The Mall

TheGormog

Does anybody know what the craic is with the work underway on The Mall at the moment??? It looks like they're bringing the footpath out to the white line. Are cars getting smaller or are the yanks getting bigger?

Hoffmans

its this viking triangle craic they have to use up all the granite they bought or it goes back to the quarry ,;)
hardly much of the 7.5 million left now the old tack shop building turned into a nightmare job would have been quicker and cheaper knockin it down.....

wellboytoo

They are stopping cars parking in front of City hall so as the building can beeseen,......at last

comeraghs

in all fairness to the Waterford City council, they've done a great job with the Viking Triangle development. Waterford city is finally more than just a Crystal factory for tourists.

Crusty Blaa

I don't know if it is the work they are doing on the Mall or if it was the lane work on The Quay, but trying to turn left off Colbeck Street onto The Mall has become one of the most frustrating things in life. Usually only one car at a time gets through due to the overflow of traffic coming up Parnell St and off Catherine St. The pedestrian lights at Waterford Crystal (although badly needed) means a lot of traffic gets stuck aswell. I got stuck outside Christchurch for a good ten minutes earlier as it had built back up as far as there. Most people just ended up switching lanes to go straight down Catherine St. and looping around by Bolton St or the park.

Nypd

I think the Mall is a fantastic part of the city, hats of to WCC they really have got it right.
A certain ex hotel there is an eye sore tho, they need to get their fingers out and make the owners clean it up.

ex_infantry man

i,d say he,s holding out so as the city council will clean it up for him so he won,t have to fork out

CardBordWindow

Granted, the Viking Triangle thing looks well, but I can't help but think that the rest of the city is suffering a bit as a result. Now tourists come in a bus to the Viking Triangle, see what's there, get back on the bus, and are gone!
At least with the Granary being down the quay, it got tourists walking up through the town. Now, there's no reason for them to go anywhere really.

Black Dog

Information please: what is the situation with the former Tack Room? What are the plans for the building? Is it a private development or one undertaken by City Council? What has gone wrong in the redevelopment? Structural problems or what?

Lots of questions! Just saw a comment above in this thread and wondered what the situation was.

life goes on

Black Dog wrote: »

Information please: what is the situation with the former Tack Room? What are the plans for the building? Is it a private development or one undertaken by City Council? What has gone wrong in the redevelopment? Structural problems or what?

heard its a new tourist office

Max Powers

life goes on wrote: »

Black Dog wrote: »

Information please: what is the situation with the former Tack Room? What are the plans for the building? Is it a private development or one undertaken by City Council? What has gone wrong in the redevelopment? Structural problems or what?

heard its a new tourist office

Yes, new tourist office. As with any old building, there must be significant structural problems. You could see there a few weeks ago that there was a piece of rotten timber holding up the front of the building so that im sure was a delicate job to replace with something more structurally sound. In my experience with those old buildings, you never know what you are going to find, eg, you take some plaster off a wall to replace plaster, you see the state of the wall and it will need underpinning or strengthening of some sort. What looks like a week long job to replace old plaster can become a month long job easy

looksee

CardBordWindow wrote: »

Granted, the Viking Triangle thing looks well, but I can't help but think that the rest of the city is suffering a bit as a result. Now tourists come in a bus to the Viking Triangle, see what's there, get back on the bus, and are gone!
At least with the Granary being down the quay, it got tourists walking up through the town. Now, there's no reason for them to go anywhere really.

But if they get one, tourist, part of the city really right, the money will be brought in to the city to spread the improvements elsewhere. If they had done scattered bits of improvements all around the city it would not have been noticeable. I think they are doing a great job!

Black Dog

Many thanks for the information above. Appreciated.

wellboytoo

Black Dog wrote: »

Information please: what is the situation with the former Tack Room? What are the plans for the building? Is it a private development or one undertaken by City Council? What has gone wrong in the redevelopment? Structural problems or what?

Lots of questions! Just saw a comment above in this thread and wondered what the situation was.

To clarify further that whole block was owned by the holy ghost trust up to a short while ago, who took rent for years and spent nothing on the buildings, a deal was done with the City Council and they took possession of a clatter of buildings and they are now doing something with them.
A microcosm of what is wrong with a lot of the city centre if you ask me?

CardBordWindow

looksee wrote: »

But if they get one, tourist, part of the city really right, the money will be brought in to the city to spread the improvements elsewhere. If they had done scattered bits of improvements all around the city it would not have been noticeable. I think they are doing a great job!

