Sligo - City or Town

tuppence

Madge wrote:

I don't understand your statement! There's plenty of diversity and venues in Sligo, it depends what your're looking for. I mean for starters, there's a 12 screen cinema, which shows a variety of different movies (foreign movies and the latest blockbusters). Can you really compare a LITTLE MOBILE cinema in Leitrim with Sligo's modern, hi-tech, 12-screen comfy cinema? Not a chance!

Oh dear. I am from Sligo originally you know! Its like a blast from the past.

Anyhow no worries. cant see the diversity in the blockbusters currently
playing the Cinemaplex, saying that i could go to the Carrick multiplex to watch exactly the same. Or else I could watch for example a film about Leonard Cohen at the Mobile cinema as it travels around the countryside to us. You know ye want one really! Dont care for comfy seats and hi tech meself. Not going to go down the diversity angle with the music scene cos its peoples personal preferences but ecletic venues and artists always a good thing. Anyway, thats for a separated thread altogether i would say.
Re: Dont know all the restuarants except one of them is def outside the city/town? Is that not cheating?! Madge, though seriously if you or anyone can recommend me a good curry I would be so grateful. (Know theres a couple of places but want a recommendation)
Also the I.T. organic market is the one that (i believe) is supposed to be moving down. It was certainly the one there on St. Pats. Too isolated out there i suspect. And yes theres another at Market yard! But having a market at the water is that not kinda cute. Could be a good spot for congregating. Covent garden of Sligo.

It seems to be all about definition again. Before we even get to what Sligo is, we donnt know what to expect from a city or a town? We all agree we want diversity then we cant agree what diversity is! Who would be a politician?

muffler

Gillie wrote:

Duely noted! Won't happen again boss.:)

Sarcasm doesn't become you

Madge

tuppence wrote:

Oh dear. I am from Sligo originally you know! Its like a blast from the past.

I'll bet you remember the old cinema though, before it was refurbished?!

tuppence wrote:

Anyhow no worries. cant see the diversity in the blockbusters currently
playing the Cinemaplex, saying that i could go to the Carrick multiplex to watch exactly the same. Or else I could watch for example a film about Leonard Cohen at the Mobile cinema as it travels around the countryside to us.

If you check the 'coming soon' section of the gaiety's site, you'll see there are some foreign films coming up.

tuppence wrote:

Re: Dont know all the restuarants except one of them is def outside the city/town? Is that not cheating?!

Lol, I suppose it is!

tuppence wrote:

Madge, though seriously if you or anyone can recommend me a good curry I would be so grateful. (Know theres a couple of places but want a recommendation)

There's an Indian place on high street that my friend went to, he said it was good. There's one on Pearse Road too beside the bank.

Basq

Madge wrote:

I'll bet you remember the old cinema though, before it was refurbished?!

Ah yes.. the flea-ridden mess in all it's glory, those big-white gates. Hard to forget it!

Madge wrote:

If you check the 'coming soon' section of the gaiety's site, you'll see there are some foreign films coming up.

Their "Coming Soon" is borrowed from a British site (www.cinemas-online.co.uk). Expect to see pretty much none of the foreign movies in the Gaiety.

Madge wrote:

There's an Indian place on high street that my friend went to, he said it was good. There's one on Pearse Road too beside the bank.

The one on Pearse Road ain't great.. have had it a few times. Personal preference of course but never really liked the stuff from there.

Heard the one at the bottom of High Street is quite nice alright.

Oh.. and with regards to the bus service, there's been a couple of mornings where's it been lashing and that bus has been well over it's occupancy. Could barely make it up the hill at back of the hospital. Absolute joke!

gustavo

I would consider Sligo to be a provincial town really , been held back a lot by various factions , probably does have the potential to be a city but is in my opinion nowhere near one yet.

Madge

basquille wrote:

Their "Coming Soon" is borrowed from a British site (www.cinemas-online.co.uk). Expect to see pretty much none of the foreign movies in the Gaiety.

Never knew that, so that's false advertising really :rolleyes:

basquille wrote:

Oh.. and with regards to the bus service, there's been a couple of mornings where's it been lashing and that bus has been well over it's occupancy. Could barely make it up the hill at back of the hospital. Absolute joke!

Very true.. and those buses must be in dire need of updating or getting a service cos when my mother and I went on it- we felt every stop and jerk of the bus and literally got jolted around on the seat!

brianthebard

Gillie wrote:

I think youre figures are right but as I mentioned Kilkenny city has only a population of 8000, 10000 less than Sligo!

