Island. Traditionally the main commercial and retail area of the town was on Main Street and this continues to provide shopping – primarily with local ownership. The commercial part of Midleton has also expanded to the old site of Midleton Mart, now called Market Green. A number of multinational retailers have outlets in Midleton, including Tesco, Lidl, Boots, and Aldi. The Market Green shopping centre is located at the northern end of the town. This includes a five-screen cinema, Tesco and other stores and the Midleton Park Hotel is just across the road. A locally owned supermarket, Hurley's Super-Valu, is also located at the northern end of the town opposite the so-called 'Gooses Acre'. On Saturdays the park next to SuperValu is the site for the Midleton Farmers' Market. Lidl, Aldi and McDonald's are located in a new shopping and residential area alongside the river. Midleton is also the home of the Old Midleton Distillery, a tourist attraction which includes the largest pot-still in the world. Geography The town is located in a fertile valley below hills to the north with Cork Harbour and the coast to the south. In times past, the channel from the Harbour to nearby Ballinacurra (, meaning "Town at the Weir"), was navigable by barges up to 300 tonnes. Due to silting over the years, the channel is now extremely shallow. Demographics In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 census, the population of the Midleton area effectively doubled, from 6,209 to 12,496 people. As of the 2016 census, of Midleton's 12,496 inhabitants, 72% were white Irish, less than 1% white Irish travellers, 17% other white ethnicities, 4% black, 1% Asian, 1% other ethnicities, and 4% did not state their ethnicity. In terms of religion the area was 77% Catholic, 9% other stated religions, 11% with no religion, and 3% not stated. Transport Rail Midleton railway station is on the Cork Suburban Rail network and is one of two termini (the other being Cobh) into and out of Cork Kent railway station. Passengers interchange at Cork Kent for trains to Dublin and Tralee. The railway line to Midleton was opened on 10 November 1859 by the Cork & Youghal Railway, a company that was later taken over by the Great Southern & Western Railway. Midleton was the location of the railway works for this company. The line between Midleton and Cork was closed for