I used to live in Bolton ...

[bobo the clown]

... Though that was 34yrs ago. My mum's still there, as are the Wanderers, but both ion Horwich.

So, I have increasingly few reasons to come into the town centre itself. Today I had one, picking #2 son up from Trinity Street station. What ... the ... fck ??

A station frontage more befitting Bolton-by-Bowland (what happened to the old classic one on the other side of Trinity St. ?), the big Trinity Church oppositeis closed & shuttered up, the top end of Regent Street looks like Merthyr Tydfil.

When did all that happen ? Those who don't arrive often, be afraid. Those still there who've seen it happen organically may have not noticed the small, incremental changes, but ... Phew !!.

I didn't go anywhere else& I'm fearful what else I'd see gone, but really, it's not a good experience.

[TANGODANCER]

Don't forget the "Gateway to Bolton" that's actually the wrong end of a one-way street, Bobo.
That fine stone church boarded up is a constant source of -pain, but it's been that way for several years now. Even sadder for me because I remember the big Railway Hotel on the corner of Trinity Street, the Odeon, The Palais, The Wheatsheaf on Great Moor Street, the Commercial on the Town Hall Square, the big Reeds Bookshop on Newport Street and too many other things to think of that are just Bolton memories now. Fings ain't what they used to be...

[a1]

that bridge wanted doing up.

folk moanin' about towns going to shit, when they do their shopping on the internet too.

not sure what folk want.

get some argos style showrooms up and internet kiosks [kinda like them japanese tescos- all photostats and dummy phones/tellies ] "oh, that tv looks like that" put credit card in, buys it, maybe get summat to eat from somewhere near, drive home, wait for postman.

[bobo the clown]

I'd like my hometown's centre to look less run-down than it appears to do.

I accept the influence of out of town shopping malls & intenet shopping. I appreciate there's a recession. I know 'progress' is inevitable and buildings close & change use.

It's just a bit of a shock to see taste thrown out of the window on top of all the above pressures. As a gateway into a major Northern town Trinity Street was not impressive yesterday.

[William the White]

Yeah - Trinity Church is an eyesore that needs removing. The 'Gateway to Bolton' that consists of tattoo parlours and scuzzy shops is totally unwelcoming.

The entire town centre is dreadful. It is deeply depressing. I fear it may be irreversible. Only the market, it seems to me, remains competitive with out of town developments (and won 'best market in the country' from Radio 4's 'Food Programme' and even this looks run down, though obviously still vibrant. I really enjoy shopping there - the fish market above all!

I'm guilty of out of town shopping, and online shopping, but, you know, if I wanted to do all my shopping in Bolton Centre, outside of the Morrisons and Sainsbury developments - I couldn't.

[Bijou Bob]

An ex colleague of mine opened a massage parlour in Crewe (The source of some great stories - "Any chance you could turn up on Tuesday night Bob about 8 ish? Need someone to do a client's missus. Don't worry, he's chained to the wall with a gimp mask on and screams abuse at you, but they both love it" ).

Aaaaaaanyway............He'd done some scouting around and asked if I fancied going halves on a place in Bolton next to Trinity Street as "It's a shithole down there and will fit right in". Something told me Olan Mills wouldn't have been impressed.

[TKIZ!]

I moved out of Bolton 13 years ago and only going back for seeing my sis and her kids and Wanderers games.

Although I did used to live in Breightmet, so to me Bolton has always been a bit bleak

[TANGODANCER]

Yeah - Trinity Church is an eyesore that needs removing.

It's a lovely stone building in grounds, that should be renovated as a place of worship, but that'll never happen unfortunately. It was always an odd location for a church at best.

[William the White]

Yeah - Trinity Church is an eyesore that needs removing.

It's a lovely stone building in grounds, that should be renovated as a place of worship, but that'll never happen unfortunately. It was always an odd location for a church at best.

My dad was a choirboy there. And attended the church school attached to it.

It did once have a congregation.

Now it should be replaced with a humungous fountain. Like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkYMWfWd ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Harry Genshaw]

Cant believe no-one has mentioned the market hall. What the towns burghers were thinking of when they fecked that up, God only knows.

T'was a surprise that Bolton won best market in the country - I didn't know that. Working in Bury you constantly hear about its supposed 'Worlds famous' market. It is pretty good though, they must have been gutted when Bolton scooped that award

[TANGODANCER]

Not sure who's responsible for its maintenance now but it was boarded up because homeless and druggies were using it some time back. There was a story around it was being converted to flats, but a surveyor was killed falling through the floor and the project was stopped? Crying shame for a fine piece of architecture.

[Always hopeful]

I'd like my hometown's centre to look less run-down than it appears to do.

I accept the influence of out of town shopping malls & intenet shopping. I appreciate there's a recession. I know 'progress' is inevitable and buildings close & change use.

It's just a bit of a shock to see taste thrown out of the window on top of all the above pressures. As a gateway into a major Northern town Trinity Street was not impressive yesterday.

Sorry, Bolton's not my hometown, but Chorley is.

