Tullow St

brianblaze

Was having a chat with a fewblocal business owners today about Tullow St/ Dublin St and the empty units etc on there.

What would you do to change the area/ improve the town? (Excluding shutting down the Fairgeen etc!)

iano.p

Lower rates for starts. More carparking that is free the multi story carparking on the old royal hotel use to be expensive not sure what it's like now. Some of the units aren't that great for some business they are too small or cost a fortune to refurbish. Plus I think there was too many pubs around that area but any employment is better than nothing.

Agent Coulson

Start by renovating Crotty's, having that empty for the last decade and more hasn't helped the town let alone Tullow street it's a total eye sore.

fits

Reduce rates and more free parking. Also at least one of the retail parks could be bulldozed.

brianblaze

Crottys depresses me to look at! It was the place to be when I was a kid, and Tullow St would be jammers! You half expect a dustball to roll past these days it'ss o quiet at some times!

bulleyes

Got to agree with the rates... Looking at a property website last night and the old Amber sky shop beside the AIB on Tullow street is almost 10 Grand a year on rates alone. Crazy!!!

Bog Man 1

Roof Tullow street and turn it into a big shopping center and make it into a place you would want to go . Do not allow any chuggers or any charity collection of any sort . Re open Crottys with a nice high class Tea shop .Go up market with the whole street similar to Kildare Village only warmer and make it a Tourist attraction . Make it safe to be there . You have good anchor tenants in Shaws and Haddens .
The whole street is pretty scummy looking at the moment .

brianblaze

Roofing it would be a bad idea I think. I'd clean it up a bit, pedestrianise it, get some nice flower features etc on it, and see what else they can put in for some 'class.'

On a side note, what's with all the kids with white socks on, with their tracksuits/ jeans tucked into them all over Carlow lately? Is this some 'gang' that they think they're in, or just bad fashion sense? (And no, they're not cyclists!)

Agent Coulson

brianblaze wrote: »

On a side note, what's with all the kids with white socks on, with their tracksuits/ jeans tucked into them all over Carlow lately? Is this some 'gang' that they think they're in, or just bad fashion sense? (And no, they're not cyclists!)

It started with "people" who robbed shops dropping things down there tracksuits and they wouldn't fall out, it may or may not be a trend now.

iano.p

It would cost too much to maintain the roof with cleaning it etc. If that would happen rates would go up more shops would close. What did the shop owners you talked to say op.

Agent Coulson

I do remember hearing as you do that a publican wanted to put a walkway across tullow street at one stage but planning was turned down. How true that is not I wouldn't know.

So with that I guess a roof over it would be turned down as well.

denis160

From a shoppers perspective, Definitely free parking, even if it was the first hour/half hour free. Improve the paths, those bricks, cobbles, i find are lethal. As bad as crottys is, i actually find the Ritz building worse! Its bad enough on tullow street but when you turn to go down by the workmans, its so neglected & run down.
Sometimes it seems like Carlow is full of pubs, bookies & take aways

Owryan

They tried pedestrianizing Tullow St before and the businesses raised hell. As for parking, most i know dont mind paying but there is no parking from thurs-sat. Plus its only 60c an hour AFAIR which is good when Kilkenny is €2ph.

To me Tullow st is just an eyesore, crottys and the ritz should ve been done up or flattened long before now. I can remember back in the day Tullow st had a buzz (not the pub) about it. Not anymore. TBH i hardly ever go near it.

road_high

Needs some kind of major re-juvenation scheme, moreover the whole town centre of Carlow does.
Tullow st was one of the best Main st's in the country up to 20 years ago. Gradually this was totally eroded as first Carlow SC opened and then the Fairgreen pulling shoppers away, and taking the focus away completely from the town centre. It's not an easy one to solve really as Carlow has lot of existing retail space, most of it unfortunately for Tullow st not in that area.

artanevilla

I find it unusual for an Irish town, it's not really the route through the town if you know what I mean, it's more a side street than a main street.

road_high

artanevilla wrote: »

I find it unusual for an Irish town, it's not really the route through the town if you know what I mean, it's more a side street than a main street.

