Athlone City.????

holidayhere

I have travelled through Athlone over several years.
I marvel at the improvements.
It used to be a bit of a one horse town, with the horse being the Prince of Wales hotel. They now have several top class hotels, and lots more top class developments.
Is it a town council, or chamber of commerce who drive this change.?
You normally find one or two key people behind this type of progress.
Well done to Athlone.
Other large towns should take note.

veryangryman

holidayhere wrote: »

Other large towns should take note.

Yes. yes they should. The following are noteworthy examples

Naas
Mullingar
Portlaoise
Tralee

Similar size places and apparent "regional centres" but between them, all they have is one college, some soon to be closed hospitals and a road to Dublin to justify the high cost of living in them.

That said, the number of people who diss Athlone is unbelievable. I dismiss these sort as negative neddies as i think they would say similar if they lived in Las Vegas.

For a town of its size, Ath has quite alot going for it

roosterman71

I could have predicted that response veryangryman.

But why would Mullingar/Naas/Portlaise need a college?

Mullingar is an hour from Dublin and closer to Maynooth. Also its near Athlone which has a college. Naas has Dublin just up the road, and Carlow a few miles away, and also Maynooth. Portlaoise has Carlow. So how many colleges do we need? There's enough places churning out idiots without more making it easier for said idiots to get degrees.

That is all. For now

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

I could have predicted that response veryangryman.

But why would Mullingar/Naas/Portlaise need a college?

Mullingar is an hour from Dublin and closer to Maynooth. Also its near Athlone which has a college. Naas has Dublin just up the road, and Carlow a few miles away, and also Maynooth. Portlaoise has Carlow. So how many colleges do we need? There's enough places churning out idiots without more making it easier for said idiots to get degrees.

That is all. For now

By that reasoning, Athlone is ~ an hour from Galway/Maynooth.

Anyways, the original poster mentioned the one-horse town problem that the place used to have. The streetscape of it has improved alot in recent years. Have finally used the potential of the Shannon to blend in nicely with it too. And the Left Bank area is flooded to the gills with tourists at weekends

roosterman71

Granted. Then your not comparing like with like. None of the other towns mentioned have a natural amenity such as the Shannon or lakes. So Athlone has an advantage. They use this to gain tourism euros. If they didn't, they should be shot.

Tralee uses the fact that its in Kerry and is quite successful at the tourism. In fact, I'd say Tralee to be a better all round place than Athlone.

Naas has better night life. Portlaise/Athlone/Mullinagr are all on a par in the night life stakes - pretty rubbish

holidayhere

Nightlife is just one aspect of it.
I predict it will be the next City in Ireland.
Just a pit the Shannon did not run across the country.

roosterman71

holidayhere wrote: »

Nightlife is just one aspect of it.
I predict it will be the next City in Ireland.
Just a pit the Shannon did not run across the country.

Your joking aren't ya? What would make Athlone a city? Granted its a moderate sized town, much the same as plenty of others. But whats in Athlone to indicate it will be a city?

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

Your joking aren't ya? What would make Athlone a city? Granted its a moderate sized town, much the same as plenty of others. But whats in Athlone to indicate it will be a city?

It lacks a Cathedral, something that makes Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford (which dont have that much else going for them) cities

Plus the fact that most of the population now live in Suburbs like Monksland and Moydrum has put the towns official population down to smaller levels

So this time, i will agree with the Rooster.

roosterman71

Why thank you veryangryman

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

Why thank you veryangryman

There is a "thanks" button on the right of my post that you have verbally thanked.

Click it. It will make your life richer for it

roosterman71

Indeed there is and I am fully aware of it. I just wanted to express my gratitude in words. Clicking a button is so pre-George Lee

Now, back to the topic, Athlone won't become a city. A few moderate hotels, a college, 1 decent shopping centre (Golden Island) and 1 complete waste (Town Centre) will count against the town. Add to the narrow streets the lack of parking and crap town centre means there is nothing much to bring people in.

Saruman

It seems some residents think being called a city is good for business.

I think Athlone is a lovely place and would not mind living there, I prefer it to my nearest large town of Mullingar. The river makes the difference to be honest.
You can say all the negative things you like about Limerick for instance but at the end of the day down by the river is lovely.

