cissolt Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 47 minutes ago, Passing Time said: Nobody is going to hate you for speaking the truth. Everybody except those in authority can see how bad things are. What they propose to do about it is another thing. Easiest solution for them is to bury their collective heads in the sand Alf drove over the mountain the other day and said everythings fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 I agree with his comments about Developers, they want the easy bucks from covering greenfields with houses at inflated prices, they don't want to contribute at lesser profit margins ! It needs someone with a spine to reign the profits in to benefit all or tell them to bugger off !! 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passing Time Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 1 hour ago, 0bserver said: Wholesale demolition of Douglas Town Centre would be a start. Just when I thought you couldn't get any dafter... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Login Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Blade Runner said: good peeps, in fact I have not seen it worse. It could be a lot better. I am not going to disagree it could be a lot better but I disagree with you that it has not looked worse. At least as far as Douglas goes. In the early 90s the Villiers site was a whole row of derelict guesthouses and there were many the whole length of the prom. You may not like the modern flats but visually they are an improvement in my view. The section from the Sefton to the Villa Marina looks much better. The area around the North Quay is greatly improved visually. Driving from the Sea Terminal to the QB there may be some old Corporation flats but they have knocked down and rebuilt some. I am not a fan of McDonalds etc but the whole of that section of Peel Road does not look neglected. Modern offices have been built on Athol Street & Circular Road. Tesco's has helped improve the Lake Road area, M&S + plus Premier Inn have improved where they are. OK Lord Street bus site is not great but plenty in the area has been rebuilt, 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxchester Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 2 hours ago, Blade Runner said: Can I just suggest one thing? Make "Developers" who buy up these empty plots do some development within a short, stipulated, timeframe or tax them highly. Agree with this, there needs to be some encouragement/punishment for these plots to be used (should also apply to empty commercial buildings). I think the island looks good compared to a lot of places across though, recently visited family back in Manchester and the surrounding areas were shocking, amount of litter everywhere was appalling along with general upkeep. Obviously we can and should do better but it’s still a really nice place to live in my opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Blade Runner was worth 50 of the 'Newbies' on here, love him or loath him, he expressed his opinion not a mash up recently read threads and cliches. Lessons to be learnt??? Wish him well wherever he may be! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 29 minutes ago, Lost Login said: I am not going to disagree it could be a lot better but I disagree with you that it has not looked worse. At least as far as Douglas goes. In the early 90s the Villiers site was a whole row of derelict guesthouses and there were many the whole length of the prom. You may not like the modern flats but visually they are an improvement in my view. The section from the Sefton to the Villa Marina looks much better. The area around the North Quay is greatly improved visually. Driving from the Sea Terminal to the QB there may be some old Corporation flats but they have knocked down and rebuilt some. I am not a fan of McDonalds etc but the whole of that section of Peel Road does not look neglected. Modern offices have been built on Athol Street & Circular Road. Tesco's has helped improve the Lake Road area, M&S + plus Premier Inn have improved where they are. OK Lord Street bus site is not great but plenty in the area has been rebuilt, You are right, but people forget the major economic shift that happened in the 70s and 80s. Tourism stopped as the main economic generator. What were you going to do with a hotel, designed with a sink in your room as the luxury option? Why would you invest anything, even if you had it to invest? I can recall stories of keys being handed in to mortgage providers as being the only option. Others without financing, I suppose, just walked away. So Douglas in the late 80s/early 90s just looked abandoned, because it was. Look at many cities and town in the north of England when their major industries failed. The mills, docks and shipyards were abandoned and fell into disrepair, becoming derelict. It is a cycle and when the finance industry gathered pace, the old tourist facilities were not suited to the new industry and many, but not all, were removed to make way for the new economic generator. What we have not had acces to is the support that the old mill towns had to regenerate those relics, or their sites, of an old industry into something that fits the economy now, so we have demolition without regeneration. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 ..but they gave accommodation to the plethora of new workers who we gratefully received to our service industry to provide us with the service that we became to require from our new service/catering requirements. That they were no longer part of tourist accommodation, the Grand Hotel, is a consequence of our requirement and who owned the property!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlo Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 11 minutes ago, Roxanne said: And those houses, on the prom by the sea terminal. Once boarding houses abutting the Italian restaurant. They were awful to come off the boat and drive past. Still are! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Kopek said: ..but they gave accommodation to the plethora of new workers who we gratefully received to our service industry to provide us with the service that we became to require from our new service/catering requirements. That they were no longer part of tourist accommodation, the Grand Hotel, is a consequence of our requirement and who owned the property!!!! Not sure I understand your point. Do you really think anyone is going to maintain a property when the original market for that property has disappeared on the off chance it may return? Edited June 1, 2022 by Gladys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlo Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 10 minutes ago, Roxanne said: OMG. Don’t tell me they are still the same? Not sure of the age of this but here you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 29 minutes ago, Gladys said: Not sure I understand your point. Do you really think anyone is going to maintain a property when the original market for that property has disappeared on the off chance it may return? You answer your own question, the owners made a decision to abandon the original tourist accommodation to provide temp accom to the new service employees, initiallly Italian, who gave us that level of service in catering that we had become to expect . they had to live somewhere? as many landlords have realised to provide similar to many other Nationallities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 17 minutes ago, Kopek said: You answer your own question, the owners made a decision to abandon the original tourist accommodation to provide temp accom to the new service employees, initiallly Italian, who gave us that level of service in catering that we had become to expect . they had to live somewhere? as many landlords have realised to provide similar to many other Nationallities? When I said abandon, I really meant abandon, not change their business model. I am still not sure of your point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bserver Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 1 minute ago, Gladys said: When I said abandon, I really meant abandon, not change their business model. I am still not sure of your point. One was rumoured to be a knocking shop for a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 1 minute ago, 0bserver said: One was rumoured to be a knocking shop for a time. Top marks for entrepreneurship, if not moral rectitude. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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