Rundown town centres

[tolmie's hairdoo]

It's not been the same since they closed Moss Side centre!

Altrincham has to be the model now, establishing an independent foodie scene.

Even that initial investment came from Tom Bloxham for a paltry £150k to take over the market hall.

He's getting that kickback soon, though. They have recently flattened the old Alty hospital and it's ripe for his flats by the looks of things.

 

[chaddblue]

Oldham town centre is dying on its feet. Even the nightlife which was once thriving has all but disappeared

The new metrolink extension was supposed to breath life into the town but doesn't appear to have made any difference. In fact its probably made it worse as its now easier to get out of there

They've just opened a new cinema and restaurants right in the town centre. Bit early to see if this helps, but I was in the Nando's last night and at 9pm there were 3 tables occupied including mine

M&S were supposed to be opening a new big store but a few weeks ago it was announced they pulled out of negotiations. Could be the final nail in the coffin for the place

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

It's not been the same since they closed Moss Side centre!

My dad had a shop in there in the mid 80's! Couldn't make it pay because of the chronic shoplifting and staff pilfering :-/

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

My dad had a shop in there in the mid 80's! Couldn't make it pay because of the chronic shoplifting and staff pilfering :-/

Really? I still remember the escalators and there was even a market inside the actual shopping centre.

Had my first cream fingered doughnut in the ground floor Greggs there. To your average street urchin, that was like getting taken on holiday ;)

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

Bristol.

People have this lovely image of Bristol with Clifton suspension bridge gracefully spanning the avon gorge, and the lovely victorian houses in Clifton and Clifton Village. Picture postcard. Lovely.

The reality is the whole City is pretty much a shit hole with individual districts vying for being the shittest:

Hartcliffe - not safe at night. Or the daytime.
Lawrence Weston - makes Harlem look like Martha's Vinyard
Southmead - make sure you have a gun on you
Lockleaze - I'd rather live in Strangeways. Most of the residents used to.
St. Pauls - up and coming. From the very bottom
Bedminster - "bohemian". AKA "a total shithole"
Patchway - cheapest drugs in town
Easton - Average life expectancy, 26
St. Werbergs - Handy if you fancy a shag for £20

I can go on and on. The whole place is an utter dump.

St werbergs looks like it's worth a visit.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Really? I still remember the escalators and there was even a market inside the actual shopping centre.

Had my first cream fingered doughnut in the ground floor Greggs there. To your average street urchin, that was like getting taken on holiday ;)

There was a market. I remember it well. He had the big supermarket which had fresh produce sections that faced onto the concourse. Worked there in the summer holidays and on Saturdays if City were at home.

He had shops all over the place at various times: Hulme, Miles Platting, Moss Side, Salford - all the glamorous locations - but Moss Side was by far the worst for stuff getting nicked.

 

[Rammy Blue]

It could've very easily been Bury on the list.
I hated the town centre and its crappy market for years. Its my nearest town but I always said I'm from Whitefield (which is south Bury).

But fair enough what the council did on the The Rock over 5 years ago, turning it into a shopping, living and entertainment space could almost be described as visionary. Where others have drowned, Bury has thrived.
Its got great transport links and colleges and i'd much rather go there now than the Trafford Center to shop or watch a movie.
I'd still go to Manchester for a night out but my nights out are declining with age anyway now.

But yeah, I'm quite proud of the place now.

Ha, saved me the bother of posting. Wholeheartedly agree, The Rock has made Bury a decent place. I see that Stockport are doing something similar, funnily enough with the name of Redrock, be interesting to see if it can create the same improvement.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Portishead and the Marina nice places to visit,we always stay at the travel lodge in Portishead on the way down to Bude.Good bars and places to eat and very dog friendly for Bluey our cockerpoo.

True, but Portishead is not in (or very near to) Bristol.

I prefer Knowle West, another lovely Bristol highlight

 

[Bilboblue]

Bristol.

People have this lovely image of Bristol with Clifton suspension bridge gracefully spanning the avon gorge, and the lovely victorian houses in Clifton and Clifton Village. Picture postcard. Lovely.

The reality is the whole City is pretty much a shit hole with individual districts vying for being the shittest:

Hartcliffe - not safe at night. Or the daytime.
Lawrence Weston - makes Harlem look like Martha's Vinyard
Southmead - make sure you have a gun on you
Lockleaze - I'd rather live in Strangeways. Most of the residents used to.
St. Pauls - up and coming. From the very bottom
Bedminster - "bohemian". AKA "a total shithole"
Patchway - cheapest drugs in town
Easton - Average life expectancy, 26
St. Werbergs - Handy if you fancy a shag for £20

I can go on and on. The whole place is an utter dump.

I stayed in Bedminster for a while when I was working in Bristol centre, thought it was ok actually, some good bars/pubs if a little pricey, but a lot of them served very decent beer.
The one exception being the Masonic. We went in there one night and it was very much 'Royston Vasey'....what an absolute shithole, everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, stopped what they were doing and stared at us three when we walked in, needless to say, after a couple of pints watching some shite Monday night game on tiny tv's, we never went back!

Also had some bellend start on me in the Wetherspoons (Robert Fitzharding?) and after calming him down, ten minutes later he ran up to me and took a swing. He only did it the once.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I stayed in Bedminster for a while when I was working in Bristol centre, thought it was ok actually, some good bars/pubs if a little pricey, but a lot of them served very decent beer.
The one exception being the Masonic. We went in there one night and it was very much 'Royston Vasey'....what an absolute shithole, everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, stopped what they were doing and stared at us three when we walked in, needless to say, after a couple of pints watching some shite Monday night game on tiny tv's, we never went back!

Also had some bellend start on me in the Wetherspoons (Robert Fitzharding?) and after calming him down, ten minutes later he ran up to me and took a swing. He only did it the once.

Bedminster is one of the more acceptable dumps to be fair. As I say, they think it's "bohemian", which actually means "a dump" in English. Still, Bedminster is quite nice compared to such loveliness as Barton Hill: