Waterford Town

abouttobebanned

This, is what I wished we were called.

We are not benefiting in anyway by being a "city" and by being compared to the likes of Cork, Galway and Dublin. These are proper cities in my opinion and let me tell you why. (I have never been to Limerick in my adult years so can't say much about it)

Diversity is accepted and encouraged. No matter what your interests are, you'll find something to suit your tastes in one of these cities. Take the night club industry for a second - if you like techno, house, grunge, rock, hip hop, charts...you'll have a home in Galway, Dublin and Cork. In Waterford, we have specialist house places and then every other place is commercial. People in waterford say that they want diversity, but they don't actually support it if someone has a go at facilitating them.

The Spraoi is one of Waterford's most important resources...so much so that it's recognised as being so by the other cities and they are constantly trying to use their skills to enrich their own city-centres. We take it for granted though...each year they try and raise some money to keep their efforts going, and each year I'm told their pleas fall on deaf ears.

Take a look at this
http://www.tntmagazine.com/travel/destinations/europe/ireland/feature/Around-the-towns.aspx

An international view of the top five cities in Ireland. Waterford, rightfully, is not there.

To me, a "city" that dies at 5:30 in the afternoon is not a city at all.

If it wasn't for students (and they're not going out much anymore either) the town would be dead midweek. The weekends are starting to die as well.

People will blame the pubs and clubs for not offering enough or being too expensive...believe me, if they thought people would come out to see it they'd put on whatever you want. And even the city-centre pubs are doing what they can to decrease the price of drinks, although there are a few that could really do a lot more. (but that's a conversation for another time)

Is waterford suffering from the recession more than other places? To me it looks like they are. I think that there are people living in WAterford that have the enthusiasm, foresight and creativity to make exciting things happen but do you know why they don't? You guessed it, it would be wasted on the people of Waterford who seem to spend all their time giving out about their own homeplace instead of helping to make it better, helping to make it a worthy "city".

Right now, at this moment in time I think Kilkenny is more worthy of the title "city" than we are.

Mossy Monk

Do the buses still not run on a Sunday? That for me is ridiculous.

Adyx

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Do the buses still not run on a Sunday? That for me is ridiculous.

Only the Tramore bus runs on Sundays. Although wasn't there a Sunday service put on this time last year?

AdMMM

While I agree that a lot of Waterford people think that we are simply a glorified town, it's an attitude we simply cannot be seen to be publicly adapting. Despite our shortcomings as a city (of which there are countless amounts), we need to join together and figure out how to promote Waterford in the best way possible. A negative outlook will only drag Waterford further into the dregs.

What kills me is that there's only one pub in Waterford City Centre (The Gingerman). I can think of no other town or city in Ireland where this is the case with the vast majority having a combination of pubs, cafes and shops on all their main streets. Whether we like it or not, pubs are the centre of Irish culture and a sure way of keeping people in the CBD after business hours.

Should Egans or The Stand still be open, Waterford would be a completely different city at night i.e. it'd have people in it. While I'm not sure of the circumstances surrounding the closure of The Stand, I know that Egans was still making more money than most other pubs in Waterford when it closed. The temptation of a multi-million euro offer was too much to ignore especially considering the widespread, and in hindsight false, belief that the smoking ban was going to decimate the licensed trade

gscully

AdMMM wrote: »

While I agree that a lot of Waterford people think that we are simply a glorified town, it's an attitude we simply cannot be seen to be publicly adapting. Despite our shortcomings as a city (of which there are countless amounts), we need to join together and figure out how to promote Waterford in the best way possible. A negative outlook will only drag Waterford further into the dregs.

What kills me is that there's only one pub in Waterford City Centre (The Gingerman). I can think of no other town or city in Ireland where this is the case with the vast majority having a combination of pubs, cafes and shops on all their main streets. Whether we like it or not, pubs are the centre of Irish culture and a sure way of keeping people in the CBD after business hours.

Should Egans or The Stand still be open, Waterford would be a completely different city at night i.e. it'd have people in it. While I'm not sure of the circumstances surrounding the closure of The Stand, I know that Egans was still making more money than most other pubs in Waterford when it closed. The temptation of a multi-million euro offer was too much to ignore especially considering the widespread, and in hindsight false, belief that the smoking ban was going to decimate the licensed trade

Fully agree with the OP, but also with you! However, what can WE do about it?

