Newcastle "resort" slammed by new Lonely Planet guide

[MTBrider]

In a round up of the UK nd Irelands seaside resorts travel guide The Lonely Planet has slammed Co. Downs Newcastle as being run down and badly in need of inward investment. Tourism is down in the town with many local buisnesses who rely on tourists finding it hard to make ends meet.

MTBrider has long said that with the Mournes on it's doorstep Newcastle could be the MTB mecca for all Irish & Northern Irelands MTBers, not too mention MTBers from further afield, this influx of tourists would offer a much needed revenue stream for Newcastle businesses.

Forest Service recently blocked plans for massive investment in our forests to build MTB trails including a possible MTB centre of excellence in the Mournes.

Read the full BBC report Here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4643030.stm)

[Conor]

It's a dump.

Only useful for the fat bastards from Belfast to come down, sit in thier cars and eat chips and ice cream. There's noting else to do... miles of beach, forests and mountains. Just a lack of facilities to encourage their use.

But it's ok, they jsut spent £X Million building a nice promenade. Just what the town needs. More drinking/littering/dog ****ting areas.

[graeme]

Any of the local Newcastle newspapers be interested in running the story from an mtb perspective?
Fiddle about with that post then send it as a press release?

[marko]

conor please don't put down are lovely new outdoor pub!!!! Yea i can confirm that newcastle is a dump. We have frick all to offer tourists, unless you want to do laps of our town in your noisy car, eat icecream or go to the amusements.
But yet we have the largest access point to the mournes, Donard Park is a disgrace, it is a waste of land that could be transformed into a visitor centre, information centre and the start of properly developed trails.

[Mr Black]

Newcastle is a resort?

Meh, you missed out 'last' there mate!

[marko]

The politicans in the newcastle area don't listen to what the public wants, some of the clowns proposed putting a railway line to the top of slieve Donard, the best bit was it was a continous loop!!!!You got to the top and it went back down again!That would never have looked out of place on the landscape!There isn't even a walkers centre at the foot of the forest, the walks through the forest into the mountain are poorly sign posted at best. The carpark for the walkers is packed on an average january saturday let alone during the summer. It takes about 30 cars to drive into the town at once for a traffic jam to build up. There are about 4/5 nice places to eat that won't give you heart problems due to the amount of fat they are fried in!It has taken 10 years of campaiging to finally get a new promenade, we might even see a new leisure centre by 2050!!!!when we have heavy rain half of the town becomes a boating pond!Our main summer attractions include: 2 outdoor swimming pools, one heated and one cold, pedal swans......*my mind is now struggling to find anything else*........ But the scenery is amazing, when you climb to the top of slieve donard the view is excellent!!!!Actually apart from the scenery we don't have much to offer. Actually we do have a selection of pubs on offer, the good bit is that you have a high chance of getting into a fight when the close (don't worry the police will watch it all and pick you up when your attacker/s have run away)

[Pete W]

lol, Larne was slammed as well! lmao, i can't talk...look at Ballymena!!lol

[chris_the_sham]

portrush is cool

[AndyL]

yeah, the fella was on from newcastle yesterday on radio ulster saying how mnewcastle was looking for alternative methods of bringing tourists in. Anyone know what council is in charge down there?

[kenny]

Down District Council

http://www.downdc.gov.uk/home.asp

[Pete 36]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4643030.stm

[fatfrank]

I thought it hilarious in the BBC article that when some dude in Bundoran objected to it being called tacky, he said that "it's a great place - kind of like Blackpool" (or something along those lines).

What an idiot. He just disproved his own point. Numpty

[Paulpee]

,just in response to Mtb riders bit about the investment in Mountain Bike trails.It seems that anywhere else in the World accommodates for Mountain bikers but here it seems as if we are the bad guys,it only took anyone to see the turnout at Moneyscalp the other week to see what an interest there is here for the bikes and there are some amazing riders here too who have no fear!!!!!!