Some Suggestions for Sligo Town

I asked the members of the Love Sligo Facebook group what they would like to see in Sligo town, and there was a great discussion. I’m posting the suggestions here, let me know what you think.

Personally I’d love to see a market alongside the river. There used to be a French Market there years ago, during the Sligo Live Festival, it was also there for the SO Sligo Food Festival. It really opened up that area and it attracted a lot of visitors. I was in Galway before Christmas and the markets there are bustling and vibrant, I’d love to see something similar in Sligo.

I’d also love to see a bowling alley back again, we had one years ago. The nearest one now is Bundoran.

This is what the Love Sligo group would like to see (in no particular order):

1. A market in the town. It would seem that there is a farmers’ market planned for when the Stephen’s Street Carpark is turned into the Queen Maeve Square – you can read more about that here: https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligochampion/news/work-begins-on-transforming-a-sligo-car-park-into-queen-maeve-square-42276514.html
2. Bowling Alley.
3. Youth Cafe
4. Indoor Recreation Area. Some people don’t feel safe exercising outside at night.
5. Car boot sales
6. Information booths around the town.
7. Public toilets. This came up a lot. Especially for families, the elderly and the disabled.
8. Ice Skating Rink/ Roller Skating Area
9. Cafes that are open after 5 or 6pm.
10. More things to do indoors. Something similar to Token in Dublin, with arcade machines.
11. More native woodland.
12. Park and ride buses. Perhaps from the Retail Park in Carraroe to town.
13. Laser quest
14. Something for young people to do, the age group from 8+
15. More seating. This came up a lot. Seating areas down by the quays and alongside the river.
16. Flea market and jumble sales.
17. Art House Cinema (incorporating a club)
18. A bigger museum
19. Parking areas for larger vehicles – such as vehicles that are adapted for people with disabilities, some need more space than even disabled bays provide.
20. A dog park, where responsible dog owners can let their dogs have a run.
21. An Escape Room
22. Sort out the traffic system.
23.  Make the river walk feel more pedestrian and relaxed with picnic tables
24. Bring back Trickies McGarrigles
25. Revamp the Savoy Cinema into something useful for the community.
26. More bins.

That’s what the members of Love Sligo think, and one comment stood out:

“What the people of Sligo wants goes unheard. I’ve heard and read many call outs for different amenities to make sligo a better town and as far as I have seen nothing that the people suggested they got. How can the people of Sligo push for these facilities without been rejected all the time”

What do you think? Come and join the Love Sligo Group too.

Updated post 26th January 2023

I’ve had more suggestions on my social media platforms, so here goes:

27. A train to Bundoran
28. A bigger Dunnes Stores
29. More call for public toilets, especially for people with young children.
30. Move Tesco and Penneys to the Carraroe Retail Park.
31. I wish they can turn Sligo similar to Galway….the bowling would be great and indoor space for young one as well
32. Exhibitions, museums, dancing clubs
33. Outdoor skate park, more public toilets, dog park, a water slide in the public swimming pool and an indoor meeting/play space like the one the Model used to have.
34. Inline skating and bicycle path along a lake (10km route suggested)
35. A sensory play park for special needs children
36. A social gathering place for seniors, day and night
37. A statue of Westlife
38. A (covered) market in the town is absolutely the first, great to see that happening. More accommodation to live in the town to bring back some vibrancy. Also some creative space for youth and others to express themselves. We’re also missing a good small venue or two for bands, open mic, comedy etc after the closures we had over the past few years.
39. Flood gates fitted under Hughes Bridge to hold the water back and create a large swimming pool at Quay Street Carpark.
40. Soft play area for toddlers.

Three more comments:

“If the powers that be that saw sense to invest public money into installing three speed bumps into a 20m x 30m car park at Dooney Rock recently are anything to go by then I’d say we’re wasting our time dreaming of the wonderful things we could do in this wonderful town. It seems installing CCTV cameras around town centre and speed bumps in car parks is the best we can hope for with the current town planners?
I think these suggestions are wonderful are a great start but who’s listening to us?”

“Multistorey carparks. Ideally 2 at either end of the town. Then cut the parking spaces on the core streets to enable footpath widening, esp on Castle St to make the place more pedestrian friendly. Also, do something, anything, with Wine St carpark. Nobody likes going in there.”

There’s a mound of green area which overlooks the docks and has steps up into the hill it’s right beside Jako. It’s very visible from the dual carriage way I would love to see the whole thing cleaned up and some wild flowers planted! Or even better something made from flowers, or a sculpture or something saying “welcome to Sligo”! Would make the town more inviting.