New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Hi folks. I found this forum when researching various buildings in the town.

I'm a small scale investor in the town, and would like to the town to do well. I'm originally from Newcastle, so fully understand the North South divide.

I'm 42 years old, have founded 3 businesses and have done well. The companies I founded provided over 100 years employment for local folk which I'm proud of. I bought my first Accrington building a couple of years ago at auction. It was a beautiful stone terrace on St James St. Had been neglected for years, empty for 5 years, and as with many of these fine buildings was well on the road to dereliction. Renovated it completely and it is a fine building once again (tenanted - nice area).

Recently bought 2 properties on Warner Street, similar state, lot of work to fix. Looking forward to getting on with that job.

Where possible I only use Accrington labour to fix these properties. Seems there's few jobs to be had, so it's nice to be able to provide some employment.

I didn't buy them to flip them - if I sell any of these places it'll be to finance a larger renovation in the town.

Look forward to discussing how to improve the town with anyone, including councilors on the forum. I cannot stand to watch fine buildings fall into neglect. I can't say why, but it bugs the hell out of me.

Graham.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Funny how you say you're 42 and your profile says you're 43

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

could be a typo Shaz(and you know how they escape you until the time for an edit has elapsed)......Anyway, Graham, Welcome to the forum.
I'm sure you will find plenty to interest, entertain....and sometimes even infuriate you.
Enjoy the site.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Welcome to the forum Graham, it looks like you have a genuine interest in this area and want to help make a difference.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

welcome! and howdo

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Welcome to Accy web. Do you need a plasterer?

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

I think Newcastle and Accrington are both in the North.

Accrington seems to be popular at the moment for old building renovation

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Any move towards refurbishing and restoring the buildings has got to be welcomed.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

ow do, and welcome

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Thanks folks.

I was born in 1969 in Ashington, and as the years roll by you lose count and care less.

I find the discussions about your local town officials very interesting. Coming at it with an outsiders perspective I would say that it's good that the town actually has a 15 year forward plan. Sure the recession and government cuts will kill off most of it, but the very fact there is a plan deserves some credit. I bought a building in Thorne, Doncaster last year - a market town with many of the same problems but there's no plan at all for that place, and there the officials really don't know what to do.

I look forward to meeting some of the town's officials in the summer to talk about some smaller renovation projects. I'm not stupid enough to take on something like the Conservative Club which common sense says needs to be demolished, but there are many other buildings heading the same way that should be renovated and re-purposed.

For example the town has loads of boarded up pubs. The days of having so many pubs are long gone. Half the town doesn't drink due to religion and most of the rest don't have the spare cash to burn. So buildings like the Hope and Anchor pub (which is a nice building) lie in ruin for the last 3 or more years, and it can't even be sold at auction. That place should be retained, converted on the inside and put to use as residential. If the council will listen to sensible suggestions for quality conversion then I think I can help the town in a small way and do the work with skilled locals.

To Bob - yes I will need a plaster in about 3 months time. One of the main reasons I'm doing stuff in Accrington is that I found a highly skilled local lad (born and still living in Accrington) who can be trusted to do a good job at a fair price. Such tradesmen are hard to find, but having found one I need to base projects around where he lives. I do want to employ him because he and his family deserve it. He calls in specialist skills as needed and that's what I want to continue doing. I'll reach out to you Bob when the time comes and find other skills that we lack via the job board as I need them.

Graham.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

I'm not an Accrington-ite but I'm sure I can still say welcome to the forum :)

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Welcome to the forum.:)

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Think the word is Accringtonian SM

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Phew! so you're not related to Ewoodsambo then? Thank goodness!;)

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Your right there, the con club would be too big of a task for a single developer. Demolish is the only way forward. At least they are keeping the facade.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Welcome to the forum.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

welcome

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

How come all the new members these days seem to be obsesseed with buildings and the restoration of them

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Not all of them are, some just bypass introduce yourself completely and advertise in Vietnamese.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

and Mr Con Club comments on the thread too....... ooooo

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Well I can only speak for myself when answering a question about why people are interested in renovating old buildings in the town.

For me I don't care a hoot about Accrington. My home town is further north, north of Newcastle. I do though care about the state that the UK has got itself in and I'd like to do something about that.

