100 Best towns In ireland

martin1

The new survey on Irelands best towns has thrown up some surprising results

At number 15 Tullamore ( this has to be a joke)
At number 26 Athlone ( surprising that it did'nt make the top 15);)
At Number 66 Mullingar (surprising that it got so high, well done to all ):D

Athlone scored high on pubs and restaurants, but low on streetscape.

slowharry

Where can I see the full list

walrusgumble

martin1 wrote: »

The new survey on Irelands best towns has thrown up some surprising results

At number 15 Tullamore ( this has to be a joke)
At number 26 Athlone ( surprising that it did'nt make the top 15);)
At Number 66 Mullingar (surprising that it got so high, well done to all ):D

Athlone scored high on pubs and restaurants, but low on streetscape.

While I am slightly surprised any midland town got into the top 30. Great

How the hell is Tullamore higher than Athlone???????? No way. Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason. Tullamore is a dump.

How can you compare what it has got to Athlone (when you take in both sides of the Shannon and it's different hinterland). Imagine how far Athlone might have been if it had a hospital.

What is in Tullamore? Tourism?

Well, Athlone really is improving

Just proves , Athlone is superior to Mullingar, get int there

Letterkenny is slightly above Athlone - Laughable. Barely has any worth while places of employment, Absolutely devoid of culture (bar drinking and boy racers) and many shops now vacant , nice enough to look at however (in the summer)


As great as the people of Roscommon Town are, even that is above Athlone. How the hell can people of Roscommon Town "Roscommon’s citizens rated their town very highly
in the survey", when most have to pop into the superior town of Athlone for shopping etc. There is NOTHING in Roscommon Town to do or look at , bar Hyde Park. (nice people though)

walrusgumble

slowharry wrote: »

Where can I see the full list

http://www.retailexcellence.ie/images/uploads/downloads/Sunday_Independent_Supplement_-_Best100_Towns__Cities.pdf

Kurz

walrusgumble wrote: »

http://www.retailexcellence.ie/images/uploads/downloads/Sunday_Independent_Supplement_-_Best100_Towns__Cities.pdf

Roscommon isn't above Athlone on that list

If it was, the list would lose all credibility. Roscommon shouldn't even be in the top 100!

slowharry

Just went down the list crappy towns like Athy Portarlington and Ballinasloe are all ahead of Sligo at 98. is there some radiactive dump in sligo that i am unaware of.
And since when is Castleknock a town

nice_guy80

Kurz wrote: »

Roscommon isn't above Athlone on that list

If it was, the list would lose all credibility. Roscommon shouldn't even be in the top 100!

County with the lowest crime rate in Ireland
counts for a lot

Roscommon has free parking - Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, big Londis and Supervalu, a cinema, two pools and better menswear shops than Athlone or Mullingar

walrusgumble

slowharry wrote: »

Just went down the list crappy towns like Athy Portarlington and Ballinasloe are all ahead of Sligo at 98. is there some radiactive dump in sligo that i am unaware of.
And since when is Castleknock a town

It does not help that many Sligo Town People spend alot of time telling others that Sligo is a dump. It is not great to be honest, but, way better than Ballinasloe and Portarlington (which is kind of pretty looking)

walrusgumble

Kurz wrote: »

Roscommon isn't above Athlone on that list

If it was, the list would lose all credibility. Roscommon shouldn't even be in the top 100!

oh right, I misread that. Phew. Still Tullamore!!!!!!!!!!!!!

walrusgumble

nice_guy80 wrote: »

County with the lowest crime rate in Ireland
counts for a lot

Roscommon has free parking - Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, big Londis and Supervalu, a cinema, two pools and better menswear shops than Athlone or Mullingar

To be fair, Roscommon Town always did have better mens wear (not the poncy Tommy Hilfger etc crap)

We have all of the above too, bar free parking. We (Athlone) look slightly nicer and slightly more going on. Rossies come to Athlone to do alot of shopping.

A bit more work between the Town Council and Business' Athlone could easily get up to the near top 15

whyulittle

Only the top 25 are ranked, the others are just in alphabetical order in each quartile.

Another PDF with more breakdown here.

