Best & Worst County Clare towns/villages

Mr. G

Not sure if this has been done here before but saw it in the Limerick and Tipp forum so I thought I might start one in my home county:)

For me I would say my favourite town would be hmm.. Ennis. It becoming a bit empty so kilfenora/ennistymon would be next.

kollegeknight

For me, Ennistymon is very dilapidated, there is a lot of empty but lovely shops. Lissycasey is too long and full of Gatso Vans.

I love Quinn, The abbey is amazing and the the commemorative plaque to Paddy Hannon is a lovely nugget of info (pardon the pun)

During the August bank holiday weekend, Kilmihil is always good, but I am a bit Biased there.

Ennis ain't bad though.

Co. Clare in general is excellent.

Lady Chatterton

My favourites are:

Killaloe
Doolin
Mountshannon
Quin
Ennis

Carazy

County Clare is GREAT, end of thread

@kollegeknight: *Quin

Poxyshamrock

As an outsider, I think Sixmilebridge, Ennis, Killaloe and Kilkee are the nicest.

Daniel S

It's all really nice, there's no really bad places. One of the nicest counties in Ireland. North, south, east and west Clare are all totally different!

North/West= Good surf, shale rock and a fair few farms.
West= Old English IMO, still quite nice. No surfing to be found here though! :pac:
South= Silty estuary, nice old towns.
East= Really nice forests, Dromore.

Ah ffs OP, you've gotten me all nostalgic!

lab man

shannon :D:D:D nope

Daniel S

lab man wrote: »

shannon :D:D:D nope

At times I hate the place, but at others I love it!

lab man

the airport out of it is alls thats good i think;)

mikemac1

Worst Shannon
Best Milltown Malbay

Strangest and most unique bit of road in Ireland, Corkscrew Hill

killwill

For me;
Killaloe,
Lahinch,
Miltown Malbay,

buck65

East Clare is a bit dodgy, Scariff, Whitegate, Feakle.
Strange stuff goes on there I think. Think Twin Peaks without the scenery.

summerskin

Corofin, the village that has everything.



Except a cash machine...

chubba1984

Ballynacally village is a beautiful spot Ballyvaughan and Killaloe are also lovely places.

Not a major fan of Kilkee, particularly in the summer.

Daniel S

chubba1984 wrote: »

Ballynacally village is a beautiful spot Ballyvaughan and Killaloe are also lovely places.

Not a major fan of Kilkee, particularly in the summer.

You might aswell be in Limerick, but lets not start that arguement.

Shapey Fiend

I think I like Ennis and Ennistymon best.

Worst would be Newmarket & Fergus or Shannon because they're ugly and don't have any decent pubs and the places are just shabby in general.

Mr. G

summerskin wrote: »

Corofin, the village that has everything.



Except a cash machine...

Does anyone know what's happened Spar? It look like there about to close- there's very little stock.

Has it closed down? It was a few weeks since I've been in the spar.
I thought there was an ATM there:/

Clareman

To put a different spin on this I'm going to give my 2 cents on the GAA areas of the county, I think I've played in most of the pitches around the place.

Donbeg, great coming out through a tunnel.
Kilkee, real sense of anticipation as you see the pitch on the way into the town.
Tulla, the home of Clare hurling, even if it could badly do with a revamp.
Old Clarecastle (Clare Abbey), could really do with being done up.
Kilmaley, there's a savage slope on that pitch and you're always being ate by midgets.
Roselvin, great sense of occasion going past the pub through the gates.
Gorteen, personality less
Lissycasey, I always got in a row there.
Miltown, first time ever being sent off was there, in a hurling match
Ennistymon, great spot, always ended up going for beers in Lehinch afterwards.

saabsaab

Must say Kilfenora. A lot livelier than its size would suggest and very friendly. Great spot to have a base to tour around the near villages/towns around.

cynder

Ogonnelloe, is in a lovely location, i don't like the single lane bridge in kilaloe, that for me is a major drawback. Lehinch is covered in dog **** and in need a a lick of paint and upgrading if rails. Tulla and quin are ok.

ShaneMc2012

buck65 wrote: »

East Clare is a bit dodgy, Scariff, Whitegate, Feakle.
Strange stuff goes on there I think. Think Twin Peaks without the scenery.

Killaloe and Cratloe are in the East of Clare and would be two of the nicest places in Clare!

Lady Chatterton

grindelwald wrote: »

Ogonnelloe, is in a lovely location, i don't like the single lane bridge in kilaloe, that for me is a major drawback. Lehinch is covered in dog **** and in need a a lick of paint and upgrading if rails. Tulla and quin are ok.

A new bridge costing €12 million has been approved by Minister for the Environment, Dr. Leo Varadkar so that will really help the flow of traffic through Killaloe .

