Stoneybatter?

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messyleo

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hey guys, looking at buying a house in arbour hill/stoneybatter area, just near blackhall place and off manor street and was wondering is it a safe enough area as i'm a young, single girl :) i know you're always going to get a certain rough element living nearish the city centre and i don't mind that so much, but i don't want to be living somewhere where i fear walking home every single night like the drumalee estate or the middle of sheriff street either! i know it's one of the up and coming areas and being revitalised (or whatever estate agents call it... *rolleyes*) but i'd be grateful for your opinions :)

cheers
m
 
It's a long time since I lived close to this area, circa 1990\92. A nice community spirit about the place, nice neighbours, nice pubs, but some rough elements about the place. I am not so sure that I would give it a hearty recommendation for a young single girl - but my perception is perhaps out of date; you could do worse.
 
I spent a lot of time there around 95/96 and it's a great place but again, there was definitely an slight undercurrent of roughness. The area between the croppy acre and arbour hill was always a bit creepy but i guess its really the walk from town to there thats the concern. Also the walk from town through Church Street/North King street is a bit dodgy sometimes. Perhaps because of the "up and coming" nature of the place, this may have improved. It definitely close enough to town to taxi cheaply if you have to come home really late.
 
Hi I currently live in North King Street area, great transport nice shops etc... The main issue I have is the on street drinking especially at night. Am looking to move out because the noise at night can be quiet loud and will only get worse at the weather improves. I have never been hassled directly but drunk singing and rows wear a person down.
Good luck whatever you do.
 
Hi I lived in north brunswick street in 1999 which is near there. The main advantage was the location and for approx 8 months I loved the convenience of the area but I then had a number of bad experiences (might have been unfortunate and I think there has been a large number of changes to the area in the last couple of years). I was mugged by a guy with a syringe and my boyfriend at the time was mugged by 2 guys with a knife. There was also a large number of drunks hanging around day and night which made me quiet nervous.

In saying the above I've also been mugged in Crumlin & the City Centre so maybe I just have a 'mug me' face.
 
Hi there,

I just moved out of Arbour Hill last September and I was quite glad to move. Its proximity to town is a major plus but the area is still really rough. I know that in Stoneybatter it really makes a difference what street you're on, for example some streets provide a direct link to O'Deveney gardens, (such as theh one I lived on), and you can get a lot of drunken pedestrian traffic at night...not to mention the kids. The ones around us liked to run up and down the road knocking the wing mirrors off parked cars. I dont want to be too negative, I have friends that live there and love it and never had any hassle. There are some nice pubs around there too, Walshe's is great and of course Ryans on Parkgate St. I have also lived on the other side of Manor Street, near Grangegormon and much preferred it over that side. Good luck with the purchase.
 
Don't forget that there will be 12k-15k DIT students and staff moving to Grangegorman in the next 2-10 years. Should help to regenerate stonybatter further.
 
thanks a mill for the feedback guys - i think i'll have to have a good think before a part with the cash! much appreciated :)
 
I live just of Oxmantown Road, at the NCR end. The area is rough and ready. Its quite dirty and can look a bit barren without any trees. If its a starter home your buying then one thing worth considering is exactly how much time you'll spend outside your front door. In reality people very little time outside if their property fronts the street.

I recently mentioned to a neighbour about the lack of cars on our street. She told me that most people owned a car but parked them on other streets because of the damage.

However, there are excellant bus services from here. There is a 24 hr tesco close by. It is close to phoenix park, and there are some good boozers too.

My girlfriend has mentioned that she doesnt feel overly safe where we are, mainly because of the gangs of kids hanging around street corners. I put the rubbish out the other night only to find a group of kids kicking it up the street 5 mins later...
 
