Barnsley and Wombwell

For many years now a visit to Barnsley has meant Oakwell. Pontefract Road, the match and then home. Yesterday was different, I had some business in the Town Hall and with time on my hands I took a stroll around the town.
I have to say that they have done a remarkable job of rejuvenating the old place and I would never have recognised the town from when I was a lad.
I was brought up in Wombwell another vibrant town in my day, with its own town hall and council and people who ran the town and cared about it. I was left wondering what the future is for it. Shuttered shops and businesses struggling to get by. I called for a coffee in Greg’s and asked the lady if it was half day closing? She said “no it’s always like this”.
The merging with Barnsley has seen a massive decline in Wombwell and I know that pit closures played their part, but I wondered what kind of investment would bring my home town back to life.
In fairness it was 4:00 before I got there and it may be more active at other parts of the day, but I wondered whether Wombwell rate payers are getting a fair crack of the whip for their town?

 

I used to go through on the 22X regularly and there are plenty of pubs. People say it's a cracking day or night out. To be honest. I wouldn't mind going there for a drink but it does look like a bit of a 5hit hole.

 

Did you prefer Thurston's? I know I did.

 

There were a few bakeries and coffee shops as I remember. With home made buns an scones. I suppose Morrison’s killed a lot of their trade.
You could get most things on the high street and only went to Barnsley for big stuff.

 

I don't think it's doing much worse than many other parts of Barnsley. The closure of the of the market and swimming baths and merger of the high school into Netherwood were big losses to the town's identity. The closure of the Post Office and local banks also haven't done it any favours. At one point there was Halifax, Yorkshire Bank, Natwest and Barclays there and now they're all gone, but again, this isn't really much different to other towns up and down the country.

 

If you like to keep on your toes and don't mind a mild threat of violence in each and every bar, Wombwell's the place for you Stephen Went there couple of Christmases ago (2020) with my brother who lives there and I couldn't relax, even at Spoons. Used to go when I lived in Darfield (mid-00s), and didn't bother me so much then. But I'd be inclined to not go there after dark now, especially now I don't drink so no dutch courage either. I'd be ripe for the slaughter.

 

Wombwell is no different to most small towns around the country. With retail on its arse, the high street all but dead, and a relatively big out of town retail park on its doorstep, Wombwell centre will struggle. I’m not sure Barnsley Council can really afford to do much with it - BMBC is one of the most underfunded councils in the country, and when you add that to an area with greater unemployment and fewer highly paid skilled jobs, you can pretty much understand why it’s in the state that it’s in.

It’s taken long enough to bring Barnsley Town Centre back to a standard it deserves, but even now there are plenty of areas of the town centre that need more investment, and sitting back and doing nothing because it’s had some investment will negate that in a few years time. I think it’s right to fix the main Town Centre of a borough first, making that the place to go for residents of the smaller towns and villages, before trying to do something with those - especially when funds are limited.

 

Planners/architects doing a brilliant job re-redevelopment of Barnsley. What is impressive is how the newer buildings and the older ones blend together.
A coachload of my Taff relatives up here recently from Merthyr for a family wedding were all massively impressed. with the town.

 

I went past the Butchers pub at 8.30 last Sunday morning , there must have been 15 blokes in there supping ale. Personally I prefer a bacon sarnie for breakfast.

 

When we were first married. We moved to wombwell. (1977-86) Transport links. To all major south yorkshire towns without having to change busses. Shops. Pubs, clubs were in abundance and a great place to live.
Shops and clubs have sadly declined. I think the tarn suffered also. Having to compete with Meadowhall. Cortonwood. Stairfoot retail parks. (The last 2 on wombwells doorstep.) And supermarkets. I don't think it can turn around in the way Barnsley has. (Which brings people in from all over. The number of people I get talking to that travel over eg from Sheffield and rotherham is on the increase and they love it. Shame some of our own don't venture into it) People are more mobile and most prefer visiting these other places. Times change we move on. More footfall into barnsley can only improve the finances and more will be spent on outlying districts. of which I THINK wombwell was/is the largest parish under the old system. (Wombwell/Darfield/Hemingfield/Jump and a couple of smaller villages)

 

As I was growing up the bin lorries said WUDC on the side and sometimes a unicorn. There was a unicorn on my blazer at school, the library and the town hall were in the town and looked after the people. Council tenants were in the majority and the maintenance department fixed what went wrong. The park was manned and looked after, there was glass in the greenhouses and the flower beds were kept and woe betide you if you went on the grass.
This is the past and the past is gone long ago. I’m going back over 65 years. I was wondering what kind of vision I could create for the future of the town. According to Google over 15000 people live there and I wonder what they would like their town to be. I just did a tour up in the North east and stayed in Thirsk (population 5000) and Alnwick (population 8000), a third and a half the population of wombwell.
Needless to say there’s no comparison and I wonder whether Barnsley is sucking the life out Wombwell.
The main things to have changed in Wombwell, apart from the high street is the demolition of the baths and the Alma. Doesn’t count as progress in my book.

 

I think you overestimate the effects that Tarn has on Wombwell and underestimate how fallen industries, Mining, Steel and glassworks had on the Town. My late dad’s side of the family are all from Wombwell and my Grandma and Grandad lived on Hoyland street which is quite close to the ‘shopping area’ on the main road. My memories of it are of a bustling, vibrant place. I worked at Houghton Main pit where many came from Wombwell, Low Valley and Darfield. We’d all meet up in Wombwell for nights out, some great memories there. Barnsley’s not sucking the life out of Wombwell, Thatcher and her cronies got their first

 

If it looks like a 5hit hole, smells like a 5hit hole, it probably is a...

 

Woolworths for pilfering.

 

Yeah Wombwell is popular amongst people from Rotherham going nights out. That's where I heard about it. Mostly women though. Laura's aunty and mother always talk about it and went round there only last year.

 

Too many Wendy fans in Wombwell.

 

Quite a few in Cudworth too. As an aside. When I catch the train home from work. Oddly there's a lot of Sheff Utd fans in Swinton . That surprises me because of it's proximity to Rotherham and having to travel through Rotherham to get to Sheffield. Whereas in Wombwell you can travel one way to Sheffield or the other way to Barnsley or Leeds. So I can understand there being so many Wednesday and Leeds fans living there.