Read on twatter a post by Reebok Voice saying he had been in The Market Place and was suprised to see so many empty shops.

 

I think he said 20 odd closed. I went in sunday and also couldnt believe how many closed!

 

Well according to the Bolton News, another 2 are closing.

 

Top man and The body shop.

 

Place will be closed in 5 years!!

Edited January 23, 201313 yr by Horwich

Let's hope Ghana white doesn't open this thread. I've never seen him get so wound up about anything like the market hall does.

It wasn't broken before they fixed it, was it?

 

When it was the market hall, who owned it, and was it sold etc. I'd like some background before I start ranting properly.

Why they changed it ill never know, I used enjoy having a wander round it on my dinner when I worked in there, there's that many retail parks around now the centres dead, how they thought changing it would bring folks back

see, when i'm not in rant mode, i'm symapthetic and think to myself taht they're just victims of the changing times

 

then i think, is it not their job to see times changing and adapt

 

and, as been said many times before, bury has plenty retail parks, it has the metro to manchester is an even bigger draw over there

 

trafford still casts a large shadow over them, so why is it bury can have what looks like a nice, busy hub

 

is it that the cost of the rock units is that much lower?

They should revive it with loads of small, independent stalls selling niche goods - stuff it's not worth sourcing online, or difficult to source online...Like, erm...it was in the first place.

 

They'd have to cater for those that still come into town now tho', so loads of small stalls offering loans at ursurous urrsur extortionate rates of interest, gold-buying, items for £1, scratchcards/fags and pasties.

Edited January 23, 201313 yr by Youri McAnespie

Exactly, I just can't get hold of a glass of sasperella or a bag of broken biscuits

Exactly, I just can't get hold of a glass of sasperella or a bag of broken biscuits

 

Where do you weigh yourself these days?

More phone shops and charadee shops is what the town center needs.

Cake decorations, heavy metal patches, watch repairs, sasparilla, colsfoot rock, black pudding, a take home and bake pizza, a snide Daniel o' Donnell cassette tape, a Fred Perry shirt and a plate meat pie - all under one roof.

 

Trafford Centre? It shit 'em.

Point of order, Body Shop is in the Market Place not the Market Hall.

 

Bring back Barry Gleaves Broken Biscuits.

It needs to contract, the more empty shops one has to pass to get to the open ones - not good, it's too big for purpose.

 

Bulldoze the Newport Street 'Parade' and move the Market there. That'd be a start.

 

Offer incentives to shift businesses around, try and create 'quarters'. Victoria Square for a food quarter? Take advantage of it not looking like a shithole to encourage outdoor seating? Rename it Vittoria Piazza.

the book stall

 

an enid blyton every couple of weeks

 

d and b or lemon

 

meat pie and vimto

Plate meat pies. Why do chippies never sell these any more?

I fooking hate working in the town centre. If I didnt work here, I'd hope I'd never visit the place again.

 

Dont get me started on the pubs either. Id rather chop my own bollock off than have a night out in Bolton.

its like a run down airport now.. people stood around bored waiting for a plane that never comes.. the change pretty much killed any hope the town centre had left

That's it, I live in Bolton, work in Manc. I went into the centre once last year, into Holland & Barrett then back into the car and home for a shower.

 

Bloke across the street reckons he collared a Romania robbed in a charity shop!

 

Surely the answer is to put the Victorian parts back and make Bolton different? That can be done far cheaper than rebuilding the whole place.

well those of you who voted labour I hope you are happy

Labour have only been in control since 2011.

 

I haven't heard any Tories or Lib Dems doing fuck all.

 

Maybe be need to put contact/Twitter details of all councillors on here and ask for a statement.

 

Of course, anyone dissing Bolton is accused of talking Bolton down by our straight as they come, trustworthy leader, Cllr Morris.

It's not just our town it's everywhere, the Market Hall is a disaster I admit but this recession and new spend trends has caught a lot of people out. I agree with Newport Arcade getting bulldozed, just like Bradshawgate, but once Trinity Street is done up well be reet, given the right investment and infrastructure fingers crossed.

It isn't just our town, Bury is vibrant. It's just down the road and has almost all the same challenges we do i.e. Manc and TC, as previously stated they also got the Metro straight into Manc.

I go to Chorley for bits and bobs, the market isn't full of refugees & they have a Booths. Maybe because it's easier for me, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't feel as scutty.

The Bolton M&S may be bigger than the Middlebrook one but I'm fucked if I'm paying to park on that underground carbuncle.

Blackburn 'Mall' (God I hate that word) used to be a real shithole. It pains me to admit it but they have done a bloody good job of turning it into somewhere actually worth visiting. Still loads of the dregs of society wandering around but no surprises there...

Blackburn 'Mall' (God I hate that word) used to be a real shithole. It pains me to admit it but they have done a bloody good job of turning it into somewhere actually worth visiting. Still loads of the dregs of society wandering around but no surprises there...

 

Especially when pronounced Maul.

That's the problem, bolton town centre was so busy giving it the victim complex of middlebrook and Trafford centre being there that it did nothing to challenge it besides shooting itself in the foot.. I'm not suggesting other surrounding towns are like Manhattan but bury for one is a great example of a town riding out the storm

It's impossible to sustain a 'town centre' that's traditional limits reached as far as Marsden Road/St George's Road Junction to Manny Road/Bolton College/Orlando Bridge - and all in between.

 

It means the gems get hidden in the shite...

 

The land use is shocking as well, instead of throwing up these carbuncles (apologies if you live in one) such as 'The Listing Ship' (Irwell Valley Apartments) or Forest Bank Part II (Marsden House) why didn't the Council encourage development (for residential use) of the empty floors above the commercial properties?

 

All these shitty sites on the outskirts of town haven't helped, I'm sure a lot of the traders simply move on when any incentives expire. It seems to be one pops up, then dies as another one pops up - The latest to seemingly be in decline being the Sainsburys/Decathalon one.

 

This is an artist's impression of my plan for the Redevelopment of our Town Centre, it incorporates a brick by brick, temporary removal of the Town Hall/Le Mans Crescent and part of Bradshawgate and Churchgate onto Queen's Park then...

 

 

Preferably with Senor Morris in the Slim Pickens role, he could wave something other than a cowboy hat

All those in favour, say Aye!

Edited January 23, 201313 yr by Youri McAnespie