Great place to bring kids up but too many restrictions: Seven people give their perspective on Cork
Different Different Perspectives Cummins Offer On Cork Picture: Larry People
I am 77 and driving a taxi for 40 years. The bulk of our work is in the northside. We bring a lot of old people up the northside shopping.
Cork has too many restrictions and it is going to interfere with the commercial aspect of the city.
Oliver Plunkett St closed after eight in the evening is restricting the social aspect of our movement. The loading bays should close at 11 o clock in the day and there should be parking meters take over for people who want to come in, do their business, get their stuff and go away.
Camden Quay is very restricted at the moment by traffic congestion. That is a main exiting route for Mallow, Limerick, and Galway.
The city won’t survive unless it has attractions and a big commercial turnover but you need convenience as well.
They (the local authority) are entertaining cyclists a lot now. Entertaining cyclists doesn’t contribute that much in the way of financial business to a city.
People are going to the shopping malls or they are buying online. You have less competition in the city nowadays.
We have to entertain visitors. They come off a liner and they go out to visit Blarney Castle. The city needs to provide instant amenities and facilities to keep tourists here.
The hotels haven’t got coach parking. That is a big thing. If you go to Connemara there is about 20 buses parked every night.
We have no proper tour bus parking here. The tour bus operators avoid the city and take the tourists to Cobh, Blarney Castle or the Jameson Brewery in Midleton.
We are losing the taxi ranks on Washington St. We also can’t pick up the entertainment people from Oliver Plunkett St. The council must look at all these situations.
What I like about Cork city having travelled around the world (having left Poland) for eight years is that the people here have an unbelievable drive. It is unique.
Some of us take Cork for granted and we shouldn’t because the amount of people with the passion, with the drive, with the knowledge, with the talent in the one city centre is worth a book being written about it.
Where we are off of MacCurtain St is great because it is the heartbeat of hospitality in Cork. But there is also an antique store and hair salons on the street. Everyone has their own niche and way to thrive.
Hospitality on MacCurtain St is a team sport. There are so many people that live for the purpose of making MacCurtain St a great place. People like Ciaran (O’Connor in Falvey’s Pharmacy) or Noreen Gallagher the co-owner of Moody who also owns nearby gastropub Gallaghers.)
I don’t like to criticise Cork but if was to make one criticism it is that we need more bins. On MacCurtain St we have just two bins. After the Jazz Festival it was horrid. It was like Woodstock. We also need more public toilets in the city centre. It can be filthy.
I am very happy with the team I have and with living in Cork. But you can’t take customers for granted. You have to consider how to make the experience better for customers. We are a young team and growing and learning all the time and showing that we deserve to be here.
It is going to be a tough time this winter (with the cost-of-living crisis). You will of course have your good days and your bad days. I understand that. We will work very hard.
We have been trading in the city for 40 years this year. We have seen huge amounts of changes good and bad in the city. Here now in 2022 from a negative point we are left with the impression that as a city we are not always open for business.
What I have noticed in particular is that some of the key streets such as Patrick Street and Oliver Plunkett Street have too many empty units. As a city trying to compete with other cities for tourism and for just people coming into town locally that is difficult. Because we don’t offer the full package now. All traders suffer when the occupancy of the city isn’t great.
It is very difficult with online sales. When a city becomes alive with something everybody does well. There was two examples recently. Culture night for example was terrific. Our restaurant was open and we were busy and people were in the shop and there was a buzz around the place.
We obviously just had the Jazz weekend and the whole weekend was brilliant. The restaurant upstairs had lots of people in they were and enjoying it. What was interesting was that I was out in town the weekend before. We met friends in town for dinner and we walked out of the restaurant and the place was empty. The weekend after you couldn’t move for people. It just shows you that we have to do things.
Forty years ago, we (in the Quay Co Op) were probably seen as a little alternative and wacky. Now the place is mainstream.
We have a lot of loyal customers but the challenge for us is finding a new customer base. We need the younger generation. People need an experience now. A food festival. A culture night. The things you can’t get online.
I am living in Cork for the last five years and I can see the city is growing very quickly. I am originally from Croatia. I have seen huge changes. The population is growing.
Traffic is becoming a little more complicated with of course the growth of the city. The bus network should be developed to follow that growth.
Something is already being done about it because there are a few more bus lanes and the cycle lanes are also introduced in many parts of the town but of course it is not enough. It causes a lot of congestion of traffic. In my opinion, there should be more bus lanes and buses should be prioritised.
There is this great initiative that the Government has put out called Bus Connect. It would really improve the public transport. And it would also be important to address climate change.
I think doing better improving public transport would be better for the city and people who live here and the environment. The service would be more reliable and the journey times would be reduced.
I will never leave Cork. I feel it in my heart that it is my place. I really love the people here. I love the multicultural feeling. When I am on my holidays I can’t wait to come back.
People say ‘thank you’ on the bus here. In other countries, the driver is part of the furniture. There was an old man who got on the bus one day and he said ‘I got married today.’ That made my day.
On my route, I hate to see private cars parked at bus stops. It makes it impossible to park and is difficult for someone in a wheelchair or someone pushing a buggy.
What I like about Cork is that it is compact and there is choice about what people can do and where they can go. We have fantastic offerings of bars, restaurants and amenities on our doorstep. In 20 minutes you are at the beach from Cork City.
There is not too many cities in the world that can boast that as well as top class food, bars and entertainment. We tick a lot of boxes in that regard.
We have an international airport and we have the harbour which is a hive of activity. We are really blessed here in Cork. It is great to bring kids up here with the diversity of cultures. It is fantastic to see it.
If I am looking at future-proofing for the city itself I would love to see more accommodation and more rejuvenation of the city for living in the city because if more people move out in to suburbia the heart of the city starts to die.
We need to be mindful that we need people always living in the city. I would like to see that as office blocks are being built that there would be some consideration to apartment blocks. Even the rejuvenation of buildings that are already there but the upstairs being converted.
And I suppose transport as well. There is a lot of talk of Bus Connects but we would like to see the key infrastructure of both buses and taxis improve so people can get around the city better.
I am sick of talking about it but the creation of events centre amenity would be so good for the whole city. Where it is in the heart of the city centre would rejuvenate the whole area.
* Michael O’Donovan - Owner of the Castle Inn, North Main Street
Cork is in a healthy state. The footfall is very positive. There is also an awful lot of new businesses opening.
The numbers going through our coffee shop in the city has never been better in our 18 years. You listen to the radio and it is all doom and gloom.
Yes it is difficult financially for a lot of people at the moment. Things are expensive and inflation is biting hard. But life carries on.
I think there has to be a look at what we do in our cities. We need to use as much of the available existing buildings as we can for residential primarily. There is lots of buildings that could be used for residential or part residential and I think that must be the focus.
I think that our transport links need to be improved. I think traffic management in the island of the city needs to be looked at. And I wouldn’t be opposed to having a car free island. I think our city is just made for it.
With that you obviously will have to improve Bus Connect corridors and the Park and Ride. We need a Park and Ride on the northside.
Cork has scope. It is a very user friendly city. It is flat. It is perfect for bicycles.
Closer to my business I think we need to look at the Huguenot graveyard on Carey’s Lane. The history is very interesting to people. But there is a big iron gate, the lights don’t work and it is overgrown. That is bizarre.
Cork City fights above its weight. We are great at finding solutions. In fairness to Cork City Council the relationship between them and businesses is very strong.
The village attitude of people towards collaboration is one of the things that I like about Cork... because people from Cork are familiar with each other we move from that familiarity to trust. Where there is trust a lot can be achieved in a short period of time.
There is only one degree of separation in Cork. If you don’t know somebody all you need is one other person and they will be able to put you in touch.
I think we could do so much better on public realm and sports infrastructure. I think we could move away from the dependence of the car as having the God given right to lord it over everybody else. That would be one thing I would like to see change.
I enjoy cycling. When I cycle I find I have to be completely defensive at all times. And presume that every driver is out to get me.It is not so much that we need to change the infrastructure, but we need to change the attitude of drivers. And I don’t mean that to ‘other’ them. I am saying when I am a driver, I need to change my attitude towards cyclists.
The other thing I would love to see is more access to sports. My husband is from New Zealand and in New Zealand all the schools have playgrounds and sporting facilities which are open for use at the weekends. They have a different approach to public liability insurance. If you get injured you will get looked after. You will get all the physio you need but you won’t get a payout. That changes the attitude to risk taking. That means more people can enjoy spaces that would have been closed at the weekend.