Darragh's Soapbox: Waterford Dereliction
Darragh's Soapbox: Dereliction in Waterford
With Argos the latest to close, creating another hollow dent in the city centre, and news recently of €1.5 million in unpaid vacant site levies in Waterford, inner city dereliction and vacancy is a hot topic in the city and county.
As of August 2023, there were 51 derelict sites in total across Waterford. This week, a few locals in the area had their say on the state of dereliction in the city, and what businesses they would like to see move into vacant sites:
“I’d like to see more clothes shops in the city. No more pound shops, no coffee shops, no second-hand shops, no barber shops and no nail shops, other than that, I’d like to see anything. There’s nothing left. No clothes shops, no hardware store…if you can’t drive you’ll have nothing, and you can’t get out of the city to shop.” Lila Hennessy would like to see more clothes shops in Waterford.
“I’d like to see a nice clothes shop, or cafés. It is very derelict, and its nearly all charity shops now. Everywhere you look there’s places closing down, I was even in Cork lately and a lot of the shops there were closed too, all you could see is pubs.”
Francie White says crafts should be available in the city centre.
“We need some variety. Bring the crafts into the middle of the town and have something interesting going on. People can go and shop anywhere, but if there was a bit of craft out there around the shopping streets, it brings something new, so you can go in shopping, and have a look around at something interesting. Heritage and craft is big in Waterford, with history and Waterford Crystal. We should see more of it in the city centre.”
More shops for people with disabilities in Waterford, says Billy Gear.
“I’d like to see shops for us, over 50s, and for people with disabilities. People should understand what people in this town should have, and we should have better access for people with disabilities”.
