Galway City pubs and little else

elefant · 28-04-2018 07:54PM

MarkY91 wrote: »

Yeah I have to laugh at how it is called a city.

My foreign girlfriend barely classes Dublin as a city. Her french housemate said it's like a town. I could only imgien what he would think of Galway City.

You don't think it's maybe more laughable that your girlfriend and her pal think a place with an urban population of over a million is barely a city?

Dublin would be the third most populous city in France...

regular_slob · 28-04-2018 08:05PM

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich wrote: »

It’s not a city it’s 2 streets and some pubs surrounded by a giant traffic jam. Last time I was there I never saw so many fights in my life. Seemed to be lots of travellers beating the heads off each other.

this is ireland , our cities are small bar dublin , waterford is still a city despite having thirty thousand people less than galway

rows in town between drunken idiots isnt crime in any serious sense of the word , limerick has hardcore criminal gangs , galway hasnt any of those problems

regular_slob · 28-04-2018 08:06PM

elefant wrote: »

You don't think it's maybe more laughable that your girlfriend and her pal think a place with an urban population of over a million is barely a city?

Dublin would be the third most populous city in France...

it would be the third most populous city in england too ( city proper that is )

JackTaylorFan · 29-04-2018 01:45AM

Not sure if this has been posted before... But pretty much sums up the overhyped dump which is Galway

Galway is a city located in the west of Ireland. Galway is the Anglicised name for Gaillimh, Gaelic for "City of Many Fine Roundabouts". Built by a pirate in 1567, the city stands as a proof that when people work together, they get **** all done and end up fighting and killing each other, but when a single pirate sets his mind on something, it can be done. Galway people have the distinct ability of being able to beat tinkers sensless. All Irish people do this because, let's face it: everyone would love to beat the **** out of a tinker...

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Galway

RicketyCricket · 29-04-2018 02:08AM

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich wrote:

Itâ€™s not a city itâ€™s 2 streets and some pubs surrounded by a giant traffic jam. Last time I was there I never saw so many fights in my life. Seemed to be lots of travellers beating the heads off each other.

You were in Tuam.

Katgurl · 29-04-2018 11:30AM

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich wrote: »

It’s not a city it’s 2 streets and some pubs surrounded by a giant traffic jam. Last time I was there I never saw so many fights in my life. Seemed to be lots of travellers beating the heads off each other.

Much as I enjoy a galway rant I have to disagree with this. I lived there for five years, felt incredibly safe and don't think I saw a single fight. I was out a lot too. Having said that I didn't spend much time around Eyre square but I suspect you would see a LOT worse around temple bar.

wakka12 · 29-04-2018 11:33AM

MarkY91 wrote: »

Yeah I have to laugh at how it is called a city.

My foreign girlfriend barely classes Dublin as a city. Her french housemate said it's like a town. I could only imgien what he would think of Galway City.

Dublin has a population of nearly 1.5 million it is a medium size city by any world standard

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich · 29-04-2018 12:04PM

Katgurl wrote: »

Much as I enjoy a galway rant I have to disagree with this. I lived there for five years, felt incredibly safe and don't think I saw a single fight. I was out a lot too. Having said that I didn't spend much time around Eyre square but I suspect you would see a LOT worse around temple bar.

Was probably just the weekend that was in it, bad luck I guess. I go out in Dublin most weekends and can’t think of any fights I’ve seen since maybe 15 years ago. There used to be fights back then but I’d have been in awful places like the Backgate and whatever the latest incarnation of the harp was.

JupiterKid · 04-05-2018 09:20AM

It seems to be fashionable to knock Galway these days. There seems to be multiple threads knocking the place as a kip full of crusties, wasters, drunks and crap weather. Back in the 90s people thought Galway was a dream to move to.

The fact is that by Irish standards Galway is a small provincial city that punches well above its weight. By international standards it is just a largish coastal town but believe me, compared to some places I’ve been to abroad Galway has quite a lot to offer in terms of the arts/cultural attractions than many other far larger places. I think the problem is that Galway went through a huge boom from the 1970s to the 2000s - its population grew from 25,000 to nearly 80,000 in the space of 40 years and being a university town always had a rather bohemian/liberal vibe about it. But it is small, and is best seen in just a day or 2 and used as a base for the magnificient Connemara (which is my favorite part of Ireland).

