Athy. Biggest kip in Kildare???

JupiterKid

No intention to offend anyone but I have found Athy to be very run down, unfriendly and deprived.

I think it would contend for one of the worst towns in Ireland - along with Tipp town, Longford, Tuam and Dundalk.

Tilt Gone

Just to add fuel to the fire again. more shots fired into a house in castle park. god help the decent people that have to live in that **** hole.

irishturkey

I have no experience of living in Athy but after 4 years in Kilmeague, I find it hard to believe that Athy can be worse. Kilmeague, a mere bend in the road, suffers with incredible anti-social behaviour, an astonishing drugs problemn for a village of its size and a general clannishness that makes it seriously unwelcoming to outsiders. I met a guy last week and was telling him that I lived there for a while and he looked at me like I had 4 heads, thats teh reaction that Kilmeague brings out in people.

ScaryMary

ronaneire wrote: »

Athy seems to be a town that didn't do too well during Irelands boom times/celtic tiger.
.

This is because it's a "Heritage Town" and every single time someone has tried to build something or change something it has been objected to, for example, inner relief road or the outer relief road, or the second bridge or when Dunnes (which then went to newbridge) wanted to come to athy in the 80s-90s - all stopped.

And like others have said, the town hasn't used its resources, e.g. White's castle, which the owner wanted to sell to council back before the boom or even the river and barrow.

blacksmith105

hold the phone ... just reading some of these comments on people who past through the town and suddenly call it a kip..
I have passed through plenty of towns that look like a kip and you would still pay a small fortune to buy a house in it but i am sure if i had bothered to stop and look around i would form a better opinion

I have lived in athy for ten years now having moved here to buy a house , moved from Bray co wicklow where we had our house broken into twice and had two cars stolen and that was in the good part of Bray
Now If there are any people from bray reading this .. now thats a town we can call a kip

Athy is small and yes it lacks proper shopping and leisure facilities but then again everything is on the doorstep , whitewater shopping is 20 mins away ,carlow is only down the road etc etc etc ..
Never had a single problem in Athy in the past 10 years TG , Athy is a heritage town so development work is slow but it has everything you need to get by day to day , also fantastic walks in the woods outside Athy and canal side walks are very safe dont know where u got gansgs looking for trouble
Seen some young lasds near the hourse bridge drinking but they are not looking for a fight then say hello and never any major problems
Main problems with Athy happen lat Sat night outside Supermacs but that happens in most towns on a Saturday night
You can still buy a nice brand new 3 bed house in athy with front and rear gardens for 115 k
Some great pubs here and nice takeaways , also how come most of Dublin have moved here over the past 10 years if its such a kip
The house we bought here 10years ago would have cost me 3 times what i paid in athy and therefore we are no where near negitive equity where other towns are suffering massive

Yeah it aint Monte Carlo but then again so what I like living here

Tilt Gone

Any know what happened down near the Cosy Bar last night. Seen the cops chasing two fellas down the lane and up by the back of Murphys Pub?

Fatal Except1on

Hate to dig up a thread thats a few months old, but I was annoyed at what I had read and needed to voice my opinion.

I'm from the Ballyfin side of Portlaoise, Co. Laois. I spent most of my time living in Ballyfin, then Mountmellick and finally, when I moved away from home + family, I lived in Portlaoise.

I have many friends in Portlaoise. The night life is good craic, the people are fun, plenty to do, etc. I'd consider myself a pleasant, respectable chap and I've never went looking for trouble - however, I've seen plenty of it in Portlaoise and Mountmellick, not to mention other towns. In my few years of living in Portlaoise I've had my nose broken twice, been robbed, had my house robbed, had my car broken into, been started on by gangs of people in the park, been jumped and beaten when I was on crutches walking home, been attacked with baseball bats late at night, been stabbed once in the arm, etc. However, since I lived in the town I accepted it as the norm, and figured all towns were like that.

3 years ago I moved to Athy, (my girlfriend at the time was from outside Athy). I lived on the Stradbally side of the town, near Castle Park. I had always heard absolute horror stores about Athy when I lived in Portlaoise. Stories of drugs and knife attacks etc etc. Now, the Castle Park region of Athy IS BAD. But not because the Town is 'a kip', it's bad because of a few feuding people trying to control the drugs in the area. A few bad apples as they say. And the gardai will not intervene, because they dont have the man-power, etc. Because of the 'bad apples' many things have happened in the Castle Park region recently, i.e shooting, knife attacks, etc. But the victims werent 100% random, they were members of feuding families and friends.