I am in a position to invest in the UK, and create jobs and employment to the UK. I've started 3 businesses in the last 6 years, one of which was in the UK and one of the most satisfying parts of taking an idea from in your head to global company is the employment and opportunity you can bring to people. I'm proud of having created over 100 man years of employment to Berwick (which last I looked is one of the few places even poorer than Accrington).

As to Accrington, as I said, I don't care if I do my part in this town or any number of other similarly deprived towns in the UK. You can't start a tech company in Accrington because it'll never scale, but the town does have a ton of cheap but quality buildings that need to be restored and simply doing that creates opportunities for skilled/semi skilled labour in the town. Both are good, both worthwhile I think.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Wasn't so much of a question of why people are interested in renovating old buildings... But more to the question of whether or not you are a "real" person

Its like lancsdave says.... Though I saw sarcasm rather than starting the ball rolling for the "why" question, but seems like lancsdave knows too that there is a lot of nutters joining the forum lately(who knows lancsdave might think me a nutter and I wouldn't blame him ;) ) (this would be school children that hang around in old buildings)

So yeah. If you are a real person this post of mine is quite embarrassing(if you hang around long enough this is the norm and we have had crazies)..... Do you have company website online?

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Well I like the post, if you are a real person that is and not just another wind up merchant :rolleyes:

New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

This sure is the sceptics forum :-)

I am a real person. I founded the following companies:

http://www.travelshark.com. The company is 5 years old and is a pioneer in the field of algorithmic sentiment analysis. To you and me that means we have computers that read millions of hotel and restaurant reviews to sort that **** out so you don't have to. Loads of big companies interested in this and so far as I can tell we are unique in what we do. The video on the site explains it. Employs a lot of very very clever people, and me. This one is Singapore based so I am 8 hours ahead and usually not awake same time as everyone else.

http://www.ism.co.uk. Not involved since I sold it a couple of years go but I founded this company 6 years ago. This was the largest private employer in Berwick after the supermarkets. Made a lot of mistakes, learned a lot, lost a lot. Would not start a tech firm in the UK again.

http://www.thehuntguides.com. We produce city guides for 24 major cities worldwide. Also does bespoke book publishing. No plans for an Accrington guide :-). Could be a few decades before the place is worth visiting.

For the sake of clarity, I was given nothing, inherited nothing, and worked for the last 26 years. Yes I am we'll off (relative to most folk), but I'm damn sure I earned it. Had 1 week of holiday in the 5 years 2007-12. You don't start businesses in what turned out to be the worst recession in our lifetimes and get a holiday.... I have never drawn benefit of any kind from the govt, and have paid more than £1m in taxes over the years.

Can't start tech co in Accrington, but skilled unemployed labour seems to be around in abundance, as are empty buildings. I can use that, and intend to get more involved from around July. Need to speak to the council first to understand the ground rules, and this forum will be good for that because most here are local.

Any danger of someone answering my question about the Victorian arcade ? Would be nice to know.....

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

I feel sure you are a genuine person, people are cautious at the moment because we have had a few oddballs making belief in a new member a little difficult.
So far as your query about the Arcade, perhaps if you started a new Thread in a more Appropriate section you would get your answer?
Not all the members come into the intro threads.

New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Thanks Less, I did. I posted the question in questions and answers a few days back.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Must admit thats one that passed me by, I'm sure that when she next comes on atara may be able to point you in the right direction.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Did you make that description up?

Ah, so you're not the person who was on here the other day wanting advice on starting a website/tourist information portal all about Accrington.
I'm not based in Accy these days but I'm sure if anything were happening on the Arcade front it would get posted on this site pretty quickly.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Yep sure is. I'm one of life's sceptics and as soon as I joined I knew I'd fit right in.:thumbsup:

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

[QUOTE=GEaston;1046740]This sure is the sceptics forum :-)

I am a real person.

Travelshark - killer recommendations. The company is 5 years old and is a pioneer in the field of algorithmic sentiment analysis.]


He didn't need to, susie. Didn't you look it up? I did but I'm not much wiser.

