rosco

I think Covid / Russia is partly to blame for this fiasco 

May as well just start building all the houses / flats and stop the time wasting because we aren't going to see any more shops

Very worrying story.......drove past last week and the site is locked up and nothing doing  

And she's the best candidate for the job😟........bring back Boris

54 minutes ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

So we've had a town centre regeneration that has stalled.......and now this hasn't even got over the start line

Hopefully it is just a blip and is down to supply issues

1 hour ago, _pauls said:

It is perhaps symbolic that emailing the "contact us" address on Investing in Bedlington results in a bounce with a "No Such User Here" 

9 months since the last update on there. I wonder why they don't take the site down and save themselves the embarrassment of a monument to 7 years of broken promises.

I wonder how many of the benefits of the scheme can now be safely ticked off the list?

 

You can put a big red cross through all six.......school report would read as a D- 

Good to see a new small business open up in the former British Gas showrooms   https://co22.uk/ community workspace with various packages on offer

Good Luck 👍

Just accept nothing else will get built for a couple of years then eventually some cheap nasty housing will fill the rest of site. The chance of a development was lost when Tesco had its plans turned down because of a stupid listing on the old Coop building the same building that was demolished, we now would have had a nice new Tesco plus some new shops. Tesco pulled out of Bedlington because of constant fannying about by the council plus they refused to spend any more money on a building that had more holes in the roof than a sieve, so when they announced store closures Bedlington was always one of the stores top of the list

Has somebody run out of red pencil to fil the Bedlington space🙄

8 hours ago, _pauls said:

"Further investment of just over £2 million to ensure the project is completed."

 

Part of the problem is nobody seems to know what the project is any more. I'm assuming that what is referred to here is the four new retail units and associated flats, rather than any of the other plans.

 

Your hopeful......4 new retail units....... Aldi plus a new Greggs and a load of flats is probably the best we can hope for, it been a total cock up from start to whenever it finishes

There was never any chance of getting a leisure centre my only grudge with the council is that they didn't approve the Tesco development years ago because of the former Coop building with its listed / historical status. Give it another two years and the rest of the site will be cheap nasty housing because of a combination of fannying about / incompetence by council etc

I forgot the tattoo shops .....we have 3 and every time I've gone past barbers shops at bp garage/todds/market place/old post office/clippers....no more than one person at best

On a side note now that Morpeth are building a £21M leisure centre and selling the old one can Bedlington not put a cheeky £1 bid in and demolish/rebuild in the market place😁as we will happily take a 2nd hand leisure centre, it'll sit nicely where the pub that isn't getting built anymore would have been

Back to my original post.......I don't disagree that the high street has changed and the butcher/baker/candlestick maker thing is long gone, and yes there is clearly a market for all theses barbers/nail bars etc but only so many can survive and I think saturation point has been reached.

Sadly I think the town centre development site will be the same in a couple of years time and eventually will have cheap housing built on and when I say the site will have cheap housing I mean cheap as in cheap and nasty not affordable. One idea would have been to move the library/doctors etc into a nice new modern building which would take a fair chunk of the land as the originals are out of date and as normal every other town has had/getting new except Bedlington.

Tesco wanted to build a new shiny store and a handful of shops but were turned down because the old building was marked as listed/important🤣they also refused to spend major amounts fixing/bodging the leaking roofs/decrepit buildings and eventually decided enough was enough and left even though the old shop was making money. Then a few years down the line the entire site is flattened including the all important former COOP building

If you count up the number of hairdressers/barbers/nail bars/beauty salons in Bedlington main street and just off it comes to about 20

And as regards the town centre development they may as well just build a load of housing on it as nobody else will want to open up a shop because we aren't going to get a leisure facility etc

Shame to see another long established business closing.....so here is the latest betting on the new one opening

Hair dresser/Barbers...1/2

Nail Bar... 6/4

Beauty Salon 7/2

Vape Shop...4/1

Cafe...5/1

Anything  actually useful...20/1

Got my 6 weekly cut yesterday and Trevor was telling me he's been in his shop for 34 years this month.....well done and hopefully for many more years, many barbers have opened and closed over the years but only the best survive If you need a cut/trim give Trevor or Jill a go 

Anybody care to recommend a garage for car repair/service it doesn't need to be main dealer and can be a back street garage I'm just after an honest/fair priced establishment 

Work next door the the Aldi store seems to have dried up

Anybody had problems with mobile coverage in the last couple of days in particular Vodafone i did notice lots of vans and work going on at the BT building mobile mast yesterday and wondering if that is the reason

50 minutes ago, Jammy said:

 There will be problems when the new station opens. The small car park near Tasty Bite is often full so luck is needed to obtain a space. The car park behind the Dress Doctor is always close to being full and the car park on the old Railway Tavern site may be reduced if part of it is or has been selected to build a platform. These car parks are already used by local traffic so not much spare capacity. The new station will attract traffic from further away. I foresee cars parked along Melrose and Jubilee Terrace, along the road to St Johns and Bridge Terrace and Stakeford lane. The parked vehicles will cause problems so yellow lines will appear, then where do they park?

 If a journey to Newcastle via train costs more than a bus then vehicles won't be a problem as the trains will hardly be used. For example: - who will travel by car to Bedlington Station from Stakeford(especially having to travel over those ridiculous humps in the road) when good a bus service is already available and the total journey time will be greater by train. This will also apply to Bedlington(top end) travellers.

 Initially the train will attract curiosity but I think the interest will soon subside and will struggle to break even. Local people may use it but it's all about journey cost. It may come down to how many workers at the battery factory use it.

 If bus passes can be used there will be quite a few older passengers but they are not what the train company wants as they don't generate much income.

X31/32 bus fare will tumble as well with the competition £7.50 day return at the moment from Ashington to Newcastle

There was a funeral service at St Cuthbert's today must have been 100+ stood together outside church when coffin was being loaded no one wearing a mask

Nice gesture by yourselves but has the scumbag paid any compensation/fines towards the damage and items stolen.....or is/was it a fine which we all know will never be paid

Well if and its a big if.....work starts in late summer it'll only be 2 years late

I'll believe it when its all completed..........phase 1 & 2