| What happened to Swansea 22:18 - Aug 11 with 12614 views | keeponrockin |
I don't like to slag off my home town but I have to say these days I'm finding the place thoroughly depressing and am seeking to leave asap for various reasons.
Everywhere I go there seems to be junkies, people just shouting profanity, the town is a sh1thole, the roads are a joke, roid heads galore the list is endless.
It saddens me because it should be a great place and it does have some great qualities but I'm losing the love at the moment and I never thought that would happen. What's going on? [Post edited 11 Aug 2014 22:20]
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:07 - Aug 13 with 1447 views | llangyfelach |
I had to go to a meeting in the Mumbles last night, and even in the p*ssing down rain the views were out of this world. Verdis was full, plenty of people about and it looked and sounded really vibrant. Fifteen minutes from my house and I go down there once in a blue moon. We really don't appreciate what we have sometimes |  |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:15 - Aug 13 with 1435 views | Uxbridge |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:07 - Aug 13 by llangyfelach |
I had to go to a meeting in the Mumbles last night, and even in the p*ssing down rain the views were out of this world. Verdis was full, plenty of people about and it looked and sounded really vibrant. Fifteen minutes from my house and I go down there once in a blue moon. We really don't appreciate what we have sometimes |
I can see the bloody place as I type and I haven't been there for over a year! Actually down there on the weekend, which'll be nice. |  |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:26 - Aug 13 with 1427 views | llangyfelach |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:15 - Aug 13 by Uxbridge |
I can see the bloody place as I type and I haven't been there for over a year! Actually down there on the weekend, which'll be nice. |
The last time I was down the Mumbles was about 18 months ago mate. It looked tired and was very quiet then. The Pilot is open again, and the whole place seemed brighter. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:31 - Aug 13 with 1420 views | perchrockjack |
Used to go to pilot ,mart, late 70s.
IM PLEASED to see these plans but I d much rather all efforts made to revamp the Centre as its the centre of a city that s key | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:34 - Aug 13 with 1416 views | llangyfelach |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:31 - Aug 13 by perchrockjack |
Used to go to pilot ,mart, late 70s.
IM PLEASED to see these plans but I d much rather all efforts made to revamp the Centre as its the centre of a city that s key |
On the flip side I was in the city centre a couple of weeks back, and it is looking really drab. The Kingsway looks dead and buried. Bloody awful, and that one way system isn't helping. There is so much potential there, but with more shops getting boarded up all the time who is going to try and stop the rot and get the place regenerated?
I still loves my ugly lovely town though  | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:40 - Aug 13 with 1430 views | Uxbridge |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:34 - Aug 13 by llangyfelach |
On the flip side I was in the city centre a couple of weeks back, and it is looking really drab. The Kingsway looks dead and buried. Bloody awful, and that one way system isn't helping. There is so much potential there, but with more shops getting boarded up all the time who is going to try and stop the rot and get the place regenerated?
I still loves my ugly lovely town though |
I just think city centre shopping is dying a death. True it really could do with a lick of paint/bulldozing and starting again but if anyone thinks we'll be turning it into a major shopping centre anytime soon then I think that's unlikely.
Far better for me that we make best use of our natural resources. Proper linkage of the city centre to the seafront (no, widening the pavement doesn't count), clear out some of the obstacles along the way and free up the planning process which seems to be ridiculously time consuming. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:42 - Aug 13 with 1424 views | Uxbridge |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:26 - Aug 13 by llangyfelach |
The last time I was down the Mumbles was about 18 months ago mate. It looked tired and was very quiet then. The Pilot is open again, and the whole place seemed brighter. |
We did drive through last month. Things look to be improving, and the new developments happening can only help.
There seems to be a shift away from the city centre westwards. Uplands is the new Wind St it seems and now Mumbles making a play to get its old place back. Good stuff. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:45 - Aug 13 with 1423 views | llangyfelach |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:40 - Aug 13 by Uxbridge |
I just think city centre shopping is dying a death. True it really could do with a lick of paint/bulldozing and starting again but if anyone thinks we'll be turning it into a major shopping centre anytime soon then I think that's unlikely.
