When plans and reality collide: the challenges facing Carlow’s town centre
Andy Doyle of Andy’s Music on Castle Street, Carlow Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
FOR ALL the optimism around Carlow’s regeneration – and there’s plenty of it – some well-known, persistent frustrations hover over local businesses. While the €20.8 million URDF-funded Project Carlow 2040 aims to reshape the town centre, many traders say the real stumbling blocks need more urgent, hands-on solutions.
Mention parking to almost any Carlow shop owner and they’ll have a story. Andy Doyle, owner of Andy’s Music on Castle Street, doesn’t mince words: “Parking is a nightmare. The amount of customers that say ‘there’s no parking around here. Where do you park?’” This sentiment also resonates with Sarah Louise Quinlan, the owner of Blush Beauty, also on Castle Street: “I definitely think Carlow needs a lot more parking, especially down where we are; the parking isn’t great. It’s one of the busiest little streets, you’ll never get a space … it was always bad, but now it’s just worse. If you don’t find a space before 9am, it can be difficult.” Meanwhile, Pat Bramley – whose family-run jewellers once had a prime location at the bottom of Tullow Street – doesn’t think the lack of space is an issue per se, he is calling for at least an hour of free parking in the town centre.
“People avoid the town centre if they can get free parking elsewhere. Without extra incentive to bring people into the town, they’re just driving them out of it.” Council chief executive Coilín O’Reilly, however, contends that parking isn’t the critical issue some believe it to be. “From my estimation, there’s two floors of Carlow Shopping Centre, which is 190 on each floor. So that’s 380 and there’s about 200 to 250 in the Royal Exchange car park. So let’s just say conservatively 500 on a daily basis that aren’t used," Mr O’Reilly points out, suggesting that ample parking exists but isn’t being utilised.
When asked about traders’ concerns that a lack of parking contributes to reduced footfall, Mr O’Reilly acknowledges multiple factors: “It’s always very hard to say there’s one particular thing that is the problem,” citing previous underinvestment in the town centre, the rise of online shopping, seasonal weather issues, and cost of living pressures as contributing factors.
O'Reilly does recognise that some parking spaces will be lost with the new town centre plans, but guarantees “it’s less than 1% of all the parking spaces in the town,” adding “as I demonstrated to you, there are 500 on a daily basis that are never used.” Why aren’t these existing spaces being used? Mr O’Reilly acknowledges that signage to underused car parks is insufficient for visitors who don’t know the town. “Several people raised the fact that the signage to those two existing underutilised car parks is insufficient for people who do not know the town. We accept this and will address it as part of our overall scheme,” he says.
He also notes that habits also play a role: “Some people just don’t like the idea of having to drive into a car park when they can park on the street.” Interestingly, the council’s Your Carlow survey results, published in September 2024, showed that on-street parking ranked lowest on the list of responses for what people believed the town centre needed more of.
