Dungannon town centre businesses come together to breathe new life into high street

A group of traders in the Co Tyrone town of Dungannon have come together in an effort to breath new life into the town centre.

A number of businesses will set up a new Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the town to tackle some of the challenges faced by high street traders.

Online shopping, increasing rates and other changing habits have made it difficult for local businesses in and around the Market Square area of the town, alongside other high streets throughout Northern Ireland, to survive.

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One of the local businesses helping with the drive to breathe new life into the town is The Food Doc - a cafe in Market Square serving up healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Danielle Santos runs the cafe, which first opened its doors during the pandemic, and said the pressure to keep the business going is a constant one - but she and others are determined to return the town to a bustling hub for business.

“There’s a whole community spirit and I think that’s something that has maybe been lacking for the last few years,” Danielle says.

“This year with a lot of the traders backing us, we have said enough is enough and we have got to get Dungannon back on the map again.

“So we’ve got new Christmas lights coming, we are organising a Christmas parade, we’re doing more to try and get more of the community involved.

“We’re so blessed to be in a town where we have so many cultures. In my kids primary school there are 23 different nationalities.

“We’re so lucky to have that, so we just want to bring everyone together and hopefully bring back the nostalgia of what we had growing up here.

“The population is very big in Dungannon considering the size of the town itself, so if we can have one Chamber of Commerce which is supportive of all the different businesses in Dungannon to try to increase footfall, increase employment and better social housing.

“I think it can only be a good thing and to have that support network as well, making connections to see who’s doing what in this town, can we try this in Dungannon?”

One of the key figures behind the new chamber and driving business into the town is Brian McAuley, chief executive of the Dungannon Enterprise Centre.

“Dungannon has never been a strong retail attraction, it has its destination shops but it’s competing with a lot of other retail destinations,” Brian says.

“But we have a town centre which is second to none and goes back thousands of years as a marketplace.

“And we are trying to bring back that marketplace, bring back that feeling of a town centre, one that we can all love and respect.”

With the Mid Ulster area and Dungannon more specifically one of the fastest growing populations across Northern Ireland, the need for new social housing has been front and centre on local residents’ minds.

Plans have been lodged to demolish a large part of Scotch Street in the town centre, which contains the long defunct Fort Bar and nightclub, to make way for new housing projects.

However, new housing in the town centre is something which is generally opposed by traders.

“We have a lack of housing in the area and people are thinking let’s turn some of the shops that are empty into apartments.

“I don’t believe that’s a good strategy. If we lose that commercial property base, it will never be back again.

“If we’re going to begin to start to grow the town centre as a place to come, as a destination, we just don’t want to turn it into a housing estate.”

Dominic Molloy, Sinn Féin councillor for the area and current mayor of the local council, says the town remains a ‘hive of activity’ but is facing challenges felt by other high streets across the country.

“No doubt, similar to other town centres and high streets it has its challenges,” Dominic says.

“Dungannon has a different offering, a lot of independent traders here who have been established for many many years.

“There’s an entrepreneurial spirit, not only in the town but in the outlying areas such as our engineering base and our food and agricultural base.

“Unique to Dungannon is that it’s a hill town, it poses challenges in terms of people walking and getting around the town. We are now trying to push for two hour on street parking which would people to do their daily business as well.

“There’s a great new traders group set up that have re-energised themselves and they are really coming to the fore with ideas and suggestions to make improvements.

“Coming together with the council, the traders and the people, I think we can make this a great town again.”

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