Life in Athlone

JoeyJJ

Whats it like basically..

Have an interview there next week and just wanted some feedback in case I need to make a decision pronto.

Whats good about Athlone?
What is there to do?
What facilities are there?

Whats not good about Athlone?


All honest feedback appreciated..

veryangryman

Ok man, as a local who grew up, moved away and moved back, i can fill ya in.

Whats good about Athlone? Cheap Petrol, easy to get to/from around. Good nightlife on weekends. Nice restaurants like Kens and the Olive Grove. Bars like Seans/Palace/Karma contain plenty of hot chicks.
What is there to do? Shopping/Countless Sporting Events/Nightlife/Fishing/Boating/Rowing/Swimming. You name it really.
What facilities are there? New Sports Centre, countless gyms, local soccer/gaa/hurling/rugby teams

Whats not good about Athlone? Abundance of knackers if you go to the wrong parts (same true of anywhere). Mentality of people here who dont realise how good they have it. The Connaught side of the bridge as the councils dont seem to invest in it (other side lovely by the way). Garrycastle Bridge (when you cross it, youll know! )


In summary, I recommend it. Hope you enjoy it

slowharry

seans and gertie's are nice pubs, restaurants in general are well above average from cheap like pizza mama to the more expensive like olive grove (even bethleem the chipper is quality). its realatively near most parts of the country so getting home shouldn't be to hard. nightclubs are average at best but maybe i'm too old for them. parking in town centre midweek is a bit of a pain. decent shopping for town of its size. plenty of clubs for whatever interest sporting wise. petrol is cheap 1.11 out in baylough. live music scene non existent. knackers easily enough avoided once you get a bit of familarity

its not that bad all in all but remember its a town not a city

veryangryman

Agree with Harry on all counts bar parking. If your only in town 2-3 hours, your best bet is to park in Golden Island (free) and take a 2 min walk to the centre up the hill by Dunnes. If not there that long, you can even park at back of Dunnes, walk through the back of Billy Bretts store, and the new town shopping centre is across the road.

Not entirely polictically correct/honest, but not alot they can do to you about it and in my opinion, no harm in it.

Parking is like sex. Why should you pay for it when with a little effort and endeavour, you can get it for free!

tubos

Agree with veryangryman. Athlone has everything really within a small area. I moved to Athlone last year, was living in Ashbourne and working in Dublin. Now I cycle to work!

Athlone is great for restaurants, nightlife, the river Shannon and Lough Ree, there's an abundance of sports grounds around, a lot of underage football and rugby internationals take place here. I see there's a 400m running track being built in the IT.

The variety of takeaway food is also great, the food from Mother India is the best I've tasted!!!!

Another good thing about Ahtlone is that its close to the west coast and also not too far from the east coast (esp when the new N6 is open)

Rent in Athlone is dirt cheap, 4 bed house in the best area for no more than 900 euro

On the downside there are a few dodgy estates around but just avoid them. Again, as veryangryman said, the locals don't know how good they have it.

JoeyJJ

Cheers for the replys keep em coming.

How much to join a local gym with pool? Is there any 5 aside astro pitches in the town?
What is traffic like at 8.30 & 5.30 around the town?

tubos

Pool, gym and astro pitch can be found at the sports centre, prices are at this link...

http://www.athlonesportscentre.ie/meminfo.htm


The hodson bay hotel has a pool and gym, altho it's a few miles outside of Athlone

There's astro pitches on the connaught side of town, at leisureworld, not sure if they're part of leisureworld though.

Can't comment on the traffic but I don't think it's ever too bad! there's always a way around any traffic jams!

witnessmenow

the astro turf at the bowling alley(Athlone Leisure World) is by far the best one, there is also a gym in the bowling alley, but its not great.

traffic is definitely busiest that time of day but your very rarely stuck anywhere for too long. I'm from Athlone but i'm in college in galway. at those times I wouldn't dream of driving anywhere in galway if i could avoid it, in athlone it wouldn't think about it, never a real issue. Where is the interview for (even region/address if you dont want to name the company) and maybe we could suggest a few places you should look into for housing?

denmcn

Has the Bowling Alley astro-turf been done up very recently??? Cos if not then I would actually rate it as the worst in the town.

Willow Park and AIT both have spanking new top notch pitches, Sports Centre is older but excellent even St Peters is better than the Bowling Alley.

Also re gyms/pools - the Athlone Springs Hotel and the Radisson also have both, though from what I hear the gym in the Radisson is only so-so

witnessmenow

Sports Centre is an awful 5 a side pitch, its far too long and you spend half your time there getting the ball from other pitches because rolled under the nets at the side.

