Town centre square

Have to say the town centre is a massive improvement. Probably it needs some work going up New Street. I started work in the Yorkshire Bank there. Sad to see that empty. Some affordable town centre flats would add massively to the regeneration process in my opinion. Barnsley is largely a lot of ex mining villages, with only a small population near to the town centre. Cities like Leeds thrive through the week having so many town centre residents.

 

It will give a boost to the independents though by increasing footfall to the town centre in general and by lowering the rental costs in such as the alhambra who have empty units they need to fill.

There are two buildings I'd absolutely love to be turned into a lot of small independent shops, either the college site on church Street which would be ideal as each classroom could be a separate shop around the perimeter with a central courtyard in the middle. Obviously that would need the college to move one of its sites but not undoable.

The other would be to do something similar with Wellington house and section it off into a few smaller units. I think both those would work as the architecture of both leads to a classy independent feel.

Another option is for market Street to take on more independents because it's never really going to attract the big name shops especially if m&s closes. Would be ideal then for just one long row of independent shops

 

New Street would look a million times better if it was attacked with a sandblaster to uncover the stone frontages.

Agree on the affordable flats too and both the buildings I mentioned for independents would work really well for them

 

Int Wellington House going to be the new Job Centre? Maybe the current Job Centre is then earmarked for housing?

 

Good point, yes it is.
Possibly controversial idea but I think all job centres should be in police stations or next to them in order to deter people from arriving on drugs. I also don't think they should be next to pubs and bars either as those who have addictions don't need the extra temptation

 

I'm well out of touch. I didn't know that.

The current job centre is a shitty building though.

 

Maybe we should just arrest all the unemployed people and force them to do community service

 

Did I mention all the unemployed people? I said that I don't think a job centre should be near pubs because i don't think those who have addictions should be forced to face temptations whilst trying to get work.

Or if you mean that I think they should be at police stations well that's a two fold thing, firstly I think it would deter people from taking drugs before going which is surely a good thing isn't it? Reducing their drug use. And secondly I've often said that I think many more services should by combined like this. I've previously suggested that police stations and ambulance stations should be combined and that a police car should be housed at every fire station. Council offices and police stations combined (which actually happens in some places) etc.

So no I wasn't saying let's round up all unemployed and force them to do anything I was saying that moving a job centre away from a pub and towards a police station might reduce drug and alcohol abuse and actually HELP the people struggling with those addictions.

Or we could stick job centres next to pubs and do nowt to help

 

Probably to do with all the pigeons camped out on its roof.

 

Take a look at the Town Centre Strategy here: https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/media/19473/barnsley-urban-design-low-carbon-strategy.pdf

This addresses the need for further demolition, more green space, and town centre housing. It’s an interesting read and covers off New Street, Peel Street etc. and the likely changes we’ll see over the next decade or so.

 

Some interesting reading there but as with all these things will they materialise ?

 

Such as the hilarious Tuscan hill village...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2644955.stm

 

All jobcentres, same as all government buildings, are built at the sh it end of town, to do anything else would be ‘a waste of public money’.

Having visited hundreds of government offices in my life, I can safely say you get a feel for when you’re approaching them.

In most towns it’d be impossible to build them a fair distance from the nearest pub or bookies, because in most towns you’re never more than 200m from a pub or a bookies. And putting them out of town would be a huge inconvenience for everyone surely.

Ive no idea where the police station is in Barnsley (or most other towns), but it’s probably at a crap end of town too (see above) and just unlucky if it’s not near the jobcentre (the one in Donny is).

 

It's in a nice bit of Barnsley just at the edge of, or just outside the town centre - at the back of the Town Hall near Lord Mason's house

 

Just follow the trail of horse 5hit on a match day; at one end is Oakwell, at the other is the cop station.

 

I do take your point though and know what you mean. When I was last in Reading, it was a lovely town centre and then you get to the Travelodge and on the edge and it was like something clicked and you were in the **** end of town, with all the takeaways and strays of life.

 

That model's on display in the Experience Barnsley museum.

 

To be fair it’s a reflection on the relatively compact nature of Barnsley that it’s not too far from the town hall to the old DSS building.

Whilst walking up hill it’s goes downhill pretty quickly.

My ‘favourite’ civic building though was photographing a wedding at Rotherham registry office, where most register offices have some nice space close by, you used to exit the Rovrum one straight onto a car park at the side of an overpass. Dead romantic like.

 

A car bomber's delight. The ease of access for vehicles to pull up outside the Market Kitchen / Falco Lounge is criminal.

 

There are quite a few places in Tarn where this could happen, no doubt in many other Towns and cities in the UK and beyond. Seems a bizarre take on things