Improved or declined ?
For me our local town of around 300,000 has seen a sad and sorry decline especially over the last 10 years. Appreciate that most town centres have lost shops but as well as that for me it’s the number of beggars and homeless. The scruffy streets with boarded up shop fronts, litter everywhere, it’s like something out of 70s Bulgaria. Completely unloved and uncared for.
We have a big annual sporting festival coming up very soon. People from all over the world travel here to compete as well as bringing their families to watch and cheer them on. Back in the day the town centre was buzzing, thousands of people came in town to watch and absorb the great atmosphere. Now the place is just grubby and depressing with actually very few actual facilities for the visitors to use like decent coffee shops or restaurants. It’s an embarrassment.
When we do get a new government of whatever political colour my biggest wish is that they do something, anything, for towns like ours. Maybe start a special fund for the worst affected places and divert investment here…