Does Anyone Recognise Their Home Town Anymore

[nailit]

from say 10-15 years ago??
Ive always said that Stoke has been a dump for years but
others have said the same about their own town.
In the last few years Ive been to other cities & towns and the high street has
been declining.
From seaside resorts like Blackpool to inner cities like Manchester,
All on the decline.

Any cities on the up?

[Mozz71]

From 15 years ago? Yeah, it's still the same dump it was then. From 40 years ago, no. Of course, there's a fair chance that it is much the same as it was in the 80s, and it's my perception of it has changed.

[Mamyalynne]

The core of the Town Centre remains the same with an occasional shift.

Lots of new developments have sprung up on the outskirts.

Bolton, Greater Manchester.

[ladybirder]

Some places in North Yorkshire like Harrogate, Ripon, and Pateley Bridge are certainly not in decline. Prices have risen in PB definitely over the last few years.
Also where I live in Brighton & Hove prices are on the up so I guess the city isn't going "down".

https://strata.co.uk/homes/advice/local-area-guides/5-best-places-to-live-north-yorkshire/

[Buenchico]

Ipswich has been very much 'on the up' for the past couple of decades, with 'day to day' retailers largely being replaced by high quality independent shops and loads of good restaurants and bars. Unsurprisingly, things have stalled a bit over the past couple of years but the town centre is still a far nicer place than it used to be.

Going in the opposite direction from where I live (but closer to me), Stowmarket looked as if was faltering for a while but during the past few years, even during Covid, lots of independent businesses have opened and the town is starting to thrive again.

The town where I actually live is more of a 'big village' really, with a population of around 5,000. We've seen some much-loved shops close over the past few years, such as a traditional hardware store where, if you so wanted, you could buy just a single plastic cable tie for a few pence, rather than having to buy a big pack for several pounds. However that's about to be replaced with a new convenience store, which will add to the choice of what's available locally for people who find it difficult to travel to the big supermarkets a few miles away. The (very upmarket) farm shop here goes from strength to strength, as does the restaurant that's associated with it and the independent traders on the same site. The town is becoming a Mecca for antiques hunters, with the antiques centre seeming to do well and lots of antiques and collectables shops along the High Street too.

Other towns in this part of Suffolk seem to be doing quite well too, including Hadleigh, Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. Closer to the coast though, the less 'upmarket' towns don't seem to be faring too well. ('Posh' places on the coast, such as Aldeburgh and Southwold, are generally doing as well as ever). Felixstowe has plenty of empty shops and seems to be on the decline. Leiston was always a dump and it certainly hasn't improved. Saxmundham seems to have lost much of its charm. The worst hit of all though in the county seems to be Lowestoft. The main shopping centre was never anything special but it's now almost totally deserted. Even the majority of charity shops seem to have pulled out, along with Poundstretcher, McDonalds and many other well-known High Street names.

[fraser]

Last time I went tonottingham it look awful I left twenty years ago Chris my mother came from Felixstowe or to be precise trimley st Mary haven't been for at least fifty years.

[jno]

I suppose my home town's been London for the last several decades and yes, it's spruced up a lot since the 70s (when there were still bombsites around), and there are some enclaves for superrich foreign tax dodgers that are quite recent. Not a whole lot's changed at ground level, but there are high-rises in most suburbs that never used to be there.

[tiggerblue10]

Croydon is much the same as it was 15 years ago. It has however changed a lot from around 30 years ago. More housing is being built though.

[nailit]

Just got the bus from Crewe to Stoke.
I remember Crewe been a thriving place.
Now its a nowhere place.
Just like Stoke....

it must be a Northern thing...

[ladybirder]

Not in North Yorkshire it isn't nailit as my post at 22.48 shows.

[Bazile]

Here in downtown Rio de Janeiro , the favelas are looking up

[Maydup]

The problem with the High Street is its reliance on retail and with so many closures, like Debenhams, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins and the rest, many towns are in decline. The seaside resorts still come alive in the summer as they are more geared to leisure than retail, but otherwise its a steady fall until they find something to brighten them up other than large shops.

[Canary42]

The problem is stupid councillors. They open a shopping mall and it's a great success. So expecting to get a quart out of a pint pot, the stupid idiots open another one, and then wonder why the first goes into decline. I've seen this happen in two cities I've dwelled in.

Norwich with the Castle Mall which was a great success until they opened Chapelfield, now the Castle Mall is like a desert.

Portsmouth with Cascades (which replaced the old infamous Tricorn) which, after initial success, then went into decline when they followed it up with Gunwharf Quays.

[rowanwitch]

London has so much listed stuff bits of it are unchanged other bits are Anycity Anywhere, just glass and concrete and too many people. Battersea is pretty much the same though. Birmingham is almost unrecognizable now from the place I knew in the 1990s. Only the area around the town hall and the top end of New street are unscathed. I miss the old markets area though and the 1990s covered retail fish and meat market looks like it will go soon most of the stalls have gone.

[barry1010]

All the towns in my area have been in serious decline since the opening of the Merry Hill Centre in the 1980s. The council gave huge incentives to businesses to move in, so the towns lost their M&S, Woolies, BHS and many other then successful shops. Of course it also had free car parking and excellent bus services, a huge draw for the shoppers. The banks have moved there, too.

So now the towns have lots of empty shops, charity shops, fast food outlets, 'cash converters' and their ilk, bookies and other gambling outlets and vape shops. My local town has nothing to attract me.

[emmie]

London has changed a lot and for many areas not for the better.

[Bazile]

Which towns are you referring to , Barry ?.

[rowanwitch]

Some of the peripheral areas have held their own. Halesowen is still pretty good, Although the Cornbow has lost a few good shops, but West Bromwich is no longer worth the trip, Bromsgrove is not great, Redditch is dire, Although Northfield has improved, not been to Wallsall but am told it's not that bad, I really hate Merry Hill, not enough places to stop for coffee as what it has are always full of young mums with pushchairs who stay for ages, and it is very very noisy which I find almost impossible to deal with.
Some of the other improving areas seem to be Selly Oak, and Longbridge which have both gained a small retail park .

[Bobbisox1]

Newcastle is very lively and attracts many weekends visitors

[barry1010]

Bazile, Dudley, Oldbury, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton and all the smaller towns in the area.

[jno]

Rowan, surely Battersea is one of the areas changing beyond recognition? Glass-bottom swimming pools overhead and all. I know there's more to it than the riverside, but prices all over seem to be soaring.