Business decline in Athy

Glassealy resident, Thomas Rawson, wrote in 1807 ‘the extensive town of Athy ….. holds out much invitation to English capital and English industry ….. (yet) it is full of unemployed inhabitants. Athy is neglected, is in poverty’. Thirty-one years later an unidentified correspondent writing in the Athy Literary Magazine of March 1838 castigated ‘the spiritless and inept beings that form the more elevated circle (here in Athy)’. He continued ‘those persons who should be active in conceiving measures for the amelioration and adopting useful schemes for the improvement and comforts of the distressed and hard working poor never think at all about them ….. there is not a town in Ireland so completely neglected as Athy in every particular.’ I was reminded of these two references when I began to reflect on the present state of Athy’s main shopping streets. The heart of Athy is being carved out as we watch business after business close doors. It’s not just in Athy for the same problem is being experienced by so many other Irish provincial towns. Irish social and community habits have and are changing and this is nowhere more apparent than in the very Irish community practice of meeting friends and neighbours in a local public house. The local public house business is going through decades of change which has witnessed the closure of many town and country pubs. It’s a sobering thought to recall the pubs lost on the west side of Crom a Boo bridge. What was Michael Cunningham’s pub, near to Augustus Bridge, closed it’s doors over two decades ago, while the pub at the corner of Green Alley, last known as ‘The Goalpost’ closed more recently. Further down Duke Street the Dublin Bar shut it’s doors over sixty years ago, while on the opposite side of the road the legendary Barney Dunne’s pub closed after his death in 2007. With the loss of these four pubs Athy’s high street on the west side of Crom a Boo bridge is left with four public houses. Doyles and Dunnes in Woodstock Street, The Duke on Duke Street and the Auld Shebeen on Upper William Street. They are the sole representatives of a once thriving public house business on the west side of the River Barrow. Across the bridge built 220 years ago for horse and carriage traffic, but still meeting the demands of modern-day traffic, the second leg of Athy’s high street, Leinster Street shows the scars of closed public houses. What was once Mulhalls public house in the shadows of White Castle, is now used exclusively for weekend functions, while directly opposite is a newly opened coffee shop which once housed McCauley’s public house. Around the corner in Barrow Quay was ‘Chopsie’ Dillon’s pub, formerly Stirlings, more recently The Emigrant, now closed. In Emily Square two of the most prominent Athy pubs, O’Briens and Andersons are still to the good, as is Ann’s Place, formerly Lalors opposite the closed Duthies Jewellers and Watchmakers. Off the main street on Offaly Street, what was once Dowlings pub, later John W. Kehoes pub, has been closed for some years. On the opposite side of Leinster Street in Stanhope Street the once thriving Michael Noonans public house is vacant and sadly showing its age. Progressing up Leinster Street Des Noonan’s pub is no more, having suffered the same fate as Jim Nelson’s pub next door. Jim had moved to another premises further up Leinster Street, but those premises too are also now gone. The most famous pub in Athy, Bapty Mahers, has been closed for several years. McLaughlins public house is no more while Kanes, formerly Floods, is no longer open for business. A very substantial public house at the corner of Meeting Lane, most recently Murphy’s The Oasis, has been closed for several years and like so many closed business premises on the main streets of Athy is showing its age. Opposite Murphys was the Cock Robin pub which no longer operates. Breretons and McGoverns and Brian Smiths further up Leinster Street have closed their doors in recent times, while Nortons, Clancys and McEvoys at the corner of Mount Hawkins show a resilience in the face of changing social habits and increasing awareness of the legal restrictions on drinking and driving. The vacant public house premises in Athy present a sad appearance in the heart of our town and one which might conjure up images suggested by Rawson and that unidentified correspondent of almost 200 years ago. It is not just the public houses which have closed. So many other business premises have closed their doors presenting a picture of a decrepit and ill kept streetscape which speaks of developing neglect and dereliction. The problem of empty business premises is not confined to Athy. It is a national problem, clearly evidenced as we travel through Irish provincial towns. There is an urgent need to address the business decline in provincial Ireland. Here in Athy the government and its local government partner, Kildare County Council, must make available incentives to help the business life of town centres to thrive once again. For some time I have questioned the value of prohibitive car parking charges and the pressing need for more car parking spaces. Shoppers need to be encouraged to increase the footfall in town centres. Not enough is being done to bring back life to the commercial heart of Athy’s town centre. The absence of a local Chamber of Commerce or a town development association is something that needs to be addressed if further closure of local businesses in Athy is to be stopped and new business encouraged to set up in the heart of the town which was once described as the best market town in Leinster.