Athlone West

L.Jenkins · 10-02-2015 10:04am #1

Besides the Army barracks, Ganley and the few pubs and the odd unit down Connaught and Pearse, in comparison to the east side of town, there seems to be feck all to it. Athlone West, well anything on the Connaught side of the is in desperate need of development and a few extra businesses in the area other than pubs.

Long Gone · 10-02-2015 11:06am

Itzy wrote: »

Besides the Army barracks, Ganley and the few pubs and the odd unit down Connaught and Pearse, in comparison to the east side of town, there seems to be feck all to it. Athlone West, well anything on the Connaught side of the is in desperate need of development and a few extra businesses in the area other than pubs.

Lack of parking is a big part of the problem - They need to open out somewhere so that people can park and start developing the area properly - And no more of that pathetic "Left Bank" b***oxiligy.

L.Jenkins · 10-02-2015 11:33am

Long Gone wrote: »

Lack of parking is a big part of the problem - They need to open out somewhere so that people can park and start developing the area properly - And no more of that pathetic "Left Bank" b***oxiligy.

I completely agree about the parking situation. The west side has absolutely no free parking what so ever and what is there at the moment, isn't great.

veryangryman · 10-02-2015 11:39am

Hilly streets is the actual problem - hard to build car parks on hills. The bit of flat land taken by the Church/Barracks. This is why the Banks etc left it many moons ago.

Lose the cars, its a pub-dominated side of town anyway. Pedestrianise the Left Bank and make people walk the 2 minutes to it. I know, "the horror" :mad:

Galway works fine with this system in its busiest pubs/clubs section.

L.Jenkins · 10-02-2015 12:00pm

I would agree with pedestrianising the area, but something would have to be planned in terms of access for deliveries and resident access to the apartments down by the weir.

BoB_BoT · 10-02-2015 11:59pm

There's a new enough car park just at the fork, you can get to it by coming around by the castle and back up the street. It's just up from the Dean Crowe. There's also the car park at the back of Vals, that I rarely see full, so I don't think parking is the issue tbh. Rates are still quite high and there's nothing really around the area that you'd go out of your way for.

I don't see the issue with having to pay for parking, you have to do it everywhere else and in any other town/city I've been to. The only places I can think of with free parking are the big supermarkets and Golden Island. If you made parking free, who is it going to really attract?

If you were to develop it for the locals, you can't really put much more in than what's already there. You have two pharmacies, you have an alterations shop, a dry cleaners, two grocery type shops, two butchers, two cafe's (is that one in the mall still open?), a drycleaners, bike shops, two or three boutiques, a bookies, a couple of salon type beauty places, a barbers, a chinese, a chipper, a florists, a travel agents, a post office, various offices and about six pubs.

I'd love to know what you could put in to Connaught St. / Pearse St. that would bring more people into it. If I was living somewhere between Monksland and the west side, I'd be inclined to head to Monksland quicker, it has a large supermarket. If I was heading into town, I'd head for the likes of Golden Island as that's where most the bigger shops are.

I don't think adding more clothing stores will bring in people, the same with retail type shops. The services are mostly covered, with maybe the exception of something like a locksmith or cobblers. It's very hard to know what would work there.

Pedestrianising the area won't work either, it'll be objected to by every retailer there, at the end of the day, the shops on Connaught street service the local area, that includes the granny being dropped off / picked up from the pharmacy or pub :P

veryangryman · 11-02-2015 10:00am

BoB_BoT wrote: »

There's a new enough car park just at the fork, you can get to it by coming around by the castle and back up the street. It's just up from the Dean Crowe. There's also the car park at the back of Vals, that I rarely see full, so I don't think parking is the issue tbh. Rates are still quite high and there's nothing really around the area that you'd go out of your way for.

The hilly land makes people uncomfortable (and lazy) parking cars out of sight.

BoB_BoT wrote: »

I don't see the issue with having to pay for parking, you have to do it everywhere else and in any other town/city I've been to. The only places I can think of with free parking are the big supermarkets and Golden Island. If you made parking free, who is it going to really attract?

Paying for parking is ridiculous in any town of out size (or even 5 times our size) - thats why people don't do it (and go out of town to shop in your Naas's, Portlaoise's, Tralees of this world). G.I still makes money mainly because of availability of free parking. In fact it has so much free parking that alot just drop the car there and go into rest of town for couple of hours.