Would have been years ago. Barrack st and Kennedy avenue were widened and served as sort of inner relief roads bypassing Tullow st.

slimjimmc

Owryan wrote: »

They tried pedestrianizing Tullow St before and the businesses raised hell. As for parking, most i know dont mind paying but there is no parking from thurs-sat. Plus its only 60c an hour AFAIR which is good when Kilkenny is €2ph.

To me Tullow st is just an eyesore, crottys and the ritz should ve been done up or flattened long before now. I can remember back in the day Tullow st had a buzz (not the pub) about it. Not anymore. TBH i hardly ever go near it.

There's not much difference between the two Local Authorities when it comes to parking charges near the main shopping streets.
LA off-street parking in Kilkenny is €1.30 in many car parks or €2 per day with first hour free in others. No LA parking is €2/hr.
http://www.kilkennycity.ie/eng/Services/Traffic/Parking/Off-Street-Parking1/

LA off-street parking in Carlow's Potato Market is €1.20/hr. Lower Tullow St has free but limited (15 mins) parking AFAIK.

There was a proposal some years ago to partially cover Lower Tullow St with a canvas shade, not a full roof and not fully enclosed. Obviously didn't materialise.

brianblaze

Free parking would be great, and as someone who runs a business on Tullow St I'd love it to be pedestrianised, even between 10 and 6 or something... Someone does need to do something with Crottys though, it thoroughly depresses me.

linny

brianblaze wrote:

On a side note, what's with all the kids with white socks on, with their tracksuits/ jeans tucked into them all over Carlow lately? Is this some 'gang' that they think they're in, or just bad fashion sense? (And no, they're not cyclists!)

in a word mice :-)

Nokia6230i

It's a drugs thing too the whole socks into the trackie bottoms as well as a shop-lifting method. Sometimes they're not just single pairs of socks being worn but too.

Can't quite put the reasoning behind it as for the drugs but the boys down the barracks ought be more informative or some of the local security officers in Haddens and Shaws srl.

And white socks & black runners/shoes combined with tracksuits is incredibly bad fashion sense, dare one say it but chavtastic and belonging to a certain demographic around the town (some though not all would be residents of SMP & JSP).

brianblaze

In fairness, the amount of tracksuits going around this week has shocked me. Thought rag week students had a bit more style than that that!

Snaffles2014

brianblaze wrote: »

In fairness, the amount of tracksuits going around this week has shocked me. Thought rag week students had a bit more style than that that!

Do any of them play any sport? Why tracksuits? Why couldn't they have chosen stud encrusted leather jackets and chainmail trousers or something more fitting to being an actual scumbag ... They are giving sports fans a bad name.

AlanS181824

What a kip! Had such a buzz years ago.

brianblaze

AlanS181824 wrote: »

What a kip! Had such a buzz years ago.

I wouldn't call it a kip, it's hardly messy. It just needs a large shot in the arm really

PeteFalk78

AlanS181824 wrote: »

What a kip! Had Buzz's years ago.

Fixed that for you

Agent Coulson

It could do with getting a big brand going into Darrers also hopefully whoever bought the Ritz will do it up and open it.

But then it still leaves Crottys something has to be done with it even if the council has to compulsory buy it and do something with it even turn it into a car park for the Ritz.

brianblaze

Agent Coulson wrote: »

It could do with getting a big brand going into Darrers also hopefully whoever bought the Ritz will do it up and open it.

But then it still leaves Crottys something has to be done with it even if the council has to compulsory buy it and do something with it even turn it into a car park for the Ritz.

Fairly sure that Crottys is protected or at least would be. I'd certainly be against flattening it to put in a car park!

Surprised there hasn't been a CPO on it already though

road_high

Walked down today in light of this thread and it seems every second or third unit is empty and those are there are decidedly second rate offerings in the main.
Dublin St is even worse.