Craic On

I mentioned ideas for regenerating Moville to Jim Fernand and he came up with this one. I don’t know if you have been to one of those towns in the south of France where they close off the main square to traffic and the restaurants and bars put tables out and people eat and drink out there.

Each bar and restaurant gets its little bit of space. It is a very convivial and relaxed atmosphere and it much better than sitting inside eating or drinking. You can while away the time. Everyone is in a good mood.

Moville

So, why not do it in Moville? Why not close off the main square and put tables and seats out in the square? Wouldn’t that be great? It would certainly attract more people to come to Moville and sample the food and drink and the relaxed atmosphere.

Of course, some people will say the we don’t get the weather here in Moville for the cafe society that they have in the south of France.

They are quite correct of course, but I’m sure that the bars and restaurants there would be able to overcome that. Those gazebos are becoming very cheap these days. Even in the south of France they have those burners in the evening to keep the cafe warm. I’m sure they could come up with a solution to that in Moville.

Parking Space

The other problem would be that we would lose some parking space in the centre of town. People say Moville suffers from a lack of parking space. We may be able to build a car park elsewhere. It would only be at the peak of summer anyway, perhaps August, at least to begin with. We could perhaps experiment with it for a festival weekend.

I wouldn’t even agree with the premise that we are short of parking space.

People expect here, even right in the centre of town, to be able to park their cars right outside their houses. People who live in cities and towns often have to park the car up the road or even round the corner from where they live. There’s loads of roadside space for parking in Moville.

Soaring Prices

Of course the people in the square might not be too keen on having the cafe society outside their doors or lose the parking space for their cars. This would be a disadvantage to them. However, that area would become perhaps the top piece of real estate in the town and would send prices of properties soaring there.

Again, there are currently only the Town Clock and Maguires in the square. It would be a good boost for them. I would also reckon that more cafes would spring up in the square in future years. Maybe other restaurants and cafes in the town could be allotted a space there like they do in Cannes and Nice.

If we had a cafe society in the square this would pull a lot more people to Moville. It would give the town a huge boost which would be good for everybody.

What do you think?