Oldham

mrushton

Not been to Oldham for quite a while - what happened? £Millions seem to have been spent on making the road wider but it's still grim in the town centre!

andybrock

Had the same question myself - apparently its the tram system and station.Will be fantastic when its finished (!!?) but when you ask when that will be you just get an enigmatic smile in reply.

The Little Onion

Oldham is a horrid, horrid place (I live over the hill in Saddleworth, which is part of Oldham council, but in many ways is a world away). The building work is largely the tram, which will be great for Oldham, and for the NE of the greater Manchester area, but I think there is also some regeneration works going on which are linked to the response from the 2001 riots. Anyway, oldham has suffered from a number of things
- a downward spiral of urban decline linked to the decline of industry
- social tensions as seen in the 2001 riots
- being relatively deprived and unable to take advantage of the economic growth of Manchester
- bad urban planning (largely by someone deciding to run a motorway right through the middle of it, and to ensure that the town centre is as deeply unpleasant as possible).

CiB

I know Rochdale quite well. The natives up there describe the coming of the trams as a great boost as it allows them to get away from the place more easily.

I had the misfortune to ride through Oldham in August and got caught up in those roadworks. It wasn't helped by three - three - different locals pointing me on my way to Rochdale (I was a bit lost there) by directing me onto the m/way that runs past the town centre. Thanks lads.

schweiz

<rant>

Being born and bred in Royton, it seems to me that the death of Oldham Town Centre started in the 60's and 70's with the building or the Civic Centre, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and the now demolished St Peter's Precinct. Previously, the centre of Oldham was at Mumps where the Trains arrrived, the bus garage is (was?) and then the two main streets, Yorkshire Street and Union Street were accessible and thriving.

With St Peter's Precinct being on the top of the hill, it was the coldest, windiest area of the town. The precinct itself was badly designed and soon had a bad reputation although I used to love the old toy shop that was there! Shops started closing down there in the early/mid 80's and relocating to the Town Square Shopping Centre. St Peter's Precinct was then replaced by the Spindles Shopping Centre and was quite nice when it opened.

However, the problem remained that instead of having all the shops and transport links co-located, the train station was at the bottom end of town at Mumps, the bus station in the middle of town by the Nat West Bank/Toy and Hobby and the main shopping was at the top of town by the Town Square. To top it all the only free parking was at B&Q in Mumps (which then closed because of the B&Q Warehouse built on the Westwood Athletics Track) and Sainsbury's by Manchester Raod again, miles away from the shopping!

Woolies moved out in the mid 80's (then returned in the late 90's before going bust), Littlewoods shut, C&A shut and then apart from Debenhams there wasn't anything else left in terms of big department stores (apart from the 'bargain' (read sh1t) centre that was TJ Hughes which has also closed it's doors). The lack of a Marks and Spencers has always been a big discussion point with M&S trying many times to build a supertore at the end of the A627(M) on Clayton Playing Fields. Admittedly, the Spindles Shopping Centre brought a few new high street names such as Next but with Manchester so close and undergoing a massive and positive transformation post the IRA bomb in 1996, the people voted with their feet.

Last time I was in Oldham Town Centre was in 2010 and it was full of poundshops and cash converter/pawn/sell (fence) your gold shops. All the little shops have shut, the Barton Arcade was no longer accessible, Paul Braithwaite's Mountain Sports gave up trying to battle with the council over parking and the disruption caused by the tram works.

This Christmas, I had to pick a parcel up from the main post office on Hamilton Street, I drove down to Mumps Bridge and almost crashed! Some fecker has gone and nicked the 'Seton - Welcome to Oldham - Home of the Tubular Bandage Railway Bridge' and the whole of Mumps 'No' Bridge is as flat as a pancake. I managed to get on the bypass back towards Tesco to see a tailback of cars waiting to turn into the Spindles Car Park, no doubt to either visit the Debenhmas sale or flog their unwanted Christmas Presents at Cash Converters!

I miss my family, I miss my friends but do I miss Oldham? Do I feck! I'm just glad I got out when I did.

* Note to southerners...Saddleworth and some other outlying areas are actually quite nice. Just avoid the town centre!

napoleond

I worked at Oldham for 5 Months a few years ago. Grim. Soooo very Grim. I had to go back and work there again for a night in mid December. I'm still feeling depressed after the experience.

Bunneh

Never liked going as a kid when I was dragged along with my grandfather to see his Radio Am buddies. As much as I do dislike parts of Bolton I'm close to the countryside so it's not too bad, and the area's not yet infested with the scrotes and foreigners unlike Crewe.

napoleond

Crewe. Urrrrgh.

