Moving to athy

Nnd123

Me and my partner are both from dublin and living in newbridge im looking to rent in athy because i have fallen in love with a house down their that is affordable EVERY1 is telling us to stay clear but im thinkin if we just keep to ourselfs it cant be that bad or can it?? if any1 could help us out with our decision? Thanks

Rabidlamb

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055719200

rameire

do it,
what area of Athy is the house in.
i live in Coneyboro
the neighbours are great and there is a good relationship between all the residents of the estate,
the local tds and councilors are also very friendly and always ready to help out
Athy is a nice place, like all areas of the world there are bad areas and horrible people, but I have been living here 6 years and never had a bad experience or even had a person shout at me.

Nnd123

thanks the estate is called the hollands if you no anything about it? Headding down today to have a look around anyway

Yawns

rameire wrote: »

i live in Coneyboro

Hi neighbour!

Yawns

OP Myself and partner are from Dublin originally. Moved to Longford for a couple of years before deciding to come closer to Dublin as we were still traveling there a lot but don't want to live there.

We settled for Athy and we really like it here. We generally keep to ourselves and not had a bit of trouble since moving. Any folk we speak to are very friendly and our neighbours are fantastic. I live in Coneyboro too and have to agree it's a lovely area.

I'm not just saying that either as I will call it like I see it. I grew up in a ****hole of a place, moved to Longford but that area was starting to go downhill so that helped us in our decision to move.


I remember looking at a house in The Hollands as well as a lot of other areas in Athy. While The Hollands was nice we decided on Coneyboro. Branswood seemed quite nice too. A word of advice if you travel to Dublin is to try pick something on that side of the river. The traffic through the town goes over 1 bridge so it gets backed up the other side of the town several times a day every day mon - fri.

There are ways around it if you want to drive a few k/ms up or down to the next bridge if you don't like staying in traffic and would prefer to be moving even if it is further to travel.

rameire

howdy neighbour Yawns.

Nnd123, the Hollands would be an established estate now, as in all houses are occupied there are a variety of young and old families and the estate is well looked after,
there are a good few green spaces,
the houses seem to be well built and the roads are spacious,
i know of a few people who live there and have not heard any complaints from them.
it is close to the Lidl shop, it is on the right side for going to Dublin, and very close to the train station.

sandin

Athy USED to have a serious issue with anti social behaviour, but those kids are all grown up now and its as good as / bad as any other town of similar size. Usual town drunks at 1am.

Hollands is good location as you won't have to fight traffic to get to work/arrive home each day and whilst it probaly has its share of kids messing, its all about how you react. Also train service is much improved and a short walk away.

One thing Athy does have that other towns don't is a great sense of community especially the GAA, Rugby & Soccer clkubs and a cheap and decent Golf Club about 1km past The Hollands.


One thing I do advise is visit the area on a Saturday afternoon / evening and see if there are many kids hanging about where your new house is and then do this on at least 2 other days.

Also, if there are already people occupying the houses in the immediate area, see how well their garden looks (you can tell you a lot about prople from their gardens)

Yawns

Just also worth noting if you are visiting the area on a Saturday to check it out, the TriAthy event is taking place this weekend so expect a crowd in the town center.

Nnd123

thank you everyone for your help didnt take the house in the end the house was a mess and the landlord hadnt got me convinced that he was going to have anything done before we moved in looking into riverview at the moment so i'll see how it goes but i can see what was ment by the traffic in the town i'll get over it haha.

Yawns

Shame about the house being a mess. That traffic is there everyday so if you are commuting to Dublin etc be aware of it.

The traffic is generally moving even tho slow. Avoid it at the usual rush hours. Morning, lunch and dinner. It's generally fine at other hours with just the main bridge causing the usual small build up.

You mentioned riverview. I looked at a house in Ardrew and two things put me off. The traffic through town and the halting site near the entrance to that housing estate. It was a nice house inside. Looked tiny and pokey on the outside so really pleasant when we got in.

