What is the most depressing looking town in Ireland?

Stephen15

Pretty much everywhere outside of dublin not saying is gorgeous or anything it seems like the only place in ireland that's semi liveable

mojesius

Another vote for portlaoise. Eternally grey. Followed by Tuam.

HandsomeDan

Stephen15 wrote: »

Pretty much everywhere outside of dublin not saying is gorgeous or anything it seems like the only place in ireland that's semi liveable

Most places outside of Dublin are nicer than most of Dublin. The only nice parts of Dublin are d4 and d6.

Stephen15

Pearl Dry Barter wrote: »

You're wrong, and I'm a Dub telling you this.

Limerick cities main attraction for me is its people, and what better place to find them than the city center.

Limerick is a lovely city, very unfairly treated in the media (and social media).

Limerick I always thought was the naples of ireland get a bad in the media but is actually quite nice. Ive been to both places and I can tell you that one is a lovely meditarean city with great food and the other is a dead sh*thole. Although King John's castle is a good museum it's still a sh•thole.

JupiterKid

Tipperary Town, Longford and Tuam all compete for the title in my book.

Yurt2

Tipperary Town. Someone needs to call in an airstrike on that place to end the suffering of its people.

Yurt2

The anatomy of the main street of a depressing Irish provincial town...

Boarded up shop / Cash for gold place / Bookies / Boarded up shop / Shuttered old man pub / Bookies / Supermacs / EuroSaver shop/ Golden Palace Chinese takeaway / Boarded up shop / That one pub that people under 40 go / Charity shop / Gentleman's outfitters that sells slacks and crap jumpers / Cash for gold place / TD constituency Office.

maryishere

Yurt! wrote: »

The anatomy of the main street of a depressing Irish provincial town...

Boarded up shop / Cash for gold place / Bookies / Boarded up shop / Shuttered old man pub / Bookies / Supermacs / EuroSaver shop/ Golden Palace Chinese takeaway / Boarded up shop / That one pub that people under 40 go / Charity shop / Gentleman's outfitters that sells slacks and crap jumpers / Cash for gold place / TD constituency Office.

+ euroshop/ boarded up shop / mobile phone shop / boarded up shop / polish shop / solicitors office / boarded up shop / hairdresser, and 10 empty units and a lidl on the outskirts of town.

Faith+1

HandsomeDan wrote: »

Most places outside of Dublin are nicer than most of Dublin. The only nice parts of Dublin are d4 and d6.

Yeah because Howth, Castleknock, Malahide etc...are complete sh*tholes.

demanufactured

Stephen15 wrote: »

Pretty much everywhere outside of dublin not saying is gorgeous or anything it seems like the only place in ireland that's semi liveable

I hear the heroine is lovely up there.

legocrazy505

Yurt! wrote: »

Tipperary Town. Someone needs to call in an airstrike on that place to end the suffering of its people.

Agree with this, I go to school here and it's honestly a dump. A bit better recently thanks to Aldi doing up the market area but overall it's gotten worse.

Faith+1

demanufactured wrote: »

I hear the heroine is lovely up there.

Is it? We have Heroin but not much Heroine.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

TheRiverman wrote: »

Parts of Athlone in dire need of a facelift,Church Street and Connaught Street in particular.

I agree Connaught Street looks quite down on it's luck, it's been going that way for 20 years.

Church Street wouldn't take much to spruce it up again however and I certainly wouldn't call it depressing.

Subacio

JT26 wrote: »

Portlaoise really has only two things going for it the maximum security prison and the mental hospital the two positives about the place!:pac::pac::pac:

The prison and mental hospital are on opposite sides of the same road. As a result it is known locally as Hardware Road, because you have the nuts on one side and screws on the other.

maudgonner

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Bray? Nice enough architecture of the English/Irish seaside resort type and on the sea.

Might be run down, might not like the locals but it's clearly not the worst

Bray is very definitely a town of two halves, and it sounds like you've only been to the nice half. Take a spin down the Boghall Road, or the estates on the Dublin side of the town and you'll see a different side to it.

Zelda247

cml387 wrote: »

I don't have a town in mind but a journey.

As you leave Castleisland, head for Mallow via Ballydesmond and Boherbui.
The quality of the land gradually deteriorates until it's boggy hill, rushes and snipegrass. The houses become sparser and uglier, the road narrow and winding and poorly surfaced.

