Food outlet shortage got shorter
On Tuesday last, our shortage of restaurants and cafes got that bit shorter when both Lovage and The Bazaar closed temporarily as a result of power disruption associated with ESB connection work to the Royal Building. Their closure for the day was felt in Boyle and added to the long term loss of Clarke’s, Open Table, Margaret’s Cafe, Moving Stairs and indeed Drumanilra among others as places to eat. As summer approaches, let’s hope some budding entrepreneur(s) see the opening that exists for additional food outlets, especially in the summer months and open in town for business. There is no point attracting tourists to Boyle if they have nowhere to eat – or stay for that matter!
Resurrecting the late Betty Meyler’s vision
There are still a number of people around who will remember the late Betty Meyler. Betty came to Boyle many years ago along with her partner Jack and initially, if memory serves correct, settled at Rock House. Betty later moved into Boyle and to some, she could have been deemed eccentric. But to others who studied how she operated, Betty was a shrew and smart lady. She took an interest in UFO’s and was the subject of many radio and television documentaries on the subject, even organising a UFO conference in the town. Betty had a plan to put Boyle’s association with UFO’s on the map and saw the economic benefit such an association would bring to the town. Unfortunately Betty passed away before her dream became a reality.
Maybe now is a good time, with all the talk of UFO and balloon activity, to relive Betty’s dream and get the UFO phenomena on the go again – perhaps even build a UFO centre in the town……..
Believe in them or not – UFO’s are big business and if they bring an economic benefit to Boyle – then Betty’s vision of many years ago could at some stage in the future, become a reality with Boyle being the winner.
Report does not paint a pretty picture for Boyle
A report published during the week made for stark and sobering reading. The GeoDirectory Commercial Building report for Q4 2022 showed that Boyle has the highest commercial vacancy rate in Connacht. At 27.7%, Boyle was just ahead of Sligo, followed by Tuam and Ballina. Unsurprisingly, Westport has the lowest commercial vacancy rate in Connacht. While the figures are shocking they are not surprising. We are all aware of the number of vacant units that exist around town but sometimes the agencies and local authority need to see a report like this to take action and assist those who are trying to get the town back on it’s feet.
Thankfully, a major effort is well underway by the Tidy Towns group to clean up Boyle and it is understood the Town Team has been in contact with the Council re the state of the roads and footpaths. If we are to deal with commercial vacancy we need to have our town looking well and have it a welcoming and attractive place in which to locate a business. Hopefully, the coordinated work of the Tidy Town group and Town Team will see positive changes to the towns appearance (and vacancy rates) before long.
Should Boyle host a complimentary ‘mini festival’?
A suggestion was made on our social media channels last week that Boyle town should host a mini music festival in conjunction with the ‘Night and Day’ festival in Lough Key Forest park this June. A viewer suggested: “Why not open up King House along with Royal Hotel (if it’s ready of course) and the adjacent park and have live bands playing in various areas, along with food stalls and a few children’s events. It would be a good plug for the fantastic local bands from the Music Generation and others. It would be a nice event for all the family and those who cannot attend the festival on age restrictions. It would mean a bit of work but Boyle is excellent at organising events”.
While we are aware many Music Generation local bands will play at the Festival itself, maybe the viewers idea could be worked on? Should we have a mini festival or complimentary performances in town over the weekend? Let us know by voting in the reader poll on the homepage of Boyletoday.com
Two weeks until St. Patrick’s Day
Well done to the group of volunteers who took to the streets of Boyle on Wednesday night last and had the St. Patrick’s Day bunting erected on the parade route in no time. While on the subject of St. Patrick’s Day, the GoFundMe page set up by the organising committee has of this morning €895 pledged to the parade. This is well short of the required €4,000 that it will take to run the festival. Granted we have a diminished number of commercial businesses in town in recent years but the licenced premises, fast food outlets, filling stations and supermarkets are the main beneficiaries financially of the parade so lets hope they, along with all other business in Boyle dig deep and show their support. Let’s also hope that the many large businesses in Boyle make a special effort to enter a float this year. If there was no parade then there would be a lot of criticism so it’s in everyone’s interest to make this year’s event another successful and enjoyable one. You can donate to the parade here
New Library will house more than just books
During the week we published details of the contract notice for tenders for the Architect Led Team for Project Management and Design Consultancy Services for the new Boyle Community Library. The story generated a lot of comments on our Facebook page with many questioning the need for such an expensive piece of infrastructure in our town with others suggesting it’s a hotel we need not a new library.
Members of the public need to understand this new library will not be like the libraries of old. For those of a certain generation, libraries were seen as places where you could not talk and where you were regularly told to ‘keep quiet’ and as such were places you frequented with fear. The proposed Boyle Community Library will not be like this. It will be a bright modern community facility hosting more than books and magazines. It will be a community space with meeting rooms and places for people to gather and socialise and will compliment the Royal building and performance space adjacent to it.
People should also be aware that there are no grants available at present to build a hotel. If there was you can be quite sure developers would be popping them up left, right and centre. The fact remains that hotels of a certain size are not financially viable options but that is not to say one would not work in Boyle – it would and the establishment of a viable hotel(s) in the town is being worked on weekly behind the scenes.
But grants did become available for libraries and Roscommon Co Co and Boyle Town Team moved quickly to secure funding for such a facility in our town. If RCC and BTT did not do this then the funding would have gone elsewhere. The financial assistance for the library is specifically for this and could not have been used for a hotel or accommodation.
And finally……!
A farmer was helping one of his cows give birth when he noticed his 5-year-old son standing pie-eyed at the fence, soaking in the whole event.
The farmer thought “Great – he’s 5 and I’m gonna have to start explaining the birds and the bees.
No need to jump the gun – I’ll just let him ask, and I’ll answer.”
When everything was over, Dad strolled over to his son and said, “Well Willie, do you have any questions?”
“Just one,” gasped the pie-eyed lad.
“How fast was that calf travelling when he hit the cow?”
