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Author Topic: Ground Redevelopment Or Never? And Left Behind!  (Read 51068 times)
Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #135 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:04:06 »

'Broadgreen' was coined only a few years ago.  No idea by whom.  It was named after the Community Centre in Gladstone Street.  How the Community Centre was named is anyone's guess, but mine would be that Broad Street is the next street and there's a small patch of grass next to the centre which, at a stretch, could be described as a green.

The name is a bit contrived, but makes sense in a town in which just about everywhere else has an area name.  Previously, it was a bit of a dead zone near the town centre without its own name, so people had to resort to calling it the 'Manchester Road area' or similar.

So you've never heard of Queenstown? 
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ronnie21

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« Reply #136 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:04:35 »

As a club - and as a town - we missed the boat when that bloody tory councillor stated he personally would lay in front of the first bulldozer on site after SBC appeared to offer us a piece of land for a new stadium in Shaw.  Would it have ever happened if he hadn't mobilised his army is hard to say . . . . we will never know!!
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Ardiles

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« Reply #137 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:07:53 »

So you've never heard of Queenstown? 

Nope.
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Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #138 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:15:06 »

Nope.

Historic area next to the canal, butting onto Manchester Road. It had it's own school and Working Man's Club...which migrated down to near the CG and happily is still there today, when Horlock's lot got to work and did what the Luftwaffe couldn't.
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Ardiles

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« Reply #139 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:18:54 »

As a club - and as a town - we missed the boat when that bloody tory councillor stated he personally would lay in front of the first bulldozer on site after SBC appeared to offer us a piece of land for a new stadium in Shaw.  Would it have ever happened if he hadn't mobilised his army is hard to say . . . . we will never know!!

The Councillor (whose name I now forget) was a self-publicising idiot who seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from unnecessarily antagonising the club and its supporters.  However, I think he did us a favour in opposing Shaw Tip, which would have been a shocking location for a stadium development.  The only possible way it might have worked is if ££ was magically found for the Thamesdown Drive extension to Great Western Way.  But 10 years on we're still waiting for that.
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Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #140 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:38:48 »

The Councillor (whose name I now forget) was a self-publicising idiot who seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from unnecessarily antagonising the club and its supporters.  However, I think he did us a favour in opposing Shaw Tip, which would have been a shocking location for a stadium development.  The only possible way it might have worked is if ££ was magically found for the Thamesdown Drive extension to Great Western Way.  But 10 years on we're still waiting for that.

You mean Nick ""Are we still letting Mongols have sex with each other?" Martin
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horlock07

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« Reply #141 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 16:59:40 »

Historic area next to the canal, butting onto Manchester Road. It had it's own school and Working Man's Club...which migrated down to near the CG and happily is still there today, when Horlock's lot got to work and did what the Luftwaffe couldn't.

Don't drag me into this, I have never worked for a Council south of Chorley and thus can take no responsibility for the horror that is modern central Swindon, FWIW my father who was Pinehurst born and bred always hated the middle of modern Swindon!

Not sure if this link will work and I don't know how to post images but Old Maps shows the Queens Town area named on the map of 1886

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/416500/185500/12/100367

Edit - Sort of works, you will need to click on the various maps down the left hand side of the screen to get the right one!
« Last Edit: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:02:33 by horlock07 » Logged
pauld
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« Reply #142 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:00:08 »

As a club - and as a town - we missed the boat when that bloody tory councillor stated he personally would lay in front of the first bulldozer on site after SBC appeared to offer us a piece of land for a new stadium in Shaw.
We really didn't. It was a shit idea in a shit place for a ground - have a look at Colchester's soulless shell for an idea of what we'd have ended up with. The current location is fine, just needs redeveloping.
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horlock07

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« Reply #143 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:06:34 »

The point in bold interests me (and I think you said before you work in planning, so you'll probably have an answer!)  Why is it that land values in central Swindon are 'very high'?  The town centre is decrepit & dilapidated, having suffered from decades of under-investment.  And the neighbouring Broadgreen area that the ground sits in has seen better days as well.  You don't see developers making much of a visible effort in the area, so what is supporting land prices there?  Is there much of a discount in central Swindon compared with, for example, central Reading (where so much more investment has been made recently)?

I suppose that I'm half hoping that the dire state of Swindon town centre could, ultimately, be the making of Swindon Town - by providing a prospect of an affordable redevelopment at some point in the future.

To be honest it was based upon something of an assumption taking note of the wealth of Swindon and the fact that historically Town centre sites tend to out perform those on the periphery in terms of potential yields, thus upping the value. Interestingly some of my former colleagues from Manchester have been doing some work in Swindon recently and have been generally surprised at what a tip the town centre is considering its down south and next to the M4 with good London links - I did warn them!

What I can be sure of however i buying a patch of land in Morecambe would have been cheaper than buying same in Swindon!
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Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #144 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:41:53 »

Don't drag me into this, I have never worked for a Council south of Chorley and thus can take no responsibility for the horror that is modern central Swindon, FWIW my father who was Pinehurst born and bred always hated the middle of modern Swindon!

Not sure if this link will work and I don't know how to post images but Old Maps shows the Queens Town area named on the map of 1886

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/416500/185500/12/100367

Edit - Sort of works, you will need to click on the various maps down the left hand side of the screen to get the right one!

Yes, technically Queenstown stretched out to the edge of what became Manchester Road, Corporation Street border.

You can see Manchester Road just followed the line of an old footpath. The part of Queenstown at the end of Milford Street, Cheltenham St/ Gloucester Street was rather fine....a sad loss.

Interestingly, the Pint and Prostitute in Manchester Road, used to be the Eastcott Hotel, so named because the land had been Eastcott Farm...not particularly close to Eastcott

Some Queenstown views here...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/swindonlocal/sets/72157645563789203/
« Last Edit: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:43:57 by Reg Smeeton » Logged
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« Reply #145 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 17:44:57 »

I happened to be down Manchester Road late last night, and before anyone asks not for that....I don't pay....

You get free kebabs, Reg?  Hmmm
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Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #146 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 18:02:13 »

You get free kebabs, Reg?  Hmmm

There's no such thing as a free kebab...something EU negotiators could do with remembering.
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Bob's Orange
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« Reply #147 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 18:19:51 »

Yes, technically Queenstown stretched out to the edge of what became Manchester Road, Corporation Street border.

You can see Manchester Road just followed the line of an old footpath. The part of Queenstown at the end of Milford Street, Cheltenham St/ Gloucester Street was rather fine....a sad loss.

Interestingly, the Pint and Prostitute in Manchester Road, used to be the Eastcott Hotel, so named because the land had been Eastcott Farm...not particularly close to Eastcott

Some Queenstown views here...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/swindonlocal/sets/72157645563789203/

Most of it still looks the same as it is today.

'ironically' enough I live on Queenstown Road today. I wonder if it got its name because it was the road to Queenstown in Swindon?
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« Reply #148 on: Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 20:11:55 »

Most of it still looks the same as it is today.

'ironically' enough I live on Queenstown Road today. I wonder if it got its name because it was the road to Queenstown in Swindon?

I think it refers to the sexual orientation of the people that live there
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pauld
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« Reply #149 on: Friday, January 13, 2017, 13:47:12 »

Here's how we should do the ground redevelopment:

https://twitter.com/Football__Tweet/status/819482275138207744

"Fortress County Ground"!! Smiley
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