Douglas Sh@hole!

[Max Power]

I've had some friends over from the Exmouth region this week, and took them down to the prom and Strand Street yesterday. They seemed impressed with the work going on to improve the prom to be fair. Not so much with the state of Strand Street, Regent Street, Lord Street, Duke Street, Castle Street and the WW2 bomb sites around the place. 

The lack of basic maintenance is shocking, shops with moss and slime on the fascias, trees sprouting from the upper floors of buildings, dirty shop windows, the new, and expensive, seating areas in Regent Street covered in slime with the woodwork having lost its appearance and waterproofing, litter, fag ends and beer stains on the granite outside 1886 (along with the grey haired smoking boozers), not to mention the low standard of shops like the second hand gadget crap. 

We don't obviously see it, and if we do, there is no will to do anything about it. I found myself getting annoyed with them for their criticisms and defending the place, but then I realised that I was becoming part of the problem. 

DBC need to bloody wake up, get rid of the people who don't see the problems and make our town something to be proud of! How long do we have to endure living in a town akin to some grimy post industrial wasteland?     

[Boris Johnson]

2 minutes ago, Max Power said:

I've had some friends over from the Exmouth region this week, and took them down to the prom and Strand Street yesterday. They seemed impressed with the work going on to improve the prom to be fair. Not so much with the state of Strand Street, Regent Street, Lord Street, Duke Street, Castle Street and the WW2 bomb sites around the place. 

The lack of basic maintenance is shocking, shops with moss and slime on the fascias, trees sprouting from the upper floors of buildings, dirty shop windows, the new, and expensive, seating areas in Regent Street covered in slime with the woodwork having lost its appearance and waterproofing, litter, fag ends and beer stains on the granite outside 1886 (along with the grey haired smoking boozers), not to mention the low standard of shops like the second hand gadget crap. 

We don't obviously see it, and if we do, there is no will to do anything about it. I found myself getting annoyed with them for their criticisms and defending the place, but then I realised that I was becoming part of the problem. 

DBC need to bloody wake up, get rid of the people who don't see the problems and make our town something to be proud of! How long do we have to endure living in a town akin to some grimy post industrial wasteland?     

Post of the Decade

[Boris Johnson]

We seem or should I say Gov seems to be blind to the state of the place.

Even simple things like weeds growing out of the road, the island looks a mess.

[pongo]

It would be pointless spending much money trying to renovate Central Douglas. Much better to let it evolve naturally. At a certain point it will self-regenerate. In the same ways and for the same economic reasons as all run down places ultimately gentrify. Let the market work it out.

Douglas, like most small towns, is transitioning away from the era when high street retail was much more important. Moving forward there will be even fewer shops. It would be silly to do anything to try to stop that. It's natural.

And Douglas is no longer a destination for tourists. The future of even IOM tourism will be increasingly small scale, niche, outdoors based and rural.

Meanwhile - people are increasingly working from home and visiting the office less. 

ETA: much of the rest of Douglas is great. The old retail streets will turn into something else.

Edited September 10, 2021 by pongo

[Beelzebub3]

Only this morning seen a young fellow with a hoe clearing weeds out of the paving in Peel and thought to myself I have not seen that for years since the DOI done away with the street cleaners, I hope that this will be part of the cyclic maintenance around Peel as it is crying out for a little bit of TLC, Douglas on the other hand needs a miracle to get back to anything like it used to be. To be fair it is a sh*thole in every since of th word.

[Max Power]

8 minutes ago, pongo said:

It would be pointless spending much money trying to renovate Central Douglas. Much better to let it evolve naturally. At a certain point it will self-regenerate. In the same ways and for the same economic reasons as all run down places ultimately gentrify. Let the market work it out.

Douglas, like most small towns, is transitioning away from the era when high street retail was much more important. Moving forward there will be even fewer shops. It would be silly to do anything to try to stop that. It's natural.

And Douglas is no longer a destination for tourists. The future of even IOM tourism will be increasingly small scale, niche, outdoors based and rural.

Meanwhile - people are increasingly working from home and visiting the office less. 

 

It will never evolve into anything if it's left to rot! I'm talking about basic maintenance of even newish facilities and premises. 