In the end we went with Coneyboro. If you need to leave during a busy hour there is a smaller road around rather than going through the town. http://goo.gl/maps/PAeb

Even if you go through the town, you turn off for the train station and go that way around thus avoiding the traffic lights in the middle of the town. http://goo.gl/maps/XLHQ

Nnd123

Is the site near riverview? Iv been looking at coneyboro waiting for one landlord to get back letting agents arent the most helpfull either still waiting to here back from alot they dont do anything in a hurry

Yawns

Yes from what I remember it's just opposite the entrance to that entire housing estate. I will see if I can spot it on google maps.


EDIT: Here is a Google image to it. The road itself is not on the map but it is directly opposite the entrance to that housing estate,

http://goo.gl/maps/1kFg

If you pan the image to the right you will see the entrance to the housing estate where Riverview is.

Yawns

I've found the letting agents the same. Not just here but even in Longford. You get bad along with good in every profession tho.

What I did was got in touch with them all and arranged to view 12 different places on the same day. Made the trip up and viewed 13 all together. If the letting agent had 2 or 3 houses we did all his 1st then moved on to the next. Told them all I was looking at 12 places and I'd be back in touch. Which I did.

We ended up viewing 3 different places in Coneyboro along with others dotted throughout the town. The final shortlist consisted of just the places in Coneyboro.

Nnd123

Just had a look their thanks and are they knowin to be messy around their would you kno god moving can be stressfull.

Yawns

Well I keep to myself generally and have not heard anything about them in 18 months. I know some people in the town and they would hear if there was any trouble from them. I just didn't want to move near a halting site having lived near one before and knowing what they can get up to.

The main reason was the traffic as I travel to Dublin a bit so it's easier for me to get there from Coneyboro rather than starting out on that side of the river.

Nnd123

Sure ill pop down again tomorrow and have a look i realy appreciate the effort you'v made to help us hopefully we find somewhere soon thanks again

Yawns

No harm in helping. If I had known some of the stuff I could have saved some time viewing houses due to the traffic etc. Always good to take a look about. Just a reminder that the TriAthy is this weekend so the traffic will be massive. They will close the carlow road from the town to just past coneyboro.

boredatwork82

seems to be all positive here, but there is another thread which paints a really different picture of Athy. You should check it out before you make any decision.
In my opinion I would not recommend Athy to anyone.
In fact I would recommend people not to go near the town, but each to their own.

rameire

boredatwork82 wrote: »

seems to be all positive here, but there is another thread which paints a really different picture of Athy. You should check it out before you make any decision.
In my opinion I would not recommend Athy to anyone.
In fact I would recommend people not to go near the town, but each to their own.

is that from personal experience?
care to enlighten us on the horrid nature of Athy?

Pablod

boredatwork82 wrote: »

seems to be all positive here, but there is another thread which paints a really different picture of Athy. You should check it out before you make any decision.
In my opinion I would not recommend Athy to anyone.
In fact I would recommend people not to go near the town, but each to their own.

I'd be interested to know what are you basing your recommendation on?

That other thread is almost two and a half years old now, a lot has changed since.
But even back then two and half years ago I never encountered any problems

I moved from Dublin to Athy 6 years ago and love it, my son goes to a great school and he loves it, great community, friendly people and neighbours...
(There's not many places where you would have your child turn around and tell you out of the blue that he loves going to school!!)

