Castledermot now a ghost town?

zeds alive

Passed through Castledermot today and it looks totally dead:(
It seems that the opening of the motor way took the life out of the village
on the other hand getting through it to go to moon took mere minutes compared to before the motor way opened.

byhookorbycrook

Castledermot was probably on a slide, due to the traffic and with the traffic gone, seems to be really struggling. Lovely new cafe by the lights and O' Gormans butchers as good as ever. Nice new primary school too.

wheres me jumpa

I cant imagine what it is like now the bypass is open, but even for two years before the bypass opened there were many run down, gutted, empty buildings. I can only assume one of the two garages will cose shortly. A relation has a house in an unfinished estate over that way also, so it cant be a pretty picture. Not the only town in Ireland sufffering that misfortune.

Super-Rush

Its still in Kildare isn't it?

byhookorbycrook

super-rush wrote: »

Its still in Kildare isn't it?

Unless someone moved it since 5p.m. today.

Rabidlamb

The old gutted Shamrock Bar & the shops opposite are a disgrace.
Even the new units across from Copes are unoccupied, except for the cafe.
The town would have benefited greatly had all the proposed development had been built & occupied.
They upgraded the sewage works & built an excess capacity primary school to cater for the hundreds of new houses.
Sort of left high & dry by the building collapse.

lucylu

Yip Castledermot is still in Kildare and to point out all off it is not a disgrace.
As far as I heard, the Shamrock Bar was closed and was to be redeveloped with Shops and offices, the old shamrock bar had a preservation order on it.
The Thompson & Moore shops across the road from the Shamrock also preservation order on them and there is a long term lease taken on these.

There was development at the top of the town to be completed but after an archaeological dig the development ended to a halt.
Another Site including derelict houses was bought for re-development.
As the town is a historical town archaeological digs are required and are necessary however they are costly and time consuming.

Castledermot like most towns was subjected to Greedy developers and poor planning.

It may look rundown but it is still a great spot with great people.

Nead21

zeds alive wrote: »

It seems that the opening of the motor way took the life out of the village

It was hardly the metropolis of the N9!
Was always a drive through village.

krustydoyle

As i was born and bred in the town its certainly has it good points but its sad to see so many empty buildings in the town but unfortunately thats what we're facing.. its not gonna improve in the future and thats that..

Tom10

The motorway wasn't the reason it turned into a ghost town. It just stopped it being a car park for people trying to get through it. If anything the motorway will help it develop properly in the future. It is good for the people but will hit some of the shops and those type of businesses of course.

byhookorbycrook

It's a pity that the high crosses , Viking hogback stone and round tower and Mullachcreelan are not "marketed" more.

foggy_lad

all bus eireann busses still pass through Castledermot which is a waste imo, there should be one mornimg and evening and the rest should take the motorway.

carrie1234

Castledermot was always a bit of a kip , i dunno why on Gods earth they ever built housing estates in there , there is nothing around you for about 10 miles!!

slimjimmc

carrie1234 wrote: »

Castledermot was always a bit of a kip , i dunno why on Gods earth they ever built housing estates in there , there is nothing around you for about 10 miles!!

Yeah, except for +18,000 people 6 miles down the road across the border.

tessat

Those of you commenting on the school etc clearly are not from the area or don't know it well. The school is over subscribed and growing, for the past 2 years it has had an intake of 2 classes instead of the previous 1.5 classes. The local coffee shop is booming and has had write ups in national papers. The 2 garages are both doing excellent business and frequently it is not possible to get parking in either due to the volumes of customers.
Yes it is a shame about the shamrock, it is an eyesore to be honest, but it is currently being redeveloped and hopefully will be reopening in the coming months.
The buildings opposite while derelict have been painted and done up by the tidy towns and don't look nearly as bad as they may have done in the past.
The houses opposite Londis are now occupied as are the retail units.
The brand spanking new Community Centre is fantastic and offers many services to the local community from very young to very old.

There are no ghost estates in the town. Baffled by that comment. Yes like every small town/village in the country it was hit badly by the recession but nothing to what was being described above.

I absolutely agree with whoever mentioned the lack of national publicity of the excellent variety of amenities available in the village and surrounding areas.

It is well worth a visit if anyone is in the south east or travelling down the M9.

s15r330

Holy thread resurrection Batman!!

iano.p

This tread is 4 years old so a lot has changed since this was started. The people are doing great things in castledermott and looks well. but business wise I find it hard to see the town grow in the next 5 years it's a shame because it's a great town

tessat

Sorry, was doing a search for something else and this popped up, felt compelled to give a fairer more balance and informed view

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

theevilman

what building works is been done to that old pub??? seen scafolding around it

tessat

It's just been bought, I had a look at the planning but it dates back to 2011, which is before it was sold, I'm guessing that they are going ahead with the plans on that as nothing updated (I don't pretend to know much about planning though)

It has a café and pub/restaurant, parking and just in general getting a facelift. Will make a massive difference to the look of the village when it's done.

Comedy of Errors

I'm living there 10 years now & seen the ups & downs.
Yes, there was planning for 100's of more houses which will now never go ahead, the larger population would have benefited the town & help it support more business but we are where we are.
A redeveloped Shamrock will take some of the bad look off the square which is a good thing, the old units opposite are on some 99 year lease thing so there's little chance of any improvement there.
Village has a brand new school & community centre so it hasn't done all that badly, a playground is badly needed especially in comparison to Moone & St, Lawrences which have managed to get state of the art playgrounds with a fraction of the population.
The stalling out at Kilkea Castle is annoying but you have to believe it wont remain dormant for long with it's potential.

tessat

Comedy of Errors, I was told yesterday that the Kilkea development isn't going ahead for legal reasons. I'm not going to expand as it was second hand information and I can't be sure how reliable it is.
From what I was told it is back to square one again. I hope that's wrong.

iano.p

tessat wrote:

Comedy of Errors, I was told yesterday that the Kilkea development isn't going ahead for legal reasons. I'm not going to expand as it was second hand information and I can't be sure how reliable it is. From what I was told it is back to square one again. I hope that's wrong.

Yeah I heard that last week. By the looks of things nothing will be done there for years or at all. Hopefully it's all lies

Comedy of Errors

I got some info off the community facebook page, search Kilkea Community on FB then scroll down to the 22nd of October 2014 posting, read all the comments.

I'd heard from people who'd worked there it had nothing to do with legal reasons, new owner wasn't happy with progress & bang for buck so he pulled the plug.
It left a lot of wedding bookings high & dry after promises had been made.
I reckon it needs huge investment after decades of lease holders just extracting their profit & not reinvesting.
The new owner, who bought it at a steal may not have deep enough pockets, time will tell.

tessat

This is much more recent information than October last year.
I think your last statement there is closer to the truth than anything else.