Towns or Cities where you were born or lived that have declined or improved over the years

[SteveP29]

Birtley (Co. Durham) 1972- 1986: Moved into the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council area before I was two years old.
Mother always said it was just so Gateshead could dump every problem family and those they didn't want anything to do with there.
A dump these days, main street just about dead at half 2 each afternoon, gets a bit busier when Lord Lawson School kicks out at half 3

Chester le Street 1986- 1989 & 1992- 2011: Once thriving market town with vibrant shops and a market twice a week and also a flea market on Saturdays.
Now a hollowed out shell of what it used to be, market only held once a week now, Tesco bought up leases to empty shops and kept them empty rather than have competition.
Shops not owned by Tesco are split between two families, making an absolute mint out of people's necessity or desperation.
Main street dead after 4pm Pubs dying, when I started my drinking career there was 10 pubs on the main street and 2 clubs just off it, Thursday through to Sunday, every pub was rammed at night.
Only 7 of those pubs and 1 club survive (the club seems to be on its last legs too) and it's only the area around the Wetherspoons that gets busy now and only on Friday and Saturday night.
Its a no go area in the market place after dark, anti social youths and the YMCA hostel have seen to that.
Another dump with boarded up shops and pubs

Yeovil 1989- 1992: A dump when we arrived and a dump when I left.
Dead after 2pm
Best feature: The roads leading OUT of the town (in all directions)

 

[Masbroughlad]

Rotherham was an amazing town to grow up in. Every shop you wanted, decent pubs and clubs, prosperous and with an intercity rail service.

Parkgate and Meadowhall shopping centres replaced the closed down steelworks. Pits closed too. Both took money from the town and there was much less money to spend.

At long last it's having some money spent on it - too little, too late? And it is getting an intercity railway station again. Progress.....

 

[BeijingDave]

Being from the north west, Coventry* and Leicester aren't that bad so long as you choose the right part to live in.

Certainly less bad than places like Rochdale, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Bradford, Sintellens and so on...

*I lived in Coventry for three years, not just visited.

 

[Peter Lanky]

I lived in Bolton until 1994 when it was still a thriving town. Not as good as it was in the 1970s when the council changed hands every other election and councillors had to be on their toes though to keep their seats. Since then I've lived in Wigan, which has lost shops but is still far from being a dump. I have returned to Bolton 2 or 3 times a year and each time noticed less vibrancy, fewer shops, changing demography and more anti social types.

Now temporarily living in Bolton due to a household mishap, I am shocked at the decline. The demography has changed beyond recognition, but now there are no larger shops other than Primark which is nothing to boast about, there are barely any small shops of any worth other than banks, and a few shops in the (also ruined) Market Hall. There are numerous derelict/demolished sites in the town centre, many have been so for over 10 years, awash with 10 foot high buddleia trees. The second main shopping street of Bradshawgate presents more shutters than glass, and is littered with filthy looking kebab shops and dodgy late night drinking joints.

Elsewhere, many good buildings have been converted to flats, and new flats are replacing commercial buildings, many of them half built. There are two large empty 60s office blocks blotting the landscape, and barely any town centre pubs. It makes me very sad.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I lived in Bolton until 1994 when it was still a thriving town. Not as good as it was in the 1970s when the council changed hands every other election and councillors had to be on their toes though to keep their seats. Since then I've lived in Wigan, which has lost shops but is still far from being a dump. I have returned to Bolton 2 or 3 times a year and each time noticed less vibrancy, fewer shops, changing demography and more anti social types.

Now temporarily living in Bolton due to a household mishap, I am shocked at the decline. The demography has changed beyond recognition, but now there are no larger shops other than Primark which is nothing to boast about, there are barely any small shops of any worth other than banks, and a few shops in the (also ruined) Market Hall. There are numerous derelict/demolished sites in the town centre, many have been so for over 10 years, awash with 10 foot high buddleia trees. The second main shopping street of Bradshawgate presents more shutters than glass, and is littered with filthy looking kebab shops and dodgy late night drinking joints.

Elsewhere, many good buildings have been converted to flats, and new flats are replacing commercial buildings, many of them half built. There are two large empty 60s office blocks blotting the landscape, and barely any town centre pubs. It makes me very sad.