Kilkenny was granted city status by Henry the VIII because he had his garrisons stationed there and you can't have the kings men stationed in any auld town!
I think it could soon be a city, but I'm happy thinking of it as a town. I think it has the best of both worlds, lots of services, a couple of theatres, art galleries, music venues, plenty of shops, a nice relaxed attitude without the hustle and bustle of being a city. Only Galway has managed to get bigger and still have that attitude.

randylonghorn

muffler wrote:

I found this - let the debate begin (especially about Kilkenny)

Kilkenny was granted a Royal Charter as a city in 1609 by James I. However, a number of earlier borough charters exist, the earliest from William the Earl Marshall in 1208. This was confirmed by Richard II around 1400. The 1609 charter amalgamated the old borough of Hightown with the borough of Irishtown (which had its charter from the Bishops of Ossory) to constitute the city of Kilkenny.

brianthebard wrote:

Kilkenny was granted city status by Henry the VIII because he had his garrisons stationed there and you can't have the kings men stationed in any auld town!

I don't remember a significant charter from Henry VIII, Brian, but I wouldn't be sure; John Bradley, in the Dept. of History in your place would be the man to ask ... if you have a couple of hours to spare!

A number of Irish Parliaments were held in Kilkenny in the late 13th and the 14th century, indicating its relative importance at that time, with the well-known Statutes of Kilkenny passed there in 1366 ... and of course it was the location for the Confederate Parliament from 1642 - 1649. The presence of the Butlers of Ormonde, who were Lord Deputies of Ireland on many occasions, tended to add to its status as a locus of political power.

After almost 400 years as a city, its status was affirmed by Section 10(7) of the 2001 Local Government Act:

This section is without prejudice to the continued use of the description city in relation to Kilkenny, to the extent that that description was used before the establishment day and is not otherwise inconsistent with this Act.

I guess it would have been somewhat difficult to deprive it of city status after that length of time! However, it does not have full administrative status as a city, and is administered by a borough council.

Seanies32 wrote:

Remember reading somwhere that Kilkenny has a very small town/city boundary so it makes the population seem very small.

This is true, though it is unlikely that it would reach anywhere near the 30,000 mentioned earlier even if the boundaries were altered.

brianthebard wrote:

I think it has the best of both worlds, lots of services, a couple of theatres, art galleries, music venues, plenty of shops, a nice relaxed attitude without the hustle and bustle of being a city. Only Galway has managed to get bigger and still have that attitude.

All true ... though while Kilkenny is a lively place in the summer, it can be very dead in winter. Unfortunately the Butler's original idea of gifting Kilkenny Castle for the setting up of a new university in the middle of the last century came to naught (though they did later gift it to the city, and it has become a major tourist attraction). Later, the new RTCs (Institiutes of Technology as they now are) went to Waterford and to Carlow. A third-level institution in Kilkenny would have been the making of the place ... it would have most likely have developed as Galway has, though probably not on the same scale.

donegalman1

Would not like this to become a Kilkenny piece!

Talking about Sligo, I wouldn't really rate the lead singer from a band that got their fame from a piece on Eurovision and never did anything since a sign of diversity. (Liam form Hot House Flowers) I mean the clubs are twenty years behind time (Music wise and with the exception of Velvet in every way). If you are talking about the Irish ways of doing things, no one contributes to the local radio station except polical parties or those with a political point to make. Where is the social fabric in this town. No One seems to express their opinion even in the old fashioned ways. I'll bet we have more contibutors from the Finn Valley area than sligo 'city'

Sligo has had its political and business problems as far as I can see but it does deserve much better. It reminds me of that ad where they ask 'any barbers where you come from boy' attitude.

I pose the question has anyone ever tried anything different and being knocked down or has it just been like this all the time.#

If they have tried and failed then your city status question is answered.

Supposing I asked where you would experience anything of an international flavour, be it music or culture. No one does house music which dominates the UK and international charts. While we knock it Donegal has benefited from its northern influence. A multi screen cinema means sqat now,you can rent better DVDs and probably download better films. If Sligo is boasting a multiplex cinema then it has a lot to learn.

conaire

there are 5 cities in the republic.
Dublin,Cork,Limerick,Galway,Waterford.
These are the only entitled cities under irish law.
In the case of Kilkenny it has no legal standing, it is an honuary title.
Untill recent years Waterford was the fourth largest urban centre untill
Galway expanded.However Waterford remains Irelands oldest city.

Madge

Well it seems the masses have spoken according to the poll- it's a town.. BUT only for the time being!

Gillie

Madge wrote:

Well it seems the masses have spoken according to the poll- it's a town.. BUT only for the time being!

That's the spirit!;)
When posting this poll I wanted to see what opinion was. My own personal opinion is that it is a fast (sometimes very slow) growing town that possibly could/should be a city.

