"People don't realise we're still open" say traders on Athlone's Mardyke Street

It's eight weeks since Mardyke Street in Athlone closed to traffic as a result of work to upgrade the street, and businesses there are calling for more support from the council in light of the drop-off in trade which they've seen during that time.

This week got off to a shaky start - quite literally - at Blacoe's jewellers on the street. A jackhammer was working at full tilt outside its premises, and the vibrations could be felt inside the store.

"There are times when the noise level is horrendous," Barbara Duignan of Blacoe's stated.

She said the biggest issue at the moment, however, was the fact that some people didn't realise there was still pedestrian access to the street and that the business was trading as normal.

"We want to get the message across that we are still open for business, because there are people who think you can't get up the street at all," she said.

The streetscape work on Mardyke Street began in March and is expected to see it remain closed to traffic until the end of August, with work to pedestrianise part of the neighbouring Sean Costello Street following later in the year.

Ray McSharry, of McSharry's Pharmacy on the street, was also keen to emphasise that it remained open and accessible to pedestrians. He said that if customers were impacted by the current works, McSharry's would be willing to help arrange delivery of their items.

He acknowledged, however, that business was down as a result of the work, and said the five-month duration of the closure to traffic was frustrating.

"It's hard to understand how it should take that long, and you would wonder if it could have been done a bit more efficiently," he said.

"We certainly welcome the regeneration of the street, and I think it will be good for Athlone. I think it will look really well and will serve the purpose of encouraging footfall onto the street."

Mr McSharry said Mardyke Street had been "starting to come back to life" of late. He pointed out that there were some new businesses coming into the street such as the Institute of Eye Surgery Athlone, situated in the former Permanent TSB building. Fit out work also began recently in the former Noel Ryan menswear shop unit on the street, he added.

He was disappointed that the design of the new-look streetscape didn't include a drop-off point or disabled parking spot, mentioning that a number of the pharmacy's customers were elderly or had mobility issues.

One of the ways he suggested the council could potentially support traders during the ongoing work was by waiving parking fees for those who park in nearby St Mary's Square.

Earlier this month, a coffee shop owner on Mardyke Street said the streetscape work was putting the future of his business at risk.

Conor Hamill, one of the owners of Slow Roast Sandwiches & Coffee, took the decision not to open for a day on Wednesday, May 3. Instead a notice was posted on the door which read: "Closed for today - roadworks are killing trade!"

Slow Roast opened in Athlone last August, and Conor said that, while the rise in the cost of living had affected everyone, business here was slowly starting to pick up before the streetscape work commenced on March 20.

"Once the roadworks started it was a complete disaster. We had been building up a little bit of a morning trade, maybe 10 or 15 coffees from 9 to 10, and people coming in for a few early sandwiches," he said.

"It went from that to having maybe five or six people walk through the door in the first two and a half hours of the day. That was solely down to us being surrounded by cones and barriers for as far as the eye can see."

Each of the businesses which the Westmeath Independent spoke to suggested the council ought to waive or reduce commercial rates as a means of compensating traders for the temporary disruption to their business.

Mr Hamill said that the rates income to the council from Slow Roast "is only a small figure to them, of around €700, but the impact this is having on us is way more than €700."

Tommy Hogan, the recently-appointed CEO of Athlone Chamber of Commerce, said the lowering of commercial rates for traders on Mardyke Street had been raised with Westmeath County Council and that it had not agreed to any such reduction.

The Chamber is acting as liaison for local businesses in fortnightly meetings with John Cradock Ltd, the contractor for the project, and the council.

Discussing the streetscape project as a whole, Mr Hogan said: "In the long term, it will be beneficial to the town. Unfortunately it is a frustrating process to go through, and it is taking quite a long time even though the builders are on schedule."

"Whatever queries we're given by the local businesses we will bring to the council to see if there is a way that the frustration can be mitigated.

"It is affecting businesses in the short-term, but I think the general consensus is that it's for the long-term good," said Mr Hogan.

The €4 million streetscape project as a whole is scheduled to continue until March 2024, and will include an overhaul of the junction at Pump Lane and the pedestrianisation of a section of Sean Costello Street, between Flannery's pub and Mardyke Street.