Category: Economy - Reading the Signs

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Dereliction Art on Dock Road

28/3/2016

Limerick city, I believe, dealt with the decay of the Celtic Corpse better than Cork in that they used a number of derelict sites as opportunities for art.

I was on the Dock Road a few weeks back and noted that a large site is as yet undeveloped.

I remain firm in the belief that if the local authorities had exercised compulsory purchase on derelict sites and then sell on at auction, it would have had the effect of setting a new base price and allow developers to purchase at a viable base price. Instead, we had banks and receivers holding on to property waiting for an upturn in prices while keeping a visual blackspot intact.

I did stop to view the artwork and did like a few of them.

But sometimes streetart is not enough to cover up inaction and the mind wanders back to the extent of dereliction in Cork and the inertia of Cork City Council in dealing with the disrespect shown to the city.

That bright early Saturday morning, I did not leave the site uplifted and happy.

If Only Venues Were Owned By People who Cared....

13/1/2016

A while back, I mentioned the messages on the Pavilion when in closed.

From the message I spotted last week, it appears that it may have suffered a similar fate.

I doubt very much if cash will ever come second to music.

Idaho Café - Deserving of Custom

18/7/2015

As I have said before, I try to support city centre businesses with my purchases – a little contribution to help keep some from not closing and moving to the shopping centres or retail parks.

Just imagine if there only were shopping centres and retail parks – I hope that that offends you.

I recently spotted this blackboard on Idaho Café on Caroline Street – another reason to support local owned enterprises.

Square Dealt

28/6/2015

Maybe the tide has not fully turned with this economy yet.

I spotted last week that Square Deal on Washington Street is having a closing down sale. I wondered if the much reduced parking due to the cycle lanes had contributed any nails into the coffin.

I like the building façade and hope that it is retained.

I suspect that it will not be replaced as a furniture shop – possibly prompting the opening of yet another in the anonymous parks on the edge of the city and beyond, where parking is free and there is absolutely no chance of impulse shopping in the city centre.

If you browse local, do shop local – please, before what is local may not be no more.

“Lee Boot Factory (Furniture Centre, Washington St)

This Guy’s photograph taken in 1913 shows the staff of the Lee Boot Factory in sidecars outside their place of employment on Lancaster Quay prior to embarking on their annual excursion. The Lee Boot Manufacturing Co. was established by the Dwyer family around 1890 to complement their wholesale drapery business. Originally located in Hannover Street, it soon moved to larger premises on Washington Street , and about the time this photograph was taken had expanded to take over the old Lancastrian Schools, which were replaced by a new building on the Mardyke.”

CORK In Old Photographs – Tim Cadogan (2003 Gill & Macmillan Ltd)

A Tale of Two Pubs

6/6/2015

After Gerry – 2

I came late to drink.

In hindsight, it would have been great if I was categorised as an ‘Irish Queer’ – a category created by Seán Ó Faoláin, ‘a man who prefers women to drink’. Unfortunately, ignorance prevailed and it was not a case of opportunities lost as more opportunities I did not know ever existed.

As a non-drinker, I perfected the art of the people-watcher; a part of the group but still apart. This art was later expanded with a camera – at events or even sessions, the person with the camera has a licence to mingle, to drop in and out of groups. He is in control. He can move on when he wants without offending.

As a non-drinker, I also became the designated driver which again gave control as to where and when.

During a quiet time in college, a group of us headed down to PM’s homeplace outside Claremorris – at the end of a boreen, off a country road. For someone who lived within earshot of Cork’s Kent Station and had grown immune to the hum of the train engines constantly ticking over, waking in Rockfield is my first memory of complete silence.

Another memory is that Saturday night, or actually Sunday morning after 3a.m., leaving Mulligan’s and being asked by the bar staff, ‘Are ye sure ye won’t have another?’. That may have been the norm but for this non-drinking city-kid, somewhat fearful of being a found-on, it was a phrase that remains in a strong shade of grey upstairs in my matter.

Last July, I was back in Mayo, for the funeral of PM’s mother – the woman who ensured that we were so well fed and ready for Mulligan’s, nearly thirty years previously.

I was disappointed to see the sad and sorry state of Mulligan’s.

‘…
“Come in, boys, and welcome,
the later the safer as the man said.”
“The night’s gone out of it,” I replied
“but home and dry we’ll wet our whistle.”
And we settled in until dawn.’

Extract from The Corner House

Gerry Murphy - Muse

The Corner House started as a place for lunch; then became a spot with my stool in the corner at lunchtime; and, now is my local – although I have migrated from the front corner to the back, once more being apart.

Gerry Murphy’s latest book of poems brought the two pubs together in my mind. It got me thinking and made me jealous – of the after-hours forbidden drink.

I took the photograph as part of a grouping of tiled mosaics on buildings in Cork but it goes to show how the Celtic Corpse has treated both The Corner House and Mulligan’s – maybe the demand for after-hours pint and the reliance on the after-hours trade extracted its revenge in Mayo.

Opportunities in Dereliction

4/4/2015

The report of their death was an exaggeration

31/1/2015

A by-product of this blog entry is that I learnt that the quote was not ‘News of my death have been greatly exaggerated’ and that the source was Mark Twain.

Last Saturday, I was delighted to spot this sign – they are not gone after all.

I did enjoy my cup of tea in their pop-up location at the Firkin Crane that day. I hope that their search for a new location is successful and swift.

Another Victim

16/1/2015

I was very disappointed to read of the closure and liquidation of the Roman House. For my generation, it was always there.

But no longer.

It wasn’t a shop that one attended every week but I suspect that many of my years would have been a customer for a Holy Communion Book; Mass Cards; Memorial Cards; or, little bits of jewellery.

