Swords is celebrating Purple Flag award win

LAST month, Swords received a major boost when it won an award for its evening and nighttime economy.   

The Purple Flag is the ‘gold standard’ for town centres at night and is the highest internationally recognised award for the evening and night-time economy in Europe.  

It brings increased footfall and strong recognition to the town centre as a dynamic, safe, clean and fun place to be at night and is a fantastic tool for promoting a quality evening and night-time economy offering to local, regional, national and international visitors.

Purple Flag is a town and city centre award – similar to the Blue Flag for beaches – which aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of town and city centres between the hours of 5pm and 5am.  

Towns awarded the Purple Flag are recognised for providing a vibrant mix of entertainment while promoting the safety and wellbeing of visitors and local residents.

This award is great news for Swords which was named, in 2012, the third best town in Ireland to live in.  The survey conducted by Retail Excellence Ireland took into account safety, retail, dining, entertainment, events, car parking and overall attractiveness of the town. 

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David O’Connor said he was delighted with the award and he raised the Purple Flag at a special ceremony on November 5 at Swords Castle where he officially declared Swords to be a Purple Flag Town.  “Swords is a lively, dynamic town with lots of evening-time activities for the local community and for visitors,” said the Mayor.  

“I’m delighted that the hard work of the Working Group and all the stakeholders involved in this initiative has paid off.”

Swords town centre has a wide range of restaurants, pubs, shops, offices and banks together with a number of hotels. It is home to the Pavilions Shopping Centre with over 100 great shops, restaurants, cafes and cinemas and also includes Airside Retail & Business Park, one of the country’s largest retail parks with a large range of shops, restaurants, hotel and the Venue nightclub. 

The Swords Purple Flag Working Group, led by Fingal County Council and supported by Fingal Dublin Chamber, worked hard on the project for many months. 

Chief executive of Fingal Dublin Chamber Tony Lambert said that it was a really great experience working with the businesses in Swords, An Garda Síochána, Fingal Tourism, Fingal County Council, the Pavilions Shopping Centre and the North County Leader on the Working Group for the Purple Flag for Swords. “I know the business community and other stakeholders pulled out all the stops to make sure that the assessors were impressed with Swords,” he said.

“We are very pleased that all the hard work that took place to make the application for the Purple Flag has paid off.

“Swords is a great town to visit and we hope that Swords follows in the steps of other towns and will soon report an increase in footfall and a decrease in crime,” he added.