Sligo. Worst run town in Ireland?

il gatto

Sligo town has no public toilet. The by-pass goes straight through the middle of town. Parking is €1.20 an hour( I think). There's no public toilet. Argos isn't allowed into town. Taxi's are priciest in Ireland. There's no public toilet. They spent tens of thousands of euro on a place for swans to nest(outside the Velvet Room) and they never have. Street surfaces are awful. Port is all but closed. One way system tinkered with at regular intervals. And finally, there's no public toilet. And the borough council want to call it a city. Pah!:mad:

muffler

il gatto wrote:

Sligo town has no public toilet....................There's no public toilet............................There's no public toilet........................... And finally, there's no public toilet.

Thats an awful lot sh1t talk about Sligo

You could probably get something in the chemist for that

newwifey

Had to use my momentous first post to say YES Sligo is the worst run town in Ireland. They are making JFK Parade and Old Market St one-way shortly and closing O'Connell street to traffic altogether. Did you not know that the toilets in Tesco are the public toilets and its definately a case of dont sit - hover. Sure who needs argos and the likes anyway! As long as our main street is full of chippers who cares.

muffler

Welcome to the North West forum newwifey

We have a couple of threads if you wish to post in (entirely voluntary) - "name check", "photo check-name check with photos" and "where did you get your name from". Make sure you read the rules on the photo check thread.

Enjoy the craic and keep the posts coming

takola

God ye're making me rethink my decision to move back home!!!

il gatto

Old Market Street is going to be one way going south. That means you can hold up all the traffic coming up Teeling Street and block traffic coming down Pearse road. A double whammy of pissing off other drivers. And when they close O'Connell Street to can you imagine the top of John Street at the back of the Cathedral?
Oh, and I forgot the new toilets in Quayside which opened late last year. You have to pay, but at least they're there. Still nothing provided by the borough council. They had a self cleaning super-loo in storage in Dublin. They wasted tens of thousands of euro on it cos they didn't know where to put it.

genie

newwifey wrote:

Had to use my momentous first post to say YES Sligo is the worst run town in Ireland. They are making JFK Parade and Old Market St one-way shortly and closing O'Connell street to traffic altogether. Did you not know that the toilets in Tesco are the public toilets and its definately a case of dont sit - hover. Sure who needs argos and the likes anyway! As long as our main street is full of chippers who cares.

Does Tesco still charge 50c to use the loo? I used to park at Dunnes over at St Anne's, free loo there!

il gatto

Isn't it sad that we need to discuss how to avail of a toilet in Sligo. I hope the borough councillors are reading this they're not I'm sure) and cringing. How pathetic that a town of 25,000 people hasn't got a public piss pot. I'm embarrassed when tourists ask me where it is. Sad thing is, there were toilets in the Market Yard, beside the town hall, beside Gilhooley hall and, apparently at the bottom of Union Street, but I don't remember those. The ones at Gilhooley hall are still there, but they closed them about 3-4 years ago because they didn't seem to want to clean them.

magnumlady

I agree with you, it is the worst run town. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
Still 50 cent to use Tesco loo and its filthy.
30 cent to use Quayside, at least they are clean.
Why won't they let us have Argos and why no out of town supermarket?
To top it all we had no water supply all day yesterday and most of the two days before that.

Fitzo

argos is not allowed to move into the town because of local business men who feel their businesses will be destroyed sso they block it from being allowed in...

Madge

They won't let Aldi set up on the outskirts of town (beside the retail park) as only warehouse goods such as furniture stores can be established outside the town centre. It means Aldi won't come to Sligo at all now.
But did anyone read the Champion last Wednesday? The new Johnston Court shopping Centre sounds pretty good, It will be opening March 2007. A load of new retail and other units will be setting up. It will create 200 full time jobs

b0bsquish

Do any of our beloved northwest towns actually have public loo's anymore? I've memories of ones in buncrana but there long gone. Does letterkenny even have them anymore? (other than that pay dealy outside the courthouse?)

il gatto

Even a pay dealy would do. Any port in a storm etc. Any hear what shops are going into Johnson Court development? Sligo is catching up slowly with other similar sized towns in spite of those charged with running it.

lemon_of_old

Fitzo wrote:

argos is not allowed to move into the town because of local business men who feel their businesses will be destroyed sso they block it from being allowed in...

But....but......what?!! That's ridiculous! So Homebase and the rest are ok, they're not going to steal any of the local businessmens bucks, but Argos is??
I concur wholeheartedly with the opinions raised in this thread - I've been living here for almost a year now, and I still don't know my way around the place. Everything is........somewhere I can't find it. Traffic is a nightmare. Pedestrians suffer from a severe case of playing "dodge the car in rush hour traffic". Trying to maneouvure your way through the carpark in Tescos takes such concentration and hand-eye co-ordination, I have suffered temporary blindness on various occaisions. In saying that.....I've never seen so many chemists in my life.

