URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life

North Wall

THE BOTTLE BOY – VALLENCE & MCGRATH OR CONNORS REIMAGINED

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THE BOTTLE BOY – VALLENCE & MCGRATH OR CONNORS REIMAGINED

This caught me by surprise as there has not been a new pub on the North Wall Quay for a very long time and all that existed disappeared over an extended period of time. The last remaining was Vallence & McGrath which was established in 1908. If what I say is incorrect please correct me.

The owners describe their new business as follows: The Bottle Boy began life in 1860, and was primarily known as a Spirit Grocers. A quirk of a Spirit Grocers was that you couldn’t sit down and beer was sold in bottles brought to you by The Bottle Boy. Whilst we’ve retained tonnes of the original detail – like the cornices, fireplaces, flooring – we’ve added in cosy snugs and lots of seating, perfect for a pint of plain.

The Bottle Boy is actually within the Mayson Hotel complex and it is in fact the Vallence & McGrath pub which has been renovated.

The original building where Vallence & McGrath were based was described in 2011 as follows: “This building is a late Victorian townhouse with a public house inserted to the ground floor. The house retains its original fenestration pattern, roof materials and overall composition. Now derelict, the panelled shutters are visible and suggest an intact interior to the upper levels. Now standing as the last remaining residential structure on North Wall Quay, this former house thus has added significance. It was also a popular meeting place for the local community until quite recently.”

In February 2014 a man of no fixed abode was brought before Dublin District Court and remanded in custody for a week. He has been charged with the murder of Polish national Jacek Kozakiewick, 44, at the derelict pub on North Wall Quay. Mr Kozakiewick was one of five people squatting in Vallance & McGrath, known locally as Connors, a derelict pub on the North Wall Quay in Dublin.

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NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

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NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

Back in 1968 I was a stevedore and a union rep and had to operate in this area and in order to do so I had to have a bodyguard. In reality the union rather than my employer, the B&I Shipping Company, controlled my day to day activities.

When I visit the area today I often meet people who remember the good old days but soon realise that they have constructed a false history. However, if I engaged with them and explain my background they usually admit that they have no desire to return to the past as their children now have a superior lifestyle. While many many may have been in dire poverty some earned huge money, if they had skills or connections.

The area is much better now than it was black then but by the same token I have no problem with certain people believing that things were better in the 60s and 70s because they did not receive what they were promised when Dublin’s IFSC, which was set up by the Irish Government with EU approval, was established in 1987. At the time my father said that while an army cannot move the people native to an area there is no doubt that the builders and their bulldozers can.

North Wall is an area east of the inner north side of Dublin, along the River Liffey. It contains the entire north side of Dublin Docklands and includes the International Financial Services Centre, Spencer Dock, and further east the main part of Dublin Port.

The area is dominated by a combination of older housing, dockland activities and new development through the Docklands Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme, including extensive construction of new retail, residential and office spaces.

Transport in the area includes the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (Docklands railway station on Sheriff Street), the LUAS (red line stations George’s Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock, and The Point, and 8 dublinbikes stations (at Custom House Quay, City Quay, Excise Walk, Lime Street, Guild Street, Convention Centre, New Central Bank, and The Point).

NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

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NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

In the late 1960s I worked for the B+I shipping company and was based on the North Wall Quay and back then it was not a pleasant location but things have greatly changed since then but many of the original workers became unemployed during the following decades.

North Wall is an area east of the inner north side of Dublin, along the River Liffey. It contains the entire north side of Dublin Docklands and includes the International Financial Services Centre, Spencer Dock, and further east the main part of Dublin Port.

The area is dominated by a combination of older housing, dockland activities and new development through the Docklands Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme, including extensive construction of new retail, residential and office spaces.

73 NORTH WALL QUAY – THE HEYSHAM

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73 NORTH WALL QUAY – THE HEYSHAM

Richford Motors were based at 73 North Wall Quay and I have some photographs dating from May 2012.

Keeping the facade of old buildings appears to have become a popular form of preserving the past but I finding it more than disappointing. However, in this instance, I cannot really complain as it is a case of history being repeated. The previous building was built for the Dublin & Glasgow Steam Packet Company and it was essentially a façade retention with a modern building behind.

A local told me that the Heysham was a new hotel and they were wrong but to be fair there is a new hotel nearby.

Here is a description that I found online: “The Heysham represents a stunning fusion of contemporary and Victorian Architecture set in the heart of Dublin’s vibrant North Docklands. The contemporary glazed structure extends seven floors above the existing two storey, red brick warehouse to provide a truly unique office setting. The cutting edge design provides an exceptional waterfront office HQ over nine light-filled floors.”

BICYCLE RACE

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I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART ON THE NORTH WALL

“Bicycle Race” is a single by the British rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album Jazz and written by Queen’s lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a double A-side single together with the song “Fat Bottomed Girls”. The song is notable for its video featuring a bicycle race with nude women at Wimbledon Stadium, which was controversial at the time, with the video being edited or even banned in several countries.

The song was written by Freddie Mercury and was inspired by watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France passing Montreux, where the band were recording Jazz in the Mountain Studios.

It starts with a chorus unaccompanied by instruments. The chorus is followed by two verses connected with a bridge, both followed by a chorus. Around the middle of the song is a solo played with numerous bicycle bells. The song has an unusual chord progression with numerous modulations, a change of metre (from 4 4 to 3 4) in the bridge, and multi-tracked vocal and guitar harmonies.

The lyrics are topical for the time and contain social, political, and pop culture references, such as religion, Vietnam War, Watergate, cocaine, fictional characters (Peter Pan, Frankenstein and Superman), actor John Wayne, and the films Jaws and Star Wars.

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