads trying to stick you in the face with cream pies and water bombs. imagine going back to spain or croatia or leitrim and trying to describe that experience to your mates. would be alot better than " there was this street that had really nice cobblestones". oh yeah? what was down there? "dunno. hate walking on cobblestones."

Best post ever!

Lyaiera

Cobble stones are generally not put in as new, unless they are already there as part of a historic area. They're extremely difficult for people in wheelchairs, and people with mobility issues.

cardinal tetra

Lyaiera wrote: »

Cobble stones are generally not put in as new, unless they are already there as part of a historic area. They're extremely difficult for people in wheelchairs, and people with mobility issues.

where as travellators are wheelchair friendly and make people more mobile.

JP Liz V1

Has Iceland opened in North Main Street shopping centre?

opus

The rather bleak North Gate bridge has received some welcome floral additions presumably from reimagine Cork

Lia_lia

Nice to see those flowers alright! I've heard that an Aldi is going to be opening on North Main Street. I'm assuming it will be where Dunnes was. Anyone else heard this?

ongarboy

Lia_lia wrote: »

Nice to see those flowers alright! I've heard that an Aldi is going to be opening on North Main Street. I'm assuming it will be where Dunnes was. Anyone else heard this?

I think someone else mentioned Iceland supermarket as well but may be just a rumour.

seoirsem

IMO The death knell for the North Main Street was the chemist at the front of the shopping centre. I think it supplies (if that's the right term) methadone for the addicts. It can be like a scene from the Walking Dead there first thing in the morning. Frightened most people away from shopping there.
Have family that live near Grattan Street and they had shopped in Dunnes for decades, but switched to Tesco's in Paul St long before North Main closed. Several parish meetings held with regards to said chemist but the locals were powerless to do anything.
Coupled with the Cash Converters at the other end of the street, where it is not uncommon to see people queueing up with black refuse bags of stuff and what was once a vibrant, people friendly vein of Cork is now almost a no-go area. Pity

mire

seoirsem wrote: »

IMO The death knell for the North Main Street was the chemist at the front of the shopping centre. I think it supplies (if that's the right term) methadone for the addicts. It can be like a scene from the Walking Dead there first thing in the morning. Frightened most people away from shopping there.
Have family that live near Grattan Street and they had shopped in Dunnes for decades, but switched to Tesco's in Paul St long before North Main closed. Several parish meetings held with regards to said chemist but the locals were powerless to do anything.
Coupled with the Cash Converters at the other end of the street, where it is not uncommon to see people queueing up with black refuse bags of stuff and what was once a vibrant, people friendly vein of Cork is now almost a no-go area. Pity

That pharmacy is certainly causing problems on that end of the street.

However, this idea that North Main Street is somehow a kind of a 'no go zone' is just ridiculous and a gross misrepresentation of reality. I have been on the street quite a lot in recent times, and it is fine; I admit that it is not perfect, and is far from it - but it is quite vibrant, fairly busy in terms of footfall, fairly well kept. Vacancy is actually quite low and although there are a few too many charity shops for my liking, it has a diverse range of services and shops. It most certainly is not a place that I would avoid or suggest to anyone that they should.