The city centre is Waterford's biggest flaw, and not just for the lack of pubs. John Roberts Square should be the biggest catchment area of footfall, but what shops in that square would attract you? Can you honestly say that you could do all of your Christmas shopping there? In other cities, the main street is full of attractive shops. We have a decent stretch of street, light in traffic, from Michael St to the Apple Market, but no shops worth going into. That whole main area from the sqaure up is flooded with mobile phones shops, fast food takeaways and shoe shops!

Egans and the Stand are sorely missed alright. You still have that pub across from the Stand, but does it do any business?

There's just nothing to attract people to the city centre, and that is sad.

Woodgate

gscully wrote: »

You still have that pub across from the Stand

No you don't, no pub across from the Stand, DaVinci's is closed for ages, well over a year prob 2 years

abouttobebanned

And at the moment the pub industry is probably something that only a mad man would want to get into, in this town anyway.

I'm proud to be a waterfordian by the way, I'm just not happy with how things are at the moment.

LETS BE AVN IT

Great OP by the way! Its very sad to see how the city has been dying over the last 18 months or so! Its mad to think nearly every night spot in town is 60 seconds from each other it would be great to think the city could spread out more and have pubs and clubs spreading from o connell st to johns st but its hard to see that happening.

foxylad

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Take a look at this
http://www.tntmagazine.com/travel/destinations/europe/ireland/feature/Around-the-towns.aspx

An international view of the top five cities in Ireland. Waterford, rightfully, is not there.

is it possible to do a write up on Waterford City and post it on all these web sites -
we surely have
Reginalds Tower
The Quays
New Waterfrod Crystal Coming Soon
Old City Walls & Beach Towers
2 Cathedrals
Georgian Architecture on the Mall
Blackfriars & Greyfriars
Theatre Royal, City Hall, Bishops Palace
Waterford Treasures @ The Granary
t&h Doolans for Irish Music
Clock Tower
Longest Quays in Europe
Edmond Rice international Heritage Centre
the award winning Walking tour

im sure there is loads more

i know there is a "focus group" looking at all
the historic sites around Ballybricken too

we should be shouting our history from the rooftops
and making the general public aware of it

abouttobebanned

foxylad wrote: »

is it possible to do a write up on Waterford City and post it on all these web sites -
we surely have
Reginalds Tower
The Quays
New Waterfrod Crystal Coming Soon
Old City Walls & Beach Towers
2 Cathedrals
Georgian Architecture on the Mall
Blackfriars & Greyfriars
Theatre Royal, City Hall, Bishops Palace
Waterford Treasures @ The Granary
t&h Doolans for Irish Music
Clock Tower
Longest Quays in Europe
Edmond Rice international Heritage Centre
the award winning Walking tour

im sure there is loads more

i know there is a "focus group" looking at all
the historic sites around Ballybricken too

we should be shouting our history from the rooftops
and making the general public aware of it

These are all fine, but they have very limited appeal to the local people of waterford. For the most part my rant was aimed at the people of waterford who I don't think do enough to promote their city. The lack of city centre entertainment is a huge problem though.

foxylad

we need tourists - thus we need people aware of what the city has to offer - and promote our city - see it in a good light

all the entertainment is there - people just dont support it
there are bands playing in the city 7 nights a week -
sometimes to 10 or 12 people
there is art exhibitions, theatre, comedy, festivals, poetry readings, book clubs, film screenings ----where is waterfords 55,000 people who say there is nothing on - when only a hand full of people turn up to events

i sat in a city centre bar one sunday afternoon watching a soccer match - 3 asian tourists asked what is there to do in Waterford today - a customer turn to them and said "sure Rubys isnt open till 11 o clock" !

Sully

This thread has given me an idea.

Hrmm...