For the OP I'd suggest ignoring the older thread, as previously suggested by other posters come down and explore the town (both at a weekend and during weekday), There's always a great buzz around the town with any event or festival on, in the town this weekend with the TriAthy

boredatwork82

1. Horrendous Traffic. It must be the last town in Ireland where the two main roads in and out of the town culminate in a traffic light crossroads in the centre of town.
2. I got involved with a club. They were not very accomadating to outsiders, and there was a bit of a clique. I left after 1 year, along with a few others.
3. Anti- Social behavior - Recently enough on the shop on Woodstock street (Dunnes?) I got locked in because a mental row broke out outside, and it was spilling into the shop. This was during lunch time!
4. Another Anti-social behaviour - Was in the chipper and a few scumbags started going at each othe over parking - Wednesday night, outside Mama Mia's. Whilst the car was parked badly, all they should have done was asked said person to move car forward a foot. Loads of this type of thing in Athy. You see elements of it regularly. Maybe not to this extent but enough to make you aware of it.
5. Very poor rental market - Over priced for a town with nothing to offer. The range of rooms for rent is even worse. Its appalling. People look for huge rent for awful rooms.
6. Some good estate around, but some of the houses are awful. One house I lived in Dun Bhrinn had paper thin walls and I was woken up every morning by the kids next door getting ready for school.
7. Ridiculous shopping. Went to buy a blind in Athy. The shop in town quoted me €80, so I drove down to Harry Corry in Carlow and got it for 16. All the shops in town seem to be very expensive.
There is very poor shopping in Athy. Aldi is better than Lidl, Athy has no Aldi. Also no Dunnes or Tesco. While the Super Valus are good, they just don't have the same range. So I do my shopping in Carlow or Portlaoise.
8. Parking. Pay Parking everywhere, It should be free for 15 minutes, allow you to do one thing in town.
9. My car got broken into in broad daylight, stuff stolen - Had video footage of the car and the incident, cops had no interest in it. Some thugs/scumbags do what they like in this town. The Gardai are useless and lazy. I am not from the town but have seen drug dealing openly from houses. Everyone in Athy knows these houses, but still nothing happens.

As regards teh anti-social behaviour element - I do know its in every town in the world, but in most towns you don't see it as much. It may be at night or in estates you don't go into . In athy you see it everywhere day or night.

Positives:
Location - near so many good towns.
Gym - K-Leisure (Gym/Pool) is very good, but recently the weights section has been taken over by scumbags. Still its a great facility.

I have lived in a lot of towns over the years, but Athy is the worst.
And I am currently trying my best to get out of the place, except the stupid job market/recession is hindering my attempts.

Well thems are my reasons. While other people have had positive experiences, I have not.

This is my opinion based on my experiences. You asked for justification and I gave it. I do not want to argue over other towns been the same/isolated cases etc. Ye have detailed positive experiences, and I have detailed negative experiences. Both are true.

JoeyW

Nnd123 wrote: »

Sure ill pop down again tomorrow and have a look i realy appreciate the effort you'v made to help us hopefully we find somewhere soon thanks again

Hi, I'm living in Dun Brinn for the past 7 years and it's a great estate. We have a neighbourhood watch scheme on the go now and a brilliant residents assoc. who arrange get togethers for all around Easter, Christmas and Summer, the kids love it.
There's a great sense of community here.
The halting site isn't a problem, we used to have issues with their dogs roaming the estate but that has been sorted now by the Gardai and Kspca.
The traffic is a big problem if you work on the Dublin side but that's the only fault I can think of.
Best of luck with your search

RuthieB

Hi All,

Thinking of moving out to Athy as rent in Dublin is just too mental, and I'm too old to be going into a house share! I'm a single female, and have been looking at an advert for a place to rent in Rheban Manor. Has anyone any feedback on this area?

I work from home, so would only occasionally need to get into Dublin (and I'd probably go by train), but I would be living on my own so want to make sure I'm in a safe area.

Working from home, I'd need high speed broadband access - does anyone know what the coverage is like in the area?

Any feedback would be VERY much appreciated!

Kind Regards,

R

Yawns

Eircom recently upgraded the exchange in the area so it's enabled for NGB etc.

I'm on the vodafone value deal so I am now on the 8mb package. My actual speed is 6.8 - 7.4 which is fine for gaming for me as well as general broadband use. I live just under 2Km from the exchange but I believe rheban manor is closer. You can also get higher speeds on different packages.