BoB_BoT wrote: »

Pedestrianising the area won't work either, it'll be objected to by every retailer there, at the end of the day, the shops on Connaught street service the local area, that includes the granny being dropped off / picked up from the pharmacy or pub :P

The objections would be heard (as i'm sure they were in Galway) and then decided to be ignored. Nothing special about the Athlone Grannies as opposed to the Galway ones. Everyone learned to get on with it. CPO in the public interest would sort this out.

astarte · 11-02-2015 11:35am

Does anyone know who has bought that built-in-the-boom-but-left-unfinished property on magazine road, beside dooleys. It looks to be shops and apartments overhead. Sold signs went up yesterday. And how much did they pay...enquiring minds want to know

BoB_BoT · 11-02-2015 1:29pm

veryangryman wrote: »

The hilly land makes people uncomfortable (and lazy) parking cars out of sight.

Paying for parking is ridiculous in any town of out size (or even 5 times our size) - thats why people don't do it (and go out of town to shop in your Naas's, Portlaoise's, Tralees of this world). G.I still makes money mainly because of availability of free parking. In fact it has so much free parking that alot just drop the car there and go into rest of town for couple of hours.

The objections would be heard (as i'm sure they were in Galway) and then decided to be ignored. Nothing special about the Athlone Grannies as opposed to the Galway ones. Everyone learned to get on with it. CPO in the public interest would sort this out.

True about the grannies, but is the area big enough to pedestrianise? As in, is it worth doing so. You'll never have it the same size as shop street or such. I'm struggling to think of anywhere that might have a similar sized pedristianised area. What would happen if we pedestrianise it, will we get more restaurants in the area, cafe's etc.. ? I still can't see any highstreet type shops opening.

People are going to complain about parking regardless, too full, to far away, too expensive etc... I've never really heard anyone complaining about hilly car parks or the car being out of sight around the Connaught street area.

The other side of it is, if a council provides a car park, it costs money to develop. If they offer it free, they have to make the money back somewhere, so I'm guessing rates in the area go up to compensate? Where does the money come from for this free carpark, which has to be maintained.

Another question to ask, if you pedestrianised Pearse Street, Connaught Street, Bastion Street, will you congest other routes into/out of town?

BoB_BoT · 11-02-2015 1:29pm

astarte wrote: »

Does anyone know who has bought that built-in-the-boom-but-left-unfinished property on magazine road, beside dooleys. It looks to be shops and apartments overhead. Sold signs went up yesterday. And how much did they pay...enquiring minds want to know

That's some good news for the area, would be great to see the development actually getting finished. No idea on who / how much.

Mearings · 12-02-2015 7:43pm

The west side is on the right bank of the Shannon. Stop calling it The Left Bank.

nice_guy80 · 12-02-2015 8:19pm

garda station, post office, tax office, barracks, church, castle on the west bank

whats on the other side?

veryangryman · 12-02-2015 9:04pm

nice_guy80 wrote: »

garda station, post office, tax office, barracks, church, castle on the west bank

whats on the other side?

Shopping centres, banks, flat land, car parks and an oddity of a rugby team that claims to be in connaught.

Bucks are fierce weird. The only exception within a five mile radius of the bridge. Most on Ros side claim address as westmeath. Even brideswell it seems. But I digress

L.Jenkins · 13-02-2015 9:56am

astarte wrote: »

Does anyone know who has bought that built-in-the-boom-but-left-unfinished property on magazine road, beside dooleys. It looks to be shops and apartments overhead. Sold signs went up yesterday. And how much did they pay...enquiring minds want to know

That building has been there for years just going to waste. Finally it might be put to some good use.

Mearings wrote: »

The west side is on the right bank of the Shannon. Stop calling it The Left Bank.

No it's on the left, hence the name, Left bank.

veryangryman · 13-02-2015 10:09am

Itzy wrote: »

That building has been there for years just going to waste. Finally it might be put to some good use.

No it's on the left, hence the name, Left bank.

Agreed. Look on any map. West is left.

Mearings · 13-02-2015 10:52am

Itzy wrote: »

No it's on the left, hence the name, Left bank.

In that case the Left Bank in Paris should be called the Right Bank.

"left bank n. the bank of a river on the left as one faces downstream."

The Concise Oxford Dictionary

athlonelad · 13-02-2015 12:14pm

Mearings wrote: »

In that case the Left Bank in Paris should be called the Right Bank.

"left bank n. the bank of a river on the left as one faces downstream."

The Concise Oxford Dictionary

It is known as the faaaar side

witnessmenow · 13-02-2015 12:56pm

veryangryman wrote: »

Shopping centres, banks, flat land, car parks and an oddity of a rugby team that claims to be in connaught.

