May: Community campaign to save Smithwick’s attraction begins

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The month of May brought two big stories to Kilkenny - one long-awaited good news story but another shocking blow to the city centre.
The first weekend of the month saw the opening of the long-awaited skatepark.

“The first skaters arrived just after 9am and by lunch time there was a great crowd of skaters of all ages. There was a real positive atmosphere and everyone was happy. It was heartwarming to see after all these years,” said Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Andrew McGuinness.  Located by the River Nore the skatepark is one of the first features of the Abbey Quarter to be completed and is still proving popular.

Just days before this good news there was shock and disappointment in Kilkenny when it was announced the Smithwick’s Experience, closed during lockdown, would not reopen.

At the start of May the ‘Save Our Smithwick’s’ campaign came together to save the tourist attraction.
Announcing the closure, Diageo said: “Over the past 12 months we have evaluated all available options, but unfortunately we have come to the decision that it is impossible for us to adapt the experience for it to be a viable business and experience going forward.  As a result we are saddened to announce that the Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny will be closing permanently.”

In response, more than 3,000 people from the local community signed a petition in support of the attraction and Kilkenny City and County Vintners, lead by chairman Anthony Morrisson, met the company to appeal to them to keep the attraction open.

Paul Smithwick, a member of the famous Kilkenny brewing family, said that he would adore if the Smithwick’s Experience could be saved for everyone but especially the pensioners who worked in the brewery.
Chairman of Kilkenny County Council, Andrew McGuinness said that the ideal situation would be if Diageo reconsidered closing the Smithwick’s Experience.

Elsewhere across the city and county businesses began to reopen as lockdown measures were lifted - local hairdressers reported phone lines were very busy and they were booked up for a month!
The Kilkenny People launched the ‘Back in Business’ campaign to support local companies who had been closed and impacted by the lockdown.

In May, councillors who were told that a university faculty will not be based in city, reacted by describing Kilkenny as the ‘poor relation’ in the new university set-up and said they will not be happy with ‘a Mickey Mouse token gesture’.

As the month came to a close there was news on two infrastructure developments. It was announced that a preferred route had finally been chosen for the N25 in South Kilkenny.
The Closh was identified as a suitable site for a Garden of Remembrance and Reflection to commemorate The War of Independence.