The two biggest problems Galway faces are atrocious planning and poor weather. Very rainy and overcast which drives people indoors to the pubs, the Spanish arch is indeed underwhelming, but the way the city has sprawled and grown in the past 40 odd years is dreadful.

Basically it has a tiny, town like core that doesn’t have any real city “feel” and massive sprawling suburbs where nearly all the office based employment is based out in office “parks” with poor bus connections. Add to that poor bridge connectivity between the east and west of the city and it’s a recipe for a traffic disaster - not to mention the free for all one off housing sprawl in the city’s hinterland that magnifies the traffic chaos. As for that free for all one off Rural housing sprawl - it’s funny how the cryptosporidium outbreak a decade ago was quickly forgotten. I’d heard in the grapevine faulty septic tanks along rivers feeding Lough Corrib were largely to blame....but that’s another story.

Galway needs badly to consolidate - build more upwards, much, much more offices in the Centre, a dedicated east-west busway serving office and residential areas of a reasonable density and a decent events venue. It will never compete with Dublin nor does it have to.

The Arts festival is great, the music scene is good, Macnas and Druid Treatre are real assets to such a tiny city - the race week brings in the dosh but not my bag but it’s a grand spot. Could do better - especially on the planning and transport front but it’s been doing something right given how fast it grew between the 1960s and the 2000s.

fergiesfolly · 04-05-2018 10:05AM

And it'll be full to overflowing again this weekend with blow-ins looking for "the craic"
Will they find it though?
Or will they be on here Monday whinging that it's overrated, wet, full of cliquey locals etc etc etc.

fergiesfolly · 04-05-2018 10:11AM

https://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/galway-driver-played-the-tin-whistle-while-waiting-at-the-traffic-lights-840872.html#

Where else lads? Where else?
Having the craic in a traffic jam

topper75 · 04-05-2018 11:33AM

regular_slob wrote: »

limerick and galway while almost identical in size are very different places , galway city is a very middle class place where as limerick is the most working class city in ireland , galway city has very little crime , limerick is riddled with it due to being penned in from all sides by the worst council estates in the country

galway really outperforms on every metric where as limerick underperforms , the evidence is there in terms of house prices , average house in galway is about a hundred thousand euro more expensive

So having a cartoonish view of Galway being 'just pubs and nothing else' = not true

But having a cartoonish view of Limerick being 'riddled' with crime = true

hmmmm

They are very different places yes. But in a complimentary way. Galway's retail is rubbish alongside that of Limerick. Galway's traffic means never again complaining about the occasional delay in Limerick.
Limerick simply cannot do festivals and is all set to fail again this weekend on that front. Limerick has a great river but does not have the sea and Salthill diving boards.
They need each other.

CrankyHaus · 04-05-2018 12:45PM

topper75 wrote: »

So having a cartoonish view of Galway being 'just pubs and nothing else' = not true

But having a cartoonish view of Limerick being 'riddled' with crime = true

hmmmm

They are very different places yes. But in a complimentary way. Galway's retail is rubbish alongside that of Limerick. Galway's traffic means never again complaining about the occasional delay in Limerick.
Limerick simply cannot do festivals and is all set to fail again this weekend on that front. Limerick has a great river but does not have the sea and Salthill diving boards.
They need each other.

It will be very interesting to see how they develop with a Motorway link, eventually running from Cork to Sligo.

For people complaining about Galway having pubs and nothing else you're doing it wrong. Use it as a base to visit the Aran Islands, The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher and Connemara during the day then enjoy the restaurants and nightlife in Galway.

Expecting an abundance of world class museums and retail in a city of less than 80,000 is ridiculous.

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich · 04-05-2018 02:16PM

CrankyHaus wrote: »

It will be very interesting to see how they develop with a Motorway link, eventually running from Cork to Sligo.

For people complaining about Galway having pubs and nothing else you're doing it wrong. Use it as a base to visit the Aran Islands, The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher and Connemara during the day then enjoy the restaurants and nightlife in Galway.

Expecting an abundance of world class museums and retail in a city of less than 80,000 is ridiculous.

The Aran islands are just flat islands with stone walls. Why are there no trees there? Cut down or they just don't grow on that kind of land? Anyway I don't see the attraction. I was made spend 3 weeks there as a yoof, never again!

Stonedpilot · 04-05-2018 03:40PM

Galway one of these lash cities.

Grand if ya wondering around half pizzed or stoned. Seems many there are to be honest!.
Cant beat them join em.

