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Infomatique

Your guide to Blackpool, Cork: Old factory neighbourhood with a new generation moving in

The home of Christy Ring and Jack Lynch on the northside of Cork city.

Your Neighbourhood is a series of local area guides from TheJournal.ie, presented by KBC. We’re bringing you the best of city neighbourhoods combined with the latest property data.

BLACKPOOL IS AN old neighbourhood of Cork. It started to develop several hundred years ago along the main road out of the city to Dublin and Limerick. 

From the 19th century onwards it became a manufacturing area, home to some of Cork’s most notable industries including the Cork Dry Gin distillery and the Sunbeam Wolsey textile plant (which burned down in a huge fire in 2003). Murphy’s brewery was also a major employer.

This made Blackpool a centre for thousands of factory workers, and it became known as a close-knit working class community with a network of sporting and other clubs – Christy Ring played hurling for Glen Rovers, in the heart of the neighbourhood. That has changed a bit, with a lot of the industry moving away in the second half of the 20th century. Today the neighbourhood has a lot of older residents, with a new influx of young ones just moving in. 

Historically, the area’s main artery is Thomas Davis Street leading into Dublin Street, the old route leading out past the shopping centre. In recent times the retail park has taken a lot of the commercial activity, but new investment is on the way.  

Take me there! OK, here you are on Thomas Davis Street facing the Church of the Annunciation – built in 1945 and funded by local factory owners and workers.

So what’s the big draw? Blackpool is a historic neighbourhood that’s changing. It’s a long-standing community that is often tight-knit, with a lot of community groups and organisations. Like many former industrial areas it has its problems. But it is getting significant investment in new housing and there are plans to regenerate areas of the old main street that have suffered in recent decades. 

What do people love about it? The people, says local business owner Bill Dunlea. 

They’re just salt of the earth type of people, great community spirit, everybody looks out for everyone else. And now we have a lot of young couples moving in, of all nationalities I suppose. We welcome strangers.

And… what do people NOT love about it? Some areas, especially along the old main street, are quite run-down. Bill hopes that new investment will change this. 

I’d like to see more people living here now. There’s plans in place to build more houses, and that’s going to be great. Freshen it up a bit. There are some streets badly hit with dereliction. But it’s looking good for the future.

He adds that plans to address repeated floods in Cork are causing some controversy. 

They have come up with a plan for sorting it out but there’s a lot of people don’t agree with it. They’re going to cover over the rivers, if this happens it could change Blackpool. That’s ongoing at the moment. That’s the main worry I have.

What’s the story with house prices? Relatively low. The average asking price for a property in Blackpool is €171,224 according to Daft.ie. That is the lowest price among Cork city neighbourhoods tracked in the Daft.ie analysis, and puts it in the bottom 25 per cent of areas nationwide by price.

How long will it take me to the city centre? From the Tomás Mac Curtain monument by the church, it’s a 15-20 minute walk down to Patrick Street. 

The 203 and 215 buses also run out through Blackpool, on their way to Fairhill/Farranree and Cloghrea respectively. 

Where should I get lunch? Try the Garden Cafe for lunch and a coffee. Located in a Victorian-style greenhouse on the grounds of the former convent, it claims to be “the greenest cafe in Cork city”.

Alternatives: Bracken’s Bakery, an outpost of the cafe in the city centre, does excellent cakes and sandwiches.

And what’s my new local? Geaney’s is a small one-room bar at the top of the neighbourhood that’s been in the same family for almost 170 years. 

Alternatives: At the other end of the village, the Constellation is a venerable watering hole which still delivers the goods. For something a little more lively, try Quinlan’s

Schools and supermarkets? There’s a Dunnes Stores and an Aldi in the shopping centre. There’s also a Lidl just to the west in Fairhill. 

There are five primary schools nearby: St Brendan’s (Catholic, girls, 99 pupils); North Presentation (Catholic, mixed, 229 pupils); St Vincent’s (Catholic, mixed, 280 pupils); Scoil Mhuire Fatima (Catholic, boys, 145 pupils); and Scoil Iosagain (Catholic, boys, 355 pupils). 

There are six secondary schools in the area or nearby: St Vincent’s (Catholic, girls, 216 pupils); North Monastery (Catholic, boys, 388 pupils); Gaelcholáiste Mhuire (Catholic, mixed, 561 pupils); Christian Brothers College (Catholic, boys, 903 pupils); St Angela’s (Catholic, girls, 564 pupils); and Scoil Mhuire (Catholic, girls, 414 pupils). 

