Pic of the day
Pic of the Day: John Joe Nevin gets his face put on cash
John Joe Nevin has been awarded the top honour of becoming the face on Mullingar's official tourist currency called the 'Gar'.
Forget Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, Ireland has it’s own John Joe ‘Money’ Nevin as it has been reported that the Mullingar man will soon feature on the front of Mullingar’s official tourist currency.
The Mullingar Chamber of Commerce decided to put John Joe’s face on their official tourist currency called the ‘Gar’, as you can see below, and John Joe was delighted to hear of the move when he was told about it last week.
We can hear it now, “That’ll be five John Joe’s please…”
President of the Mullingar Chamber of Commerce, Pat Whelan, told RTÉ: “We are all very proud of John Joe in Mullingar, he really shone through in London and has been a credit to us all, and with the new Gar being distributed it will be a real attraction to tourists and a boost to the local economy.”
The Gar is accepted in over 100 retail outlets in Mullingar, including hotels, restaurants and coffee shops and it offers discounts on certain items and services.
However, from now on it’ll be giving out discounts with John Joe’s face on it.
[Image via Mullingar Chamber of Commerce - Facebook]
The GAR is not real money; it is a local discount note. Shops, restaurants, hotels etc register for The Gar for an annual fee of €10, and they select a choice of items that they will give 10% discount on. Most shops have 10% across the board, It is distributed free of charge to tourists when checking into their hotel or B&B and is also available to visitors in the Tourist Information Centre. We currently have over 100 retailers signed up and offer these discounts. A map is available and every participating outlet has a poster in the window advertising the campaign..
The Gar is designed to increase value to visitors by keeping them shopping in Mullingar and surrounding towns therefore increasing business in and around Mullingar. It is designed to promote trade in Mullingar and also to market Mullingar in an innovative way.
Mullingar Marketing is a not for profit group who do not take expenses of any kind hence the minimum cost for joining the Gar, it is self funding and it is all about increasing the profile and retail trade of the town through tourism and commerce which in turn will benefit everyone in the town by encouraging visitors..Doing this will in turn encourage Argos etc to fill the shops. We need positive attitudes and not jump on the bandwagon with negative comments not knowing the full details..Mullingar and its Gar has now gone global, will this attract tourism? I hope so, and thanks to Mullingar being in the spotlight we are on the map big time...It can only be good