Most of the tourists in Galway usually half cut.

Redo91 · 05-05-2018 09:43AM

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Galway one of these lash cities.

Grand if ya wondering around half pizzed or stoned. Seems many there are to be honest!.
Cant beat them join em.

Most of the tourists in Galway usually half cut.

Jesus maybe if you walk around at 1am but not during the day. Don’t know what crevice you are plucking that idea from.

Cheshire Cat · 05-05-2018 09:57AM

Redo91 wrote: »

Jesus maybe if you walk around at 1am but not during the day. Don’t know what crevice you are plucking that idea from.

Check their user name

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater · 05-05-2018 10:06AM

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich wrote: »

The Aran islands are just flat islands with stone walls. Why are there no trees there? Cut down or they just don't grow on that kind of land? Anyway I don't see the attraction. I was made spend 3 weeks there as a yoof, never again!

Too windy on the islands. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find trees anywhere along exposed parts of the the Atlantic coast.

Stonedpilot · 05-05-2018 09:10PM

Redo91 wrote: »

Jesus maybe if you walk around at 1am but not during the day. Don’t know what crevice you are plucking that idea from.

Most tourists have few during the day.

I use ta when a tourist there.

Its a booze up town Galway. Nothing more nothing less.

Nowt ta be ashamed of!.

Silentcorner · 05-05-2018 10:02PM

CrankyHaus wrote: »

It will be very interesting to see how they develop with a Motorway link, eventually running from Cork to Sligo.

For people complaining about Galway having pubs and nothing else you're doing it wrong. Use it as a base to visit the Aran Islands, The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher and Connemara during the day then enjoy the restaurants and nightlife in Galway.

Expecting an abundance of world class museums and retail in a city of less than 80,000 is ridiculous.

You can use Ennis as a base for The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands too, and enjoy narrow streets of a pretty town, in a part of the country with a very rich culture of traditional Irish music, without the hotel prices/stags/hens...a town that doesn't attempt to convince you of being something it is not!

bodhrandude · 05-05-2018 10:10PM

Being a trad musician I notice its a bit of a mecca for trad students and I've been there since the early nineties. There is something quite unique about the trad music and session scene in the city, influences as far ranging as Dublin with the pipers or the few dotted around Galway as well as visitors Like Seamus Ennis who got flung out of Freeneys or so I heard for playing a tune.

Classic Irish trad bands with the Galway sound like De Danann (Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh, Frankie Gavin, Alec Finn, Charlie Piggott and Jackie Daly/Martin O'Connor, Paddy Fahy and Paddy Carthy from the East Galway.

Clare/Limerick/Leitrim neighbours Stockton's Wing, Dervish and Michael Coleman just up the road past Tuam to Sligo, Matt Molloy and Mick Coneely with the Sligo/Mayo influences. Over the last twenty years lots of traditional music students from Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Brittany and as far flung as Tibet and Japan among others have flocked to Galway to learn the traditional styles and session etiquette of the city.

Stonedpilot · 06-05-2018 01:07AM

bodhrandude wrote: »

Being a trad musician I notice its a bit of a mecca for trad students and I've been there since the early nineties. There is something quite unique about the trad music and session scene in the city, influences as far ranging as Dublin with the pipers or the few dotted around Galway as well as visitors Like Seamus Ennis who got flung out of Freeneys or so I heard for playing a tune.

Classic Irish trad bands with the Galway sound like De Danann (Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh, Frankie Gavin, Alec Finn, Charlie Piggott and Jackie Daly/Martin O'Connor, Paddy Fahy and Paddy Carthy from the East Galway.

Clare/Limerick/Leitrim neighbours Stockton's Wing, Dervish and Michael Coleman just up the road past Tuam to Sligo, Matt Molloy and Mick Coneely with the Sligo/Mayo influences. Over the last twenty years lots of traditional music students from Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Brittany and as far flung as Tibet and Japan among others have flocked to Galway to learn the traditional styles and session etiquette of the city.

Nice to see The Gaway Tourist board pitching in.

Graces7 · 06-05-2018 11:16AM

My impressions of Galway city - and I am far away from there now?

Traffic lights on poles everywhere.

Congestion and fast traffic

Shops far apart.

Oh the toilets? Disabled and a long walk

Some lovely folk, like the veg and egg man at the entrance to the tesco mall

Always a huge relief to leave..

Galway City pubs and little else

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