[Archived] Never Again !

[Ewood Spark]

Do yoofs still doss around the escalators leering at anyone and everyone

Aye ... an' we all wear flat caps and take 'whippet fot't walk ... down't cobbled streets as well

[chris_h]

Do yoofs still doss around the escalators leering at anyone and everyone?There maybe cultural diversity but not much harmony

Twas ever thus. I'm sure folk would have said the same about Teddy Boys in the 50s or Manchester' s 'scuttlers' at the turn of the 20th century.

Here in sedate, safe, sunny Adelaide groups of Lebanese or Sudanese youths hang about to the general discomfort of the populace.

[T.J.Newton]

Do yoofs still doss around the escalators leering at anyone and everyone?

There maybe cultural diversity but not much harmony

The problem is your precious "opinions" on the subject are outdated(aside from the fact the ring road isn't perfect and needs completing to make it more efficient to get in and out of town easier), Blackburn town centre is now actually a lively eclectic place(especially compared to the corpses of most other towns in the north west and yes obviously people still go into Manchester a lot as its one of the best cities in Europe(my opinion) for shopping, nightlife, events etc..

Blackburns biggest flaw is lack of good nightlife(but that's a problem in most places other than the big cities I think) but you can always go into Blackburn town centre and jump on a train to Manchester have a few drinks catch a gig and get the last train back for midnightish(or you can spend the entire night partying in manc and collapse onto the early morning train back)

[yoda]

The problem is your precious "opinions" on the subject are outdated(aside from the fact the ring road isn't perfect and needs completing to make it more efficient to get in and out of town easier), Blackburn town centre is now actually a lively eclectic place(especially compared to the corpses of most other towns in the north west and yes obviously people still go into Manchester a lot as its one of the best cities in Europe(my opinion) for shopping, nightlife, events etc..

Blackburns biggest flaw is lack of good nightlife

Bring back margo

[Ewood Spark]

Blackburns biggest flaw is lack of good nightlife

And why it needs a student population .... if only it had got the Polytechnic status it applied for in the late 50's early 60's, things would have been so much easier. .... Still the new campus is taking shape nicely!.

[chris_h]

And why it needs a student population .... if only it had got the Polytechnic status it applied for in the late 50's early 60's, things would have been so much easier. .... Still the new campus is taking shape nicely!.

Preston got that didn't it? Just like Preston seems to benefit from most positive developments in Lancashire.

I'm sure there's a reason for that but I can't think what it might be.

[T.J.Newton]

Bring back margo

god no, its her gaffs that really did attract the bad'ens that eventually drove most decent people out of town for a night out.

I visited the new Blackburn uni recently to see an exhibition that a relative was involved in, I was quite impressed with the uni itself, but unlike most unis the one in Blackburn doesn't seem to have many/any good trendy bars or anything around for the students so you don't get that campus feel that you do at say Lancaster, Manchester and preston(to an extent) We need some fresh young bar owners in town to liven things up and take advantage of the massive void.

[Ewood Spark]

Preston got that didn't it? Just like Preston seems to benefit from most positive developments in Lancashire.

I'm sure there's a reason for that but I can't think what it might be.

Apparently they got the Poly because we got the Cathedral, .... and then we got the radio station. As it turns out Britain PLC is now a service industry provider and provides 'education to the world' ... so perhaps the Poly would have been the more lucrative offering? Still, as I said they seem to be making a 'bloody good job' of Blackburn College campus ... and with a growing local population ... who knows where it will all end. The growing population will most likely be the clincher

[chris_h]

Apparently they got the Poly because we got the Cathedral, .... and then we got the radio station. As it turns out Britain PLC is now a service industry provider and provides 'education to the world' ... so perhaps the Poly would have been the more lucrative offering? Still, as I said they seem to be making a 'bloody good job' of Blackburn College campus ... and with a growing local population ... who knows where it will all end. The growing population will most likely be the clincher

To be fair, I had forgotten about the Cathedral and Radio 'Blackburn'.

Small beer though in comparison to the first motorway, a Polytechnic/University and a mainline railway station. I'm only surprised they didn't get a bloody airport.

Blackburn could be a commercial and cultural centre for around quarter of a million people. I hope it happens in my lifetime. I hope to retire in about 20 odd years and would love to return to live in a vibrant home town.

[West Yorks Rover]

Yes it is Chris. And this is the thing people don't seem to get. The worse thing that can happen to a town is depopulation ... that is the cancer of urban living. Luckily economics is color-blind ... so it makes no difference as to the makeup of a population (white, brown, pink or violet) .... only that there IS a population.

