broadway
 

is it me or are they building a road through broadway again...?

yeah i know they are not but the last time i saw the progress it looked as though they were putting kerbs down :-)

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Well their doing something not sure what though (bit like the roads department). Rumour has it it was not starting until next month.

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had me beat when i saw it at dinner lol

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perhaps they are moving from slippy cobbles to kirbs for the elderly and infirm to fall over :idunno:

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Does anyone have a set of photographs of Broadway through its history, I ask this not just out of interest of seeing the comparisons, but also because if memory serves me right it’s been a constantly changing theme that every couple of generations they devastate the place? I think it’s hey day was the sunken gardens…………..?

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heres two i repeat heres two becaus i hadnt used enough words to make my post :-)

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Every time I've walked past there hasn't beenanyone working on it. Why start digging it up if you aren't going to get stuck in?

It just makes teh place look even more unappealing than it did(if that was possible)

Ian

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another thing about this whole mess is that there is a hidden expense that we will all probably end up paying for

because of the way they have cordened off broadway it has redirected people away from poundland , music shop and game

HBC will probably have to compensate these shops because of their loss of trade as i know one of the shops has had a severe drop in takings while their rivals across the road where the pedestrians are not diverted away from them have had a huge increase in trade

it will be interesting to see how much of our money gets spent compensating buisnesses if any at all due to their lack of planning

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Chav1, is the second of your images an artists impression of how Broadway will look after they've finished this time?

http://www.animationlibrary.com/Anim...e_is_built.gif

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its actualy taken from when british builders knew how to construct things and wernt afraid of a days work

but i do see your point lol

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Most of them were probably Irish navvies though, backbone of the British Empire.

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Whatever it looks like when they eventually finish, what I hate about Broadway is the horrible 60's blue and white upper frontage above the shops opposite Woolies/ Marks, part of which is council offices still.

It is the worst example of modernism, and is in an appalling state of repair. Even when Broadway is finished this is going to let things down. Even if they just changed the blue for a more neutral colour it would look better, and wouldn't cost that much.

Even stone cladding in this case would be an improvement.

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from what i can tell so far we are going to have a mixture of tarmac , flags and the old cobbles as it seems they are leaving the orange cobbles upto the arndale where they are

i know that part isnt classed as broadway but it will look odd next to the new stuff

maybe those who bought the arndale for 72 million should be told to put their hands a little deeper into their pockets and keep the front of their building in keeping with broadway

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Oh dear Mr Garinda, it looks like with have Concord my fair fathered friend…………..I must declare that detest that building and have done for many years despite the fact that I have been away for much of the time……It was a disappointment to discover the ****** was still standing when I came back for the first time last year.

When I was a child it use to fascinate me, I would imagine that it was some sinister and darkly evil headquarters of our most horrendous villain……….Yes I know, I had tremendous foresight as a kid. I just grew up think.

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If this work is like anything else the council does there will be as follows;

1 worker (poor person trying to do the work of three)
1 ganger (on site control)
3 managers (nothing better to do)
1 union officer (avoid overworking of the worker)

Thats why its so expensive.

For anything to be done in Accrington you need at least 12 months of which 11 are to orginise it 2 weeks to set it up 1 week to do and 1 week to assess if it was a success prior to a full commitee meeting.

If it gets done properly and Broadway starts to look good then :eek:

They will never get it right just look at the state of the market and the paving around it :mad:

Why can they not ask the people that use these areas for what they think it needs?

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i would say broadway needs one of these
then start a fresh :D

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Not sure if you are calling me a non bastard or if your spell checker is buggered, and you think I have feathers?

You did think I was a 'bird' when I first joined.:smileysx:

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I was trying to be polite in my address. I thought you were a bird when you joined because you acted like one, nor did you make any attempt to correct my genuine mistake.………

Broadway will continue to change over the years, it always has. What I fine disturbing is that there appears to be no architectural merit in any of the current buildings and little attempt to remedy the matter.

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Oh dear....do I detect a little lovers tiff between Doug & Garinda?

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I did so want to be optimistic about this - I tried really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt and to hope that just once they could get it right - but as predicted by you cynical lot out there reality is sinking in.

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I’ll try and push this one? Any chance of someone nipping out and doing a shot by shot comparison of each photograph? Just for the long term record……

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'Acted like a bird'?

How does a 'bird' act?

My profile as always shown I have balls. The fact that I enjoyed the misconception that I was a dusky babe for a while, did amuse me, it's true.