It is getting like that in Croydon. This month Millets (camping and outdoor) will be closing - the landlord wants to convert the building into flats.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Beaumaris 1954-1960 A wonderful small town that's even nicer today, ideal for my childhood.
Lytham 1960-1971 Another very pleasant coastal town that's improved over the years
Salford 1971-1974 The definitive "dirty old town" but I was a student so didn't care!
Warrington 1975-1979 Hopelessly-polluted and with only one non-Greenalls real ale pub: dreadful!
London 1979-1990 The bustling metropolis that's improved significantly (apart from crime!)
Oxford 1990-2025 Surrounded by sink estates but unrivalled historic centre. A good place to live.

 

[Ivor]

It is getting like that in Croydon. This month Millets (camping and outdoor) will be closing - the landlord wants to convert the building into flats.

Being an ex Croydonian of decades I’m now in West Sussex, my closest main town of Worthing similar, the old Beales Department Store converted to flats with shop units below but all still empty, the big Debenhams now looks as if being converted to a similar profile.

Many other retailers gone with far too many empty units.

 

[Cross City]

London 1979-1990 The bustling metropolis that's improved significantly (apart from crime!

Crime rates in London now are lower than they were in 1990.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I lived in Bolton until 1994 when it was still a thriving town. Not as good as it was in the 1970s when the council changed hands every other election and councillors had to be on their toes though to keep their seats. Since then I've lived in Wigan, which has lost shops but is still far from being a dump. I have returned to Bolton 2 or 3 times a year and each time noticed less vibrancy, fewer shops, changing demography and more anti social types.

Now temporarily living in Bolton due to a household mishap, I am shocked at the decline. The demography has changed beyond recognition, but now there are no larger shops other than Primark which is nothing to boast about, there are barely any small shops of any worth other than banks, and a few shops in the (also ruined) Market Hall. There are numerous derelict/demolished sites in the town centre, many have been so for over 10 years, awash with 10 foot high buddleia trees. The second main shopping street of Bradshawgate presents more shutters than glass, and is littered with filthy looking kebab shops and dodgy late night drinking joints.

Elsewhere, many good buildings have been converted to flats, and new flats are replacing commercial buildings, many of them half built. There are two large empty 60s office blocks blotting the landscape, and barely any town centre pubs. It makes me very sad.

Wigan is just as bad as Bolton. The site of the Galleries shopping centre that was pulled down a few years ago has now been left as a massive patch of waste ground. I honestly think Wigan Council have deliberately isolated the indoor market building to force out the remaining traders. You have to walk all the way around via Market Street or Mesnes Street that is a fair old trek for someone who is disabled or bad on their feet. There seems to be more empty units than stalls in there now with stall holders deciding to call it a day.

Standishgate has lost M&S, WHSmiths & Wilko’s in recent years which has left three large premises standing empty. Even the Grand Arcade that only opened in 2007 is looking a little pitiful. The prime site at the far end of the Mall once occupied by Debenhams has remained closed since Debenhams went into administration. The upper level that once had DW Sports, TK Maxx and a Costa Coffee is now merely a walk through to access the toilets and multi-story car park.

The overall state of the town is appalling. Wallgate & King Street look grimy, reglected and run down. I’ve seen rats as big as cats run across the street. The pubs that are left have turned into the type of environments that home the permanently unemployed who spend all day everyday drinking with other people’s money. The homelessness and street drinking is appalling with people screaming and behaving in an anti-social manner at 9/10 o’clock in the morning. The parish church gardens feel like a no-go area by early evening (one poor bloke was murdered in there in 2020).

Most shoppers seem to gravitate towards the Robin Park Retail Park that I don’t really rate either. I much prefer the Middlebrook at Horwich. Even some suburban areas have changed for the worst - Swinley feels like bedsit land and Scholes looks worst than ever with flats that should have been demolished years ago. Wigan’s appeal for me has always been the fact you don’t have to walk too far to reach some really nice country and eye catching locations - such as Haigh Hall, Scotsman Flash and the canal system. But the actual town centre is ruined now. I recently visited St Helens and that feels worst than Wigan.

CJ

 

[BeijingDave]

St Helens has always been bad. As has Widnes.

Wigan and Warrington at least had some life to the town centre - bustling shopping centres, friendly people.

Warrington feels the same. The life has been ripped out of the place and the centre given over to Vape stores and barber shops, or boarded up.

Out-of-town shopping centres have been a huge folly, really.

 

[dangie]

Out-of-town shopping centres have been a huge folly, really.

This is one of those things that people say, but don’t really mean. I think shoppers would rather walk around a large retail park with a choice of outlets (and parking) than walk through a town centre. I totally appreciate that the demise of small specialist shops is extremely sad, but shoppers want choice & convenience which is what these large stores give.

