New Athlone Town Centre.. What do you think!?

eoinhealy

Well, it has been open for a few days now. Have you been to it yet?

Whats you preference..

Stick with Golden Island

or

New Town Centre

Whats your views?

fluffytulip

Well to be honest I dont think its that great. Ok theres some good shops in it river island/next/zara etc

But the m&s is soooo TINY

The way people were talking about it, it was like it was going to be huge. Im very disappoitned in it. And dont get me started on the Mc Gorsicks (spelling) chemist..tiny aswell with very little brands of make up/perfume. And it was ament to be there biggest in the midlands!!

I was in athlone yesterday and just went to golden island. I didnt venture to the town centre. nothing really in it for me!

What do you think of it?.My mum also visited from Dublin and thought it was disappoiting. I think blanche/liffey valley beats it anyday

tubos

Sizewise it is small, on a par with the Pavilions in Swords and maybe not as big as Scotch Hall in Drogheda. All the shops seem to be mini sized so they could fit more big names in it! But for a town centre shopping centre, were space is at a premium it is impressive and it will really add to the atmosphere in the town centre.Golden Island will still be busy what with Tesco being there and butchers/veg shop so it is important to everybody living in Athlone.

One thing I wasn't happy with was that, similar to blanchardstown, the H&M doesn't carry any mens clothes :-(

Saruman

I have not been yet, i figured i will wait till the weekend after it opens
Anyway I thought it was supposed to be the largest outside of Dublin and while not as big as dundrum, would at least be large. Most reports i have heard are of tiny little shops.
Its a bit far for me anyway. Come on Mullingar, we need something special to top it! After all it is the county town, and has a larger population than Athlone.

Oman

the new shopping centre is for women absolutely nothing for lads. useless

eoinhealy

Saruman wrote: »

Come on Mullingar, we need something special to top it! After all it is the county town, and has a larger population than Athlone.

Funny you should say that. Athlone was just about to reach whatever population you need to get City status, but a whole load of people moved to the new developements out by Monksland (Which is Co Roscommon) so the town of Athlone (Westmeath) losts it population and now wont get to be a City. I think that was part of the expansion plan to go along with the Town Centre.

eoinhealy

Oman wrote: »

the new shopping centre is for women absolutely nothing for lads. useless

Then you know where to go if you want to score!! He He He!!
Some fine looking ladies in Athlone

whyulittle

Saruman wrote: »

Its a bit far for me anyway. Come on Mullingar, we need something special to top it! After all it is the county town, and has a larger population than Athlone.

Lets please put this little misnomer to bed. Mullingar has never been bigger than Athlone, and even with the 5,000 commuters who moved into Mullingar East Rural at the last census, it still isn't.

That is all.

eoinhealy

whyulittle wrote: »

Lets please put this little misnomer to bed. Mullingar has never been bigger than Athlone, and even with the 5,000 commuters who moved into Mullingar East Rural at the last census, it still isn't.

That is all.

Jeebus, I only wanted to know about the town 'centre' not the whole town

johnplayerblue

Oman wrote: »

the new shopping centre is for women absolutely nothing for lads. useless

Couldn't agree more. Was there yesterday and really couldn't wait to get out. Nice place and all but tis for women, i know how that sounds but its a fact, but the again what SC isn't. Newbridge, Blanch, Dundrum Liffey valley etc etc. Only store i might have bought something in was Easons, what a joke, more reading in a dentists waiting room.
Also, way to hot for the amount of people that were in the place but some fine looking women, Dam fine.....:rolleyes:

dwayneburke

tubos wrote: »

One thing I wasn't happy with was that, similar to blanchardstown, the H&M doesn't carry any mens clothes :-(

Guys, is this the case i.e. no Mens in the H&M? is it any good at all for mens clothes or should i bypass and go to Liffey Valley or Dundrum? Would be travelling from Galway for the spin!!

Saint_Mel

River Island has mens clothes but my honest opinion would
be that you'd be better off heading straight for Liffey Valley

Saruman

whyulittle wrote: »

Lets please put this little misnomer to bed. Mullingar has never been bigger than Athlone, and even with the 5,000 commuters who moved into Mullingar East Rural at the last census, it still isn't.

That is all.

It is according to the census reports
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland_by_population
http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/census2006_volume_1_pop_classified_by_area.pdf


Physically i think athlone is probably bigger but not in population
Then again, it depends on what you include as part of Athlone and part of Mullingar in the census i suppose.

spongbob

it is tiny i been to it once and i dont think il be again, no comfort walking arround and the stores are tiny...

there is a couple of stores there for lads -
Game ,
Click ,
Carphone warehouse... but there is feck all clothes dept!

challengemaster

wait what?! how is carphone warehouse for lads?

what are we meant to do? buy phones all day?!

Onikage

No, just handle all the display phones without buying any and act snooty to the sales staff while quoting factoids about the various features.

That's a joke.

offaly1

Is there not a jacks and jones beside vero moda, and best menswear....elverys, and jjb sports for the sporty man, h&m...was there no mens dept?

Marks nd Sparks does that not cater for men also??

siralfalot

Saruman wrote: »

Come on Mullingar, we need something special to top it! After all it is the county town, and has a larger population than Athlone.

hopefully we should be hearing soon on the planning permission on the new town centre development, I'm keeping a close eye on it at the moment as the company i'm with are to be heavily involved, that and I currently live 100 meters from where the development will be

eoinhealy

I was waiting to see for myself what the new town centre was like before I made a comment about it, so I popped down on Wednesday to have a look.

Was actually pleasently supprised!

