Tuam, Galway

hello_there_jim

what ya think of it?
my main thing is, do you think its a town or city?

AckwelFoley

Fastest town in Ireland


Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

dr.bollocko

Moved from AH.

minxie

tuam is nice, i like it

galwayrush

minxie wrote: »

tuam is nice, i like it

LOL, This is the be nice to tuam thread, can't find the other one.:D

minxie

theres a great butchers there that sells pigs ears:eek:
i cant get them anywhere else,,, for my mam mind :P
and its really a town...
but it has a cathederal
so doesnt that mean its a city

galwayrush

minxie wrote: »

theres a great butchers there that sells pigs ears:eek:
i cant get them anywhere else,,, for my mam mind :P
and its really a town...
but it has a cathederal
so doesnt that mean its a city

Town, Galway is a small City, something to do with having a City charter ,I don't think having a Cathedral is recognised now days as being enough to be called a City.

minxie

galwayrush wrote: »

Town, Galway is a small City, something to do with having a City charter ,I don't think having a Cathedral is recognised now days as being enough to be called a City.

thank god for that

Keith in cork

tuams a kip. defo a town. it reminds me of dunmanway in west cork. something just makes it feel dark, even on a sunny day it just feels dark and dirty.:(

minxie

Keith in cork wrote: »

tuams a kip. defo a town. it reminds me of dunmanway in west cork. something just makes it feel dark, even on a sunny day it just feels dark and dirty.:(

talking about supervalu eh

Keith in cork

minxie wrote: »

talking about supervalu eh

summit like that, yeh:p

Mars Bar

It was a city when the hospital was open and the two Cathedrals, that qualifies as a city (I think).

emeraldstar

galwayrush wrote: »

LOL, This is the be nice to tuam thread, can't find the other one.:D

Yeah, the other one was better

Stroke Politics

Tuam has TWO cathedrals, making it a proper city without a charter. I knew people from 2am going to UCG back in the dark ages, great craic, great humour, and their own lingo too. Was in a fine pub called Juno/Junie's (?) fadó, fadó, any Shams out there can tell us if it's still there? Gay Browne's was a nice Shop for Porter as well.....

ManoCornuta

I don't like Tuam at all. I moved near Tuam just before Christmas, from the other side of Galway, and I'm in uni in Dublin so thankfully I don't have to spend a whole lot of time there.

Tis a kip, I reckon.

dec25532

Junies pub is the best part of it. A retail blackspot. Everyone there shops in Claremorris or Galway city

galwayrush

dec25532 wrote: »

. A retail blackspot. Everyone there shops in Claremorris or Galway city

That's easily explained, small minded vested interests in the town who have too much power.;)

Mars Bar

galwayrush wrote: »

That's easily explained, small minded vested interests in the town who have too much power.;)

You use plural, there is only one guy that owns the town and can pay off anyone to get the hell out.

I hope we get the cinema and the retail section, if they could draw in Penneys or Dunnes it would be great. Planning for a shopping area out the galway road was denied, I can understand why though. There is nothing going into the 'Shopping Centre" we already have in the town...

dec25532

And the Tesco plan for the Milltown Road has hit a brick wall as well. Planners have requested further information that would take a team of rocket scientists to respond to. There is definitely something sinister going on.

Mars Bar

It's the same fella who applied for Tesco's who is applying for the cinema...I hope he keeps trying and trying...

Jamey

Stroke Politics wrote: »

Tuam has TWO cathedrals, making it a proper city without a charter. I knew people from 2am going to UCG back in the dark ages, great craic, great humour, and their own lingo too. Was in a fine pub called Juno/Junie's (?) fadó, fadó, any Shams out there can tell us if it's still there? Gay Browne's was a nice Shop for Porter as well.....

Junie's still there yes, lovely spot. Gay Browne's sadly closed though. It's a grand town in small doses, I like going back to see the family and there can be good music sessions in the pubs, don't think I could live there again though.

Tinder

Tuam is a great town,

Regarding it being a retail black spot, thats just not true, fair enough it has its problems, yes the same few people owning most of the retail spaces in the centre of the town is not healthy but to be fair lots of small business have closed down all over the country, not just Tuam, and over the past year more new shops and business have opened, Enjoy boutique, shoo b doo, pet health, subway and others.

The Celtic tiger passed it buy mainly due to the chamber of commerce being particularlly useless and the town councillers being totally inept, voting Paddy McHugh (or any independent) a few terms back was a huge mistake.

Like most west of ireland towns the government are not really interested.