I agree that the rise of the retail park has probably led to the fall of the high street. Small retailers can’t compete, but for shoppers to say they don’t like retail parks is a bit of a fib. Drive to the Queensville Retail Park in Stafford at any weekend and you’re lucky to find a parking spot. I’m sure other retail parks are the same. Just a sign of the times.

 

[Sun Chariot]

What really drums home to me, is that - other than the larger cities, the UK's other urban areas seem to have deteriorated (or not improved) almost without exception.
It makes for depressing, but unsurprising, reading

 

[Cross City]

but shoppers want choice & convenience which is what these large stores give.

What do you mean?! How can people not want to fight their way through loads of traffic to a town/city centre, having to pay for parking, to visit a dozen different shops which are only open while most people are at work and are more expensive than what they'd be paying online or at a big box retailer?!

It's like when people lament the closure of butchers shops and suchlike but they never buy anything from them due to the inconvenience and cost.

 

[Richardr]

Out-of-town shopping centres have been a huge folly, really.

Personally not driving they haven't been great for me, but given that sufficient shoppers prefer them then they are hardly a folly.

The town I went to school in, Bedford, is similar to a number of places mentioned here. Both department stores, Debenhams and Beales, have shut and are largely empty, with little hope of replacement. M&S shut a few years ago and W H Smith are about to follow. Like many other town centres, the main grocers left a while ago with just the Tesco Express type grocers remaining, but to be fair also a wide range of ethnic grocers.

The rise of the car means that many have deserted town centres for most of their shopping, using the out of town supermarkets and retail parks plus internet shopping.

Ironically, town centres like Bedford would be helped by converting the disused department stores into flats - an increased set of people within walking distance of the town centre.

 

[Cross City]

The rise of the car means that many have deserted town centres for most of their shopping, using the out of town supermarkets and retail parks plus internet shopping.

Personally, I don't think you can blame "the car" for the death of the high street. It's far more nuanced than that.

The main reason for me is the cost, inconvenience. Both of which are the fault of the retailer rather than the customer.

 

[YorkshireBear]

What really drums home to me, is that - other than the larger cities, the UK's other urban areas seem to have deteriorated (or not improved) almost without exception.
It makes for depressing, but unsurprising, reading

That is definitely a theme, like you say it is sad. As it has killed some previously thriving communities.

 

[lachlan]

Bristol feels like its on the up to me. Lots of new offices and flats going up, new Bristol University campus and the upcoming redevelopment of the Galleries. Marks & Spencer, who previously moved out of the city, are coming back which has got to be a good sign for retail in the centre. It also feels like the council are going in the right direction with walking and cycling improvements and the railway network is improving, but painfully slowly.

 

[BeijingDave]

This is one of those things that people say, but don’t really mean.

I do mean it, because it means going to a retail park with hideous flat-pack corrugated buildings rather than going to Chester city centre to access certain stores.

 

[D6130]

Personally not driving they haven't been great for me, but given that sufficient shoppers prefer them then they are hardly a folly.

The town I went to school in, Bedford, is similar to a number of places mentioned here. Both department stores, Debenhams and Beales, have shut and are largely empty, with little hope of replacement. M&S shut a few years ago and W H Smith are about to follow. Like many other town centres, the main grocers left a while ago with just the Tesco Express type grocers remaining, but to be fair also a wide range of ethnic grocers.

The rise of the car means that many have deserted town centres for most of their shopping, using the out of town supermarkets and retail parks plus internet shopping.

Ironically, town centres like Bedford would be helped by converting the disused department stores into flats - an increased set of people within walking distance of the town centre.

Does Bedford still have a large Italian community with their wonderful bakeries, delis, etc? IIRC, when I lived in Aylesbury - another town with a large Italian community - in the late 1980s/early 1990s, there was even an Italian consulate in Bedford.

 

[BeijingDave]

Does Bedford still have a large Italian community with their wonderful bakeries, delis, etc? IIRC, when I lived in Aylesbury - another town with a large Italian community - in the late 1980s/early 1990s, there was even an Italian consulate in Bedford.

Without checking the history, isn't it more likely that the Italian community gravitated to where the consulate and/or Chambers of Commerce were chosen to be located? (as happens in many places e.g. a significant German expat community around Beijing's German embassy)

 

[Sun Chariot]

@D6130 You weren't far from me in the late 1980s. I lived in Linslade from 1978 to 1989, having moved there from near the Midland Main Line.
In the '80s, the only detriment to Leighton Buzzard's "market town" feel, was the occasional glue sniffer loitering upon the market cross. LB had a sizeable Italian community back then - albeit no Italian delicatessen, butcher or cafe (a French cafe and traditional English butchers abounded, though).