Kurz

Tullamore isn't all that bad I reckon. It's really good for nights out and people are fairly friendly it. It's handy too that they've the big shops like Tesco, Aldi and Argos all out in an industrial estate area that's not on a busy road. They've a decent enough hospital too considering the size.

I reckon Sligo comes in for an unfair amount of stick too. It's also a great place to walk around/go out in. Very scenic too. I think they ruined it a bit a few years ago by running that huge road right through the heart of the town though.

Still not sold on Roscommon. It's very small and shabby and always looks abandoned apart from tractors/farm machinery driving through it.

Westport definitely deserving of top spot though, fantastic town.

two wheels good

nice_guy80 wrote: »

County with the lowest crime rate in Ireland
counts for a lot

Roscommon has free parking - Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, big Londis and Supervalu, a cinema, two pools and better menswear shops than Athlone or Mullingar

Does Roscommon have any independent retailers that might tempt me to visit? Such as; a butchers, green-grocers, bakers\cake shop, coffee shop, maybe even a farmers' market?

Multi-national supermarkets do not make a great retail experience.

An Ri rua

walrusgumble wrote: »

While I am slightly surprised any midland town got into the top 30. Great

How the hell is Tullamore higher than Athlone???????? No way. Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason. Tullamore is a dump.

How can you compare what it has got to Athlone (when you take in both sides of the Shannon and it's different hinterland). Imagine how far Athlone might have been if it had a hospital.

What is in Tullamore? Tourism?

Well, Athlone really is improving

Just proves , Athlone is superior to Mullingar, get int there

Letterkenny is slightly above Athlone - Laughable. Barely has any worth while places of employment, Absolutely devoid of culture (bar drinking and boy racers) and many shops now vacant , nice enough to look at however (in the summer)


As great as the people of Roscommon Town are, even that is above Athlone. How the hell can people of Roscommon Town "Roscommon’s citizens rated their town very highly
in the survey", when most have to pop into the superior town of Athlone for shopping etc. There is NOTHING in Roscommon Town to do or look at , bar Hyde Park. (nice people though)

What an incongruent mess of a post. What does "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" mean? Pure gibberish. Do you type (and think) blindfolded perchance?
Its hard to have credibility when your posts make such little sense and have no hard facts to back them up. Tullamore is clearly not a dump. From a tourist, retail or event point of view. Pretty daft thing to say.

nice_guy80

two wheels good wrote: »

Does Roscommon have any independent retailers that might tempt me to visit? Such as; a butchers, green-grocers, bakers\cake shop, coffee shop, maybe even a farmers' market?

Multi-national supermarkets do not make a great retail experience.

plenty of them
will I start?
farmers market every Friday.
at least 7 family butchers in the town
6/7 decent cafés
2/3 fruit and veg shops, along with two stalls on the main street selling their own produce every day.
there is a great bakery selling spelt and gluten free bread.
also a delicatessen shop selling all sorts of lovely fresh and preserved food
and a few lovely restaurants too
I should work for the Roscommon tourist board

anyone who makes a comment about tractors in Roscommon clearly doesn't visit the town that often. Could you leave your car unlocked in Athlone?? I know people who do in Roscommon

and you'd be surprised how many people travel from East Galway, Co Longford to Roscommon town daily for the free parking

two wheels good

nice_guy80 wrote: »

plenty of them
will I start?
farmers market every Friday.
at least 7 family butchers in the town
6/7 decent cafés
2/3 fruit and veg shops, along with two stalls on the main street selling their own produce every day.
there is a great bakery selling spelt and gluten free bread.
also a delicatessen shop selling all sorts of lovely fresh and preserved food
and a few lovely restaurants too
I should work for the Roscommon tourist board

Great! That sounds much more appealing. All those supermarkets don't need your (obviously natural) marketing abilities.

walrusgumble

An Ri rua wrote: »

What an incongruent mess of a post. What does "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" mean? Pure gibberish. Do you type (and think) blindfolded perchance?
Its hard to have credibility when your posts make such little sense and have no hard facts to back them up. Tullamore is clearly not a dump. From a tourist, retail or event point of view. Pretty daft thing to say.

The post was not intended to be taken seriously. Any Midlands Town capable of getting into the top 30 is not to be sniffed at.

However , you have just shown what a shower of thick you know whats Biffo's can be.