Ok, there is a lot of space in the middle, which could have been used to makes the shops a little bigger, but the shops are not as small as I was expecting them to be. The only problem I had, other than the most confusing a dangerous car park in the world was those big pillars right on the corners. I was walking by the jewelery shop to go up stairs. I walked around the BIG pillar and nearly knocked over a young girl with a whole load of bags. There bloody dangerous I tells ye, you cant see around them... And they are a bit of an obsticle too.

The placed seems to be getting off to a slow start, but I think it will pick up. The coffee shops seem to be doing great business. I think they should set up small retail units in the middle of the GREAT BIG SPACE and sell candy and stuff, like the one that was in the old shopping centre (Or is it still there?)

The car park was a joke, when you drive in from the main road (Not the back enterance), you go down the slop, press the button to get your ticket (Every normal there) then your faced with your first BIG Pillar... and right on the other side of it is the Pedestrian crossing, but you cant see the people crossing until they are under your wheels..... Was the archatecht asleep when designing that bit of blind spot!

Any way, There was no parking spaces that I could see to my left, so I need to go to the right. hmmm. Was a bit tricky. The turn was like a V.. if i did it in one go I would have hit the wall, so I had to do it like a 3 point turn. What a joke, I hope somebody got fired for drawing up those plans. They must have drew them on a beer mat while out on the town.:eek:

But the centre itself is not that bad, except to M&S. I thought it was very funny... I was at the checkout and the guy in front of me had paid and gone, but I saw him again a minute later looking lost. He came over towards the checkout again and asked the girl how does he get out..... When you go through the check-out there is no way out except to go back through the check-out and in to the store again, what wollies came up with that one. LoL

So if anyone has had similar experiences post them up, I could do with a good laugh

eoinhealy

siralfalot wrote: »

hopefully we should be hearing soon on the planning permission on the new town centre development, I'm keeping a close eye on it at the moment as the company i'm with are to be heavily involved, that and I currently live 100 meters from where the development will be

This might help you www.bannon.ie

I think they are the guys doing the whole thing.

kindalen

found this centre to be poor,units are small and cramped,selection in the shops is limited and over priced. carpark is a joke. i will not be back.

eoinhealy

kindalen wrote: »

found this centre to be poor,units are small and cramped,selection in the shops is limited and over priced. carpark is a joke. i will not be back.

have to agree with you on the car park, for some reason all the right turns at the ends are a V turn. If you are driving any sort of long vehicle it is almost impossible to go around the pillars without smashing the side of your car.

I wonder where the people who are complaining about the size of the centre are from.
This is Athlone. I was actually wondering if the town can sustain such a large devolpment.
Look at the state of Texas now.

BoB_BoT

not too impressed with it myself. the only things in it for me really are Game and Virgin, however, it is a great shortcut when it's miserable out to get from one side of the town to the other :P

also on the population thing, how about we just expand our borders into roscommon :P

eoinhealy

BoB_BoT wrote: »

also on the population thing, how about we just expand our borders into roscommon :P

I have a funny feeling that there would be a war started if that was tried. I know a few Roscommon folk who would never let that happen because then they would be westmeath would be too close to them. Roscommon folk are too proud!

eoinhealy

Moonbaby wrote: »

I wonder where the people who are complaining about the size of the centre are from.
This is Athlone. I was actually wondering if the town can sustain such a large devolpment.
Look at the state of Texas now.

Hi Moonbaby, I did a bit of research on the town centre, was in touch with the Architects, Athlone Chamber of Commerce, and the Town Council. I got a reply from the town council which was very interesting and fair... Athlone spent approx €150 million on the new town centre. Alot of people thought this was a waiste of money as the centre is a bit of a joke, a little small, and some shops are very expensive compared to what people here are used to. Part of the reason the centre was built was not so athlone could boast this new town centre but instead to bring people back to the shopping district of athlone in the hope that people will start using the older shops that have been struggling for years just to stay open. And from another little bit of research I did, it turns out that this plan is in fact starting to work.

I know I was giving out about the town centre myself a little, but now that I see the bigger picture it's going to do quite a bit of good for the town.

Saint_Mel

So €150 million was spent on a new shopping centre so people would come
to Athlone and spend money in the old shops!?!

Sounds to me like a bit of a line spun to cover up the fact that lots of people
are disappointed with the new place.

I'd be surprised if people who would have gone to Liffey Valley etc have now
stopped going there and returned to the local places just because of the new SC.

Granted all local businesses will prospur while the novelty factor brings more
people into the town, but the novelty will wear off sooner rather than later

Occidental

People might be more inclined to visit the town centre if access was better and the town centre was pedestrian friendly. Try walking down Church St with a few kids in tow and see how you get on.

BoB_BoT

I have noticed aswell that the other shops outside of the ATC are getting more business which is great. The ATC is ok, some nice shops, out of my price range at the moment (student), would shop their when I'm full time employeed, but what I can see happening is further development or purchasing of surrounding units to turn the center of the town into one big shop street. There are a few vacant and desolate shops that I can see being bought by a big brand. And in time, there will be more shops, maybe not located in the ATC but it will be the key that ties the area together.

Did I not read somewhere about the councils plans to pedestrianize Chruch Street? If they were to follow through with that, it's obvious that their plan was to boost the whole surrounding area.

What I would like to see them doing though is speeding up the rejuvenation on the Connaught side, badly needs it.

Saint_Mel

BoB_BoT wrote: »

... but what I can see happening is further development or purchasing of surrounding units to turn the center of the town into one big shop street. There are a few vacant and desolate shops that I can see being bought by a big brand.

They have already bought out McFarlands and are planning
some development on that side of the road.

whyulittle

How far down that street does the Marist Brothers home actually run? No harm seeing that drab grey bricked up windows building being removed. :eek: