Cork developments

Just what Douglas needs, another big supermarket nestled in between Dunnes and Aldi and a 2 minute walk from M&S and a 4 minute walk from the biggest Tesco in Cork. Brilliant stuff. Presumably another big car park coming with it?

The place is almost beyond saving at this point. Traffic clogged nightmare wil be its lasting legacy. The whole area is basically a massive car park.

the council(s) have ruined douglas. cannot believe they are letting that lidl in there.

In fairness it seems the City Council is trying to change things and refused permission for this. However appeal to ABP was successful which the Council challenged. Unfortunately the damage has been done by years of mismanagement and bad development by the County Council.

I grew up in Douglas but don't live there anymore. When I do go there it still strikes me each time what a horribly developed traffic hole it has become.

It started off with good intentions. When I grew up there in the 80's we had the big shopping centre (Quinnsworth) and both sides of the village seemed to co-exist alongside it, even over to Dailys and the video shop next door. The relief road was great at the start to take traffic away from it, and the cinema was the first I remember outside of town.

Since then though, one by one all the little butchers, bakeries etc on east and west village stopped being used as the locals went to Tesco/Dunnes, and there's been nothing really to take their place on the high streets. Eco's is nice, as is 12 tables, and South County is decent for pints. It's just a pity there's always so much traffic coming through Douglas to get to Douglas Court, Tesco etc.

Douglas really got screwed over with its connections to the South ring and large commercial developments allowed, just look at how well Wilton works to see how bad Douglas is, Carrigaline isn't far off with all the traffic funneled down its main street too.

Douglas is a thoroughfare, not a village.

With hindsight, I think that Douglas began to lose its soul as a village, with the development of Douglas Court and the access road / bypass in the 80's. It then became a shopping destination which, in reality can only be accessed by car.

Anybody remember the controversy over the blue clock tower, originally a feature of the new DC development and castigated locally as "garish"? Simpler times.

I've recently been walking to Douglas 5 times a week from the town direction and it's a grand walk in terms of length, just entirely unpleasant. Half the time you have to go in single file on the narrow footpaths, footpaths end without warning, entrances to estates are too wide, you risk getting your head smacked by bus mirrors. I don't know how you could do it if you had any sort of mobility issue.

I mentioned that DC has become a shopping destination and has the car parking spaces to accommodate it as such.

The reality of it being accessible within a walking distance is dependent on a number of factors, primarily:

1. Distance from the centre. Assuming the individual is able and not all are, I would argue that they will only walk if they are within a 1km round trip. Even accepting a 2km round trip radius will only place the catchment area for walking half ways up Maryborough hill, to the junction of Grange road and Donnybrook hill and similarly confined distances to Well rd. etc. The majority of the shopping catchment population lies outside this radius.
2. What is being purchased. Unless it is very minor it will need to be transported home. So for example, somebody living in Broadford or Lissadell etc is hardly going to walk down to DC and carry the weeks shopping home on their back, up Maryborough hill when they have a car sitting outside the door?
3. So to my mind the reality is that unless the individual is within a half kilometer of DC, wants little more than milk or bread, have a car sitting outside the door and ample car space in the shopping centre they are not going to walk.

And that is without taking other variables into account such as kids in tow, weather etc. So when I said that "in reality can only be accessed by car." perhaps I should have said that "in reality it would only be accessed by car"?

Interesting article on the whole car, pedestrian, walking to the shops, village discussion, Beer. Seems to reflect many of the comments here.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40837592.html

Ah ye are being hard on the place, I cycle to douglas and around it. There are at least two decent butchers there, one in each of the big shopping centres (Bresnan’s and the name of the other one escapes me) . That tailor/ alternations place (wisdom sewing) is the best one around. A variety of cafes and restaurants (12 tables, okura, palmento, pigs back, various noodle places and the pubs do pub grub.. loads of fast food ) there are a range of clothes shops, tk maxx, and those places for interiors… rugs, the arts and crafts place, interiosity? Toy shops, Cummins sports, O’Briens, chemists, garden center, The kilkenny shop , it has an M&S, Dealz, Tesco , dunnes.

There’s a market on a Thursday, phone shops, cex, stationary / newsagents, bakery.

there is a huge playground, Gary duff woods, schools, churches, sports grounds, huge gym, library. It’s one of the best hubs of any suburb of cork.

I think it is slightly off putting for bikes and foot traffic because it’s in a valley. Every route out is up hill. But with electric bikes these days it gets a lot easier.

Which one? There are numerous new buildings by the water. That said, some of the regulars in this forum think they all look crap so maybe you don’t need to be specific.

Not that it really matters but there is no such thing as Main Street in Douglas, it's East Douglas Street (and the other 'main street' is West Douglas Street)