Castlebar - A few thoughts

6541

Since Castlebar.ie is closed I decided I will have a bit of a muse about the current state of play in Castlebar as seen by me.

1) What is the story with the oversupply of fast food joins. You can't swing a cat now without hitting a fast food cafe, Indian, Chinese or chain. They can't all be making money.

2) I think the Pubs that are left are probably holding their own. However overall Castlebar nightlife is not in a healthy space. Tuesday to Friday one could only describe the pub scene as desperate.

3) Shopping - I am afraid the traditional streets, Linehall, Main St are a waste ground. It is a shame that tacky phone shops and euro shops were allowed to locate on these streets. We as a town will regret this decision to allow this.
However the multinational shopping quarter is very good and has all the shops that one would see in Galway or Sligo.

4) We have an anti social problem, with gangs hanging around Main street. I have had to step in a few times when I saw anti social behavior towards elderly people.

5) The Lake, fair play what an amenity well done to all that made that happen.

6) Greenway - Please, please connect Castlebar to Newport or Westport not this half arsed thing that goes out the Newport road.

RMDrive

6541 wrote: »

1) What is the story with the oversupply of fast food joins. You can't swing a cat now without hitting a fast food cafe, Indian, Chinese or chain. They can't all be making money.

Yeah, there are a lot of them all right and I agree, it's hard to see how they are all making money. The good ones will survive and the others won't. The market will sort this one out.

6541 wrote: »

2) I think the Pubs that are left are probably holding their own. However overall Castlebar nightlife is not in a healthy space. Tuesday to Friday one could only describe the pub scene as desperate.

I don't agree that it's not healthy. Weekends are pretty lively and I'm not sure what town of Cbars size has a thriving mid-week social scene? There are some nice bars in the town now and I definitely think there are more people socialising that there were 1-2 years ago.

6541 wrote: »

3) Shopping - I am afraid the traditional streets, Linehall, Main St are a waste ground. It is a shame that tacky phone shops and euro shops were allowed to locate on these streets. We as a town will regret this decision to allow this.
However the multinational shopping quarter is very good and has all the shops that one would see in Galway or Sligo.

All towns in Ireland have seen/are seeing the waning, but ultimately the re-invigoration of their town centres. Cbar is just going through the same process.

6541 wrote: »

4) We have an anti social problem, with gangs hanging around Main street. I have had to step in a few times when I saw anti social behavior towards elderly people.

I have never seen this. What is a 'gang'? A bunch of young lads?
Good on you for stepping in to protect the elderly.

6541 wrote: »

5) The Lake, fair play what an amenity well done to all that made that happen.

Agree. It's a brilliant facility to have in the town and it's wonderful to see the use it gets.

6541 wrote: »

6) Greenway - Please, please connect Castlebar to Newport or Westport not this half arsed thing that goes out the Newport road.

That half-arsed thing is a brilliant connection between the town and a beautiful park at Rehins. It's used extensively which is great to see.

Connecting Cbar to the rest of the Greenway network would indeed be a positive, but no need to bash the good stuff that's there in order to highlight that point.

witnessrenegade

Agree with lack of nightlife, whenever I take a spin through town on a Saturday evening it feels like a quite Monday/Tuesday with the lack of people out and about. Would be great to see the TF get some big acts in that will draw more people into town.

As well as that, its a pity the Welcome is such a hole, if someone had the money to invest, you could make a great nightclub/entertainment venue out of it. I would say their would be more money in that then the few rooms the have upstairs

Westernyelp

Main St. Does need a serious bit of TLC. It's not being help by the planners and the lack of movement on the proposed big projects.

Night life is better than it was but not great. I would say Thursday night is good though in a lot of spots too.

The Gangs you refer too are mainly young Traveller lads I think. Not up to anything in particular but big groups of young men can be intimadating I suppose. Not sure what can be done.

Yep I wish the TF could attract some big names instead of all the tribute acts that are happening now.

voz es

Castlebar is doing quite well to my mind. Main street really should be doing better and its hard to hold the planning authority responsible for this. Not many main streets enjoy large carparks to the rear of both sides. To my mind, if the new quater had not been facilited when the celtic tiger roared, claremorris or westport would have stepped up to the plate with more substancial out of town retail offerings.

irishgeo

main st would be doing better if the council weren't looking to fill their coffers with large parking levies on the 2 proposed developments despite the existence of large car parks all over the place. Appealing these levies has lead to huge delays.

Secondly the TF cant secure larger acts as the larger acts have been burnt before and wont be back.

PARlance

6541 wrote: »

Since Castlebar.ie is closed I decided I will have a bit of a muse about the current state of play in Castlebar as seen by me.

1) What is the story with the oversupply of fast food joins. You can't swing a cat now without hitting a fast food cafe, Indian, Chinese or chain. They can't all be making money.

2) I think the Pubs that are left are probably holding their own. However overall Castlebar nightlife is not in a healthy space. Tuesday to Friday one could only describe the pub scene as desperate.

