Slane is shortlisted as the friendliest place to do your shopping in the whole country
SLANE is one of five places in the country shortlisted for the AIB Merchant Services-Retail Excellence Friendliest Place in Ireland Award.
The County Meath village is included with Ennis, Carrick-on-Shannon, Limerick and Waterford and they will all be vying for the top spot come November when the winner will be announced at a sell-out black-tie event in Killarney.
Retail Excellence, the largest retail representative body in Ireland, run these prestigious awards to drive standards and celebrate excellence in retail operations and town centres throughout the country. Last year Ennis won the prestigious title at the awards which was attended by more than 700 Irish retail industry executives. The awards are the biggest and best supported event in the Irish retail industry calendar.
“We are delighted with the quality of entries we received this year for Ireland’s Friendliest Place Award and the standard set was second to none. It is always difficult to choose the finalists but the five towns selected are standard bearers in driving customer excellence, hospitality and pride in their town. The five finalists can be justly proud of this achievement and I all look forward to the announcement of the overall winner in November,’ said Lorraine Higgins Chief Executive of Retail Excellence.
Speaking on the announcement Cllr. Paddy Meade who had nominated the businesses in Slane said: “it’s a great day, but it’s no surprise, when I was asked by the council last week to nominate places, Slane was the obvious choice to me as there is a great friendly environment there in all its shops, pubs, cafes and lovely restaurants. But now it’s time that all of Ireland finds this out.’
‘People like local pottery maker Lucy O’Gorman who in my eyes is the happiest person in Slane working in the Craft Collective and all other retailers as well as the officials in Meath County County Council who offered assistance should take a big bow for all they’ve done in assistance,’ he added.