:s_evil:

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When were the sunken gardens shown in the picture Chav posted made, and what year was the site used to build the stores that are there now?

They look fantastic, I certainly can't remember tem.

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I stand to be corrected but I think that development of Broadway began in the mid 1930s the new road was opened in 1936 by Mayor Alderman Ellis the Sunken Gardens were post war I think. They fell out of favour in the early 60s. The shopping area pre the diabolical “Can I say that” arndale centre was completed around 1966/67. Anyone remember the funny bogs on the car park?

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Two photo's of the Funny bogs for the member who asked about them by pm.....



I am unaware of the copyright holder. However I have reproduce these photographs in good faith.

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lol i remember those toilets its a pitty they couldnt keep them it was kind of a novilty having that weird setup

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Laffffffffffffffffffffff ok, thank you for your discretion.;)

I do remember them.

In a way it's a shame that all traces of modernist architecture are being replaced. In a hundred years time all that is going to be left is faux toy town buildings. Personally I blame Prince Charles, and his vision of new houses looking like something 'traditional', whatever that might be.

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They were horrible although we also saw them as a novelty. I can’t quite remember didn’t they have kacky Tan & Brown Glazed Tiles on the outside walls?

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You Mean They've Gone!!!!????!!!!

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If I recall , were not the car park bogs referred to as the 'Panopticon Bogs'?

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If HBC likes "dumping" then lets dump some of them in Panopticon Bog if they like it so much and use the "payrise" they are alledgedly getting to find some that have a bit of gumptoin.

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Heh, I too remember those toilets on Union Street. Yes they wer a horrible brown coloured tile.

My Dad and I used to meet my mum there after she had done the shopping. That was before everyone had mobiles to say exactlly where they were.

I also remember they STUNK!!!

Ian

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Just had a thought Accy will never have an arcitectural problem to math the "Concrete Town" of Cumbernauld 80% of its buildings look like Buchans built em.

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The only sort of good thing about the bogs on Union Street was that paying them a visit on a Saturday morning after a booze filled Friday either killed you or cured you.

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I recall they were built around 1970/71, so we can't blame HBC for them; that honour goes to the old Accrington Borough Council. When first opened, the building featured in several newspapers under the title of the Accy Superloo. A normal ladies & gents could have been built for around £5,000 at the time, but that cost £20,000pds and lasted for aprox.15years.

However, upon the demise of ABC, HBC soon took up the race to be the local authority with the greatest number of wacky and money wasting schemes....the fountains, the cog, the Broadway redevelopment,blah, blah,blah...you name 'em, because there's too many to remember for me..

However, beware HBC...there's someone else coming up close behind you....yep, you've guessed it....the MPA:rolleyes:

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I'm begining to get worried about you lot, loitering about this part of the thread!

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Oh hell, I’m going to contradict one of our foremost gentlemen. However, I believe they went up in or around 1967/68 Tealeaf, most likely 68.

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An old penny?

Sounds like a cheap night out.

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I well, cheap you pay, cheap you get........

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Wrong. It was early '70's. Definate.

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Hee hee.

Wrong on his birthday?


Like no wayyyyyyyyyyyy.


Only the day after he accused me of being wrong on EVERYTHING?


:)It feels like it's my birthday now, that's come five months early.:)

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Talk about kick a man when he’s down. Contain yourself :rolleyes:



Oh look Bananas - :banslide: :banslide: :banslide: :Banane17:

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He's bigger than me, I'm not as daft as I look. My nickname in the chatroom is Cupid Stunt.

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But on the rest of the site it is:-

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or ......... :D m...d...f...c... when Rind's being black innit!



:o Oh I hope that doesn't go whoosh over everyones head I ain't explainig it :o

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What is your problem? This thread has absolutely nothing to do with art, panopticons, melas or any other MPA related thing, so why, why, why, have you dragged it up again? You clearly have some sort of agenda to knock it for absolutely no reason. If you can justify, even remotely, why you have brought up the subject of MPA in this thread I would love to hear it.

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I always used to have a wry smile when Booker Fitch Food service turned up with a delivery at the pub. :)

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Naive no just opptimistic that for once they could get it right. Then on the pass record you have more chance of winning a one hores race.

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Yeh it looks very weird & they were putting in metal posts think design feature to outline pavements & they were putting in seating yesterday.

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Nae pain nae brain with whoever came up with the idea for broadway. They must have enough space between the ears to bearth a cruise ship.

