Is Athlone Rough?

Yedya · 13-09-2012 3:27pm #1

Is Athlone a rough enough place? Besides willow park?

Ive seen alot of dodgey enough looking lads around the town and ive lived in Ireland long enough to know who to avoid.

Kurz · 13-09-2012 3:31pm

No it's not rough at all. Much less rough than most towns of a similar size.

vinamax · 20-09-2012 5:04pm

In five years I've had extremely little bother (being a shortarse girl who most people could kill by sitting on, that's saying a lot).

But as they say: If you go looking for trouble, you'll find it.

Yedya · 20-09-2012 5:25pm

I never look for trouble just since i moved here ive seen alot of dodgey looking characters and heard about quite a few fights

homeless student · 21-09-2012 12:10am

its rough enough, not just in willow.

rossie1977 · 21-09-2012 1:39pm

athlone is quite rough, i lived there long enough (5 years), st mels was notorious at the time, battery heights also has a reputation, i lived down near the station for about 6 months and had stones thrown at my window one night, had a friend beaten up by teenagers with baseball bats, another friend had everything downstairs robbed as they slept, in 2005 i stayed one night in my friends house during graduation and it was broken into as we were down the pub

i saw countless fights on nights out, if you look for trouble in athlone you won't be long finding it

Yedya · 23-09-2012 2:17pm

Hmmmmmmm yea that really sucks rossie....it's a pity the IT is based there

rossie1977 · 23-09-2012 7:38pm

Yedya wrote: »

Hmmmmmmm yea that really sucks rossie....it's a pity the IT is based there

not to totally run down athlone because i thoroughly enjoyed my 5 years there, there is a great community feel in the college, everyone knows everyone else which you won't really find in universities

SilverScreen · 23-09-2012 11:38pm

rossie1977 wrote: »

athlone is quite rough, i lived there long enough (5 years), st mels was notorious at the time, battery heights also has a reputation, i lived down near the station for about 6 months and had stones thrown at my window one night, had a friend beaten up by teenagers with baseball bats, another friend had everything downstairs robbed as they slept, in 2005 i stayed one night in my friends house during graduation and it was broken into as we were down the pub

i saw countless fights on nights out, if you look for trouble in athlone you won't be long finding it

I've lived in Athlone all my life and it's not as rough as everyone makes it out to be, at least not in recent years. If you think St. Mel's Terrace was bad 5 years ago it was a lot worse 15 years ago when it wasn't uncommon to have a brick thrown at your windshield as you drive through it. Battery Heights has come a long way in the past 10 years as well through regeneration and it's bad reputation is a bit unjust. There's still a few rough families down the back end of Willow Park but even Willow isn't as bad as it was a couple of years ago.

Athlone is no worse than some towns half it's size and you'll always get scumbaggery and fights on a night out wherever you go.

Kurz · 24-09-2012 12:05am

+1 to that.

Athlone had a bad reputation in the '80s and was rough then. It's not now at all. Compares very well to most towns. The Roscommon lad a few posts above finds it rough, of course he would if he's from Roscommon, the roughest thing in Roscommon is the back end of a donkey. It's an urban area and like any urban area there is a wide mix of people.

As for baseball bats? Watching too many movies.

zoeenya · 15-05-2013 11:08pm

One word....YES.

razor2013 · 16-05-2013 1:30pm

the roughest thing in Roscommon is the back end of a donkey.

LOL

being a shortarse girl who most people could kill by sitting on

Mega LOL!!!!

This is a legend thread!

Rikand · 20-05-2013 11:31am

Zero1986 wrote: »

I've lived in Athlone all my life and it's not as rough as everyone makes it out to be, at least not in recent years. If you think St. Mel's Terrace was bad 5 years ago it was a lot worse 15 years ago when it wasn't uncommon to have a brick thrown at your windshield as you drive through it. Battery Heights has come a long way in the past 10 years as well through regeneration and it's bad reputation is a bit unjust. There's still a few rough families down the back end of Willow Park but even Willow isn't as bad as it was a couple of years ago.

Athlone is no worse than some towns half it's size and you'll always get scumbaggery and fights on a night out wherever you go.

Second this as a life long athlonian myself

Gordond · 17-05-2017 3:19pm

Ive lived in athlone all my life im originally from battery heights as it may be rough sometimes no more that any council estate in towns across ireland its a great place to grow up..everyone looks out gor each other and has a great community spirit..you will always get lads or girls that have no respect but 95% of residence are hard working decent people..

Maxpower17 · 24-07-2017 10:30pm

Im from Ballyfermot so i know a rough place when i see one. I had to work in Athlone for 10 months and that can be one tough town. Its far far bigger than i thought it would be. They say it has a population of around 26k but i was talking to a councillor there one day on just chit chat and happened to mention i believed most people didn't fill out the cencus form there. He told me they dont take into account the population of Monksland (10,000) due to it being too far in the roscommon county, and westmeath is trying to claim it, and that it has a fifteen minute catchment drive area of 75,000 from the town centre. Id well believe it too. This is why i feel Athlone gets a bad name too. People say how can a regular sized town have such a bad rep for trouble, but when you take into account the amount of people that have close access to it its fairly normal, if just a bit worser than a similar sized townland. Yes its certainly rougher than the likes of galway and would fit into a similar profile to the likes of Tallaght, Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Coolock or Finglas but like these places the by far majority of people are decent hard working salt of the earth people who would do a hell of a lot more good for you than bad. Its just a few in proportion to the overall population who are just lowlife scum that bring misery onto others'.

Fluorescence · 26-07-2017 11:31am

Having spent much of my childhood around Tallaght, Clondalkin and Ballyfermot, and the last 2 years in Athlone, I can say in my experience Athlone doesn't compare. You'll find scumbags and trouble anywhere if you go looking, but I haven't had any bother in the last two years to be honest. The community in the college is unlike any other I've been in (and I've been to a few

), the lecturers actually take the time to learn who everyone is, and the students all look out for one another.

I was dreading moving to Athlone 2 years ago but honestly it's been very good to me and I'd recommend the college to anyone. The town itself to live longterm, not so much. But that's my own taste.

redsky1 · 29-10-2018 9:31am

Like most towns it has its areas you dont go.

Is Athlone Rough?

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