☀️The Friday View 26/05
Cork city centre gets a new cultural centre for a hot minute; another sports shop for St. Patrick's St; a must-see photography exhibition in Skibbereen and "406 Days" is on general release.
Dia dhuit and welcome to the Friday View. Thanks for subscribing and do help spread the word.
Builders + Artists Merge (BAM!), briefly
OK, so I spelled it out, but last weekend builders and artists converged inside the Counting House, the extant Tudor-esque part of the former Beamish & Crawford Brewery on South Main Street, for STAMP festival. According to the organisers more than 4,000 people dropped by the Counting House over the weekend, where a range of Cork-based artists and designers were exhibiting and running workshops. It was also a chance to see inside the two-hundred-year-old Counting House, which BAM, a construction company, owns and is renovating.
Top line: It was a lovely festival, and with the Counting House, it had a fantastic central location.
Next line: Who knows when we’ll get a look inside again?
Another line: Any bit of goodwill and positive PR BAM generated by opening up for STAMP was dumped in the Lee the moment the fences went back up around the plaza.
At the STAMP launch last Friday, the Lord Mayor and City Council representatives were singing from the same hymn sheet in praising the festival organisers for making the significant cultural event happen (which was part funded by Cork City Council) and BAM for being gracious hosts. Would 4,000 people have turned up on South Main Street on any other weekend?
No.
Especially now, as BAM have cordoned off the plaza outside the Counting House with fencing. It’s a deadzone, and, as The Irish Examiner reported this week, it’s going to remain that way until the area around Bishop Lucey Park, Tuckey Street and South Main Street is redeveloped. (The Brewery Quarter!). That will be years away.
When it comes to capitalism vs. culture, there's only ever one winner. Sample-Studios, one of the four creative institutions involved in STAMP, used to be housed in the former tax office on Sullivan's Quay. In a feature I wrote last year for T+D, the Project Twins, who were based at Sample-Studios when they resided on Sullivan's Quay, told me they had plenty of fond memories of life in the former tax office. It was an artist's hub, slap bang in the middle of the city.
Until it wasn’t. BAM bought the building from the Revenue Commissioners and demolished it in 2018 and while the building is no great loss, the space certainly is. BAM intends to build a hotel on the site, to go with the Events Centre just across the river. (That Events Centre site is so full of running jokes that they’ll need a week to just to clear them out, if they ever get round to building it.)
The City Council wants the city to become a cultural hub, with events such as STAMP held in venues such as the Counting House. But, maddeningly Cork City Council could be in the driving seat if it was more forward thinking. I’m referring here to the Dutch-style warehouses at Parnell Place that I wrote about a few months ago. The Council disposed of the two sites to Tetrach Capital back in 2017. Both buildings require a significant investment, but, as with the Counting House they are heritage buildings with so much to offer. Likewise, with the Butter Exchange in Shandon. As Ellie O’Byrne reported in her long read last year, Cork City councillors voted to dispose of the building in a lease to Recreate Shandon CLG which intends to transform the historic setting as a tech hub.
Both sites would make for stunning locations for studios and exhibition spaces. Arts and cultural institutions such as benchspace, Cork Craft & Design, Sample-Studios, and Shandon Art Studios (and others) could base artists and designers there and stage all manner of events throughout the year. But, that’s coulda, shoulda, woulda talk now.
Taking ownership of anything is complicated and fraught, but there’s a level of control and freedom that comes with the burden of responsibility.
On the other hand, if the preferred route is to offload assets and instead try to forge partnerships, then councillors and the council Executive must know that partners come and go, and put fences up as they please.
More’s the pity.
News in brief
Park+Ride: At a recent public meeting, independent councillor Paudie Dinnen called for more park and ride facilities as part of BusConnects. As he pointed out, there is currently only one park and ride in operation in the city, located on the Southside at Black Ash, adjacent to Tramore Valley Park. According to Cllr Dinnen the Black Ash Park and Ride is “underutilised and not being used, and we need to find out why.”
However, data from the City Council contradicts part of what the councillor said (see chart). For January and February 2023, around 35,000 trips were made per month, which is an increase compared to the same period in 2022. There was a substantial drop in usage of the scheme during the final months of 2021, but that was during the pandemic when restrictions were in place. Whether the scheme is being underutilised depends on how and what Cllr Dineen is measuring the scheme against. However, all this data is readily available to councillors.
The more things change, the more sports shops come to town. Those who think the glass is always half full were happy to see the news that the Roches Stores building had finally been sold (at €12m, it was a lot less than the €20m asking price). Cue the headlines of the "iconic building" on Patrick Street getting a new owner.
The new owners are no strangers to Cork city's main street. As Eddie Mullins and his digitally savvy crew at Fitzgerald Menswear were quick to point out on Instagram, Elverys had an outpost on 'Pana' at number 78, which, from what I can gather, was called Elephant House. This possibly explains why a replica of an elephant was installed over the front of the shop.
Founded in 1847, Elverys is Ireland's oldest sports shop. It nearly folded a decade ago but returned to profitability in 2014 after successfully going through an examinership process and forming a partnership with Intersport. A few years ago, Elverys acquired Mahers in the city center. Given the size of their new premises on Patrick's Street, they will likely give up the lease on their Oliver Plunkett Street outlet.
As to whether another sports shop is what St. Patrick's Street needed (the most recent new addition to the street was a donut store), Eddie Mullins expressed his satisfaction with Elverys moving in.
“It’s all going the right way with Flannels about to open in the old Easons and Mango going into the old Quills building,” Eddie told me, adding that the City Council have also just completed a “hugely welcome deep power clean of the street” and added new planters which add colour to the historic street.