Yossie

Bunneh wrote:

Never liked going as a kid when I was dragged along with my grandfather to see his Radio Am buddies. As much as I do dislike parts of Bolton I'm close to the countryside so it's not too bad, and the area's not yet infested with the scrotes and foreigners unlike Crewe.

Darn those foreigners, eh. Sorry Nick - I think you're on the wrong forum - the BNP one is over there on teh right.

Anyway, no matter how bad it is it can't be worse than the fetid miasma that is Alsager. Now don't get me started on that one. Put it this way, of all teh dumps I've been in over the past few months Alsager is still number one is the hell holes of the world that needs bombing.

Pross

Yossie wrote:

Bunneh wrote:

Never liked going as a kid when I was dragged along with my grandfather to see his Radio Am buddies. As much as I do dislike parts of Bolton I'm close to the countryside so it's not too bad, and the area's not yet infested with the scrotes and foreigners unlike Crewe.

Darn those foreigners, eh. Sorry Nick - I think you're on the wrong forum - the BNP one is over there on teh right.

Anyway, no matter how bad it is it can't be worse than the fetid miasma that is Alsager. Now don't get me started on that one. Put it this way, of all teh dumps I've been in over the past few months Alsager is still number one is the hell holes of the world that needs bombing.

Do you seriously expect us to believe it hasn't already been bombed? I still think some of you northern softies need to go further south and visit Corby to get a real idea of what a s**t hole looks like.

pinno

Sounds like no one here has been to Wishaw and surrounding area. Wishaw sets the standard for sh1t holes.

I have never ever been in a place that is in such dire need of an earthquake.

Graham K

I live just outside in Chad Vegas
The Nazi's missed their chance and shoulda bombed Oldham to make an improvement.

For too long the local council have been more interested in traffic light systems and speed humps than regeneration, A town centre surrounded by Council estate flats aint gonna bode well to zero funding, 2 shopping precincts trying to punch above their weight in a town where there aint alot of money.
The Metro has come to town, but the line is to be replaced in 2 years by a new line (why not focus on the new line instead of tearing the town apart 2fold :? ) but is supposed to be the saving grace and end world poverty if you care to read all the jargon (not quite but they are selling a fairytale here),
And the council has great plans for centre and suburban regeneration, but only if outside funding can be found because the queue at the local soup kitchen currently has more money than the council

Go out of Oldham single figure miles and into the hills and you wouldnt believe that such a steaming armpit would be so close.

Bunneh

That's the only good thing about Crewe really, it's incredibly easy to get out and get into the countryside. Cheshire's lovely.

Yossie

Crewe is full of Crewetons who are so inbred they are actually quite amusing. Those darn foreigners provide the colour and decent food.

Seriously - Alsager - what a dump. If we get a petition together can we get someone to bomb it?

Anyone know where the "worst place in the UK" thread ended up? I think this is a chance to get in going again - I have a few new nominations.

ben@31

I spent 19 years in Bradford.

I remember my science teacher at school saying the best advice he could give us for our future, was to live somewhere else.

To give you an idea of how bad Bradford is. The travel author Bill Bryson said Bradford was one of the worst places he's been to "Bradford's role in life is to make every place else in the world look better in comparison." A few years ago some property developer turned an old mill into apartments, Bradford is that bad the value of these apartments went from £280,000 to £125,000 !!! http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... e_halved_/
Just goes to show you can build the nicest luxury apartment in the world, but if it's in some s***hole that looks like some crime ridden third world ghetto then nobody would still live there.

In 2005 the council dug a big hole in the city centre. More than £10 MILLION of taxpayers' money was spent on consultants for regeneration schemes in Bradford city centre. That 10 acre hole is still there today. Nothing has been built and it looks like the project has been abandoned. For it's 10 million pounds Bradford got some pretty architect drawings on paper.

I've always wanted to do the Paris-Roubaix, until I found out on Wikipedia that Bradford is twinned with Roubaix.

Yossie

Bunneh wrote:

That's the only good thing about Crewe really, it's incredibly easy to get out and get into the countryside. Cheshire's lovely.

Lovely Cheshire - no foreigners there eh Nick? Lovely white BNP populace. Lovely Cheshire. Lovely Cheshire? Errrrr..........

As said above, over there on the right mate - by the bovver boot shop.

griffsters

CiB wrote:

I know Rochdale quite well. The natives up there describe the coming of the trams as a great boost as it allows them to get away from the place more easily.

This.

No-one I know goes into the centre of Rochdale anymore, its a real shame as some of the outskirts have a lot going for them. But the centre, well its a steaming cesspit.

ben@31

Griffsters wrote:

No-one I know goes into the centre of Rochdale anymore, its a real shame as some of the outskirts have a lot going for them. But the centre, well its a steaming cesspit.