Bards

... our City Council doesn't do enough to help promote the city that's for sure, in fact they go out of their way to denigrate the City. Look what they have done with the City Arms. Most towns/cities around the World would give their right arm (no pun intended) for a coat of arms with the history like ours, but what does our esteemed City Council do to years of tradition - throw it in the bin and replace it with a modern swish with four straight lines to resemble the new Bridge

Just look at any of their official signage and you can see what I mean


please please please bring back the coat of arms

dazftw

Two things ive said before in the last thread there was about this:


1. Better seating in red square including tables for people to eat there during the day.

2. Shops/cafes stay open til 9 every night like Thursday and Friday or even later if that was possible.

I feel if shops/cafes stay open til late, they would have to hire more staff and that would create more jobs. You could say that they wouldn't make any money becuase no one would be in town but I think if enough places did it, there would be an increase of people coming into town after word has spread. I for one would stay in later.

Psychedelic

AdMMM wrote: »

A negative outlook will only drag Waterford further into the dregs.

Then why are you and others continuing to promote this negativity and praise Kilkenny?

AdMMM wrote: »

What kills me is that there's only one pub in Waterford City Centre (The Gingerman).

WTF!!! Pubs in the city centre (from http://www.ciddytours.com/):

AdMMM wrote: »

In Waterford, we have specialist house places and then every other place is commercial. People in waterford say that they want diversity, but they don't actually support it if someone has a go at facilitating them.

House and techno nights on every weekend, usually both Friday and Saturday nights in Electric Avenue, fairly well attended any time I've been in there. Other styles of music there and in Ryan's Bar and even the Wacky Apple have house & techno DJs playing tomorrow night.

You guessed it, it would be wasted on the people of Waterford who seem to spend all their time giving out about their own homeplace instead of helping to make it better, helping to make it a worthy "city".

what, people like you?

Right now, at this moment in time I think Kilkenny is more worthy of the title "city" than we are.

But Kilkenny isn't a city. What's better about Kilkenny though, really? Do they have more shops? I'm not sure but I don't think so. Do they have Spraoi? Do they have a facility like the Theatre Royal? Where's their house & techno clubs?

gscully wrote: »

There's just nothing to attract people to the city centre, and that is sad.

there is plenty to attract people in to the city centre. pubs, clubs, cinema, theatres, comedy clubs....what do you want?

Bears and Vodka

foxylad wrote: »

is it possible to do a write up on Waterford City and post it on all these web sites -
we surely have
Reginalds Tower
The Quays
New Waterfrod Crystal Coming Soon
Old City Walls & Beach Towers
2 Cathedrals
Georgian Architecture on the Mall
Blackfriars & Greyfriars
Theatre Royal, City Hall, Bishops Palace
Waterford Treasures @ The Granary
t&h Doolans for Irish Music
Clock Tower
Longest Quays in Europe
Edmond Rice international Heritage Centre
the award winning Walking tour

im sure there is loads more

i know there is a "focus group" looking at all
the historic sites around Ballybricken too

we should be shouting our history from the rooftops
and making the general public aware of it

oh you forgot the Forum ))

AdMMM

WTF!!! Pubs in the city centre

I wouldn't call a lot of those pubs "City Centre". I did forget T.H Doolans though. As I said in my original post, most towns and cities have married their cafe/drink culture with their shopping culture with a fine selection of cafes, pubs and shops on their main streets. There's not many pubs in Waterford that you just happen across on your way from A-B and you have to go looking for them. I also didn't include any of the pubs on the Quay because I'd consider it to be quite out of the way, or any of the hotel bars because if we start recommending hotel bars as the creme de la creme of public houses in Waterford, we're really in a sad state of affairs. Anywhere else I'd consider to be outside of the CBD.

Then why are you and others continuing to promote this negativity and praise Kilkenny?

Quite simply because in a honest thread which is inviting introspective opinions of the City, I'm not going to put on the rose tinted glasses and say we're great. I'd hardly call Boards.ie to be go-to guide for prospective tourists so I feel I can speak with some kind of honesty here rather than put my head in the sand and convince myself that there's nothing wrong with the City.

nkay1985

I was only discussing this with my fiancée yesterday.

The way I see it, you have to attract two groups: other Irish people and international tourists.

The way you attract other Irish people is by having a good shopping setup and a decent nightlife.

The issues with the KRM development have really held us up. If that had gone ahead when it was supposed to, the whole Michael Street area would be a proper attraction for out of town shoppers. It got delayed and when it's finally been given the go-ahead we're smack bang in the middle of a recession; there couldn't be a worse time to open a shopping and leisure complex!
So, now we're left with Michael Street having lots of empty and/or run down shops that serves as the no-man's land between Waterford by day (City Square and Red Square) and Waterford by night (John's Street area). That's one issue.


