A Place Like Home

In 1984, when demolition work began on a row of shops and houses on Ann Street, Dungannon, I was 6 years old. I have vague recollections of this street as it was, I would pass by these shops each day as my mother walked me home from school. The purpose of their removal was to make way for something new. In the context of Dungannon’s history, the promise of a Dunnes Stores was the talk of the town, local property owners rumoured to be made very wealthy men, the former occupants of the now piles of rubble well compensated. The future looked bright. Just as foresters scorched the earth, the promise of new growth and prosperity buoyed a troubled community. Almost 40 years later, the promise remains unkept, the land remains un-developed. Dunnes Stores never came and Ann Street remains a wasteland.