It is completely ridiculous, and unfair, for anyone who knows absolutely NOTHING about the town to label it a kip. Before I lived here, because of the stories I thought I was going to hate it, and I only moved here because my girlfriend didnt want to live in Portlaoise (as she too had heard stories about my home town... - see the cycle there?).

Anyway, to end my rant:

I have never been attacked in Athy.
I have never been robbed.
Nobody has so much as LOOKED at me the wrong way.
I know of none of my friends here that have been intimidated.
I have been to most pubs in the town, seen a few scraps, but never been 'started on'.
I have never seen anyone skating on roofs, wtf?
The church door was not set on fire by vandals - it was set on fire by ONE MAN who had a grudge against the Church because he was apparently molested by a priest, or something similar.
I've lived both sides of the town, yes, traffic is bad, but what can you do. There is a new motorway connection now that alleviates a lot of the traffic flow problems.

I have never, ever, in any town that I've been/lived in met so many people who are pleasant to talk to. In shops people are uber friendly, in pubs people are the same. There is no feeling of hostility that I got in bigger towns, i.e Portlaoise, Carlow, etc.

I've made some new friends from the locality, I now live in a very close-knit estate where all my neighbours know me. I am also happily married to an Athy girl, and left my job in Portlaoise 2 years ago to work in a local business here, which I love. I've never been happier.

The only thing I disliked a lot about Athy was the fact that 'stuff to do' was limited. There are plenty of pubs (Murphy's, Clancy's etc to name a few) plenty of places to eat, a local dramatic society, etc. However, no cinema, or other types of amenities. There are gyms, swimming pools, etc which is good. And a very nice park which I frequently use for walking.

Again, apologies for the long rant, but I was very annoyed at what I read and had to correct a few things that were said by people.

Regards

Optimus Prime

I live in Athy myself and have never had any issues, here 4 years, kids go to school here etc and all is good. dont see what the problem is, there are bad people everywhere.

one issue is the water going all the time, i havent had water since 4 days before christmas, its a pain in the hole. cant do anything.

Fatal Except1on

Aye, havent had water here myself for a few days

Realtine

I always thought it was a massisve kip - I currently live in Ballyfermot and it still doesn't beat Athy and that's saying something - I left Athy 24 years ago and rarely look back, having been reared and educated in the place.
I practically close my eyes driving through it these days on the RARE occassions I have to go back to visit family, thankfully they live on the outskirts of the town so I dont have to endure too much of it.
I hated it as a teenager, got out as soon as I was old enough and have never regretted it....

Optimus Prime

Im the opposite, im from Ballyfermot! I grew up there and although it is a great place i grew up with robbed cars etc its not as bad these days but i can still think of at least 3 shootings there in the last year and half the people i went to school with have been\are in prison. Bad and good people everywhere.

Fatal Except1on

Realtine, you cant pass judgement on a town you left almost quarter of a century ago. Athy was in a bad state in the time period you were here - hole in the wall gang, etc etc.

Times have been a-changin'!

Realtine

Fatal Except1on wrote: »

Realtine, you cant pass judgement on a town you left almost quarter of a century ago. Athy was in a bad state in the time period you were here - hole in the wall gang, etc etc.

Times have been a-changin'!

I know, I know, I just don't have any loyal memories of the place as I sometimes think I should, you know, it actually being my 'home town' - I do still visit on occassion a couple of times a year but I just wouldn't want to live there any more. Actually the first time I read this thread about Athy being a kip the first thing that came to mind was the hole in the wall gang... I just hated the place back then and I suppose my feeling haven't changed since though I still say I come from Athy to people and I still got the accent (sorta)

Realtine

keithgeo wrote: »

Im the opposite, im from Ballyfermot! I grew up there and although it is a great place i grew up with robbed cars etc its not as bad these days but i can still think of at least 3 shootings there in the last year and half the people i went to school with have been\are in prison. Bad and good people everywhere.

I have to honestly say Keitheo that I've lived in Ballyfermot now for 14 years and I think I live in the quietest part as I've rarely seen any trouble, I know it's there though - but like you said, it's everywhere these days. I do remember Ballyfermot in the 80's as my other half is local and it definitely was a different place back then, I'm happy enough to be here though.

load1234

Not using eggs now they are using oranges, they
rub, polish oranges on your house late at night. Garda do
not do their job, they do not have the neccessary technology
so they quit, look busy. The government are trying to run down
athy, there is not enough garda at night time if any at all. The
government offices in athy just tell people to go away lack of interest
TD bank accounts are full.

load1234

Fatal_exception it takes a few years to find you,
they attack weak, poor people, simplely people who
are not able to defend themselves. The garda
just laugh at poor people who need help.

lil_lisa

load1234 wrote: »

The government are trying to run down
athy

load1234 wrote: »

The garda
just laugh at poor people who need help.

load1234, where are you getting your information from? These are big accusations!

load1234

Comes from Police, Newspapers and videos.

