Town centre solution
 

Blitz the soulless shambles & rebuild it as it was 30 odd years ago.

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I would love to see it the way it was when I was a kid but sadly so called progress will knock that on the head with a pile driver. Seems odd though that in the southern market towns they keep what is essentialy the towns heart and soul with minor improvements. So why cant we?

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It will get much worse before it gets any better, 30 years ago we did not have the supermarkets, pound shops and so on:

They should have left well alone.... there was no need to build the Arndale Centre, what a waste of space that is. The market should also have been left...

But no they had to go and ruin it.... still they know best ( They think )

I personally don't even shop in Accrington now.... its too depressing.

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sadly i think yer wrong magpie, i cannot forsee it Ever getting much better.:(

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So if the council actually decided to listen ( I'll accept this is a pretend scenario :p ) , what would people like them to do ?

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We still have the Market Hall and the Arcade so we have the start of a Victorian themed town - Beamish attracts visitors - we could become the lancashire equivalent

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h ah my glass is half full and my is in the sand of course :D

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I applaud the council's decision (please note*) to refurbish and upgrade the Market Hall, which according to the press is about to start.

Vision for £2m Accrington market revamp (From Lancashire Telegraph)

I would perhaps leave the plans to increase the number of stalls by using upstairs, until the economic climate is more favourable. The main concern should be to make the place as attractive as possible to customers, and therefore ensure continued business for the traders already in there.

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difference being Beamish situ is a lovely day out, specially on a nice day, can't forsee that ever happening here.

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Yes, I think it's a good thing too.

The market is a really good feature of Accrington and so should be made as nice as possible. Strangely, it's probably a good time to invest in this sort of thing as all the contractors who want the job will be prepared to do it for very competitive rates. ;)

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agree the market hall is a top feature, but doing it up nice would look like a fairy in a cesspit.:)

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Well, they're working on it Margaret :-

Victorian event for Accrington (From Lancashire Telegraph)

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A ride up the Coppice in a horse and trap might even tempt me out :)

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I think because we are often there, we don't actually see how attractive a town it is.

True many people hate the blue and white Town Hall extension/ shop facade, and the new benches may be wet for 90% of the year, but there is a lot of beautiful stone buldings, and we have the rolling hills in nearly every direction in the distance.

I did start a thread about friend's of mine, visiting the area for the first time, comparing Accy To Brighton's Lanes, and Wimbledon Village.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...age-23398.html

So it's not all bad, the structure is in place to make it a more attractive destination. It just needs the right visionary to make it happen.

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We'll probably find an Italian company wins the contract and puts in Portugese labour to do the job....then the dozen or so people in Accy left with jobs go on strike.

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It is quite surprising when you look up above shop level how beautiful some of the old buildings are.

Most people walk with their heads down all the time looking at the chewing gum on the floor - look up!

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...and risk tripping on broken pavements:eek:

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Go on ... I'll say it ... treading in the dog crap.

I agree with Gayle and Garinda, since joining Accyweb and us locals talking about our town, I have looked up more, and it 'aint bad at all. :)

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and then the council could buy a block or two of run down 2 up 2 downs and let them out a holiday homes.

Maybe they could by Highams Mill or similar and ship all the happy holiday makers off for some job experience?

super, novel holiday experience - soon make people glad of todays recision?

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Highams Mill is currently being knocked down to make way for four bedroomed houses.....something like 72 of them.......in the current climate who is going to be able to afford them?

I do think you are right about the lovely buildings though Gayle......it is just that (as others have rightly observed) it is hard to keep your eyes skywards when there are so many hazards at ground level.

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The pavements are appalling, even the newly refurbished ones.

I struggle with them because I shuffle. I pity anyone whose sight is bad, and can't see what they are walking on, and what to avoid.

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I must admit i have recently been noticing how grand the upper parts of some of the old buildings actually are........

