What's Donabate like?

antimatterx

Hi

I'm considering buying a house in Donabate. I currently live in Clongriffin so I know Donabate is on the train (but not dart) line.

I work from home 95% of the time so commuting is less of a consideration for me. I can get the train when I need to.

I previously never would have looked this North or Dublin, but my friends are starting to move to Meath, my parents are leaving Dublin so staying where I am is becoming less important.

Is the area safe? A friend was telling me to be wary of travelers, but I didn't think Donabate had that reputation.What are the supermarkets and pubs like.

Any advice or recommendations?

the_amazing_raisin

My advice would be to get the train up there and scope out the town

I'm in Swords and have visited Donabate a bunch of times. It's a nice enough town, lots of things going for it like Newbridge House, the beach nearby and the train line to Dublin. There'll also be the Fingal coastal Greenway going past at sometime between now and when global warming floods the whole area

There's a lot of houses being built out there so if you're looking just keep in mind you might be at the edge of the town rather than at the heart of things

The town is generally pretty safe, biggest concern seems to be gangs of knackers pouring in on sunny days and wrecking the beach. Same is unfortunately true for any coastal town around Dublin

Probably the biggest drawbacks would be that the town is fairly quiet. If you want a vibrant nightlife then I'm not sure it's the place you want to be

Second biggest drawback is that the large number of houses built in the area will probably be putting pressure on local services like schools and doctors

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872315#Comment_121872315

Good idea on getting the train up. I'll do that and check the place out.

In terms of night life that part of my life seems to be slowing down as my friend group is getting older, busy with jobs and kids etc so that's not a big concern. I'm happy to get the train to Malahide and Town and in general I usually don't stay out past the last train as it is.

I'm just after somewhere reasonably OK to live.

overshoot

The train line is due to be upgraded to dart (someone else may be able to say timeline there) and new school, larger recreation area with pitches, skate parks earmarked the other side of the new distributor road by the GAA club (possibly primary and post primary, can’t remember).

lot of new houses going in. Seen glenveagh starting to advertise balmoston (formerly called ballymastone development). It’s phase 1, 2/3 won’t be far off the size of 1 and will fill into the distributor road to portrane

The Davestator

The one thing that would worry me is that they are adding lots of new houses, but there is still only one road in and out and traffic can be terrible. If you don't drive, its not an issue. Lovely place though

yagan

We had been looking for a year along the north coast and honed in on Donabate before my wife got a work transfer that got us out of Dublin entirely.

The positives we saw were that everywhere was pretty much walkable. There's a great loop walk out to Portrane beach, then south along the coast to Donabate beach. Then the beaches themselves are a good walk too. If it's too blowy at the beach there's also Newtown house park.

The downsides is it appeared a small town, no Lidl or Aldi but I reckon that will probably happen with all the new housing happening.

There's actually two roads in but they meet at the same bottleneck in town but as you're mostly working from home not really an issue.

I reckon the new housing will actually only make the town more interesting in time.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878316#Comment_121878316

Yeah I don't drive. I'm learning though. I will be probably buying a new build 😬

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878220#Comment_121878220

Sounds positive. On the days I do go to the office I get a commuter at 7:45 from Clongriffin that would have gone through Donabate at 7:30 or so. I don't get a seat, but I can stand quite comfortably. I'm use to it.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878373#Comment_121878373

Yeah shame there is only a supervalu. My least favourite supermarket. You'd imagine with all the houses another supermarket will be looking at Donabate for expansion

nachouser

I believe Aldi or Lidl have planning permission for Turvey Road granted a couple of years back.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121880422#Comment_121880422

Great to hear

Turbulent Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878606#Comment_121878606

Not sure what Clongriffin is like for public transport, but Donabate is limited to the train and the 33 bus service. If you need to go anywhere else, you'll need to drive.

Donabate is a great place to live, been here for nearly a decade. It's quiet and family-orientated, but still easy enough to go out in Malahide or town if you want to.