Athlone City.????

holidayhere

I have travelled through Athlone over several years.
I marvel at the improvements.
It used to be a bit of a one horse town, with the horse being the Prince of Wales hotel. They now have several top class hotels, and lots more top class developments.
Is it a town council, or chamber of commerce who drive this change.?
You normally find one or two key people behind this type of progress.
Well done to Athlone.
Other large towns should take note.

veryangryman

holidayhere wrote: »

Other large towns should take note.

Yes. yes they should. The following are noteworthy examples

Naas
Mullingar
Portlaoise
Tralee

Similar size places and apparent "regional centres" but between them, all they have is one college, some soon to be closed hospitals and a road to Dublin to justify the high cost of living in them.

That said, the number of people who diss Athlone is unbelievable. I dismiss these sort as negative neddies as i think they would say similar if they lived in Las Vegas.

For a town of its size, Ath has quite alot going for it

roosterman71

I could have predicted that response veryangryman.

But why would Mullingar/Naas/Portlaise need a college?

Mullingar is an hour from Dublin and closer to Maynooth. Also its near Athlone which has a college. Naas has Dublin just up the road, and Carlow a few miles away, and also Maynooth. Portlaoise has Carlow. So how many colleges do we need? There's enough places churning out idiots without more making it easier for said idiots to get degrees.

That is all. For now

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

I could have predicted that response veryangryman.

But why would Mullingar/Naas/Portlaise need a college?

Mullingar is an hour from Dublin and closer to Maynooth. Also its near Athlone which has a college. Naas has Dublin just up the road, and Carlow a few miles away, and also Maynooth. Portlaoise has Carlow. So how many colleges do we need? There's enough places churning out idiots without more making it easier for said idiots to get degrees.

That is all. For now

By that reasoning, Athlone is ~ an hour from Galway/Maynooth.

Anyways, the original poster mentioned the one-horse town problem that the place used to have. The streetscape of it has improved alot in recent years. Have finally used the potential of the Shannon to blend in nicely with it too. And the Left Bank area is flooded to the gills with tourists at weekends

roosterman71

Granted. Then your not comparing like with like. None of the other towns mentioned have a natural amenity such as the Shannon or lakes. So Athlone has an advantage. They use this to gain tourism euros. If they didn't, they should be shot.

Tralee uses the fact that its in Kerry and is quite successful at the tourism. In fact, I'd say Tralee to be a better all round place than Athlone.

Naas has better night life. Portlaise/Athlone/Mullinagr are all on a par in the night life stakes - pretty rubbish

holidayhere

Nightlife is just one aspect of it.
I predict it will be the next City in Ireland.
Just a pit the Shannon did not run across the country.

roosterman71

holidayhere wrote: »

Nightlife is just one aspect of it.
I predict it will be the next City in Ireland.
Just a pit the Shannon did not run across the country.

Your joking aren't ya? What would make Athlone a city? Granted its a moderate sized town, much the same as plenty of others. But whats in Athlone to indicate it will be a city?

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

Your joking aren't ya? What would make Athlone a city? Granted its a moderate sized town, much the same as plenty of others. But whats in Athlone to indicate it will be a city?

It lacks a Cathedral, something that makes Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford (which dont have that much else going for them) cities

Plus the fact that most of the population now live in Suburbs like Monksland and Moydrum has put the towns official population down to smaller levels

So this time, i will agree with the Rooster.

roosterman71

Why thank you veryangryman

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

Why thank you veryangryman

There is a "thanks" button on the right of my post that you have verbally thanked.

Click it. It will make your life richer for it

roosterman71

Indeed there is and I am fully aware of it. I just wanted to express my gratitude in words. Clicking a button is so pre-George Lee

Now, back to the topic, Athlone won't become a city. A few moderate hotels, a college, 1 decent shopping centre (Golden Island) and 1 complete waste (Town Centre) will count against the town. Add to the narrow streets the lack of parking and crap town centre means there is nothing much to bring people in.

Saruman

It seems some residents think being called a city is good for business.

I think Athlone is a lovely place and would not mind living there, I prefer it to my nearest large town of Mullingar. The river makes the difference to be honest.
You can say all the negative things you like about Limerick for instance but at the end of the day down by the river is lovely.

Onikage

roosterman71 wrote: »

Now, back to the topic, Athlone won't become a city. A few moderate hotels, a college, 1 decent shopping centre (Golden Island) and 1 complete waste (Town Centre) will count against the town. Add to the narrow streets the lack of parking and crap town centre means there is nothing much to bring people in.

Sounds like you just 90% described Dublin city centre.

Having travelled a bit, I feel cities are a bit sad in Ireland.

mr_edge_to_you

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

roosterman71

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

+1 to that

veryangryman

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

If thats the case, then fukcit, we dont need city status

Supermacs FTW!

BoB_BoT

jesus, we don't need an eddie rockets. Anyone remember the place in the middle of town, had a similar theme to eddie rockets. On the way to the town center (near the civic center side).

Anyway, would the town becoming a city really do it any good? I doubt it, sure isn't it only a difference in title. The college may eventually become a University, but... that's still a long way off. There's a lot of work to be done on the actual town, such as rejuvenating the Connaught side, sorting out the center of town in particular the bottleneck and traffic flow issues.

It's going to take a serious amount of foresight to get it right, so give the council time to get it right Doesn't matter to me if the town gets upgraded to city status, it'd still be Athlone

Anyways, the town is grand, "expanding" it by putting in poxy chainstores has zero appeal to me. Better to build up what's there and maybe generate our own viral shops

Onikage

Nail on the head there Bob. Your surname wouldn't be Shakespeare by any chance?

I'd hold off on even thinking about the city title until it gets:

Good facilities on the lake without spoiling it
A decent promenade on the river
Parks, and I don't mean a patch a grass where no-one has built an ugly house yet
A sensible traffic plan for alleviating the bottlenecks (no more crazy one ways, thanks)
Recycling facilities that don't encourage you to drive to them
Public transport that can actually get you to places you want to go
A decent size hall for concerts/events
Quite a few more bins, especially the 50/50 recycling type
A hospital wouldn't hurt
An attractive environment for companies making medium to long term strategic plans (file Google under missed opportunities)
About 10 times the population (see above)

Councillors? Personally I think there should be a minumum requirement for them to be able master Sim City before letting them loose on Real Athlone. At least that way we'd know they could do a good job, in theory.

Just so I don't seem overwhelmingly negative, there are a few positives that come to mind:

The restaurants are great
The sports facilities have come a long way
The college might become a University if some bright spark decides all the IoT's should be "upgraded" to make them more marketable internationally

holidayhere

veryangryman wrote: »

It lacks a Cathedral, something that makes Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford (which dont have that much else going for them) cities

Plus the fact that most of the population now live in Suburbs like Monksland and Moydrum has put the towns official population down to smaller levels

So this time, i will agree with the Rooster.

The old definition of a City was that it had a Cathedral.
I think the new one is to do with population.
Not sure that Kilkenny or Sligo are classified as cities.??

roosterman71

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

holidayhere

roosterman71 wrote: »

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

That was also my undertanding.
Population is the key now.

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

I think Kilkenny was downgraded to a town due to population drop a few years back. Sligo was never a city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

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

holidayhere

veryangryman wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

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

Quoting Wikipedia hardly proves the point.
Tuam used to be classed as the smallest city in the world.
Actually has two Cathedrals.

roosterman71

veryangryman wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny

Both clearly marked as cities.

Population is irrelevant. See St Davids in Wales with 2,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s


Yes i know wiki can get it wrong sometimes. A Cathedral doesnt always make a place a city. Look at Tuam

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

In Kilkennys wiki it says it "Is a city nd traditional county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland." So is it a city or town? A few years ago it was definitely classed as a town due to the population. It didn't stop people calling it a city either.

From my school days, the cities in Ireland not including the north) were:
Dublin
Galway
Limerick
Cork
Waterford
Kilkenny

Now Kilkenny has gone. Up north a couple of years ago, Newry exceeded the population limit for a town and became a city.

holidayhere

roosterman71 wrote: »

In Kilkennys wiki it says it "Is a city nd traditional county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland." So is it a city or town? A few years ago it was definitely classed as a town due to the population. It didn't stop people calling it a city either.

From my school days, the cities in Ireland not including the north) were:
Dublin
Galway
Limerick
Cork
Waterford
Kilkenny

Now Kilkenny has gone. Up north a couple of years ago, Newry exceeded the population limit for a town and became a city.

There is probably some government or county council website that states exactly which is a city or town.
Saying it is in Wiki does not carry any weight. That's a bit like saying you heard it in the pub (late at night).

roosterman71

I as pooh-poohing the previous posters argument based on "facts" from wikipedia.

My comments are based on what I learned in school, heard on the radio/tv. Or was told by my sister who lives there.

yoursaviour1989

veryangryman wrote: »

By that reasoning, Athlone is ~ an hour from Galway/Maynooth.

Maynooth is less than an hour from Athlone

veryangryman

yoursaviour1989 wrote: »

Maynooth is less than an hour from Athlone

I want you to get into a car on Church Street Athlone and drive to the front entrance to Maynooth college at the permittable speed limits.

Time it. My moneys on it taking more than an hour

God i hate these fkn idiots who say ridiculous statements like this and the more infamous "Newrys an hour from Dublin". Yeah maybe the M50/M1 interchange to the roundabout, but what about the rest of the journey (not counting the traffic) smartarse

veryangryman

Route Planner (From Athlone to Maynooth)

Time: 1 hr 20 min
Total Distance (Km): 103.32

One must always note that Town Centre to Town Centre, (even if 95% of the route is Motorway) does mean slowing down when entering/leaving urban area

IPushButtons

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

It doesn't have an Eddie Rockets. Regardless of your opinion on prices a city must have an Eddie Rockets to be a real city!

Make IQ test mandatory :rolleyes:

yoursaviour1989

veryangryman wrote: »

I want you to get into a car on Church Street Athlone and drive to the front entrance to Maynooth college at the permittable speed limits.

Time it. My moneys on it taking more than an hour

God i hate these fkn idiots who say ridiculous statements like this and the more infamous "Newrys an hour from Dublin". Yeah maybe the M50/M1 interchange to the roundabout, but what about the rest of the journey (not counting the traffic) smartarse

Im in college in Maynooth and drive it regularly