Accrington - Tourist Area?

[JohnW]

I may have said this before, if so, please forgive me and put it down to a senior moment.

References keep being made to Accrington striving to become a centre of tourism. There was another one recently on the new Broadway thread. Now, please don't misunderstand me, I love the area, I was born there and I would not dream of visiting England without popping over for a visit, especially to Bash. But, tourism, come on! Places that people visit for tourist purposes have to have certain things for them to see and do. Accrington was never built for this in the first place and it would be, in my humble opinion, virtually impossible to convert without flattening most of it and starting again. The only way Accrington is going to attract tourists to its centre to do their shopping is if the shops are selling something very different from the shops in their town. People are not going to travel from Blackburn, Burnley, Preston, Manchester etc and all towns in between to buy the same stuff they can buy at home. It would take some guts to open a shop selling something wildly different in a comparatively small town like Accrington. The innovators of such a venture would be more likely to start up in a large location like Manchester where they already have lots of people visiting because the shopping is reputed to be better there than anywhere else around. What pleasurable tourist attractions does Accrington have? They have the art gallery, but most towns have them, the only thing different would be the Tiffany collection but how many people are going to travel just to see that? They may, if there were lots of other things of interest also but sadly, there are not. The market is a beautiful building, but most towns in the area have markets also so it is not unique. The only way that traders in the town centre are going to increase their revenue is by an increase in the population of Accrington and/or the general public having more money to spend.

The only way forward for Accrington is industry. It was built on industry in the first place and is geared to it. HBC should be trying to attract industry to the town not tourists. Good paying jobs for a skilled labourforce would put money in the hands of the town centre shops and market traders. The town needs to stop trying to be something that is isn't, and never could be, without massive capital injection which it doesn't have.
Promotion of the town having good Motorway links, an industrious and skilled workforce, innovative minds and industrial space is what is needed. Offer companies cheaper rates than other areas so that it encourages them to put their businesses in Accrington. Make it great again by encouraging what made it great in the first place. Wake up HBC, you are not a tourist attraction and you never will be!

[simon]

Well said JohnW I truly hope that Britcliffe reads that and LISTENS.........

But I am not holding my breath .......

[Perran]

Well said John!

The occupants of Hyndburn Council Chamber ( regardless of political preference ) have failed over the years to grasp what Accrington is about. They have always tried to compete with the bigger towns of Blackburn and Burnley and tried to attract the "multiple" shops that reside in the bigger towns. Failure to do so is seen as a blow for Accrington. I have held many discussions over the years with councillors and local business and certain things stand out.

Councillors never take a blind bit of notice of the people on the ground ie the actual business people who they seem to think are out only to line there own pockets.

The road network around the town is poorly designed and unless you actually know the town your on your way out of town before you know it!

The fact that the town needs to be different to attract people, most people prefer unique and individual shops where they can get unusual gifts etc and get proper help and advice from staff who know what they are talking about.

Make the most of the towns assets, its history and its attractions. If Wigan can sell its pier as an attraction there is still hope for us!

[Darby]

Very astutue John, and hits the nail on the head. However;

Accy should be doing what its always been good at...engineering. Unfortunately, successive Governments have killed the manufacturing industries and we've become a service society. Name a full British Car that is in large production figures? Where is the shipbuilding industry? Steel Industry?

The only industry of any size in the UK is BAe, and the largest manufacturing arm of them is in Lancashire (Warton and Salmesbury).

We cannot compete with the cheap labour in India, the Far East and eastern Europe. There are only high tech companies that are currently successful...and Accy isn't full of High Tech trained personnel.

We use to have the likes of Accy Tech shool (I went there), where lads were schooled in the needs of Industry, and thereby ensuring that they had the skills to walk into a job after finishing school.

So Accy needs to start at school level...but it's out of their control.

Funny Old World isn't it John!

[Acrylic-bob]

Well said John W. You are right all this has been said before, but that does not make your post any the less relevant. If anything it makes it more so. Without wishing to insult any body I think that it is fair to state that there is nothing special about any of us on accyweb, we are none of us experts in economics, but If we can see what needs to be done to enable Accrington to drag it'self up by it's boot straps, Why can HBC not see this?

The origins of the Tourism thing was was dealt with in a previous post, it comes from a Lancashire C.C. 10 year plan to redevelop the area into a Rural City called East Lancashire. This is where the proposal for the Panopticon originated.

[Tealeaf]

Hiroshima = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

Pompeii = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

Hyndburn = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

[rockrabbit]

oswaldtwistle mills is certainly drawing people in from all over .They ve even got a big advert up on the motorway at shadsworth only problem ossy seems to be turning into one big car park as they seem to keep buying any land available round the mill

[Busman747]

Originally Posted by rockrabbit

oswaldtwistle mills is certainly drawing people in from all over .They ve even got a big advert up on the motorway at shadsworth only problem ossy seems to be turning into one big car park as they seem to keep buying any land available round the mill

When visiting my Auntie in Bedfordshire, I mentioned Ossy mills and with great excitement, they told me that they had visited it on a coach tour but was dissapointed that they did not have long enough to see everything!!

Ossy mills is becoming a "must see" on the itinery of coach companies throughout the U.K. This can only be good for Oswaldtwistle and it is a pity that H.B.C. do not have the foresight to "plug" the benefits of Accy in conjunction with.......

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Hiroshima = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

Pompeii = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

Hyndburn = Disaster Area = Tourist Attraction

Don't give HBC any ideas. They'll start demolishing even more of the town.

[Darby]

As I said earlier...Under cover...Ossy Mills, all under one roof, rain or no rain its confortable shopping, and attracts people from all over the place. Perhaps we should move the market up to Ossy Mills?

[rockrabbit]

oswaldtwistle mills have some sort of deal with the market according to a friend who has a cpl of stalls on there something about coaches going to the mills are now stopping at the market for an hour

[WillowTheWhisp]

Where do they park when they do that?

[rockrabbit]

not sure it was also mentioned at the last market meeting with peter britcliffe

[Margaret Pilkington]

Accrington a tourist area...... what are they coming to see????? the graffiti on the walls of the unoccupied 'shops' near the market?.......the pathetic market?........the uneven paving stones all over the place.......the cheapo pound shops. Or maybe it is the litter that is strewn everywhere in the town centre. I despair!

[julia arch]

so what is to be the miricle cure for accrington? is it jobs? or shops? or culture?
how does the town work... are you walking around the bits where you want be? or are the centre and the good bits two different things?
is the a way of reinforcing the good about the town?