There is a vibrant nightlife in Dublin and it is reputedly one of the most youthful cities in Europe - with estimates of 50% of inhabitants being younger than 25. In 2007, it was voted the friendliest city in Europe.
As in the rest of Ireland, there are many pubs right across the city centre. The area around St. Stephen's Green - especially Harcourt Street, Camden Street, Wexford Street and Leeson Street - is a centre for some of the most popular nightclubs and pubs in Dublin.
The internationally best-known area for nightlife is the Temple Bar area just south of the River Liffey. To some extent, the area has become a hot spot for tourists, including stag and hen parties from the UK. It was developed as Dublin's cultural quarter, and does retain this spirit as a centre for small arts productions, photographic and artists' studios, and in the form of street performers and intimate small music venues. There are also plenty of good restaurants, our favourite being Tante Zoe's
The LGBT scene in Dublin is centred on a number of superpubs and clubs such as The Dragon and The George on South Great George's Street. The other two bars focused towards the gay scene are The Front Lounge (on Parliament street) and Pantibar (on Capel Street). There are also over 13 gay club nights ranging from Q&A (Queer & Alternative), Spice, Glitz, The Furry Glen (Bear night), Shift, VIQ, Bukkake, Nimhneach (Fetish night), After Dark, Kiss (Lesbian night), L Club (Lesbian night).
Live music is popularly played on streets and at venues throughout Dublin in general. Dublin has produced several musicians and groups of international success, including U2, The Dubliners, Horslips, The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, Sinead O'Connor and My Bloody Valentine.
The two best known cinemas in the city centre are the Savoy Cinema and the Cineworld Cinema, both north of the Liffey. Alternative and special-interest cinema can be found in the Irish Film Institute in Temple Bar, in the Screen Cinema on d'Olier Street and in the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. Across suburban Dublin are located large modern multiscreen cinemas. Situated on the Liffey at the Eastlink tollbridge, The O2, Dublin (originally called, and still often known as, the Point Theatre) has housed world renowned performers in all fields of music.
SHOPPING
Since I was about ten years old I have imported books and electronic and photographic goods from the UK and have saved a lot of money by doing so. For example in 1969 (way before the Internet) I decided to purchase an SLR camera in London and even though I had to pay the airfare to London (I actually stayed in London for three days). I ended up getting the camera at £50 less (after paying travel costs, customs charges, etc) than if I had purchased it in Dublin.
Unfortunately the camera was stolen not long after I purchased it.
I now import from Germany, France, Canada, Australia, The US and to a lesser degree from the UK and I have always been surprised by the fact that more people did not follow my example but I believe that there may be a major change underway because Irish consumers can no longer afford to pay up to 50% more for goods during this economic crisis. They have no option to do what they can to survive, and to seek out bargains wherever they can be found.
This year, 2009, Republic of Ireland shoppers are flocking to Newry, Eniskillen, Lisburn and other destinations north of the border to stock up on everything from food and drink to nappies to car tyres. Some members of the government have attempted to brand these shoppers as "unpatriotic" but such claims are just making people aware of the savings that can be made by travelling a short distance to another part of the Island. It should be noted that it is less expensive to fly to London from Dublin than it is to travel by train to Cork.
All relevant surveys now show that shoppers can buy the same goods for less in Northern Ireland. Groceries in the UK are at least 30% cheaper than in the Republic, while other items are up to 50% less expensive. In the case of goods not manufactured in the UK this difference may reduce somewhat because of the weakness of Sterling.
For more information about the differences in prices you should visit Dual Pricing
The Competition Authority has been instructed by the government to investigate the massive price differences and to report where the mark-ups are happening and who is profiting.
Customers accuse retailers of refusing to pass on savings, while retailers in turn blame suppliers.It is hard to believe that the government is claiming that it is impossible to determine where in the supply chain the mark-ups are happening.
We here at the "Streets Of Dublin" encourage everyone who can to drive across the border to Northern Ireland to shop.
For those of you who are unwilling to cope with traffic queues, fights over parking spaces and shopping trolleys buying online is a good solution. You can save a lot of money by importing books, music and DVDs from the US, The UK, Canada, France or Germany. For Irish people living in Ireland buying books and CDs from the US results in major savings.
