Swindon Town Centre

[reeves4england]

I'm just hoping the one of them is a Carling Academy, won't happen though.

We can but dream!

[Ardiles]

Apologies for bumping this thread, but I find the news in today's Adver quite depressing.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4415540.Small_is_the_new_big_idea_for_town_centre/

Sounds like they've thrown the towel in with the admission that Swindon should not now even try to compete with the towns and cities that neighbour it.  It's as good as an admission of failed planning policies during the last few decades.

[Arriba]

it's a fucking disgrace.they dont even want to compete with reading and bristol.
this towns only saving grace is that we are only a few mins drive from the countryside

[Ardiles]

It's also home to by far the greatest team the world has ever seen...but otherwise, I agree (& despair).

[Arriba]

and thats been shit since the mid ninetees

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Good news about a possible music venue though. In fact i'd rather that than loads of shops anyway.

[yeo]

As long as there is some kind of quality control I think looking at moving towards a Town Centre with lots small independant shops would make it a more interesting place than the identikit enourmous shopping Malls like those in Bristol and Reading.

[Simon Pieman]

A bit unfortunate regarding the developer, nothing could be done about that and I don't think they'll get much interest from others in this climate. Maybe best to put it on hold for a couple of years. And I can see what they're getting at in a way, we need to cater for the people of Swindon first and foremost and not simply build a shopping centre to be the biggest.

We certainly need more restaurants but I'm unsure whether the people of Swindon will go for expensive chain restaurants. A dediated music venue is needed. I don't know why they just don't buy the bingo hall and use that though, or turn the old railway museum into a music venue. I'd much prefer it if Swindon was more culturally diverse (or at least accessible) to ages groups than having a multiple of generic high street stores with the same stock.

A supermarket development? Got to be having a laugh about that hasn't he? That's the last thing we need, besides the site actually has an Iceland on it already.

[jonny72]

A bit unfortunate regarding the developer, nothing could be done about that and I don't think they'll get much interest from others in this climate. Maybe best to put it on hold for a couple of years. And I can see what they're getting at in a way, we need to cater for the people of Swindon first and foremost and not simply build a shopping centre to be the biggest.

We certainly need more restaurants but I'm unsure whether the people of Swindon will go for expensive chain restaurants. A dediated music venue is needed. I don't know why they just don't buy the bingo hall and use that though, or turn the old railway museum into a music venue. I'd much prefer it if Swindon was more culturally diverse (or at least accessible) to ages groups than having a multiple of generic high street stores with the same stock.

A supermarket development? Got to be having a laugh about that hasn't he? That's the last thing we need, besides the site actually has an Iceland on it already.

The redevelopment of the Brunel Centre (including the Granville Street car park) has been on / off for about 8 years or so. The original plans were immense to say the least when Westfield owned it, they were on about a John Lewis going in as a flagship store opposite Woolworths. It looked good on paper but anyone who saw the plans would agree it was complete bollocks and doomed to fail - at the time they couldn't even rent out shops in the Brunel Centre despite practically giving them away (about £6k a year for the units above Virgin).

Pretty certain the bingo hall at Regent Circus is owned by the council and they won't grant long term leases as they're planning to redevelop it - which is why the bingo company walked away. Never been in there but I'd imagine it would make a good music venue which the town desperately needs but the council don't seem to show much interest in the idea.

The big problem I see is that whilst they say to the contrary, there doesn't seem to be a big plan in place - just individual piecemeal developments, most of which never come off. I was working in Basingstoke when they started their redevelopment and they had the right idea. They put together a plan and funding for a complete rebuild and then did it - pretty much demolishing the entire city centre in the process.

The biggest problem though is that no one really gives a fuck about any of it, especially the residents of Swindon - me included. I hardly ever go in to the town centre to shop, everything you need is available in out of town retail parks without the hassle of traffic and extortionate car parking charges. If you want something better you've got Bath, Reading, Oxford, Bristol all within a 30 minute or so drive.

[Simon Pieman]

There's been numerous rumours of SBC blocking the use of the bingo hall for a music venue. The latest thing I heard was it was actually down to some sort of structural assessment and the hold up around that but the council were actually keen.  Who knows? But I get the feeling SBC don't want it and especially because they feel they've got a good thing going at the Oasis now, but it's really a sports hall.

I also agree with the rest of your post. That's the reason the library took so long to do (it looks great but why so long?!!) and the fact we're 10 years behind the schedule for the rest of the redevelopment.

I get the feeling most people in Swindon don't really care, but like to have a moan all the same. For the amount of moaning I here about the shopping/nightlife/lack of things to do/chavs/crumby town centre you'd think they'd just move away to a nearby town which is prettier and more culturally diverse (Reading hahaha!). The ones that don't care and get on with it don't annoy me at all.

[suttonred]

As long as there is some kind of quality control I think looking at moving towards a Town Centre with lots small independant shops would make it a more interesting place than the identikit enourmous shopping Malls like those in Bristol and Reading.

I agree with that, why follow the blue print of huge souless centres, Reading used to be great before the oracle, now it's just somewhere like Bluewater, to avoid at all costs. Some thought put into it properly would give everyone a decent alternative, and there are lots who would do anything to avoid the current concrete consumer crapholes.

[Kinky Tom]

Living just outside MK and seeing new developments all over the place catering for all sorts of tastes does make me wonder what SBC have been up to, Swindon was the richest town in the country and should have done more to make the place desirable, that for me includes backing STFC.

The centre in MK, while it has everything you need really, is like all the other indoor centres in the UK, if you look at places like Leeds and Nottingham where most of the shopping is outside you see how to really go about creating a place people enjoy, the music scene in both these places is good too and there are plenty of restaurants around.

I like alfresco.

[jonny72]

Probably the biggest problem with the town centre at present is the amount of out of town retail developments that have been allowed to go ahead over the last 10 years - I'm not sure the town centre will ever recover from the amount of footfall its lost as a result. The first thing they need to do is to put an immediate stop to any further out of town retail development and concentrate on building the town centre back up.

Getting Ikea in to the town centre would be a good first move, worth the council doing everything they can to make it happen. That would pull a massive number of people in to the town centre and lead to other retailers following suit.

[Don Rogers Shop]

Cavendish square will be complete soon.What you all moaning at.

[alanmayes]

I haven't lived in the Swindon area for years,so i'm not up to date with things,but from some things
that i've heard, the town centre really needs something that is the epicentre and focus for visitors
and shoppers.

I'd love to see an indoor market in Swindon,other towns and cities in the country have them and they
bring a real focus to their centres.From what i understand there's a farmers market at the Outlet Village,
why not bring that into the town centre either during the week or at  weekends eg.Sunday or even
encourage a two centre farmers market and expand it?

Apparently, it only has up to 20 stalls,which is pathetic,the one at Winchester which i like to go to,has
up to 120 stalls,so it can be done over a period of time,believe me.Shoppers don't just use the markets
they also go into other shops and retail outlets,so it can be a win win situation all around.

I've done some browsing and found this in the Adver from march 09.

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/4163681.Swindon_Market_could_be_re_opened/