'You’ve got to give back to the community': Meet two Cork locals behind Shandon's regeneration

Fellow SARA member, James Nolan, agrees: “I get the feeling that we are 90% there. I think this will happen. We are thinking positively. But this one must be backed up with funding.” 

The two men take me on a walking tour through the warren of narrow streets and lanes of Shandon just days after Cork City Council adopted the Shandon Integrated Urban Strategy (SIUS) - a 185-page rejuvenation plan for the area.

Big and bold on ambition, it sets out the area’s rich history, it examines the challenges and opportunities, and suggests 34 separate actions, with three strategic regeneration proposals – the Butter Market and Weighmaster’s complex, the St Anne’s and Dr Mary Hearn Parks project and then the revitalisation of Shandon Street itself.

Tadgh has lived all his life in the area, born into a house opposite the North Cathedral, raised on Eason’s Hill and now living just off Shandon Street. He’s been involved in SARA since it was established in 2006, and he’s a driving force in the local tidy towns group.

“I love the area really,” he says.

Butcher James is a third generation Shandon Street trader. He has also availed of special grants to convert a once disused area behind his shop into apartments, with views from the upper floors of St Anne’s tower, and down into the city.

But they agree the area has never reached its full potential.

Part of the city’s historic spine, with strong links to Cork’s trading and maritime past, Shandon is a recognised urban tourism asset with the potential to be a thriving cultural area, its network of narrow laneways still retaining the form and character of its original medieval streetscape.

Steeped in history and heritage, rich in character and community spirit, it has for generations been entwined with the very identity of the city, its landmark St Anne’s church a striking visual symbol of the city itself.

History drips from the walls around almost every turn, its steps and archways whispering the story of Cork, from Skiddy’s Almhouse to Mary Harris (Mother Jones), from Annie Moore to Jack Lynch.

From its development in the 12th century at the North Gate of the walled city along important trade routes leading north, east and west – a place of cattle markets, brewing and distillery industries, the Butter Market, slaughter houses and tanneries – today it is a multi-cultural melting pot, with African, Asian and Arabic food stores sitting alongside locally-owned butchers, barbers, chemists, pubs and funeral homes.

But despite its many obvious attractions, the area has for decades struggled to fulfill its promise and potential, a place of missed opportunities.

Many buildings in the area are vacant, some apparently abandoned, their facades crumbling under the weight of years of neglect. Some buildings were knocked for plans that never materialised, vacant sites are overgrown and unkempt.

Not even the landmark buildings have escaped. The butter market building lies empty. The small religious community that worships at St Anne’s Church, one of the city’s most visited paid attractions, have to fundraise for vital structural repairs.

We walk the streets on bin collection day. Wheelie bins are the dominant street furniture on many of the lanes. A tangled mass of electricity wires strung across some of the streets provide an unsightly backdrop as guests staying at the nearby Maldron Hotel stop to take photos.

At the same meeting where SIUS was adopted, councillors also approved Part 8 planning for the first of the big three regeneration projects it recommends - the refurbishment of the council-owned and protected former 19th century Weighmaster’s House, a terraced gable-fronted, three-bay, three-storey property built around 1800, as a “versatile and multifunctional but purposeful and accessible community and creative space” that could be used as a recording studio, for work desks, meetings, events and exhibitions.

It will have an entrance foyer and café, a first-floor open plan desk space, and office spaces. It has also been designed to link in with the tech hub project proposed for the adjoining butter market building. Both projects are likely to advance together.

Councillors said they hope the Weighmaster’s project will be the “springboard to regenerate” the area – something the people of Shandon have heard before.

James and Tadgh have welcomed SIUS and planning for the Weighmaster’s project, but they remain skeptical given how previous projects also promised rejuvenation that has yet to materialise.

In 1980, the then Cork Corporation bought the former butter market to secure the preservation of its facade and portico, and with the help of the IDA, developed a craft centre which operated from it between 1984 and 2008.

There was a proposal in 1999 to convert the building to provide a home for the Graffiti theatre company. That didn’t happen.

There was talk it could house a traditional music exhibition. That didn’t happen.

There was even talk that it could become home to a genealogical centre, with suggestions that dance star Michael Flatley would act as an ambassador for the project. That didn’t happen either.

Planning was granted two years ago to Recreate Shandon CLG, a social enterprise, for an enterprise centre ‘innovation hub’ in the building, but for various reasons, that hasn’t happened.

After two decades of vacancy, pigeons rule the roost there today.

“We should know by August about the funding application for the Weighmaster’s House project. If the council is successful, then hopefully, the plan will snowball from then on,” James says.

Tadgh agrees: “If this project comes to fruition, it will be fantastic for the area. We are thinking positive.” 

And there are positives - the Dragon of Shandon festival, the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, the Firkin Crane dance centre, the Shandon allotment tucked away behind a Pope’s Quay apartment block where North Pres primary school has taken four of the raised beds.

As we walk their inner city neighbourhood, Tadgh points to the information plaques attached to several buildings – the house on Bob and Joan’s Walk where Jack Lynch was born, a house on a lane off John Redmond Street which is the last-known Irish home of Annie Moore, the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island in the US in 1892, and nearby, The Loft, alongside Linehan’s sweet shop, where the Cork Shakespearean Company was founded almost a century ago.

They all feature in the walkingshandon.ie audio tour, a community project supported by council funding.

