So you want to move to Carlow? Michael Parsonsexamines how Carlow is being changed from a provincial market town to a buzzing commuters' tigerville.
WHITE gold transformed the fortunes of Carlow following the establishment of the Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company in 1926.
The factory created much-needed employment while beet provided farmers with a welcome new cash crop.
In the 1940s, travel writer Richard Hayward visited and found "a busy, prosperous place, capital of one of the best farming counties in Ireland".
In the 1970s, the town had some notable success in attracting foreign investment from two major German manufacturing companies.
So the closure of the sugar factory by Greencore with the loss of 600 jobs - and the recent creeping redundancies at Braun and Lapple - might have been expected to create a ghost town. Far from it.
"Follow me up to Carlow" exhorts a popular folk-song and many people do. The town is flourishing - due to an influx of Dubliners, migrant workers, returning emigrants, and a growing student population.
An estimated 6,000 people, about one-in-six of the entire workforce, leave Co Carlow every morning to undertake a previously unthinkable daily commute to work in Dublin, 50 miles away. They choose to live here and tolerate the slog because, say local estate agents, of the town's reasonably priced houses and more relaxed lifestyle.
Property in this quintessential tigerville can appear to be extremely good value to people used to Dublin prices. Prices for three-bed semis range from €240,000 to €270,000 depending on the area.
Marcus McCormack, of DNG McCormack Properties, says many of his sales are to young relocating couples "who just want to buy a house in a nice area but can't afford to do so in Dublin. They will both put up with the commute simply to get on the housing ladder."
But he also has many clients with young families who already own a house in Dublin and are "finding the combined costs of mortgage repayments and childcare costs too high. By selling up and moving down, the reduced financial pressure may allow one partner to stay at home and look after children while the other commutes."
He's also noticed that after a sale, word-of-mouth about Carlow back in Dublin can result in "other members of an extended family coming down to purchase a house close by". According to McCormack: "Like in all country towns, what people want is a traditional three-bed semi-detached house with a garden and parking; there's not much demand for owner-occupied apartments."
But many Section 23 apartments have been built and are mainly bought by investors for the "vibrant" student rental market. The town's largest employer, Carlow Institute of Technology, "the primary provider of higher education in south Leinster", caters to some 3,000 full-time and up to 2,000 part-time students, and is estimated to generate about €70 million annually for the local economy.
"In the bad old days of the 1970s and 1980s most students stayed in 'digs', which provided a second income for many families in Carlow, or rented dingy flats and bedsits," says Harry Sothern of Sothern Real Estate Alliance. "These days," he says, "students rent double-glazed units with gas heating and each wants their own room."
Apartment prices average between €180,000 and €210,000 "without tax breaks" and, for those with tax breaks, from €270,000 to €290,000. The average rental for a two-bed apartment is between €650 and €700 a month and, for a three-bed semi, about €750 a month.
Demand for rented accommodation is "currently outstripping supply" because, just as the student market was beginning to look saturated, along came migrant workers, especially Poles, whom Sothern describes as "very good tenants".
DNG McCormack has hired a Polish staffer to provide a range of services - in Polish, Russian and Lithuanian - for migrant workers seeking to rent or buy property.
What about the upper end of the market? Sothern says Carlow has few period houses of note and those on the Kilkenny Road, traditionally considered to be Carlow's best address, rarely come on the market. Instead, people looking to trade up are buying luxury, detached houses at new estates such as Barrowville or Castle Oaks, he says.
Ed Donohoe of ERA Donohoe Properties, who also operates in the Kilkenny market, says that despite being closer to Dublin, Carlow is much more affordable than the Marble City. In response to what he describes as a growing demand for more upmarket "executive style" detached homes, he's launching a development 10 minutes from the town, close to the riverside village of Leighlinbridge. Friars Lock will have around 50 detached houses ranging from 158sq m (1,700sq ft) to 232sq m (2,500sq ft) with prices from around €400,000 to €550,000 - "a lot lower than in neighbouring Kilkenny".
Finding the right house is just the beginning of the relocation experience - but what's the town like to live in? Eimear Ní Bhraonáin spent four years studying and working in Dublin before returning home to a job as a journalist with local radio station, KCLR. Having endured a daily return bus journey lasting up to four hours between Glasnevin and Ballsbridge, she says "life in Carlow is much better - shopping has improved a lot, social life is good and less expensive than Dublin".
Great-grandmother Gladys Parsons recently bought a four-bedroom bungalow after selling her house in Dún Laoghaire. She had no previous connection to the town but her early impressions of Carlow are very positive; she finds it friendly and hospitable, likes the shopping, thinks the "the people are great" and, as a non-driver, is impressed that "they are courteous to pedestrians".
Estate agents report that families with children are also impressed by the choice and quality of schools and also like the litter-free status of the town.
Carlow has never been a fashionable destination and many visitors to the southeast have tended to treat it as a mere pit-stop en route to Kilkenny.
But the Lonely Planet guide offered this recent assessment: "The winding streets and lanes of Carlow have the general upbeat air of a place on the cusp of greater things to come. Buildings are being renovated, trendy cafés and bars are opening up, and there is plenty of nightlife."
Shopping seems more than adequate for a town of its size with three shopping centres and the usual big names like Superquinn, Dunnes, Tesco, Next, Woodie's and Aldi.
But pedestrianised Tullow Street, dominated by a swankily refurbished Shaw's department store, has considerably more character. Sunday is now the busiest shopping day of the week in Carlow and there's also a weekly country market selling locally produced crafts, food and flowers.
Carlow's architectural heritage is of limited interest though its court house is one of the most attractive in the country - a neo-classical gem designed by William Vitruvius Morrison in 1830 - its entrance guarded by a cannon from the Crimean War. The Liberty Tree monument and fountain, by John Behan, commemorates the 1798 Rebellion, and is a meeting place in summer.
Cultural life will get a major boost next year from VISUAL, which county manager Joe Crockett describes as "a €12 million cultural building which will include a dedicated visual space and a purpose-built theatre to be named after George Bernard Shaw". The playwright's aunt lived in Carlow and he left a bequest to the town. Carlovians also have the use of Oak Park - 130 landscaped and accessible recreational acres recently presented by Teagasc to the town.
Some of Ireland's least known and most sublime countryside is easily accessible from Carlow town. There's gentle walking in the Barrow valley south to Bagenalstown (10 miles) via Milford, along one of the river's most attractive stretches; and on to St Mullins.
The river is navigable and popular with pleasure cruisers; and there's also a long-established rowing club. Energetic hikers can explore the majestic Blackstairs Mountains, including the slopes of Mount Leinster. There are good golf courses in the area and, despite the county's infrequent appearances in Croke Park, GAA is hugely popular.
Crockett claims that "quality of life is at the centre of Carlow's planning and economic development". But there are worries that the town's growth is not sustainable without the creation of new, "white-collar" local employment. Jacqui McNabb, of the Carlow Chamber of Commerce, is concerned that most new jobs are in the service and retail sector: "We have a gem of a county but need further direct investment so that local graduates can find jobs in the town instead of having to commute."