It's the same with Bradford. There's nothing left in the city centre anymore, just bookies, loan shops and dodgy pawn shops. Everyone I know who's still there goes to Leeds instead (20 mins on a train).

I can't see how towns like Bradford, Rochdale or Oldham can ever recover from this?

One suggestion is to merge Bradford with Leeds, like how Salford now claims its a part of Manchester. People who are on a business trip to Leeds will not stay in a hotel in "Bradford", but they may stay in a hotel labelled "outer Leeds" thats a 20 mins away from Leeds city centre on the train.

Yellow Peril

I lived in Middleton for a few years...I'll get my coat...

cornerblock

I went into Henry Afrikas in Oldham once, that was enough.

Bunneh

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... evamp.html

So many people without homes, and these would be great. Seems you can buy one for around 20k...

Secteur

If you think Oldham / Rochdale is bad, then avoid Wigan. They really do all share a single giant chromosome there.

ben@31

Bunneh wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256796/Rows-boarded-terraced-houses-Accrington-brought-life-10m-revamp.html

So many people without homes, and these would be great. Seems you can buy one for around 20k...

I don't know if you're being sarcastic? Nobody wants to live there for a reason. I wonder how much renovation / repair work needs doing to them, then there's local crime , anti-social behaviour, the local job market... or lack of, schooling etc.

I found a house for sale for £1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... treet.html

Yossie

Bunneh wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256796/Rows-boarded-terraced-houses-Accrington-brought-life-10m-revamp.html

So many people without homes, and these would be great. Seems you can buy one for around 20k...

But not if you're a foreigner though, eh Nick ........

pauldavid

Yossie wrote:

Bunneh wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256796/Rows-boarded-terraced-houses-Accrington-brought-life-10m-revamp.html

So many people without homes, and these would be great. Seems you can buy one for around 20k...

But not if you're a foreigner though, eh Nick ........

Quite right too

Pross

Yossie wrote:

Crewe is full of Crewetons who are so inbred they are actually quite amusing. Those darn foreigners provide the colour and decent food.

Seriously - Alsager - what a dump. If we get a petition together can we get someone to bomb it?

Anyone know where the "worst place in the UK" thread ended up? I think this is a chance to get in going again - I have a few new nominations.

I'm not adding Alsager to the list a few more times counts to be honest

disgruntledgoat

pinarello001 wrote:

Sounds like no one here has been to Wishaw and surrounding area. Wishaw sets the standard for sh1t holes.

I have never ever been in a place that is in such dire need of an earthquake.

Amen brother. Still in our locale, I give you Larkhall

Pross

disgruntledgoat wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Sounds like no one here has been to Wishaw and surrounding area. Wishaw sets the standard for sh1t holes.

I have never ever been in a place that is in such dire need of an earthquake.

Amen brother. Still in our locale, I give you Larkhall

I still reckon Corby is worse, after all it is where they sent all those Scots that were too bad for even Larkhall or Wishaw!

rolf_f

ben@31 wrote:

A few years ago some property developer turned an old mill into apartments, Bradford is that bad the value of these apartments went from £280,000 to £125,000 !!! http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... e_halved_/
Just goes to show you can build the nicest luxury apartment in the world, but if it's in some s***hole that looks like some crime ridden third world ghetto then nobody would still live there.

It didn't exactly help that the developers blurb for those flats highlighted how handy they were for commuting to Leeds

I live nearer to the centre of Bradford than Leeds but it takes as long to get to the centre of Bradford because the traffic planners have managed to make it so that every single traffic light always turns red as you reach it. They really don't want anyone in!

On the other hand, the ludicrously expensive mirror pool is quite nice and apparently they aren't going to knock the iconic Odeon down anymore. It's still a crud hole though.

robklancs

Secteur wrote:

If you think Oldham / Rochdale is bad, then avoid Wigan. They really do all share a single giant chromosome there.

Careful now or i will make you eat a Pie at the thugby! Surely your comment should be regarded as total ballscrotes from someone who can't decide if they are from Bolton/bury/blackburn

ben@31

Rolf F wrote:

On the other hand, the ludicrously expensive mirror pool is quite nice and apparently they aren't going to knock the iconic Odeon down anymore. It's still a crud hole though.

The mirror pool is a complete waste of tax payers money... Looks like a flat paved surface thats flooded after a few inches of rainfall. And I heard that it cost us £24 million. Located next to a pub with alcoholics sat outside drinking at 9 am.

I read that the old Odeon can't be knocked down as somebody still owns it. I used to go to that Odeon as a kid.