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22 Oct 2025

Longford in top three for Best Kept Large Town accolade

Tidy Towns

Longford will look to put its best foot forward in May when adjudicators pay a visit.

Longford citizens are asked to pull out all the stops to improve the vista of the county town as it contests the 'Best Kept Large Town Award' at the start of the summer.

Now celebrating its 26th anniversary (excluding 2020 and 2021 when no competition took place), Ireland’s Best Kept Towns is an all-island competition that sees the best towns in Northern Ireland’s Best Kept competition compete against their cohorts in the Republic of Ireland’s TidyTowns competition.

Longford Town has been selected as one of the final three to contest for the title. The inclusion stems from the high points scored in the National Tidy Towns 2022 adjudication report. In that report Longford Town performed particularly well.

The county town's nomination for the Best Kept Large Town Award, will have them compete against Monaghan's Carrickmacross and last year's winner Fermanagh's Enniskillen. The final three were selected from a category covering the entire island of Ireland. Judging takes place in May, with the winner announced in June.

Michael Keenan, chair of Longford Tidy Towns, commended all who made the nomination possible: “It's a major honour for Longford town and is a great credit to all involved, including Longford County Council, Tidy Towns and numerous other groups and individuals ranging from Mens' Shed, Longford Women's Link to the probation service, residential area groups and schools.”

The May adjudication of the competition will be an assessment of all property, streets, roads, lanes, residential areas, business estates and suburbs, and the approach roads to beyond the roundabouts.

“The Best Kept Town in Ireland is a hugely prestigious nomination for Longford Town and we appeal to everyone to make a special effort this week and in the coming weeks to make our town extra tidy,” Michael told the Leader.

The voluntary organisations are calling on businesses, homeowners or tenants and all organisations to help as much as possible by cleaning walls, roofs, windows, signage, eaves gutters: “The removal of weeds from outside property is something we are asking property owners to consider, preferably avoiding using chemicals.”

Biodiversity considerations are an important part of Tidy Towns: “It's an important factor in tackling climate change,” Michael explains, “We ask everyone to leave dandelions growing for as long as possible, because dandelions provide badly needed food for bees and other wildlife during spring. We are particularly pleased that Longford County Council defers the timing and extent of roadside grass cutting to reduce carbon and promote wildlife.”

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