Enniscorthy

Cantona's Collars

Ian7 wrote: »

is the furniture store the premises on the corner at templeshannon?

That's the one,there's a pic a few pages back.

kneemos

Was the paving on Rafter St. once the same colour as the paving on Church St.

Judgement Day

kneemos wrote: »

Was the paving on Rafter St. once the same colour as the paving on Church St.

Don't ask. :rolleyes:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.

albino

zerks wrote: »

Wouldn't be surprised,noticed one that recently opened has a "closed" sign up more often than not & I've never seen a customer in the place.

I know one shopkeeper who isn't part of the local cartel & they say that it's a daily struggle to stay open,let alone make a few quid.

It's all well and good for the top few that have their money made & effectively closed the gates on the town preventing any new innovation or business get a foothold.So long as they were ok it was a case of "Fuck everybody else".

Hi Zerks who would be in this powerful cartel you speak of??

paulaa

Is anyone watching Cllr Paddy Kavanagh on Prime time atm ? It's about travellers

oldyouth

paulaa wrote: »

Is anyone watching Cllr Paddy Kavanagh on Prime time atm ? It's about travellers

He made a lot of sense in my opinion

paulaa

oldyouth wrote: »

He made a lot of sense in my opinion

I thought so too. Straight and to the point

Cantona's Collars

albino wrote: »

Hi Zerks who would be in this powerful cartel you speak of??

It's been mentioned many times in this thread already & is common knowledge.

Judgement Day

Planning application on Anthenaeum window for new fire exit onto Castle Street, further roof repairs etc. Hopefully this is a good sign.

The owner of "Cloze and Shooz" on Rafter Street has been creating a bit of a stir on Facebook, blaming the pedestrianisation for the downturn in business on the street. Personally, I have always maintained that it was badly done but the idea was right as it was a horrible dirty mess before - sadly it has been let become an expensive, horrible dirty mess since the job was done. The work on Church Street has brought a lot more traffic back onto Rafter Street and broken it up even more.

TheChevron

A Video form the 1992 Procession. Some very familiar faces in there, young and old

Cantona's Collars

Deirdre Barlow glasses were all the rage back then:pac:

What the hell were you looking for when you found that video?

TheChevron

Someone posted it on facebook.

Cantona's Collars

Judgement Day wrote: »

Planning application on Anthenaeum window for new fire exit onto Castle Street, further roof repairs etc. Hopefully this is a good sign.

The owner of "Cloze and Shooz" on Rafter Street has been creating a bit of a stir on Facebook, blaming the pedestrianisation for the downturn in business on the street. Personally, I have always maintained that it was badly done but the idea was right as it was a horrible dirty mess before - sadly it has been let become an expensive, horrible dirty mess since the job was done. The work on Church Street has brought a lot more traffic back onto Rafter Street and broken it up even more.

At the start the street was powerhosed and cleaned but looks terrible now,the problem isn't the pedestrianisation but the lack of a flagship store as an attraction tied with the fact that 99% of people in the town would drive their cars into the shops if they could.
Retailers can't blame out of town retail parks as we don't have any,it's just the fact that the place isn't attractive to shoppers any more.I was looking at some old photo's of the Market Square & it was a hive of activity,the yoke they built in the middle of it put paid to that.

albino

zerks wrote: »

It's been mentioned many times in this thread already & is common knowledge.

Sorry zerks ive looked through the thread and coundnt find mention of the cartel.
If it was common knowledge i wouldnt be asking

pete4355

albino wrote: »

Sorry zerks ive looked through the thread and coundnt find mention of the cartel.
If it was common knowledge i wouldnt be asking

Fair play reading thru 1605 posts!

Doubt if names will be named, but you could look no further than those in old and well established businesses as being members of this sinister cartel.

sad fact that some people will put themselves before everyone else, happened in Ross with a Christmas market that was put on a fews years back, despite in bringing a buzz and seasonal atmosphere to the town, a certain few didnt like it as it effected their monopoly / upset the status quo.

albino

pete4355 wrote: »

Fair play reading thru 1605 posts!

Doubt if names will be named, but you could look no further than those in old and well established businesses as being members of this sinister cartel.

sad fact that some people will put themselves before everyone else, happened in Ross with a Christmas market that was put on a fews years back, despite in bringing a buzz and seasonal atmosphere to the town, a certain few didnt like it as it effected their monopoly / upset the status quo.

