College Accomondation - Castlebar

I lived in Castlebar as a student for a few years, and have lived in student accomodation in:
- Aglish
- Gladesville
- Chesnut Grove
- Spencer Court
- Harmony Heights (near the Welcome Inn Hotel)
- Newport Rd
- Rathbawn Rd

Out of all those places, Gladesville & Aglish were the best. I finished my degree in May 2002 down there, and haven't really been down since, but I can remember where all the places are, and in most cases the numbers of the houses.

So here's my lowdown

Aglish
The majority of the houses down along the front (ie facing the college are grand), but once you go around the corner (where the two green houses are, be careful). I think that's around the house number 60 - 65 mark. The house I stayed in was managed by Morans Auctioneers on Main St.. I will be honest and tell you that I found these people to be the most ignorant ****ers I've ever met. No offense to anyone from Castlebar, but these thick country receptionists had a real attitude, such as a "Oh you're from Galway city is it,....I'm on to you city boy, you won't fool us", and so forth. That would pretty much describe that situation. They also tried to **** us over on the deposit, even before we stayed a single night in the place. In the end we agreed to their terms, but I brought one of them to the house, and made them write down every little crack I spotted in house. In the end we got our deposits returned, and a pat on the back for being good tennants

Gladesville
I lived in 2 houses in this estate. The first one being the best. The rent was brilliant, the landlord was a cop in Westport, and was the soundest man I've ever had the pleasure of renting a house off. I was living with 4 women at the time (notice how I a subtly slipped that one in, g'wan meh). I can remember the number of the house, and the landlords name, but I don't want to disclose those details on a public forum obviously. He even got a new microwave, hoover, TV/Video for us within the first 3 weeks, and even paid the TV license. Needless to say in return we kept the place immaculate, and didn't dare have any parties. It was the least we could do to a man that had respect for us, and didn't try to rob us blind.

However the 2nd house was the worst house I ever stayed in, in Castlebar. This is **** I know, because I'm not disclosing numbers here, but the following details may give away the house in question to those who actually find themselves looking at it. The landlord is a real cowboy (some would say the "Ultimate"). The house was built in 99/2000, and it's first students stayed there in Sept 2000. Now the lads that stayed there weren't the quietest bunch I've ever met, but they were sound enough. Anyway in the winter, we heard the pipes froze and let's just say that the interior was destroyed. At the time I was in the "really class house" a couple of doors up. Anyway after delaying to look for a house after getting my results (I wanted to organise numbers), I missed my opportunity to stay in the same house for another year, so my present landlord "the cop", gave me the "cowboys" number because they didn't live too far apart from eachother in Mayo themselves. So when we met this landlord he told us about the pipes, and that it was because the lads had no oil in the tank, and that they froze..burst...ergo destroyed the house. I distinctly remember him saying "Lads I'll have no problem with ye and will serve your every request, if you respect me, and my house". So of course being gentlemen, myself and my housemates agreed with his terms, and reassured him that we all had 4 - 5 years of renting experience with no problems in the past. The first day we noticed that the only thing that worked on the cooker was the hobs (no grill/oven). There was no curtains in the girls room upstairs, but he promised to have them sorted immediately. In the mean time the girls used large bath towels. The TV came with a plug, but no rabbit ears, or coax cable to connect to, what turned out to be the "non existent" MMDS antena in the attic. At this stage we were pretty miffed, and made a list, and gave it to him. A week had passed, and no sign of anything being done. I remember our first day in the house was Sept 11th, and I took apart a coathanger to use as an antena just so we could get RTE 1. Anyway to cut a long story short, the only thing he did by Xmas was give us a pair of rabbit ears for the TV. Just before this one of the girls moved out, because she still didn't have ****ing curtains for her bedroom (which might I add was on the front of the house, with other houses across the road facing us, and a street light right outside). Anyway the week before Xmas when we were leaving to head home for the Xmas hollidays, he arrived and told us that he was really sorry that he was so contactable (because we had been talking to 2 of his sisters, a brother, and his mother at this stage, ie. a month had passed, and he hadn't even collected rent). So we paid him what we were due, and he told us that in return he would have everything for us sorted by the time we came back in the new year, and that we could have the few weeks off, rent free. We couldn't believe our ears because this actually sounded like a good deal, but were still skeptic about anything being fixed, but the no rent thing was a surprise, but really in order TBH. So anyway we had gotten oil for the house about 2 weeks earlier, which we told him about. He dipped the tank himself and agreed that there would be enough oil to keep the pipes from freezing over the Xmas. He also told us that he would be in the house frequently over the Xmas to fix what needed fixing, and that everything would be OK.