On the issue with tourists, Flash has pointed out some great aspects about our city. There are few places in the world with the kind of history our city has. We're steeped in it and the likes of the city walls and Reginald's Tower are in great shape considering their age. The Granary is an award-winning museum.

The only issue now is getting the word out there internationally. I think this fact has been recognised. It should have been long ago, but better late than never. The Government realise that we're no longer going to be making our money from high-volume manufacturing and the like so tourism is our next best thing. I think Discover Ireland and initiatives like this have sprung up in the last couple of years and our Tourism Board are putting a big push on internationally. It's up to our city planners to make sure we're well-placed to take advantage of any surge in tourism figures that may come once the recession passes.


I wonder does our city council have something along the lines of a 'Tourism Plan'? The public are able to pose questions to the council, aren't they?

What are the city's plans for attracting more visitors in the coming years?
It would be an interesting one to ask, wouldn't it?

foxylad

nkay1985 wrote: »

What are the city's plans for attracting more visitors in the coming years?
It would be an interesting one to ask, wouldn't it?

there is a "tourism meeting" next week to brainstorm ideas -
but Waterford Crystal in the old ESB offices and bolton st should bring tourists to the city centre
what we need now is make the public and front line retail staff aware of our heritage and clean up our sity centre - remove grafitti, paint shops, sidy up empty ones - and keep our city clean & tidy!

chrism2007

i dont bother going into town anymore for one simple reason. the Parking

absolute joke that the council havent brought in a free parking solution for people to just pop into town and have a look around without knowing what there going to buy.

i used to go in every weekend and spend hundreds on random purchases. whatever took my fancy at the time.

now, although i have the same amount of money, prefer to go somewhere that wont charge me for the pleasure.

id have buses running into town 7 days a week, free of charge, every 10 minutes. the bigger shops could maybe help out with the running costs.

that would give the city a big boost in my opinion when everyones counting there cents

if i need anything for the car il go to halfords instead of into the irish shops in town

if i need clothes ill go to tkmaxx and as a last resort go into town

if i need electronics ill go straight to kelly and dollard rather than into town

etc etc...

these shops are always busy, so people obviously think the same way as me

fricatus

chrism2007 wrote: »

i dont bother going into town anymore for one simple reason. the Parking [...] now, although i have the same amount of money, prefer to go somewhere that wont charge me for the pleasure [...] these shops are always busy, so people obviously think the same way as me

That's exactly the problem. Parking charges are a disincentive to go into the city centre, just as the N25 toll is a disincentive to use the new bridge.

What we need is a free N25, a congestion charge in the city centre and (free) park and ride sites on the outskirts to bring people into town.

As for the OP's earlier mention of Kilkenny, don't get me wrong, it's a fine city with lots of nice shops, particularly the little boutiques, but you're looking at it through rose-tinted specs if you think we have more problems than they do.

Carlow and Newbridge are taking shoppers away in their droves, and Waterford will too if it gets its act together (especially given the new motorway). They don't even have a Tesco (somthing which really rankles with them), and while there was talk of getting M&S into the Citymart development, that's about as likely as the Shannon basin being drained at this stage.

Add to that that McDonagh Junction is suffering from serious footfall and tenancy issues, and there are no pedestrianised streets, and I know which city I would prefer to be in charge of.

gscully

Psychedelic wrote: »

there is plenty to attract people in to the city centre. pubs, clubs, cinema, theatres, comedy clubs....what do you want?

You're talking purely about nightlife! My point was that in the city centre, which happens to be John Roberts Sq area, there is nothing to attract people. Very few decent shops.

If you want to continue the nightlife point, there's only two pubs in that area, NO CINEMA, no clubs etc. That's the city centre, and it's dead at night.

chrism2007

fricatus wrote: »

That's exactly the problem. Parking charges are a disincentive to go into the city centre, just as the N25 toll is a disincentive to use the new bridge.

