Tralee thread

SouthWesterly

Any word on what happened at the caravan park in camp this morning. Gardi up there and the place cordoned off.

ejmaztec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522319#Comment_120522319

I don't think we get to know half of what goes on in Kerry, there aren't enough (if any) investigative journalists. 😜

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524455#Comment_120524455

I'm hearing that someone was killed.

I'll know more tomorrow.

dominatinMC

Aren't they housing (maybe "accommodating" is the more appropriate term) refugees there? If so, I wouldn't expect to hear anything in the media..

phormium

That place has been dodgy for a longtime, I don't know what sort of mix are living there at the moment but it was a fair old mixed bag going back a good few years at this stage and definitely not all non-Irish back then anyway. I bought a second hand domestic appliance from someone in there about 5 yrs ago, was just like a rough town estate. The locals have a nickname for it but it escapes me, it's a play on somewhere else in the country where Gardai fear to thread!

SouthWesterly

It's on radio Kerry. An assault

https://www.radiokerry.ie/news/gardai-investigating-alleged-assault-in-camp-328390

Ciarrai76

That Ice-Cream cafe on Ashe street seems to have reopened.

Yet another 'vape' shop has opened in the Mall, next to the phone repair shop...

lordleitrim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120534258#Comment_120534258

Nice to hear the ice cream cafe has reopened.

Can't believe yet another vape or phone repair shop has opened. Although it's not just a Tralee thing. I know people complaining in all cities and towns about the proliferation of those shops. Google "American candy stores Oxford Street London" and you have to wonder us something similar happening here. There can't be that much demand for vapes and phone covers that justify dozens of such shops in each town across Ireland.....

phormium

The 8yr of a friend of mine found vapes on his school bus lately nicely stashed in behind the little curtains, he brought them home and hid them! Knew enough that he shouldn't have them even at that age, thought they smelled nice! Could have found worse and used it obviously but still.

Listening to a dentist on radio few days ago, apparently they ruin your teeth, give you gum disease, dry mouth which may never go away and bad breath then from that and that's just what they have observed so far, her advice was that a necessary evil temporarily if it stops you smoking but madness otherwise.

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120534258#Comment_120534258

I passed by and it was a mizzoni pizza.

Ciarrai76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120535888#Comment_120535888

That's further up. There's an ice cream cafe down a bit from it.

I noticed the NCBI charity shop is also gone now too.

Ciarrai76

I spotted that O'Learys interiors on John Joe Sheehy road has a for sale sign up. Says they are relocating!

The_Kew_Tour

Does anyone know if there snooker club or place to play snooker in tralee and how much is it to join or play?

Ciarrai76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120544063#Comment_120544063

There's a snooker club in Pembroke Street. Don't know prices etc.

barryribs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120544063#Comment_120544063

Upstairs in the Ballymac bar, the lights take coins and you can get the balls from behind the bar

Eng86

Is there anything like a music rehearsal space in or near Tralee?

boardlady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120527391#Comment_120527391

Jurassic Park apparently!

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578583#Comment_120578583

That might be a newer one 😄, I remembered it later, O'Malley Park was what I had heard it called!

Forge83

Is Abrakebabra still open or closed down? Passes today at 4 and all locked up. Opening hour sign was gone off the door.

Ciarrai76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581281#Comment_120581281

I don't think they open until about 5pm most days (might be earlier at weekends). They have definitely cut their opening hours though.

lordleitrim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581452#Comment_120581452

I don't think they stay open after pub closing times anymore which is surprising as that used to be their busiest times. Its probably near impossible to get staff to work such late or unsociable hours shifts anymore...

Forge83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583815#Comment_120583815

After pubs used to be their busiest times but those days are long gone. A combination of reduced quality of food, very high prices and crazy operating costs will lead to them not lasting too long more if they are not already gone.

anvilmas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581281#Comment_120581281

I heard it was closed for good. Pity I liked the taco fries.

barryribs

They were closed Mondays and Tuesdays over the last few months. It was quiet enough on the rare occasions I was in there and sadly it looks like it's gone from Just Eat now. No other decent place for taco fries in town

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581281#Comment_120581281

It did close down a few years ago didn't it?