None of the reatial parks on the outskirts of the town have worked and most are empty and have no character, no real business heart in any of them.

A tesco on the N17 would be a really bad idea, would only make the centre of the town even more isolated.

There are people working really hard to get Tuam back on the map and deserve our credit. Judging a town on its pubs is not a great yardstick, judge it by its heart.

galwayrush

mars bar wrote: »

You use plural, there is only one guy that owns the town and can pay off anyone to get the hell out.

I hope we get the cinema and the retail section, if they could draw in Penneys or Dunnes it would be great. Planning for a shopping area out the galway road was denied, I can understand why though. There is nothing going into the 'Shopping Centre" we already have in the town...

True, one now, but there used to be 2.;)

mrsweebri

I have not lived in Tuam but I worked there for a while and I didn't like the feel of the place. Most of the people were nice enough but I wouldn't feel safe living there or walking around after dark. I see it as a town. Sorry to the folk that live there, it's just the impression I have of the place.

dec25532

mrsweebri wrote: »

I have not lived in Tuam but I worked there for a while and I didn't like the feel of the place. Most of the people were nice enough but I wouldn't feel safe living there or walking around after dark. I see it as a town. Sorry to the folk that live there, it's just the impression I have of the place.

What? Do the people of Tuam need protection if they dare venture out of their homes after dark? Are there ruthless gangs dragging their knuckles along the ground as they terrorise the locals? Is martial law required to sort this grim situation out? God, Tuam is more exciting than I thought!!

Mars Bar

lol, I have walked around the town many a time late at night and guess what?
I'm female.

Sheesh, it's not that bad!

dec25532

mars bar wrote: »

lol, I have walked around the town many a time late at night and guess what?
I'm female.

Sheesh, it's not that bad!

You brave young wan! Judging by the previous post the town is a no go area which seems a bit extreme. Would love to know what happened to make her think Tuam is an unsafe place. In fact, it is probably better than most towns of its size.

greengreen

I have often been out in Tuam and never seen any trouble. A Garda friend of mine reckons that nothing ever happens compared to Athenry and Oranmore. I kinda liked it as you could go from pub to pub around the square and everyone was friendly.

Mars Bar

dec25532 wrote: »

You brave young wan! Judging by the previous post the town is a no go area which seems a bit extreme. Would love to know what happened to make her think Tuam is an unsafe place. In fact, it is probably better than most towns of its size.

Probably listened to a few other people who said the same thing and then just jumped on the bandwagon...

greengreen wrote: »

I have often been out in Tuam and never seen any trouble. A Garda friend of mine reckons that nothing ever happens compared to Athenry and Oranmore. I kinda liked it as you could go from pub to pub around the square and everyone was friendly.

It's a compact town, you can literally crawl out of one pub and into the next. And if you walk around the Square into each of the pubs, you are bound to bump into someone else ya know who will join ya...it's like a snowball effect. Makes for a great night out...

mrsweebri

I'm very glad that you can all vouch for Tuam as a safe place to go. My impression of Tuam was formed from spending a few months working there. I didn't like the place at all found it dingy and met a few unpleasant characters there. The OP asked what people thought of the place and I gave my impression. If you disagree, great. I live in Oranmore and feel really safe there, so if it is a dodgier place that Tuam then maybe I got the wrong impression of the place. A minority of dodgy people can have that effect, unfortunately.

(For the record, I don't jump on bandwagons, I amn't nimble enough).

Mars Bar

Maybe it's more of a case of sticking up for where you live...
I find Tuam grand, don't find Oranmore appealing, never been out for the night there but even the layout of the place just annoys me...

There are unpleasant characters everywhere, you were unlucky to have bumped into ours. Maybe you'll get luckier next time eh?

mrsweebri

Hope so! The layout of oranmore is crap, i agree. I'm hoping the impressive looking piles of rubble near the bridge going down towards the castle are a sign of good change to come.

DenMan

Never in it before. Is it very rural (country)? Sligo is a town (barely), but I'm a Dub living there so used to living in the city. I heard it's supposed to be very nice, a very historical town. Will deffo go and see it in the near future.

MayoForSam

I'm living a few miles out the road from Tuam, it definitely suffers from a lack of decent shops compared to Galway and Claremorris. One recent suggestion of a land swap between the HSE (who own the old Grove hospital) and the owners of the land out on the N17 where Tesco want to locate sounds like a very good idea as it would centralise some much needed development in the town centre. Would be nice to see the railway station given a re-vamp too but not much hope there. The mart is an eyesore too but thats not going anywhere (prime location as well).