Tar.Aldarion

lemon_of_old wrote:

But....but......what?!! That's ridiculous! So Homebase and the rest are ok, they're not going to steal any of the local businessmens bucks, but Argos is??

Argos would be selling a lot of things the county council members sell in their shops. So, given the choice of moving to sligo and not being a loowed to sell those goods or not come at all, Argos rightly said **** off.

slavigo

As far as I know, Sligo Corporation or one of those boys, signed some big expensive deal to lease some big fancy self contained public toilet thing a few years ago but couldn't decide where to put it. So it went no where and as far as I know, they were stuck into a contract so they are still paying for it even though it's not being used. For all I know they could even be paying more, cause it has to be stored somewhere.

(Disclaimer: Well I think I remember that story from a few years ago)

slavigo

Here it is
http://www.sligotown.net/index.php/109
http://archives.tcm.ie/sligoweekender/2004/03/23/story17060.asp

magnumlady

lemon_of_old wrote:

But....but......what?!! That's ridiculous! So Homebase and the rest are ok, they're not going to steal any of the local businessmens bucks, but Argos is??
I concur wholeheartedly with the opinions raised in this thread - I've been living here for almost a year now, and I still don't know my way around the place. Everything is........somewhere I can't find it. Traffic is a nightmare. Pedestrians suffer from a severe case of playing "dodge the car in rush hour traffic". Trying to maneouvure your way through the carpark in Tescos takes such concentration and hand-eye co-ordination, I have suffered temporary blindness on various occaisions. In saying that.....I've never seen so many chemists in my life.

We need the chemists because we are all suffering with bladder problems from having to hold it all in when we are in town!:D
I think regarding Argos that the public should have done a petition or boycotted the lads that run the shops that opposed them (if you know who they are).
I see Blackrock has a sign up saying they oppose the chamber of commerce's views.

genie

magnumlady wrote:

I see Blackrock has a sign up saying they oppose the chamber of commerce's views.

Quite a few shops had that sign up because they were afraid of a boycott. Good to see that nothing's changed! :rolleyes:

il gatto

They did indeed buy a fancy, self cleaning SuperLoo. They bought it, for tens of thousands, had it shipped to Dublin, and then couldn't find anywhere to put it. Incredulous? Well believe it. Anyway, they left it in storage in a Dublin corporation yard, and continued to pay an extortionate fee to keep it there for several years. I think in the last year or so they got rid of it.
I also remember a plan to build a toilet in the Wine St. car park. It fell through because it emerged that they didn't own the property they wanted to build on. Just as well really, as the forecasted cost was £250,000. Bearing in mind that £100,000 would have built a rather nice house back then. And that was the expected cost when they thought they owned the site. Yikes!
Of course, around the same time, they sold property behind the Town Hall to a developer which later emerged as actually belonging to the Office of Public Works. To quote a great philosopher "Doh!":rolleyes:

gustavo

Total joke that the Weekender and the Champion always refer to the town as a city when it isnt a city and shouldnt be considered as such

Madge

gustavo wrote:

Total joke that the Weekender and the Champion always refer to the town as a city when it isnt a city and shouldnt be considered as such

Then why do the signs say 'Gateway city' and 'welcome to sligo city' etc

gustavo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Ireland

dont see it here.
They might use it in signs but it doesnt have official city status

il gatto

What kind of a city do the corporation think it is? If I visited a town like Sligo anywhere else, I'd never consider referring to it as a city. Maybe the aldermen on the borough council get payed more if they're in a "City". I'm preety sure it's something like that rather than civic pride. If pride came into it, they'd make property owners paint their buildings above ground floor. Ever look up. It's tatty like the tatty rural backwater it really is. It's a market town which doesn't have a proper market. Farmers market is in I.T. carpark while Market Yard is all parking and appartments. Go figure:)

bettlebrox

il gatto wrote:

. The by-pass goes straight through the middle of town.

What was the rational for that anyway? I admit that the new road is quicker than than it used to be, but not as quick as it ought to be. Wouldn't it have made more sense, and be better for traffic to have it be a proper ring road?

Basq

I'd always heartily stood by the fact that my home town is a shi*hole but plenty of people dislike their home town.

Why do i hate Sligo? Well, i've a bookfull of recents but springing to mind after reading this thread.. the Argos fiasco was a joke.. no public toilet i could live without.. what seems like 45 Chinese restaurants / takeaways in one town is pushing it.. new developments such as the retail park / shopping centre being just utter atrocious for many reasons.. an ever increasing workforce of rude people in most pubs / clubs in the town..