Far better for me that we make best use of our natural resources. Proper linkage of the city centre to the seafront (no, widening the pavement doesn't count), clear out some of the obstacles along the way and free up the planning process which seems to be ridiculously time consuming. |
Aye, trends are definitely changing. Out of town free parking and Ebay have been the death knell of many a business. Sunday isn't the day of rest anymore, so why doesn't Swansea Market open on a Sunday? I love the fact that we have that market still going strong, and it needs to be available to as many people as often as possible. We need to adapt and embrace the changes in shopping patterns rather than use it as a negative.
We also have some glorious views that start about 100 yards away from the Quadrant. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:56 - Aug 13 with 1411 views | Uxbridge |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:45 - Aug 13 by llangyfelach |
Aye, trends are definitely changing. Out of town free parking and Ebay have been the death knell of many a business. Sunday isn't the day of rest anymore, so why doesn't Swansea Market open on a Sunday? I love the fact that we have that market still going strong, and it needs to be available to as many people as often as possible. We need to adapt and embrace the changes in shopping patterns rather than use it as a negative.
We also have some glorious views that start about 100 yards away from the Quadrant. |
My trips to Swansea these days can almost run like clockwork.
Park behind the Vetch (free 3 hour parking),
Look around Waterstones (and end up dragging my daughter away from the kids section kicking and screaming)
Quick pop into Poundland for a drink/cheap HDMI/network cable (top tip there ... the Belkin ones that cost £20 in Dixons are often there for a quid),
Look around HMV/Game in the Quadrant
Grab something to eat somewhere ...
... and then spend two or three times more time again strolling around the market.
We get almost all our food from there. Better quality and usually cheaper than the supermarkets. Top stuff.
Edit - Aye, agree would be good if open on Sundays but having seen that Swansea Market TV program, I'm not sure the businesses there want to work 7 days a week. Seems very hard work. [Post edited 13 Aug 2014 9:57]
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:47 - Aug 13 with 1386 views | perchrockjack |
some fair points but every town/city needs a focus or it becomes anodyne and featureless. Towns/Cities are born with a core that then spreads out to suburbs and beyond but the core should remain otherwise the guts is taken out.
Its what has happened in Swansea. My old girl never goes into Swansea when hitherto she made a day of it and that's the problem. You need people to be able to bus into the centre to spend money ,eat, relax and work not have them drive out to a featureless concrete shopping centre.
We have 13 miles away one of the biggest shopping centres in Cheshire Oaks. OK for Gogs to coach into and spend away the day but it killed completely Ellesmere Port,once a boom town with a centre, now sadly full of charity shops and low grade tat .
On the other side of the river L did exactly the opposite and the result has been the Centre has benefitted whereas the outlying districts haven't but visitors don't go to outlying areas ;they go to the centre. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 21:42 - Aug 13 with 1310 views | cyril |
| What happened to Swansea on 23:03 - Aug 11 by keeponrockin |
I would first of all bull doze high street, I would scrap the extortionate parking charges & be extremely radical in relation to the town centre planning.
I would have zero tolerance policing to clean the streets up.
I would invest heavily in marketing and using our status as a premier league town, I would bring back the Tram for the Mumbles and get stalled projects moving.
I would shrink local gov, reduce local taxation.
Fundamentally I would advocate a dramatic shift in culture to 'can do' not talk, talk and more talk.
I could go on, but in reality not a chance in hell of my vision just like the roads it'll be patch and mend. |
Good shout there mate, |  |
| The devil is in the detail |
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| What happened to Swansea on 21:50 - Aug 13 with 1305 views | cyril |
I love swansea but sadly the town centre is an absolute disgrace, shocking tbh, certain parts just need bulldozing!!! | |
| The devil is in the detail |
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| What happened to Swansea on 21:51 - Aug 13 with 1304 views | jacksinceever |
Tara - won't miss you |  | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 22:46 - Aug 13 with 1282 views | RevJames |
Like many other towns and cities, Swansea moved its retail district out of town to Fforestfach.
Result? Cheaper rent = shops move out of town. Hardly anyone has a reason to go into the City Centre because they can get everything up in Fforestfach.