Onikage

roosterman71 wrote: »

Now, back to the topic, Athlone won't become a city. A few moderate hotels, a college, 1 decent shopping centre (Golden Island) and 1 complete waste (Town Centre) will count against the town. Add to the narrow streets the lack of parking and crap town centre means there is nothing much to bring people in.

Sounds like you just 90% described Dublin city centre.

Having travelled a bit, I feel cities are a bit sad in Ireland.

mr_edge_to_you

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

roosterman71

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

+1 to that

veryangryman

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

If thats the case, then fukcit, we dont need city status

Supermacs FTW!

BoB_BoT

jesus, we don't need an eddie rockets. Anyone remember the place in the middle of town, had a similar theme to eddie rockets. On the way to the town center (near the civic center side).

Anyway, would the town becoming a city really do it any good? I doubt it, sure isn't it only a difference in title. The college may eventually become a University, but... that's still a long way off. There's a lot of work to be done on the actual town, such as rejuvenating the Connaught side, sorting out the center of town in particular the bottleneck and traffic flow issues.

It's going to take a serious amount of foresight to get it right, so give the council time to get it right Doesn't matter to me if the town gets upgraded to city status, it'd still be Athlone

Anyways, the town is grand, "expanding" it by putting in poxy chainstores has zero appeal to me. Better to build up what's there and maybe generate our own viral shops

Onikage

Nail on the head there Bob. Your surname wouldn't be Shakespeare by any chance?

I'd hold off on even thinking about the city title until it gets:

Good facilities on the lake without spoiling it
A decent promenade on the river
Parks, and I don't mean a patch a grass where no-one has built an ugly house yet
A sensible traffic plan for alleviating the bottlenecks (no more crazy one ways, thanks)
Recycling facilities that don't encourage you to drive to them
Public transport that can actually get you to places you want to go
A decent size hall for concerts/events
Quite a few more bins, especially the 50/50 recycling type
A hospital wouldn't hurt
An attractive environment for companies making medium to long term strategic plans (file Google under missed opportunities)
About 10 times the population (see above)

Councillors? Personally I think there should be a minumum requirement for them to be able master Sim City before letting them loose on Real Athlone. At least that way we'd know they could do a good job, in theory.

Just so I don't seem overwhelmingly negative, there are a few positives that come to mind:

The restaurants are great
The sports facilities have come a long way
The college might become a University if some bright spark decides all the IoT's should be "upgraded" to make them more marketable internationally

holidayhere

veryangryman wrote: »

It lacks a Cathedral, something that makes Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford (which dont have that much else going for them) cities

Plus the fact that most of the population now live in Suburbs like Monksland and Moydrum has put the towns official population down to smaller levels

So this time, i will agree with the Rooster.

The old definition of a City was that it had a Cathedral.
I think the new one is to do with population.
Not sure that Kilkenny or Sligo are classified as cities.??

roosterman71

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

holidayhere

roosterman71 wrote: »

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

That was also my undertanding.
Population is the key now.

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuam

holidayhere

veryangryman wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuam

Quoting Wikipedia hardly proves the point.
Tuam used to be classed as the smallest city in the world.
Actually has two Cathedrals.

roosterman71

veryangryman wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuam

In Kilkennys wiki it says it "Is a city nd traditional county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland." So is it a city or town? A few years ago it was definitely classed as a town due to the population. It didn't stop people calling it a city either.

From my school days, the cities in Ireland not including the north) were:
Dublin
Galway
Limerick
Cork
Waterford
Kilkenny

Now Kilkenny has gone. Up north a couple of years ago, Newry exceeded the population limit for a town and became a city.

holidayhere

roosterman71 wrote: »

In Kilkennys wiki it says it "Is a city nd traditional county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland." So is it a city or town? A few years ago it was definitely classed as a town due to the population. It didn't stop people calling it a city either.

From my school days, the cities in Ireland not including the north) were:
Dublin
Galway
Limerick
Cork
Waterford
Kilkenny

Now Kilkenny has gone. Up north a couple of years ago, Newry exceeded the population limit for a town and became a city.

There is probably some government or county council website that states exactly which is a city or town.
Saying it is in Wiki does not carry any weight. That's a bit like saying you heard it in the pub (late at night).

roosterman71

I as pooh-poohing the previous posters argument based on "facts" from wikipedia.