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I've noticed a lot more since the smoking ban came in.:D

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the flags in the centre can be slippery when wet, i nearly went over on one the other day.

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yeh agree about good stone buildings, but i was always under the impression,a good Town Centre required good shops.:rolleyes:

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No chance of good shops as no owner is stupid enough to risk expansion in Accy. Unless its pound shops.

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agreed so people can waffle till the cows come home, spend money that aint abundant, trying to make a silk purse outa a sows ear....... aint gonna happen!

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Suggest anyone about to reply to this thread looks up "demographics" in a good dictionary, if you do it will negate the need for pointless " Why can't we have a Next/River Island ? " type discussion......

In plain English Accrington is too "poor" a town to justify brand names like Next etc, we don't have the amount of salaried folk living in the area to make these stores worthwhile, this has been the status quo for at least 15 years and isn't likely to improve any time soon and the more big names that pull out make it less likely for big names to invest, sorry but that's the reality.

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Agreed, Lindsay. :(

I really fear for the future of Accrington town centre.

As you say, the more names we lose the less likely any more names will want to come into Accrington.

Therefore we are left with more and more empty units.

What can be done? :confused:

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no-ones mentioned any of those type of shops, cos think most are aware of those facts, suggest you read the whole thread linds.:D

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Some of the blame has got to be the consumers as well because for a lot of people it is just easier to shop under one roof. Therefore a lot of people don't even hit the town centre. What can be done? Who knows?

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I have, several times, but I could see what was coming !:rolleyes::)

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Accrington was always n Industrial Town, Mills,Engineering,etc 5000 worked at bulloughs alone, double decker buses used to bring workers from the fylde coast.fer me our town started dying with the death of industry, true the abysmal alterations to our centre oer the years contributed also.:(

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I actually think that the fact people are turning more and more to shopping on line as also had a huge impact, I buy everything on line these days, because is so easy and you don't have to leave the comfort of your own home to do it

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Seems Woolies is to reopen.e re-born online
A Woolworths store
The closure of Woolworths prompted huge job losses

The Woolworths brand is to be re-launched as an online retailer after being bought by Daily Telegraph owners, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay.

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these are the guys who make folks like Michael Jackson look normal :confused: :confused:

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Perhaps this is Accrington's opportunity to become something different, to not rely on the big names. Perhaps this is the time for independent shops to make a come back to our town centre and rebuild a unique town that doesn't have all the same shops as every where else.

And as for the beautiful buildings - if you're worried that you might trip over something whilst you're walking and looking up, then stop and stand still for a while to take a look.

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But where would the Chavs & Track suited Tracys go if the centre was "made posh"???

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yeh right its just the weather fer standing admiring architechture.
:rolleyes: lets get real here, most people go to a town centre to shop.

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Hear hear to that. We don't need big business to be a good, interesting, town.

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don't think anyone would or could disagree with that, but HOW do they compete against these big outlets?:confused:

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I really cant see what would work in Accrington. Lets face it, most of us will still use Supermarkets and also the Larger Stores in other towns. The only way to totally regenerate the Town Centre would be for it to offer something completely different and thereby bring in outsiders/tourists. Maybe with time, vision and enterprise something along the lines of a "Booktown" such as Hay-On-Wye, but i really cant see that happening at all, we aint even got one bookshop at the moment...WHS apart that is!


Best Regards - Taggy

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A good idea in theory, but as Lindasay pointed out, we may not have the demograhpics to support such businesses, an example being the sadly short life of the new art gallery that someone tried to open, and the recent closure of the small independent gift/fancy goods shop on Church Street.

It would be great to be like Hebden Bridge etc., but we really don't have enought arty lesbians to make it viable.

See post 31 of the thread below, for further details....

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...n-31637-3.html

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Perhaps we could invite a German market to attend a couple of days per week, for those that don't wish to go to Manchester.

