Rundown town centres

RadcliffeRick said:
Been in Bolton yesterday for the first time in 5 years. What a shithole!! Boarded up shops, shops that are'nt boarded up are crap pound shops or cheap bakeries. Bolton council must be partially responsible for this by selling off large car parks for developement. I was really shocked and saddened by what has been allowed to happen to a once thriving and good city centre. Is this happening all over or is it just Bolton?
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They made a real balls up in Bolton. Spent a fortune doing up the indoor market and made it pretty good. Then they sell it off and turn it into a high end mall that no fucker goes in, completely killing trade on that side of town.
The food market aint to bad and has a cracking little bar in it, apart from that not much else.
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
My chosen town centre. Beales shut and that had the best cafe in town. It wasn't losing money so I don't know why they left. Perhaps they weren't making enough. They then suggested that we would be very welcome at the Bolton store. They can fuck off!

I think Rochdale is hanging on. In one survey a year or two back we were second from the bottom. Bottom place was Stockport.
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Have to disagree mate .... We have lived in the area (Marland) since 2000, and in that time the town centre has declined so much. So many decent businesses have closed and been replaced by crap/charity shops, and the growth of grotty takeaways is staggering. Add to it the aggressive beggars and lowlifes prowling Yorkshire St, it's only going to get worse.

I only go in now to use the Nationwide, and get my haircut at Mike's Barbers (Fellow Newton Heath lad, and Blue ... City stuff in shop) ..... and a while ago, came out of his to a parking ticket because even though I had paid, it was from the 'wrong' machine .... Really encouraging us to come on down ...
 
Ifwecouldjust....... said:
This happened near us.....local town centre full of charity shops, greggs and Poundlands or boarded up. Council appointed a new town centre manager who's only action has been to increase car parking charges from 20p for the first hour to £1..............guess what...even Morrisons on the edge of town has now shut
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Which is part of the problem - the managementisation of an institution that just evolved naturally and didn't need managing but somebody somewhere decides what the town needs is a town centre manager - an expert who probably doesn't have extensive retail experience and has never run a business............. but they can manage !! Purpose built shopping centres are artificial environments that start at a "year zero" and require all sorts of facilities management on site - that just doesn't translate to an open air organically evolving town centre. You get somebody enforcing what they think are good ides on the centre than there are politically based inputs from councils and councillors ........ end result no parking or increased cost of parking that sort of thing.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I'm staggered no-one's yet mentioned the most significant cause of the recent acceleration of the decline, given that you're all on it right now!
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The issue is
High rents by shop landlords fleecing shop owners
High business rates by the council because they can't manage a budget
Draconian parking charges in the name of 'going green' turning off customers.

Hence people would rather go to an outside of town hell hole like the Trafford Centre for the convenience
 
MCFCTrick said:
Have to disagree mate .... We have lived in the area (Marland) since 2000, and in that time the town centre has declined so much. So many decent businesses have closed and been replaced by crap/charity shops, and the growth of grotty takeaways is staggering. Add to it the aggressive beggars and lowlifes prowling Yorkshire St, it's only going to get worse.

I only go in now to use the Nationwide, and get my haircut at Mike's Barbers (Fellow Newton Heath lad, and Blue ... City stuff in shop) ..... and a while ago, came out of his to a parking ticket because even though I had paid, it was from the 'wrong' machine .... Really encouraging us to come on down ...
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It has declined. I started work in Rochdale in '68 and moved to Littleborough in '77. We still have a core of decent shops, and if a good chain moves into the old Co-op it will show the signs of improvement. Getting involved with Middleton and Heywood ne'er did Rochdale any favours, though. The disappearance of the cream and blue buses were the first signs. I'm waiting for a latter-day Hitler to sell the Town Hall.
 
I agree totally with the idea of shopping areas /markets being left to evolve naturally.
The managers employed to inflict shopping mall hell upon us have a lot to answer for.
(Other ther industries have been similarly negatively affected. )
 
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