Are any of the rest of them you mentioned available to the public?

thalia_13

Gym is Athlone Springs hotel is very good, much nicer than the regional sports centre gym - if hat to pick, despite the journey out there its well owrth it, lovely facilities very helpful staff.

As for rest of Athlone, its only when you leave you realise it has a lot going for it - its a nice town and people are nice and friendly. There are rough areas, but nothing too bad, and to tell the truth its a case of if you ignore them then they ignore you. Thats what I found when I lived there.

JoeyJJ

cheers, interview tomorrow so hopefully this info will come in useful.

martin1

So the powers that be (that useless shower who call themselves Athlone Town council)have decided to finally do something about the Millenium fountain......remember that?The one and only thing that this shower could come up with to mark the millenium,sunk without trace a couple of years ago and now it is to be resurrected and sited elsewhere.
I guarentee and will take bets from anyone that this fountain will NEVER be heard of again,once it is taken from the water.
Gawd what a shower.

AckwelFoley

As a teenager i hated Athlone.

I travelled alot since then to every corner of Ireland and to Many pasrts opf the world.

Now i can safely say that its a decent town with decent services and good nightlife.

Main Advantage for me is the location. Its near everywhere and because i move around alot im never anymore than 90 mis away from most places

witnessmenow

that fountain cost over £ 1/4 of million ...... pricy for a power hose!

martin1

Yea it cost something like that and as far as I can remember it was given to the town by some company or other.So all that the SOWs (shower of w**k**s who run this town) had to do was find a suitable place to put it.But do you think they could do that???
They put it in the water it was crooked they took it out again .They put it back again turned it on, it drenched everyone at flynns funeral home.They turned it off again and said "sure we will just turn it on at certain times" yea like when nobody dies or the wind is blowing from the west or south which is always.

So eventually it was never turned on so nobody knew it was there and everyone forgot about it,and some unfortunate tourist rammed it and that was the end of our one and only Millenium monument.


Now the SOWs are going to remove it to the council yard where it will remain forever and ever amen.Well done Boxer and co.another glorious chapter for the SOWs.

Ticktactoe

I love athlone. Born and grew up ere. Have been to college and worked in other towns and cities but always ended up back ere. Have grew up with the river shannon beside me and therefore never really noticed it as it was always there.... simple things like that, that are actually of importance. Once you know where to go and what to avoid its a cool town. For people who moan about it, it could be because they are here all their lives and are bored of the same routine. If they leave for a while, even a few years, majority will end up back ere!:)

Onikage

JoeyJJ wrote: »

cheers, interview tomorrow so hopefully this info will come in useful.

Well, this is a great thread and all but I guess it would be relevent to ask if you got the job?

veryangryman

Hell never tell..

Puh. Use and abuse :mad:

It'd be great to work in Athlone, better than 100min commute to Tallaght!

userfriendly2

seen a lot of replies are from a few years back, I might be moving down to athlone in a few months and have started to look at a few apts/houses. I've never been to athlone apart from passing thru.
Im looking for info on nice areas to live, not exactly posh areas but nice places with no hassle.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Athlone is still a great place to live and as many people have said in this thread, locals don't know how good they have it. I grew up near the town and after 10 years away having lived and worked in various places, I'd love to get back there. The town has all the amenities of city living without the cost. Great transport links, plenty of good housing, nightlife and shopping. Also, while the town has its fair share of undesireables, it is not as rough as people would have you believe and there are far rougher towns of similiar size around Ireland.

Decent areas to live include Monksland, Bealnamullia and Baylough on the west side and Coosan, Garrycastle, Woodville and Retreat on the east side.

Onikage

I hear they put in new cycle paths. Doubt they're in logical places though

Char199159

Athlone is nothing but a ****ing

Char199159

Athlone is nothing but a ****ing Dump full of alcoholics and druggies

Char199159

Nope no cycle paths here

Milk & Honey

The worse thing about Athlone is the far side. Never go there for any reason, social business or otherwise. Never live there. Never speak to anyone from there. If anyone from there approaches you hit them as hard as you can and run!

Rasmus

Milk & Honey wrote: »

The worse thing about Athlone is the far side. Never go there for any reason, social business or otherwise. Never live there. Never speak to anyone from there. If anyone from there approaches you hit them as hard as you can and run!

I know that's probably a joke but what is the 'far side' anyway?

whyulittle

The Roscommon side.

Rasmus

whyulittle wrote: »

The Roscommon side.

Thanks! : )

Onikage

Char199159 wrote: »

Athlone is nothing but a ****ing Dump full of alcoholics and druggies

That makes it sound like Hollywood though