There is only 2 police officers on night
duty how would they stop a gang of 6 attacking
a house they have no chance. The police do not
have the neccessary technology to catch people
wearing hoods covering faces. There is a waiting
list of 8 months for legal support for the poor. You
are likely to be dumped immediately.

A police officer house was burned on newspaper.
What would happen if the house was owned by
a old guy good chance he would be dead.

I have contacted police over 20 times they have
losted material, sometimes did not turn up,
would not give me there name, would not allow
me to make a complaint. Provide me with no
protection, they have no idea how to stop
the attacks. Would not do patrols because
they only have 2 officiers. I am not allow
to access records kept by police I wanted to
check for completeness. Asked for records
after attack they just smiled.

homerhop

If you have issues with the Garda have you reported your complaints?
Report your complaints here...
http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

load1234

Thousands of people have problems.

Ombudsmans do not follow basic human rights laws which
means they have no value.
Ombudsmans tell lies to cover up civil service
crime, banking crime so you would need a solictor
who has experience in the area.

The problem is the government supports crime.
Takes years to catch them so Crime grows and grows
A cancer in government. Police take orders from government.

homerhop

load1234 wrote: »

Thousands of people have problems.

Ombudsmans do not follow basic human rights laws which
means they have no value.
Ombudsmans tell lies to cover up civil service
crime, banking crime so you would need a solictor
who has experience in the area.

The problem is the government supports crime.
Takes years to catch them so Crime grows and grows
A cancer in government. Police take orders from government.

Your not related to Jim Corr by any chance :rolleyes:

BuffyBot

Please only post things which actually make some semblance of sense and are actually specifically relevant to the topic. This isn't the place for general rambling/conpiracy theories.

LeixlipRed

Shock horror, police protect big business and government! Sure isn't that their sole purpose??

BuffyBot

Don't feed the trolls. Can we bring this vaguely towards the topic again?

thejigsaw

I was born in athy and I lived there until til I was twenty four. athy is a horrible place that has been choked to death by greedy business owners ( i.e. shaws ), stupid counsel members and families that would be more at home in a zoo than a supposedly civilized community. If you live in athy and you've never had any problems its probably because you live in a bubble thats based in one of the new housing estates.

Because of my line of work I still see a lot of athy and believe me when I say drugs and crime are rife in the place.

91011

thejigsaw wrote: »

I was born in athy and I lived there until til I was twenty four. athy is a horrible place that has been choked to death by greedy business owners .

I'd agree with that. If certain people complained & objected less, Athy would both have a by pass and additional shopping services and a vibrant business park. (I moved out because customers would not suffer Athy traffic and I know 3 other businesses who walked away from units in the business park because of traffic)

homerhop

Every town/village/rural area has its black spots and problem families,do you think Carlow, Portlaois, Kildare town etc are any better?

Buisness wise I totally agree with you. The only time I shop in Athy is to get a few quick groceries or some fastfood.

Again with regards to drugs and crime, it is a nation wide problem that is no different in any town. I still think it was a hell of a lot tougher in the late 70's and 80's than what it is now.
Try growing up in a place where people were looking to get away from Clonmullion and Castle Park and were offered new houses, said no it was better where they were. :eek:

Come on Eileen

Eeeek, i just booked three nights in the Carlton in Athy for june to go to the curragh racing. Got a good deal on the hotel. Think I will be staying in the hotel or driving to areas around Athy rather than in athy from reading the above. Anything good to say about the place!

Optimus Prime

Dont mind all this talk! I live in athy the last 3 years and its grand, that hotel is just around the corner from me and is lovely.

Rabidlamb

Come on Eileen wrote: »

Eeeek, i just booked three nights in the Carlton in Athy for june to go to the curragh racing. Got a good deal on the hotel. Think I will be staying in the hotel or driving to areas around Athy rather than in athy from reading the above. Anything good to say about the place!

It's already too late, you'll be sodomized then burned to death before your head hits the pillow.
Then they'll string you up & make it look like one of those celebrity adventure choke **** that go wrong.
Or you could have a grand weekend, either way I hope it goes well.

Seriously, the town is fine just a bit run down, the hotel is nice however.