M&S Accrington

[Margaret Pilkington]

It is all very well knowing of a nice tea room.....but a nice tea room needs nice shops and a good shopping experience in the town to complement and support it.
I do not know who you are trying to convince when you talk of the joys of shopping in Accrington....yourself or us.
Personally, I like to trust the evidence of my own eyes rather than the words of someone else.
The Emperors New Clothes doesn't cut it for me.

[accyman]

lol silly me i didnt realise people were moaning about the same things over and over again for fun


i thought they were moaning about the same things over and over again because over and over again the council fail to address them

i dont arf feel daft

silly me

[talentedbutslow]

I am really rather glad I left the town in 1970, although at that stage the shopping areas were a going concern.

Tal

[Margaret Pilkington]

Accyman, we are supposed to sit nicely, quietly and believe what our local representatives tell us.
We are not supposed to use our eyes to see what is really happening......and certainly not our mouths to protest at the way things are going, because we cannot see how good the place is.
Good....as in good compared to what?
The Observer took a poll of people in the district recently. The vast majority felt that the town had gone downhill....but yet our local representatives think otherwise.....so of course they must be right......and all those polled were just moaning and being negative about the wonderful market(?),the fabulous shops(?).The thing is, if we can be bamboozled into thinking, believing, that everything is hunky dory, then the local representatives need expend absolutely no effort in doing anything to change the problems that we might think are apparent in our town.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by talentedbutslow

I am really rather glad I left the town in 1970, although at that stage the shopping areas were a going concern.

Tal

I wish that I had done the same thing!
In the early seventies we applied to go to Oz.....I got cold feet and we cancelled our application.

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

As an example, in the past 12 months I have ventured into shops, pubs and even a smashing little tea room then told people how good they are.

You haven't been saying much on here - but now that the election is getting closer we are once again blessed with your comments

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Accyman, we are supposed to sit nicely, quietly and believe what our local representatives tell us.
We are not supposed to use our eyes to see what is really happening......and certainly not our mouths to protest at the way things are going, because we cannot see how good the place is.
Good....as in good compared to what?
The Observer took a poll of people in the district recently. The vast majority felt that the town had gone downhill....but yet our local representatives think otherwise.....so of course they must be right......and all those polled were just moaning and being negative about the wonderful market(?),the fabulous shops(?).The thing is, if we can be bamboozled into thinking, believing, that everything is hunky dory, then the local representatives need expend absolutely no effort in doing anything to change the problems that we might think are apparent in our town.

You're putting words into my mouth. All I have said is that in a changing world I can still look for the positives rather than focusing on the negatives.

If you think that this mythical 1970s version of Broadway is ever going to come back then I'm afraid you're mistaken. Shopping habits have changed drastically.

If Broadway was so perfect before why am I hearing tales of complaints about a concrete monstrosity that many people were glad to see the back of? I'm not the only one with rose tinted specs, it seems.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Barrie Yates

You haven't been saying much on here - but now that the election is getting closer we are once again blessed with your comments

I'm not up for election and a few posts on here is not going to sway anyone but nice of you to think that.

Back in the old days when I was in opposition I could come on here and have a decent discussion. The moment I became part of the ruling group the entire forum seemed to suddenly view me as The Enemy and discussions became a lot less fun.

I miss the fun of it, truth be told.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

You're putting words into my mouth. All I have said is that in a changing world I can still look for the positives rather than focusing on the negatives.

If you think that this mythical 1970s version of Broadway is ever going to come back then I'm afraid you're mistaken. Shopping habits have changed drastically.

If Broadway was so perfect before why am I hearing tales of complaints about a concrete monstrosity that many people were glad to see the back of? I'm not the only one with rose tinted specs, it seems.

