Just had a meeting on Churchgate. Sad to see the Bolton News offices empty. And in a week or two the Travel Counsellors building opposite will be empty. Another 200+ people spending approx £20 per week on parking and lunches in the town... plus whatever other services they spend their hard-earned on - all being lost. Very sad state of affairs.

 

When will it get better? Should these empty offices be turned into apartments?

7 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

All the satellite towns are struggling, Bury seems to be the best if a bad bunch. But read the Bury Times comments and it too is a shit hole apparently.

Been all over the country this past year or 2 and the places doing best seem to be focusing on history and culture things to create locations people want to visit and the regeneration stems from there. Plymouth was lovely around the harbours, Oxford was a bit disappointing and most of Sheffield was a proper shit tip.

For all the money Sheffield has tipped into the city centre, for a city of it's size it's shit 

Unless you want pubs 

But all the shops cleared out to Meadowhall 

If it wasn't for students and snooker it would die a death 

2 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

For all the money Sheffield has tipped into the city centre, for a city of it's size it's shit 

Unless you want pubs 

But all the shops cleared out to Meadowhall 

If it wasn't for students and snooker it would die a death 

It's worse than Bolton for how spread out it is. There's like 3 shopping areas all a decent walk from each other, no good with a disabled missus in tow.

23 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

It's worse than Bolton for how spread out it is. There's like 3 shopping areas all a decent walk from each other, no good with a disabled missus in tow.

And hilly

20 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

And hilly

True that, and at the minute there's roadworks fecking everywhere making it even harder to navigate either by foot or by car. Definitely not a place I'll be rushing back to if no one is paying us to be there.

Edited January 15, 20242 yr by frank_spencer

30 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

True that, and at the minute there's roadworks fecking everywhere making it even harder to navigate either by foot or by car. Definitely not a place I'll be rushing back to if no one is paying us to be there.

Since I went there in the late 90s to uni and been back for footy 

They always seem to be pumping money into something, I'm not sure they know want they really want 

Shit stuff outside the train station, stuff around Hallam uni but always road works 

No wonder folk go to meadowhall 

Where is Element 51?! Shame to miss that, its the day of Stevenage game.

1 hour ago, Marc505 said:

Where is Element 51?! Shame to miss that, its the day of Stevenage game.

Element 51

Nightclub

 

Address: 3 Nelson Square, Bolton BL1 1JT

Think Sheffield is getting a bit of a bad rap, always enjoyed tmgoing there. Kelham is good, the Crucible is one of the best theatre's in the country, peace Gardens, the art gallery space is excellent, some nice restaurants that aren't so expensive, decent hotels when I've stayed, good gig venues. I means it's not Manchester or Birmingham but it's holding it own - prefer it to Leeds in my humble opinion.

9 hours ago, Gonk said:

Element 51

Nightclub

 

Address: 3 Nelson Square, Bolton BL1 1JT

Nelson Square the place to be 😃

2 minutes ago, Not in Crawley said:

Think Sheffield is getting a bit of a bad rap, always enjoyed tmgoing there. Kelham is good, the Crucible is one of the best theatre's in the country, peace Gardens, the art gallery space is excellent, some nice restaurants that aren't so expensive, decent hotels when I've stayed, good gig venues. I means it's not Manchester or Birmingham but it's holding it own - prefer it to Leeds in my humble opinion.

Really like Sheffield, Kelham Island is superb - jealous of anyone who lives there (ahem!) and actually put an offer in on a house in Sharrow Vale during lockdown we loved it up there as well. Probably a good job we got outbid in the end with some shit that went on soon after, but what a great little area that is.

Just never get caught in a round in the pub on the station 😃

1 minute ago, Marc505 said:

Really like Sheffield, Kelham Island is superb - jealous of anyone who lives there (ahem!) and actually put an offer in on a house in Sharrow Vale during lockdown we loved it up there as well. Probably a good job we got outbid in the end with some shit that went on soon after, but what a great little area that is.

Just never get caught in a round in the pub on the station 😃

Got a few ex colleagues who live round there and they love it - I'm no expert but everytime I've been I've have a decent time with more than enough to do.

Went a few times as a student as I lived with a girl from there - again in the late 90s was a good place to have a piss up. 

Bit of a mistake putting the Museum of pop there though I thought - although I believe this is one of the uni' SUs now. 

1 hour ago, Not in Crawley said:

Got a few ex colleagues who live round there and they love it - I'm no expert but everytime I've been I've have a decent time with more than enough to do.

Went a few times as a student as I lived with a girl from there - again in the late 90s was a good place to have a piss up. 

Bit of a mistake putting the Museum of pop there though I thought - although I believe this is one of the uni' SUs now. 

I was at Uni there late 90s when it opened and apparently hardly anyone went

I know I didn't

Its now part of Hallam Uni's SU

Yeah I went when it opened with my housemate - was just a bit poor. Had a great night at the leadmill though.

My over riding memory of Sheffield  is sitting in the bar at the Crucible after watching the snooker. The window overlooked the main road. Behind that was a 'nightclub' called The Roxy and behind that up the hill was a massive grey building like something out of Russia or China. The biggest eyesore I've ever seen. And the whole vista was grey, everything.

It's all changed now I know, but thirty odd years ago that was it.

30 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

My over riding memory of Sheffield  is sitting in the bar at the Crucible after watching the snooker. The window overlooked the main road. Behind that was a 'nightclub' called The Roxy and behind that up the hill was a massive grey building like something out of Russia or China. The biggest eyesore I've ever seen. And the whole vista was grey, everything.

It's all changed now I know, but thirty odd years ago that was it.

Park hill flats, they've now been regenerated and aren't cheap! 

 

https://www.urbansplash.co.uk/regeneration/projects/park-hill

43 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

My over riding memory of Sheffield  is sitting in the bar at the Crucible after watching the snooker. The window overlooked the main road. Behind that was a 'nightclub' called The Roxy and behind that up the hill was a massive grey building like something out of Russia or China. The biggest eyesore I've ever seen. And the whole vista was grey, everything.

It's all changed now I know, but thirty odd years ago that was it.

That sounds like the Park Hill estate at the back of the train station & up the hill. ....concrete brutalism apparently !! After games in Sheffield or changing there, we used to go up the hill to the 3 or 4 pubs in the estate. !st time it was a bit daunting, the pubs were roughish but we didn't act like dicks & never got bothered.

It all went downhill & the pubs shut down.......there was talk of refurbishing them but i've not been back.https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/aug/14/park-hill-brutalist-sheffield-estate-controversial-renovation

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 20242 yr by bolton va va
Daisy H is quicker than me !!

1 minute ago, DaisyHWanderer said:

Park hill flats, they've now been regenerated and aren't cheap! 

 

https://www.urbansplash.co.uk/regeneration/projects/park-hill

Yes, I've seen that and Google earth street viewed it. It's a lot more welcoming and colourful now. I was always surprised it wasn't knocked down but the first line on urban splash sums it up perfectly.

A brutalist concrete icon. The largest listed building etc etc.

The Roxy has gone through. Now the same building but something more upmarket.

I had some good days at the Crucible as a guest of a freight company.

Why the fook would you list that monstrosity? Fair play they have done well with it though.

On 12/02/2024 at 21:29, Marc505 said:

Where is Element 51?! Shame to miss that, its the day of Stevenage game.

Signum wrote some class tunes back in the day - and Davos is always fun. H&D are good friends of mine and worth a watch too! 👍

20 minutes ago, Winchester White said:

Why the fook would you list that monstrosity? Fair play they have done well with it though.

Did my first aid in Sheffield just before Christmas. Pretty much everybody whose first trip it was said the same thing

1 hour ago, FrancisFogarty said:

My over riding memory of Sheffield  is sitting in the bar at the Crucible after watching the snooker. The window overlooked the main road. Behind that was a 'nightclub' called The Roxy and behind that up the hill was a massive grey building like something out of Russia or China. The biggest eyesore I've ever seen. And the whole vista was grey, everything.

It's all changed now I know, but thirty odd years ago that was it.

Ha were they The Hyde Park flats when I was there at uni in the ‘80s? Massive concrete monstrosity on a hill above that big roundabout. Fuck me you didn’t go anywhere near them. Ever. They were just like the ones in Hulme in Manc. Utterly lawless. Council did them up for the student athletic games mid/late 80s

9 hours ago, Winchester White said:

Why the fook would you list that monstrosity? Fair play they have done well with it though.

It was ground breaking at the time. Milk floats could drive all the way to the top via the walkways. It's the structure that's listed rather than the flats themselves

When it came to regenerating them they effectively punched the flats out to keep the structure so it ended up looking like a giant connect 4 board 

Went on a tour of it through work with Urban Splash. They were mentioning the prices of the flats and that existing residents would be given priority. Good luck with that 

For the prices they wanted, there's better areas of Sheffield to live in.

Wouldn't fancy some of the pubs on there on a Friday night 

11 hours ago, FrancisFogarty said:

My over riding memory of Sheffield  is sitting in the bar at the Crucible after watching the snooker. The window overlooked the main road. Behind that was a 'nightclub' called The Roxy and behind that up the hill was a massive grey building like something out of Russia or China. The biggest eyesore I've ever seen. And the whole vista was grey, everything.

It's all changed now I know, but thirty odd years ago that was it.

Went to uni there 

Always recall going to the open day on a grim January day and seeing those flats walking up from the station

Had never seen anything like it 

Love my brutalism these days, maybe that sowed the seed 

Pulled a student bird who lived in them, they looked grim on the outside and proper dodgy to walk around at night but as actual accommodation they were pretty good, huge on the inside and cheap 

The Roxy was the student place to be on a Wednesday night, again huge on the inside with this massive lighting set up that used to propel up and down over the dance floor 

Went once on a weekend, rough as fuck, 10 lads for every girl, went with a mate and she was surrounded by lads all night in there

Dunno what it is now but after it shutdown it became a new age church hq 

49 minutes ago, Zico said:

Went to uni there 

Always recall going to the open day on a grim January day and seeing those flats walking up from the station

Had never seen anything like it 

Love my brutalism these days, maybe that sowed the seed 

Pulled a student bird who lived in them, they looked grim on the outside and proper dodgy to walk around at night but as actual accommodation they were pretty good, huge on the inside and cheap 

The Roxy was the student place to be on a Wednesday night, again huge on the inside with this massive lighting set up that used to propel up and down over the dance floor 

Went once on a weekend, rough as fuck, 10 lads for every girl, went with a mate and she was surrounded by lads all night in there

Dunno what it is now but after it shutdown it became a new age church hq 

Think its an O2 academy now

We always saw plenty of Wards bitter off in them days when I went to Sheffield. I don't know if they are still going.

I got taken to the snooker regularly by a shipping company. One time we got shushed by the referee as one of our party stood on his pint (you could take them in in those days, in plastic cups). There was beer all over the place but it made it funnier than ever when he just picked his busted pot up and tried to carry on as if it wasn't him.