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invite the krauts? they couldn't even win 2 world wars.:rolleyes:

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You'd probably have to fight your way through the protesters to get to the stalls.

It's all the rage, to stop Johnny Foreigner stealing all the English jobs.

:D

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:D:D It's a big draw though in Manchester Cashy.

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so were glasgow rangers n the krauts are on the same par.:D

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As an internet shopper I can see a radical new future for town centres.
That future consists of social/artistic venues and personal services.
eg -- personal grooming parlours, - turkish baths and saunas, hairdressers, chiropodists,
social/arts venues - cafes, restaurants, ballrooms and performance stages.

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Well they've made a start.

Miss Whiplash's dungeon has a prime town centre location.

:D

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Some of you may have heard of the "Pennine Reach Rapid Bus Transport" scheme that LCC are planning to implement. This would give us better and faster buses from Accrington to Blackburn. In fact most of Hyndburn to Blackburn. I wonder if they have considered the negative impact on Accrington town centre if they make it easier and faster to get to Blackburn town centre.

Surely now that Blackburn with Darwen has nothing to do with Lancashire County Council any more they should be trying to help improve accessibility to Accrington's not Blackburn's town centre.

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Since when have LCC listened to what he people wanted, remember we used to have a Fire Station in Ossy, can remember being given a choice when they took that away

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Very, very small article in today's Telegraph saying that Greg Pope had voted against this scheme.

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I wonder if that is because Greg and Peter are now big mates ;)

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...not much local support for it from our local politicans then, as I remember seeing our council leader boycotting the last meeting about it.

I know locally people are more concerned about the diminished parking that would result from the scheme, and the effect that would have on businesses in Ossy, Clayton etc, than they are about improving the speed of bus journeys to Blackburn.

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The daft thing about it is I can only really see 2 parking spaces that should be taken away anyway. The 2 on union road next to that little car park at the side of the Rose and Crown. The cars parked cause and obstruction to traffic flow. I can't see why no parking zones will speed up buses. When you are driving behind a bus and it stops at a bus stop you can't pass it so you have to wait till it sets off again. The buses slow down the cars not the other way round.

I think it was Brian Roberts that said they don't have any faith that LCC could come up with a good bus scheme after the chaos they have caused with all the build outs at bus stops throughout the borough, especially in Rishton where traffic comes to a complete stand still ever time a bus stops at a bus stop.

Says it all really.

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The roads round here aren't wide enough for designated bus lanes.

Even when the buses pull into where they are supposed to, traffic is usually still stuck behind until the bus sets off again.

Perhaps the people at County Hall have never actually seen our relatively narrow and winding roads in Hyndburn.

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They are not planning bus lanes through Ossy, just making Union road a Urban clearway for a couple of hours morning and afternoon during the bust times. Those same times people want to stop for a bacon butt and buy a newspaper from the local shops.

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Yeah, the few parking spaces available would disappear.

It'll make no difference at all to the traffic flow.

On the side of the road which has presently got yellow lines, you still have to wait for a bus when it's at a stop. It's very rarely that you can safely overtake it.

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On a slightly different note - I see that work on Accrington's Eco Station has started. Well, so far they've put up the barriers and blocked off the car park on Eagle St.

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What's an Eco station?

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Its a supposedly environmentally friendly green train station. You know one of those that will cost that much you have to ask yourself if it is really worth it.

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I suppose that means they will no longer allow special steam excursions through Accy.

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Only if they are burning wood not coal from sustainable well managed forests ;)

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Out of curiosity what can't you buy in Accrington that you can buy in Blackburn or Burnley.

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A piano, and some monkeys to deliver it.

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Don't the Music Box sell pianos ? Loads of monkeys round Accrington centre :D

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6 fingered gloves

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You're not special enough to qualify for those :p

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:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38:

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a mouse mat with pictures of your kids on? :D

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Thats very worrying. I've blown a full years advertising budget of 25p to find it didn't work :rofl38: