CARLINGFORD – MUCH MORE TO OFFER THAN NOISY NIGHT ECONOMY
LOCAL COMMUNITY FACE UP TO TODAY’S DEMANDS
It’s a cold frosty December morning and there’s a buzz on the streets of Carlingford. It’s the village’s annual Christmas shopping day and the shops are thronged, not with tourists, but with locals picking up a bargain and enjoying complimentary mince pies, mulled wine, chocolates or prosecco. The young children from St Oliver’s NS are singing carols and the village shops, pubs and restaurants are decked out in festive finery.
It’s on days like these that Carlingford is at its best and it’s easy to see why it has become a popular tourist destination, with its stunning location, medieval ruins, colourful streets, lively pubs and fine restaurants earning rave reviews in the international media and on-line guides.
Tourism has become the major industry in village, which welcomes visitors from all over Ireland, Europe, America, Canada and Australia. Tourists are the lifeblood for the hotels, pubs, restaurants and shops, providing valuable employment for people living in the village and its hinterland.
During the peak summer season, Carlingford’s population of around 1,500 can more than double as day trippers and tourists flock to the village.
But there’s a downside to everything, as the influx of large numbers of visitors, especially at weekends, poses its own problems.
Local business owner Ger Long admits that getting the balance between attracting tourists and keeping local residents happy is a challenge but he believes the problems ‘are very easily rectified’.
He feels that a code of conduct for rental properties needs to be followed and adhered to.
‘ The owners of rental properties need to employ security to police the houses from 2am to 9am so that local residents know who to contact if there’s a problem,’ he suggests.
And while there has been criticism of hens and stag parties, he says these groups kept tourism alive during the lean years of the recession.
This is a sentiment echoed by Richard Brennan of Carlingford Tourism. ‘Without them, Carlingford would be a ghost town this time of year.’
He says the company has posted a code of conduct for visitors on their website. ‘We don’t want hassle,’ he says, adding that they have told groups ‘ to tone it down’.
The company, which works with local tourism providers to offer packages for people coming to stay in the village, recently moved into the tourist office in the Station House.
This, says Richard, will allow them to grow their business, which currently employs four people.
‘We are looking forward to next year and we are seeing a lot more Canadians, Americans coming into town, and even a few Australians.’
The company will be working to capture the couples and family market in the
coming year,’ he says. ‘If you get people coming at a young age, the hope is they will come back when they are older.’
‘ There’s a lot for families in Carlingford, with the Adventure Centre and SkyPark’ he says.
The recently opened Escape Room is, he says, an example of the opportunities provided by tourism. ‘ David O’Hanlon has taken a building that was lying idle and turned it into an attraction, providing a venue for parties for all ages. He also has bikes for the Greenway.’
James Byrne of Carlingford Accommodation which offers mostly 5 star self-catering accommodation to visitors, says that 30 per cent of their customers now come from overseas.
‘ There are already laws in place to deal with anti-social behaviour,’ he says. ‘ We are dealing with the anti-social issues which every town in the country has. The bye-laws are in place and are being implemented now.’
He says that there is a greater Garda presence in the town at weekends which ‘is welcomed by everybody.’
The town’s business sector supports local community initiatives such as the Tidy Towns. Pauric Flanagan of Carlingford Tidy Towns says that the input of the business community is appreciated, such as the sponsorship by Carlingford Accommodation which has allowed them to buy a solar powered composting bin for the village which has the capacity to take more rubbish than a conventional bin.
‘We are looking at getting ‘ talking’ bins which say ‘ thank you’ when you put rubbish in them, as they encourage children to use them,’ he says. ‘We need more bins so we have asked some of the businesses to sponsor them, and they will get their names on the bins.’
Other recent projects include attractive new road signs on the entrances to the village, a bike repair stand beside the Station House, and the erection of Christmas trees along the promenade.
The village’s marks have been improving in the Tidy Towns competition thanks to the hard working volunteers who are out picking up rubbish at the weekends as well as the three people employed through a TUS scheme.
‘We have a five year plan which we are working through and hopefully that will see further improvements,’ says Pauric.
Carlingford’s dining pubs and restaurants have put it on the culinary map and Leanne Matthews from Park View Provisions, Newry says that it makes up a significant part of their custom. ‘We now supply into Carlingford six days a week while originally it would only have been two ,’ she says. ‘ There has been massive growth in the last number of years and there’s a lot of effort put in by businesses in Carlingford to make it work, and we would see it as being a lot busier than places like Warrenpoint.’
The challenge facing the village is how to balance a very successful tourist industry with the needs of its residents.