Is 'Lonely Planet' right to love Cork?

IN CORK, the news that the Lonely Planettravel guide had named the city as one of its top 10 cities to visit for 2010 was greeted not with an "oh, how nice", but with a "shur why wouldn't it?". While there is much to admire in such pride, there is also a current of smug complacency, writes ALAN O'RIORDAN

Cork is not "at the top of its game right now", as the guidebook says. For that you would, like the city's beloved hurlers, have to go back to a period that began in the late 1990s and ended about 2005. In those years Cork was far more "sophisticated, vibrant and diverse". Lonely Planetis too late.

In recent times, the city centre has become dominated by a cluster of shopping centres linked by Patrick Street. What should be prime real estate, virtually all one side of the (not-so) Grand Parade, lies shut, as the lifeblood of the centre is drained by the suburbanisation of places such as Douglas and Mahon, with its gargantuan shopping centre.

The once-vibrant club scene, which was unique in its combination of serious and innovative music and its laid-back atmosphere (no superclubs, no ridiculous “door” policies, very little cocaine or violence), has all but disappeared. It has been replaced by the bland Saturday night drinking culture of Anytown, Ireland. Some of the city’s best restaurants are struggling in the downturn, though in fairness this is a common problem.

Lonely Planetclaims Cork's "stock has risen more since it was named European Capital of Culture 2005" – but in the city, that is almost universally seen as a missed opportunity. On the cultural front, Cork has recently lost two important galleries, the Fenton and the Vanguard, its arthouse cinema is on the rocks, and a Cork optimist is someone who sees a theatre as half full – but that's not a new thing.

DESPITE ALL THIS, Cork is a rare city in the modern world of sprawling metropolises. With a population of 119,000 according to the Lonely Planet(though all Cork people know the population of the city is forever fixed at 136,000 – the "Welcome to Cork" sign on the Lower Glanmire Road has said so since the 1980s) it would be called a town in Germany. However, it packs a city's punch by the neat trick of having one of everything a civilised person could want: one university, one opera house, one jazz festival, one film festival, one excellent summer arts festival, one school of music, one city-centre food market, and the sea on its doorstep.

The few success stories of the past few years show that Cork can live up to itself again: the Midsummer Festival has proven the people will embrace art if you only convince them; the Glucksman Gallery is one of the finest buildings of the boom years; the response to the threat of closure to the Kino cinema bears witness to a popular support base for culture in the city; and Frank O’Connell and Paul Lewis at the Crúibín and Silk Purse (reviewed in today’s Magazine) show there’s life in the “foodie paradise” yet.

Cork, when it lives up to its potential, can feel as paradisiacal as the natives would have you believe – even if it’s not doing that now.

Frank O’Connor saw in 1961 that “life has to start flowing back into the smaller places” where people could live “much more a community form of life”. Unlike most cities, Cork still has that potential.

‘I’m not going to say it is going to bring a flood of tourists to Cork’ – ‘ Lonely Planet’ co-founder

TONY WHEELER, co-founder of the world's most famous guidebook series, Lonely Planet, was in Galway this week to speak at Fáilte Ireland's Adventure and Activity Forum. The news that Cork had made it on to the list of Best in Travel 2010 was, literally, news to him.

"They didn't brief us beforehand," he told The Irish Times. "I didn't know Cork was on the list until we heard the news on the car radio coming in from Barna. We sat in the car park for 10 minutes listening to it being discussed on the news.

“They choose 10 cities every year, and when I looked at the list yesterday, I thought it was a good choice of places. You want some diversity, and you want places that really are in the news. Abu Dhabi, for example, really is in the news right now. The Grand Prix was there last week.”

So how did Cork end up on the list? “The selection is made by commissioning editors in the region,” Wheeler explains. “They travel particularly intensively in the countries they cover. Cork was the city of culture a few years back, and that’s obviously a factor as well in getting it on the radar.”

What does the endorsement mean to a city? Does it bring more people to it? Wheeler chooses his words carefully. “It will definitely bring some people, but I’m not going to say it is going to bring a flood of tourists to Cork,” he states.

"It's going to be another factor in people considering where to go. They might remember Cork was city of culture, and then they'll hear Lonely Planetis saying it's one of the top destinations for 2010. These are all factors that go towards pushing people to a place." ROSITA BOLAND

How tourists see the city by the Lee

ELKE HIRSCH

from Canada

“It’s very nice here and I love it. It’s hard to rate it in terms of European cities, maybe it’s a bit like Paris. It could be in the top 10 cities. The English Market for me was a highlight. The drawbacks are finding parking spaces. We got a bit lost. Before I came here I heard it was a big town but I didn’t realise you could fly here direct from Europe. Really, the city should be better known, and advertised.”

WORLADE JIMMY AVOY

from Ghana

“Maybe it is maybe eight or ninth in Europe in terms of cities. I can see maybe London or Rome before it. I didn’t know anything about Cork. I knew only about Dublin and Belfast. The accent can be hard: some you can understand easily, others you really have to listen to. I like the city centre most. The people here let you feel like at home.”

ENREICO ZANGROWSI

from Italy

“I didn’t know much about Cork before I came here, only that it was a student city. In Europe I think maybe it could come fourth or fifth in the top 10 of cities, with London before it. I like the pubs and nightlife here. You can meet a lot of people of different countries. I don’t like the way people are drunk very much.”

JOAN TARAN

from New York

"It's my first visit. I think it would be in the top 10 cities and I think it's comparable to New York City, where I grew up. It's a busy city, with a lot of traffic. I only got here a few hours ago. For me, so far the rating by Lonely Planetis on the money. I think it's delightful here."

POPI IOANNOU,

from Cyprus

“I think Cork would come sixth in my list of top 10 cities in Europe. Before it I would have London and Paris. I came here because we heard a lot of good things about the city and wanted to see it for ourselves.

“The highlight so far is the city centre, it’s really cool and we look forward to seeing it with Christmas lights. The only thing we don’t like about here is the weather — it’s not like this where we come from. It’s not that expensive here. We have been to other Irish cities and it’s pretty okay in comparison.”

JANA QUGLER

from Germany

“I would put Cork at number one of cities I have visited in Europe, because it’s not so big like Dublin. Here it’s a little bit smaller. Before I came here I knew nothing at all about Cork. I like the people here and the fact you can go out and socialise every day and at the weekend. But too much rain.

"The people are very friendly, but some of the accents are very strange for me. I think it is like Berlin in a way." BRIAN O'CONNELL

Photographs:Michael MacSweeney/ Provision