I think most people had no difficulty in understanding what was said or understanding what a BIFFO is, if it was to be taken seriously. Don't be pretending to be dumb.


How many people come to Tullamore in a given year, taken away for example the Hospital? What is in Tullamore to see and do? How many from the Midland regions ever come to Tullamore for eg Christmas shopping etc.?


How is voting for this anyway? THe locals themselves or outsiders?

walrusgumble

nice_guy80 wrote: »

plenty of them
will I start?
farmers market every Friday.
at least 7 family butchers in the town
6/7 decent cafés
2/3 fruit and veg shops, along with two stalls on the main street selling their own produce every day.
there is a great bakery selling spelt and gluten free bread.
also a delicatessen shop selling all sorts of lovely fresh and preserved food
and a few lovely restaurants too
I should work for the Roscommon tourist board

What is the story with the Abbey? Are they building it again?

Most towns with exception to the daily stalls have most or all of the above

You are forgetting one important Establishment, that well known Barber!

nice_guy80 wrote: »

anyone who makes a comment about tractors in Roscommon clearly doesn't visit the town that often. Could you leave your car unlocked in Athlone?? I know people who do in Roscommon

To be fair, if it is anything like the old bus stop at Reegans pub, the tractor would barely get through

You can hardly compare a town of a population of approximately 20,000 and a town of 5,500

You make Athlone sound like some place like parts of Dublin.

How many people could say that any other town the size of or bigger than Athlone , they could leave their car unlocked. Sadly, bigger towns attract scumbags

nice_guy80 wrote: »

and you'd be surprised how many people travel from East Galway, Co Longford to Roscommon town daily for the free parking

Mean Ba***ards, lol. Hope they are coming for more than Free Parking. Seriously though, Longford Town has very little (very nice pubs though) and the less said about Lansborough, Ballinasloe, Creggs, Glen, Furety etc the better. You hardly want them to starve or go without clothing? Hardly.

An Ri rua

walrusgumble wrote: »

The post was not intended to be taken seriously. Any Midlands Town capable of getting into the top 30 is not to be sniffed at.

However , you have just shown what a shower of thick you know whats Biffo's can be.

I think most people had no difficulty in understanding what was said or understanding what a BIFFO is, if it was to be taken seriously. Don't be pretending to be dumb.


How many people come to Tullamore in a given year, taken away for example the Hospital? What is in Tullamore to see and do? How many from the Midland regions ever come to Tullamore for eg Christmas shopping etc.?


How is voting for this anyway? THe locals themselves or outsiders?

I think YOU have shown yourself to be the thick one.

"I think most people had no difficulty in understanding what was said or understanding what a BIFFO is, if it was to be taken seriously. Don't be pretending to be dumb."

And you say that (?!) in response to my highlighting this "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" IF YOU, or anyone else can explain what "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" means, I will send you a cash prize through Paypal. It is GIBBERISH.

No, I am not thick or dumb. I have three degrees and I know gibberish when I see it. Preview your posts before you make them public?? I am not offended by the term Biffo at all. I am offended when its used in an illiterate fashion and then, when challenged, backed up by blinkered perception....

What you wrote made little sense and therefore its hard to take you seriously.

ps http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=81362294#post81362294

http://www.discovertullamore.com/

Crooked Jack

Jaysus, not a single town from Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry, Antrim or Down made it into the Top 100. Must be right shit holes.

wetminger

Ha ha that report is too funny.

I like Tullamore as it goes, there are always tractors on the main street which makes me laugh. But the fact that they reckon it is quite a few places higher up the list than Kinsale shows this report to be utter crap.

Personally I am glad Mullingar is furtherest down the list of our wonderful 'Midland Gateway towns' (what another pile of rubbish that was). Mullingar has always been that bit grittier, edgier and slightly cooler than its Tullathlone cousins.

martin1

wetminger wrote: »

Mullingar has always been that bit grittier, edgier and slightly cooler than its Tullathlone cousins.

I have to say that none of the above words come to mind when I think of Mullingar.

Except of course "grittier" as in dirtier, "edgier" as in more dangerous and "cooler" as in gets more snow.

But I love a good sense of humour which you obviously have.......


