Did new shopping centre open in Athlone?

offaly1

Hi all!

I was wondering did the anticipated opening of athlone town centre go ahead today? if so what is it like? im from tullamore and was wondering is it worth the spin over?

Saint_Mel

offaly1 wrote: »

Hi all!

I was wondering did the anticipated opening of athlone town centre go ahead today? if so what is it like? im from tullamore and was wondering is it worth the spin over?

Come on over and have a look. At least it'll get you out of Tullamore

offaly1

ha ha... i might just do that anyway

just wanna prepare myself !!!

giveth

I was there at lunch. It's quite impressive, depending on what kind of shops you like. It was absolutely jammers though, so might be best to avoid it for a while until things calm down.

Car park is €1.50 per 90 minutes, which is'nt too bad. There seems to be enough spaces to go around aswell.

http://www.athlonetowncentre.com

joxerdaly

Was there myself this morning and I have to say I was very impressed.Its very well planned. You don't have to walk a mile like in Liffey Valley to get from one store to another and it has all the good shops....
However anyone I have spoken too this afternoon seems only interested in who opened the place..... I couldn't really care personaly i just think it is the best thing that has happened the town in a long long time.

joxerdaly

giveth wrote: »

I was there at lunch. It's quite impressive, depending on what kind of shops you like. It was absolutely jammers though, so might be best to avoid it for a while until things calm down.

Car park is €1.50 per 90 minutes, which is'nt too bad. There seems to be enough spaces to go around aswell.

http://www.athlonetowncentre.com

Web Site is terrible please do not let it turn you off going as it does not do justice to the place......

offaly1

Me thinks me might head over there on saturday morning for a wander....bout time the midlands got somewhere new, thats not too far to travel.

I hear you saying the carparking is good..how do you get to the carpark from the tullamore/dublin side of the town...can you go into the town?

giveth

offaly1 wrote: »

Me thinks me might head over there on saturday morning for a wander....bout time the midlands got somewhere new, thats not too far to travel.

I hear you saying the carparking is good..how do you get to the carpark from the tullamore/dublin side of the town...can you go into the town?

I'd take the Athlone bypass and turn off at the Ballymahon exit (2nd exit). Head into town from there. At the cresent junction (where the roadworks are now), follow signs to the right for the Centre.

offaly1

giveth wrote: »

I'd take the Athlone bypass and turn off at the Ballymahon exit (2nd exit). Head into town from there. At the cresent junction (where the roadworks are now), follow signs to the right for the Centre.

thanks giveth!!

eoinhealy

joxerdaly wrote: »

However anyone I have spoken too this afternoon seems only interested in who opened the place..... I couldn't really care personaly i just think it is the best thing that has happened the town in a long long time.

Hi Joxerdaly, you know what alot of people in this town can be like. It is in alot of ways still set in its ways. I would say most of the people who were there this morning (Looking at the news, I think the whole town was there!) had no money in their pockets, they just wanted a good nose around. To me it looked more like a crazy day out!

Come on people, it's only a shopping centre at the end of the day! The way the crowd were going on, it was U2 were playing a gig there or something.

I'm not putting the shopping centre down at all, it's great for Athlone, bringing new jobs to the town, it gives the town a feeling of 'We're not a small town!', and lots more great things, but it is still just a shopping centre.

The only thing I fear is that the economy in Athlone might not be able to keep up. Because as soon as the building game dries up, there will be alot of people signing back on the dole. And alot of those new shops will be empty and may just have to start letting people go, if not closing down.

I just hope that the planning that went into such a nice place was worth all the hassle that Athlone citizins had to put up with while the centre was being built.

Anyone agree or dissagree? Dont worry, i'm not easily offended

whyulittle

So what, you don't venture anything, just in case things don't stay as healthy for all eternity??

It's not that long ago since the current Texas centre was the only shopping centre in town. :eek:

The whole concept of the new place is that it is a regional centre, and not just depending on the town of Athlone to keep it going.

challengemaster

cool, must head over tomorrow and see

oh and Ricey Scully (Midlands 103) was one of the people opening it, afaik

Demonique

eoinhealy wrote: »

The way the crowd were going on, it was U2 were playing a gig there or something.

