Tuam, Galway

mrsweebri

Hope so! The layout of oranmore is crap, i agree. I'm hoping the impressive looking piles of rubble near the bridge going down towards the castle are a sign of good change to come.

DenMan

Never in it before. Is it very rural (country)? Sligo is a town (barely), but I'm a Dub living there so used to living in the city. I heard it's supposed to be very nice, a very historical town. Will deffo go and see it in the near future.

MayoForSam

I'm living a few miles out the road from Tuam, it definitely suffers from a lack of decent shops compared to Galway and Claremorris. One recent suggestion of a land swap between the HSE (who own the old Grove hospital) and the owners of the land out on the N17 where Tesco want to locate sounds like a very good idea as it would centralise some much needed development in the town centre. Would be nice to see the railway station given a re-vamp too but not much hope there. The mart is an eyesore too but thats not going anywhere (prime location as well).

Too many empty units in the town by far and the new shopping centre is three-quarters empty. Unfortunately, Tuam missed out the benefits of the Celtic Tiger and the only way is down for the foreseeable future.

The people themselves are fine but we got to know more of our neighbours in 3 months after we moved out of Tuam then we did in 3 years living in one of the new housing estates. Bit of a rowdy youth element in the town at weekends too from what I hear.

Mars Bar

DenMan wrote: »

Never in it before. Is it very rural (country)? Sligo is a town (barely), but I'm a Dub living there so used to living in the city. I heard it's supposed to be very nice, a very historical town. Will deffo go and see it in the near future.

Oranmore or Tuam?
Tuam isn't rural, probably one of the bigger towns of north east galway...
Oranmore is like a satellite town of Galway city, you are ten mins from the city so I wouldn't call it rural either.

Tuam does have a lot of historical content alright...

IrishWhiskeyCha

mars bar wrote: »

Oranmore or Tuam?
Tuam isn't rural, probably one of the bigger towns of north east galway...
Oranmore is like a satellite town of Galway city, you are ten mins from the city so I wouldn't call it rural either.

Tuam does have a lot of historical content alright...

Any town outside the pail is rural according to some

Tuam does suffer from a bad rep and the town does look a bit rough in places. Going back the years there have been a few incidents that have made the headlines. A bit like Limerick which actually has a lower crime rate per population than Dublin or Cork. However I've drank in Tuam a good few times over the years and have yet to encounter any trouble. Sometimes these negative stories become larger than they were as the years go by.

I have more recently spent more time in Oranmore and it can get messy after the late pubs night club closes and sometimes there is an intimidating athmosphere with groups of young lads shouting their drunken heads off but just like tuam I've never encountered any trouble.

The problem for small towns and villages like these is that any trouble is magnified 10 fold ... you can be unlucky and find trouble anywhere

Tinder

lack of decent shops compared to Galway and Claremorris. One recent suggestion of a land swap between the HSE (who own the old Grove hospital) and the owners of the land out on the N17 where Tesco want to locate sounds like a very good idea

Really am not so sure about this, I don't know why people are so hung up on getting Tesco into Tuam, I shop regularly, in fact every weekend in Claremorris with the family and have done for the last 6 years and all the small local shops are really struggling since Aldi and Tesco opened, Freshies organic shop has had to stop stocking there little food stall, the Cafés in the town are all down in business, the shoe shop has had to close, supervalu are not nearly as busy. If a tesco opened in Tuam say goodbye the cloths shops, O'Tooles department store, the shoe shops, Ryan’s cafe, most of the business in the N17 supermarket.

Tesco will decimate Tuam, close down most of the local industry, strip Tuam of it's home grown jobs, and they won't support Irish farming or produce, is this what we really want?

What did Tesco ever do for us that we believe Tuam NEEDS them so much?

Mars Bar

Cost Cutter and Lidl has done nothing to O' Tooles yet...and my God, would I like him to feel the pinch just to bring down some of his prices on the bigger brand stuff...

It's all about competition at the end of the day. I would hate to see some of the smaller shops close, but with or without Tesco, it's happening...