Does bypassing local retailers to shop in the North hurt our economy, and eventually our own jobs and financial security. There is no question that it does have an impact and we have photographs to prove it but on the other hand it can be argued that the freedom to shop outside Ireland is supposed to be one of the major benefits of being in an economic union such as the EU. One often gets the feeling that the Government are inclined to be very selective about what benefits of being in the EU should be made available to the Irish taxpayer. But to be fair to the government the Irish consumer must accept much of the blame as they have not been inclined to stand up and object to being over charged for goods and services thus allowing the current "rip-off" culture to develop.
GRAFFITI & STREET ART
I get a lot of pleasure from wandering around Dublin and other places seeking examples of quality Street Art. However as my mission is to document the changes in Dublin as they take place I feel that it is only right to publish the good, the bad and the ugly and leave it up to you to decide what you like or do not like.
A few months ago I received an email from someone complaining that my photographic style was lazy and crappy and suggesting that I should find something better to do than promoting "self indulgent gay art by East European refugees". I suspect that they were referring to some of the photographs that I took along Killiney beach. I don't know if this stuff is considered to be good or not but I like it and I intend to continue photographing and uploading it to the Streets Of Dublin.
Maybe it is my imagination, or else I am visiting the wrong locations, but I believe that the quality of Street Art and Graffiti has gone downhill since about the time the Lisbon Treaty campaign ended (maybe the East Europeans have moved on). The area around Windmill Lane has become a bit messy but maybe that is to be expected as too many people know about the place.
If you know of some good locations please point me in the right direction, use the contact form on this page.
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FRIDAY, 19 DECEMBER 2008
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SO-CALLED graffiti artists are facing a much stricter regime following the announcement of a zero tolerance policy that came into effect at the beginning of December.
The Dublin City Business Improvement District’s (BID) intensive graffiti assessment and removal campaign was launched to put an end to the scourge, which seriously affects business owners in the city centre.
Businesses in the area are invited to contact the BID office on 6334680 or email graf fiti@dublincitybid.ie to alert them of incidences of graffiti when it happens.
A BID street ambassador will then visit the premises to assess the most appropriate removal technique and instigate its removal.
For smaller scale graffiti, the Dublin BID company will provide self-help graffiti kits for businesses that are designed to remove graffiti from shutters and windows.
The Dublin City BID team will also provide training, which is essential to ensure the correct use of the pack.
Richard Guiney, chief executive of Dublin City Business Improvement District, said Dublin is a wonderful city with a lot to offer the people that use it.
“Unfortunately, like any capital city around the world, there is a minority that lessens the experience for others,” Mr Guiney stated.
“Similar to the Business Improvement Districts in the US, our goal is to ultimately rid the city centre of graffiti.
“The zero-tolerance system is effective because eventually the graffiti artists cease their activities as they realise that, when undertaken, it will be removed as quickly.”
EASONS
I was surprised to discover that the most common keyword used to find the Streets Of Dublin website is "Easons", I cannot determine why.
For many years Eason's was my favourite shop as I was interested in many different subjects and spent a fortune buying all relevant magazines. At one stage I was buying up to ten magazines per week and about ten books per month. However about ten years ago I began to realise that I could save a lot of money by purchasing annual subscriptions to North American publications raTher than than through retail outlets. For some reason UK publications are very expensive to subscribe to if your address in not within the UK (or NI) so an annual subscription is not an option (I often get the impression that British companies do not like selling to or are in some way prevented from dealing with customers in Ireland).
Since we in the Republic switched to the Euro I have stopped buying magazines from Easons because I cannot see how they arrive at the prices that they charge, I consider their pricing to be unreasonable but I am sure that my decision not to buy from them will have little or no impact on their overall business. I do still buy some books from them, maybe three or four a year.
For a while Reads were an alternative to Easons as they were charging about 10% less for magazines but they are now owned by Easons. I am not saying that they are not still cheaper than Easons, just that I am no longer willing to buy there.
In the case of magazines I now use Zinio to download electronic editions of some popular magazines and I now purchase books from Amazon in the US 9my preferred option) or Amazon in Canada and sometimes from Amazon in the UK.
I still visit Easons almost every day but I don't really buy there anymore.
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