Pete, im a lurker on this thread for quite a while now and would have my ear fairly close to the ground as regards trading in Enniscorthy. And i still dont know of any cartels. there is people active in the trading community, insofar as being members of the Enniscorthy Business Association or the Chamber of Commerce, but sinister cartels, thats brand new to me

kneemos

albino wrote: »

Pete, im a lurker on this thread for quite a while now and would have my ear fairly close to the ground as regards trading in Enniscorthy. And i still dont know of any cartels. there is people active in the trading community, insofar as being members of the Enniscorthy Business Association or the Chamber of Commerce, but sinister cartels, thats brand new to me

People who own a lot of shop units and charge unreasonable rents and property owners who oppose any developement that doesn't suit them is what I think posters mean when they say cartels.Personally I haven't a clue unlike yourself I have my head in the clouds.

jpb1974

Judgement Day wrote: »

The owner of "Cloze and Shooz" on Rafter Street has been creating a bit of a stir on Facebook, blaming the pedestrianisation for the downturn in business on the street.

Had a read earlier this week.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cloze-and-Shooz/149628278431890?fref=ts

I'm not convinced that the pedestrianisation is the main cause of the downturn in shoppers around the town… but, aside from Dunnes strangle-hold on the town, it’s probably the easiest thing to complain about.

I have to say it surprises me, the amount of people who say they won’t go to the shop because they can’t park outside anymore. I’m familiar with some of the people who posted comments along these lines, and the majority of the one’s I know are less than 40 years old. How parking in the old Dunnes car park and walking down is an issue is beyond me.

I do agree with the fact that there is close to nothing to draw people to the town, I think that’s a far greater issue. You can have as many free parking spaces as you want, but if there’s nothing of interest then what’s the point?

The high rate of un-employment in Enniscorthy is a major issue in my opinion.
As mentioned a few posts back, the layout of the town is a mess.
The facilities for kids are crap.
The whole town is tired and dirty.
Do I need to go on?

Two weeks ago I had a couple from the US down to my house for a day. I brought them up to Vinegar Hill to take in the view, I did a brief lap of the town so they could see the Castle (which was closed) and then I legged it out of the place and headed for Wexford. Says a lot.

jpb1974

I brought them up to Vinegar Hill to take in the view

... And had to tell them to be very careful of the absolutley shítty steps leading up to the hill as one of them was carrying their small baby.

Embarrassing.

kneemos

There was never a whole lot of parking on Rafter St. in any case but there was passing trade and people could drop off or decide to hop out to have a look around,at the moment there's no reason to go near the place,it's completely unsuitable for traffic as is without footpaths.

jpb1974

Maybe so, but I really think it's just a small piece in a far bigger picture.

Then again, there's no silver bullet to cure Enniscorthy... so I say dig it up, converted it back to how it used to be and spend a shít load of money in the process. At the very least it would be a consistent approach regarding the arseways way things are done in Enniscorthy -> Install, dig-up, re-install.

Meanwhile... the majority will still flock to Wexford, Carlow, Waterford... and all of sudden they'll be prone to using their feet, choice and value being the miracle cure.

St Senan

A bit of common sense from the town council and the shopkeepers would be to move the Farmers market from the death trap of a car park at the Abbey and put the stalls all along Rafter street with the front of the stalls facing the shops on Saturdays and maybe even Fridays have something other than fruit and Veg on the stalls ( Arts and Crafts, Homemade Jewellery, Sweets etc etc).
Also have the old Dunnes car park free for parking on them days. It will draw the shoppers back to that Street and town. The old Dunnes shop badly needs to be re opened either divided it into units as an indoor market or as a big shop. People are always saying it wont happen as Dunnes stores wont want opposition well its happening in other towns like Wexford for an example Dunnes, Heatons, Pennys and Shaws all within walking distance. I feel its time for the hierarchy and the auld diehards of Enniscorthy to COP ON.

Does anyone know if the ordinary public can sit in on Council meetings or voice their opinion on decisions made by the council regarding the state of the Town.

Cantona's Collars

+1

Was thinking the same myself,Rafter St. was depressing as usual today,went into Jeans Depot & there were 2 other people there-hardly a bustling trade.The Bookies was the busiest place on the street.

The town gave the impression of being busy but it was a false one as the crowds of teenagers boosted the numbers.Dunnes was the only place that had any crowd.

The idea of moving up the farmers market is a good one & even if the weather is bad,it could set up inside in the old Dunnes premises.

kneemos

The old Dunnes must be in rag order by now.What's the story with the one way at the top of Irish St?have they changed their minds again?

Padjo1981

The thing about Enniscorthy is the towns people, We ( I am born and bred 2 min walk from the square) don't do anything about the problems. When a new place opens we complain that it's to expensive, there's not enough choice yadda yadda and go to other towns to spend money and help tgeir shops thrive and thenwonder why places shut in Enniscorthy. We complain about the town council but vote in the same people every time. We complain that there is nothing to do and when something is organised we avoid it like the plague as in strawberry fest . As a community we are failing. We can blame the few who have made their money and lost interest or we can try do something about it. Iv no idea where to start but am sure there are others here who have the brains and resources that I don't.