Edit: I'd rather have Dunnes come in then Tesco, their food is nicer.

dec25532

Dunnes much dearer than Tesco and less of a selection. It seems all immaterial now as far as Tuam is concerned. Would hate to see the smaller shops closing though. Still, no one is crying about it despite an election looming. Some of the candidates are mouthing but you would expect that with just a week left to polling day. After that, those who win their cushy seats will sit back and just allow this situation continue. It is about time they were given a bit of a wake up call!!!

sdanseo

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

Tinder

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

Seeing as you only have relatives living relatively close to the town in question I can Categorically state you are wrong! Silly post really, not sure why I replied.

Travellers there are, quite a few in fact, the mayor was a traveller a while back, but most are settled now and could not really be described as travellers.

Any large supermarket that will sell any product a small shop sells will be the closure of smaller shops, you watch Tesco or Dunes or any of the large supermarkets, they will sell CD's and DVD’s, goodbye extra vision, computers, goodbye Fixtech cloths, goodbye Eamon G's, Fallon's ect, they sell kids toys, goodbye the toy shop. I am no great fan of Joe O'Toole but he does sustain the town, employs local people and sells a lot of local produce.

As regards competition, it's already there within 20 mins of Tuam there is a Lidl, Aldi and Tesco and within 45 mins there is Dunnes.

By the way for anyone who is interested the St. Jarlath's Day festival that includes a pagent and street show in association with the very vibrant and energetic Earwig! Arts Group is on on June 6th at 2pm, which starts at the bottom of Shop Street. Come and have a taste of Tuam for yourself and make up your own minds.

T

jkmanc1974

Tinder wrote: »

Really am not so sure about this, I don't know why people are so hung up on getting Tesco into Tuam, I shop regularly, in fact every weekend in Claremorris with the family and have done for the last 6 years and all the small local shops are really struggling since Aldi and Tesco opened, Freshies organic shop has had to stop stocking there little food stall, the Cafés in the town are all down in business, the shoe shop has had to close, supervalu are not nearly as busy. If a tesco opened in Tuam say goodbye the cloths shops, O'Tooles department store, the shoe shops, Ryan’s cafe, most of the business in the N17 supermarket.



Tesco will decimate Tuam, close down most of the local industry, strip Tuam of it's home grown jobs, and they won't support Irish farming or produce, is this what we really want?

What did Tesco ever do for us that we believe Tuam NEEDS them so much?

Tinder - Slightly off topic I know but do you not think there were/are way too many cafes in Claremorris in the first place? You are right though ref Tesco/Aldi killing off the rest of the town big time.....

Brgds
Johnny

Tinder

When I started going to Claremorris I was really only aware of two which we attended regularly, they were Freshies and Aghnas (I think that is how you spell it). As with every town during the tiger lots more cropped up, O'Haires is only there because of Tesco and yes there are probably too many, we found the Clay pot two weeks ago and can highly recommend it, the food is the best in Claremorris and staff are great too.

Hopefully the small independently owned Cafés with the best food will survive, but in my bones I don't think so, history will tell you that the one linked to the supermarket will be the last one standing.

With the belt tightening all cafes in all towns will be affected by latte factor, so yes I suppose you are right maybe there are too many sustainable Café's in Claremorris.

Mars Bar

sdonn wrote: »

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

An ill-informed post if I ever read one...

ManoCornuta

I was born in Dublin, lived in Cyprus and Wicklow, before moving to Connemara, then to Tuam, where I live when I'm not in uni in Dublin.

Gotta agree with sdonn-country folk can be very simple, and Tuam is a hell hole.

Dunno much about travellers, but I do know that there are a lot of idiot drivers in and around Tuam, more so (in my own opinion) than any of the other small towns around Galway that I spend time in.

sdanseo

mars bar wrote: »

An ill-informed post if I ever read one...

More the opinion of someone who spends 3 weeks in the year there. Each to their own but I've witnessed everything I've spoken of.

Mars Bar

sdonn wrote: »

More the opinion of someone who spends 3 weeks in the year there. Each to their own but I've witnessed everything I've spoken of.

As opposed to someone who has lived here 13 years.

You were unfortunate to see all that in your three weeks every year. Most only be the 3 weeks you are around...

Mars Bar

ManoCornuta wrote: »

I was born in Dublin, lived in Cyprus and Wicklow, before moving to Connemara, then to Tuam, where I live when I'm not in uni in Dublin.

Gotta agree with sdonn-country folk can be very simple, and Tuam is a hell hole.

Dunno much about travellers, but I do know that there are a lot of idiot drivers in and around Tuam, more so (in my own opinion) than any of the other small towns around Galway that I spend time in.

You are right about the drivers. They most have picked up some nasty habits going in and out of Galway City. We have to have the worst drivers in the country...

Svalbard

hello_there_jim wrote: »

what ya think of it?
my main thing is, do you think its a town or city?

Are you joking?

Tinder wrote: »

When I started going to Claremorris I was really only aware of two which we attended regularly, they were Freshies and Aghnas (I think that is how you spell it). As with every town during the tiger lots more cropped up, O'Haires is only there because of Tesco and yes there are probably too many, we found the Clay pot two weeks ago and can highly recommend it, the food is the best in Claremorris and staff are great too.

Hopefully the small independently owned Cafés with the best food will survive, but in my bones I don't think so, history will tell you that the one linked to the supermarket will be the last one standing.

With the belt tightening all cafes in all towns will be affected by latte factor, so yes I suppose you are right maybe there are too many sustainable Café's in Claremorris.

Been in Aghna's and the Arch in recent weeks, seem to do quite a busy lunch time trade. Heffernan's Food Store is often busy too, for good reason.

ManoCornuta

hello_there_jim wrote: »

do you think its a town or city?

Small, backwards town. Great rugby though, that's all I care about!

Best thing about tuam is that its an easy place to pass the driving test!

JupiterKid

Tuam must be one of the dingiest, run down, introverted and miserable looking towns I've had the misfortune of visiting. It's such a contrast to the vibrant, open-minded and creative Galway city.:(

However, Tuam is not alone in this regard - Longford, Tipperary town, Athy, Rathkeale, Carrick-On-Suir, Portadown and Dundalk are also kips of the highest order.

Tuam needs a major facelift and general image revamp IMO.

johnnylakes

In my experience Tuam is no different to any town of similar size in this country of ours. I have spent years travelling around Irish and European towns as part of my job (and I work at night). I can say I have not seen seen anything that different in Tuam.
As regards it being 'dodgy', I would say no more than anywhere else in my experience.
The one thing I would say is that there is a HUGE clique vibe to the place! The shams and all that slang/superiority complex thing. Ignorant, Ignorant, Ignorant. It keeps me out of the social 'scene' in Tuam.
I hate it.
And I live there and I have been born and 'reared' in Tuam!

greengreen

mrsweebri wrote: »

I'm very glad that you can all vouch for Tuam as a safe place to go. My impression of Tuam was formed from spending a few months working there. I didn't like the place at all found it dingy and met a few unpleasant characters there. The OP asked what people thought of the place and I gave my impression. If you disagree, great. I live in Oranmore and feel really safe there, so if it is a dodgier place that Tuam then maybe I got the wrong impression of the place. A minority of dodgy people can have that effect, unfortunately.

(For the record, I don't jump on bandwagons, I amn't nimble enough).

Oranmore is a disaster at the weekend. Drinking on the road and the local secondary school has had its windows broken 5 times in two years(all of the windows thousands of euroe of damage). On the other hand many wealthy people live in the Oranmore area so fancy shops open there.
Tuam is not as wealthy but i have the feeling that it is more down to earth. There is a big Polish community there also. It had a bad name 20 years ago but not anymore.
It is also a hotbed of music and new bands. Reapy's bar on a Thursday can be brilliant for trad- Matt Keane Gary Quinn etc..
There is a cute town called Milltown nearby with 2 excellent restaurants.

greengreen

johnnylakes wrote: »

In my experience Tuam is no different to any town of similar size in this country of ours. I have spent years travelling around Irish and European towns as part of my job (and I work at night). I can say I have not seen seen anything that different in Tuam.
As regards it being 'dodgy', I would say no more than anywhere else in my experience.
The one thing I would say is that there is a HUGE clique vibe to the place! The shams and all that slang/superiority complex thing. Ignorant, Ignorant, Ignorant. It keeps me out of the social 'scene' in Tuam.
I hate it.
And I live there and I have been born and 'reared' in Tuam!