Ciarrai76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584660#Comment_120584660

yeah they closed briefly a few years ago, but reopened after negotiating rent etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they are gone this time though.

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584902#Comment_120584902

I haven't been in there in a very long time but any time i pass there's normally no one in there. If it does go you'd wonder will it be the end of the Shopping Center.

Pirates Ale

And Gamestop closing too.

Forge83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584153#Comment_120584153

Agreed on the Taco fries. While not as good as they used to be, still the best in town. It was my treat to myself every few months if I was down town for something.

Tralee Chamber & the council would want to pull the finger out and try and do something to bring more diverse business to the town centre. There should be a blanket ban on anymore coffee shops, vape shops and tech shops. I’d suggest they should be waiving rates for a few years for new businesses and reducing the rates of existing shops in the town centre. If they don’t do something, they will have no rates to collect in a few years.

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120585837#Comment_120585837

Be waiting a while before the Chamber do anything. Still only interested in photo ops and taking credit for everything. I seen all accommodation etc in Tralee is booked for the Kerry Mayo game next week, i'm surprised they're not taking credit for that.

Igotadose

Well, that mall that Abrakebabra was in, is the definition of grim these days. Dark, lots of empty shops and the shops that are open - used books and vaping as I last recall, aren't exactly exciting. Maybe ditch the mall idea entirely, convert the whole space to an office building or flats or something. But it's grim and dark and not inviting.

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586197#Comment_120586197

I remember not all that long ago most, if not all, those units being full both up and down stairs.

An issue imo is the likes of the council, Chamber etc are only interested in tech or food businesses that actually end up going nowhere.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586380#Comment_120586380

I must ask, and I am not trying to wind you up, but we've been visiting Tralee regularly since moving to the Dingle Peninsula in 2015. Almost every time we go to the downtown, and I've never seen that facility 'mostly full.' It seems like it's been half empty all the time - I don't recall the upstairs ever having anything.

But, the design is so bad. So dark; Melbourne, Australia can do a very good job with 'enclose arcades' of shops, but they have sunlight. Not so much in Ireland.

Don't get me started about that Council. Beauty pageants, ugh!

phormium

It's a hell of a long time since that arcade was mostly full! Possible mid/late 80s? I do remember it being thriving, used to buy a lot of clothes in Ger's Casuals, hairdresser upstairs, great little diy shop opposite Rex's cake shop, Downtown Delly, cafe in the middle, Tylers I think at the entrance plus many more but that is a long time ago!

I often thought it would make a good place to group food places with seating area in the middle, kind of a food court with shops/takeaways etc sort of with a Cork English market vibe with all the non chain type places like organic veg shop/little cheese place/convivium etc/market stall type places but Tralee too small to support that sort of idea. There is a very limited market for 'farmers market' type prices in Tralee and those suppliers have to charge those prices to make any money so I fear it would be near empty!

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586863#Comment_120586863

The bottom floor was still full in the mid to late 2000s from what i remember. It's the last 10 years it's really started to go down hill.

On the subject of new town cente businesses i seen there's yet another Vape shop in the mall 🙄

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587977#Comment_120587977

In slightly related news, the vape shop that opened on Orchard Lane in Dingle a few months ago, is closed. Never got going. None of us Dingle types are sad to see it go, seemed like a really bad idea at the time and, yep, it was.

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587977#Comment_120587977

Might have still been full downstairs at that stage but not with much of the good, I'm gone from working in town centre since around 2008 and it wasn't great for a good while before that.

