Most Depressing Towns & Villages in Ireland

brokenbad

Here's my contribution from my own County of Offaly:

1. Edenderry - Had the misfortune of driving through it once. The outskirts looks like a nuclear wasteland. An absolute dive.
2. Clara - a kip. Full of derelict industrial buildings. Nothing in it only takeaways, barbershops and chemists.
3. Cloghan - a decrepit wasteland with the longest wait time ever at any set of traffic lights.
4. Kilcormac - Has a depressing aura about out - the town itself looks like its still stuck in the 80's.
5. Ferbane - derelict shopfronts and closed down pubs add a depressing feel to the place - similar to Kilcormac.

Interested in other people's thoughts on their own county.....

Grayson

Tulsk. Everytime I travel through it I think "Thank god I don't live here".

It could actually be a lovely place to live but it's so depressing to drive through.

brokenbad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744071#Comment_120744071

Agreed. Have passed through it a few times en-route to Sligo - gives the impression of some backwater mid western American town with tumbleweed blowing across the streets.....

adgib

Agree on Edenderry,kip

Quitelife

Many rural towns in Limerick are dangerous & lawless ran by crime groups which makes them depressing for the law abiding.

Askeaton

Abbeyfeale

Rathkeale

Kilmallock

Newcastle West

All these towns have something in common but your not allowed mention it just let them all get worse year on year .

zell12

Carrigstown in Dublin

Allinall

Termonfeckin.

I spent a week there one night.

tesla_newbie

Borris o Kane

ballinasloe

boyle

Granard

monastarevin

Larbre34

It's not a person, its not some Russian immigrant called Boris O'Kane.

Killimor, Galway.

McGrath5

Longford town - had the misfortune to visit it a few years back, fancied a bit of lunch, nothing but takeaways, pubs & bookies open.

brokenbad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744446#Comment_120744446

Boyle - 100% a shithole stuck in a 1970's time warp.

brokenbad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744525#Comment_120744525

Throw Edgeworthstown, Ballymahon and Keenagh into the mix there also....

artanevilla

There will be some point if this thread goes on long enough where every town in Ireland is mentioned. But the correct answer is Shannon.

Aurelian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744071#Comment_120744071

To me its always just a staggered cross roads on the way to Sligo. I think I'd have to take a left to venture into the actual village, which I've never done.

brokenbad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744410#Comment_120744410

What a kip - only has one pub "McCoys" and is full of moaners from what i've heard.......

I see sheep

Wasn't there one of these threads recently?

Dublin Town for me

hayrabit

@Longford - throw scumbag pikey cúnts into the mix an' all :mad:

could live with the 'depressing' aspect - getting accosted regular another thing entirely

less folks going to that town on account of the feral savages - adds to the depressing aspect, tbs

#anyonewhatknowstownwon'tdisagree

#notallTravelers - goes without saying

callaway92

Tipperary Town or Charleville

Similar in a sense of it’s never ever quick to get through, the road is always in a state itself, and it’s full of closed down shops etc

BrianD3

Towns that look like they have barely changed since the 1950s, gloomy 3 storey buildings towering over a main street with cars abandoned everywhere or, alternatively very few cars as there is no life in the place.

Granard

Ballybay

Clones

Bailieborough

Roscommon town

Manorhamilton

Ballintra (Donegal)

DownByTheGarden

Longford Town - Scary horrible place

Edgeworthstown - Just a dump of a town

Dublin City Center is in with a shot at the title too

lmk123

Newmarket & Buttevant Co. Cork. You’d be in tears going through them.

Lionel Fusco

Athy

Daingean

yagan

I've lived in a few of the towns mentioned but I have to say the most depressing place in Ireland is Dublin, and I've lived in some of the supposedly nice parts. It's just a congested time sump that's best viewed while passing on the M50. At least with the smaller towns there's somewhere interesting a short drive away.

Sorolla

Ballyhaunis (co Mayo)

Strokestown (co Roscommon)

Ballinlough (co Roscommon)

Ardee. Useless f**king place that's always clogged up with traffic.

Swaine

Can't believe Portarlington hasn't been mentioned yet. Mountmellick in Laois another utter scum hole.

The roads around Edenderry are something you'd see in deepest Mongolia.

Jack Daw

Portarlington: Really dragged out town seems to be no end to it and no centre to it.

Edenderry: Just one street that is about 5 miles long, goes on forever, the whole town square is depressing , the old cinema still empty, tesco still empty although at least they knocked the building down now.

Derrinturn: Mainly for the smell from the mushroom factory.

Coill Dubh: If it even counts as a town or village, seems stuck in a 1950's time warp, like it's cut off from the rest of civilization.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744749#Comment_120744749

I got a batter burger in a chipper in Boyle once that had cheese as well as the burger inside the batter. It was feckin gorgeous so for that I'll absolve them from their sins.