Agree with you totally on that. It is really silly , just because you learnrd off a few local sham phrases dosen,t mean anything in thre real world.

Webbs

greengreen wrote: »

Oranmore is a disaster at the weekend. Drinking on the road and the local secondary school has had its windows broken 5 times in two years(all of the windows thousands of euroe of damage). On the other hand many wealthy people live in the Oranmore area so fancy shops open there.
Tuam is not as wealthy but i have the feeling that it is more down to earth. There is a big Polish community there also. It had a bad name 20 years ago but not anymore.
It is also a hotbed of music and new bands. Reapy's bar on a Thursday can be brilliant for trad- Matt Keane Gary Quinn etc..
There is a cute town called Milltown nearby with 2 excellent restaurants.

As with most small towns Oranmore has its good and bad points, it may be a disaster when the pubs spill out after 1ish, but then tell me a place where there is a bit of life and there isnt similar goings on.
After all Oranmore is basically a large village that has some decent pubs and has a club that means it gets fair amount of people coming in from the surrounding area if they dont want to go into Galway
If your not around Oranmore at 1 in the morning then its a great place, some nice shops opening up and hopefull as another poster said some good developments coming down the line (credit crunch permitting!)and maybe sort the parking out which would improve the place no end.
I have lived in similar size places in Ireland and the UK where it is far worse. Is easy enough to avoid any possible trouble which is very rare in any case. (maybe the windows getting broken is a statement on the standard of teaching )

As For Tuam it always strikes me as a pretty run of the mill Irish medium sized town, a bit grey maybe and does seem to have missed out on the Celtic Tiger, but that is only a brief impression from several visits, the only ones who can really comment are those that live there I guess.

greengreen

sdonn wrote: »

Have relatives not far south of Tuam, and I can state caegorically that if you're used to a city, it's a hell-hole. If you like the small town thing, you'll fit in.

Full of travellers who apparently cause a good bit of trouble, idiot drivers who kill people on the N17 and anoying Gardaí who hide in driveways trying to stop them as well as and country folk who seem to be very "simple" - I think the introuction of an Easons scared them realy quite a lot.

Avoid for the next few years till theyve developed it a bit more.

Being one of those country folk outside town i couldn't disagree more. Tuam is one of the most integrated towns in Ireland ans has been held up as a model for others. The schools are fully integrated and the town experiences very little trouble.

Mars Bar

Webbs wrote: »

As with most small towns Oranmore has its good and bad points, it may be a disaster when the pubs spill out after 1ish, but then tell me a place where there is a bit of life and there isnt similar goings on.
After all Oranmore is basically a large village that has some decent pubs and has a club that means it gets fair amount of people coming in from the surrounding area if they dont want to go into Galway
If your not around Oranmore at 1 in the morning then its a great place, some nice shops opening up and hopefull as another poster said some good developments coming down the line (credit crunch permitting!)and maybe sort the parking out which would improve the place no end.
I have lived in similar size places in Ireland and the UK where it is far worse. Is easy enough to avoid any possible trouble which is very rare in any case. (maybe the windows getting broken is a statement on the standard of teaching )

As For Tuam it always strikes me as a pretty run of the mill Irish medium sized town, a bit grey maybe and does seem to have missed out on the Celtic Tiger, but that is only a brief impression from several visits, the only ones who can really comment are those that live there I guess.

Both Tuam and Oranmore have a Cafe Florence! Yummy!

I'm a big Saw Doctors fan and I have met many, many people who have come to the town to see how the lads grew up and love the "old" (dingy to us) feel of the town. The fact we seemed to have missed the Celtic Tiger seems to be a pull factor for some tourists so it is not all bad!

lightening

I have had reason to visit Tuam for a long time now and I find it unfriendly. There is a weird "don't let anyone out in front of you" attitude in traffic too. I am from Dublin and find the people much more welcoming and the pubs much friendlier.

Mars Bar

lightening wrote: »

I have had reason to visit Tuam for a long time now and I find it unfriendly. There is a weird "don't let anyone out in front of you" attitude in traffic too. I am from Dublin and find the people much more welcoming and the pubs much friendlier.

Galway drivers in general are bad drivers, not just Tuam!

Svalbard

johnnylakes wrote: »

I have been 'reared' in Tuam!

Oh my.