3) Shopping - I am afraid the traditional streets, Linehall, Main St are a waste ground. It is a shame that tacky phone shops and euro shops were allowed to locate on these streets. We as a town will regret this decision to allow this.
However the multinational shopping quarter is very good and has all the shops that one would see in Galway or Sligo.

4) We have an anti social problem, with gangs hanging around Main street. I have had to step in a few times when I saw anti social behavior towards elderly people.

5) The Lake, fair play what an amenity well done to all that made that happen.

6) Greenway - Please, please connect Castlebar to Newport or Westport not this half arsed thing that goes out the Newport road.

1. I don't think that's anything unique to Castlebar. Modern eating habits more so than anything else. Lana was a welcome addition, as was The Pizza Bros... I actually think the rest are found fairly lacking.

2. Pubs aren't doing too bad if they've something about them. The Cobweb on a Wednesday is packed, Morans on a Thursday, Bridge St has stuck to it's guns and commands a crowd, McHales continuing to make changes.. I'm not a weekday drinking but I think the ones that are left are ticking over. All cater for the 30+'s really, it's not a town for younger folk at the moment. A nightclub would raise the tide big time. I'll say it again, the worst thing in recent years was the McHughs holding on to the Welcome Inn.

3. Again not really an issue isolated to Castlebar. Shops moving to retail parks etc is something that is commonplace worldwide. Town centres are dying as a result. Great shopping options in general relatively speaking.

4. I haven't really noticed much anti social behaviour tbh. Moved back 2 years ago and I've not seen an incident or any gangs etc.

5. The Lake is a credit and a sign of what can be done.

6. Completely agree, missing a big trick there.

Overall, as towns go, I think it's doing ok. Get the young people back via a good nightclub and it'll make the world of difference.

naughto

The gangs are the nacks that have f1uck all else for doing.start them early as they say on there career.

B-D-P--

Going to get crucified here.

But all the charitable shops that get to open "Rate Free" and there are a nice handful are driving rent up too.
Not fair to the average business owner.

naughto

Didn’t realize they don’t pay rates sure that’s not fair in business that do pay

yop

B-D-P-- wrote: »

Going to get crucified here.

But all the charitable shops that get to open "Rate Free" and there are a nice handful are driving rent up too.
Not fair to the average business owner.

Good read here. Eye opening....

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/how-much-money-do-charity-shops-actually-make-1.2988229

PARlance

naughto wrote: »

Didn’t realize they don’t pay rates sure that’s not fair in business that do pay

The idea is that they're a charity and relief is given to assist as such. Quite a few charities are run like business' though so there's a fair argument.

There has always been an argument that by giving charities such relief, you're driving up rents for others but tbh, I think you mainly tend to see Charity Shops open up in areas of fairly low demand.

Graces7

PARlance wrote: »

The idea is that they're a charity and relief is given to assist as such. Quite a few charities are run like business' though so there's a fair argument.

There has always been an argument that by giving charities such relief, you're driving up rents for others but tbh, I think you mainly tend to see Charity Shops open up in areas of fairly low demand.

There is one aspect that rarely gets a mention and that is the great service charity shops do for the less well off by selling good quality clothes, household equipment , books , bedding to those eg pensioners like myself who have little to spare and cannot afford high street prices.

The best in many ways are the smaller local shops supporting local services. The bigger ones tend to be more costly. .

Xenji

Graces7 wrote: »

There is one aspect that rarely gets a mention and that is the great service charity shops do for the less well off by selling good quality clothes, household equipment , books , bedding to those eg pensioners like myself who have little to spare and cannot afford high street prices.

The best in many ways are the smaller local shops supporting local services. The bigger ones tend to be more costly. .

They do offer a valuable service, but the problem is when you have 10 or more charity shops in one town like Castlebar does, coupled with 9 discount stores, a scattering of phone repair/unlock shops and that is over 20 units taken.

Graces7

Xenji wrote: »

They do offer a valuable service, but the problem is when you have 10 or more charity shops in one town like Castlebar does, coupled with 9 discount stores, a scattering of phone repair/unlock shops and that is over 20 units taken.

Agree totally and meant to say that having seen the prices in the charity shops in Castlebar I go elsewhere.. And yes, far too many..

Doctors room ghost

Baja browns used to be a great spot of a Monday night
Rip baja browns

Doctors room ghost

The bourbon was a great place for a quiet pint and a smoke before the ban.it was on the wee hill to the right of the Irish house.passed it there lately.its a fukn hairdressers now.brought a tear to my eyes

irishgeo

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

The bourbon was a great place for a quiet pint and a smoke before the ban.it was on the wee hill to the right of the Irish house.passed it there lately.its a fukn hairdressers now.brought a tear to my eyes

used to get the odd lock in too.:D

Doctors room ghost

irishgeo wrote: »

used to get the odd lock in too.:D

It was one pub I used to love going to.it was hidden away nicely but right in the centre of town at the same time.was like the pub in cheers hidden but well worth going to.one of my all time favourite pubs.rip to it