Good luck, GEaston. Can't help you 'cause I don't live in Accy now but hopefully you're bringing in a bit of something Accrington needs a lot of.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

[QUOTE=GEaston;1046740]This sure is the sceptics forum :-)

I am a real person. I founded the following companies:

Travelshark - killer recommendations.
Internet Search Marketing - The UK's Leading Provider of Tourism and Hospitality Websites.
The HUNT Guides.
QUOTE]

Had a look at those web addressess, right load of gobbledegook, and now I'm even more skeptical than susie123.
Your spiel might sound good to some but not me, why after all these years have you picked on Accrington for these fancy ideas, especially as you don't know where it is without a map.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Morning All,

Watch the video on Travelshark - killer recommendations and if you can't understand that then I can't help you. That is though what we do, like it or not.

Lets be honest Retlaw, nobody is going to pull off the motorway to stop at Accrington, me included. Prior to last year my knowledge of Accrington was seeing an old postcard with a Tram from Manchester terminating at Accrington and not much else.

I bought a property via a commercial auction on Welcome - Pugh - Property Vendors and Auctioneers. It was on St James Street. Beautiful Georgian style stone property acquired for just 50k. Cosmetically had not had a penny spent on it for 30 years, but if you looked past that it was a fine property not dissimilar to those of Downing Street. I couldn't believe you could buy a place like that for 50k so I bought it without seeing it (20,000 mile round trip from Singapore doesn't make sense). Spent a further 12k renovating it, so I'm all in for 62. Nice property, now tenanted, because post renovation a business wanted to move into it. Prior to me buying it, it had been empty and uninhabited for 4 years.

I currently own 3 properties in the conservation are of the town so own 1/100th of your town :-) That will grow as I acquire more. I don't live in your town, but in a small way I am improving it and providing full time jobs and quality renovated workspace.

Whether you or anyone else approves of what I'm doing, or not doesn't matter two hoots to me. You can sit on the sidelines throwing sticks if you like - seems you may have had plenty practice, but I didn't come here to make friends.

To be clear the reason I came here was to find locals. I can employ some of them and learn from others (they know the town and its officials). I simply don't believe most folk are as negative as you.

Susie - no I'm not the person looking to start a tourism portal on the town. That's a sure fire fail because the town has no merit whatsoever in it's current state. If the Accrington Town Plan were actually funded then maybe the town could be revived, but not before.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Will have to pardon my ignorance.... But a tram from Manchester to Accrington.. Wouldn't that take a long, long time? damn I think even back then I would've preferred horse and cart to a tram for that distance

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

£12k renovation on a building that hadn't been touched for 30 years. Wouldn't like to think of what kind of job you got for that sort of money. Were you paying your workers peanuts? Did you do CH and electrics, plumbing? Or just a quick coat of paint. I'm not being sarcastic, genuinely want to know, I might pick up some tips.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Think in those days there might have been a decent rail service. The tram was probably only for short journeys.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Sorry Gordon must have missed your post earlier. No I didn't look it up earlier because I wanted him to tell me. I have now and it's another piece of useless up its own @rse cr@p the internet is so good at creating. Ho hum.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Sorry having another go but if anyone thinks those buildings look like Downing Street they need their eyes testing. At least there's still a Specsavers in Accy...

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

That takes some doing, Retlaw...:p

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Suzie - I got a great job for that money. Building was structurally sound and internally dry. Was thus only cosmetic. Property had the following done to it:

- New Locks
- A few tiles replaced on the roof, gutters fixed
- External rendering and painting to rear
- New double glazing and bars at rear
- All carpets removed and replaced
- New bathroom, all old removed, tiles out, ceiling out. Was replaced with new lighting, new bath, new sink, new toilet, tiled to ceiling, new floor.
- All wallpaper removed (whole property was covered in the padded type, that was originally white but brownish with smoke and age), entire house repainted internally.
- New heaters installed in all rooms
- Boiler replaced
- Electricity supply and wiring upgraded
- Certs for Electric, Water, and Gas obtained as required by law.

Job was entirely outsourced to local contractors in the town. These are skilled honest tradesman and yes it also amazes me how reasonable the quotes were. Take the bathroom for example, total cost of stripout, new units, tiling, and a week's labour to do it - all in cost of that was 2.2k

Local lad, born in and still living in Accrington, highly skilled and very reasonable.

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

One of many interesting pics on Google images for Accrington Trams Electric Tram Accrington, Lancashire | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

Please use other sections this in for introductions only ta

Re: New to forum, been investing in the town.
 

As advised by Mick, have started a new thread to continue this discussion. See General Chat.