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I've only lived in Accrington for a few years but in all that time, Broadway has NEVER looked nice. I would rather go to Burnley, Blackburn or Bury to browse. I live here!!! How does it look to visitors?
The only thing that gets me into town at the moment is the big yellow digger on Broadway as my 2 year old is Bob the Builder mad!

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Its a couple of weeks since I've been into town and haven't seen the recent developements on Broadway, why do they have to mess it up every time, sounds awful, think I'll go down on Monday.

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Been into town today, it looks half finished, I dont like what they've done, I think there's too much tarmac, I'm assuming the're keeping it that way

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The paddling pool has swopped sides too.....it isn't outside Scope anymore, it is at the entrance to the Arndale. How sad is that.....? It looks a real mess....and how long before the frost breaks it all up. Especailly if we have the really cold winter they are all predicting for us.

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I dont like it really & think it wont last looks thrown down no doubt be loose or crumbles again when the winter sets in. They cant seem to get it right so that yet more money is poured down the drain ~ literally

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I made a point of visiting this a few days ago. You've all been talking about it for ages and I couldn't believe it was as bad as you all said, but it is!

It's boring and uninspiring, plus it's taking an age to complete. Though, I think I know why that is - it was mid afternoon when I visited and there were four chaps on site; one on his phone, one with a brew, one leaning on his spade and the other one wheeling a wheel barrow from one side of it to the other.

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According to the artist's impression, the only greenery is a few thin conifers.

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PMSL ah you spotted that the builders had all the time in the world milking the construction, i got really narked at one builder over a week ago trying to get to marks & sparks the builder just swung the metal guardings right in front & decided to shut off the path so me & other shoppers had to walk round!! Its been an utter pain in the backside to get round the shops & for all the times its took im sure primary school children would of come up with better designs than the councils ~ well not hard really babies have better chance.

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Hmmm.....I'm just wondering if it would be possible to get a few piccys on here of the progress of this scheme & of the inactivity of the workmen involved - maybe with time/date capture. Its a long time since we had regular piccy postings on here (possibly because we exhausted all the "Spot the Building" opportunities) but this could be a way of exposing the mismanagement involved. Would the Observer be interested?

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I remember the Sunken gardens in Broadway.....I thought they were lovely.
I can't remember when they disappeared......I can only remember going there with my gran......that would be in the early 1950's.

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I could ask for the following for crimbo:
buldozer with drag hook
30 large cages
12 sets of stocks
12 sets of pillories
3 whipping frames
Result I could tear up Broadway with the dozer put up the cages etc and stick the council in it and it would become a tourist attraction.

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Wow Spuggie! I would have a stall there with tomatoes and eggs....do you think I would make any money?

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i heard a rumer that they are putting some small shop units there

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Hi all,

I am considering running a story about the time this project as taken for the Observer.

Would anyone like to give me a couple of quotes about their opinion of the time lag/state of Broadway?

As always, I would need your name, age (optional) and address (no door numbers, please).

The upside of putting yourself in the limelight is it increases the chances of me getting the story printed and, therefore, getting the full financial/statistical information from the council about the project.

cheers, Vitty

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Go for it. I spent 10 days in Accy over the last week and it was saddening to see what our once proud little town has been reduced to.

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Did you know already around £30,000 worth of damage has been caused to the new flag stones due to a security vehicle driving over the newly laid stones. It's going to look nice crazy-paving don't you think?

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Noted today.

Lovely white chewing gum on the nice new black tarmac. Even the special steam cleaning machines can't shift it off tarmac.

Noted today a truly awful design.

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I would be interested in exploring this further.

Where did you find out about this?

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I remember earlier in the summer a Security vehicle driving down Broadway from Union Street, resulting in at least two anxious parents having to snatch toddlers out of it's path. What is the point of having a pedestrianised zone if these things are allowed to drive where they like. It was going to pick up cash from the entrance to the Arndale. Surely that is what the Arndale has service entrances for?

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Security best discribed as the "we do as we please" brigade.

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You might like this

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Great photo wadey, by the looks of the car this could have been in the 70s

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Nice photo -i remember it being like that when I was a little girl so it's probably the very early 70's.

It used to be crowded out for the annual Carnival Procession -do they still have that I wonder....

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you bring up a good point because i too have seen people running for their lives and have seen a few near misses in the past from these secuity vans either speeding or refusing to slow down at all for people who havnt noticed them coming up behind them until the last second.

they should be made to walk from the main road they have helmets and other protection.The only people that should be allowed to drive in the pedestrian zone are police and ambulance not some moron who thinks walking more than 3 feet to a shop door is an unacceptable risk :rolleyes: