DJ's book 'unflattering' about Accy.

[garinda]

The Telegraph carries a story about DJ and television presenter, Stuart Maconie, who's written a book which features Accrington.

It's been branded as unflattering.

In it he says the main street is a crowded, unlovely hotchpotch of cheap shops, minicab offices and fast-food outlets that can fur your arteries just by looking at their logos and a few desultory and cheerless pubs.

He also mentions the town being peopled by pallid youths, and chain-smoking women.

Er...as much as I love the town, that doesn't sound too far from the truth.

We do have loan, and mobile phone shops, scattered amongst the charity shops, and empty stores.

People given Gregg's pasties as babies, instead of dummies, are bound to be a bit 'pallid'.

Mind you, the author's from Wigan, so he should have felt right at home here.

Michael Whewell, a chamber of trade member and owner of Whewells of Accrington in Bridge Street, is reported to have said 'Cash Converters is a national chain. We also have a Costa Coffee and a Marks & Spencer but I notice he doesn’t mention those.'

Unless the book has been written, published, and reviewed in the last few weeks, it's unlikey he would have mentioned Costa Coffee, because it wasn't even open.

Peel Park, and the Haworth art gallery are described as highlights in the town.

What do we think?

Misleading, or an accurate description of Accrington?

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk...d__insulting_/

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, I haven't read the book....and it is a bit risky taking comments and making judgements on it, because the true context may be lost.
Newspapers, even the local ones tend to sensationalise things, that in an ordinary sense, would have little in the way of news value.

However, looking at the comments that the LT have published, I think it is a fair evaluation of the town.

[garinda]

This is the official website of Stuart Maconie, author of Pies and Prejudice and Adventures on the High Teas Hope and Glory: The Days that Made Britain

I think it's quite a coup for Accrington to be thought worthy of a mention.

Bill Bryson never made it to the town.

[cashman]

reading the link, Miles Parkinson says "its easy to knock from the outside" whilst that is true, he omits to say its the truth n pretty near the mark. its sad to say this of what once was a great little town, am well aware people are working hard trying to improve n make difference to accrington, but they should ask themselves why? "Answer" cos its degenerated that far! get real wake up n smell the coffee.

[wadey]

Ebury Press has acquired a travel title from BBC TV and radio broadcaster Stuart Maconie. Deputy publisher Andrew Goodfellow bought world rights from agent Kate Haldane to Hope and Glory.

The book, which will be published on 9th June in paperback priced £11.99, sees Maconie take a look at the events, people and places that stood out in the last century of British history. A single event from each decade of the 20th century and its impact on our present society is scrutinised. Goodfellow said: "With 'Hope and Glory' Stuart has raised the bar. Without losing any of his wit, warmth and charm, it is his most monumental and ambitious book to date."

In the book Maconie covers all kinds of events, from pop culture to politics spanning from the death of Queen Victoria right through to the death of New Labour. "Hope and Glory is a popular history and travel book. By popular, I mean it is a people's history," said Maconie. "It is also a very personal history. I go to places that interest me and tell the story very much through my own eyes."

Hope and Glory is the fourth of Maconie¹s travel books to be published by Ebury, following on from Cider with Roadies, Pies and Prejudice and Adventures on the High Teas.

Ebury Press buys the people's history from Maconie | The Bookseller

[garinda]

Yes Stuart Maconie is an 'outsider', in that he's not an Accringtonian. He's from Wigan, but he still lives in the north.

Not really that much of an outsider. He's not from Bradford, or Basingstoke for goodness sake.

Seems to me he's just saying it as it is.

The town prospered because of cotton being more easily worked in our damp climate.

The textile industry has all but vanished.

We are a bit down at heel, relative to other towns. That's just a fact of life.

The people left are still the friendliest in the country.

That's also a fact.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by garinda

Yes Stuart Maconie is an 'outsider', in that he's not an Accringtonian. He's from Wigan, but he still lives in the north.

Not really that much of an outsider. He's not from Bradford, or Basingstoke for goodness sake.

Seems to me he's just saying it as it is.

well said, perhaps its those in ivory towers or in denial that get the hump, sad gits.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by cashman

well said, perhaps its those in ivory towers or in denial that get the hump, sad gits.

Lol, I did try to change 'north', to he still lives in the north-west, but that edit button had vanished.

A bit like most of the industries, that once made this area wealthy.

[Margaret Pilkington]

The truth is often unpalatable....and it matters not one jot where this chap hails from....it makes no appreciable difference to the fact that he has seen Accrington as it is and has reported it....as it is rather than perhaps, how we would like it to be.

He isn't talking the place down......and from the look of the comments on the LT site, it seems like most folk believe he is spot on.
Isn't it a shame that our ex Leader of HBC couldn't see it in the same light.....a bit Emperor's New Clothes like.

[Wynonie Harris]

Nobody could realistically deny that his comments are true, although they could apply to lots of other towns in poorer areas of the UK. It seems worse in Accy, though, simply because at one time, the town was such a thriving and attractive shopping destination, pulling in punters even from areas outside the town. When M&S was opened in 1961, it was the first new store in the chain to be opened since the war, which says a lot about the town at that time.

Accy seems to have fallen so far and so quickly. I still love the place, and always will, but its decline is obvious for anyone with eyes to see.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by garinda

In it he says the main street is a crowded, unlovely hotchpotch of cheap shops, minicab offices and fast-food outlets that can fur your arteries just by looking at their logos and a few desultory and cheerless pubs. .'

I can only assume he thinks Church St is the main st seeing as that does not describe Broadway.

I mentioned the other day about the wino's sat drinking outside the Market Hall and we are probably the only town centre in the UK where the drug barons and alcholics get their free meals from an increasing band of shops on Abbey St.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

I can only assume he thinks Church St is the main st seeing as that does not describe Broadway.

I mentioned the other day about the wino's sat drinking outside the Market Hall and we are probably the only town centre in the UK where the drug barons and alcholics get their free meals from an increasing band of shops on Abbey St.

I somehow assumed that he meant coming into town via Blackburn Road...because the description doesn't really fit Church Street either.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I somehow assumed that he meant coming into town via Blackburn Road...because the description doesn't really fit Church Street either.

Ya may be right

[garinda]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

I can only assume he thinks Church St is the main st seeing as that does not describe Broadway.

I mentioned the other day about the wino's sat drinking outside the Market Hall and we are probably the only town centre in the UK where the drug barons and alcholics get their free meals from an increasing band of shops on Abbey St.

Exactly, he never even mentioned that a fifth of the town centre is now given over to the Maunday Model Village, complete with genuine smack-head tour guides.

The town big-wigs probably slagged off George Orwell, when he reported what he found, in The Road to Wigan Pier.

[steve2qec]

Maybe he visited on flea-market day when he would have encountered the cream of Accrington society....!