But then again.. most of these complaints could be said for many towns but "worst run town in Ireland"? Don't know if i could say worst run.. has it's fair share of faults and numerous foolish decisions by corporation.. but it is still my hometown.

Maybe i'll miss it after i leave but not likely!

Madge

il gatto wrote:

while Market Yard is all parking and appartments. Go figure:)

The 'market' sets up on a Friday..

basquille wrote:

new developments such as the retail park / shopping centre being just utter atrocious for many reasons

why do you say this? I think the shopping centre is great. Its about time Sligo had one.

Basq

Madge wrote:

why do you say this? I think the shopping centre is great. Its about time Sligo had one.

In terms of shops and such... most women find it fantastic (as a man, it could do with a few more men's shops - GadgetShop, HMV etc wouldn't go amiss among the River Island, Next, Paco, Sisley, Jane Norman, Accessories - need i go on? Anyways, i digress!

Structurally it is an absolute joke and design-wise, well it's horrid!

l3LoWnA

I dreaded moving back here from Galway. moved back 2 weeks ago, after two fabulous weeks abroad....and reality hits now whilst reading this thread.......feel like crying! But is it REALLY that bad?

Have to say, I dreaded moving back for personal reasons mainly, on top of the fact that Galway HAS to be one of the nicest places in Ireland to live in!!

However, I can't BELIEVE the crrrap involved in the whole Argos thing and the fact that those people with their objectins GOT AWAY WITH IT and laughed all the way to the bank the miserly old gits! Just so they don't hav to keep with the times and keep their own "stores" modern and competitive! It sickens me so much! Have to drive to Longford r Castlebar to get to the nearest available Argos now....isn't Sligo a bigger town than BOTH of those, it's ridiculous!!

What other town or city in Ireland would put up with a store like Argos not being allowed set up in the towns only retail park?! Public Loos? I don't know what the big deal is there...If you're in town for THAT long (constitues a trip to the lav) you're probaby going to be grabbing a bite to eat, use the restaurant/cafe/supermarket loos. I don't see the biggie there, For as long as I lived in Galway, I wouldnt set foot in the public toilets. I suppose that's just a personal no no for me though. Hotels/Restaurants etc keep their toilets far cleaner!

Although the Argos thing bothers me, I have no problem with the one-way system so far and think it's a MIGHTY idea to pedestrianise (sp?) O'Connell St. It'll take some getting used to traffic wise but the centre of town can ONLY improve if it's pedestrainised. i think it will be great, think a mini version of shop street in Galway, nice! Anyone ever tried a bit of shopping on a Saturday through O'Connell St. with a buggy?!?! If not, anyone ever get their heels clipped by a buggy or have to slip off the footpath onto the street to let one pass?!? Not the buggy owners fault, those foothpaths are a death-trap! My heart goes out to wheelchair users, not to mentio nthe motorists trying to dodge the pedestrians whilst also trying not to clip a car in the opposite lane - it's a total nightmare!

Anyways, I'm bored, it's late, I'm in, so said I'd add my two cents worth, could have written a whole novel but my cup of tea is goig cold!!!

l3LoWnA

Madge wrote:

why do you say this? I think the shopping centre is great. Its about time Sligo had one.

I have to say, I think the shoppnig centre is.....ok. Don't get me wrong, am delighted to see it here now and to have some of the shops, River Island, Next, TX Maxx etc etc it's fantastic....but WHO designed the place and what was it originaly supposed to be? don't tell me a shopping centre?

It's a very.....em....strange design to say the least, possibly because of the shape of the site but (buggies again) it's incredibly difficult to navigate between floors with a buggy in tow......harrrumfff! (or wheelchair I'd imagine!)

Still, I manage, just about, and won't say the shopping centre was a bad idea, it's mighty! multi-storey is very handy too! Bring on the Jonstons Court centre now and we'll all be happy.

Agree about HMV or similar record store being a necessity now - also, anyone know, is there absolutely no ticketmaster outlet in Sligo anymore and has Star Records closed completely I wonder?

Madge

basquille wrote:

In terms of shops and such... most women find it fantastic (as a man, it could do with a few more men's shops - GadgetShop, HMV etc wouldn't go amiss among the River Island, Next, Paco, Sisley, Jane Norman, Accessories - need i go on? Anyways, i digress!

Structurally it is an absolute joke and design-wise, well it's horrid!

Yeah but river island, next, pull & bear have big mens departments. I think there could definitely be a HMV there, would be great.
What I don't get is why you have to walk through Next to get to the back of the centre, where there's other shops, its a bit stupid..