by Ronan Casey
To paraphrase the classic song, summer is here and the time is right for One Direction fans to dance in the streets. And dancing they are – in their hundreds – as visitors from abroad stream into Mullingar, the town where Niall Horan was born to see for themselves ‘where he comes from’.
The One Direction star is arguably the town’s biggest tourism attraction at the moment, with hundreds, if not thousands, of international visitors expected into town over the coming months. Most of the visitors are young, many bring parents and other family members with them.
Places with direct links to Mullingar’s most famous son, including the Ardleigh and Raithin estates, St Mary’s CBS, Kilpatrick N.S., Mullingar Arts Centre, the Market Square, Rochforts, the Greville Arms and even Mullingar Golf Club will become unlikely tourist attractions as fans try to get a sense of what made the man. They will also undoubtedly visit the workplaces of the singers father, Bobby, and brother, Greg. Indeed, the meat counter at Tesco where Bobby still works is something of a Mecca for many visitors.
Locally, there is a big feeling that the town is missing the boat, with the County Council stalling for over a year on allowing the now empty Market House be converted to a museum, honouring Niall, who has sold over 50 million records and performed to almost 10 million fans worldwide, and dozens of other musical, stage and screen stars from the region. No plaques or any other commemorations exist, with The Greville Arms Hotel the only place to see some real-life Niall and 1D memorabilia.
Even Bobby Horan feels more should be done. His home is swamped by 1D fans every day. Many are quiet just to take a snap; others want to shake Bobby’s hand and hear a story or two. Bobby has time for them all. “We had Brazilians here the other week, a girl whose birthday dream was to come and see where Niall was from. Others come from all over the world, Europe, Asia, America you name it. A Mullingar man brings them all to Ireland.”
Bobby says the fans stay on and go all over the country. “They’ve seen more of Ireland than I have!” he jokes, but he’s keen to pay tribute to the huge efforts they put in to see Mullingar. “They travel for thousands of miles, saving for months to make this trip. They have a connection with Mullingar and it’s funny that people wouldn’t have been able to pronounce Mullingar a few years ago, let alone find it, but now we have so many visitors.”
FIFTH TRIP
Last week, Topic caught up with a group of Italian visitors from Milan, some of them on their fifth trip to Mullingar! Bobby was delighted to meet them outside his Ardleigh home, taking the time to talk to them and point them in the direction of places to see and things to do. For the most part, the fans respect the Bobby and Greg’s privacy and are just happy to hang out in the town where their hero grew up.
For one of the group, Yolanda, it was her first time in Mullingar and she could not believe the welcome afforded her by Bobby. The schoolgirl had seen Mullingar via Google Maps so she knew it was a small town in comparison to her native Milan, but she was smitten by the town and its people.
The rest of the girls had all been before, and indeed had struck up a friendship with Bobby. When One Direction played Milan’s San Siro Stadium in June 2014 they all met the Mullingar man.
21 year-old Leda knew only of Mullingar from what Niall had spoken about in interviews, and she first came to visit in January of 2013, an unlikely time for tourists to take in the sights of a provincial town, but the perfect quiet time for Leda.
“I was working as an au pair in Wicklow when I took a chance to come and visit Mullingar. I loved it straight away, and came back again in March,” she told us. When her family came over to visit her in Wicklow later in the year, she instead took them to Mullingar.
She has since organised trips for pals who all met via One Direction to visit. Indeed, she organised last weeks trip, with the girls sleeping overnight in an airport so they could get to Mullingar early. They stayed at the Newbrook Hotel, where Garvan McGinley and his team looked after them.
20 year-old University student Licia has been to Mullingar five times, working for months on end to save up the money to afford a trip over. “For us, this is a very special thing, a special place to visit,” she says. This was the third trip to Mullingar for Julia, 21, and it won’t be her last. She says the Irish are very kind-hearted, but would like to see more done in Mullingar to honour Niall.
Astonishingly, all four girls have picked up little Mullingar intonations in their almost perfect English. The odd “meself” slips into their conversational English. The reason? “We all learned English from watching One Direction interviews and videos,” says Leda.
“To understand what they are talking about, you watch and learn. We must have watched thousands of videos on Youtube of Niall talking.”
They collectively said they were “blown away” by the ‘Gar and all said they will return in the future such was the warm welcome. Whilst Ennell and Owel do not have the same things going for them as Lake Como in Italy, they said Mullingar has a huge amount to offer tourists, apart from honouring the man who brought them here.
“You need a museum or something, but for now it’s great,” says Julia. “It is a special place”.