Anyway the day I was due back down after Xmas I got a phone call of one of the girls in the house in tears, because the kitchen roof had caved in and the house had a foot of water in it on the ground foor. The flooding was so bad that the nextdoor neighbours carpet was soaked, through the wall. It was extrememly dangerous as the was a foot of water in the kitchen, and electrical cables dangling in middle of the room. The place was completely unrecognisable. My room was destroyed, but thankfully I had brought practically everything with me before Xmas, but one of my mates, had some really nice shirts absolutely ruined with bits of moist plaster, etc.

Anyway the landlord came on the scene and didn't want to give us back our deposits and told us that we would be paying for the damage to the house. We got on to threshhold here in Galway, and we told them the whole story from start to finish. They even wrote a threatening letter to him in our defense. In the mean time he told us that he had gotten on to Threshhold also. I asked him was it the one in Castlebar, and he said "yes!". So I then informed him that there wasn't any threshhold offices in Castlebar, and that he was full of ****e. At the time there wasn't anyway, not too sure about now. But anyway once he received teh letter from Threshhold in Galway he just about gave us our deposits back, and that was it. In the mean time I had to sleep on a mates couch while looking for another house. Oh yeah and this was during our first batch of final year exams in January of 2002.

In the end we found out that the house had plumbing problems from day one, and faulty plumbing in the attic was the cause, and the pipes had not burst at all. They had come loose.

Needless to say it was the worst few months I had to put up with in Castlebar.

In conclusion, overall the houses in Gladesville are the best I've ever stayed in, with regards mod cons, and nice interior, and you can get from your bedroom to a lecture theatre in 7 mins in the morning, but apart from that, be careful of a house where a landlord mentions students who didn't have oil in the tank and let teh pipes burst a few years earlier, because that's the story we got too!.

Chessnut Grove
These houses are a little further from the college. It will take you about 10 -15 mins to get there, depending on which end of the grove you are living. The houses in the grove are old, and are generally damp. So dampness is really what to look out for in any of these houses. Apart from that I've never heard of dodgy landlords in the grove. Actually some of my mates still live in the grove with their landlord, who when I first met him, thought he was a student, and demanded to know who he was, when he just walked in one day. Thankfully he had a sense of humor. Top bloke.

Spencer Court
These are nice, but small houses, and are bang in the middle of town. Rent can be steep here, and parties will definately not be tolerated because it's a fair tight group of town houses.

Harmony Heights
This is the very first place I stayed in back in '97 (digs). The family was very sound, with a very attractive daughter, which, when I try to recall results in an image of Kim Bauer from 24, in my head.

Newport Rd
I lived right across from the petrol station. The house was big, damp, but the rent was extremely low. The landlord owned a pub in town, and was generally sound. He used to walk in on us though. The whole, you must ring the bell before entering, etc, just didn't apply with this guy. So in the end we started locking the front door, so he'd have no choice. If I recall he passed comment one day.

Rathbawn Rd
This is quite far from the college, it would take you about 25 mins to walk, and this isn't good in the morning, or if you've got a lot of stuff to carry. The rent was OK, but the landlord was strict, but I didn't care coz I was desperate at the time.

So if you're going to be new to Castlebar, I would recommend Aglish as being your safest bet. Failing that, the houses on the left as you turn in to gladesville. Both houses I stayed in, were on the right,, but the houses on the left were fine.

;-phobos-)

Hello

Phobos, I saw your post and it is very informative. I am going to castlebar to join baxter healthcare this month and I never been in castlebar. I wish if you tell me about the places near to Moneen Road.

I dont want to live very far from city niether dont want to go far from Moneen Road.

What you think about Spencer St, The Groove, Main st and the Spring field.

Plz help

Imran