My comments are based on what I learned in school, heard on the radio/tv. Or was told by my sister who lives there.

yoursaviour1989

veryangryman wrote: »

By that reasoning, Athlone is ~ an hour from Galway/Maynooth.

Maynooth is less than an hour from Athlone

veryangryman

yoursaviour1989 wrote: »

Maynooth is less than an hour from Athlone

I want you to get into a car on Church Street Athlone and drive to the front entrance to Maynooth college at the permittable speed limits.

Time it. My moneys on it taking more than an hour

God i hate these fkn idiots who say ridiculous statements like this and the more infamous "Newrys an hour from Dublin". Yeah maybe the M50/M1 interchange to the roundabout, but what about the rest of the journey (not counting the traffic) smartarse

veryangryman

Route Planner (From Athlone to Maynooth)

Time: 1 hr 20 min
Total Distance (Km): 103.32

One must always note that Town Centre to Town Centre, (even if 95% of the route is Motorway) does mean slowing down when entering/leaving urban area

IPushButtons

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

Make IQ test mandatory :rolleyes:

yoursaviour1989

veryangryman wrote: »

I want you to get into a car on Church Street Athlone and drive to the front entrance to Maynooth college at the permittable speed limits.

Time it. My moneys on it taking more than an hour

God i hate these fkn idiots who say ridiculous statements like this and the more infamous "Newrys an hour from Dublin". Yeah maybe the M50/M1 interchange to the roundabout, but what about the rest of the journey (not counting the traffic) smartarse

Im in college in Maynooth and drive it regularly

Dumb

Sligo is not a city and never was. Wikipedia doesn't even say it. It says that the locals call it that (some of them). The local newspaper the Sligo Champion also has a bad habit of it. You'll always see that front page story -In the city centre blah blah blah...

Letterkenny also has a Cathedral unlike Athlone. The town also has two public parks of over 30 acres in total. Plenty of shopping centres. I think there are 3 and then the retail parks. A few bridges and a nice river.

holidayhere

roosterman71 wrote: »

Indeed there is and I am fully aware of it. I just wanted to express my gratitude in words. Clicking a button is so pre-George Lee

A bit like a 'verbal agreement' - not worth the paper it is written on.

Saint_Mel

Dumb wrote: »

Sligo is not a city and never was. Wikipedia doesn't even say it. It says that the locals call it that (some of them). The local newspaper the Sligo Champion also has a bad habit of it. You'll always see that front page story -In the city centre blah blah blah...

Letterkenny also has a Cathedral unlike Athlone. The town also has two public parks of over 30 acres in total. Plenty of shopping centres. I think there are 3 and then the retail parks. A few bridges and a nice river.

Sligo have the Cathedral and in an effort to gain City status they just renamed
the town council "City Corporation"

Saruman

Sligo also calls itself the Gateway City I think. I saw signs up saying something like that a while back.

Dumb

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Sligo have the Cathedral and in an effort to gain City status they just renamed
the town council "City Corporation"

Yes but how many towns in Ireland have Cathedrals and aren't cities. Plenty. That has nothing to do with it. :rolleyes:

They call themselves a gateway city but so is Letterkenny, Mullingar etc...

Saruman

Dumb wrote: »

Letterkenny also has a Cathedral unlike Athlone. The town also has two public parks of over 30 acres in total. Plenty of shopping centres. I think there are 3 and then the retail parks. A few bridges and a nice river.

Jaysus I like probably most of Ireland know nothing about Letterkenny. You made it sound so interesting I googled it.

apparently its worse than Clondalkin for street crime? Thats mad but it looks pretty nice.

Any decent pubs there serving Irish craft beers of at least decent premium beer from other countries?

Dumb

Saruman wrote: »

Jaysus I like probably most of Ireland know nothing about Letterkenny. You made it sound so interesting I googled it.

apparently its worse than Clondalkin for street crime? Thats mad but it looks pretty nice.

Any decent pubs there serving Irish craft beers of at least decent premium beer from other countries?

Plenty of pubs and clubs. Sure loads of people go up for the hen and stag parties.

