Nottingham looks grim

[AskAwayAgain]

I live in the East Midlands a bit of a way from Nottingham. But we went into Nottingham to see a show. We had not been there since before the pandemic so I said to DH lets go in early and look around the shops beforehand and have something to eat.

I was really shocked by how awful the street from Marks and Spencers to Broadmarsh looked. Most shops closed and some that were open looked really tatty. I also had memories of the side streets being full of interesting gift shops, but most were gone.

Victoria Centre looked okay, but overall the City Centre was really poor and had little to offer, I am still shocked that a major City looks as bad as this.

There's grot in every town as the Tories cut council budgets to the bone and general maintenance gets cut.

Intu going into administration was a major blow for the Broadmarsh centre. The council did put a bid in for levelling up but centre government wouldn’t invest here. Business rents are also really high so smaller independent businesses just don’t last.

Parking has been mentioned but yes, really expensive and they’ve made it really convulsed to get from the south to north side of the city with the one way systems and bus only routes. Really good public transport though.

The council have no money and have made some very poor choices. I loathe to say this as a labour voter, but I do wonder if I change of local government would help as I think they’re rather complacent too (nott city are very safe seats).

I know a lot of places are rather run down post Covid but the contrast in Nottingham is so stark. It used to be lovely. As the shops have closed there are obviously fewer shoppers about. The empty doorways are now either dirty and full of rubbish or harbour rough sleepers or both. It does feel rather more unsafe. The Castle being closed and the Broadmarsh shopping centre demolished adds to the run down atmosphere. Trying to navigate the one way system when so many roads are closed puts off many people I know from driving in, and then there’s the cost of parking putting off those that do. The buses are great though (ends on a positive note).

@CountZacular cross posted. I feel the same about the council too.

It's not just Nottingham unfortunately. I was recently in New Bond Street (one of the poshest shopping streets in the whole of London) and was absolutely staggered by the number of empty / boarded up shops. It was like a ghost town, very unsettling.

But that's what we get when we do insist on shopping online!

I wouldn't judge any city on its shopping centre these days. The Broadmarsh is under reconstruction but the city council have to bid for levelling up funds to progress it which the govt generally refuses. Around the station and college leading up to Broadmarsh (which was grim) is completely redeveloped and will lead into the new development. Oh and the Tokenhouse have moved to new premises around the corner.

There was a long discussion here in MN once about how nobody wants to go to a city centre to shop when there are out of town malls where you can park for free, stay dry, have level access and convenient loos etc. We've basically got what we wished for with our shopping habits.

I honestly think our city will get better again with more residential and small business in the centres but it has to grow organically and sustainably.

Isn't this what is happening to most city centres? Decline of shopping in person as online shopping thrives and all that.

Oh I don't think Exeter is that bad! I always enjoy visiting dd, there's a big JL and lots of clothes shops.

This is a good point. We don’t really have accessible malls like this and the high st seems an outlier in that it’s on the up not down

City centres often look tired these days. But Nottingham has some lovely thriving districts, eg Beeston, which have good shops, farmers markets, coffee bars and nice restaurants.

I like Nottingham: it's busy and friendly. My dd is at uni there and she loves it.

I was going to say about Sheffield.

Ds swims so we do ponds forge a few times a year. I don't feel safe walking around even in daylight - and I'm from Portsmouth!

We stay in the holiday inn in Rotherham as I don't fancy an in Sheffield city centre hotel.

And glad we did as were there last week and you've said about the stabbing.

We go to Nottingham regularly for gigs at The Bodega and Rock City, and the shopping has declined as has every other city centre.

I can only park in one place though so I can navigate my way in and out, the one way system is confusing and I am slightly nervous of ending up on a tram only lane.

We were there a few weeks ago and ate at Popeyes before the gig, it was good food and a nice new addition to the city.