Llanelli went downhill and is only just getting better. Newport's demise is well known and all because of out of town retail parks
While the Bay, Marina, Mumbles and Gower are plus points for 'Swansea', the City Centre will always struggle and give a negative perception if it can't give a reason for people to go there.
Shops of the standard you see in Cardiff, Bath or Bristol, total refurbishment of High Street, clean streets and people might just start to feel good about the place. | | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 06:47 - Aug 14 with 1234 views | Dr_Winston |
| What happened to Swansea on 08:05 - Aug 13 by Uxbridge |
Indeed. It's a Welsh thing. Accentuate the negatives and ignore the positives. And how anyone can ignore the positives is beyond me.
We all know there's massive scope for improvement. I'm with Jobbie on the shopping front ... I buy nothing bar food, drink and clothes in person ... and we've already seen the start of the rebalancing of the city centre to more residential which is long overdue as the centre is simply too large geographically. I remember our favourite unreliable legal eagle talking about that with a city planner eons ago.
I reckon you need to move away to appreciate the pace of life thing. It's a massive improvement, especially for a lazy sod like me. I slip back into it easily enough but enjoy switching back. Given the rumoured moves we could end up with more SEALS back here than down there!! |
And with new generations who are far more IT literate and willing to buy online that will only grow IMO. A lot of "flagship" retail developments are going to end up as massive white elephants in the next 20/30 years. |  |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:49 - Aug 14 with 1173 views | JackSomething |
| What happened to Swansea on 10:47 - Aug 13 by perchrockjack |
some fair points but every town/city needs a focus or it becomes anodyne and featureless. Towns/Cities are born with a core that then spreads out to suburbs and beyond but the core should remain otherwise the guts is taken out.
Its what has happened in Swansea. My old girl never goes into Swansea when hitherto she made a day of it and that's the problem. You need people to be able to bus into the centre to spend money ,eat, relax and work not have them drive out to a featureless concrete shopping centre.
We have 13 miles away one of the biggest shopping centres in Cheshire Oaks. OK for Gogs to coach into and spend away the day but it killed completely Ellesmere Port,once a boom town with a centre, now sadly full of charity shops and low grade tat .
On the other side of the river L did exactly the opposite and the result has been the Centre has benefitted whereas the outlying districts haven't but visitors don't go to outlying areas ;they go to the centre. |
Times change Perch. City centres WERE the hub of people's lives, but they're not anymore. We used to go into the city to do our food shopping, other shopping, banking, book holidays, arrange insurance, etc... The majority of people don't visit city centres to do those things anymore. It's pointless complaining about it, as it's a trend that seems very unlikely to reverse.
The move to out-of-town retail happened in the States long before it happened here. I remember visiting American cities as a teenager and wondering why they didn't have a 'city centre' as we understood it. San Diego particularly sticks out in this regard. The city itself was almost purely offices and flats, plus the restaurants, bars and small businesses that benefitted from the occupants of the offices and flats. There was very little in the way of retail.
I haven't been to Liverpool in a long time, but I'd be amazed if there wasn't a fair proportion of out of town retail parks. The difference is that Liverpool has a huge residential population in the city centre and the surrounding suburbs, meaning it's possible to have both a vibrant city centre and out of town retail parks.
Swansea city centre needs to be connected better to the bay (it's biggest asset) and hopefully the money will become available in the future to facilitate this. It also needs more offices and living space to attract businesses and residents. More small businesses will then open in retail units to service these people. The city centre will then attract more businesses, residents and visitors, leading to more investment and improvements.
What we won't get is a thriving retail-based city centre, it's just not going to happen, no matter who is in charge. [Post edited 14 Aug 2014 11:06]
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| You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help. |
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| What happened to Swansea on 21:13 - Aug 15 with 1104 views | keeponrockin |
I don't completely disagree with that I think the Centre should shrink in size, that's why I said in all seriousness parts being bulldozed with prime land for development.
We should then refocus e.g. look at Wind St a genuine success story.
We could have a cafe culture with emphasis on art and recreation | | | |
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