OT And today I went to Town Centre

[hotun]

Memories of Rotherham in the fifties and sixties are that it was a great town to shop and spend the night in the town drinking and dancing in clubs and pubs,even deedars used to come in a Sunday night when our drink laws have an extra half hour,a vibrant place to live and we got shafted by Meadowhell and Parkgate and the people of Rotherham deserted their town,very sad and I don't see it getting any better.

[animallittle3]

Wrong, entertainment is the only way to go. I attended an investment meeting with a company who spends £bns on pension property funds, they won’t invest in town centres especially left wing ones as they control the eco-environment. They will invest outside where the councils can’t interfere and ruin things.

There are some fantastic opportunities which could really help re*****ise the town centre, my fear is the council could stifle or kill it completely.

I hope they keep their uneducated noses out

Yes because your industries record under deregulation and left to your own devices is second to none isn't it ?

Never mind councils and regulators you lot need MI5 watching your every move and then we can all sleep a little more securely at night .

[gm_gm]

Yes because your industries record under deregulation and left to your own devices is second to none isn't it ?

Never mind councils and regulators you lot need MI5 watching your every move and then we can all sleep a little more securely at night .

I sincerely Apologise Animal for disrupting your sleep patterns

[frogmiller]

Yes because your industries record under deregulation and left to your own devices is second to none isn't it ?

Never mind councils and regulators you lot need MI5 watching your every move and then we can all sleep a little more securely at night .

He is 100% right Animal about local polititions. They should be in charge of the town Fêtes and that's all. Democracy through local governments has had as much to do with the dimise of town centres than everything else!

Who wants to live in a town centre? Not many especially northern towns and the reason why is that the rates are too high to bring i employment! 14 shops oer day close in the UK. That's 14 more empty spaces and what will councils do? Rotherham will give an upstarting company 5 years rate relief! Why the hell they can't give this to shop owners before hand so that they're not forced to close?

The cities are a different matter. The parts of cities like Leeds and Sheffield that are doing well are those with high numbers of students and government jobs. Around these areas you see occupancy in blocks of flats and a night life. The life in these areas aren't the surrounded by Marks and Sparks but small shops catering people with things that help you relax or are making life easy.

The local scheemes need to be take out of the hands of the polititions and given to professionals who know don't have to follow party lines and can make decisions for the right reasons.

Building houses, super market and business parks so far out of town centre with no real means to get there other than by car and then put the parking away from the area you want folk to go and charge for it is not good planning. No one in there right mind would do that yet consecutive local councillars vote for the bloody things.

Parking is another issue. I was talking to a retired council planning officer from Grimsby. He told me that although councils put in parking charges they don't actually make that much. They don't own the machines and they cost a large percentage of revenue!

[kentmillerman]

He is 100% right Animal about local polititions. They should be in charge of the town Fêtes and that's all. Democracy through local governments has had as much to do with the dimise of town centres than everything else!

Who wants to live in a town centre? Not many especially northern towns and the reason why is that the rates are too high to bring i employment! 14 shops oer day close in the UK. That's 14 more empty spaces and what will councils do? Rotherham will give an upstarting company 5 years rate relief! Why the hell they can't give this to shop owners before hand so that they're not forced to close?

The cities are a different matter. The parts of cities like Leeds and Sheffield that are doing well are those with high numbers of students and government jobs. Around these areas you see occupancy in blocks of flats and a night life. The life in these areas aren't the surrounded by Marks and Sparks but small shops catering people with things that help you relax or are making life easy.

The local scheemes need to be take out of the hands of the polititions and given to professionals who know don't have to follow party lines and can make decisions for the right reasons.

Building houses, super market and business parks so far out of town centre with no real means to get there other than by car and then put the parking away from the area you want folk to go and charge for it is not good planning. No one in there right mind would do that yet consecutive local councillars vote for the bloody things.

Parking is another issue. I was talking to a retired council planning officer from Grimsby. He told me that although councils put in parking charges they don't actually make that much. They don't own the machines and they cost a large percentage of revenue!

Frog. Thamks to your imput, would-be inventors on here are now at their draughtmans tables designing such a machine that will make them rich.

[great_fire]

Memories of Rotherham in the fifties and sixties are that it was a great town to shop and spend the night in the town drinking and dancing in clubs and pubs,even deedars used to come in a Sunday night when our drink laws have an extra half hour,a vibrant place to live and we got shafted by Meadowhell and Parkgate and the people of Rotherham deserted their town,very sad and I don't see it getting any better.

Hey at least the trams are back, kind of.

[great_fire]

I sincerely Apologise Animal for disrupting your sleep patterns

Until recently Barnsley's Labour councils were even worse than ours, they knocked down just about every attractive building in Barnsley town centre.

[Shark27]

Regarding the entertainment, we have Elliott’s bar which is supposedly one of the busier bars in town on a Friday/Sat night but it looks pretty disgraceful when you go in. I sometimes go in before the match and I don’t think they have replenished the soap in the toilets for 4 years!!!! Maybe they could give the place a clean every now and again!

Maybe these town centre businesses should have improvement grants (if there is such a thing) but they also have to help themselves a little bit.

I agree that the existing town centre businesses should have workable business rates.

Also why not let people park in town for free. It will get more people there and possibly get more people working there.

[animallittle3]

Until recently Barnsley's Labour councils were even worse than ours, they knocked down just about every attractive building in Barnsley town centre.

No they haven't fire , the only building I recall getting demolished was the old c-o-o-p department store which burnt down two years ago under suspicious circumstances .

BMBC brought St George's Yard back to life in the town centre and the wonderful old buildings now house a great pub and music venue , bistro , art gallery .

They and their partners in private enterprise are currently creating a fantastic new town centre , the Glass Works will house a great range of independent stores , we have a new market and library , the new college building and facilities are also superb .

Instead of trying to compete with the shopping centres and retail parks BMBC are attempting to offer shoppers something different with independent and niche retailing

It deserves to succeed and I applaud their courage in attempting to reverse the national trend and transform it's town centre and hopefully secure it's prosperity .

Great to see kids and parents this summer just gone enjoying the weather and keeping cool in the new fountains at the side of the town hall , packed it was most afternoon's .

[KerrAvon]

There's no point trying to open a range of independent stores with niche retailing if people don't shop in them.

The public are voting with their keyboards and prefer Amazon and ASOS to traipsing around town centres for a more expensive offering. That's why town centre retail is dying. Acting like a modern day King Canute won't turn the digital tide.