It'll only be brought into these tourist centres. If they have to travel up through town, they might stop in a shop, or get a pint, or food etc. giving a bit of business to local merchants.

wellboytoo

CardBordWindow wrote: »

It'll only be brought into these tourist centres. If they have to travel up through town, they might stop in a shop, or get a pint, or food etc. giving a bit of business to local merchants.

So to follow your logic we do nothing until we have the money to do everything?

be realistic things are happening in bad times, = good, I remember times when they were not as bad and f all was happening,

Give the City their due, thet have been very proactive the last five years and we should congratulate them on that.

CardBordWindow

wellboytoo wrote: »

So to follow your logic we do nothing until we have the money to do everything?

be realistic things are happening in bad times, = good, I remember times when they were not as bad and f all was happening,

Give the City their due, thet have been very proactive the last five years and we should congratulate them on that.

I'm not saying that they haven't done good. The area around the Mall looks fantastic.
I'm just saying that now with The Granary gone from the quay, tourists will have no reason to go anywhere else in the city. Bus in, bus out.

Nypd

CardBordWindow wrote: »

I'm not saying that they haven't done good. The area around the Mall looks fantastic.
I'm just saying that now with The Granary gone from the quay, tourists will have no reason to go anywhere else in the city. Bus in, bus out.

In fairness moving the Waterford treasures up to the bishops palace was the right move, it is far more accessible and a great building.
I always felt they were hidden away on the quay.

It certainly does look like its fix a bit and move to the next part.
You can see a massive difference in the WCC attitude since the city manager was changed a few years back, but I do hope they try to put some emphasis on city centre retail also.

comeraghs

they do have an initiative to promote retail. I think it's called "destination Waterford" & that part of the city is marketed as the "merchants quarter"

Nypd

comeraghs wrote: »

they do have an initiative to promote retail. I think it's called "destination Waterford" & that part of the city is marketed as the "merchants quarter"

Correct me if I'm wrong but destination Waterford is part of the tourisim drive for the city.

Discover Waterford covers a broader range but again is mostly tourisim focused.

The merchants quarter does exist all right but is not given as much focus, not wanting to throw this thread of topic ( its been mentioned on other threads, lack of big retailers etc).

Cabaal

It scares me the amount of people that look upon the viking development as a waste of money, these are the types of people that have prevented Waterford in becoming a tourist spot. A proper spot.

Waterford as a tourist destination has always been pretty poor when compared to the likes of Kilkenny, you walk around Kilkenny on any given day and you will always meet tourists.

In Waterford sure you'll see tourist buses and the walking door now and then but thats pretty much it, for such a big place and with so much history its a crying shame.

TheGormog

It's sounds like a case of build it and they will come.

Nice to see a bit of money spent on the city whatever the circumstances. You'd think that the council would do more to publicise all of the work that they are doing, a lot of it is going unheralded. I never knew that they were refurbishing the Holy Ghost buildings themselves.

Psychedelic

There is a Destination Waterford Retail Committee and a Destination Waterford Tourism Committee. Discover Waterford is just the name of the website and Facebook page, mainly promoting tourism but also the city in general. Merchants Quarter is the brand name for the shopping areas of the city.

The Viking Triangle is so small I think it's stupid to say tourists will only stay there and not go anywhere else in the city. Even so, there are also shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes in the Viking Triangle area that they can visit.

dayshah

CardBordWindow wrote: »

It'll only be brought into these tourist centres. If they have to travel up through town, they might stop in a shop, or get a pint, or food etc. giving a bit of business to local merchants.

We're not Manhattan for feck sake. There is no 'tourist centre' just the city centre.

dayshah

TheGormog wrote: »

Nice to see a bit of money spent on the city whatever the circumstances. You'd think that the council would do more to publicise all of the work that they are doing, a lot of it is going unheralded. I never knew that they were refurbishing the Holy Ghost buildings themselves.

Lot's of people who never came to Waterford came down for the Tall Ships Race, so they were able to piggy back from the publicity for that.

TheGormog

dayshah wrote: »

Lot's of people who never came to Waterford came down for the Tall Ships Race, so they were able to piggy back from the publicity for that.

I was talking about communication with the residents of the city. An digital newsletter or something wouldn't go amiss. If they have refurbished the Tack Room with their own staff and resources so that Bord Failte can move in then kudos to them.