I moved away from home about 25 years ago, but my parents still live in the area and I recently needed to drive into Chorley and get onto Market Street and drive up to the "big Lamp". A drive I'd made many times in the past, but not for a long time.

I could hardly recognise the place. It's desolate. When I learnt to drive, trying to turn right onto Market Street was a nightmare due to the traffic, pedestrians etc. It normally took balls of steel to make a dash for it and pull out in front of a bus, a white van, or a mad woman pulling a shopping trolley on her way to Booths.

This time, it was a piece of piss, 'cos there's nobody there. Not just that, but there were loads of shops boarded up, including the building that I remember accomodated McDonalds when they came to town and we saw it as Chorley had finally hit the big time.

The whole experience left me shocked and saddened.

[thebish]

Yeah - Trinity Church is an eyesore that needs removing.

It's a lovely stone building in grounds, that should be renovated as a place of worship, but that'll never happen unfortunately. It was always an odd location for a church at best.

there are some Urbex* photos of what it looked like inside 3yrs ago here...

*(people who get their jollies from breaking into decaying and abandonned buildings and taking photos)


http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... inity-2009

[TANGODANCER]

Thanks for the pics Bish. I'm not a churchgoer these days ( last time I went was Christmas day mass in Benidorm about three years ago) but actually loved it when younger. It all had some happy memories. Such a shame to see building like the Iron Church on Blackburn Road no longer used for worship. Last time I was up there ( few years ago) it was an antique shop and warehouse. My old church, St Joseph's off Halliwell is still going strong but I don't know about St Thomas's and St Mathews which were local to us. Been a fair old while since I was up that way. I live near Lady of Lourdes in Farnworth now, which is a modern looking building but with nowhere near the character of the old places. Time waits for no man..

[General Mannerheim]

Bury town centre looks alright. infact id say compared to most working class northern towns it’s pretty smart. The Rock triangle has boosted the area and attracted subsequent investors, and the local authority have put up a few new buildings, the college has had a large extension too. but again, apart from the market there is still no real attraction to visit. its basically a load of the common highstreet retailers interspersed with pound shops. not to mention the absolute mutants wandering about!

[BWFC_Insane]

I've been thinking about this, thought I'd pose the question on here.

Can town centres such as Bolton survive long term at all? Is there actually anything they can do?

It seems to me you have two choices, either compete directly with the Trafford centre OR find some USP that allows you to attract visitors that way. A good market (indoor or outdoor) for example.

The trouble is that you probably will find that its impossible to try and re-create a mini-version of the Trafford centre (like say the Rock at Bury) and really pull back numbers. Equally the portion of the population that enjoyed and regularly use markets and local shops are probably in decline.

The trafford centre is nowadays considered "local" by many and is free to park at and "all weather".

Perhaps they need to make parking in Bolton free, which I notice they have for the run up to Christmas and the sales period, at weekends. But even then there has got to be a reason to go in.

As much as I hate to say it I'll probably do my Christmas shopping primarily online and what I can't I may well make a very early morning trip to the dreaded Trafford centre to get it all done in one go.

[TANGODANCER]

Bolton town centre has always been a big attraction for older folk, mainly those without transport and using buses etc. Market days are still reasonably busy. I see it much more so now since retiring. When the main Market Hall was in its older state they used to have busloads of visitors regularly. Now it's just high priced stuff and travel agents etc, plus an awful lot of space that's doing absolutely nothing. In that respect, Bury leaves it hands down as a shopping area. Our town hall buildings and square are as nice as you'll see anywhere but what used to be main shopping venues, Deansgate, Bradshawgate etc are nothing anymore. Even Sweetens bookshop had to close down not long back. Whether it'll all ever recover is much in doubt.

[David Lee's Hair]

Even Sweetens bookshop had to close down not long back.

Further evidence anyone with a kindle should be dragged out inbto the street and publicly flogged...

[P.O.S.]

I heard someone had made an offer to buy the church and turn it into a curry house - but it was turned down. Would have been better than how it is now, depressing area.

[BWFC_Insane]

Bolton town centre has always been a big attraction for older folk, mainly those without transport and using buses etc. Market days are still reasonably busy. I see it much more so now since retiring. When the main Market Hall was in its older state they used to have busloads of visitors regularly. Now it's just high priced stuff and travel agents etc, plus an awful lot of space that's doing absolutely nothing. In that respect, Bury leaves it hands down as a shopping area. Our town hall buildings and square are as nice as you'll see anywhere but what used to be main shopping venues, Deansgate, Bradshawgate etc are nothing anymore. Even Sweetens bookshop had to close down not long back. Whether it'll all ever recover is much in doubt.

Exactly but there is the problem. Old people a) on the whole don't have massive budgets and b) tend to die.

So IN BUSINESS terms building a town centred around old folk as your primary market, is not really long term business sense.

Harsh it may be, but sadly its the way things are.

The old people of the future will hop on a hoverscooter and timetravel to the virtual shopping centre in space. Or some such thing.