Beef heffers and Joe Dolan................thats Mullingar, and always will be

upyeaboyya

walrusgumble

An Ri rua wrote: »

I think YOU have shown yourself to be the thick one.

Eh, no. For someone who does not know the difference between when someone is taking the piss and being serious, you are in no position.....

An Ri rua wrote: »

"I think most people had no difficulty in understanding what was said or understanding what a BIFFO is, if it was to be taken seriously. Don't be pretending to be dumb."

And you say that (?!) in response to my highlighting this "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" IF YOU, or anyone else can explain what "Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" means, I will send you a cash prize through Paypal. It is GIBBERISH.

What? Most people would have found it to have been a Piss take, and not worthy of reply. Clearly you are not all there.

Good man, there is one born everyday...

What is the cash prize?

I would happily explain what ""Biffo's are not Biffo's for a reason" but alas, people like you would report. But by all means, continue in this stupidity, sure you shall only highlight the point

An Ri rua wrote: »

No, I am not thick or dumb.

Your response suggests otherwise. Seriously ,away with you now.

An Ri rua wrote: »

I have three degrees and I know gibberish when I see it.

In what may I ask? Clearly not , for ability to tell the difference between a serious post and a childish piss take.


Alot of BIFFO's have degrees, even Cowen. Does not take away from the fact that you took the post like a fly to a moth. Before you came along, it was simply harmless banter about rival towns.

Even if the post was serious which it was not), there is nothing gibberish about having an opinion (as oppose to stating it as fact) about Tullamore or most of Offaly being a kip and you know that there are plenty of people in the country that would actually hold those views.

An Ri rua wrote: »

Preview your posts before you make them public??

Keep your nose out and mind your business

An Ri rua wrote: »

I am not offended by the term Biffo at all

I am offended when its used in an illiterate fashion and then, when challenged, backed up by blinkered perception....

You clearly are offended on both counts. Why bother going through all that trouble. You talk about blinkered, but again, you are the one who took such an "hysterical" post seriously. You have got all serious and righteous seeking out to defend some honour, which was never seriously taken.

There is a special thread for Offaly, you should stick to it.


You are talking about "backing" up. How do you back up a piss take? And back up what? The amount of people and population of the area and the amount of money spent in the area, the ability to get any new headline grabbing companies might be a start when making a point.


A number of questions were put to you at the end, by the way, could you explain how this report was complied. I note you did helpfully suggest one or two things to do in Tullamore, anything elese?

What challenge, by the way? Ha ha

An Ri rua wrote: »

What you wrote made little sense and therefore its hard to take you seriously.

It was not intended to be taken seriously in the first place, you are the only clown who took to it like a fly to sh1t. Another person, slagged off a Rossie about Tractors in Roscommon. He did not get up on one like you in response.

You would have thought Biffo's were thick skinned, oh well.......

wetminger

Would you two get a room!

Crooked Jack

wetminger wrote: »

Would you two get a room!

Which town should they get a room in?

walrusgumble

wetminger wrote: »

Would you two get a room!

Keep your nose out of it.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Mullingar and Athlone are both shíte, Athlone is just a bigger mound with more flies on it.

martin1

As the original poster of this thread it was not my intention that it should descend into the usual slagging match between Athlone and Mullingar.

It saddens me to see this happening again.

All I wanted to do was:

A/ to congratulate Tullamore on confounding everyone by getting to 15th position.Despite having a bombed out main street, vacant shop units, dirty streets, zero character and a general air of gloom.

B/ to congratulate Mullingar on surprising everyone by getting to 66th position. This is a great achievement when you consider the atmosphere of total malaise that always seems to pervade there.

C/ To say well done to Athlone and hopefully next time will be in its rightful place in the top 10.

So please lets all be a little more civil in our comments

mikmuk

Roscommon town is a fine place Some total scumbag a$$eholes driving with extreme stupidity in clapped out japcrap cars, and a smattering of inbred psychos, but otherwise nothing to complain about.

SilverScreen

mikmuk wrote: »

<insert random Irish town here> is a fine place. Some total scumbag a$$eholes driving with extreme stupidity in clapped out japcrap cars, and a smattering of inbred psychos, but otherwise nothing to complain about.

This could be applied.

sheesh

Tralee is 42 woot