Bucks are fierce weird. The only exception within a five mile radius of the bridge. Most on Ros side claim address as westmeath. Even brideswell it seems. But I digress

We are well out the Ros side, my GF was saying that "we were changed to Westmeath" for our post, not sure exactly what that means but apparently our post gets delivered faster if we use Westmeath as the address as our post is sorted and delivered from Athlone

pawrick · 16-02-2015 2:48am

Never noticed a difference in speed of post. The sorting office is the same for both sides of town as far as I'm aware. I have noticed however that a lot of companies have difficulties recording Athlone Co. Roscommon as a valid address however as their software won't recognise it. In the past I found using Westmeath for car insurance purposes resulted in a slightly higher quote with some providers. Btw both side call the other side the far side lol

veryangryman · 16-02-2015 8:48am

witnessmenow wrote: »

We are well out the Ros side, my GF was saying that "we were changed to Westmeath" for our post, not sure exactly what that means but apparently our post gets delivered faster if we use Westmeath as the address as our post is sorted and delivered from Athlone

Nearest main post office beside Barracks is within the (administrative) Westmeath side, so when they say Brideswell, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, my theory is that they mean, "Brideswell near Athlone; Athlone being in Co. Westmeath."

A little convoluted, but the addresses are mainly for purpose of postman who has his sack to deliver.

John_Rambo · 16-02-2015 10:43am

The Left Bank West side of the town is nicer. It’s hilly, has the castle, golden mile, the gallery and that pedestrianised area. They should definitely try and pedestrianise more of it. Certainly all around the castle.

BoB_BoT · 16-02-2015 11:53am

John_Rambo wrote: »

The Left Bank West side of the town is nicer. It’s hilly, has the castle, golden mile, the gallery and that pedestrianised area. They should definitely try and pedestrianise more of it. Certainly all around the castle.

Pedestrianised area? Either I've missed something and/or gone blind or you're referring to the bit around the castle? If it's the bit around the castle, it's only paved, not pedestrianised.

John_Rambo · 16-02-2015 12:02pm

BoB_BoT wrote: »

you're referring to the bit around the castle? If it's the bit around the castle, it's only paved, not pedestrianised.

I know. I said they should try and pedestrianise it.

Mearings · 16-02-2015 2:58pm

I doubt if the powers that try to be will pedestrianise anywhere, the car is king. I asked the Urban Council to erect bollards on the west side of Northgate Street similar to those in front of Snap Midlands Print shop in Pearse Street. I was told this type of parking control was expensive to erect & maintain, therfore was not viable.
"Enforcement of parking regulations is the preferred option to prevent parking on footpaths with bollards used as a last resort. I will arrange to have the areas you suggested examined by our Town Engineer for the most suitable solution."
You probably won't believe this but I never heard any more re the deliberations of the Town Engineer.

Lenin Skynard · 18-02-2015 9:34pm

BoB_BoT wrote: »

Pedestrianised area? Either I've missed something and/or gone blind or you're referring to the bit around the castle? If it's the bit around the castle, it's only paved, not pedestrianised.

He could possibly be talking about Connolly Street. It's the only pedestrianised area as far as I know.

Mearings wrote: »

I doubt if the powers that try to be will pedestrianise anywhere, the car is king. I asked the Urban Council to erect bollards on the west side of Northgate Street similar to those in front of Snap Midlands Print shop in Pearse Street.

Glad somebody suggested it to them. I've often thought the same myself. People just throwing their cars outside the Credit Union is ridiculous, especially when they have their own car park a few metres away. There's also the old "just going for a bag of chips so will mount this kerb and block up the road and footpath" that people seem to love to do across from the Chinese takeaway there.

BoB_BoT · 19-02-2015 11:37am

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

He could possibly be talking about Connolly Street. It's the only pedestrianised area as far as I know.

The bit opposite the Garda barracks and you come out at around the Bastion gallery? That's not pedestrianised, it's just blocked off, residents have access to drive into/out of it.

Lenin Skynard · 19-02-2015 4:46pm

BoB_BoT wrote: »

The bit opposite the Garda barracks and you come out at around the Bastion gallery? That's not pedestrianised, it's just blocked off, residents have access to drive into/out of it.