The City Coucil’s plan for Patrick’s Street is to keep it a retail street, and it would appear that plan is working.
BusConnects Cork, briefly: Figures released by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to the Labour party this week reveal that over €1.25m has been spent on the public consultation of BusConnects Cork from 2021 up to April 2023. Bear in mind the total budget currently stands at €600m.
Broken down those costs went to PR, flyering, advertising, printing and event management. The second round of public consultation closed yesterday with many city councillors calling for a third round of public consultation. That looks likely, but we’ll have to wait to see the revised plans the NTA comes back with, which will probably be later this year.
And, finally. You might recall last month we wrote about Wildfire Guitar Club. The group had a three-night sell-out run of shows at the CAT club last month, with all the proceeds from the door and the raffles going to Pieta House. They raised over €6,000. Pictured below are three members of the Guitar Club presenting the cheque to Pieta House.
Volunteers wanted
Cork Community Art Link is currently looking for a volunteers for a variety of roles for the Midsummer Parade which takes place on June 18 as part of Cork Midsummer Festival. The free parade starts at 3pm, traversing down the length of Oliver Plunkett St finishing with a series of performances on Grand Parade outside the City Library.
For more information about volunteering email: info@corkcommunityartlink.com
Likewise, Cork Harbour Festival, which kicks off next week is looking for volunteers for a number of roles to ensure the festival passes off as smootly as possible. There’s a raft of roles they are looking for help with including stewarding, logistics, kayak recovery, or if you have photophroahy and social media skills they’d also like to hear from you. Full details here and how to get in touch.
Out+About
📷If you're in West Cork or heading in that direction, an exhibition you should definitely try to visit is "Hegarty's Boatyard" by photographer Kevin O'Farrell, currently showing at Uilinn in Skibbereen. Over the past 25 years, O'Farrell, based in West Cork, has created a body of work focused on three generations of the same family working at Hegarty's Boatyard in Oldcourt, Skibbereen. The yard was established by Paddy Hegarty shortly after World War II and is now run by his grandson, also named Paddy. It is the last surviving traditional wooden boatyard in Ireland, and O'Farrell has meticulously and beautifully captured the essence of the boatyard. More information here.
Time, date, place: 13 May to 10 June 2023, Uilinn West Cork Arts Centre, Skibereen
🎶Tuatha Dé Danann takes place this weekend at the Richmond Revival in Fermoy. The two-day festival of literature, conversation, music, and comedy features an eclectic line-up, including iconoclasts such as John Waters, as well as poet Siobhan De Paor, Darragh Hayes (a regenerative farmer based in Sliabh Luachra), playwright Tina Noonan (who presents her new play 'The Island'), and much more. Tickets and full details here.
Time, date, place: May 27 -May 28, the Richmond Revival, Fermoy.
🚲Although Cork Bike Week is over, the party continues with the monthly “Bike-Bop” meet-up scheduled for this Sunday. As the organisers from Republic of Bike say: “Come for the boogie, stay for the post bop coffee and chat.”
Time, date, place: 2pm, Sunday May 28, Grand Parade.
🎬Fastnet Film Festival: The annual film festival in Schull kicked off this week, and while some of the events are sold out, there’s much to see including the “Big Interview” with actor Aidan Quinn and fomer BBC dierctor general Greg Dyke. Quinn will be screening a number of his films in Schull including “This is My Father” and “The Assignment”. Academy Award-winning filmmakers Ross White and Tom Berkeley will screen “An Irish Goodbye” followed by a Q&A with director Lenny Abrahamson. And if you make it it out to Cape Clear, there will be a special screening of “An Cailín Ciúin” with a Q&A featuring lead actor Catherine Clinch. Full booking details here.
Time, date, place: Until May 28, various locations around Schull
🎞One to watch: “406 Days" is now on general release across Ireland starting today and will be screening at The Gate and the Omniplex in Mahon Point. The film tells the story of the longest strike in Ireland, spanning 406 days precisely, carried out by former Debenham workers who received a generic email from the British retail giant on April 9, 2020, informing them that they no longer had a job. Directed by Joe Lee, the documentary focuses on the experiences of the strikers, mostly women, who showed up on the picket line to prevent KPMG, the liquidators, from removing stock from the stores as they protested for fair redundancy packages. The film features many of the former Debenham workers from Cork, offering an inspiring yet at times harrowing depiction, particularly when the police intervene en masse to remove the workers. Show times here for The Gate and Mahon Point.
Time, date, release: Daily from May 26 at Mahon Point and The Gate
🧑🏫The final talk in the Spring lecture series at Cork Public Museum takes place this weekend and it will feature , UCC historian Dr. John Borgonova, Gerry White, a military historian and former Defense Forces member, and Daniel Breen, curator of Cork Public Museum, for a thought-provoking roundtable discussion on the impact of the Great War (World War 1) on Cork. Admission is free, but spaces are limited, so please reserve your spot by contacting the organisers ar museum@corkcity.ie or 021-4270679.
Time, date, release: 2pm, Saturday May 27, Cork Public Museum, Fitzgerald’s Park
This week on T+D:
On Monday, JJ wrote about oral hearings scheduled by An Bord Pleanála for the end of June on Irish Rail’s plans to build twin tracks from Glounthane to Midleton as the rail operator aims to ramp up frequency of the service on the East Cork rail line. You can read that story here.
On Thursday, Kilian McCann reported from the Kabin Studio in Hollyhill and the work that a few committed musicians and music producvers are doing in a Portacabin with the local community. That full story here.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.
