First prize for ugliest part of Athlone

martin1

Driving through town yesterday, admittedly it was pouring rain and a grey November evening.

I couldn’t help but notice how ugly, rundown and decrepit the whole area from the roundabout at Patricks terrace all the way to the traffic lights at what was Marys discount store.

It’s a depressing place. Can’t understand why something isn’t done to brighten it up a little.

Gets my vote for ugliest part of town

flazio

St Mels, Willow Park, around the water Tower.

L.Jenkins

Anything east of Irish Town or Battery Heights.

holyhead

Where the Roscommon road turns away from the river and heads towards Monksland out as far as Baylough is pretty grim and yeah from St Patrick's terrace to the traffic at lights at Dunnes is not too cheerful either and to be honest the stretch of road turning right at the lights up as far as the Sheraton isn't too uplifting either.. To be fair the town has improved in the past few years. The Athlone Towncentre tidied up a large portion of the town centre so you never know what the future may bring!

demanufactured

That area from Patrick terrace to dunnes has largely been neglected for the last 10 years.

Sunny Dayz

In around the Texas Centre is bad, driving up the hill past the car park and around to the back of it onto St. Mary's Square. It's such a dead part of the town.
Also the street running from Supermacs up to the lights at Dunnes where Mary's discount store was.

challengemaster

There's a non-ugly part of Athlone now?

Anesthetize

demanufactured wrote: »

That area from Patrick terrace to dunnes has largely been neglected for the last 10 years.

Pretty much this. That empty site beside Sound Factory is the worst part along with the Texas Centre. But the streetscape in general just has nothing going for it. Needs some investment.

BoB_BoT

There are plans in the works for enhancing Church Street and the belief is that the improvements will radiate out from that. In fairness a lot of the town is neglected and looks like ****. We still have the ****ty hoarding up around where O'Neills used to be and that's in the centre of town!

Connaught street is a mess and needs something badly done with it.
Church street needs a facelift badly, it being the "centre" of the town.
The roads need to be cleaned up/repaved and lines painted on them properly.

I don't know about anyone else, but the shocks are ****ed on my car from driving around town.

There's a million and one things to be done by the council, will just have to wait and see if they do it. The usual retort is they don't have the money.

L.Jenkins

BoB_BoT wrote: »

I don't know about anyone else, but the shocks are ****ed on my car from driving around town.

There's a million and one things to be done by the council, will just have to wait and see if they do it. The usual retort is they don't have the money.

All shocks in my car a ****ed, so they'll be replaced soon, along with a new set of tyres. Even if someone else had the money to give any area of the town a face lift, the planning regulations and hoops would be enough to turn most off. To top it off, they want to extend the town boundries beyond Monksland. No point when the fuckers won't even spend any money in town.

martin1

challengemaster wrote: »

There's a non-ugly part of Athlone now?

Ok we are not talking Parisian beauty here , point taken, but to be fair

Main street is nice
Area around the castle is nice
Bastion street is nice
Pearse street is nice
There are nice walks along by the river

All west side I agree but its not ALL bad

L.Jenkins

Connaught street has been let go down the drain since the mid 90s. Yes, there's been the new car park built and Pearse streat, but nothing of significance since. A lot of building worth putting to good use is boarded up or needs a face lift.

Long Gone

Itzy wrote: »

Connaught street has been let go down the drain since the mid 90s.

It was let go down the drain a lot earlier than that. From about the mid eighties to early nineties I would say..... Lack of investment, lack of sorting out access for cars and enough parking was the main problem. The street also needs to be widened. That means knocking down some buildings and then rebuilding but that's what needs to be done.

One thing I've noticed : Back in the sixties and seventies the Batteries water tower was always kept clean and regularly repainted white. Since then it's become a dirty neglected eyesore. Drive into any town in The States and the water tower will be brilliant white with the town name on it. Why ? - Because they have civic pride and Athlone Town Council have none.