You begin to feel you're being watched from behind grey and ragged net curtains. Certainly there's no one on the streets of Ballydesmond, or any other village you pass.

Each branch of Centra has a rusty gas bottle outside and bales of briquettes.

Eventually with a sigh of relief you get back on the main road and enter Mallow.

Mallow is no great attraction, but after the journey you've had it's like Constantinople and all the treasures therein.

Ah that is so true I have done that journey.....

Zelda247

maudgonner wrote: »

Bray is very definitely a town of two halves, and it sounds like you've only been to the nice half. Take a spin down the Boghall Road, or the estates on the Dublin side of the town and you'll see a different side to it.

Bray has always been awful. I spoke to a friend yesterday who visited it at the weekend and had never been there before she said it was just AWFUL!

Zelda247

Faith+1 wrote: »

From page 3. Without doubt one of the funniest posts I've ever read on Boards! Bravo Sir!

Very funny indeed:)

mickwat155

Sligo is a top contender

working fool

Ardee

Don't do it

Zelda247

working fool wrote: »

Ardee

Don't do it

Is it as bad as Drogheda:)

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

Bray is very definitely a town of two halves, and it sounds like you've only been to the nice half. Take a spin down the Boghall Road, or the estates on the Dublin side of the town and you'll see a different side to it.

Zelda247 wrote: »

Bray has always been awful. I spoke to a friend yesterday who visited it at the weekend and had never been there before she said it was just AWFUL!

Don't get the Bray bashing. Ok I am from Bray and love living there. Has good facilities and a great location, along the sea, 30 mins from city centre and 30 mins from Wicklow Mountains.

Firstly Boghall Road, why would a visitor go there?
It's primarily residential. Nice houses and estates for the most part except for Oldcourt at the bottom which is a counclil estate and suffers from anti-social behaviour.

Even from that road there are fine views of Bray head.

The seafront is a lovely spot that looks well and is lively day and night.
Bray also has a great selection of eatieries now that have opened in the last 5 years, from Dockyard No 8 in the Harbour, (always busy) to Platform Pizza, Box Burger, Campo de Fiori, to name but a few.
Good pub scene too, and the Harbour Bar is flying.
How Can this be ugly?

Main Street is a different story hit hard by recession and Dundrum Town Centre so there's quite a few boarded up and run down shops but has improved lately with opening of Tiger, Starbucks, Dealz and go ahead for Florentine centre.

For some reason though it has a 'rough' reputation with people outsdie Bray, especially those who hardly go there and based on no facts.

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

Don't get the Bray bashing. Ok I am from Bray but love living there.

Firstly Boghall Road, why woudl a visitor go there?
It's primarily residential. Nice houses and estates for the most part except for Oldcourt at the bottom which is a counclil estate.

Even from that road there are fine views of Bray head.

The seafront is a lovely spot that looks well and is lively day and night.
Bray also has a great selection of eatieries now that have opened in the last 5 years, from Dockyard No 8 in the Harbour, (always busy) to Platform Pizza, Box Burger, Campo de Fiori, to name but a few.
Good pub scene too, and the Harbour Bar is flying.
How Can this be ugly?

Main Street is a different story hit hard by recession and Dundrum Town Centre so there's quite a few boarded up and run down shops but has improved lately with opening of Tiger, Starbucks, Dealz and go ahead for Florentine centre.

That's exactly why I said it's a town of two halves - parts of it are lovely, parts are definitely not.

And a visitor probably wouldn't go down the Boghall Rd, but this thread isn't about that? I don't see the relevance.

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

Bray is very definitely a town of two halves, and it sounds like you've only been to the nice half. Take a spin down the Boghall Road, or the estates on the Dublin side of the town and you'll see a different side to it.

Which estates are these ?

Boghall Road, mostly private housing. 2 Council estates, Deer Park and Old Court.
Dublin Side, some lovely estates, such as Corke Abbey, Woodbrook Glen, very nice housing along Old Connaught Avenue.
You must be referring to Palermo and maybe Fassaroe. Both off the Dublin road and not visible if passing so why would anyone go there unless you live there or visit someone?

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

That's exactly why I said it's a town of two halves - parts of it are lovely, parts are definitely not.

And a visitor probably wouldn't go down the Boghall Rd, but this thread isn't about that? I don't see the relevance.

But every town and city is like that all over the world.

Have you never travelled?

