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Athlone Towncentre granted new anchor

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    #62
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    Itzy wrote: »
    No, but it's still a sizeable town in the midlands on the main Dublin to Galway corridor and a neglected town at that.

    I don't think we are neglected at all.

    Only I.T in the midlands
    2 major shopping centres with big name shops (had been 3 before reality kicked in around Irishtown)
    Major employers like Dept of Education/Ericsson/Elan all located here
    Bypass of Athlone built before bypasses of Dublin/Limerick/Waterford/Galway/Kilkenny/Cork

    I would argue we get a decent slice of the cake considering our population.


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    #63
    Steven81
    Registered Users Posts: 1,247 ✭✭✭Steven81


    Having lived in Mullingar for about 4 years and Athlone now for about the same i definitely think Athlone has more going for it. Apart from Mullingar general i couldnt name another employer in the town with over 150 employees, the IDA park hasnt any main names with quite a few places going well though.

    Athlone has the college, Covidien, Ericsson, Alkermes, Department of education and Athlone Extrusion ( not sure how many are emplyed in both). Businesses are more likely to start in Athlone due to having the expertise from the college as can be seen from the building going up in Monksland.

    I definitely think Athlone has more going for it but you cant beat the Chinese take aways in Mullingar


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    #64
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 9,972 ✭✭✭cena


    A new 9D cinema thing coming this week. The town centre posted it on Facebook.

    Movie lasts for about 5 to 9 mins, €7 a time


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    #65
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    cena wrote: »
    A new 9 cinema thing coming this week. The town centre posted it on Facebook.

    Movie lasts for about 5 to 9 mins, €7 a time

    Sums the Centre up perfectly. Nothing but overly priced blah that will not last the test of time.


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    #66
    Steven81
    Registered Users Posts: 1,247 ✭✭✭Steven81


    http://athlonetowncentre.com/2014/12/irelands-1st-9d-cinema-open-athlone-towncentre/

    Looks good though


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    #67
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,534 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    veryangryman wrote: »
    Sums the Centre up perfectly. Nothing but overly priced blah that will not last the test of time.

    The book shop is very good, excellent staff and it's good value.


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    #68
    Sunny Dayz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,308 ✭✭✭Sunny Dayz


    John_Rambo wrote: »
    The book shop is very good, excellent staff and it's good value.

    What book shop? easons?!


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    #69
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,534 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    Sunny Dayz wrote: »
    What book shop? easons?!

    Yeah. Easons. Got some good deals the last time I was there. They had free book readings for kids too.


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    #70
    Zubeneschamali
    Registered Users Posts: 16,686 ✭✭✭✭Zubeneschamali


    John_Rambo wrote: »
    Yeah. Easons.

    Easons were in a perfectly good spot down in Golden Island. I'd say they are sorry they moved.


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    #71
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    Zubeneschamali wrote: »
    Easons were in a perfectly good spot down in Golden Island. I'd say they are sorry they moved.

    Agreed, the new are doesnt suit them. The old shop in GI was perfectly placed in centre of mall. You'd go in and browse at the books/CDs/magazines etc if you had time to kill around the centre waiting for a bus etc. New place is an afterthought if your in the centre. Many approaching from main entrance would miss it.


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    #72
    ShaunC
    Registered Users Posts: 919 ✭✭✭ShaunC


    veryangryman wrote: »
    I don't think we are neglected at all.

    Only I.T in the midlands
    2 major shopping centres with big name shops (had been 3 before reality kicked in around Irishtown)
    Major employers like Dept of Education/Ericsson/Elan all located here
    Bypass of Athlone built before bypasses of Dublin/Limerick/Waterford/Galway/Kilkenny/Cork

    I would argue we get a decent slice of the cake considering our population.

    The advantage of having a strong political influence living in the town;)


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    #73
    athlonelad
    Registered Users Posts: 443 ✭✭athlonelad


    ShaunC wrote: »
    The advantage of having a strong political influence living in the town;)

    Every town has a strong political influence living amongst them In some shape or form. Thats not why large multinationals choose athlone.


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    #74
    athlonelad
    Registered Users Posts: 443 ✭✭athlonelad


    ShaunC wrote: »
    The advantage of having a strong political influence living in the town;)

    Every town has a strong political influence living amongst them In some shape or form. Thats not why large multinationals choose athlone.


