Thetownend.com

Your experiences there.

How it used to be.

How it is now.

Anyone live(d) there?

I remember in the 80s that you looked out of place if you walked through there and were under 65.

I live pretty much opposite in Tennyson Street. Like all of the town centre it's not particularly nice these days. Hopefully Audrey's son can do something with the Mechanics institute, the area could do with a boost.

Jay - you don't live in 33 do you? as it was my grandparents house

I pulled a bird once whilst in Kaos. She lived in the railway village. Bonus!

The problem for years has been the respective owners of the building. They bought it with the caveat they renovated the building. Obviously this was never done, hence the building is now run by the Trust.

The plan is to convert it into a kind of community retail units of specialist little shops and a small community cinema.

Of course, the fecking Council are next to useless.

My grandfather lived there with my father when he was a nipper, when they moved up from the Somerset coalfield. It was proper New Swindon, heart of the community. It had everything you could want.....hospital, Turkish baths, library and theatre in the Mechanics, church, pubs for those inclined as temperance was quite strong,  the Park for fetes etc, and Co-Ops

Even in the early 60's if you wanted to take a bus to Milton Road baths, you asked for the Centre as many buses came and went from by the hospital.

By the mid 80's when the Tories closed down the Works, many of the traditional residents were getting long in the tooth, at which point SBC took the decision to let out the houses to junkies and chavs etc, and it's been downhill since.

No, but not far off

mate of mine used to live in 29

That's no way to talk about jayo  :)

I may be a junkie and a chav, but i'm not a peasant. I own my home.

How about the current and past pubs in the Village? The Glue Pot is a decent pub if you don't like lager. The Bakers was a wonderful pub full of character(s). The Cricketers has a fantastic history as a Bikers' pub, a gay pub but not sure what it's clientele is like now. Are there any other lost pubs from the Village?

Is there still a house that's been kept exactly like the old days? like a museum? I remember going there on a school trip

Hid in a back garden  in the Village,after a few of us got chased by a minibus full of Pompey.
Must have been late 70s,as it was a Leyland Sherpa.
As an aside,went to Beerex at the Mechanics institute.Still got the 1/2 pint glass.

Sort the Mechanics, and the Railway Village will be transform.  I know there are some dedicated folks doing their best to get it restored, but progress has painfully not just for years, but decades.  I have my doubts that there's going to be a happy ending.

There was and still is, sort of. A lot of it is stored away. I was going to make a video there a couple of years back and they wanted £100 to take the dust covers off everything and put it all on display.
Like you I remember visiting it on a school trip.

The years that the Beerex was in the Mechanics were ace....the fact that the place was run down suited well as the plain wooden floor could happily handle the spillage and puke, that abounded.

A tale oft told to me by my Dad - in the old days if you went in and asked for a lager you'd be called a girl and told where to go.

While I don't agree with the sexism, the sentiment I think is laudable.
If you come in to drink Fosters et al. you don't belong in a proper pub.

Reg should do the same thing with his house.

Love the Glue Pot, usually start there on a night out around the (ever diminishing) backstreet pubs.

The Cricketers is just a normal pub now, no niche that I know of.

The Bakers unfortunately closed a year or two ago. A group of us stumbled in there by accident on a night out and had the little room out the back with the pool table to ourselves and had a great night playing killer, etc. Shame that closed.

I often think that the old railway buildings along London Street would be great for boutiques etc. It's on the walk from Swindon station to the tunnel to the Outlet / National Front etc so would be good for passing trade.

I assume you mean National Trust :) Yeah that's by the Outlet as is English Heritage/Historic England (my wife works here)

Isn't that Bristol Street?  ???

No, that's to the west of the tunnel to the Outlet. London Street is to the east of it. Logical really.

I actually own one of the cottages on the west side of the RV, nearer the park and its OK.  There are definitely 2 sides to the RV, split by the mechanics institute.  On the east side of the RV (nearer the station) it's a little less salubrious as there are a lot of flats/bedsits with single occupancy & yes there are "issues" there.  To  the west, (nearer Faringdon Road Park) which is 1 & 2 bed houses it is a lot nicer.  A lot of older residents yes, but also quite a broad mix of people both owner occupiers and tenants.
 
The Trust have been doing a lot of work recently to the outside of the community centre - which is starting to look really good & I believe they are/have turned the old Bakers pub into some sort of community hub/cafe.  The development of the UTC in Bristol Street has certainly helped improve the look of the area.

Woooo! Talk about living on the wrong side of the tracks (Mechs)! RV snob rivalry: 'we're the west side, we're the west side...'.

The community centre certainly has a good record fair every month. The Platform seems to be used well but nothing for me. Isn't UTC in trouble numbers wise? See http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/14021911.Questions_raised_over_low_UTC_numbers/

Railway Village snobbery, quite possibly  ;) . Just my opinion though. Also a case of "You have to live here, I get to go home" maybe?  :D . 
I had read the article re the UTC figures & will  be interesting to see if things pick up there.  Meant to mention in last post that the Cricketers pub appears to have closed again.  Not noticed it open in the last week or two, but not heard anything to that effect.  There were always people using it, although it never seemed to be particularly busy

The new bus route pass the Cricks is well weird. Can't be good for the residents down that way noisewise.