The likes of the Villiers site, Summerland, Lord Street and the Middlemarch site are a scandal and a disgrace.

Douglas will never attract investment if it continues to reject it to preserve meaningless buildings like the old Newson's and Trafalgar Hotel for examples either! 

[GD4ELI]

27 minutes ago, Max Power said:

I've had some friends over from the Exmouth region this week, and took them down to the prom and Strand Street yesterday. They seemed impressed with the work going on to improve the prom to be fair. Not so much with the state of Strand Street, Regent Street, Lord Street, Duke Street, Castle Street and the WW2 bomb sites around the place. 

The lack of basic maintenance is shocking, shops with moss and slime on the fascias, trees sprouting from the upper floors of buildings, dirty shop windows, the new, and expensive, seating areas in Regent Street covered in slime with the woodwork having lost its appearance and waterproofing, litter, fag ends and beer stains on the granite outside 1886 (along with the grey haired smoking boozers), not to mention the low standard of shops like the second hand gadget crap. 

We don't obviously see it, and if we do, there is no will to do anything about it. I found myself getting annoyed with them for their criticisms and defending the place, but then I realised that I was becoming part of the problem. 

DBC need to bloody wake up, get rid of the people who don't see the problems and make our town something to be proud of! How long do we have to endure living in a town akin to some grimy post industrial wasteland?     

Sounds like Ramsey 10 years ago  .

[ManxTaxPayer]

It's not so bad. 

[Max Power]

2 minutes ago, ManxTaxPayer said:

It's not so bad. 

That's what I found myself trying to tell them.

[pongo]

Just now, Max Power said:

It will never evolve into anything if it's left to rot

Sure it will. That's how economics works. At a certain point the use changes.

What are you going to do with a whole shopping street in an era when high street retail is in decline? The answer is to wait until people gradually find alternative uses for a place.

It's utterly regressive to stand in the way of evolution - even where that begins with decline.

3 minutes ago, Max Power said:

The likes of the Villiers site, Summerland, Lord Street and the Middlemarch site are a scandal and a disgrace.

That's temporary. In the end the market will sort that out.

[finlo]

4 minutes ago, pongo said:

 

That's temporary. 

You're definition of temporary is askew.

[GD4ELI]

7 minutes ago, pongo said:

Sure it will. That's how economics works. At a certain point the use changes.

What are you going to do with a whole shopping street in an era when high street retail is in decline? The answer is to wait until people gradually find alternative uses for a place.

It's utterly regressive to stand in the way of evolution - even where that begins with decline.

That's temporary. In the end the market will sort that out.

You've got to be proactive, the market will not sort it out. The 'market' will move out of the town centre leaving behind what you're seeing today. Leave it too long and the buildings will not be usable, I've seen that with some in Parliament street.

[Numbnuts]

7 minutes ago, pongo said:

Sure it will. That's how economics works. At a certain point the use changes.

What are you going to do with a whole shopping street in an era when high street retail is in decline? The answer is to wait until people gradually find alternative uses for a place.

It's utterly regressive to stand in the way of evolution - even where that begins with decline.

That's temporary. In the end the market will sort that out.

Villiers , Summerland site and the rest is so more than temporary. Its well over 15 years or more in some cases !! And no sign , despite promises , of anything happening anytime soon .  

[Danoo]

31 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

Only this morning seen a young fellow with a hoe clearing weeds out of the paving in Peel and thought to myself I have not seen that for years since the DOI done away with the street cleaners, I hope that this will be part of the cyclic maintenance around Peel as it is crying out for a little bit of TLC, Douglas on the other hand needs a miracle to get back to anything like it used to be. To be fair it is a sh*thole in every since of th word.

Peel high street needs a reboot. Completely gutting and starting again. No small village needs half a dozen shops selling brick a brack and tat that hasn't moved for 27 years. 

[GD4ELI]

1 minute ago, Numbnuts said:

Villiers , Summerland site and the rest is so more than temporary. Its well over 15 years or more in some cases !! And no sign , despite promises , of anything happening anytime soon .  

Summerland's a legal nightmare I believe - the cliff face may not be stable, also not getting the afternoon / evening sun doesn't help.

Villers - the Island's answer to Beruit.