Run_to_da_hills

The Village has got quite depressing in recent years, with that unfinished NAMA development, vacant premises along main street and the dilapidated Coach House. Hopefully something will be done with the heart of this town.

Lady Chatterton

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The Village has got quite depressing in recent years, with that unfinished NAMA development, vacant premises along main street and the dilapidated Coach House. Hopefully something will be done with the heart of this town.

Where are you referring to?? Sounds like Clarecastle??

pappyodaniel

I can't stand Kilkishen. You could drive through there at anytime day or night and not see any sign of life in the place, no people and no cars...maybe a stray dog or cat if you are lucky.

Scariff is ugly as hell and scary to boot.

Ennis is probably the best town but for it's size it's not great. Shopping and nightlife is vastly over-rated.

Tuamgraney is imo the prettiest village in the county.

fryup

buck65 wrote: »

East Clare is a bit dodgy, Scariff, Whitegate, Feakle.
Strange stuff goes on there I think.

what strange stuff

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Scariff is ugly as hell and scary to boot.

scary please tell

summerskin

Mr_Grumpy wrote: »

Does anyone know what's happened Spar? It look like there about to close- there's very little stock.

Has it closed down? It was a few weeks since I've been in the spar.
I thought there was an ATM there:/

The ATM has been gone for over two years now. I was in last night and to say the shelves are sparse would be an understatement. There were two bottles of wine available, no chocolates hardly, and all the other shelves were almost bare too. A real shame, I bet O'Callaghan's over the road have seen a huge increase in trade.

tagoona

Mr_Grumpy wrote: »

Does anyone know what's happened Spar? It look like there about to close- there's very little stock.

Has it closed down? It was a few weeks since I've been in the spar.
I thought there was an ATM there:/

<snip>

MyKeyG

I haven't been to Corrofin in a while but I remember it having loads of pubs. It literally seemed like every second building was a pub. I do like it though.

The only town in Clare I don't really like is Shannon. I know it wasn't built as a town per sé but the houses look all the same and they're very old. Just seems very drab to me. That and Miltown Malbay and Quilty aren't that nice either.

Clareman

What's the name of the place next to the Spar? I have a lovely meal there a couple of times, 1 of the nicest steaks I think I've ever had, Mrs. Clareman loves the Chicken Wrap there.

buck65

Is it Bofey Quinns?

Carazy

Clareman wrote: »

What's the name of the place next to the Spar? I have a lovely meal there a couple of times, 1 of the nicest steaks I think I've ever had, Mrs. Clareman loves the Chicken Wrap there.

buck65 wrote: »

Is it Bofey Quinns?

It could be the Corofin Arms as that would be just next to Spar.

summerskin

The Corofin Arms is next to Spar.

PSol

I'm not sure what merit there is to a thread asking for suggestions for a 'worst' town anywhere, except for offending its residents (e.g. me a lifelong Shannon-er) and putting people off coming to it (unless they're lucky enough to be employed there of course)!

lab man wrote: »

the airport out of it is alls thats good i think;)

Shapey Fiend wrote:

Worst would be Newmarket & Fergus or Shannon because they're ugly and don't have any decent pubs and the places are just shabby in general.

MyKeyG wrote:

The only town in Clare I don't really like is Shannon. I know it wasn't built as a town per sé but the houses look all the same and they're very old. Just seems very drab to me.

I'm well aware of Shannon's limitations but I'm not sure the above are warranted. Are decent pubs all that make a town 'good'?

With regards to shabby-ness, I'm not sure where in particular this refers to. When I think of the approach to Shannon from the Ballycasey roundabout, all I see is a lovely tree-lined avenue and similarly on the left turn to St. Caimin's.

Admittedly the corner of Skycourt near Lidl is in need of a revamp as the works were never finished when the car parks were redeveloped.

With regards to houses being very old, Shannon is one of the newest towns in Ireland!! The oldest houses here are probably from the 1960s and the east of the town would all be from the late 90s.

I'm sure anyone will defend their home town, but I'd prefer if this thread included some suggestions for improvements rather than general town-bashing.

Carazy

Shannon gave me and thousands of others employment when there was no other employment prospects around Clare. The airport,industrial estate etc. gave such employment over the years. Pity it is quiet now though

For that reason alone I would never even think of Shannon if someone was to ask me what is the 'worst' town in Clare.

pappyodaniel

Aesthetically Shannon is all wrong. It's basically a big suburb comprising entirely of housing estates, with a stagnant commercial area in the middle, and a smattering of schools dotted around the town.

The town itself isn't up to the same standard of it's airport and industrial estates. I grew up there and I have to say it was grand until you hit your teens and then it became obvious that it didn't have many facilities for young people.

