25 things you’ll remember if you grew up in Coolock
Dublin People 17 May 2016
Did you grow up Coolock? Here are 25 things you might recall from your childhood.
1. You didn’t call Colaiste Dhulaigh by its proper name. You went to ‘The Tech’.
Creativity and energy of youth very evident at Coláiste Dhúlaigh CFE 1916 centenary event #Kilbarrack #EasterRising pic.twitter.com/jmFAJsJUb5
— Sean Haughey (@sean_haughey) April 13, 2016
2. You played soccer on a pitch in Ferrycarrig which is now occupied by factories.
3. Manning's Bakery in Northside Shopping Centre had the best Chester slices on the planet.
4. When you were invited to a ‘Hop’, it meant someone was having a party in their house.
5. You went to Fitzer’s shop on a Sunday afternoon to buy Gobstoppers and Snapper bars with your pocket money.
6. You disappeared from your road to go to the ‘Adventure Playground’, a then wooded area behind Northside Shopping Centre, and got up to no good.
7. You had a pint in the ‘Blacker’ and every other name they called the infamous pub.
8. After the ‘Blacker’ you stopped at the Chinese Takeway and ordered the only thing on the menu you could pronounce in your inebriated state.
9. You grew up with the aroma of chocolate wafting through the area from Cadbury’s.
10. During the summer months, you queued up to get into 'the baths' (Northside Shopping Centre swimming pool), and they could only let 40 people in at a time for safety reasons.
11. You referred to people living in Bonnybrook as being from the 'Far Side'.
12. You played seven-aside football on the tarmac in Bonnybrook during the summer nights of the ‘70s.
13. You played for St Columban's FC and your home games took place at Priorswood Park.
14. You went to a disco in Balgriffin Dance Hall every Sunday afternoon praying you’d get a shift.
15. You collected bees in a jam jar (after it was washed!) every summer in what is now the Stardust Memorial Park.
16. You went to St John Vianney Primary School where you were almost poisoned by the sandwiches which allegedly contained corn beef.
17. You were picked up by coach for the annual school tour and thought you were going to another country.
18. If someone in Coolock had a house phone, they must have had links to the Royal Family.
19. Butlins was the favoured holiday destination, followed by Skerries and Rush. Courtown was extravagant!
20. The Camelot was a nightclub on a par with anything in Temple Bar.
21. You traded in your Butter Vouchers for 20 John Player Blue if you got to know the shopkeeper.
22. If you brought back empty lemonade bottles, you got 5p back on each one and thought you were rich.
23. You remember a supermarket in Northside Shopping Centre in the ‘70s called Five Star. A pop group would later steal the name it was so good!
24. If there was a wedding taking place at St Joseph the Worker Church, Bonnybrook, you waited outside patiently for the ‘Grushi’.
25. Having your first pint in the Sheaf O'Wheat.
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