Vacant units, vape shops, and high-profile closures cause councillors to question plans for centre of Wexford town

Wexford town centre faces retail decline, with up to 30 vacant retail units and recent closures of long-standing businesses. Local councillors accept that a new approach is needed to revive Main Street, including consideration of shrinking the retail footprint. Hospitality remains strong, with pubs, restaurants, and coffee shops performing well. Councillors emphasize that any vision for the town must be planned and shared with residents, who are concerned about what will happen to empty units. Disagreements arise around the effectiveness of the one-way system on John Street and its impact on businesses, prompting responses from the chief executive and further clarification about a specific business’s plans.

"“From a hospitality point of view it's excellent, we have great pubs, restaurants, and coffee shops, but retail is dropping on an almost weekly basis,” he said. “Are we doing anything to get retailers to come to Wexford? We do probably have to look at shrinking the retail part of the town, but it has to be planned; whatever vision WCC has for the town needs to be shared with the people of Wexford. They are seeing all the empty units and wondering what's going to happen to the town.”"

"“We have a fine town here in Wexford, a fine, fine town,” said chief executive Eddie Taaffe, “and we have a one-way system that works. We need to be positive about what we're doing here.”"

"“We have our own district council and we talk about”"

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