Oh wait, that chipper was in Moate, not Boyle. Absolution cancelled.

6541

Westport - Price of food and drink would depress you.

chosen1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744525#Comment_120744525

I've seen similar comments before about Longford, and fair enough there is more than its own share of problems about, especially from a certain group within the town, but I can't fathom the food comment.

Screenshotting a simple Google maps search of cafes in the town centre and this is your result. One of the options showing below is a fast food joint, but saying there's no options for lunch is absurd.

brokenbad

Ballymore in Westmeath is a miserable spot and surely a contender for the longest main street in Ireland......

Viscount Aggro

Mountmellick should be top of the list. Has the most number of CCTV cameras per head of population.

There's an awful smell around the town.

Butson

Whilst slating other towns, the poster must then name the town / city they are from, and you find plenty of reasons to hate that kip too etc

I see sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745128#Comment_120745128

Nice castles

brokenbad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745310#Comment_120745310

100% a kip - had a few pints in Mountmellick once back in the early 2000's with a friend who was going out a with a girl over there and the vibe of the place was very off-putting and certainly would not entice you back....

brokenbad

Banagher in Offaly used to be a great town back in the day but with the closure of the Shannon Hotel and a lot of derelict shopfronts, the town looks very run down these days

rossie1977

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744749#Comment_120744749

These threads are pointless because everywhere will be named eventually.

Boyle isn't the most upbeat town in the country but the surrounding area has stunning scenery from Lough Key forest Park, the Curlew mountains, Lough Arrow.

Pretty sure this thread has been done before but here's my contribution either way.

Tipperary Town - mentioned a couple of times, pretty dismal but decent little pitch & putt course.

Kilkee, Co. Clare - beach, seafront & some great scenic places within a short distance. Town itself is a bit of a dive.

Courtown, Co. Wexford - Dublin's Kilkee.

Borris-in-Ossory, Co. Laois - needs no explanation.

Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary - aka Ballingaza or variant thereof, drive through the village & you'll understand (or maybe just go on Google Maps).

Kilrush, Co. Clare - could be a great town if the will was there to do something with it, but as it is, rundown, depressing & full of scum. Makes Shannon look like Beverly Hills.

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744749#Comment_120744749

Been there left the pub looking at the regulars and thinking no sheep was safe from them

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745173#Comment_120745173

At least it has some traffic supporting businesses like cafes, pubs, shops etc.

There must be lots of towns that are off the main road, aren't tourist towns, are not in a commuter belt of a city, have no festivals etc which are just slowly dying.

South Kerry is slowly dying but is beautiful and touristic.

Young people leave and never come back.

Maybe towns that were bypassed by new motorways.

Probably parts of east Mayo, Roscommon, Longford etc. Lots of the midlands would be like that although they can commute to Dublin.

I think even the worst towns listed above would look quant and picturesque to people from America, Australia, NZ, India, Pakistan and many other countries.

The small towns in those countries are horrific.

I think even in our worst towns you can have a good life if you make the effort to join local community groups and sports clubs.

Humans are complex but can be happy and content with simple things. Maslow hierarchy of needs.

I see sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745523#Comment_120745523

Kilkee? 🤣

A bit lively during the Summer at the weekends but would not be in the top 500 'Most Depressing Towns & Villages in Ireland'.

Sgt Hartman

Clongriffin. I've only ever passed through there on the Dart and Commuter lines but it looks so depressing from the window of the train. Full of ugly soulless apartments that look like they were thrown up with plywood and Lego.

Ballybunnion Co.Kerry is another kip. It's usually packed full of dodgy looking heads from my native Limerick in the summer time 😅

ChippingSodbury

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745653#Comment_120745653

Pity BallyB is gone downhill: great memories from my youth. There isn't a carpark I didn't get sick in on a Saturday night!!!!

brokenbad

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone.....its with O'Leary in the grave 😉

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744909#Comment_120744909

Baileborough isn’t such a bad town , nothing special I agree but far far worse out there

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745139#Comment_120745139

Mountmellick is the kind of dive that still has a Daewoo car dealership

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745173#Comment_120745173

for a wealthy enough county, Tipperary is a disgrace when it comes to towns

McGrath5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745247#Comment_120745247

Point taken - it was 2015 when I visited so chances are a few places have opened since, but still I wouldn’t be in a rush back.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744909#Comment_120744909

I'd have no great problem with places barely changed since the 50s/ 60s - as at least that'd mean there's life in them.

Take Enniscorthy - once a fine market town with numerous small shops. Latter practically all gone now, just remains of peeling paintworks. Reduced to a commuter town and vassal of Wexford town.

hoodie6029

Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.

A nothing village that became a soulless dormitory town. Nothing of any significance or interest. A few crappy green areas in the estates.

During the day it’s full of the worst, local, thick as two short planks Meath yokels.