My advice would be the same as before. Select a few different houses to view in the area and come down on the one day and view them all. Get a feel for the area itsself. I'm living here over 18 months now and typically keep to myself. I have not had a bad experience in Athy but everywhere has it's bad spots and troublemakers. I have just yet to see it.

rameire

just an update on the Next gen broadband.
it has been upgraded again and speeds of up to 24mb can be used with vodafone and eircon.

RuthieB

rameire wrote: »

just an update on the Next gen broadband.
it has been upgraded again and speeds of up to 24mb can be used with vodafone and eircon.

Oh thanks very much for the info on broadband, that's awesome!

I'm torn between athlone and somewhere in Kildare. I really want to be somewhere where there's a bit of a community feel, that's safe (for me and my cat ) and where I can just get on with things.

It seems like you can get a nice 3 bed to rent here cheaper than a tiny bedsit in a scary part of Dublin city! Some places in Dublin city absolutely terrify me.

boredatwork82

Just my 2c, I have finally got out of Athy, moving back home to ATHLONE, in 2 weeks!

I am biased because I am from Athlone, but Athlone is a fantastic town.
Lots of clubs, things to do.
There is loads of gyms, pools, shopping centres, fantastic restaurants, 2 or 3 night clubs, (Granted the CI bar can be a bit of craic the odd time!)
There is also a far better range of sharing accomadation - 40 rooms to share in Athlone V 5 in Athy.


A lot of people who go to college in Athlone end up loving it and staying round Athlone.
The college has fantastic athletic facilities if you are into that type of thing.

To be honest with you the only place Athy beats Athlone is in the distance from Dublin. Athlone wins every other argument hands down.

In my opinion there is no competition at all here.

RuthieB

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Just my 2c, I have finally got out of Athy, moving back home to ATHLONE, in 2 weeks!

I am biased because I am from Athlone, but Athlone is a fantastic town.
Lots of clubs, things to do.
There is loads of gyms, pools, shopping centres, fantastic restaurants, 2 or 3 night clubs, (Granted the CI bar can be a bit of craic the odd time!)
There is also a far better range of sharing accomadation - 40 rooms to share in Athlone V 5 in Athy.


A lot of people who go to college in Athlone end up loving it and staying round Athlone.
The college has fantastic athletic facilities if you are into that type of thing.

To be honest with you the only place Athy beats Athlone is in the distance from Dublin. Athlone wins every other argument hands down.

In my opinion there is no competition at all here.

Thanks v much for your input. Athlone does seem nice enough, but I'm a teetotaller so the clubs n pubs thing doesn't interest me at all. And rent seems quite high (not looking to share, need my own place!).

Apart from that, I like athlone a lot. It really is the distance from Dublin thing.

Thanks again for the input!

Yawns

I lived in Tallaght, Longford and Athy.

When living in Longford I did travel to Athlone and liked it. But as the OP wants to rent a place for themselves and not a share, then Athlone can be expensive as it is a large town. Athy is not a large town. Athy is closer to Dublin so for traveling alone it makes more sense.

Tallaght is a kip. I lived there most of my life. Athlone has it's rough areas just the same as Athy and most other places.

Best you can do OP is to view a few places on the same day. I'm in the Coneyboro housing estate and it's very quiet and peaceful. But the road wasn't fully finished and is bad in 1 or 2 spots in the far side of the estate. For the most part it's fine. That's prob the worst thing I can think of about the estate. It's a 10 min walk to train station max.

boredatwork82

Sorry, I didn't realise you wanted to share. In that regard Athlone is about 50-100 quid a month more than Athy.
But in saying that, For a none drinker Cinema, restaurants, sports clubs etc would be key.

There is some dodge places in Athlone to avoid. namely Willow Park. But I was looking around at some lovely 2 or 3 bed apts/houses around the €500 mark. I would link you to them, but I am looking at them !

As regards Coneyboro, I am currently living there. Its a nice estate. Best of the 3 I have lived in the Athy area. Its a grand walk into town too, near the train station.