Swindon Town Centre

[Doore]

 
If Swindon thinks it can compete with Brizzle then its seriuosly deluded.

Very true.  I think (and I've not lived in Swindon for 7 years, so please correct me if I am wrong) that the town shouldn't be trying to compete with Bristol.  What Swindon really lacks is a "hook".  Bristol has its size and therefore the best shops.  Bath has its culture, architecture and history.  Ditto for, dare I say it, Oxford.  Swindon as present just doesn't offer anything different.

Don't get me wrong, I always pride myself as a Swindonian and love the town, but the town centre is pretty poor.  I've always had a soft spot for the pubs of Old Town though.

[Power to people]

And with New Look pulling out of the town to go to North Swindon that will be another big shop borded up and gone out of town

[Reg Smeeton]

And with New Look pulling out of the town to go to North Swindon that will be another big shop borded up and gone out of town

Does it really matter...much of the Town Centre was originally housing, a number of streets being bulldozed and lost like Catherine Street, Mill Street, Carr Street, Brunel Street, Oriel Street....while other truncated like Turl Street, Byron Street.  If the economy can't sustain shopping through the traditional outlets, then build houses.

[larwood]

New look is moving out.Bloody hell 

Thats where i have to shop i'm too poor to go anywhere else.And they do nice size nine shoes.

Worst.News.Ever.

[Ardiles]

I've lived in Town 30 odd years and it's still stuck in the 70's. Years have gone by and nothing has materialised other than empty promises and let downs with regards to making it a better place.

Todays article in the adver just shows how deluded Simon Jackson of inSwindon is 

Completely agree.  As I said in the very first post in this thread (back in October) I left Swindon 10 years ago and what really strikes me is that during those 10 years practically nothing has changed.  Yes - there have been a few new flats and some cosmetic work has been done here and there.  But nothing substantial.

The town centre as it stands should have been given a major overhaul as long as 15 years ago.  It didn't happen, and Swindon is now paying the price...now so far off the pace that even the chap charged with overseeing the development has admitted that emulating places like Reading is no longer an option.

When I was a kid living in Swindon in the 1980s, no one that I knew went to Bristol or Reading to spend their cash.  Not any more.  There has been catastrophic mismanagement over a long period of time and, to be honest, I am surprised there is not more of an outcry.

[Simon Pieman]

New look is moving out.Bloody hell 

Thats where i have to shop i'm too poor to go anywhere else.And they do nice size nine shoes.

Worst.News.Ever.

On the plus side there are still 2 Matalan stores, one even cheaper than the other.

[mexico red]

Ardiles your post sums it up to perfection, I love swindon but its laughable. How the fuck did it think it could compete for city staus a few years ago with the likes of Brighton is beyond me.

[SwindonTartanArmy]

Ardiles your post sums it up to perfection, I love swindon but its laughable. How the fuck did it think it could compete for city staus a few years ago with the likes of Brighton is beyond me.

Exactly, we would never have got the gay vote!

[Jamiesfuturewife]

New look is moving out.Bloody hell 

Thats where i have to shop i'm too poor to go anywhere else.And they do nice size nine shoes.

Worst.News.Ever.

I know - I just assumed they would stay in town as well as be by ASDA since they have not long been in that new shop??

Oh well at least I have Nam New Look

[Simon Pieman]

Was going to go to The Oracle to do some Christmas shopping tonight until a colleague pointed out that Festival Place (Basingstoke) is only 10 miles down the road from our offices.

I'm not usually one to put Swindon down but the difference is night and day. Aside from one small corner of the shopping centre every unit was occupied. A good couple of hundred shops and a decent variety.

It's pitiful how a town half the size of ours puts us to shame. I've always know Swindon was behind on the shopping front but this highlights how far behind we are.

[Batch]

I lived in Basingstoke when they built that. They basically knocked down 60-70% of the town centre and started again, done over the course of a couple of years.

The old Basingstoke town centre was much worse than Swindon is now. Their council recognised this and did something. Ours did nothing and now the financial landscape has changed detrimentally.

That said, the new Morrisons/Cinema development seems to be a small step in the right direction.

Its not all good in Basingstoke, we may have a shit fountain, but they have the Wote Street willy:

[url width=333 height=500]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3144639539_14eb2a9f6c.jpg[/url]

[Peter Gibbons]

...if you look at places like Leeds... where most of the shopping is outside you see how to really go about creating a place people enjoy...

I would agree with this, but it's interesting that the planners in Leeds have taken the opposite view in the intervening years since your post.  This will be finished in the Spring:

[url width=500 height=421]http://www.thedrum.com/uploads/drum_basic_article/92229/main_images/TrinityLeeds.jpg[/url]

[Ardiles]

Was going to go to The Oracle to do some Christmas shopping tonight until a colleague pointed out that Festival Place (Basingstoke) is only 10 miles down the road from our offices.

I'm not usually one to put Swindon down but the difference is night and day. Aside from one small corner of the shopping centre every unit was occupied. A good couple of hundred shops and a decent variety.

It's pitiful how a town half the size of ours puts us to shame. I've always know Swindon was behind on the shopping front but this highlights how far behind we are.

Still think I rate Reading over Basingstoke, Si (both within 20 to 30 mins for us) - but take your point.  How does somewhere like Basingstoke - half the size of Swindon and with roughly the same kind of demographic - manage to develop a decent town centre, while Swindon is still sitting there with its civic thumb up its arse looking gormless?

The sad thing is that this thread is now 3 or 4 years old.  Go back to the first few pages and read the comments from 2008 & 2009.  Other than the demolition of the old College building, nothing seems even to have changed since then.  OK, recession, I know.  But even still.

[Nemo]

Other than the demolition of the old College building, nothing seems even to have changed since then.

Hey, the Jury's Inn mentioned on Page 2 opened as well. Their food is a bit average though, wish someone had mentioned that in 2008.

[Sippo]

I wonder if the 'old college project' will actually finish? Wonder how long it will actually take.

The council have wasted money in our town centre - the TV and the water fountain just to mention those.