On 2017-11-15 16:23:45 +0000, Tony Dragon said:

But it does get the visitors to Luner House.

That place really is an embarrassment. "Welcome to the UK - now naff
off" is about what it says.

Neil

On 2017-11-15 16:34:52 +0000, said:

And all the PT facilities the place has. I suppose the problem is it can't
decide if its a town or a suburb and whether they should invest in it when
most people just head off to london to work.

Yeah, I'd imagine that, by and large, the commuters use one of the
local out of town supermarkets then go to London for everything else,
and it's them that's got the money. Their kids no doubt hang around in
town, but they don't care if it's a bit crap as long as their mates are
there.

TBH I don't often go to MK shopping centre.

Neil

On Wednesday, 15 November 2017 10:33:59 UTC, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2017-11-15 09:45:59 +0000, said:

Bad news for Croydon. The Whitgift Centre has for years been blighted
by Westfield's plans. Getting on for half of the shops are closed,
with more every time I go there. There's nothing much wrong with the
place which couldn't be fixed by some minor refurbishment, fixing some
leaks in the roof, some of which have been there for years, for
example, and a bit of paint.

It's an absolute rathole in every possible way and needs pulling down.

We already have two Westfield centres in London, they mainly sell
things like expensive designer clothes, which are not something which
most people buy very often, if ever. They don't seem to attract shops
selling everyday things. There's a not very good Sainsbury's in the
Whitgift Centre, but rather than improving that it will almost
certainly be absent from the new Westfield.

Realistically who completes a full supermarket shop in a town centre
these days? An out of town supermarket and a Sainsburys Local (there
is already one near the station) will do better I reckon.

A large hole was made in the centre of Bradfield years ago for
Westfield to build a new centre there, put the plans were then put on
hold, leaving a large empty space. The Broadway Centre was eventually
built, opening a couple of years ago, but the Westfield name doesn't
seem to be anywhere on it.

Bradford.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

I know ir's Bradford[ I'm there quite often. Not sure if it was my brain, or the spell checker which did something odd.

On Wednesday, 15 November 2017 15:45:04 UTC, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2017-11-15 15:38:07 +0000, said:

The age doesn't matter, its all down to whether the owners can be arsed to
keep it up to date and whether the locals are chav scum or not. Brent Cross is
over 40 years old but you'd never know it walking around inside it because it
gets investment and is in a relatively well off area.

Similarly the "old bit" of Milton Keynes shopping centre.

Croydon is an abject dump, which is surprising given how many well-off
commuters live there.

Neil

I recently went into the Elephant & Castle shopping centre for probably the first time in about ten years, looking for a cash machine when on my way to a screening at the Cinema Museum. I used to use it quite often in the '60s and early '70s, when it wasn't bad. The top floor only ever had a handful of shops occupied, and this floor was closed and converted into something else, offices I think, not many years after it was built. The remaining two floors are horrible now.

wrote in message news
On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:01:58 -0000
"tim..." wrote:
"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On 2017-11-15 09:10:04 +0000, Basil Jet said:

Apparently the Centrale shopping centre (which only opened in 2004) is
to
be merged with the Whitgift Centre. I think this will probably create
the
largest shopping centre in the UK, since the combined area of the
current
centres is only just short of the Metro Centre in Newcastle.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41983441

This page suggests that East Croydon may gain a fourth pair of NR
platforms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydo...#Train_Station

The page also talks about lengthening tram platforms at West Croydon,
although I couldn't quite find enough info to make sense of that. I
would
have imagined that all the tram platforms are the same length, and
there
would be no point in lengthening one unless you lengthen them all.

I'd imagine that will be a relatively good thing - Croydon high street
and
both shopping centres are abject dumps (particularly the Whitgift which
needs knocking down).

it is 50 years old, and it was a revolutionary new way of shopping when it
opened (and, of course, the high street was still a main road through the
town at the time)

but the rest of the world has caught up and moved on

The age doesn't matter, its all down to whether the owners can be arsed to
keep it up to date and whether the locals are chav scum or not. Brent
Cross is
over 40 years old but you'd never know it walking around inside it because
it
gets investment and is in a relatively well off area.

The problem at Croydon is that it was originally built as an open air
shopping centre

I know that they added a roof, but it still must be difficult to give it the
ambiance of a center which was built from scratch as an indoor centre

tim

On 15/11/2017 17:25, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2017-11-15 16:23:45 +0000, Tony Dragon said:

But it does get the visitors to Luner House.

That place really is an embarrassment.Â* "Welcome to the UK - now naff
off" is about what it says.

Neil


A 'visitor' once asked me near Delta Point "Lunar House, asylum, please'.
I told him to walk about a mile down Wellesley Road, Whitehorse road and
turn right at Whitehorse Lane. Lunar house was the building with the big
lights.
He's probably a Palace supporter now.

On 2017-11-15 18:11:35 +0000, said:

I recently went into the Elephant & Castle shopping centre for probably
the first time in about ten years, looking for a cash machine when on
my way to a screening at the Cinema Museum. I used to use it quite
often in the '60s and early '70s, when it wasn't bad. The top floor
only ever had a handful of shops occupied, and this floor was closed
and converted into something else, offices I think, not many years
after it was built. The remaining two floors are horrible now.

Absolutely everything about the Elephant is a dump from start to
finish. It's embarrassing that one of the world's richest cities lets
things get so bad.

Neil

On 2017\11\15 16:55, wrote:
On Wednesday, 15 November 2017 09:10:07 UTC, Basil Jet wrote:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydo...#Train_Station

The page also talks about lengthening tram platforms at West Croydon,
although I couldn't quite find enough info to make sense of that. I
would have imagined that all the tram platforms are the same length, and
there would be no point in lengthening one unless you lengthen them all.



It's actually East Croydon where they propose lengthening the platforms to accommodate four car trams, not West Croydon.

So are they saying that two trams per direction would dwell
simultaneously there, rather than there being "four car trams"?

"Basil Jet" wrote in message
news
On 2017\11\15 16:55, wrote:
On Wednesday, 15 November 2017 09:10:07 UTC, Basil Jet wrote:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydo...#Train_Station

The page also talks about lengthening tram platforms at West Croydon,
although I couldn't quite find enough info to make sense of that. I
would have imagined that all the tram platforms are the same length, and
there would be no point in lengthening one unless you lengthen them all.



It's actually East Croydon where they propose lengthening the platforms
to accommodate four car trams, not West Croydon.

So are they saying that two trams per direction would dwell simultaneously
there, rather than there being "four car trams"?

you write that like there's some reason that would be a dumb operational
procedure

tim

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 10:11:35 -0800 (PST)
wrote:
I recently went into the Elephant & Castle shopping centre for probably the=
first time in about ten years, looking for a cash machine when on my way t=
o a screening at the Cinema Museum. I used to use it quite often in the '6=
0s and early '70s, when it wasn't bad. The top floor only ever had a handf=

The 60s and 70s was before the demographics changed significantly and the
area went downhill faster than a rolling cheese contest.

ul of shops occupied, and this floor was closed and converted into somethin=
g else, offices I think, not many years after it was built. The remaining =
two floors are horrible now.

Agreed, its an utter dump not helped by the run down market surrounding it on
2 sides.