What we need is a free N25, a congestion charge in the city centre and (free) park and ride sites on the outskirts to bring people into town.

imagine if that parking space beside tesco poleberry had a system where you could get free parking for 3 hours, then 5 euro an hour after to stop people parking there and going to work.

might be a quicker solution than park and ride systems

if its council land that is

Psychedelic

There is no free parking in any of the other cities, so why should Waterford be different, if in fact in wants to be a city, which was what the original post was about. "Oh we want to be a city but don't want to pay for parking like in every other city"....as far as I know Waterford is the cheapest city for parking. It's only €3.60 per day in Millers Marsh car park and €4 per day in the Aldi car park at the moment - is that supposed to be expensive?!!!

Free park & ride is a very good idea though. It was used for the Tall Ships and should have been built upon.

i used to go in every weekend and spend hundreds on random purchases.

so you'd gladly spend hundreds on random purchases but not a measely few euro on parking?

Quite simply because in a honest thread which is inviting introspective opinions of the City, I'm not going to put on the rose tinted glasses and say we're great. I'd hardly call Boards.ie to be go-to guide for prospective tourists so I feel I can speak with some kind of honesty here rather than put my head in the sand and convince myself that there's nothing wrong with the City.

Yeah we've had dozens of these threads about the 'dying city centre' so it's not like we all don't know about the problems and are in denial about them. There are positive things happening and those things should be given as much if not more attention.

You're talking purely about nightlife! My point was that in the city centre, which happens to be John Roberts Sq area, there is nothing to attract people. Very few decent shops.

Well that was what the original post was about, city is dead after 5.30 i.e. no night life. But yes you're right about there being nothing in John Roberts Square.

chrism2007

Psychedelic wrote: »

so you'd gladly spend hundreds on random purchases but not a measely few euro on parking?

yes.

why pay to park when i can go somewhere else and get it for free.

youd rather pay for something you could get for free?

chrism2007

chrism2007 wrote: »

yes.

why pay to park when i can go somewhere else and get it for free.

youd rather pay for something you could get for free?

in fact some might say the government is missing out on hundreds of tax euros from me because they wont implement a free parking system :pac:

but im the bad one in this because i dont like paying for something i can get for free elsewhere

foxylad

chrism2007 wrote: »

but im the bad one in this because i dont like paying for something i can get for free elsewhere

would FREE parking in the city make that much difference?
or would the hundread of retail staff just jump on them -
leaving none for the general public?

i think the exodus of all the office to the perimiter of the city and dampened the footfall -
there used to be a case of all car parks being full - i havent seen that in the last few years - even on Saturdays!

chrism2007

foxylad wrote: »

would FREE parking in the city make that much difference?
or would the hundread of retail staff just jump on them -
leaving none for the general public?

i think the exodus of all the office to the perimiter of the city and dampened the footfall -
there used to be a case of all car parks being full - i havent seen that in the last few years - even on Saturdays!

as ive said already free parking for 2-3 hours then 5 euro an hour after to eliminate that problem

put in one of those ticket systems like they have on the quay on the car park beside tesco poleberry

Bards

chrism2007 wrote: »

as ive said already free parking for 2-3 hours then 5 euro an hour after to eliminate that problem

put in one of those ticket systems like they have on the quay on the car park beside tesco poleberry

all that would happen is people would move their cars after 3 hours to another car park and park there for free for another 3 hours and so on

Park and Ride is the best solution - there should be a number of big car parks on the approaches to the City (West, North and East) with buses going every 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 mins during off peak

chrism2007

Bards wrote: »

all that would happen is people would move their cars after 3 hours to another car park and park there for free for another 3 hours and so on

Park and Ride is the best solution - there should be a number of big car parks on the approaches to the City (West, North and East) with buses going every 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 mins during off peak

so every day everyone will leave work every 2-3 hours to move there cars?

although i do agree with the park and ride. so simple yet it could be so effective

back in the days when i had no car i used to walk everywhere as the bus system was a joke. 3 years later theres still no buses on a sunday

justin007

Actually also waterford as a fifth largest city in ireland， but never feel like a city， such as city center where does not have enough modern buildings or fashion shops that people can go 。 Waterford City Council people shoud be go out and visit other city。 Pay more attetion on how to develop waterford become a good city in ireland。 Waterford has not been a big changed in the recent years 。 Also we look forward to seeing a new waterford in the future。