I think you may find the population of Blackburn has somewhat stagnated in the last 30 years, however Darwen must have increased a fair bit because

the borough has gone from 140,000 to 147,500

1981 Blackburn 106,501 present day 105,085

Must be white flight to Darren then.

[ABBEY]

yeah yeah! you've got some chip on your

shoulder about Blackburn we get it.

Eeee not like you to have a pop at someone else . At least you release I'm not into you

[T.J.Newton]

not like you to be talking

[Stuart]

Apparently they got the Poly because we got the Cathedral, .... and then we got the radio station. As it turns out Britain PLC is now a service industry provider and provides 'education to the world' ... so perhaps the Poly would have been the more lucrative offering? Still, as I said they seem to be making a 'bloody good job' of Blackburn College campus ... and with a growing local population ... who knows where it will all end. The growing population will most likely be the clincher

I know we hardly ever agree (largely stemming from of your inability to debate a hypothetical topic like Lancs County FC without getting personal) but your feelings on this topic, I am fully on board with.

Much like our football club, the only people who will make this town better are the people who live and work there.

The idea of slagging it off and leaving (or avoiding it) is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

"It's going downhill, I'm not going" is really "it's going downhill because you're not going".

[Ewood Spark]

I know we hardly ever agree (largely stemming from of your inability to debate a hypothetical topic like Lancs County FC without getting personal) but your feelings on this topic, I am fully on board with.

Much like our football club, the only people who will make this town better are the people who live and work there.

The idea of slagging it off and leaving (or avoiding it) is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

"It's going downhill, I'm not going" is really "it's going downhill because you're not going".

I am glad we have found common ground.

[Ewood Spark]

I'm only surprised they didn't get a bloody airport.

You may scoff, but this was the plan earlier last century. The land at Samlesbury now owned by BAE Systems was originally intended to be the site of a joint venture (between Blackburn Corporation and Preston Corporation) for a municipal Airport to serve the towns. It would though have had a Blackburn post code .

Unfortunately the war effort put an end to the plans.

[thenodrog]

Apparently they got the Poly because we got the Cathedral, .... and then we got the radio station. As it turns out Britain PLC is now a service industry provider and provides 'education to the world' ... so perhaps the Poly would have been the more lucrative offering? Still, as I said they seem to be making a 'bloody good job' of Blackburn College campus ... and with a growing local population ... who knows where it will all end. The growing population will most likely be the clincher

I rem Dr Rose Principle of Blackburn Tech in the mid 70's believing that Polytechnic status for Blackburn Tech was in the bag. Unfortunately some skullduggery spirited it away to Preston at the 11th hour. Probably the work of some secret organisation or dodgy backhanders from and too influential people. It was a major crossroads in the town's development and who knows what Blackburn would be like now if that had happened?

However no good crying over spilt milk and on to the bit I bolded . I can't help thinking that this country is missing a massive trick of mega proportions. I attended a graduation at Salford Uni last year (dreadful waste of two hours tedious and insincere applause). However I was absolutely amazed at the amount of foreign students gaining degrees in all areas of modern technology. They must have outnumbered English ones by 2:1 with Africans and Chinese comprising the majority. I'd like to wager that there would be nothing like that number of foreigners studying the worthless likes of events management and media studies!

Effectively we are selling our technology to the world on a here today gone tomorrow promise. With so many unemployed going nowhere in dead end jobs and massive oportunities opening up in the BRICS countries and Africa why on earth are we not training our own kids in real skills in all areas of Science and Technology and exporting them?

You may scoff, but this was the plan earlier last century. The land at Samlesbury now owned by BAE Systems was originally intended to be the site of a joint venture (between Blackburn Corporation and Preston Corporation) for a municipal Airport to serve the towns. It would though have had a Blackburn post code .

Unfortunately the war effort put an end to the plans.

Not sure about that ES ..... It would now but not then. I rem Postcodes being introduced! And that was either late 60's or poss early 70's.

[Majiball]

We don't do that as uni's charge a fortune to non-eu students, so make more money this way

[Rover_Shaun]

And why it needs a student population .... if only it had got the Polytechnic status it applied for in the late 50's early 60's, things would have been so much easier. .... Still the new campus is taking shape nicely!.

Students aren't going to suddenly make Blackburn roll back the years. Cost is a massive issue as having a night out is expensive these days thanks to £3.50 pints. It would still be same where students spend their evenings in their digs drinking cheap supermarket beer and then appear like Vampires around midnight to go to the nearest and cheapest indie club.

