Lucan is a great place to live... I'm from there & still live there now. Great village. Transport is not bad .
Foxford however; I'd stay away from. It's quite a "dodgy" estate. Not very safe. Very rent heavy so a lot of people coming & going.
Things to recommend in Shankill:
Active Tidy Towns committee
Public library in a beautiful building
Active GAA for youths, starting up for adults
Shanganagh park, playground, off leash dog area, wooded areas, picnic benches, running tracks, lots of open space
Beach and lovely walk down Quinn's road - blackberries in autumn, horses to feed carrots to....feels like you are in the country
Mountain walk starts in village
Three primary schools - depending on what stage you are at in life this may be of interest
New shopping centre opening early 2015
BBQ centre with decent cafe, lovely bakery, fruit & veg shop
On the doorstep of all Wicklow has to offer
Close to M50 and M11 - helpful for commuting
Dart and not too far from Luas at Cherrywood/Brides Glen
Bus routes into town (145 - also goes to Heuston)
Aircoach for airport
Very settled, a lot of people who live there were raised there
Nice mix, young families, mature couples etc
Creche in Olcovar
Lots of childminders in the area
Parent & toddler group in library and church centres weekly
Close enough to Bray to access all services but not to have to deal with the traffic on a daily basis
Things that could be improved:
Secondary school in the area - one being renovated on Bray road and made co-ed so potential there, although students can travel for school at that stage.
More services in village...eg places to eat, cafe...shopping centre might take care of that
Dart station parking used to be free, now payable. Dart station is a bit of a walk from the village, so if you plan to use it for work walk the distance to see what the journey would be like door to door...also factor in potential drop offs and collections of children.
Luas is so close but so far...proposals in place to build a walkway/cycle path have been mooted, and also in far far future a luas extension may pass through Shankill
Things I would consider regardless:
Where do you work, how would your commute be now and for future jobs
What family life stage are you at, are schools on your radar?
Hallowe'en is coming up, an ideal time to check out what a place is like after dark! Visit both areas day, night, weekend and weekday to get an overall picture.
Would either be near family or if not from Dublin closer than the other for them to visit...becomes important for when you have young children.
Hope this helps, have no info on Lucan apart from the fact that if you tend to travel west a lot it is handy....might have been a draw for us a few years ago but with children we tend to stay put most weekends now and family comes to visit us instead.
Good luck!
Hi lily100,
From a safety point of view, personally I would stay away from the Rathsallagh/Shanganagh Cliffs areas of Shankill. I lived there for a while and I found it a very dangerous, run-down place. I think there is a fairly large bad element in the area and I never felt safe on my own at night and there was a murder there this year. There are a lot of positives to Shankill so I wouldn’t rule out the village as a whole, just the Rathsallagh/Shanganagh areas.
Regarding Lucan, do you mean Foxford Court or Foxford? I would agree with carina that Foxford Court is a ‘dodgy’ estate alright but Foxford (small cul-de-sac) is a separate place and seems like a nice, quiet place to live. It is also very close to the shopping centre at the Penny Hill which would be very handy. If it is Foxford Court though I would think it is similar to Rathsallagh/Shanganagh – council estate, lots of renters so you never know who your neighbours might be and not safe on your own or for kids.
I don’t mean to offend anyone from those areas, it is just my opinion (from personal experience).
For amenities I think they are fairly similar. Obviously the dart and luas are big pluses for Shankill but the bus network from Lucan is excellent. Nearly everything that misemoi pointed out about Shankill would also apply to Lucan plus Lucan is bigger so they have a better selection of restaurants and schools. You also have Liffey Valley beside it.
I would agree with misemoi that it would be a good idea to check out anywhere you are considering at night, particularly with the dark evenings and mornings now as you will probably be travelling to and from work in the dark.
I didn't notice much difference between different areas in Rathsallagh, I think it is one big estate with different names on the roads rather than different estates. I don't know Olcovar too well but it seems to be in a nicer area of Shankill but as it is fairly new it might have a lot of renters. I rented in Rathsallagh about 2 years ago, I don't know what it was like years ago but I can't imagine it has changed too much since. I don't know how many are private renters, council renters or privately owned so I am no help on that one.
Foxford Court is fairly close to Foxford but if you ruled out everywhere within a 5-10 minute walk of a 'dodgy' area you would be left with very few places in DublinThe advantage of somewhere like Foxford is that it is a small cul-de-sac so you won't have any 'through traffic', unless people know someone on the road you don't generally get non residents hanging around. Again I don't know about renters there but I don't remember ever seeing it on daft etc for rent.
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