PMA

merlante

angry_fox wrote: »

lads it great that there are some great festivals coming up but the town is dead, after 4.30 pm the city centre is like a ghost town, ive been talking to shop owners around the city centre and they are struggling. at the end of the day waterford missed out on the good times, all that was done was a road was built up to dublin, they built a sh*t load of houses that are now empty, any developements that they tried to do to the city centre was blocked over even more bullsh*t. there just is not enough in the town to make people want to make the effort to come in. the town needs a lot more that pma in my opinion, it needs some direction.....

Well why are new businesses opening up then?

If you ask any 'businessman' in town, in good times or bad, if business is good, they'll tell you the town is going to hell. I've been hearing it for years, boom or bust, business is terrible. It's the usual poor mouth, designed to discourage competition from setting up and getting a bit of sympathy from customers.

Waterford's real problem is that there are a handful of businessmen in Waterford that own half of the businesses. Tweedy is a good example but not the only example by any means. There is no proper business ecosystem in Waterford but rather a small number of guys with limited imagination running everything.

I know of one cafe in town that is being run into the ground by the owner, because he is shutting it down on a Sunday and paring back the opening hours on a continuous basis either because he has no confidence or no interest in the business. This is despite protests from the staff who pointed out that a lot of business was being done during those hours. This particular owner owns another cafe in town (the one he seems to care about), and neither opens after 5/7pm anymore. Why? Because the business owner, who obviously doesn't live anywhere near the city centre, doesn't believe business will be done (despite what the staff know on the ground) after that time. Too few businessmen, running too many businesses badly, with no real commitment to the businesses. That's the problem.

What really galls me is when such-and-such a badly run business finally closes its doors, people will be on here saying how you can't run a business in Waterford, the town is dying, etc., etc., when in reality, the business was probably not run properly by the owner, who prefers owning things than actually investing in, promoting and committing properly to the business. You compare the enterprising way the likes of Geoffs have built up a strong business to the way the usual suspects have run pub after pub after pub into the ground.

And anyway, anyone who has been in town recently will note the number of shops that are opening up. More than what is closing. Whole parts of the city are being rejuvenated and plenty of money is being invested.

This morning I wandered into a an art exhibition/sales in cathedral sq. Very interesting stuff. Only a handful of people milling around. Thousands who stay at home assuring themselves that the city centre is ****/dead/dying, etc., etc. The usual rubbish. The market in JR square on a Saturday is an institution at this stage and people have taken to it. Those that bother coming in at least.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the city centre is in rude health. It's not bursting at the seams with the level of business getting done. But it is improving at a constant pace from a low point a few years ago (during the boom!). Anyone who is in and around the centre on a regular basis can see this. I think that if and when a version of the Newgate centre is built on that site in the city centre you will see people shopping more and more in Waterford en masse, rather than Dublin or Cork. But until then we'll have to be content with things ticking over.

Waterford's biggest problem, as ever, is too few individuals investing in businesses and too many negative people who are willing the death of the centre with all their might and spreading the gospel of doom everywhere they go. Give it a break lads, ffs, change the record.

angry_fox

some good points there merlante, but i don't believe there are people "willing the death of the centre" every person in waterford wants what's best for the city and with what little had been done for the town by the powers that be during the perceived "boom years" has got people thinking well this is the end, but with people starting up new business it might get people into the town, ill be honest and say i haven't noticed any new shops or business opening up (maybe for the head shops just appearing and the little sh*ts there attracting) except for the new crystal visitor centre opening soon i dont know of anything else but im sure someone here will change that . patrick street has taken a bit of a hammering with places unfortunately closing down but i believe waterford city council should follow limericks lead in allowing people starting up new business to use empty office space for free while the council still look for a permanent tenant

comeraghs

I think having a few gigs in John Robts SQ on Thursdays & Fridays at 7 or 8 would get people into town earlier & hopefully they´ll stay in then ... maybe some more family type stuff from 5 -6 same evenings