Connaught St., Athlone

BambooBob

On a Sunday morning went for a walk around by the barracks. I thought Magazine Road was grim until I turned left onto Connaught St. Talk about desolated. Fine three storey buildings in rack and ruin, boarded up units and those left standing were fairly shook retail units. Apparently this was a thriving commercial st. Indeed the new apartment complex only highlights how decrepit the rest of the street is. How very very sad.

DVD-Lots

I grew up in magazine road and I have to say it has improved greatly over the past few years, you should have seen it before the canal got it's walkways, the garage across from the Barracks gate was derelict (great playground although the 1 memory I have is falling on some glass while playing chasing and pulling pieces out of my bloodied hand at home, ouch!) and the now unfinished apartments/retail units beside Dooley's (it's still Pockets as far as I am concerned) used to be a wasteland (still an improvement even if they are unfinished).

Connaught street has always been like that though, maybe a little worse now on the Walsh's end but definately an improvement on the Pearse Street end.

I think you have to go back to the 60's to see it as a thriving street, those days are long gone and won't be coming back...

Oh_Noes

I grew up in the 80s and Connacht Street was the kinda like a second church street. It's where everyone on the "far side" did all their business. I live in the area now and I quite like it even though it has become a little bit of a ghost town. Walking through the park in Connacht gardens early in the morning is nice, good place to bring a small dog for a run.

It has character at least, even if it's not as busy as it once was. And in my own opinion it's not as "rough" as it used to be.

nice_guy80

the council needs to issue notices to owners of properties to clean them up.

the whole street needs a lick of paint

you'd think the chamber of commerce, tidy towns and IBAL would be pushing this sort of thing

AckwelFoley

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the council needs to issue notices to owners of properties to clean them up.

the whole street needs a lick of paint

you'd think the chamber of commerce, tidy towns and IBAL would be pushing this sort of thing

AFAIK i think they have issues notices.

I grew up in Baylough which is not far away.. i dont recall it ever been thriving .. you'd have to go back to the days when Lysters had a cement depot there for it to be considered thriving.

The only thingwe ever got there was my mother went to dunnings butchers and i would go to danny blue's for the videos

Bodhisopha

Remember the old dude who used to always be in Dunnings, sitting down, smoking fags?

The good old days.

veryangryman

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Remember the old dude who used to always be in Dunnings, sitting down, smoking fags?

The good old days.

I guess you had to be there.

Bodhisopha

veryangryman wrote: »

I guess you had to be there.

Well, you'd not remember him if you weren't there, so yeah.

athlonelad

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the council needs to issue notices to owners of properties to clean them up.

the whole street needs a lick of paint

you'd think the chamber of commerce, tidy towns and IBAL would be pushing this sort of thing

Nobody wants to see any street like that but there is some buildings on church street that are the same. Shame really but they are not going to paint them up when they cant even lease the buildings

AckwelFoley

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Remember the old dude who used to always be in Dunnings, sitting down, smoking fags?

The good old days.

Martin McNeill

Hes still at it. Sold the bell circle, black hair and always wears sandles

nice_guy80

athlonelad wrote: »

Nobody wants to see any street like that but there is some buildings on church street that are the same. Shame really but they are not going to paint them up when they cant even lease the buildings

not true.

improvements to buildings can be offset against tax. so it costs the landlords and property owners less

athlonelad

nice_guy80 wrote: »

not true.

improvements to buildings can be offset against tax. so it costs the landlords and property owners less

True. It is the gospel according to athlonelad.

How does one "offset" an improvement to a building against tax? You must mean the VAT that can be claimed back on materials and labour.

pawrick

there was talk about 15 yrs ago of the council buying up all the buildings on one side of the street from the travel agent down to widen it and rebuild. As far as I know they had agreed to buy most but a few owners were being difficult. End result nothing happened and apartments were built so it will be many more years before the street is widened - widening the street imo would help the trade and make it more accessable with wider paths etc.

And yes it is grim there but still not nearly as bad as it used to be when i was a child. Bring back Keoghs ice cream!

veryangryman

pawrick wrote: »

And yes it is grim there but still not nearly as bad as it used to be when i was a child. Bring back Keoghs ice cream!

Ah now THAT is a memory!

Used to love Keoghs with a flake.

Ed Butler

:pac: Really old timers get all nostalgic about Murray's ice cream - Murrays was at the top of Pearse Street, next to Grenham's.

BoB_BoT

Connaught Street really does need an overall and it seems to be gradually getting it. Again, I think the council were talking about cpos for some of the buildings, the likes of those that are absolutely desolate looking and nothing has been done with them for years.

There's a new car park being built, there's a new pub (I'm assuming it's a pub looks very much like one) opposite Slice of Life, just about finished. Again as pointed out, it was a lot worse years ago.

There was a plan for the Connaught side rejuvenation but I don't know if that's still on the table, I'd imagine funding has dried up.

With regards to offsetting the cost of cleaning up the buildings, I'd imagine the council could offset it against council tax for a few years, at least give some incentive to get the area clean and units being let.

Milk & Honey

Connaught Street needs three things to make t thrive. the exact same three things as the new towncentre across the river, in fact.

1. Access. To get to it from the town bridge is complicated and difficult. The street itself is too narrow for free flowing traffic.

2. Parking.

3. An anchor supermarket.

If those three issues were resolved the strreet would thrive and complement the nearby left bank area.

nice_guy80

landlords can offset cost of works on a building against tax paid on rental income.
they can offset it off any of their income (afaik). inlcuding other buildings or salaries.

Saruman

I know this is a few months old but has anyone been in to Brownes Bar and lounge recently?
What is it like?

athlonelad

nice_guy80 wrote: »

landlords can offset cost of works on a building against tax paid on rental income.
they can offset it off any of their income (afaik). inlcuding other buildings or salaries.

Hard to claim back tax on rental income if its not rented out?? Your argument does not make any sense.

Haven't been out in connaught st in over a year apart from a quick look at maguires when it opened. Those pubs seem to have their regulars and will prob weather out this recession better than most

martin1

Ed Butler wrote: »

:pac: Really old timers get all nostalgic about Murray's ice cream - Murrays was at the top of Pearse Street, next to Grenham's.

Yeah and really really old timers like me,

can still get the smell of horses being shod by Joe Bulmer in Maggie Burns forge.

Jo King

That street has been in decline since 1853 when the new accommodation road was built. Nothing can be done to reverse the decline. The effort should be made to turn it into a pleasant residential area and forget about it is a business street.

demanufactured

Go on so Jo.