Blackrock Business & Community Newsletter June 2021

s.l.o.w.s.t.r.e.e.t boutique and e-store has just opened its doors to customers looking for a positive impact alternative to fast fashion high street shopping.  They have taken over the old Boyle Sports shop on Main Street.

s.l.o.w s.t.r.e.e.t offers conscious consumers an exclusive range of environmentally-friendly, ethical clothing and lifestyle goods. Customers can shop the range knowing that everything they buy is made by Irish and European brands committed to doing fashion differently. This is South Dublin`s first sustainable clothing boutique at a time when customers are opting to shop local, ethical, and green, more than ever before.

Blackrock is undoubtedly one of the prettiest villages in Dublin. Nestled beside the sea, it has a busy main street, lots of businesses, educational establishments, hospital, churches, parks and a wonderful Carnegie library.

Keeping it all spruced up and looking beautiful is the Blackrock Tidy Towns committee, ably headed up by Cllr Marie Baker.  Angela Kelly and Garry Greene work tirelessly, picking up the cans and cigarette butts, cleaning up the rubbish, removing the weeds, while still keeping an eye out for the bees and butterflies. Garry has set up a series of bird boxes and bug hotels around the village which he made himself. While you are out and about, keep an eye out for them.

Both Angela and Garry are multi-talented.  During lockdown, while out walking, they both took some magnificent photos of everyday life in nature in and around Blackrock. The sunrises were particularly hopeful, letting us know that this lockdown would pass, that we would be able to move freely again and that the sea, rocks, parks and sky around Blackrock are truly spectacular.

In order to show our appreciation to both Garry and Angela, the BBN decided to print up 2000 of their photos in the form of notelets.  Read more on how you can get these beautiful notelets …….

Following on in the photography theme, we have decided to create a fun competition each month where we invite you to submit your favourite photograph – taken in and around blackrock and surrounding area.  The photos will be judged by Apex Media who manage our social media  The photograph above was taken in recent months by Angela Kelly.  To enter your photo for next month’s competition please email it to blackrockbusinessnetwork@gmail.com together with your name and a brief description of the photo.

Outdoor services in restaurants and bars recommenced on 7 June 2021 and Blackrock has seen an exciting growth in both the daytime and nighttime hospitality sector.  To cater for the massive increase in outdoor activity this summer, new outdoor toilets have been installed in the DLR car park behind the Wicked Wolf.  The new outdoor dining space created by DLRCoCo in George’s Avenue has brought much needed additional footfall to both Mellow Fig and Le Pastis.  Meanwhile on Main Street there is also a much needed lift in activity with the outdoor hospitality facilities being put to good use.  The ingredients are now there for Blackrock residents to support their local restaurants and bars so let’s hope we all have a great outdoor summer together in Blackrock Village!   All we need now is plenty of sunshine!

True by Caoimhe Nolan.  

Caoimhe is a young, and upcoming fashion designer based in Carlow.   She started by creating beautiful face coverings for friends and family while working as a cancer researcher.  She made the life changing decision at the start of 2021 to leave her scientific career behind her and pursue her dream.  She is designing and making high quality, reusable face masks and scrunchies.  TRUE by Caoimhe will be expanding on its handmade products very soon.

Flowers for Freedom by Farah Damji
Farah is a woman with conviction, a campaigner for the rights of women in the criminal justice system and a talented artist. She lives in Dublin.  You can find her at Blackrock market every weekend from 11am to 5pm, for a great selection of greeting cards, prints, original artwork and, starting at only €100, commissioned portraits, .leo.