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

But every town and city is like that all over the world.

Have you never travelled?

I have, and I've lived in Bray myself. The point remains that there are nice parts of Bray and parts that are definitely not nice.

I'm not personally saying that I think it's the worst town (and in fact I think this thread is a bit mean spirited anyway, all towns have their good and bad aspects), but I was replying to Eugene's post which referred mainly to the seaside resort part of Bray i.e. the nice part:

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Bray? Nice enough architecture of the English/Irish seaside resort type and on the sea.

Might be run down, might not like the locals but it's clearly not the worst

Anybody that knows Bray knows that not all of the town can be described as a seaside resort with nice architecture.

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

I have, and I've lived in Bray myself. The point remains that there are nice parts of Bray and parts that are definitely not nice.

I'm not personally saying that I think it's the worst town (and in fact I think this thread is a bit mean spirited anyway, all towns have their good and bad aspects), but I was replying to Eugene's post which referred mainly to the seaside resort part of Bray i.e. the nice part:



Anybody that knows Bray knows that not all of the town can be described as a seaside resort with nice architecture.

Why single Bray out for this then?

I can't think of any town in the world that is 100% nice. Paris reknowned for its architecture has some truly awful areas.

Why you are mentioning residential areas that have some council estates is beyond me.

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

Why single Bray out for this then?

I can't think of any town in the world that is 100% nice. Paris reknowned for its architecture has some truly awful areas.

Why you are mentioning residential areas that have some council estates is beyond me.

Bloody hell, I responded to a post about a town I have lived in, to point out that what the poster said was true about one part of the town, but not all of it. I gave an example of one of the not so nice areas to illustrate my point.

Do you really want me to qualify that by going through every town in Ireland and listing the nice and not so nice parts? Followed by every city in the world?

Squall Leonhart

murpho999 wrote: »

Why single Bray out for this then?

maudgonner wrote: »

Bloody hell...

Get a room you two

Callan in Kilkenny, another town that needs rejuvenating

maudgonner

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

Get a room you two

Maybe not in Bray though? :pac:

ionadnapokot

maudgonner wrote: »

Maybe not in Bray though? :pac:

God no!

yourdeadwright

Deleted User wrote: »

cml387 wrote: »

I don't have a town in mind but a journey.

As you leave Castleisland, head for Mallow via Ballydesmond and Boherbui.
The quality of the land gradually deteriorates until it's boggy hill, rushes and snipegrass. The houses become sparser and uglier, the road narrow and winding and poorly surfaced.

You begin to feel you're being watched from behind grey and ragged net curtains. Certainly there's no one on the streets of Ballydesmond, or any other village you pass.

Each branch of Centra has a rusty gas bottle outside and bales of briquettes.

Eventually with a sigh of relief you get back on the main road and enter Mallow.

Mallow is no great attraction, but after the journey you've had it's like Constantinople and all the treasures therein.

Oh Dear God.

I live in South Kerry. And there are so many wonderful journeys here, roads winding around the Dunkerrons and Reeks, overlooking the crashing waves of the Atlantic, the National Park etc.

But the thought of going to Mallow, through East Kerry and into NW Cork...it's soul destroying. And that's the main Killarney Mallow road, veering off into places like Kiskeam and Kanturk, or going on to Buttevant and Charleville is worse...it actually puts me in a bad mood.

I drive the Killarney to Mallow road 2 months back and it was not that bad at all, amazing views the of mountain top /hills covered in snow

Stephen15

HandsomeDan wrote: »

Most places outside of Dublin are nicer than most of Dublin. The only nice parts of Dublin are d4 and d6.

There is loads of nice countryside but I'm talking about towns and you have to admit the majority of towns outside of dublin are sh*tholes it's easy enough to say which towns are kips but a bigger challenge would be to name towns that are actually nice.

venomousfrog

Monasterevin - if you can even call it a town, nothing in the place.
Athy - Depresses the life outta me when I have to go visit the grave yard
Arklow - Nothing nice to say about this place. The new shopping center has taken all the life out of the town

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

Bloody hell, I responded to a post about a town I have lived in, to point out that what the poster said was true about one part of the town, but not all of it. I gave an example of one of the not so nice areas to illustrate my point.

Do you really want me to qualify that by going through every town in Ireland and listing the nice and not so nice parts? Followed by every city in the world?

You're obviously very upset about this but I just don't agree with how you are labelling these parts and how it then makes the whole town depressing.