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    #75
    room_149
    Registered Users Posts: 344 ✭✭room_149


    athlonelad wrote: »
    Every town has a strong political influence living amongst them In some shape or form. Thats not why large multinationals choose athlone.

    Athlone is streets ahead of Mullingar in terms of decent employers (those mentioned in a earlier post) located in the town- I think getting the IT (then RTC) instead of Mullingar back in the 1960s definitely helped- fair play to the politicians who swung that decision for the town. The IT is an impressive facility that has continued to grow & improve over the years. The people of Athlone should rightly be proud of the place.

    Mullingar, in 2015 badly needs a kick up the arse/ shot in the arm- its biggest employers are/were a closed army barracks, a crumbling mental hospital & the Regional Hospital. The old cattle market auction site was redeveloped into high rise apartments so it's actually lost it's status as a market town now.
    The streets are full of pound shops, empty premises and no big retailers- indeed many people complain about the same and will travel the 30-40mins to Liffey Valley, Blanchardstown or Athlone to shop.

    Mullingar has a couple of tiny industrial estates & and an empty IDA park located to the town's eastern bypass. Thus there are very few jobs on offer for professionals. As result the trains, buses & m4 to Dublin are packed with hundreds of commuters each weekday morning heading east.
    Effectively the place has become a dormitory town for the Captial (the population grew from 12k to 20k in the 2000s due to its close proximity for commuters - roughly 45mins to Dublin via m4/ 1+hr on the train service to Connolly, and the cheaper houses on offer) but maintained the appearance of a small, drab midlands market town.

    It would serve everyone much better in Mullingar to stop harping on about all that Athlone appears to have and concentrate on what it does have in place or going for it.
    In recent years the town's artists, craftspeople & musicians have increasingly come to the fore, it has some fine pubs, restaurants & a large Arts Centre. Each summer see's thousands attracted to the Life & Body & Soul festival's held outside the town @ Belvedere & Ballinlough. The Festival of Fire's also ran for a number of years.
    Perhaps it's time to tap into the noggins of some of these people, along with the likes of Manchan Magan, Ronan Casey, Michael O'Leary & some of the more progressive business people (ie not those from the town's traditional GAA/Civil Servant/Political circles- they had their innings & its high time for a change!!!) could knock heads together and give the town a re-boot?
    Pie in the sky stuff i guess, but the place needs some blue sky thinking. Perhaps Michael O ' Leary could be persuaded into building that airport in the bogland located to the East of the town? Or move his head offices down- the site where Boston Scientific once lay is empty would be ideal..
    Or maybe someone could convince him to create a large, outdoor music venue similar to the UK's National Bowl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bowl) This could be built in one of those empty rezoned areas on the town's outskirts, perhaps?
    Or Failing all of that, how about a Joe Dolan/ Niall Horan/ JP Donleavy/ Ryanair theme park?!;)


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    #76
    holyhead
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭holyhead


    The construction of Golden Island effectively relocated the town centre from Church St. The provision of generous parking in terms of places and it being free also helped. The athlonetowncentre is lovely but it somehow feels squeezed into the existing streetscape.


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    #77
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    holyhead wrote: »
    The construction of Golden Island effectively relocated the town centre from Church St. The provision of generous parking in terms of places and it being free also helped. The athlonetowncentre is lovely but it somehow feels squeezed into the existing streetscape.

    Golden Island didn't relocate the town centre from Church Street. The town centre will always be Church Street. What it did was tear the commercial heart out of Church Street.... This should never have been allowed to happen.
    What was needed to renovate the Church Street area for the modern era was to completely demolish that ridiculous island of shops in front of The Bawn that bottlenecks the whole town centre and provide a decent multi-storey car park in the area so that there is sufficient parking for people who want to shop or socialise in the town centre.
    The so-called "Athlone Town Centre" shopping centre is an extremely badly designed and ill concieved monument to bling. I agree that it feels like it's been shoehorned into the existing streetscape. The architecture of the associated hotel block is a disgrace and a blot on the Athlone skyline (it looks like the very worst example of an ugly 60's glass and brick tower block) and the dreadfully poor design of the centre's car park is nothing short of appalling.