Too many empty units in the town by far and the new shopping centre is three-quarters empty. Unfortunately, Tuam missed out the benefits of the Celtic Tiger and the only way is down for the foreseeable future.

The people themselves are fine but we got to know more of our neighbours in 3 months after we moved out of Tuam then we did in 3 years living in one of the new housing estates. Bit of a rowdy youth element in the town at weekends too from what I hear.

Mars Bar

DenMan wrote: »

Never in it before. Is it very rural (country)? Sligo is a town (barely), but I'm a Dub living there so used to living in the city. I heard it's supposed to be very nice, a very historical town. Will deffo go and see it in the near future.

Oranmore or Tuam?
Tuam isn't rural, probably one of the bigger towns of north east galway...
Oranmore is like a satellite town of Galway city, you are ten mins from the city so I wouldn't call it rural either.

Tuam does have a lot of historical content alright...

IrishWhiskeyCha

mars bar wrote: »

Oranmore or Tuam?
Tuam isn't rural, probably one of the bigger towns of north east galway...
Oranmore is like a satellite town of Galway city, you are ten mins from the city so I wouldn't call it rural either.

Tuam does have a lot of historical content alright...

Any town outside the pail is rural according to some

Tuam does suffer from a bad rep and the town does look a bit rough in places. Going back the years there have been a few incidents that have made the headlines. A bit like Limerick which actually has a lower crime rate per population than Dublin or Cork. However I've drank in Tuam a good few times over the years and have yet to encounter any trouble. Sometimes these negative stories become larger than they were as the years go by.

I have more recently spent more time in Oranmore and it can get messy after the late pubs night club closes and sometimes there is an intimidating athmosphere with groups of young lads shouting their drunken heads off but just like tuam I've never encountered any trouble.

The problem for small towns and villages like these is that any trouble is magnified 10 fold ... you can be unlucky and find trouble anywhere

Tinder

lack of decent shops compared to Galway and Claremorris. One recent suggestion of a land swap between the HSE (who own the old Grove hospital) and the owners of the land out on the N17 where Tesco want to locate sounds like a very good idea

Really am not so sure about this, I don't know why people are so hung up on getting Tesco into Tuam, I shop regularly, in fact every weekend in Claremorris with the family and have done for the last 6 years and all the small local shops are really struggling since Aldi and Tesco opened, Freshies organic shop has had to stop stocking there little food stall, the Cafés in the town are all down in business, the shoe shop has had to close, supervalu are not nearly as busy. If a tesco opened in Tuam say goodbye the cloths shops, O'Tooles department store, the shoe shops, Ryan’s cafe, most of the business in the N17 supermarket.

Tesco will decimate Tuam, close down most of the local industry, strip Tuam of it's home grown jobs, and they won't support Irish farming or produce, is this what we really want?

What did Tesco ever do for us that we believe Tuam NEEDS them so much?

Mars Bar

Cost Cutter and Lidl has done nothing to O' Tooles yet...and my God, would I like him to feel the pinch just to bring down some of his prices on the bigger brand stuff...

It's all about competition at the end of the day. I would hate to see some of the smaller shops close, but with or without Tesco, it's happening...

Edit: I'd rather have Dunnes come in then Tesco, their food is nicer.

dec25532

Dunnes much dearer than Tesco and less of a selection. It seems all immaterial now as far as Tuam is concerned. Would hate to see the smaller shops closing though. Still, no one is crying about it despite an election looming. Some of the candidates are mouthing but you would expect that with just a week left to polling day. After that, those who win their cushy seats will sit back and just allow this situation continue. It is about time they were given a bit of a wake up call!!!

sdanseo

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

Tinder

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

Seeing as you only have relatives living relatively close to the town in question I can Categorically state you are wrong! Silly post really, not sure why I replied.

Travellers there are, quite a few in fact, the mayor was a traveller a while back, but most are settled now and could not really be described as travellers.

Any large supermarket that will sell any product a small shop sells will be the closure of smaller shops, you watch Tesco or Dunes or any of the large supermarkets, they will sell CD's and DVD’s, goodbye extra vision, computers, goodbye Fixtech cloths, goodbye Eamon G's, Fallon's ect, they sell kids toys, goodbye the toy shop. I am no great fan of Joe O'Toole but he does sustain the town, employs local people and sells a lot of local produce.

As regards competition, it's already there within 20 mins of Tuam there is a Lidl, Aldi and Tesco and within 45 mins there is Dunnes.