No, I never mentioned your name.
And I do not hanker after the Broadway of the seventies, because I am intelligent enough to know that it can never be that place it was then.
Back in the seventies the place was thronged with people...It could be again, but of course it won't be because no one want to listen to those who are concerned about the decline of the town.
As for the rose tinted specs..I wouldn't mind borrowing yours.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

I'm not up for election and a few posts on here is not going to sway anyone but nice of you to think that.

Back in the old days when I was in opposition I could come on here and have a decent discussion. The moment I became part of the ruling group the entire forum seemed to suddenly view me as The Enemy and discussions became a lot less fun.

I miss the fun of it, truth be told.

I have never ever seen you as the enemy. I have always seen you as an intelligent and balanced poster, who contributed a valuable point of view to the forum....but you disappeared.
Ok sometimes life does get in the way of posting. No one knows this better than me

[accyman]

i want to see the smackheads ,drunks and anti social behaviour sorted of which none have anything to do with the 70's

perhaps if people felt safe going into town or felt thattheir children wouldnt be exposed to vile behaviour and loudly shouted vile language they might start going into town again

if every time you went to asda you were asked for spare change , a spare fag , had people urinating in the frozen food section or people screaming abuse at each other you would go shop at tesco

people go elsewhere not because they want a 70's retro feel they go elsewhere because elsewhere has a better eviroment

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

I miss the fun of it, truth be told.

Come along now young Kenneth, get thysen involved elsewhere & maybe the chuckles will come back.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

You're putting words into my mouth. All I have said is that in a changing world I can still look for the positives rather than focusing on the negatives.

If you think that this mythical 1970s version of Broadway is ever going to come back then I'm afraid you're mistaken. Shopping habits have changed drastically.

If Broadway was so perfect before why am I hearing tales of complaints about a concrete monstrosity that many people were glad to see the back of? I'm not the only one with rose tinted specs, it seems.

"shopping habits have changed"...the same old tired cliches trotted out. Do me a favour, Ken, get in your car and drive ten miles south to Bury and tell me why shopping habits haven't changed there?

"a concrete monstrosity"...I assume you're talking about the umbrella market? Looking it at purely from an architectural point of view, it was actually a masterpiece of Modernist Architecture (take a look at aerial shots of the roof and see how well-designed it is) and is mentioned in a couple of books on the subject. Whatever, it's certainly better than the cheap, toytown, mock-Victoriana "pavillions" that took its place.

"that many people were glad to see the back of"...funny that, because this old "monstrosity" was invariably busy with shoppers on market days, unlike its replacement which is semi-deserted most of the time. So where have all these people who were glad to see the back of it gone?

[Margaret Pilkington]

They have got on the bus to Bury where the market is a draw for shoppers.
They get on the bus to Manchester where the variety and cosmopolitan feel of the city draws in people from all over the place...and yes, I do know that Accrington cannot compete with Manchester.......but we could be a whole lot better than we currently are. It saddens me that people who could make a difference go around not recognising the negatives...... berates us who do see the downsides and cannot talk the town up because we see it as dishonest

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by accyman

i want to see the smackheads ,drunks and anti social behaviour sorted of which none have anything to do with the 70's

perhaps if people felt safe going into town or felt thattheir children wouldnt be exposed to vile behaviour and loudly shouted vile language they might start going into town again

if every time you went to asda you were asked for spare change , a spare fag , had people urinating in the frozen food section or people screaming abuse at each other you would go shop at tesco

people go elsewhere not because they want a 70's retro feel they go elsewhere because elsewhere has a better eviroment

I've been going to Accy Asda every week for over a decade now and have never experienced anything like that. Have I just been very lucky?

Every town has its drunks and anyone who pretends that Accy is somehow awash with them compared to the likes of Blackburn, Preston or the mighty Bury really does need to open their eyes.

I'm sorry that you feel that way about the town centre but either I must be very lucky again or I have managed to miss the armies of smack heads patrolling the streets looking for someone to intimidate every week.

I just do not see this terrible town with nothing going for it. Perhaps my shopping standards are too low.