GRIT & GRACE
While all eyes are on Galway this year, LIZZIE GORE-GRIMES spends a long weekend in Limerick and finds a city bursting at the seams with energy and creativity.
Lizzie Gore-Grimes discovers Limerick is the perfect place for a buzzy weekend away
Walking into Gracie Collier’s light-flooded vintage store on Howley’s Quay in Limerick City, with its industrial height ceilings, whitewashed walls and effervescent pops of colour, you couldn’t find a better place – or person – to embody the buzz of Limerick 2020. “When I opened SPICE VINTAGE, I wanted to create something totally different,” enthuses Gracie, eyes twinkling even brighter than the mirrored wind-chime behind her. “When people think of vintage shops, they often think: brown, pokey and crammed. So I set out to create a store that was anything but.”
Gracie, originally from Laois, laughs as she remembers her mother’s crinkled brow when she announced her plan to close her successful pop-up store in West Cork to move to Limerick.
“Why Limerick?” her mum quizzed, making the argument that as there were no existing vintage stores in the city, maybe Limerick wasn’t interested in vintage. “Is that not risky?” her mum asked. “No mam, that’s called opportunity,” came Gracie’s brilliant reply.
It is precisely this bold, entrepreneurial spirit that you can feel humming in the city streets – a wave that saw a record number of start-ups, 820 including Gracie’s, launch in Limerick in 2018. “I briefly looked at Dublin,” continues Gracie, “but there was no way I could afford the rates.” There can be no doubt that the combination of Limerick’s affordability and its bright, young population has been a huge catalyst in the region’s recent growth. (The stream of highly qualified graduates coming out of the three universities, coupled with commercial rents 30 per cent more competitive than its rivals in Europe, has made Limerick the fastest growing region from FDI outside the capital.) “Ultimately, I made the move for the people, though,” states Gracie. “I think people appreciated that I had gone out on a limb for Limerick, and they were so welcoming and enthusiastic, it was infectious.”
COOL COFFEE AND GREAT FOOD
Forget disposable income – for many people, it’s the quality of the coffee offering that’s the true barometer of a city’s success, and Limerick’s Dalton Greene has set the bar high with RIFT. Located on Mallow Street, Dalton has just extended into the space next door much to his regulars’ delight. Already serving a small but perfectly formed breakfast, lunch and brunch menu, along with superb Calendar coffee from Galway, the new Rift Larder will offer gourmet sandwiches, top notch deli food to go, plus a clever Wine Lab system where customers can BYOB to refill. While photography graduate Paul Ryan’s coffee and sustainable design store, DUO, is stocked with a really interesting selection of sustainable beauty and lifestyle brands (many Irish), including Badly Made Books from Dublin, Warrior Botanicals from Clonakilty, and Dame eco-sanitary products to purchase along with the stellar Cloud Picker coffee and Nutshed treats. Mainstay
CANTEEN, open since 2012, was one of the first places in the city to offer a primarily plant-based menu. Having cheffed at three-Michelin-star The Fat Duck in England for years, Tipperary man Paul Williams wanted his own place to be simple and local. He takes great pride in his suppliers, with Badger & Dodo coffee, Mossfield organic dairy, Crowe’s Farm hand-reared pork, and Riot Rye sourdough. When night falls, the place to wine and dine has to be the brand new BAR ALEXA, part of the Alex Findlater trio of eateries on O’Connell Street, consisting of a buzzing food hall and café, and THE GRILL ROOM restaurant in the basement. Bar Alexa is a great addition to the city, with its design-led interior, lush soundtrack and contemporary small plate menu. For something more old-school, head down to the Goodfellas- esque The Grill Room below, complete with red velour booths and Sinatra-style crooner in the corner – it doesn’t get much more Hollywood glamour than this.
CULTURE AND COLOUR
Possibly one of the best ways to get an instant snapshot of the city’s blend of history, heritage, creativity and culture is to take the THREE BRIDGES WALK. It’s an easy 3km stroll that brings you along the wind-whipped Shannon, up into the Medieval Quarter, where gritty street art, artisan breweries and ramshackle antique shops lend character and charm against the imposing backdrop of King John’s Castle. Then across the river and around the loop to bring you back into the city centre, past the bustle of O’Connell Street, to end up in the quiet of the People’s Park and Georgian calm of Pery Square – where the LIMERICK CITY GALLERY OF ART is a must-visit, as much for the beautiful architecture of the historic Carnegie Building outside as the thought-provoking exhibitions inside. Across the road, THE PEOPLE’S MUSEUM OF LIMERICK (modelled along the lines of The Little Museum of Dublin) is a bit of a city secret and well worth seeking out. While THE HUNT MUSEUM’s current costume exhibition is reason enough to buy your
train ticket. Running until April 14, this fabulous and fascinating exhibition, produced in conjunction with The Irish Costume Archive Project, showcases costumes from movies and TV filmed in Ireland or abroad but with Irish talent involved.
STAY IN STYLE
You won’t find a better place to stay in the city that captures Limerick’s unique contrast of heritage and hip than NO 1 PERY
SQUARE, where owner Patricia Roberts has painstakingly restored two Georgian houses to create a boutique townhouse hotel with 20 rooms. Guests can choose from one of the four fine period rooms in the main house, overlooking the park, or opt for all mod-cons in one of the contemporary club rooms. Patricia’s personal understated elegance is evident throughout the hotel – in the quality of the fabrics, the freshness of the ingredients on the menu (much of which is sourced from their own kitchen garden), the seamless, happy service and the surprise of the world-class Voya spa hidden away in the basement vaults of the hotel. While the recently renovated
THE LONG ROOM with its soft seagreen walls, luxe print fabrics, and glinting mirrors has added another popular option for sophisticated cocktails and great food in the city. Meanwhile, the nearby five-star THE SAVOY and the STRAND HOTEL offer modern comfort in the centre of it all. u