gravitygirl said:
thanks a mill for the feedback guys - i think i'll have to have a good think before a part with the cash! much appreciated :)
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You should do this anyway but you should also check the area out for yourself by visiting it a few times at different times of the day/night. Some of the comments above don't tally with my experience of living in the area for the past 10+ years (and regularly staying with my sister who lived there for the 5 years before that) - or Dublin generally (e.g. never, ever, experienced any hassle when regularly walking to, around and from town at all hours of the day or night in the last 25 years or so). It's not perfect (where is?) but it's certainly not a no go area or anything like that as might be inferred from some of the comments above. The prostitution problems affecting the Benburb Street and surrounding areas (similar to problems experienced in other areas of central Dublin - e.g. along parts of the Grand Canal on the southside, Fitzwilliam Square etc.) for many years have been ameliorated somewhat in recent years due to community activity on the issue. In any case that was always more of an annoyance than any sort of threat. As with many areas there can be issues with kids hanging around (laneways, shops etc.) and giving lip but if you can't deal with that then you might be pretty restricted in terms of where you can buy at all. I've experienced the same in middle class estates! O'Devaney Gardens is due to be redeveloped and there's a huge investment ongoing into the National Museum in Collins' Barracks (Arbour Hill/Benburb Street) which, along with the Luas and Smithfield developments, has regenerated those areas significantly. For what it's worth we're happy to stay put even after the arrival of our baby five months ago. We have great neighbours and are friendly with many of the residents in the surrounding areas which gives the place a nice neighbourhood feel and where we live is both dead central and a bit off the beaten track while being handy for the other places in Dublin and elsewhere that we tend to visit.
 
gravitygirl said:
thanks a mill for the feedback guys - i think i'll have to have a good think before a part with the cash! much appreciated :)
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Just as a matter of interest, what are the prices like there nowadays? I remember going to look at a house there a few (4) years ago. Got there at 6pm as arranged. Streams of people coming from O'Devanny Gardens along the street really put me off. Also the fact that nobody answered the doorbell! I sat in the car waiting for 10 minutes and then realised I felt too threatened to stay, being a female on my own.
 
the price is abtour €420,000 for a three bed on arbour hill road, gonna check out the place some evening during the week. i tend to be out most nights so would be walking home from town at 1 or 2am very frequently, hence the concern tbh. thanks again for the advice... :)
 
gravitygirl said:
would be walking home from town at 1 or 2am very frequently, hence the concern tbh. thanks again for the advice... :)
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At the risk of sounding very middle-aged here and allowing for all the mad things that I did in my youth, I think you are crazy to go walking anywhere by yourself at night. I live in what would be considered a very middle class area but wouldn't go walking around by myself after dark!
Good luck with your house purchase and take care.
 
People who think that it's generally unsafe to walk the streets alone (in Stoneybatter or anywhere else) are, in my opinion, overreacting to the actual risk of harm occurring to them. Yes - nasty things happen (same as most places around the world) - but the actual number of incidents, in particular serious ones, and the number of people affected is small in the greater scheme of things. By all means take reasonable precautions to guard one's personal safety and security of property but please don't assume that the streets are generally not safe.
 
I have lived in Stoneybatter for 8 years and I totally love it here. I live between Oxmantown Rd and Manor St. We have everything that we need on our doorstep here. I keep a brand new car parked on the street outside and have never had an ounce of trouble **touches wood**. As others said, visit the street at all sorts of times day and night, midweek and weekend. Unless you are very unfortunate, you should be very happy around here. There is still a great sense of community and people do look out for each other. The prices keep shooting up too, so I recommend getting in here while you can still afford to.
 
Hi,

we're also looking at houses at the south end of this area. Any specific comments? How about the area around the Arbour Hill prison?

Also - all the news I could find about the prostitution problem are over one year old. Has anything happened in the meanwhile? Has the problem gotten better/worse?

Thanks in advance and if we end up there I'll gladly buy a pint to y'all locals!
 
Why don't you take a look a bit further up the road in Cabra! Not a fashionable as stonybatter but its still very close to town and beside Phibsboro. You'll also get a front and back garden!
 
giovannig said:
we're also looking at houses at the south end of this area. Any specific comments? How about the area around the Arbour Hill prison?
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Have been happily living there for 11 years now if that's any help. Of course that might put some people here off the area! :D

Apropos of nothing in particular ... my neighbour left her car unlocked the other night and a Garda on the beat happened by and noticed and kindly drew it to my attention so that I could draw it to my neighbour's (the car was parked such that it was not clear which house it belonged to). Chances are it would not have been touched overnight anyway.
Also - all the news I could find about the prostitution problem are over one year old. Has anything happened in the meanwhile? Has the problem gotten better/worse?
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It has improved a lot largely due to the work on the ground by Emer and Joe Costello*, the Gardaí, regular picketing by several locals from the Montpelier Gardens area and the presence of the Luas on Benburb Street all of which seem to have put most of the prostitutes and punters off frequenting the area most of the time. The odd time I still see the odd prostitute in the area and simply call the Gardaí and they have always responded promptly in my experience. Even when it was more of an issue in previous years it was always more of an inconvenience than a threat in my experience.

* I am not a Labour Party member or supporter but must give them credit for the work that they have done in keeping this issue alive and arranging public meetings etc.
 
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