By the way for anyone who is interested the St. Jarlath's Day festival that includes a pagent and street show in association with the very vibrant and energetic Earwig! Arts Group is on on June 6th at 2pm, which starts at the bottom of Shop Street. Come and have a taste of Tuam for yourself and make up your own minds.

T

jkmanc1974

Tinder wrote: »

Really am not so sure about this, I don't know why people are so hung up on getting Tesco into Tuam, I shop regularly, in fact every weekend in Claremorris with the family and have done for the last 6 years and all the small local shops are really struggling since Aldi and Tesco opened, Freshies organic shop has had to stop stocking there little food stall, the Cafés in the town are all down in business, the shoe shop has had to close, supervalu are not nearly as busy. If a tesco opened in Tuam say goodbye the cloths shops, O'Tooles department store, the shoe shops, Ryan’s cafe, most of the business in the N17 supermarket.



Tesco will decimate Tuam, close down most of the local industry, strip Tuam of it's home grown jobs, and they won't support Irish farming or produce, is this what we really want?

What did Tesco ever do for us that we believe Tuam NEEDS them so much?

Tinder - Slightly off topic I know but do you not think there were/are way too many cafes in Claremorris in the first place? You are right though ref Tesco/Aldi killing off the rest of the town big time.....

Brgds
Johnny

Tinder

When I started going to Claremorris I was really only aware of two which we attended regularly, they were Freshies and Aghnas (I think that is how you spell it). As with every town during the tiger lots more cropped up, O'Haires is only there because of Tesco and yes there are probably too many, we found the Clay pot two weeks ago and can highly recommend it, the food is the best in Claremorris and staff are great too.

Hopefully the small independently owned Cafés with the best food will survive, but in my bones I don't think so, history will tell you that the one linked to the supermarket will be the last one standing.

With the belt tightening all cafes in all towns will be affected by latte factor, so yes I suppose you are right maybe there are too many sustainable Café's in Claremorris.

Mars Bar

sdonn wrote: »

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

An ill-informed post if I ever read one...

ManoCornuta

I was born in Dublin, lived in Cyprus and Wicklow, before moving to Connemara, then to Tuam, where I live when I'm not in uni in Dublin.

Gotta agree with sdonn-country folk can be very simple, and Tuam is a hell hole.

Dunno much about travellers, but I do know that there are a lot of idiot drivers in and around Tuam, more so (in my own opinion) than any of the other small towns around Galway that I spend time in.

sdanseo

mars bar wrote: »

An ill-informed post if I ever read one...

More the opinion of someone who spends 3 weeks in the year there. Each to their own but I've witnessed everything I've spoken of.

Mars Bar

sdonn wrote: »

More the opinion of someone who spends 3 weeks in the year there. Each to their own but I've witnessed everything I've spoken of.

As opposed to someone who has lived here 13 years.

You were unfortunate to see all that in your three weeks every year. Most only be the 3 weeks you are around...

Mars Bar

ManoCornuta wrote: »

I was born in Dublin, lived in Cyprus and Wicklow, before moving to Connemara, then to Tuam, where I live when I'm not in uni in Dublin.

Gotta agree with sdonn-country folk can be very simple, and Tuam is a hell hole.

Dunno much about travellers, but I do know that there are a lot of idiot drivers in and around Tuam, more so (in my own opinion) than any of the other small towns around Galway that I spend time in.

You are right about the drivers. They most have picked up some nasty habits going in and out of Galway City. We have to have the worst drivers in the country...

Svalbard

hello_there_jim wrote: »

what ya think of it?
my main thing is, do you think its a town or city?

Are you joking?

Tinder wrote: »

When I started going to Claremorris I was really only aware of two which we attended regularly, they were Freshies and Aghnas (I think that is how you spell it). As with every town during the tiger lots more cropped up, O'Haires is only there because of Tesco and yes there are probably too many, we found the Clay pot two weeks ago and can highly recommend it, the food is the best in Claremorris and staff are great too.

Hopefully the small independently owned Cafés with the best food will survive, but in my bones I don't think so, history will tell you that the one linked to the supermarket will be the last one standing.

With the belt tightening all cafes in all towns will be affected by latte factor, so yes I suppose you are right maybe there are too many sustainable Café's in Claremorris.

Been in Aghna's and the Arch in recent weeks, seem to do quite a busy lunch time trade. Heffernan's Food Store is often busy too, for good reason.

ManoCornuta

hello_there_jim wrote: »

do you think its a town or city?

Small, backwards town. Great rugby though, that's all I care about!

Best thing about tuam is that its an easy place to pass the driving test!