Suppose we'll just leave at that so.

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

You're obviously very upset about this

You've really misinterpreted my tone then. I'm frustrated with your defensiveness and reluctance to see reason, but not at all upset.

Why would I be upset, sure I don't live there anymore! :pac:

Walter H Price

Suncroft in kildare is a pretty grim aul spot ... Take your pick of towns in the midlands for grim and soulless also Ardee in Co.Louth is rough as a badgers arse

yourdeadwright

yourdeadwright wrote: »

I drive the Killarney to Mallow road 2 months back and it was not that bad at all, amazing views the of mountain top /hills covered in snow

You know the way they say black tights hide a multitude of sins?

Same for snow.

venomousfrog

venomousfrog wrote: »

Monasterevin - if you can even call it a town, nothing in the place.
Athy - Depresses the life outta me when I have to go visit the grave yard
Arklow - Nothing nice to say about this place. The new shopping center has taken all the life out of the town

I don't mind Athy. It has a big river and an old bridge and a castle. That's instantly more character than a good few towns. Never stayed there mind you.

Zelda247

There seems to be a common list, I think so far it must be something like.

1. Boyle
2. Athy
3. Arklow
4. Tipperary Town
5. Tralee
6. Ballina
7. Portlaoise
8. Drogheda

I know its about depressing towns but I find some of the comments hilarious, Thank God people have a sense of humour. I especially LOVED the comment about Portlaoise, The Hardware town!

Eugene Norman

Stephen15 wrote: »

There is loads of nice countryside but I'm talking about towns and you have to admit the majority of towns outside of dublin are sh*tholes it's easy enough to say which towns are kips but a bigger challenge would be to name towns that are actually nice.

I could mention most coastal towns and be on a winner.

Zelda247

Eugene Norman wrote: »

I could mention most coastal towns and be on a winner.

Yeh sad but true....

irishguitarlad

yourdeadwright wrote: »

I drive the Killarney to Mallow road 2 months back and it was not that bad at all, amazing views the of mountain top /hills covered in snow

I think the original poster had a different journey in mind. Hes on about when you leave castleisland(hell) and through scartaglen or cordal on to ballydesmond then on to mallow from there. Just thinking about that journey gives me the shivers

cml387

irishguitarlad wrote: »

I think the original poster had a different journey in mind. Hes on about when you leave castleisland(hell) and through scartaglen or cordal on to ballydesmond then on to mallow from there. Just thinking about that journey gives me the shivers

That's the one. It's like The Hills Have Eyes.

Zelda247

irishguitarlad wrote: »

I think the original poster had a different journey in mind. Hes on about when you leave castleisland(hell) and through scartaglen or cordal on to ballydesmond then on to mallow from there. Just thinking about that journey gives me the shivers

I agree the Killarney to Mallow Road is full of really nice scenery and to my mind Mallow has been a bit unjustly criticised its not that bad on the eye:)

yesnow

It has to be Shannon, County Clare for me. Everything about it feels like a Soviet industrial blackhole thrown together to accommodate the airport, which quite frankly deserves better. There is nothing to suggest you're in the town centre or even Ireland. No Main Street, Square or nothing only an ugly shopping centre.

RhubarbCrumble

Kilkee has to be up there. My friend's parents have a mobile home there for years. Was down there during the summer. If I had to live there I'd crack up.

yesnow

yesnow wrote: »

It has to be Shannon, County Clare for me. Everything about it feels like a Soviet industrial blackhole thrown together to accommodate the airport, which quite frankly deserves better. There is nothing to suggest you're in the town centre or even Ireland. No Main Street, Square or nothing only an ugly shopping centre.

I came on here just to say Shannon. Hands down, not only the ugliest, but almost the most soulless place in Ireland.

tayto lover

Kells, Co. Meath.
The town that time forgot.

wakka12

yesnow wrote: »

It has to be Shannon, County Clare for me. Everything about it feels like a Soviet industrial blackhole thrown together to accommodate the airport, which quite frankly deserves better. There is nothing to suggest you're in the town centre or even Ireland. No Main Street, Square or nothing only an ugly shopping centre.

Most planned towns are completely soulless.
We just cant build nice cities anymore..or nice squares..or nice buidlings.or nice houses
Everything just has to be cheaply built as possible with most economic return. people used to care about how their buildings and streets looked