Does it have to be cobbled to be pedestrianised? Seems all the one to me.

flowerbattle · 20-02-2015 5:49am

One of the biggest indicators of lack of development on the West Side is the lack of ATMs. There's one at AIB on the bridge and then the next one is out at Walsh's in Baylough. Total joke. Everyone who heads to Sean's/The Castle/The Snug for a night is fecked once they run out of cash

billbond4 · 20-02-2015 1:06pm

Grove have ATM and so do Mulligans Petrol Station.
But its crap not having any near the pubs around the castle

DVD-Lots · 20-02-2015 4:57pm

flowerbattle wrote: »

One of the biggest indicators of lack of development on the West Side is the lack of ATMs. There's one at AIB on the bridge and then the next one is out at Walsh's in Baylough. Total joke. Everyone who heads to Sean's/The Castle/The Snug for a night is fecked once they run out of cash

Sean's do cashback.

Was in the Castle a few weeks ago having pints with a mate, next thing he says "let's go to Sean's for a quick brandy, I need to get cashback" So over we go, orders 2 brandies, €50 cashback aswell please. No bother. Downed the brandies, back to the Castle for the night.

mr_edge_to_you · 21-02-2015 8:54am

athlonelad wrote: »

It is known as the faaaar side

end of.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater · 21-02-2015 9:34am

veryangryman wrote: »

Shopping centres, banks, flat land, car parks and an oddity of a rugby team that claims to be in connaught.

Bucks are fierce weird. The only exception within a five mile radius of the bridge. Most on Ros side claim address as westmeath. Even brideswell it seems. But I digress

The only people that use Westmeath in their address in my home area are blow ins from Westmeath having trouble with the fact that they live in Ros! We're about 5 miles out.

witnessmenow wrote: »

We are well out the Ros side, my GF was saying that "we were changed to Westmeath" for our post, not sure exactly what that means but apparently our post gets delivered faster if we use Westmeath as the address as our post is sorted and delivered from Athlone

I don't think having Westmeath makes any difference at all. I know a lot of my parents bills come marked Westmeath but I think that's more to do with the companies themselves. Having said that, I work with a girl in Kerry who used to live past Ballydangan whose postman told her she was a Westmeath address, so no way will she accept it when I tell her she was living in Roscommon, despite the fact that she was nearer to flipping Galway! So maybe there's some truth in it. Or else our postmen are away with the fairies.

Long Gone · 21-02-2015 11:57am

John_Rambo wrote: »

The Left Bank West side of the town is nicer. It’s hilly, has the castle, golden mile, the gallery and that pedestrianised area. They should definitely try and pedestrianise more of it. Certainly all around the castle.

Golden Mile ? - What Golden Mile ? ?

- And there is no pedestrianised area.

roosterman71 · 21-02-2015 8:12pm

Long Gone wrote: »

Golden Mile ? - What Golden Mile ? ? - And there is no pedestrianised area.

Golden Mile is a walk way around by Leisure world along by the Shannon
View from white brdge

John_Rambo · 21-02-2015 8:28pm

Long Gone wrote: »

Golden Mile ? - What Golden Mile ? ? .

Calm down. You, like me mustn't be local, I guess it's a hidden gem. A lot of runners, joggers and walkers would be familiar with the golden mile.

Long Gone wrote: »

And there is no pedestrianised area.

My bad. I actually thought that paved area on main street was pedestrianised, but it isn't! I think it should be. I think all the historical area around the castle should be.

dandyelevan · 21-02-2015 9:01pm

Itzy wrote: »

I completely agree about the parking situation. The west side has absolutely no free parking what so ever and what is there at the moment, isn't great.

There will be plenty of parking room on the far side in 2017 when Custume Barracks closes.
St. Peter's Church will benefit most with a 42 acre car-park, all of it on flat ground !

billbond4 · 22-02-2015 9:19am

If you put down athlone co.roscommon on your dealings with revenue, your tax office will be galway.
But if you put down athlone, Co.westmeath your tax office is the one in Athlone, so it can make a difference

Long Gone · 22-02-2015 12:11pm

John_Rambo wrote: »

Calm down. You, like me mustn't be local, I guess it's a hidden gem. A lot of runners, joggers and walkers would be familiar with the golden mile.

Oh I'm a local alright, and I'm very familiar with the walk in question - Never heard it referred to as "the golden mile" before though.... Who came up with that codology ?

John_Rambo · 22-02-2015 4:49pm

Long Gone wrote: »

Who came up with that codology ?