If Blackburn did suddenly get some decent bars there is no longer as many locals around who drink and those that do would probably be able to afford one good night a month and where would they choose? Yes , Manchester again where there are pub environments for all tastes from real ale pubs to full on vomit central (deansgate).

Preston is suffering from this too. Though the centre is fairly busy on weekends it's nowhere near as busy as it was.

What Blackburn needs is to stop agreeing to any more out of town shopping developments and make the town centre attractive to businesses. That includes lowering the crazy parking charges and looking into a park and ride scheme that can take advantage of the bonkers bus lanes to nowhere dotted around.

There is scope but do the council have the imagination?

[Rover_Shaun]

I know we hardly ever agree (largely stemming from of your inability to debate a hypothetical topic like Lancs County FC without getting personal) but your feelings on this topic, I am fully on board with.

Much like our football club, the only people who will make this town better are the people who live and work there.

The idea of slagging it off and leaving (or avoiding it) is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

"It's going downhill, I'm not going" is really "it's going downhill because you're not going".

it's like a restaurant Stuart. If it has a bad reputation or it's always empty you are not going to go in. Blackburn needs to make the effort FIRST to attract people back. They have to make it attractive to make people spend their money. It's not got the advantage of having the loyalty that the football club enjoys.

[thenodrog]

We don't do that as uni's charge a fortune to non-eu students, so make more money this way

Short term gain..... long term loss more like majiball. It's a fools charter and the scourge of UK Politics and UK business alike. Some might liken it to shooting oneself in the foot.

[Rover_Shaun]

Short term gain..... long term loss more like majiball. It's a fools charter and the scourge of UK Politics and UK business alike. Some might liken it to shooting oneself in the foot.

I agree wholeheartedly Gordon. It's a brain drain and eventually all the UK born people with anything to offer above flipping a burger are going to seek employment elsewhere because the opportunities are no longer available

[thenodrog]

What Blackburn needs is to stop agreeing to any more out of town shopping developments and make the town centre attractive to businesses. That includes lowering the crazy parking charges and looking into a park and ride scheme that can take advantage of the bonkers bus lanes to nowhere dotted around.

There is scope but do the council have the imagination?

Might be useful to stop wrecking the green belt and the countryside with cheap housing schemes and build on brown field sites close to the town centre.

I agree wholeheartedly Gordon. It's a brain drain and eventually all the UK born people with anything to offer above flipping a burger are going to seek employment elsewhere because the opportunities are no longer available

I think you misunderstood me BWA. I'm all for the brain drain. We should be majoring on exporting our technology via our kids all around the developing world. It would stand us in good stead long term and extend our sphere of influence. As it stands our burger flippers have earned their position by gaining degrees in useless brain dead subjects.

[Rover_Shaun]

I'd rather hold into our brains and export their products and sell their expertise to the world and retain the wealth.

[thenodrog]

I know what you are saying but that won't work anymore. We have few natural resources and few cheap production methods and anyway the Germans are streets ahead of us in that respect. We'd be playing an impossible game of catch up. What we should be doing is reverting to our colonial past and concentrating on forging an 'economic commonwealth' of the future.

[Stuart]

it's like a restaurant Stuart. If it has a bad reputation or it's always empty you are not going to go in. Blackburn needs to make the effort FIRST to attract people back. They have to make it attractive to make people spend their money. It's not got the advantage of having the loyalty that the football club enjoys.

It's really not like a restaurant. Unless it's your own family restaurant. And even then it's still not like a restaurant.

It is like a football club. It's OUR one and only home town. It's where you're from. Why shouldn't there be some sort of loyalty. If we can't help make it work, no-one's going to make it work for us. However, make the place heaving every weekend and shops and chains will be desperate to get a floor space.

Sadly too many people just want things done for them. By clearing off to Dumpdale (let's face it - it ain't much to shout about), Piddlebrook (slightly better) or the Trafford Centre (clothes anyone?) it just means less footfall in Blackburn, less shoppers, less shops. It's self-fulfilling.

To be fair, a lot has been done in recent years to improve the town but it's going to take time. Especially in the middle of a recession.

I partly blame the Internet for a lot of shop closures but there is still a market for browsing and reserve and collect. People want the ability to buy quickly from plenty of choice without a hard sell and guaranteed stock in your size but would gladly go and collect from the shop or try outfits on.

Take a visit to the butchers in the market, cheaper, better quality and a nicer, friendly experience than t'ASDA or Tesco.

Stay loyal. Buy local, from local companies.