Shandon bells and the Butter Museum are popular visitor attractions with an increase in visitors to Shandon bells of 10% since 2015 and the Butter Museum recording its highest ever visitor numbers in 2024. More than one third of visitors are American.

The local authority has played its part by supporting the various festivals, and with projects like its 2021 €2.9m restoration of two near 300-year-old protected properties at 5 and 6 Shandon St – some of the few remaining Dutch gabled buildings in the city – as a social housing project.

It is trying to tackle dereliction. A notice is attached to hoarding around a high-profile derelict site at the junction of Dominick Street and Shandon Street advising the owner of the 7% levy attaching to the site valued last December at €190,000.

And it granted planning recently for a residential scheme in two protected properties which have been vacant and derelict for some time at the southern gateway to Shandon Street, a decision which is currently under appeal to An Bórd Pleanála.

But so much more is required for the area to reach the potential envisaged by SIUS.

It is the first regeneration strategy undertaken by the city council in line with the ‘Town Centre First’ methodology which promotes the adaptive reuse of derelict heritage buildings, the conversion of upper floors to residential use, and the considered densification of under-used urban sites and multi-use regeneration of public spaces.

It is funded by the Government and the EU under the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021- 2027 through the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme (THRIVE).

The study team first defined the geography of Shandon which they said extends from Cathedral Walk and Cathedral Way to the north, the north channel of the River Lee to the south, the N20 Blackpool bypass to the east (extending along Leitrim Street and Devonshire Street to the western end of Coburg Street) and Wolfe Tone Street, Glen Ryan Road and Upper Cattle Market Street to the west, and includes the Shandon Architectural Conservation Area (ACA).

The area has seen a 13% increase in population since 2016, with non-Irish nationals accounting for just over half the population – the State average is 12% – and just over half are aged 25 to 44. The area has the second-highest population density in the city.

Some 27 sites are classified as vacant or derelict in the wider area, with 46 valid applications for the Croí Conaithe - Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and 31 Living City Initiative applications, 19 in the study area.

The SIUS team consulted with the community through two open public consultation events, before they conducted targeted consultation with businesses, the elderly and the newer communities.

They also used “creative consultation methodologies” such as a heritage-based lesson plan and a colouring competition for the local primary school children to get an understanding of the community’s needs, to identify the challenges and the opportunities.

The plan sets out the special historic context and character of the area, and takes account of its archaeological and architectural heritage.

The area has many fine examples of a variety of architectural styles with 40 designated protected structures and many more on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), with 18th century gable-fronted buildings a distinctive feature of the architectural heritage of the area and now rare outside Cork City.

The study identifies 12 character areas from the ‘historic heart’ to Shandon Street, to the ‘industrial area’ to the ‘markets’, and notes 11 recorded archaeological sites, most of which are clustered around the church of St Anne’s.

The document says that whatever is proposed as part of the strategy must have a strong focus on the conservation, enhancement and adaptive reuse of the existing built heritage, which is the essence of the area’s special character.

Lord Mayor, Dan Boyle, said the strategy offers a “bottom-up sustainable approach” to creating better urban centre living and enhancing the conditions for business, tourism and the arts to thrive.

“It encourages appropriate development whilst protecting and enhancing Shandon’s built heritage and provides the context and practical tools to guide this growth and regeneration through identified projects and activities,” he said.

“As an advocate of people-centred planning, I am particularly pleased to welcome the strategy and expect that it will become a catalyst for positive regeneration and capacity building within the Shandon community.” 

Council chief executive, Valerie O’Sullivan said the strategy will be used to support funding applications for the various actions proposed in order to deliver tangible results over the coming years.

“We look forward to working in partnership to drive the development of Shandon and build it as destination of choice with wide ranging appeal for residents and visitors alike,” she said.

As we walk down Widderlings Lane towards the river, we pass a school group on a tour of the area. We get a coffee in Myo, which has commissioned murals for the laneway walls, installed limestone chess boards on Pope’s Quay, and with help from council funding, has installed a ‘place of peace’ viewing platform overlooking the northern channel of the Lee.

Tadgh says this is the kind of spirit that makes Shandon special, as James deals with texts from volunteers wondering about a tidy towns clean up this weekend.

“A tidy towns group is unusual in an urban area like this," Tadgh says.

"But you can’t always expect the council to do everything. You’ve got to give back to the community as well.

“We’re not doing it for thanks or praise. We’re doing it to keep the area nice, clean and tidy for visitors and for the people who live here.” 

He says it’s encouraging to see a big strategy for the place but says action must follow on ‘bread and butter’ issues too.

“If you’re only talking about a strategy, you’re not doing anything. It’s one thing to have an overall plan but you need to get into the detail of the actual projects to get them done,” he says.

“But the down to earth stuff needs to be focused on too. We clean the streets, we paint the poles, painting over the graffiti. We do a lot of the local work, and we get some support from the council, but other times we need more support.” 

James says of all the plans he’s seen before, SIUS offers the best hope, and with planning granted for the Weighmaster’s House project, there is momentum behind it.

“You have everything on Shandon Street, from the butcher to the pub, a cobbler, hairdressers, two funeral homes and chemists,” he says.

“There is a good buzz around the street, it’s the people that make the street - Polish, Ukrainian, African - it’s a great street to work on and live on. Now we need the funding to follow.”