It's been known as the Golden Mile for a long long time. Who came up with the name Golden Island many years ago? Who came up with any of the various names anywhere? Sometimes history forgets why places are named unless it's very obvious and has "mill" or "lake" in it. Don't know why you think the name is "codology" Do you think the name Monksland or The Left Bank is codology too?

John_Rambo · 22-02-2015 4:52pm

dandyelevan wrote: »

There will be plenty of parking room on the far side in 2017 when Custume Barracks closes.

Is the Barracks closing?

BoB_BoT · 22-02-2015 5:51pm

Long Gone wrote: »

Oh I'm a local alright, and I'm very familiar with the walk in question - Never heard it referred to as "the golden mile" before though.... Who came up with that codology ?

We always called it #1, thought it had something to do with the canons.

demanufactured · 23-02-2015 1:42am

BoB_BoT wrote: »

We always called it #1, thought it had something to do with the canons.

Number 1...refers to the navigation markers on the river.
I always thought that place was called riverside walk.

Lenin Skynard · 23-02-2015 1:58pm

dandyelevan wrote: »

There will be plenty of parking room on the far side in 2017 when Custume Barracks closes.
St. Peter's Church will benefit most with a 42 acre car-park, all of it on flat ground !

If rumours are to be believed, the Garda training college is moving from Templemore into that site.

Mearings · 23-02-2015 7:30pm

demanufactured wrote: »

Number 1...refers to the navigation markers on the river.
I always thought that place was called riverside walk.

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WM&regno=15003134

Long Gone · 24-02-2015 6:32am

John_Rambo wrote: »

It's been known as the Golden Mile for a long long time.

Oh yeah ? By who exactly ? ? - I have never heard it referred to as the Golden Mile. It's the riverside walk to No.1. The Golden Mile is in Kowloon in Hong Kong.

John_Rambo wrote: »

Do you think the name The Left Bank is codology too?

No - I think calling The Far Side "The Left Bank" is a complete load of pathetic Horlicks. (Not to mention that the area is actually on the right bank). That name was invented by some arty farty beardy weirdie marketing buffoon who wanted the place to sound "hip" and "trendy" no doubt. No true Athlonian would ever refer to The Far Side as "The Left Bank". :rolleyes:

Same for the "Golden Mile"......;)

Long Gone · 24-02-2015 9:57am

demanufactured wrote: »

Number 1...refers to the navigation markers on the river.

No it doesn't. It's called No.1 because it was the location of the No 1 Battery built to protect the crossing point of the Shannon during the threat of a Napoleonic invasion.

BoB_BoT · 24-02-2015 11:21am

Long Gone wrote: »

Oh yeah ? By who exactly ? ? - I have never heard it referred to as the Golden Mile. It's the riverside walk to No.1. The Golden Mile is in Kowloon in Hong Kong.

The question we're all truly ignoring here is, is it really a mile long? And where is all this gold? :P

malachy47 · 24-02-2015 2:28pm

http://books.google.ie/books/about/Athlone_s_Golden_Mile_1920_1980.html?id=in3NHAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Athlone's Golden Mile is a book written by the late Frank Egan in 1980. I *think* it refers to Church/Castlemaine St. but my memory may be faulty, it could well be the whole way from Connacht St. down to Castlemaine St.

Mearings · 24-02-2015 7:57pm

Rereading the attachment on post #44, would it not be wonderful if No 1 Battery were tidied up & an archaeological dig to take place? This could be done in conjunction with the restoration of the canal which appears to have started.

demanufactured · 24-02-2015 8:29pm

Long Gone wrote: »

No it doesn't. It's called No.1 because it was the location of the No 1 Battery built to protect the crossing point of the Shannon during the threat of a Napoleonic invasion.

I stand corrected..

John_Rambo · 25-02-2015 1:45pm

Long Gone wrote: »

Oh yeah ? By who exactly ? ? - I have never heard it referred to as the Golden Mile. It's the riverside walk to No.1. The Golden Mile is in Kowloon in Hong Kong.

No - I think calling The Far Side "The Left Bank" is a complete load of pathetic Horlicks. (Not to mention that the area is actually on the right bank). That name was invented by some arty farty beardy weirdie marketing buffoon who wanted the place to sound "hip" and "trendy" no doubt. No true Athlonian would ever refer to The Far Side as "The Left Bank". :rolleyes:

Same for the "Golden Mile"......;)

Yeah, sure destination branding is a joke, look at the Gold Coast, Wild Atlantic Way, Garden Route, Great Western Greenway, Ring of Kerry, Wine Route, Wicklow Way… they never caught on.

Athlone West

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