I visited dd in Birmingham earlier this year and loved the Bullring- you could tell I live rurally, I was like a kid at Disneyworld

Bath is grotty now, vomit, rubbish and urine everywhere, intimidating and abusive beggars sitting under cash machines in the street, homeless camping in empty shop doorways and so many empty shops. Seagulls crapping on you.
The council don’t seem to care.

I think it is the decline in Nottingham that is such a shock. It used to be brilliant for shopping, a night out, the theatre, eating out etc.

It was always a treat to go there rather than Derby. Now I may as well go to Derby as it has most of the shops, and they are closer together and easier to get to. There's only really John Lewis that is only in Nottingham now.

Derby is a bit of a dump, but it has always been a bit of a dump, it's consistent like that, you know what you are getting. Nottingham is disappointing.

Same. I went the other week and it just felt off. I stick to meadowhall now.

Yes Bath has really declined.

I know what you mean Op and likewise with Sheffield, I went to uni there it wasn’t like that then!
My local town is combatting empty shops by building mixed purpose in the centre, so business hubs, flats, library, gyms, restaurants, so people live in the town and have more of a reason to go. I have to say it’s working and town is more vibrant now. We have to accept towns will look different now we all shop online.

We are to blame for this. We can’t expect nice shops if we don’t use them. Nottingham is especially awful and it’s a shame as it has some lovely buildings. Some cities like Manchester and Liverpool are managing to stay vibrant.

By contrast to all the misery, I’m from Newcastle and often go back there, and was struck on my last visit of how vibrant it seemed. Booming! So many lovely new restaurants.

central London is the pits now - Oxford Street is one of the most depressing sites!

Leicester has had a fortune spent on it
For little benefit though, the streets are still unsafe, dirty and littered with spice and crack heads openly drug using thorough the day. Shops are closing, WellGosh has been an institution in Leicester for 30odd years, that’s gone. I went out on Friday night for the first time since covid and I didn’t feel safe tbh. Was home by 11 and I was only in 2 venues.

Nottingham has always had a reputation though. I grew up in the north east and it was known as Shottingham 15/20 years ago.

Our country on the whole is on the decline. Places that are thriving… well I wonder why that is.

Yes Oxford St is awful now.

The particular reason the south side of Nottingham is very poor is that Intu started to demolish the old broadmarsh shopping centre to redevelop it, went bust and just chucked the keys back to the council saying your problem now.

this lead to the city losing its big pull on that side, what followed (pushed along by Covid) was that all the retailers who had 2nd or 3rd branches on the street leading to broadmarsh closed those stores as there was less footfall generally and a LOT less down the street to a now half demolished shopping centre and they just concentrated on their other more viable stores in the city.

unfortunately despite bidding 2 or 3 times the Council have been refused any funding to redevelop the site by the government (possibly for party political reasons) and the council didn’t have the money sat around to just randomly demolish and rebuild a massive shopping centre.

what will probably happen is they’ll scrape the money together to level the old shopping centre and then sell it off to a developer who’ll come up with some very very generic mixed use development with a bit of retail, some office space and some student accommodation. But it’ll take 5+ years to revitalise the south of Nottingham.

High streets were already struggling, the pandemic brought about an accelerated rise of online shopping and a combination of piss poor customer service post pandemic has brought about the death of countless shops. The way things are going I’d be surprised if there was much left of any town centre in another 5+ years.

The pandemic wiped out a lot of town centres. Customers were driven online for all their shopping and didn’t go back. If you needed to buy a gift would you pay to park in the town centre (£3 an hr in my town!!) and wander around getting coughed on, or would you just go on Amazon?

Our town centre was unaffected by the 2007 financial crisis which damaged a lot of town centres, but now because of the pandemic it looks shit, so many empty premises.

I hope town Councils are having a hard think about what town centres are for. We simply don’t need as many shops as we used to. We do need softplay, gyms, cafes, and parks. And we need free 2hrs parking if customers are going to bother going back.