Maybe it is the change in the importance of religious practice; maybe it is a factor of online competition; maybe it was a factor of not replacing the reducing demand with new product; or, maybe there are many other reasons for the failure of this company.

If in Cork, do walk down North Main Street and see if you can picture a bustling trading street – to do so, you may need to have the power of ‘Back to the Future’.

Shop Local - Please

15/1/2015

January 2015

February 2014

I have in the past few months decided, whenever possible, to buy whatever I need in the City Centre.

The extent of closures is scary and gives the picture of a future of charity shops and the characterless Opera Lane – a thoroughfare that could be anywhere in the world.

O’Callaghan’s did benefit from our custom after Christmas at the expense of the suburban electrical retailers.

Last Saturday, I was disappointed to see that the lovely soup and sandwiches of Buttercup Café are now in the past. Their tasty breakfast is not to be repeated. My infrequent custom was not enough to keep it trading.

Unless we support city traders, who will be next…..

Who Owns This House?

18/11/2014

In a time when every car has a unique engine number and registration number, is it not strange that there are properties whose owners are unknown?

I was told that all new property transactions have the GPS co-ordinates recorded on the Land Registry but that there are very many not registered yet.

St. Patrick's Road

Irish Water Public Relations – An Oxymoron

2/11/2014

You might think that these images are of a damaged water valve.

I have seen it on Devonshire Street and can confirm that it is a water valve of some sort and that water has been leaking from it and a rate of pressure since Friday evening, at least. Irish Water’s website says that ‘Clean water is both expensive to produce and manage‘, but this expensive clean water has been flowing down the street and into the drain.

Reporting

The Irish Water website does outline what you should do when you find a leak on one’s private property but there is no mention anywhere that I could see as to reporting a leak on a public road to prevent the waste of such a costly resource.

Not being put off by this, I phoned that Irish Water contact number and after some press this for that, I was speaking to, what I assume was a Abtran-operator who is passing on the available information as she reads from the computer.

No Leaks at Weekends

The computer told the operator and she told me that Irish Water service department do not operate and weekends. She suggested that I contact the Local Authority directly – the same Local Authority who, when I contacted them some months ago said that I should contact Irish Water to report a leak, which is why 1890 278 278 is now stored in my mobile phone.

After my comment as to how customer unfriendly such a procedure was, that I was happy to pass on the details then over the phone but I would not be phoning any other telephone number, she took down details of the leak.

They need to learn from the fault-reporting system at Airtricity – a dedicated telephone number and webpage.

Removed from Reality

The Abtran-operator probably breached protocol by taking the number as this was not the option as stated on the computer.

To think that some manager who prepared the brief for that section of the Customer Relations Software; the programmer who wrote it; and the Irish Water supervisory staff who tested it before passing it as fit-for-purpose, all thought that it was o.k. to have a different reporting system at weekends and, that it is reasonable to expect a member of the public who has taken time out to report a fault to be willing to take further time to write down and phone another number.

24 Hours

The photographs were taken a day after I reported the fault.

The clean water still flows into My Own Lovely Lee.

Thanks For The Memories

28/10/2014

There used to be a difference between U.S.A. and Ireland with regard to the failure of a venture. In America, it was accepted as a part of learning and one just got on with whatever was the next venture. In Ireland, there was a perceived taint on one’s character – a blemish that would never be forgotten.

Of late, I have noted that it is not unusual to see signs such as this on the Seanachai in Kinsale. Similar appeared on The Pav, Fitzgerald’s Electrical and Crowleys.

One side-effect of the Celtic Corpse appears to be an acceptance that a business may have failed despite the absolute very best efforts of the owner/operator – a victim of society and factors outside their control.

Goodbye Pavilion

7/8/2014

On Monday 21st July, I was driving back from Kerry and heard on the radio that the Pavilion in Cork had closed down with immediate effect.

Just when one might be thinking that the economy has turned; that liquidations and closures had gone from the news headlines; and that there might be a stop to the decline, one gets rudely awakened.

The next day, the proof of the closure was there for all to see.

Dealing with the Celtic Corpse

3/6/2014

My own preference would be for all derelict sites to be compulsorily acquired under the Derelict Sites Act by the local authority who could then sell on. The market will then determine the value of the property. The purchaser will not be waiting for an upturn in the market and, hopefully, will have available funds to develop the site.

Derelict sites do drag down adjacent properties and the city in general. It is unfortunate that Cork City Council allows so many derelict sites to exist and continue to deteriorate in the city.

If they are afraid to use the power to compulsorily purchase the sites, they could take lessons from Limerick City Council on how to transform derelict sites on a temporary basis.

Western Road, Cork

Disused Petrol Station

Parnell St., Limerick

Disused Petrol Station

Above

Cathedral Place Limerick

Left:

South Main Street, Cork

Above:

Castle Street, Limerick

Left:

Castle Street, Cork

A Tale of Three Cities

25/5/2014

A twenty-first century grotto, Thomas St., Limerick

On the May Bank holiday weekend, from Ennis we headed into Limerick. The Riverfest was on but there was a major buzz around the place. The Milk Market area was thronged. Even allowing for the showery weather, the activity, the sense of happiness and commerce, and the uplift that such activity brings was refreshing.

The following Saturday, I was in Galway. Another showery day and no bank holiday but the number of visitors in the city was remarkable. A different day, a different city, same buzz.

Last Saturday, I was in Cork and attended a talk as part of the Bealtaine festival - a completely different feel. Maybe there is truth to the argument of green hills being far away – or maybe Cork is missing out.

This was one of the many street art installations in Limerick that did impress – expect to see some more over the coming weeks.