I wonder if someone will be posting a similar poll in relation to Letterkenny in a few years as it is growing so fast.

K-9

Sligo, Letterkenny etc.etc. are getting bigger but then so are other provincial towns/capitals and of course the cities.

Maybe there is an arguement that a city should have a population of say 40/50,000 minimum to just reflect the growing population/economic activity etc.

il gatto

Sligo was incorporated as a Borough by Charles I in 1609 by grant of charter. A borough is a town with limited autonomy such as electing a mayor and borough council. It was also considered a "Cathedral City", but such status is not really appropriate in this age as centuaries ago, towns rarely reached the size of modern day Sligo, so any town of reasonable size with a Cathedral was considered a city.
For some perspective, we should look outside of Ireland. Rotherham in Yorkshire, for example has an urban population of 117,000+ and a total borough population of nearly 250,000, and yet is considered a town.
There are other examples worldwide of inappropriate city status such as Vatican City, so it's not just an Irish quirk.
Armagh City is not much more than half Sligo's size and Kilkenny is also consirably smaller. I fail to see Sligo's obcession with it's classification.
To be honest, I feel Sligo always felt like a glorified market town, which has, in recent years taken on a much more metropolitan feel. But any town where so many people are known to one another, and notoriety is so easy to come by, does not feel like a city. And any town that cannot build a bypass or ring road, cannot provide a public toilet and will not allow out of town grocery shopping has no right to call itself a city. The Borough Council should concentrate on providing the things that any well managed town can provide, instead of wasting time debating their status and bemoaning a lack of government support on the issue.

brianthebard

Gillie wrote:

That's the spirit!;)
When posting this poll I wanted to see what opinion was. My own personal opinion is that it is a fast (sometimes very slow) growing town that possibly could/should be a city.

I wonder if someone will be posting a similar poll in relation to Letterkenny in a few years as it is growing so fast.

I think in the last five years it has grown tremendously. Partly because I'm away at college so I don't see the town every week but you can really feel the changes I think. The new tattoo parlour is a case in point, a few years ago the only place that did tattoos had a rep for doing names wrong! now there's a lovely shop on high street. I know a lot of people were annoyed when the new traffic system was put in place but I think its really made the town a nicer place to walk around and enjoy, especially O'Connell st. Unfortunately the mall is pretty dead as a result but the only places of interest really on that street are the second hand bookshop and the art gallery so its not so bad. So in terms of growth and diversity at least I think Sligo is expanding all the time.

Whether it should be called a city or a town is mainly an ego thing in a lot of ways. I think being listed as a gateway did have an impact and that's what we should concentrate on. People are comparing Sligo to cities in England on this thread but what does that serve to achieve? Even Dublin is small on that scale. Let's concentrate on making Sligo better and in a few years it will be clear if its become a city.

Madge

brianthebard wrote:

I know a lot of people were annoyed when the new traffic system was put in place but I think its really made the town a nicer place to walk around and enjoy, especially O'Connell st. Unfortunately the mall is pretty dead as a result but the only places of interest really on that street are the second hand bookshop and the art gallery so its not so bad.

The Mall is the student part of town. The business premises around that part of town such as the pubs, pharmacy, few shops and hairdressers /barbers cater for students mainly. There's always students around there at weekdays and weeknights so it's not really 'dead'!

brianthebard

Ah right I only really see it on weekends. The internet cafe on Stephen st is always busy so I know there wasn't a loss of business on their part at least!

il gatto

I compared Sligo to towns in England, because it puts into perspective what many people want to call a city. I didn't compare it to English cities, just a town which is not even particularly important.
I hope Sligo will become a city in the future, but as it stands, a visit to a proper city makes you realise how small Sligo really is. It's a big fish in the small pond of the north west and I don't think that should mean it deserves city status, just because othr towns in it's vicinity are smaller.

AlmightyCushion

At the moment I feel it is a town but a town well on it's way to receiving city status.

JIZZLORD

as a sligo person i'm going to have to say that it's a town. though it's a big one. I dont know how to explain my choice, but as i cycled through the centre of galway on my way to salthill this thread popped into mind and how sligo lacked different development.

Gillie

JIZZLORD wrote:

as a sligo person i'm going to have to say that it's a town. though it's a big one. I dont know how to explain my choice, but as i cycled through the centre of galway on my way to salthill this thread popped into mind and how sligo lacked different development.

Galway has a lot more Industry and big business atm not to mention the Uni there.

In fairness a lot of it is Sligo's own fault. Infastructure was/is seriously lacking.
Things are improving slightly but at a snails pace at times.:(