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    #78
    Addle
    Registered Users Posts: 4,812 ✭✭✭Addle


    Long Gone wrote: »
    As a frequent night shift worker I completely disagree. It's 2014 - We should have a 24/7 economy now. The disappearance of 24 hour shopping in Athlone is if anything indicative of the general economic decline that has befallen the town. Any decent sized town or city should have 24 hour shopping, and most of them have.

    You can't shop while you're working.


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    #79
    L.Jenkins
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 19,240 Mod ✭✭✭✭L.Jenkins


    Addle wrote: »
    You can't shop while you're working.

    Hence why 24 hour shopping would be helpful for those working 12 hour shifts during the day or at odd intervals.


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    #80
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    Itzy wrote: »
    Hence why 24 hour shopping would be helpful for those working 12 hour shifts during the day or at odd intervals.

    Do these people not get days off/lunch breaks/holidays/partners etc to shop? How do they survive? Im pretty sure that 24 hour shopping is demand-driven. None or very little demand means that the shops aint going to do it.


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    #81
    Addle
    Registered Users Posts: 4,812 ✭✭✭Addle


    Itzy wrote: »
    Hence why 24 hour shopping would be helpful for those working 12 hour shifts during the day or at odd intervals.

    Tesco is open 16 hours a day.


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    #82
    L.Jenkins
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 19,240 Mod ✭✭✭✭L.Jenkins


    Some people can't tick any of those boxes sadly and in some cases, the weekend could be too long to wait. As for 24 hour shopping, the N6 Centre and Centra out in Baylough is always open.


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    #83
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 9,972 ✭✭✭cena


    My mum was speak to a friend that works in next, she told eason well only be using upstair part soon. They are down siding. I see there is also some sort of works going on across from the customer service area


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    #84
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    cena wrote: »
    My mum was speak to a friend that works in next, she told eason well only be using upstair part soon. They are down siding. I see there is also some sort of works going on across from the customer service area

    Strange that they've lasted this long. Stationary asides (and even then only at certain time of year) they don't have much demand.


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    #85
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 9,972 ✭✭✭cena


    veryangryman wrote: »
    Strange that they've lasted this long. Stationary asides (and even then only at certain time of year) they don't have much demand.

    They should of stayed in golden island


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    #86
    Sunny Dayz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,308 ✭✭✭Sunny Dayz


    cena wrote: »
    They should of stayed in golden island

    Agreed. It was a great place to browse around in Golden Island. I find that where it is located in the Town Centre, you have to think about the store and head towards it, it too out of the way - it's current location doesn't facilitate just wandering in.


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    #87
    nice_guy80
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,723 ✭✭✭nice_guy80


    Sunny Dayz wrote: »
    Agreed. It was a great place to browse around in Golden Island. I find that where it is located in the Town Centre, you have to think about the store and head towards it, it too out of the way - it's current location doesn't facilitate just wandering in.

    it is almost opposite the public car park.
    easiest side of the poorly designed building to get into quickly


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    #88
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    nice_guy80 wrote: »
    it is almost opposite the public car park.
    easiest side of the poorly designed building to get into quickly

    I guess that its central location in Golden Island was a big pull factor. You have 1 entrance and HAD to pass it to get to Tesco, Boots, Argos or Penneys. In town centre, you can do a complete shop of all the upstairs stores AND leave at the civic centre door downstairs without passing Easons.


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    #89
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    Agreed - It's tucked well out of the way in the so-called Towncentre.
    It was a disasterous decision for them to move from Golden Island - They were always very busy down there. I used to call in a buy a few things almost every time I went to Golden Island. I think I've only been in about three times since they moved to the Towncentre. :(


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    #90
    roosterman71
    Registered Users Posts: 5,380 ✭✭✭roosterman71


    Long Gone wrote: »
    Agreed - It's tucked well out of the way in the so-called Towncentre.
    It's not the "so-called Towncentre"
    It iscalled the Towncentre
    Or more commonly known as the "new shopping centre"
    I prefer to call it "a kip" myself, but each to their own!


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    #91
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,540 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    roosterman71 wrote: »
    It's not the "so-called Towncentre"
    It iscalled the Towncentre
    Or more commonly known as the "new shopping centre"
    I prefer to call it "a kip" myself, but each to their own!

    Hardly a kip. Overdone a bit yes


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