Douglas is a thoroughfare, not a village.
Call it what you want, there was a lovely centre to it not so long ago, I was very envious of Douglas back in the 90's, but since then, development in Douglas has been all about the car, and now it's far easier to drive to DC than it is to walk into one of the other stores. Plenty of other suburbs have nice shops, up my way in Mayfield there's nicer butchers (O'Connors), pubs (Cotton Ball) while still having Lidl, Aldi, SuperValu all within striking distance.
Meanwhile the Douglas main street is Subway, Paddy Power, and Boylesports. The parking is probably a big bit of it, people want too drive to get their groceries, and that's easier in Douglas Court or Douglas SC
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 don't see the reality that Douglas can only be accessed by car. Douglas is not badly laid out for pedestrians.
Why do you say it can only be accessed by car? I'd genuinely like to know your reasons for saying this. I walk to and from Douglas from both the town side and the Rochestown side. Pedestrian layout isn't bad.
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 think you’re being quite selective. It’s hardly just Boyle Sports and Subway; Okura, KC’s, Marcello’s, Ecos, Barrys and O’Driscolls are all popular. Aside from Okura, sure none of them are doing anything that ambitious but they are well run, pleasant small businesses. Haveli and Golden Elephant just off the Main Street do the some of the best Indian and Thai food in the country.
I know I sound like a massive Douglas defender but so much of what is said is ridiculous, I mean there is a Boyle sports and Subway a minute walk from the Cotton Ball too :/
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:
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"?
Work going on there during the week.
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.
It depends on what you mean by bad - unsafe or uninteresting. Douglas increasingly resembles the hideous ‘strip malls’ that blight much of U.S. suburbia. Moving on foot between adjoining businesses often means walking through car parks instead of walking along streets. Sure, it’s doable but it’s not pleasant. People drive from one car park to another because even in good weather, doing it on foot is a bit soul-destroying (confession: I’ve driven from the Tesco car park to the Dunnes car park instead of walking).
Almost a quarter century ago, Naomi Klein wrote at length about the evil of strip mall development in ‘No Logo’. Many American cities have since woken up to the folly, and strip mall developments from the 80s and 90s are increasingly being demolished in favour of more human-friendly developments focused on sustainable modes of transport. In many Irish suburbs though, we are still gangbusters for strip malls.
Visited cork today on work. The new building by the water looks totally crap
Seems to have been a big concrete pour there yesterday. I passed the site on foot on two occasions and had a very brief chat with one of the site engineers. I asked when it would be finished. “God only knows,” she said with a grin.
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.
The one on the quay with like white frame , windows accounting for two levels , looks like bland set from robocop , I like the black Stuttgart industrial metal building though and the refurbished station house
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)
The white one you didn’t like is Penrose Dock. The black one further down is Horgan Quay.
It used to be simply referred to as "Douglas village" and the "back village"
And the Douglas Road and the "back Douglas Road"
I've heard people call the Douglas Road the "front Douglas Road"
And the other one as the “South Douglas Road”. Or “Douglas Road South” in the posher parts.
You mean, its real name? 😂
Yes. Often heard that. I've probably even used it on occasion!
I remember it as the front village and back village, further along was the front Douglas Rd and the back Douglas Rd.
East village was never in my vocab tbh, was it made up? Garton park never had East village in it's address....never recall it as East until Pipers disappeared and they built the East village bar....
Who owns the Legion of Mary Hall? it's escaped development for now, probably the only building that hasn't had a refurb in Douglas!
Drove by the Prism site there in the city on Friday. Its pretty much exactly as the last time I seen it a few weeks ago. There's not much happening?! Hope it hasn't been shelved. Wouldn't be surprised given the way things have changed last few weeks.
No, it’s progressing. See my post above from 31st March @ 5:49pm.
And unfortunately for them, if they don't like Penrose Dock, there's an approved development immediately to the West of Penrose Dock, another two blocks with virtually identical styling, though a floor shorter than Penrose Dock I believe. And if that's not enough, the new block of Horgan's Quay that's currently mid-construction is very, very similar in design to Penrose Dock too.
US Strip malls are equivalent to retail parks here. A strip mall is a single long building divided into units with a load of parking in front of it. Mahon Retail park for example. Douglas shopping centers, where you have an anchor tenant and smaller shop are more like "big box" centers in the US. And the village part is neither of those. For a start, it has no parking.
Agreed that the retail parks in Mahon, Little Island, or Carrigtwohill are the same as US strip malls (though I disagree that in the US they are single buildings because you often get clusters of those long buildings spread out over a huge area). But what I said was that Douglas *resembles* strip malls, and what I was driving at specifically is that when you look at Douglas Court, KFC, McDonalds, Ulster Bank, the East Village area, Aldi, and Circle C, you have all these buildings surrounded by conjoined or near-conjoined car parks. Look at that area with Google Maps in Satellite View and it really jumps out at you. The shopper’s options going from business to business are to walk through car parks or to drive. The experience reminds me of Portland OR and San Jose CA, places where I’ve spent a lot of time.
I suppose it's perspective. I don't really use McD's or east village area that much, it's not my stomping ground. Anywhere with a McD and KFC will have a whiff of US off it alright, so if that's the part you see as douglas, then I get it. The douglas area I am around more are the main streets (Douglas east and Douglas West) (KC's, Okura, pubs) down as far as the finger post, and church road... o sullivans etc. The park, playground and the schools. Those don't have much parking at all, which is the feature of those strip malls.