Well, to the boggers in Athlone having Mickey Joe Farte there must be the closest thing to a big celebrity they'd ever had there (before there was just Donna and Joe McCaul)

eoinhealy

whyulittle wrote: »

So what, you don't venture anything, just in case things don't stay as healthy for all eternity??

It's not that long ago since the current Texas centre was the only shopping centre in town. :eek:

The whole concept of the new place is that it is a regional centre, and not just depending on the town of Athlone to keep it going.

Your right, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Do you remember what happenend when the Texas centre opened?.. Loads of people got jobs there and there was a whole load of exitment.. But then people started loosing there jobs cause the place did not do as well as they thought. They must have had at least 5 or more sales just to get stuff moving off the shelves. I just hope that the surrounding towns will flock to Athlone to use the new town centre, because if they dont, you can expect more jobs to be lost.

tubos

eoinhealy wrote: »

I'm not putting the shopping centre down at all, it's great for Athlone, bringing new jobs to the town, it gives the town a feeling of 'We're not a small town!', and lots more great things, but it is still just a shopping centre.

I recently moved from Dublin to Athlone. Athlone, even before the shopping centre, had everything I could ask for. I thought Athlone was anything but a 'small town' but a lot of the locals seemed to be of the opinion that it is! It has a lot more on my doorstep than Dublin had, I always had to get in a car and be stuck in traffic no matter where I wanted to go! Now I've got most of the shops I need, my job is within walking distance of my house and there's a beautiful lake only a few minutes drive away. Happy days!

lightening

tubos wrote: »

there's a beautiful lake only a few minutes drive away. Happy days!

I am a Dub, I spend some time in Athlone, the biggest asset has to be the river, there will always be people using it. I canoe on it the od time, I never ever meet locals! Always Dubs or foreign people fishing, canoeing, boating, sailing and generaly using the waterways. Its an amazing amenity. Better thatn any shopping centre!

Saint_Mel

Am I the only person who's been there that thinks the new
Athlone Town Centre is amazingly average?

M+S food shop is tiny? Other shops seem small enough!

Whats the story with the "Click" shop. Is it owned by Cantac
or did they just take all their staff.

Although Virgin Megastore will give Music World a good run for
its money, which can only be a very good thing

Traffic lights at the Cresent seem a bit odd. Both sets went green
at the same time. Almost caused a pile up?

Onikage

There's a lot of shops but they all seem small.

Another carphone warehouse, wtf? How many mobile shops do people need?

M&S. I was never going to be impressed by a supermarket but I was expecting something bigger than a centra.

Great, a computer shop. Crap, it's as rubbish as the other two.

Be interesting to see what it looks like on sunday morning, that plaza area gets jam-packed when the clubs empty.

Demonique

Click is just Cantec renamed

fluffytulip

went into the amazing new town centre today expecticy it to be huge but oh my how i was disappoited....the m&s is soooo small..its like a convience store like u would not do a full weeks shopping in there. and they were raving so much like oh its goin to anchor the chopping centre...ok so its nice and has a few good shops. they are tiny though. also there's no food court all i saw was a coffe shop and a ice creame place...like surely there should be a fastfood/restaurant type of place?

im not moaning just saying what i thought of the place. its a great boost for athlone but i will be in no hurry back into the athlone town centre.

eoinhealy

tubos wrote: »

I recently moved from Dublin to Athlone. Athlone, even before the shopping centre, had everything I could ask for. I thought Athlone was anything but a 'small town' but a lot of the locals seemed to be of the opinion that it is! It has a lot more on my doorstep than Dublin had, I always had to get in a car and be stuck in traffic no matter where I wanted to go! Now I've got most of the shops I need, my job is within walking distance of my house and there's a beautiful lake only a few minutes drive away. Happy days!

If you can walk everywhere, I think that would make Athlone a small town. It does have alot crammed into it. And it is a nice town, I would not have moved from Dublin if I thought it was a complete dive.