There's the Cottage Bar, The Cavern, McGinleys, Voodoo, The Pulse, The Grill, The Drumbar (Locals only),


"The town is a popular nightlife location for the local catchment area and, indeed, for the rest of Ulster - especially at the weekends and particularly for visitors from nearby Derry City. The Main Street, originally the retail centre of the town, has become a centre for popular night clubs and pubs, boosted by the remnants of its old shopping district. The Grill Music Venue is a popular nighclub which regularly plays host to acts such as Shane McGowan, Ash, Hot Chip, Dirty Sanchez, Fun Lovin' Criminals and Judge Jules. Club Voodoo is a highly regarded bar and night-club on Lower Main Street and has attracted figures such as Sander Van Doorn, Markus Schulz, Paul Van Dyk, Eddie Halliwell and Marco V in recent years. There are also several other nightclubs in the area including Milan Nightclub and The Pulse. Pubs such as The Central Bar (established 1808), The Cavern, Sister Sara's, Josie's Bar and The Cottage Bar give an extensive range of drinking experiences from the old to the modern cutting edge".

Dumb

Saruman wrote: »

apparently its worse than Clondalkin for street crime? Thats mad but it looks pretty nice.

Yea. Slash-hooks and what not. Stabbings. Drug related. etc. Doesn't be on the national news but it has happened. Quite often.

Fighting once brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill when the Gardaí had to close a road. Men were throwing flower pots at windows. They tried to take a woman out of the house. The husband wouldn't let her go so they threatened to break her legs with a machete and puncture the tyres of the car so she couldn't get to hospital.

Mad altogether. :pac:

Saruman

Jaysus and people go on about Limerick I have not heard of that kind of thing even in Dublin but that is not to say it does not happen.

Dumb

Saruman wrote: »

Jaysus and people go on about Limerick I have not heard of that kind of thing even in Dublin but that is not to say it does not happen.

Aye. A man was stabbed like 50 times in his apartment. He was some relation of the viper foley

BambooBob

Kilkenny is a city and its status was confirmed by a special clause in a local government act of brought out in 2000. Kilkenny's status to city status is based on a Royal Charter from 1609 or 1610 I believe. It like Tuam also has two cathedrals. So yes the Marble City is indeed a City!

Onikage

Old chestnut is old.

walrusgumble

veryangryman wrote: »

It lacks a Cathedral, something that makes Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford (which dont have that much else going for them) cities

Plus the fact that most of the population now live in Suburbs like Monksland and Moydrum has put the towns official population down to smaller levels

So this time, i will agree with the Rooster.

Sweet mother of jesus, a cathedral! that's it?!

Tuam and Elphin have Cathedrals, will we make them cities too?

How about the fact that we don't have a hospital (not st vinny's), that might help.

walrusgumble

Dumb wrote: »

Plenty of pubs and clubs. Sure loads of people go up for the hen and stag parties.

There's the Cottage Bar, The Cavern, McGinleys, Voodoo, The Pulse, The Grill, The Drumbar (Locals only),


"The town is a popular nightlife location for the local catchment area and, indeed, for the rest of Ulster - especially at the weekends and particularly for visitors from nearby Derry City. The Main Street, originally the retail centre of the town, has become a centre for popular night clubs and pubs, boosted by the remnants of its old shopping district. The Grill Music Venue is a popular nighclub which regularly plays host to acts such as Shane McGowan, Ash, Hot Chip, Dirty Sanchez, Fun Lovin' Criminals and Judge Jules. Club Voodoo is a highly regarded bar and night-club on Lower Main Street and has attracted figures such as Sander Van Doorn, Markus Schulz, Paul Van Dyk, Eddie Halliwell and Marco V in recent years. There are also several other nightclubs in the area including Milan Nightclub and The Pulse. Pubs such as The Central Bar (established 1808), The Cavern, Sister Sara's, Josie's Bar and The Cottage Bar give an extensive range of drinking experiences from the old to the modern cutting edge".

Any trouble happening in letterkenny on a saturday nite came from them pesky derry muckers or rednecks from out inishowen and glenties area. the letterkenny folk were alright. Great town for night life. THe Cottage is a classic

The town of a lovely (and large) town park, brilliant on sunny days, its not far from Ramelton bay, But ya can't beat having a major river and lake to view from your window.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Letterkenny has got a similiar population to Athlone and better nightlife, but there the similarities end. From the point of view of regional importance, Letterkenny is secondary in NW to Derry (Yes, Derry is not in the Republic but try telling cross border shoppers and college attendees in Donegal that this matters) whereas Athlone is rightly considered the regional hub of the midlands. As for rivers, I wouldn't even begin to compare the River Swilly to the Shannon. However Letterkenny has a couple if things that Athlone lacks, as was already mentioned (1) a Cathedral and (2) a real Hospital.

