New businesses

runawaybishop

I see aldi just got permission for a store in Ballina. Looks like the deanwood will finally be knocked. About time, the place was such an eyesore.

Thou

yop wrote: »

Charity shops, amusements, bookies. The town is turning into Blackpool.

Indeed, still though some of the proposed projects that didn't go ahead the last few years for whatever reason, hasn't helped.

Plenty of vacant buildings needs to be addressed, and in all honesty the condition and appearance of some premises that are in you use already, is a disgrace.

yop

Thou wrote: »

Indeed, still though some of the proposed projects that didn't go ahead the last few years for whatever reason, hasn't helped.

Plenty of vacant buildings needs to be addressed, and in all honesty the condition and appearance of some premises that are in you use already, is a disgrace.

Its awful. I used to go for walks around town in the evening just to get some air and the place is shocking. While businesses try there are too many just either who have buildings abandoned or just don't spend some money on paint or even just wash the walls/doors etc.
Whether its the lighting around town or not, but its bloody depressing around the streets in the evenings.

PhoneMain

yop wrote: »

Its awful. I used to go for walks around town in the evening just to get some air and the place is shocking. While businesses try there are too many just either who have buildings abandoned or just don't spend some money on paint or even just wash the walls/doors etc.
Whether its the lighting around town or not, but its bloody depressing around the streets in the evenings.

I'm living up the country now and I havent been home for nearly a year. It's sad to hear town being talked about like this, what's made me realise since I moved up here is that it's actually a beautiful town with so many advantages. The lake and mall such amazing amenities to have in the middle of the town and even the work that was done on main street a few years ago has made a terrific job of the place. Pity businesses and the council are allowing things to become like that.

irishgeo

when the top of main Street is closed because bits are falling off one of the buildings it's a bad sign. council needs to act on the abandoned buildings.

yop

PhoneMain wrote: »

I'm living up the country now and I havent been home for nearly a year. It's sad to hear town being talked about like this, what's made me realise since I moved up here is that it's actually a beautiful town with so many advantages. The lake and mall such amazing amenities to have in the middle of the town and even the work that was done on main street a few years ago has made a terrific job of the place. Pity businesses and the council are allowing things to become like that.

The lake is fantastic, every day its been used from morning to night and its great for the town. That side of town is always busy and got life in it.
Go out the Newport road out of town on the left aside from the Ford garage the buildings there are just crumbling.
I generally walk out the breaffy road, in moneen road, in through town, out the newport road and around the lake and back towards the fire station where my car is.
Its usually so quite until you reach the lake area and then the place is alive which is great to see.

Thou

PhoneMain wrote: »

I'm living up the country now and I havent been home for nearly a year. It's sad to hear town being talked about like this, what's made me realise since I moved up here is that it's actually a beautiful town with so many advantages. The lake and mall such amazing amenities to have in the middle of the town and even the work that was done on main street a few years ago has made a terrific job of the place. Pity businesses and the council are allowing things to become like that.

You're right it does have many advantages.
And I don't like talking the place down, but as has been alluded to already, ya can't help but be tired of seeing some parts of it the way it is.

I remember growing up it was easy to be proud of my hometown it was vibrant, bustling town. I know alot has changed culturally, economically, and politically since the 80s and 90s, and in many ways Castlebar still is a great place, but as is often spoke about here and elsewhere, even before Covid, there just seems to be a lack of initiative, pride of place, no real communal effort or is it political influence or will? to make the place better. Its supposed to be the county town for gods sake.

Looking at our North Mayo neighbours (never mind Wesport for a minute) Ballina always seems like a place trying to better itself, and fair play to them. Alot of the time unfortunately it seems very much lacking in Cbar.

Xenji

Camile Thai are planning on opening a premises in Mayo, it would be very similar to Lana Thai in both restaurant aesthetic and menu so maybe Ballina or Westport.

MacDanger

Xenji wrote: »

Camile Thai are planning on opening a premises in Mayo, it would be very similar to Lana Thai in both restaurant aesthetic and menu so maybe Ballina or Westport.

Where'd you hear that?

Camile is nice

Xenji

MacDanger wrote: »

Where'd you hear that?

Camile is nice

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/02/18/thai-takeaway-chain-to-open-mayo-outlet/

I have been to the one in Sligo a few times and have found it nicer than Lana, but both are solid.

MacDanger

MacDanger wrote: »

Where'd you hear that?

Camile is nice

There was someone from the restaurant chain on Midwest Radio today talking about it, he didn't give a location for the Mayo restaurant.

