Many shops and businesses in Enniskillen town centre opted not to take advantage of the thousands of visitors in the town on Easter Monday as a result of the climax of the Circuit Of Ireland rally.

    Shops were closed, but pubs and cafes did a roaring trade all day, and perhaps the visitors were more concerned with having a good time than shopping for bargains.

    “People had come to see the cars- they’d come to eat and drink,” said Mrs Jenny McCrea, President of Enniskillen’s Chamber Of Commerce. “There were loads of people about, and the hospitality sector did fantastically well, but retail was slow. It was not really a day for going in and shopping.”

    Shops faring best would have been those with a drive-through facility, as somewhere in the region of 60 rally cars cruised through Belmore Street on Monday afternoon, pausing for the admiring crowds as Circuit Of Ireland winner, Andrew Nesbitt took to the podium and gratefully received his champagne and winner’s laurels.

    Although the main attraction to the town on Monday was always likely to be the rally, as many shops as possible had been encouraged to open. “It was hard to quantify beforehand how many shoppers we would get, but we tried to get a bit of a buzz about the town,” said Jenny.

    “Probably over the weekend, shops lost a lot of their normal customers as people stayed away from the town because of the traffic congestion and the crowds. But we have to look at the wider picture- it was a great event to get to the town, and there were people here who might otherwise never have come to the town. It is something that could be capitalised on”.

    Although the weekend’s trade was probably adversely affected by the rally, Easter Monday could have provided an opportunity for retailers to open and cater for the large influx of visitors.

    “We have to be more optimistic,” said Jenny. “We’re seen as a tourist town and more shops will have to open on bank holidays to provide a bit of a buzz. A lot of towns open on bank holidays now.”

    Down at Erneside, the shops opened on the Bank Holiday, and received handsome reward for their decision, as almost 7,900 customers piled through the doors throughout the day. This is an increase of between 10 to 15% on the figures for a normal Monday.

    Erneside manager, Mr Brian McAtamley, said that the Easter weekend, as always, was a “very, very busy weekend”.

    “On Saturday we had a few problems in that people found it difficult to get into the town, as there were huge traffic jams out the Dublin and Sligo roads. Bank holiday Mondays are always slow to start off, but Monday afternoon was very busy,” he said.

    Brian said that traders in the shopping centre were “delighted” with the number of visitors on Monday, and added that the town should make up its mind whether it is a tourist town or not. The shopping centre benefits from town centre decisions not to open, he added.