South Main Street is a part of Wexford’s town centre. It runs between North Main Street and King Street at the southern end of the town.
Pictured above: This night-time photograph of South Main St. was taken at the intersection between Cinema Lane and Peter Street. Heffernan’s Pub is visible on right. On the left, you can see the front of a recently-closed pub called “Fifty One” (previously known as South 51). Since this photograph was taken, the building in question has been completely remodeled. It is now occupied by popular coffeehouse chain Costa Coffee.
Cinema Lane on the left leads to down onto Crescent Quay, whereas Peter Street on the right leads up to Peter’s Square.
Pictured above: This photograph was taken further up, outside of the Heatons department store (the red-coloured building that is visible on the right). Previously, this was the location of a clothing store called Coffey’s. Coffey’s is fondly remembered by the older generation of Wexford shoppers, as it was the go-to place whenever you needed to purchase a new jacket or a new pair of shoes. Coffey’s not only delivered clothes to your door so that you could try them on in the privacy of your own home; it also had a popular payment plan that allowed you to pay for items at a later stage, in weekly or monthly installments.
Above: This photograph was taken outside of the Penneys outlet on Wexford’s South Main Street. Penneys (known as Primark elsewhere), is a popular clothing retailer that offers goods at low prices. In the past, the premises was occupied by a department store called Woolworths. Woolworths closed back in 1984 when the company decided to pull out of the Republic of Ireland, which was in the midst of a deep recession at the time. Giftware store Barkers and fashion boutique Panache can be seen on the left.
Above: Another photograph of the Penneys store in Wexford. Beside it, you can see the black-painted shop-front of Hore’s, which is a local department store. This was taken outside of Barkers, which is a long-established giftware store.
Above: Taken outside of the Meteor Store on South Main Street (recently re-branded as an “Eir” store). Visible are discount store “Euro 2”, Rattigan’s Jewellers and Robertinos Pizzeria (recently re-branded as Rob’s Ranch House).
Above: O’Neills newsagents and the vacant Dunnes Stores building, which is highly-criticised by many locals for being an eye sore. O’Neills used to have three shops in Wexford Town until its owner Bobby O’Neill fell into financial difficulties. The old Dunnes Stores premises on South Main Street has been lying in a vacant state since 2008, when the Irish company decided to close the store (there is a Dunnes Stores supermarket at the north-end of the town, in Redmond Square).
Above: The Carraig Donn outlet on Wexford’s South Main Street, which sells clothes, giftware, jewellery and “knitware”. Beside it, you can see The Book Centre. The empty dark-coloured premises on the right of this photograph has since been filled by a mens clothing store called Jeans Depot.
Pictured above: This photograph was taken on the south-end of the town, just across from the entrance to the old mall (Lowney’s Mall). Visible are the 147 Snooker Club, Paddy Powers, Dream Drapes, the Dun Mhuire Theatre and Shoe Rack.
This section of the town has been hit hard in recent years. In 2007, supermarket giant Tesco decided to move to a new premises on Distillery Road. Its withdrawal from the southern end of the town, combined with the onset of a recession, seems to have been blamed for a number of business closures in the area.
In 2015, the southern end of the town centre received a bit of a boost when popular American retail chain T.K.Maxx opened up a store on Paul Quay.
Above: Visible are Bugler Doyles and an off-licence called Carry Out. The group on the right are standing outside of The Premier, which is a popular fish and chip shop. The road that leads off to the right is called Bride Street (where the billboard is on the corner).
Above: The end of South Main Street, where it meets up with King Street and Barrack Street. This was taken outside of The Sky and The Ground pub.