PARlance

Xenji wrote: »

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/02/18/thai-takeaway-chain-to-open-mayo-outlet/

I have been to the one in Sligo a few times and have found it nicer than Lana, but both are solid.

Wouldn't mind losing it to elsewhere as they are quite similar... Castlebar badly needs a good Indian and Chinese.

PARlance

PARlance wrote: »

Wouldn't mind losing it to elsewhere as they are quite similar... Castlebar badly needs a good Indian and Chinese.

What's wrong with the existing Indian and Chinese restaurants?

6541

We had Indian food last Saturday night from Castlebar. All 4 of us said that it was perhaps the worst take away food that I have ever experienced.
The mind boggles how this particular restaurant could server this stuff. They lost 4 repeat customers.

Lukekul

Castlebar is crying out for some variety! Chippers, Pizza, Indian, Chinese, Kebab. It's tiresome.

PARlance

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What's wrong with the existing Indian and Chinese restaurants?

They're very poor imo, I've many reasons but the main one being that the quality of meat is really bad.

PARlance

6541 wrote: »

We had Indian food last Saturday night from Castlebar. All 4 of us said that it was perhaps the worst take away food that I have ever experienced.
The mind boggles how this particular restaurant could server this stuff. They lost 4 repeat customers.

Similiar case here, Indian on Sunday and three out of four dishes went straight into the bin. We were supposed to be having chicken but it was rubber.

I'm going to call in at the weekend and let them know, we had been regular enough customers as well but I wouldn't eat at a place that served up that standard of food again.

PhoneMain

Thou wrote: »

You're right it does have many advantages.
And I don't like talking the place down, but as has been alluded to already, ya can't help but be tired of seeing some parts of it the way it is.

I remember growing up it was easy to be proud of my hometown it was vibrant, bustling town. I know alot has changed culturally, economically, and politically since the 80s and 90s, and in many ways Castlebar still is a great place, but as is often spoke about here and elsewhere, even before Covid, there just seems to be a lack of initiative, pride of place, no real communal effort or is it political influence or will? to make the place better. Its supposed to be the county town for gods sake.

Looking at our North Mayo neighbours (never mind Wesport for a minute) Ballina always seems like a place trying to better itself, and fair play to them. Alot of the time unfortunately it seems very much lacking in Cbar.

Ah yeah you're right. Like I remember Castlebar around mid 00s and the place was great, such a buzz there. Maybe I was young and just happy and carefree. But it was busy during the week and there'd be people around town from Thursday to Sunday. Then the crash came and the place died a bit and hasnt been the same since, which is such a pity. I agree as well that sometimes the lack of initiative isn't great, there's almost an attitude of "well we cant compete with Westport" and that's why you'd have busses going back to WEstport on a Saturday night.
Some groups have tried to get different things going tho, like the Love Castlebar initiative which seemed to be going well but seems to have died off again.
Who owns the Barracks now? Is there anything being done with it?

Thou

According to local press Barracks has been bought by the council be interesting to see what comes of it, but think focus should be on main St areas

I think the regeneration/revival of an old town centre like Castlebar will only come about with thorough replanning of its functionality, a redesign toward making it an attractive place to live, maybe apartments either side of Main St. Reuse of town houses on Ellison St.

Consensus might be that there is a whole load of planning, economic, logistical reasons that these can't happen but still be good to see ideas, vision proposed via town architect planners?

Anything good that's happening in the town is moving more and more away from the centre all the time, its an old problem for many towns at this stage, but still no changes happening

Unfortunately more immediate problems that need fixing nowadays.

I'd love to see the Barack's redeveloped with a roof and at the weekend to host an indoor market.

runawaybishop

In many towns there is evident a complete lack of imagination when it comes to the use of the town's attractions and how people currently live, eat and spend. People buy a lot of stuff online, they come into town to get food shopping. Things have changed immensely in the last decade.

Urban regeneration should be focused on providing social interaction and making local amenities a big part of this. Castlebar is doing good work with the lake but there is a lack of imagination there. There is so much more they could do involving getting local business to relocate and building a really modern and attractive commercial district that ties in with, but doesn't spoil the lake.

I lived in castlebar for years and really like it, but the main Street is gone to hell. Pedestrianise it, allow awnings for outdoor dining and encourage browsing shops for locals and tourists. Make it social
The area around Tesco is busy but it's busy with people doing their weeks shop and then leaving. They need to encourage the social aspect, especially around the lake as it's a huge amenity. Boardwalks, outdoor dining with a lake view, gardens/grounds, water activities. The potential is massive.

Ballina is similar with a lack of foresight - the main attraction for tourists is a river surrounded by roads. Build a proper fecking bridge so traffic isn't mental, open the old roads up to outside dining and
pedestrians. Use what you have FFS. There is one restaurant that looks out over the river. One. It's madness.

Mayo is gorgeous, people come here for the nature aspect, we should be using that to the full.

yop

runawaybishop wrote: »

In many towns there is evident a complete lack of imagination when it comes to the use of the town's attractions and how people currently live, eat and spend. People buy a lot of stuff online, they come into town to get food shopping. Things have changed immensely in the last decade.

Urban regeneration should be focused on providing social interaction and making local amenities a big part of this. Castlebar is doing good work with the lake but there is a lack of imagination there. There is so much more they could do involving getting local business to relocate and building a really modern and attractive commercial district that ties in with, but doesn't spoil the lake.

I lived in castlebar for years and really like it, but the main Street is gone to hell. Pedestrianise it, allow awnings for outdoor dining and encourage browsing shops for locals and tourists. Make it social
The area around Tesco is busy but it's busy with people doing their weeks shop and then leaving. They need to encourage the social aspect, especially around the lake as it's a huge amenity. Boardwalks, outdoor dining with a lake view, gardens/grounds, water activities. The potential is massive.

Ballina is similar with a lack of foresight - the main attraction for tourists is a river surrounded by roads. Build a proper fecking bridge so traffic isn't mental, open the old roads up to outside dining and
pedestrians. Use what you have FFS. There is one restaurant that looks out over the river. One. It's madness.

Mayo is gorgeous, people come here for the nature aspect, we should be using that to the full.

Above the lake on a pool side there is a big green area, don't know who owns it, but they could do so much there. Maybe a skate park for the younger people, maybe an area where pop up shops, coffee docks, food vans can come and sell their wears on a day license.
U go back to Westport on most days and there are pop ups at the octagon, the mall, down passed Lidl, there are so many small businesses who could utilise that facility.
The masses are on the lake side/Tesco side of town. Look at the queues going into McDonalds, attract those to another area.
The town centre is dead, the pubs closed doesn't help but even still its quite when they are.

Its a hard one to call, Castlebar isn't a tourist town, but you could work it out so much better.

lostcat

Xenji wrote: »

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/02/18/thai-takeaway-chain-to-open-mayo-outlet/

I have been to the one in Sligo a few times and have found it nicer than Lana, but both are solid.

have eaten in several Camiles around the country, very good and very consistent across all the restaurants. I find Lana very hit and miss consistency wise between different venues in comparison.

FarCanal

6541 wrote: »

We had Indian food last Saturday night from Castlebar. All 4 of us said that it was perhaps the worst take away food that I have ever experienced.
The mind boggles how this particular restaurant could server this stuff. They lost 4 repeat customers.

Not naming names but the Indian i ordered from in town was atrocious.
My partner, who was pregnant at the time, got undercooked chicken. She took one bite and realised it was undercooked and got sick.
I rang them and they asked for a picture of it! No apology forthcoming either, although they did refund the chicken. Shocking bad.

6541

FarCanal wrote: »

Not naming names but the Indian i ordered from in town was atrocious.
My partner, who was pregnant at the time, got undercooked chicken. She took one bite and realised it was undercooked and got sick.
I rang them and they asked for a picture of it! No apology forthcoming either, although they did refund the chicken. Shocking bad.

You are not the only one saying this about a certain Indian restaurant in Castlebar. It's a shame really.

DuckSlice

FarCanal wrote: »

Not naming names but the Indian i ordered from in town was atrocious.
My partner, who was pregnant at the time, got undercooked chicken. She took one bite and realised it was undercooked and got sick.
I rang them and they asked for a picture of it! No apology forthcoming either, although they did refund the chicken. Shocking bad.

Why cant you name it? Is it against the charter?

6541

etxp wrote: »

Why cant you name it? Is it against the charter?

I don't know is it against the charter, I think they should be named. Save ppl spending hard earned money on Sh!*e.

corsav6

6541 wrote: »

I don't know is it against the charter, I think they should be named. Save ppl spending hard earned money on Sh!*e.

I agree, if it's alright to name a business for good service then it should be the same for bad service.

DuckSlice

corsav6 wrote: »

I agree, if it's alright to name a business for good service then it should be the same for bad service.

That would be my thoughts also.

Xenji

There is a whole thread in After Hours about the worst takeaway you have ever had with multiple names mentioned so it does not look like an issue.