 

[OuterDistant]

Personally, I don't think you can blame "the car" for the death of the high street. It's far more nuanced than that.

The main reason for me is the cost, inconvenience. Both of which are the fault of the retailer rather than the customer.

I'm not so sure.

It doesn't take much increase in demand for road space before the average British town or city becomes snarled up, and with more cars on the road than ever before - people these days generally want to drive everywhere for everything - they will then go either out of town or online.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Try living in "BCP land" the urbanised part of Dorset:

Is BCP the most corruptible council in England?

In 2020 the anti-corruption group Transparency International UK published a paper on the potential for corruption in English local authorities. Fifty key councils were assessed on how they manage corruption risks such as lobbying, oversight and conflicts of interest. One council was deemed by...

westcountryvoices.co.uk

Bournemouth had declined so much, noticeable by returning tourists also shares the ever so common issue of the town losing out to out of town shopping parks which this case is Castlepoint (akin to Cribbs Causeway for Bristol).

Don't really blame people not wanting to traverse up and down steep shopping streets also the lack of a central indoor shopping centre.

The nearby smaller settlements (Christchurch, Lymington, Ringwood, Wareham, Wimborne, Swanage, Salisbury & Sherborne etc) have enticed people away.

BCP is a too large & rotten entity, the merger never should have happened; the locals didn't have a say or have a referendum. Christchurch & Poole didn't want it but was forced upon them.

Christchurch was under the previous Dorset authority and Poole was better run on its own which it was Bournemouth itself was rotten and latched itself on to its neighbours. The new BCP council took on Poole's original services such as recycling/rubbish, transport & infrastructure etc as Bournemouth's own were a mess.

Possible or not, hope Christchurch & Poole will one day break away & merge back into Dorset or Christchurch to rejoin New Forest/Hampshire and leave corrupt Bournemouth itself under special measures.

 

[Cloud Strife]

people these days generally want to drive everywhere for everything - they will then go either out of town or online.

The problem is also that everything is also no longer local. Many youth clubs are no longer in the local area, many playing fields were sold off and kids now have to be transported halfway across town just to go and train with a team. It's an issue that was emerging in the 1990s when I was growing up, and it's much worse now. Local libraries are being shut left/right/centre, to name but one problem. A friend is the director of library services for one council, and what used to be a thriving network is a shell of itself.

Of course, there's also a rise in general expectations. It's no longer enough for kids to attend a computer course at the local library, they need much more in-depth knowledge and that can often only be passed on by specialists who aren't available everywhere.

 

[Yorkshire09876]

Bradford has seriously gone down hill since I left in 1976. The city has lost most of its pubs, Yorkshire cricket and its only decent formerly D1 football team is now in an over-glorified parks league. But the curries are nice as is haddock properly fried in beef dripping.

Bradford is an absolute dump. It's the nearest large city to me and I make every effort to avoid going there. Definite contender for worst city in the country!

The larger places in West Yorkshire mostly seem quite run-down now, with the exception of central Leeds (and to an extent Halifax - that's not a bad town centre).

 

[Haywain]

Without checking the history, isn't it more likely that the Italian community gravitated to where the consulate and/or Chambers of Commerce were chosen to be located?

I'm pretty sure that the consulate in Bedford (opened 1954) arose because of the Italian population that moved there post-war. Bedford attracted a significant Italian community because of the brickworks nearby requiring workers, which also led to Peterborough having a significant Italian community.

 

[Howardh]

Bolton really has declined, both as a shopping centre and entertainment hub. Just about every local will agree about that - the demise of the shops (Debenhams, Whittakers, B+S, Mothercare and many, many more) means the centre is now a skeleton, and mostly charity/vape/pound shops. can't give a proper figure on pubs, but there must be one-third the number of the 80's.

The out-of-town shopping centres eg. Middlebrook and Trafford have taken it's toll as have parking charges, high business rates I assume, and the likes of in-home entertainment + cheap supermarket booze. Suppose that could apply to any other town, but we have been hit badly.

Places like Bury appear to be thriving, shops, market, pubs etc.

 

[Tester]

Interestingly Watford has an Italian Consulate.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Interestingly Watford has an Italian Consulate.

Is that an indicator of an improving or declining town or city?

 

[Tester]

Is that an indicator of an improving or declining town or city?

It clearly isn't! - merely related to where the thread currently is.