Not be long before there will be nothing left in Wombwell. More and more shops closing and shutters remaining down, For Lease signs popping up everywhere. Gemini close in a fortnight and The Carpet Centre is moving out of town. Rumours of the Coop going as well, if that is the case may as well find some tumbleweed and let it blow through at intervals. I remember when the Borough formed, Wombwell was one of the only Urban Councils that actually contributed monies to the coffers it was well run and in profit......... look at it now. poor relatives, rates set that high and rents so high no one can afford to set up busineses or keep them on the town centre, I despair of BMBC sometimes,
Darton has gone exactly the same. In all provincial towns now, it seems there is one mini market and that's your lot. Blame the car.
Its not just Wombwell !!! The whole of Barnsley is dying The population is going down when places like Dony are going up The town hasn't much going for it Dunt blame the current council some of them are good. Its the owd councils when the pits were running that have left us in such a mess. These councils never planed in advance in the event that the pits would close. They relied on the money generated from the pits to keep the town going. When the pits close the one industry town of Barnsley was left high and dry. There is now a catch up operation going on but other surrounding towns are well infront. For instance the cafe culture is only just got going in Barnsley and even then you cant sit outside because you may annoy the shoppers The people in the villages, although the best in the world, are on the most stuck in a pit style mentallity e.g. we have never had nowt and we dunt want owt The best Barnsley can do is latch itself onto Leeds, and the council are trying to promote this now
I'm like you - bemoan the closing of small, local shops etc....but then I look at my own actions, vast majority of shopping done at the large supermarkets, hardly use the local butcher and baker that isn't too far away.
We're all the same... bemoan the death of small shops but then go to Tesco or Morrisons all the time Another thing killing local businesses is sky high rents often set by absent SOUTHERN landlords
The main problem in Wombwell is the stupid closure of Station Road to all traffic except buses. Cars and taxis should be allowed access to Wombwell via Station Road. The sooner the link road from the By-pass opens the better.
Don't blame the council? The council are rubbish - just look at the number of similar type pubs they allow to spring up. Number of times I've looked in the Chron in recent years to see an application for a licensed restaurant has been turned down because of pub licencees protesting that there are already too many licensed premise and then a couple of months later the same property gets a licence to turn it into a pub/bar without the restaurant! Wetherspoon's were after the old Halifax building on Market Hill and it was turned down by the council who said the town needed more variety - so instead of allowing only the 2nd real ale pub in the town centre what happened? They allowed it to become another bottle bar like so many other bars in town - tell me where the variety was there? There's a pub cartel operating in town with 2 or 3 companies owning the majority of premises, and the council are in on it.
"The best Barnsley can do is latch itself onto Leeds, and the council are trying to promote this now" I live in Leeds, during the Uni ter atleast, and I wondered what the campaign was all about. There are posters on buses and buildings telling prospective business men to come to Barnsley. Eventually, if everyone (businesswise) leaves Barnsley, then shop/offices will surely be available cheaper in order to get people in. In turn, won't this have a positive effect? If that makes sense... (blagger)
Like many people I couldn't wait to leave the place. Been back a few times, moved back to live for a short while but didn't stay long. I suppose it's a good place to come from but not too good to go back to.
Leeds and Manchester are the most prosperous towns in northern England One of these is on our doorstep so we need better links to that city A simple but effective way of gauging a towns prosperity is to count the number of cranes above the city centre I've been in Leeds and Sheffield in the last couple of weeks there is a marked difference even between these two. Then count the cranes above the Barnsley skyline
RE: Leeds and Manchester are the most prosperous towns in northern England If there's no-one coming in, and no interest in the city, there's no need for expansion or redevelopment. You have to pay for the cranes and no-one's willing to put money into the town. I agree that a better transport system would help that. Leeds is hell between 4.30 and 6. I reckon that people would avoid that situation and go to a quieter place if they had the option...well, maybe...