Hey, you know what, I moved from Dublin to be with my GF and to get out of Dublin, but the first people I met here were Dubs!, you just cant get away! LoL

whyulittle

eoinhealy wrote: »

Hey, you know what, I moved from Dublin to be with my GF and to get out of Dublin, but the first people I met here were Dubs!, you just cant get away! LoL

Sure even if you take the last two threads on here, four or five of you have popped up.

God love us.......

eoinhealy

whyulittle wrote: »

Sure even if you take the last two threads on here, four or five of you have popped up.

God love us.......

I was always a county boy at heart. Every chance I got I was out of Dublin. Dublin was always too strict and demanding. At least in Athlone you can relax a bit more and the attitude of most of the people is a relaxed one, thats why I fit in here so well.

Just need to find the key for the ball & chain and I might actually get out to enjoy what Athlone has to offer.:(

120_Minutes

fluffytulip wrote: »

.like surely there should be a fastfood/restaurant type of place?

i for one am happy there is no "fast food" in the new centre. let the lower tier of the social chain eat at the lower end of the catering chain.

fluffytulip

120minutes have you been to the new shopping centre?

If you read my post right you would see that I said fast food/restaurant place?

You may not like to eat in Mc Donalds/Burger King but alot of people do, take yesterday for example golden island burger king was jammed with people.

Young kids might want a McDonalds. Where as the older ones might want a nice restaurant with some decent food while taking a break from shopping. There is nothing of the sort in the new town centre.

Thats what I was trying to say

tubos

The centre has plenty of shops alright, but they're all mini sized!!! I think it'll really rejuvinate the shops around the centre, because there's not much choice of food in the centre the bars and cafes nearby will get more business. On Sunday I saw a cafe which previously did not do great business, and it was packed. But yeah. all the hype about the centre beforehand was probably a bit over the top, I'm glad the M&S is only small, the food is nice but it is really overpriced.

eoinhealy

I started a poll about the Town centre, so far Golden Island seems to be in the winning position.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055176986

Lets have your votes!!

120_Minutes

fluffytulip wrote: »

120minutes have you been to the new shopping centre?

If you read my post right you would see that I said fast food/restaurant place?

You may not like to eat in Mc Donalds/Burger King but alot of people do, take yesterday for example golden island burger king was jammed with people.

Young kids might want a McDonalds. Where as the older ones might want a nice restaurant with some decent food while taking a break from shopping. There is nothing of the sort in the new town centre.

Thats what I was trying to say

I work in the centre. I know there is no fast food vendor in the centre, and yes i read your post right. you must have missed bagel factory and cafe togo among others, so there is food "of some sort" to be found.

My post still stands. i like the new centre, i'd like it if i wasnt working there. it has a dublin vibe with the new stores that have never been in the midlands before (which i like after moving back to athlone after many years in dublin) and brings competition. if you want your fast food, build a food court. they didnt, and the centre looks more classy because of it. i have nothing against fast food...but it can attract the element* that caused me to move out of dublin in the first place.







*scumbags.

whyulittle

120_Minutes wrote: »

*scumbags.

:eek: That's no way to talk to fluffytulip, or anyone else here for that matter!

Saint_Mel

120_Minutes wrote: »

i have nothing against fast food...but it can attract the element* that caused me to move out of dublin in the first place.

*scumbags.

JD "Sports" will attract the same amount of scumbags as a fast food
place would. They should be done for false advertising, it's not a sports
shop, it's a clothes shop for scobies.

As for it having a Dublin vibe ... the only comparison I see is that Athlone
at the moment is like the 8th December in Dublin, with the place full of
biddys from all corners of the countryside

Dont know about the competition. My better half reckons the prices in the
new shops are higher than the places already in town and most of the styles
are geared towards 20-25 year olds so the other places wont be killed off.

Liffey Valley is only 1 hour away with the motorway. More room to move
around, more shops, bigger shops and better selection. (or so I've been told)

tubos

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Liffey Valley is only 1 hour away with the motorway.

..when the motorway opens fully. For now there is still the little problem of Moate!!