Apart from that, Athlone has better transport links to the major urban centres such as Dublin and Galway (M6 and a train line) that Letterkenny doesn't benefit from. Neither town has a particularly vibrant town centre in terms of commerce. Having grown up in one place and lived in the other, Athlone would be slightly ahead in terms of approaching City Status imo. If there was a Cathedral and a Hospital....

Zubeneschamali

deccurley wrote: »

If there was a Cathedral and a Hospital...

As a matter of fact, when St. Mels in Longford burnt down, the Bishop moved his seat to:

St. Mary's in Athlone! So it is technically a Cathedral at the moment.

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/region/articles/2010/12/01/4001924-bishop-inaugurates-st-marys-as-interim-cathedral/

walrusgumble

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

As a matter of fact, when St. Mels in Longford burnt down, the Bishop moved his seat to:

St. Mary's in Athlone! So it is technically a Cathedral at the moment.

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/region/articles/2010/12/01/4001924-bishop-inaugurates-st-marys-as-interim-cathedral/

Bishop Colm O'Reilly, (is he retired yet?) is actually also techinically the Parish Priest of St Mary's. I don't recall the head honcho at St Mary's (whether is was P Lennon or Murrary) ever been referrred to as the Parish Priest but instead as the Administrator.

Really though, is that a genuine criteria for the people of Athlone to classify a city, having a Cathedral? God help us if it is, sure it only represents the Roman Catholics, the few that actually attend mass now a days. I really hope the Dubs don't read this, I would expect this crap from the Westerns, but honestly thought Westmeath people wouldn't be so bad. By your definition then, Dublin City could hardly be a city in the eyes of Catholics as it only has a Pro(visional) Cathedral, still longer to take over or return to either St Pats or Christ Church

walrusgumble

deccurley wrote: »

Letterkenny has got a similiar population to Athlone and better nightlife, but there the similarities end. From the point of view of regional importance, Letterkenny is secondary in NW to Derry (Yes, Derry is not in the Republic but try telling cross border shoppers and college attendees in Donegal that this matters) whereas Athlone is rightly considered the regional hub of the midlands. As for rivers, I wouldn't even begin to compare the River Swilly to the Shannon. However Letterkenny has a couple if things that Athlone lacks, as was already mentioned (1) a Cathedral and (2) a real Hospital.

Apart from that, Athlone has better transport links to the major urban centres such as Dublin and Galway (M6 and a train line) that Letterkenny doesn't benefit from. Neither town has a particularly vibrant town centre in terms of commerce. Having grown up in one place and lived in the other, Athlone would be slightly ahead in terms of approaching City Status imo. If there was a Cathedral and a Hospital....

The river/stream/canal running through the southern part of letterkenny town and out into the lake is only a piddle no more imposing than say the old cananl way near the magazine road. There is damn all fishing tourism over there along the lake, little or no tourism in the town (at least athlone has the castle and river). We are lucky, for all our whinging about Athlone that we actually have and retain some very big industries like Eirccson, Elan (inspite of itself) and the Army. Letterkenny has little (donegal creameries, Oatfields) They had their own political honchos (the blanely family, McDaid) so where are the excuses?. They are only now really making better efforts with their links to Derry, yet the very last non Bus Eireann bus leaving Derry to Letterkenny is 6pm, which is hardly of use. Public transport is non existent really, compared to us (location does not come into it, and they actually, for all their whinging, have better roads! boys racers stop whinging)

"Derry (Yes, Derry is not in the Republic but try telling cross border shoppers and college attendees in Donegal that this matters) whereas Athlone is rightly considered the regional hub of the midlands"

You willing to pay high prices for college essentials;), when Strabane is only a hop and skipping over? Derry is the natural town centre for Donegal, the exact same as it was for people in the South Roscommon region preferring going to Connaught Street as oppose to Roscommon Town on any given weekend in the 1960's. (still is, Athlone Town that is), Derry ain't all that by the way. No real need to head there, bar looking for something new.

To be honest, it think concetrating on improving commerce and links (isn't China Town coming?) is priority as oppose to gaining city status. How is City status going to help anyway, sure we know we are better than Mullingar & Tullamore anyway, so that's all that matters.:D