Judgement Day

Padjo1981 wrote: »

The thing about Enniscorthy is the towns people, We ( I am born and bred 2 min walk from the square) don't do anything about the problems. When a new place opens we complain that it's to expensive, there's not enough choice yadda yadda and go to other towns to spend money and help tgeir shops thrive and thenwonder why places shut in Enniscorthy. We complain about the town council but vote in the same people every time. We complain that there is nothing to do and when something is organised we avoid it like the plague as in strawberry fest . As a community we are failing. We can blame the few who have made their money and lost interest or we can try do something about it. Iv no idea where to start but am sure there are others here who have the brains and resources that I don't.

Interesting points but at the root of Enniscorthy's problems are the vested business interests, the Town Council and a number of feral inhabitants who have no respect for anything or anyone. Rents and rates discouraged business - even in the good times - and today the combination is lethal. The council seem hell bent on spending money like it was going out of fashion and the latest mooted plan to spend €500,000 on the soon to be abandoned offices in the Market Square are insane. The pedestrianisation of Rafter Street has been a disaster as I predicted here http://countywexford.blogspot.ie/2011/06/thumbs-down-for-rafter-street.html

As for trying to do something about it - on the 7th July 2011 - I received this email from Mairead Linneen (Town Development Officer):

'Many thanks for your email and for taking the time to meet on Tuesday evening. As I mentioned, we are currently in the throes of updating the Enniscorthy Tourism website. This is a work-in-progress but you should begin to see small changes even now as updated business entries are being added to the site. We will also cross-reference your feedback to ensure it is incorporated.'

Take a look at the embarrassing website - the Shopping page is a good example: http://enniscorthytourism.com/categories/shopping_in_wexford-36.html How many mistakes can you spot on this page - some 20 months on from me supplying a complete print-out of the entire website? Why bother trying to do anything? :mad:

Anyway, I'll be out of the place in another year or two - I'll have fond memories of many of the inhabitants but I'll not be back until I return to be planted in Clonmore.

jpb1974

Looking at some of the comments of the Clothz & Shooz FB page it seems a lot of the ladies would love for Penneys to come to town and occupy the old Dunnes building.

Penneys, where women are concerned, typically represent cheap, value for money, throw away clothing. A lot of girls don't want to pay 5 times the Penneys price for the branded equivalent because 3 months later the stuff is gone out of fashion.

I'd be curious to know what sort of impact the introduction of Penneys would have on somewhere like C&S where I see a ladies jacket on the FB page priced at €124.99.

Anyway.. the likelihood of Penneys showing up there is slim to none. I'm just thinking out loud here.

jpb1974

http://enniscorthytourism.com/

Things to See & Do
Kids Activities
Kids Activities in Wexford

And the only item listed local to Enniscorthy is for residents at Treacy's Hotel. Everything else requires you to drive out of town.

So come visit Enniscorthy... and then drive to Gorey or Wexford for something for your kids to do.

Cantona's Collars

Some of the points about locals is true, ala the Strawberry Fest:I experienced it myself with comments of "ah sure it'll be crap,I haven't gone near it in years,I'm not paying to go see music"

Their criticism about the shops is warranted,too many specialist boutiques in a town that has huge unemployment is crazy.Penneys wouldn't signal the death knell for those that adapt,remember people will want cheap everyday clothes but will also want something special & will pay a bit more.But as I said,we have too many of these shops interspaced with charity & discount stores.

JPB is right about amenities in the town,I was in New Ross & their new sports centre & pool is looking impressive with a huge waterslide included in the building.We have a pool that people have to queue all night to book their kids into or the private one in the Riverside that discourages kids.
Treacys cater for stag & hens but they have to bring guests outside the town for 99% of the activities.Feck all in the town so the hotel has to bus guests miles for daytime activities.
We had a lovely par 3 course under the shadow of Vinegar Hill but small minded politics closed that yet allowed a monstrosity of a building at the other side of the hill to be built.Which one is the eyesore? I know,but the powers that be don't seem to.
The East side of the town has been neglected for years but surely there was a better location for the school,there's a perfect site along Clonhaston which was earmarked for houses but is now idle,why wasn't that used?

Small minded thinking is strangling the town & any new or positive ideas are quickly squashed-JD has been banging his head against a wall trying to deal with the Town Council & according to his last post has given up the fight.I can't blame him for wanting to leave the place.

St Senan

Does anyone know if the ordinary public can sit in on Council meetings or voice their opinion on decisions made by the council regarding the state of the Town.