A Dirty Old Town no more

[TANGODANCER]

Bolton is so grim that I don't have it in me to denigrate any other town...

I find it utterly dispiriting to be in the town centre, and too bloody cold and miserable to get out into the country...

I really hate Winter, and February especially...

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/101 ... _is_a_mess_/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bwfcdan94]

I think Crausby is telling the truth from what I have seen of the town centre in the last few years it has been s**t. worryingly Bolton town centre from my prospectiv seems worse than most but it is important that while the worst bits of Bolton as a district can be found in the town centre most other otwns have their poorer bits on the outskirts so look further than Haliwell and towards Horwich and other areas on the outskirts and the picture is brighter.

[Gary the Enfield]

As some wise sage once said ''You can't polish a turd.....but you can roll it in glitter''

[William the White]

Bolton is so grim that I don't have it in me to denigrate any other town...

I find it utterly dispiriting to be in the town centre, and too bloody cold and miserable to get out into the country...

I really hate Winter, and February especially...

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/101 ... _is_a_mess_/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a depressing lack of vision in the leadership of the Labour council, but the truth - the actual facts on the ground - is that their room for manouvre is being seriously restricted, year on year, by the assault on local democracy from the Coalition.

That said, when Bury is doing demonstrably better (though not as well as some claim) it's pretty wretched... Morris is more bureaucrat than leader, and a pretty supine one at that...

[bwfcdan94]

Didn"t Bolton used to be worse than it is now in the 70s or 80s or have I got that wrong.

[bobo the clown]

Didn"t Bolton used to be worse than it is now in the 70s or 80s or have I got that wrong.

Yes.

100%

You got that wrong.

[TANGODANCER]

Bury is a good example of getting it right, at least in the centre area. It's for the people. Bolton decided to improve the Market Hall and in doing so took away the concept of small shopping as it was and replaced it with a soulless empty area surrounded by higher priced outlets, mobile phone shops and travel agents. The rents went up, the original stall holders were forced out and people don't come here any more to shop. Our fine market hall has become a real "fur coat and no-knickers" place. The results are spreading, tattoo parlours, nail and sunbed shops and quick-cash pawn shops. Even the "Welcome to Bolton" inlet is a one-way street going the other way. The council can blame no one but themselves.

[Bruce Rioja]

They sold nowt but shite and tat in the old Market Hall, and probably not very much of it either.

[Bijou Bob]

They sold nowt but shite and tat in the old Market Hall, and probably not very much of it either.

Splutter, what??!! Hoole's sasparilla was the nectar of the gods!!

[Harry Genshaw]

Bury is a good example of getting it right, at least in the centre area. It's for the people. Bolton decided to improve the Market Hall and in doing so took away the concept of small shopping as it was and replaced it with a soulless empty area surrounded by higher priced outlets, mobile phone shops and travel agents. The rents went up, the original stall holders were forced out and people don't come here any more to shop. Our fine market hall has become a real "fur coat and no-knickers" place. The results are spreading, tattoo parlours, nail and sunbed shops and quick-cash pawn shops. Even the "Welcome to Bolton" inlet is a one-way street going the other way. The council can blame no one but themselves.

Bury being a much smaller town has the advantage that most of their commercial premises are within easy walking distance. There was a lot of disquiet when in the midst of the economic slump large buildings started to go up and they were trying to attract businesses and folk after town centre living.

The shops they did well with. The flats - not so well, many were left unsold and several are still unfinished. Ultimately though the town has benefited greatly and sad to say, puts Bolton in the shade.

[Dujon]

How much of the degeneration of the town centre is due to the cost to business of leasing premises? Once upon a time I considered opening a second shop in small, enclosed, shopping 'mall' some five or six kilometres away from the original. The wee centre had about 25 shops and two supermarkets. At any given time I'd guarantee that four or five premises were vacant and available for renting. A couple of visits to the Centre Management Office soon told me why this was the case; the lease arrangements were onerous in the extreme. Apart from the lease payments lessees were required to revamp their little hole in the wall each two years and to refurbish the interior fittings, including carpets and lighting! Add to that a till that had to be wired into the Centre's system as they also wanted a cut of any profit the shopkeeper might make. Disgusting stuff.

I can't recall the rental in that place other than it wasn't cheap. However I do remember the prices being asked in another, larger, centre a couple of kilometres away. $10,000 a week (that's about 6,600 quid). No wonder businesses cannot survive - although there's always a few who will take the risk.

[wigan white]

Wigan has gone the same road, they spent millions on a brand new shopping arcade,when they had a massively under used one already, which has now become a ghost town, about 50% of the units are empty and even in the new arcade some of the shops that started in there have now moved out due to the ludicrously high rent. WMBC haven't thought things through and are destroying what was a nice town centre.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

The cost of retail premises here is a joke too. I live in a tax free country (supposedly), yet prices are between 30% and 100% more than the UK. The staff they put in the shop is very low cost. The rent is massive. It costs about 5k gbp a month for a tiny little stall in a mediocre shopping mall. That is a something like a 6ft by 4ft stall . Not even a shop.

[TANGODANCER]

Wigan has gone the same road, they spent millions on a brand new shopping arcade,when they had a massively under used one already, which has now become a ghost town, about 50% of the units are empty and even in the new arcade some of the shops that started in there have now moved out due to the ludicrously high rent. WMBC haven't thought things through and are destroying what was a nice town centre.

Farnworth too, though never much of a shopping area, had the precinct bought out by a private company who then sold it to another development company. Now, most of it is empty. Farnworth Indoor Market has just opened up opposite the bus station in what was Littlewoods (and half-a-dozen other things in the past.) How long that will last is anybody's guess.