But for a town it's size it doesn't have as many social problems as others with the same population.

buck65

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Aesthetically Shannon is all wrong. It's basically a big suburb comprising entirely of housing estates, with a stagnant commercial area in the middle, and a smattering of schools dotted around the town.

The town itself isn't up to the same standard of it's airport and industrial estates. I grew up there and I have to say it was grand until you hit your teens and then it became obvious that it didn't have many facilities for young people.

But for a town it's size it doesn't have as many social problems as others with the same population.

Really? Sources...

pappyodaniel

buck65 wrote: »

Really? Sources...

www.ilivethere.ie

Shapey Fiend

I wouldn't take this thread too seriously. It's just a bit of messing.

That said I know people from Shannon and they're always giving out about it. The place wasn't really planned that well. Things have improved somewhat since they upgraded the mall but there still aren't an awful lot of things to do.

Everything built during the 60's and 70's in this country was cheap and hideous so it's just unfortunate that most of the buildings in the place date from that period.

I know plenty of sound people from there and when there is something for young people to do (say, Tae Kwon Do) they embrace is with tons of enthusiasm. They've also got an excellent rugby team. The youth clubs are well attended. It could have used a cinema 20 years ago but now that phones, video games and DVDs cost half nothing the youth can probably amuse themselves for the most part without one.

Poxyshamrock

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

It could have used a cinema 20 years ago but now that phones, video games and DVDs cost half nothing the youth can probably amuse themselves for the most part without one.

Speaking of cinemas, is it true that the knocked the one in Kilkee cos it was sinking? :pac:

redzerologhlen

tagoona wrote: »

Rumours are rife about that place. Looks like he's running it to get rid of stock. Cash flow problems due to other property investments.
Staff are on protective notice.
And there's been no cash machine there for more than two years.
Still open though.
A shame if it has to close, but I imagine someone would take it over as a going concern

Rumors are rumors, My girlfriend works there.....shes not on protective notice yet, It will never fail to amaze me the way storys travel :rolleyes:

ger664

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

Worst would be Newmarket & Fergus or Shannon because they're ugly and don't have any decent pubs and the places are just shabby in general.

But they have decent people in them. I donot live there but any community that comes together to organise an event like Packie Ryan Memorial and raise in excess of €60,000 for charity more then makes up for these small shortcomings.

kollegeknight

New market is a nice little village. And I have to agree how great the pakie ryan 10k is. Lost my 10k virginity there a few years back and twas a great place to start.:D

Shapey Fiend

ger664 wrote: »

But they have decent people in them. I donot live there but any community that comes together to organise an event like Packie Ryan Memorial and raise in excess of €60,000 for charity more then makes up for these small shortcomings.

I have some very good friends from Newmarket & Fergus. It wouldn't be on my list of worst people or worst at fundraising.

Run_to_da_hills

MrsD007 wrote: »

Where are you referring to?? Sounds like Clarecastle??

Yes.

melonstar

Fanore has to be my favourite place in Clare. Nothing like sitting outside O'Donoghues with a drink on a summers day. The beach, dunes and caravan park are great as well. Also the amazing views from the top of Slieve Elva!

CiaranMT

O' Callaghan's Mills... What a strange place.

Aglomerado

CiaranMT wrote: »

O' Callaghan's Mills... What a strange place.

True, that. I grew up there. Lovely scenery and lakes but some very odd people... one of whom cut down a pub door some years back with a chainsaw!

Palmach

Kilrush is the biggest dump in Clare. Chock full of scobes and skangers. Clarecastle, Shannon and Quilty fill in the minor placings for sheer scobbiness. Ennis is a fine town and one of the best county towns. Carrigaholt is a lovely village and Kilkee is pretty well preserved and has a certain charm. Lehinch sadly doesn't have any charm left but has a certain buzz as does Milltown. Quin is nice as is Killaloe.

CiaranMT

Have to say I love Quin, Killaloe and Lahinch. Would love to spend a week or two in Lahinch with friends, the nightlife always seems to be good craic.

WakeyTyke

Palmach wrote: »

Kilrush is the biggest dump in Clare. Chock full of scobes and skangers. Clarecastle, Shannon and Quilty fill in the minor placings for sheer scobbiness. Ennis is a fine town and one of the best county towns. Carrigaholt is a lovely village and Kilkee is pretty well preserved and has a certain charm. Lehinch sadly doesn't have any charm left but has a certain buzz as does Milltown. Quin is nice as is Killaloe.

I wasn't going to get involved in this thread because it give an opportunity for characters to spout off their predjudices, maligning people and places :mad:

Answer me this - which town has seen someone stabbed to death in the main street, machettes and weapons brandished in school grounds, battles in the town's graveyard - and I'll give you a clue it's not Kilrush. People in glass houses...