Can you remember when your town was vibrant?

Frome sounded identical to there. It was all Pubs, brewer, carpet factory.
We had printing, Cuprinol were here, Cheese packing plant and cold stores. many industries were here, now they have all moved on or ended. We had 74 pubs in and around the outskirts, now all we have is coffee shops, Turkish hairdressers that on,y except cash ( make of that what you will, but it sounds like money laundering to me), and charity shops. We did used to have a massive livestock market on every Wednesday, and the shops on Thursday, always used to close at 1.00 pm, but all opened Saturdays. The only saving grace we have is the old livestock market hall, The Cheese and Grain, who do actually have big bands come and play. That’s pretty mush about it, apart from all the houses that have been built over the las t15 years and the 1700 houses more that are in planning on one side of town,with another 450 planned on the other. It’s the kids I feel sorry for, as there is nothing for them apart from smoking weed, joining a gang, and probably trying not to get stabbed. ( one kid has already died here, it’s just a matter of time. Even one of the teachers in a school here, was involved in a stabbing over Bath, t other week). When I walk through town on a Saturday night, it’s empty, the three nightclubs we had are gone…It’s gone to hell in a handcart.

 

I was born in a village called Milford on sea,my grandfather was the blacksmith,
My father worked for Wellworthy in lymington
We grew up in a village community ,
We walked to school,
In the summer holidays stayed out till dusk,
It was a pleasant place to live in the halcyon days of the 60s70s
However nowadays I could walk from Hordle cliff to keyhaven and back and not meet anyone I know or they know me,
Milford on sea has probably increased three fold in size,
Every possible parcel of land has been developed and is on going it is unrecognisable to me , the community is probably no different to Basingstoke now
Wealthy Tesla driving people who don’t want to converse with you
But complain about future development and start action groups from their recently built developments,


The irony

 

Brentford is vibrant I’m glad o say. My road and local boozer gives it a real village community feel. Very unusual for that there London!

 

When we first moved down to the South Coast in 2010, Bournemouth was a pretty nice town to visit. We now very rarely visit as the town centre is a ghost town

 

I blame the internet for an awful lot of why most places have become ghost towns. On line shopping etc, plus I think the new generation are healthier and don’t drink and eat what we all used to, as that in itself was a social event. And the price of everything now, even if someone wanted to go out an evening on a regular basis. Long gone are the 3 nights out on the Drink, different clubs after, etc.
I honestly think that I/we had the best that times could give and it won’t ever happen again like that.

 

Supermarkets sell food. Everyone needs that. Yes, there are more retail parks. I think that is an American idea in itself, or maybe for less emissions in the towns, etc.

 

Well when we went to Wimbledon a year back
We stayed in a pub in Barnes ,It had a lovely atmosphere there nice friendly community vibe

 

When I moved to Ely in the 90's it was dead - boarded up shops etc. You could walk through the town centre on a Friday evening and not see a soul. You could always find a parking space in the market square (there were about 20 spaces) even at the weekend.
Then the train line got electrified making that there London an hour away and the city trebled in size, shops and pubs were re-opened, a night club opened and it became busy and dare I say thriving. House prices more than doubled almost overnight.

It's not always doom and gloom.

 

IDK what the village I live in now was like in the past but it's said that when the (just 100 boats) marina I live on opened 8-10 years ago it tipped the balance saving the local pub, shop, bakery, chemist etc. Many boat dwellers don't have cars and shop local. Covid actually helped a lot of these small businesses as people found shopping local avoided the crowds. Even the pub survived somehow. It's an oddity - a thriving village.

I think the variety of small shops here really helps to make a whole thing work. If a few shut people would find themselves having to shop in the nearby town and the domino effect would start.

 

Went to a show last night at the Bristol Old Vic that was pretty much sold out. Then walked down Kings Street to The Old Duke where some live music was on before getting an Uber home, on a Monday…

lucky to live in this great City.

 

I have a friend that lives in Brentford. Last time I stayed with them we poisoned his wife with manky Sushi and he accidentally stuck his finger in a random ladies eye in the pub after one too many drinkies….. we were never invited back to stay the night.

 

There’s not a lot you can say to that- so random! Very funny (apart from the poisoning obviously! ). Must have been south (of the m4) Brentford!

 

I blame the shopping malls and "Big Box Retailers" for destroying most town centres and even the suburbs in the cities.