Why is Bond Street such a mess?

Away from the shopping area does anyone remember the car auctions behind the pleasure beach, now a car park. Me & 2 mates went around 1980. Dodgy place had heavies on the doors so there was no way you weren't paying. We decided to all have a bid. I went last on a big lump of a motor, an old lexus past its sell by. I'd beaten my 2 mates bids then the bidding stopped 😳 all eyes on me. My ring piece was twitching & my 2 very supportive mates pissing themselves. After what seemed a life time a bid from the back to which I shook my head in fake disappointment 😆
 
Chunkylad said:
I hope not Haz. Any city I’ve been in, China town is always scruffy and run down looking.

Only way they can renovate an entire area is compulsory purchase and start again. Don’t see how that would be even feasible as some people wouldn’t want to give up their livelyhoods
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Oddly they are sticking a protection order on Waterloo so looks like they don’t want it to change! But guessing plans are afoot
 
tommytwojags said:
You don't want to know how many million the council is paying to rent space in that hotel for its museum. You could construct a purpose built museum for a fraction of the price and it would remain a council asset.
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Which is exactly why there is no rush to open the hotel - they will make more from the rent
 
The biggest problem I see has been the war on the motorist over the years. These places were once thriving shopping hubs and the common denominator is they have prevented parking or pedestrianised the place in the case of South shore, its been wanton destruction with one way streets etc which they are now reversing.
 
There has been a change in consumer habits, most families had only one car, and there was a lot more use of buses in the 60's and 70's. In the 80's that started to change and women started to have their own cars. Women enjoy shopping much more than men, most men only will shop out of necessity while women treat it as a leisure activity. Unfortunately, the lack of free parking was the initial reason for the decline in bond st, women like to shop where it is the easiest and cheapest to park and if you visit the retail park at Squires Gate, it is always busy even during the week. Obviously, in the last two decades, internet shopping has changed the face of high st and everything is available at a click of a button.

Bond St is never going to return to the halcyon days of Woolworths, Melody Maker, etc. But the area can improve by creating an environment
that encourages people to build quality accommodation both for families and tourists. That will in turn lead to a demand for coffee shops, artisan food shops, restaurants, micro pubs, etc. If people and companies realize that they can make money by investing in the area, then money will flood in, and the area will improve you have only to look at Whalley Range in Manchester to see how it has changed from seedy bedsits, etc into a desirable area to live.
 
I’m pretty sure that the very first Tesco that I can remember was on Bond Street? I also remember Melody House selling stamps and coins to collectors as well as records and I think there was a pretty decent jeweller on the other side - a few doors from Tesco.
 
Wizaard said:
It's almost as if over a decade of Tory rule has seen a constant decline in investment in the North. Luckily the latest budget will surely readdress the imbalance and not put more money in the pockets of the richest areas of the country.
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Claptrap lazy untrue comment the labour council thinks a stupid tramtrack for holiday makers was more important than the state some areas are in for locals .Absolute joke waste of money
 
Did the corner market used to be a Woolworths? It had lovely windows I seemed to recall.

It is so sad but there seems to be a lot of this '1-2 streets back from the prom' (and more of course) in serious decline. The area around (Un)Pleasant St. is the same. Lovely old Empress Hotel building if I recall.
 
phill said:
Claptrap lazy untrue comment the labour council thinks a stupid tramtrack for holiday makers was more important than the state some areas are in for locals .Absolute joke waste of money
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Where do councils get the vast majority of their money from? Clue: it's not council tax.
 
Whilst you have councils (in all areas not just Blackpool) trying to hold back the tides of change on the high street to 'reinvigorate it' there will never be meaningful lasting improvements. The high street is all but dead unfortunately for retail shopping. What would be great in South Shore and bond st/Waterloo Rd would be nice coffee shops, restaurants, cafe bars with a few retail offerings mixed in rather than betting shops and charity shops and bric a brac. Get rid of all the sh1tty HMOs everywhere and bedsits and help to turn back what are lovely buildings around that area back into beautiful family homes and desirable places to live.
They won't though, they'll knock sh1t down and make another car park
 
Larryknows said:
Whilst you have councils (in all areas not just Blackpool) trying to hold back the tides of change on the high street to 'reinvigorate it' there will never be meaningful lasting improvements. The high street is all but dead unfortunately for retail shopping. What would be great in South Shore and bond st/Waterloo Rd would be nice coffee shops, restaurants, cafe bars with a few retail offerings mixed in rather than betting shops and charity shops and bric a brac. Get rid of all the sh1tty HMOs everywhere and bedsits and help to turn back what are lovely buildings around that area back into beautiful family homes and desirable places to live.
They won't though, they'll knock sh1t down and make another car park
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But if we get rid of the HMO's then where are Bolton, Skipton, Harrogate, etc, going to get rid of their scroates to?
 
Keep the faith said:
Years of labour neglect unfortunately, obviously now we’ve got a Tory mp it’s a start, just need the labour council voted out👍🏻
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No doubt that Bond Street is a dive and given it's proximity to the towns major tourist attraction that can't be a good thing and I wouldn't be a fan of the Labour Council but I'm not sure any council has stood out as making great decisions that the town really benefited from.
 
Wizaard said:
Where do councils get the vast majority of their money from? Clue: it's not council tax.
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I don't want any council to spend their time complaining about how their funding has been cut.

I want them to concentrate on ensuring that they make best use of the resources that are afforded to them.
 
Wizaard said:
So it's not a factor?
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Sorry Wiz, didn't see this before now.

Of course the level of resources available will hamper ability to deliver but once you are aware of the level of resources available, you should concentrate on using those resources effectively as possible, regardless of whether they have been reduced or increased.

The Blackpool Council - especially under the great Simon Blackburn - seemed to spend their time complaining about cutbacks instead of concentrating on improving efficiency.

In the real world, a private business owner who employed 10 chaps to maintain 10 areas but had to let one chap go would probably ask the other 9 chaps to help cover the area the other chap used to be responsible for.

If the Blackpool Council had 10 chaps responsible for maintaining 10 parks and had to let one of their park keepers go, they'd be more likely to wait until the grass was overgrown in the that park and phone the Gazette to highlight their reduced budget.

I have already said on this thread that it would be harsh to blame all of the towns current problems on the Labour Council and that Conservative Councils have been complacent.

If folk are honest about things though, they will know what party was in control during the glory years in Blackpool and all of Britain's other great tourist resorts and it wasn't Labour.
 
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