Saw the Vape shop, couldn't believe we needed another one!

dominatinMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587991#Comment_120587991

Good. Vape shops and mobile phone shops are a blight on the retail landscape. The cynic in me doubts the legitimacy of a lot of those type of shops

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120588370#Comment_120588370

Yeah there's a phone shop on the corner of John Street/the Strand/Main street l in Dingle that's new-ish and also doesn't seem to be doing such great business either. One does have to wonder what's up with these places, at least a phone repair place in Dingle will have some synergy with the tourist trade. Not so much a vape shop, though.

xxyyzz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586863#Comment_120586863

There's a food court going in next to surf 'n sail in the abbey carpark. Construction will start towards the end of the summer. From what I've heard of who's moving in there, it will be fantastic.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120588445#Comment_120588445

Tell! Who is moving in?

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120588349#Comment_120588349

There was talk of Rock Street Post Office moving in there a few years ago but nothing happened. That might have given it a bit of life again. Since the hairdressing place in the middle went it's really been the end of it.

I thought the Vape shop phase had stopped but it seems to be back again. There was another phone shop actually next to the Shopping Centre that can't hve been open more than 3 months. As someone else said there has to be something more to them. Off the top of my head from Russell Street to Castle Street there must be about 10 of them now.

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120588370#Comment_120588370

Like any business there's a certain demand for them but nowhere to justify the amount of them there is. Castleisland and Listowel are two towns full of them now as well.

Ciarrai76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120588455#Comment_120588455

Its the same guys who own Surf & Sail

Ciarrai76

The majority of the arcade was bought by an investor a good few years ago, and they are basically sitting and waiting for any remaining owners to sell up shop! Don't know what their plans are for the place, but they are not in a rush and probably will just gut it when they finally get full control of it!

Ciarrai76

I think the vape shop that opened in the mall has just moved from inside the shopping arcade and is the same owner. So technically not a new business.

lordleitrim

I'm cynical of most of those phone repair shops too but I have to say the one on Castle Street next to Permanent TSB called Techneek is brilliant with the friendliest and most helpful staff. The town only needs 2 or 3 of those shops at the most. The business case for the rest of them is questionable at best!

Just on Tralee SC, I left Tralee in the mid 90s to go to college elsewhere and it was a dying centre even then. Gers Casuals, Dallas, Saxone shoes and the central cafe Smittys had all abandoned it by then. Its not fit for purpose for modern retailing.

g1983d

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586380#Comment_120586380

I wouldn't say they are only interested in those particular business types, they don't decided what does or doesnt open and they dont open businesses themselves either.

It's all down to people who decide they want to take a punt and open their own business and fair play to them for trying.

The issue I see is that once anyone sees a particular business type doing well 10 more jump on the bandwagon and open their own version of that business to the detriment or them all.

Existing business are really struggling with costs like wages, rates, electricity and insurance. Even if they can cover all of those they then have to put up with anti social behaviour and other drains on their business.

There are a lot of issues there but none of them insurmountable if all the people and agencies work together but therein lies the main problem for Tralee.

People tend to pull in their own direction rather than pulling together.

Every idea or effort for change is talked about in a negative tone and only succeeds despite of all of that or gets a told you so if it fails.

Take the Christmas markets and events last Christmas.

I think everyone was pleasantly surprised at how good it was for the atmosphere and bysinesses of the town and yet here we are less than 6 months later talking down the chamber.

The chamber I understand organised and planned that whole Christmas in Tralee event which I assume they had to get funding for.

I wonder how their application for funding for this year's event will be viewed if all the people who grant the funding are hearing is how bad the chamber is?

We need to work together in Tralee come up with ideas or support those with ideas rather than be hurlers on the ditch.

#rantover :-)

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120589619#Comment_120589619

I've sai before my main issue with the Chamber is they take credit for everything that happens in Tralee even if they had nothing to do with it. In the past they've triedto take credit for the Rose of Tralee!

g1983d

I don't really recall that, I often see them welcoming something, lobbying for something, relyaing information about some event or lending some support to an event.

Maybe it's the relaying information about an event, for instance they may say something about a gaa game, obviously they are not the gaa and have nothing to do with organising a big game in tralee but I guess they try to build excitement and a bit if a buzz around events like that to bring extra people into the town of a day to spend money with businesses.

I don't know, I'm not in the chamber and don't know how it works but looking from the outside it looks like they are trying something at least I guess