Far too many ugly rundown areas in town now.:mad:

L.Jenkins

I'm sure a number of buildings in Connaught Street are protected structures at this stage. I can imagine, to allow a better flow of traffic, it could become a one way system heading towards Pearse Street. Not many would be impressed with that however. The only thing that could save those streets is a face lift and serious investment.

nice_guy80

Connacht Street has the nicest buildings in the town imho
It's such a pity it has been let become rundown.
As somebody said, it needs a public off-street car park in the area.

L.Jenkins

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Connacht Street has the nicest buildings in the town imho
It's such a pity it has been let become rundown.
As somebody said, it needs a public off-street car park in the area.

That's the problem, it has off street parking, near the off-license and further up the street near the turn off for Pearse street. As for the buildings, yes there are some lovely looking, if they are renovated. Sadly, no one will invest. So it's a cause of getting onto the Athlone Town Council and if they claim it's Roscommon County Councils problem, then bringing them into the fold also. ATC really needs to pull the finger out and start investing in the town.

Anesthetize

Itzy wrote: »

That's the problem, it has off street parking, near the off-license and further up the street near the turn off for Pearse street. As for the buildings, yes there are some lovely looking, if they are renovated. Sadly, no one will invest. So it's a cause of getting onto the Athlone Town Council and if they claim it's Roscommon County Councils problem, then bringing them into the fold also. ATC really needs to pull the finger out and start investing in the town.

It's up to Westmeath CoCo as Athlone Town Council no longer exists. It's nothing to do with Roscommon CoCo either as it's not part of Roscommon.

Long Gone

Itzy wrote: »

I'm sure a number of buildings in Connaught Street are protected structures at this stage.

To the best of my knowledge none of them are.

Itzy wrote: »

I can imagine, to allow a better flow of traffic, it could become a one way system heading towards Pearse Street. Not many would be impressed with that however.

I agree - but the only alternative is widening the street which involves demolition and rebuilding of some buildings. Connaught Street was designed to accomodate donkey carts and is currently far too narrow.

Itzy wrote: »

The only thing that could save those streets is a face lift and serious investment.

Agreed - And more than a cosmetic facelift is needed. It needs a face transplant - Major demolition and rebuilding.

Long Gone

Anesthetize wrote: »

It's up to Westmeath CoCo as Athlone Town Council no longer exists. It's nothing to do with Roscommon CoCo either as it's not part of Roscommon.

It's geographically in Roscommon (as is all off Athlone that is on the west side of the Shannon), albeit that administratively it falls under the jurisdiction of Westmeath.

We really are in trouble if we no longer have a local elected and locally accountable council with specific responsibility for the town .... Mind you, the one that we had made a right hames of it for long enough and presided over the decline of Church Street, Connaught Street and many other formerly prosperous areas of the town.

L.Jenkins

The sad thing is, if ATC weren't going to do anything about it, Westmeath CoCo definitely won't.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Long Gone wrote: »

One thing I've noticed : Back in the sixties and seventies the Batteries water tower was always kept clean and regularly repainted white. Since then it's become a dirty neglected eyesore. Drive into any town in The States and the water tower will be brilliant white with the town name on it. Why ? - Because they have civic pride and Athlone Town Council have none.

I was thinking about this the other day. When you're driving towards Athlone from Roscommon, the water tower is the first thing you notice about the town. A lick of paint would make a huge difference, it is a complete eye sore, particularly on a wet, grey day, which we get plenty of in Athlone. Not exactly something you could get looked after by a few lads on a CE scheme though, it would probably be a relatively expensive exercise given the height of the structure.

4ensic15

Long Gone wrote: »

It's geographically in Roscommon (as is all off Athlone that is on the west side of the Shannon), albeit that administratively it falls under the jurisdiction of Westmeath.

Roscommon was only a judicial county up to 1898. It became an administrative county in 1898 without part of Athlone and without part of Ballinasloe. The County of Westmeath includes a triangular shaped piece of territory West of the Shannon. It is both a matter of geography and administration.

Long Gone

I took a stroll today up High Street, along Connaught Street and down Magazine road. I have to say that Connaught Street is in an absolutely shocking state now - It's now looking more shook and rundown that I've ever seen it before......

Anesthetize

I drove through Connaught St. one night last week and I thought a bomb hit the place.