Liffey Valley
| Ionad Siopadóireachta Ghleann na Life | |
 | |
| Location | Clondalkin, Dublin |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°21′12″N 6°23′32″W / 53.35333°N 6.39222°W |
| Address |
Fonthill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 |
| Opening date | October 14, 1998[1] |
| Website |
www |
Liffey Valley Shopping Centre is a shopping centre located close to Clondalkin in Dublin. The centre opened on October 14, 1998 and the centre is located at the junction of the M50 motorway and N4 road. The centre was a replacement for a much larger complex mooted for the site, known as Quarryvale.
Tenants
Anchor tenants at the centre are Ireland's largest Marks & Spencer, Dunnes Stores, Next, and Ireland's largest Boots. In 2010 large H&M and New Look fashions stores opened in the centre of the mall. The centre is home to Vue Dublin cinemas (formerly Ster Century Dublin). Cafés serving coffee and snacks include Bagel Bar, Bagel Factory, BB's, Cafe Revive, Costa Coffee, O'Briens and Starbucks. There are four restaurants that offer a full service option: Eddie Rockets, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Nando's and Spur Steakhouse. A foodcourt accessed at the center of the mall provides a wide selection of fast food, including Abrakebabra, Burger King, Café Kylemore, Ginzeng, Harry Ramsden, KFC and McDonald's. Juice, ice-cream and cupcakes are available at kiosks throughout the centre, these include Friends, Johnnie Cupcakes, Tropical Juice, Zumo Fresh Juice Bar, Gino's, Jump Juice, McDonald's and Starbucks. McGuirks Golf recently opened a new store in Liffey Valley where Currys/PC World was formally situated.
One of the anchor tenants at the time of opening was Ireland's only branch of C&A, which closed when the parent firm exited the UK market. This unit was taken by Dunnes Stores.
An associated retail park, (The Retail Park, Liffey Valley), is nearby, with several warehouse-style stores, including PC World, Currys, Carpet Right, Argos, also of note is B&Q and Halfords retail outlets.
In 2005 planning applications were made to further develop the site into a more all round destination. These plans include apartments and more leisure focused units located away from the main centre. The developers also had a model in the centre, showing a proposed Dublin Metro line to the south-east of the shopping centre which would have been linked to Tallaght.
Renovations
In February 2015, Liffey Valley announced that it was to begin a €26 million expansion of the shopping center.[2] The expansion had brought six new restaurants to the shopping centre including Prezzo and TGI Fridays.[3] As well as expanding the Vue cinema and building a new Penneys which opened on the 6th December 2016[4] and was expected to create 450 new jobs.[4]
The construction of the Penneys Store marked the first new store opening in a decade, leading the branch at Liffey Valley to be more modernized, incorporating an Insomnia cafe within the confines of the shop. The general extensions at Liffey Valley attracted significant media interest,[5] and have rejuvenated the local economy. Further extensions were refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanala as they would be detrimental to traffic congestion.[6]
Transport
Liffey Valley is served by Dublin Bus routes 25, 25a, 25b, 25x, 40, 51d, 66, 66a, 66b, 66x, 67, 67x, 76, 76a, 239
Planning impropriety
For two decades an actual town centre had been planned in a central location to serve the Lucan/Clondalkin conurbation. But Liffey Valley was built to the northeastern extremity of the area it was originally planned to serve. This meant, as noted by Jerry Barnes, chairman of the Royal Town Planning Institute, that the residents of Lucan and Clondalkin "have been left for 20 years without an appropriately centrally located town centre which is easily accessible to all. This has very serious long-term implications for thousands of people".[7]
Thirty Dublin councillors were investigated by the Mahon Tribunal over allegations about accepting bribes relating to the rezoning of land in Quarryvale. Seán Ardagh was named in the tribulal's report as having received contributions from lobbyist Frank Dunlop and developer Owen O’Callaghan, and the report names other councillors as "hopelessly compromised" due to their associations with the project.[8]
References
- ↑ "Designer shops pay top rents in Liffey Valley shopping centre". Irish Times. 23 September 1998.
- ↑ "We Are Expanding". Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.
- ↑ "Restaurants and Facilities". Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.
- 1 2 "Liffey Valley shopping centre to undergo expansion". Irish Times. 24 February 2015.
- ↑ http://www.dailyedge.ie/new-penneys-liffey-valley-3122320-Dec2016/
- ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/planning-refused-for-extension-to-liffey-valley-centre-1.2971525
- ↑ McDonald, Frank (March 27, 2012). "Terrible legacy of corrupt Quarryvale rezoning". The Irish Times.
- ↑ Wade, Jennifer (March 22, 2012). "Mahon: The verdict on councillors involved in Quarryvale". TheJournal.ie.
