Some purple thoughts

So what is it about purple hues and pharmacies?



Adrian Dunne set the tone in Kilcullen terms anyhow when he used a lilac colour scheme for his new pharmacy on Main Street.



Now Burkes Chemists, opening a new outlet at the bottom of the hill, also go the purple route at the former Moloneys shop.

Can't say I like either, nor do they do anything for the colour palette of the town as it is or might be.

I've never been comfortable with the 'chocolate box' effect of multi-coloured town decoration as was originally done by Kinsale over the last thirty years or so, and which subsequently spread like some kind of blight across all the old towns of West Cork and Kerry.

They are in stark contrast to the careful maintenance of the natural colours of local stone and vegetation in English and many continental European countries, with bright colouring being left to flowers, which are also often imaginatively used.

And in an ethos of fairly rigid planning rules in so many other ways here, it has also seemed strange to me that Kildare County Council doesn't have a 'palette' of limited colours for streetscapes. I personally prefer the use of 'earth' browns, beiges, greys and greens rather than bright primary and pastel colours.



A good example of how this is done best on the current streetscape is 'The Old Courthouse' home of Tess and the late Ned O'Rourke. It always looks well.

Brian Byrne.