OK, I’m sold. Give me one piece of Blackpool trivia to impress a local. The Sunbeam factory was a pillar of the area for decades, providing jobs for thousands of residents. Here’s a short documentary about their experiences.

Eamon Pearse / YouTube

Do you live in Blackpool? Share your opinion in the comments!

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6 Comments
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    Mute Paula T Nolan
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    May 17th 2021, 3:12 PM

    Lingering resentment due to lingering cost – still paying the Universal Social Charge. Also, it gave employers a new license to shrimp on salaries. I now take home the same after tax pay as in 2008. Resentment? Bloody furious. Especially as most of the boyos who facilitated crash are lining the hulls of their yachts with a greasy coat of paint for summer.

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    Mute Chris Long
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    May 17th 2021, 2:45 PM

    Well if the banks employees says so…. its not like they’re on the payroll or anything!

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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    May 17th 2021, 3:24 PM

    @Chris Long: you should hear what a lot of people who work in the finance sector have to say about their employers – they are also on the payroll… Being on the payroll doesn’t make anyone give praise to their employers. Not saying the banks are great or anything but the point you are implying is heavily flawed.

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    Mute Adrian™
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    May 17th 2021, 3:03 PM

    Why would anyone say you have trust in a bank? Unless the mean they trust the bank to treat you like dirt and charge you handsomely for the pleasure…

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    Mute Michael Healy
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    May 17th 2021, 3:20 PM

    Banks had to be forced to put in a payment break for loans and mortgages in the first lockdown and wouldn’t even entertain it cone the second one, and yet wonder why people have low trust in banks. Some people think we have the bank debt paid off when in reality we are just adding the covid borrowing to the bank debt and we can forget things like the USC ever going away, meanwhile banks can put out these false mortgage and loan ads where they look great and friendly without realising when u fall on hard times, they turn into pack wolves and can cause people serious health issues trying to repay things back

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    Mute Jack Cass
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    May 17th 2021, 2:31 PM

    Ah! the innocence of youth.

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    Mute Karen Delaney
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    May 17th 2021, 3:47 PM

    They’ve given us no reason to trust them. While the rest of the population scrimped out a living on much reduced pay, bankers continued with high salaries and bonuses.

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    Mute Quiet Goer
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    May 17th 2021, 2:30 PM

    Pheic the cashless society

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    Mute Corkonian In Dublin
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    May 17th 2021, 7:28 PM

    Asking bank staff about bank culture is like asking Landlords to vote for rent increases. If you want to know the true state of the Irish banking sector look at Ulster Bank and KBC. They are both pulling out. Leaving the country with AIB, BOI and PTSB. All of whom took state bailouts (your and mine pension money) and have yet to repay all of it (nor will they). I would like the EU to insist on the government to all Irish Citizens to open bank accounts in any bank on mainland Europe away from the so called “Pillar Banks”

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    Mute Niall Donnelly
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    May 17th 2021, 5:17 PM

    Shower of Bankers!!!

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    Mute Deirdre O'Byrne
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    May 17th 2021, 7:06 PM

    @Niall Donnelly: wunch of bankers.

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    Mute whitewater
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    May 17th 2021, 6:35 PM

    You can always trust the banks to screw you over. The future of banking is the likes of Revolut and N26. Revolut did what the major banks have resisted for years.

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    Mute Mark
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    May 17th 2021, 7:37 PM

    @whitewater: Revolut is not a Bank and your money is NOT covered under the deposit guarantee scheme

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    May 17th 2021, 6:48 PM

    If they could just do their job properly. These days anyone who can make a decision is surrounded by a jungle of in_ept monkeys, making them nearly impossible to contact, 4 years waiting for BOI to let us draw down the last of our mortgage! Don’t build a house people, not with a bank at least.

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    Mute Bill Spill
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    May 17th 2021, 9:19 PM

    @thesaltyurchin: 4 years waiting on the last drawdown?!?!? There HAS to be more to that story! Genuinely interested if you want to share

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    Mute Dsds
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    May 17th 2021, 7:14 PM

    I would have more trust in a politician than I would in a banker…..

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    May 17th 2021, 7:36 PM

    Irish Banking Culture Board!

    Was tried and tested First-World Corporate Governance procedures set down for Plc’s, including for Banks, not sufficient to establish an acceptable culture here, Boss?

    Is Ireland the only country on the planet with such a quaintly named organisation that’s established to assure the public that adherence to procedures manuals, first written hundreds of years ago on proper behaviour in day-to-day banking, is no longer optional for the senior management?

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