Marks and spencer Swansea

[Jack2jack]

Nice city centres now are nice because they look pretty, i.e., gardens, cobbles, etc. Not the concrete abomination that Castle Gardens now is. What's happening to the renovation there now? I haven't driven passed it for at least a year probably. Make it pretty, make it nice to walk through - and people will pop into the shops on the way through.

There's zero reason I would walk through the soulless dump that is Swansea. I'd even argue that Neath is more attractive to walk through. Especially when Darran's about.

Castle gardens has never reached its potential, whatever that was supposed to be, it's a cold uninviting place, with no character. I believe that behind the hoarding, they are carrying out preliminary ground works etc. I like Neath, it has suffered over the last few years mind., what with the loss of the likes of next, M&S et al.

 

[Smurph]

Some poor decisions have definitely been made in recent times, I would agree

True.

One thing they got right was the new arena

 

[Jack2jack]

True.

One thing they got right was the new arena

We may not see eye to eye on that one.

 

[Smurph]

We may not see eye to eye on that one.

How come?

What's not to like about having some of the best in class entertainment on our door step.

 

[Jack2jack]

How come?

What's not to like about having some of the best in class entertainment on our door step.

Well and it's all about opinions. I think it's in the wrong place, it's too small, and it looks hideous.
I've been a fair few times and seen some quality acts, the auditorium is fine, the waiting area is a bit meh! On the whole it's not attracting the best acts due to its size, fine if you( not you specifically) like tribute acts and bingo lingo or whatever its called. I reckon its haemorrhaging cash.
I see our cousins up the road have announced a new arena 16500 capacity on the down the bay, Atlantic wharf.

 

[Smurph]

Well and it's all about opinions. I think it's in the wrong place, it's too small, and it looks hideous.
I've been a fair few times and seen some quality acts, the auditorium is fine, the waiting area is a bit meh! On the whole it's not attracting the best acts due to its size, fine if you( not you specifically) like tribute acts and bingo lingo or whatever its called. I reckon its haemorrhaging cash.
I see our cousins up the road have announced a new arena 16500 capacity on the down the bay, Atlantic wharf.

Think your reference to tribute acts is a little over the top, we've seen some great people there ranging from Jack Whitehall to The Hollywood Vampires.

Pretty sure Bob Dylan has either been there or is due to visit

 

[Jack2jack]

Think your reference to tribute acts is a little over the top, we've seen some great people there ranging from Jack Whitehall to The Hollywood Vampires.

Pretty sure Bob Dylan has either been there or is due to visit

You must be thinking of Dob Bylan tribute act.

 

[Smurph]

You must be thinking of Dob Bylan tribute act.

I'm still stoned from Tuesday

 

[jack_lord]

It's a consequence of many factors, as have been discussed above. I do think after the war a blue print should have been laid down, albeit a fluid one. It's a hotch potch, with no cohesion whatsoever.

There was a blue print laid down by Swansea but it was completely thrown out by London. That is who decided how our town would develop post WW2. The worst type of soulless architecture which we are starting to recover from.
The city centre shopping is undergoing a major transition to a mixed use experience led visit ans not a pure retail experience. There are a few exceptions but this will be the new norm. Swansea has the coast as its joker and should be banking on that.
The ugly will slowly disappear and who knows how it will actually turn out. Fact is Swansea is not a wealthy area and, elephant in the room time, it is in Wales not these "lovely and trendy English towns" so we don't have the locals to prop up the economy and we will not have visitors because we shag sheep.

 

[J_B]

You must be thinking of Dob Bylan tribute act.

Bob Dylan played three consecutive nights there last November.

 

[JackSomething]

While I certainly don't think the council makes consistently good decisions, they are the ones trying things.

Someone moaned about not making more of our time in the PL, it was the council who paid to plaster images of Gower all over London Underground stations and promoted Swansea all over the UK, driving a lot of those visitors to the city.

This thread shows it's easy to reminisce and criticise, but I don't see any alternatives being offered.

 

[Smurph]

While I certainly don't think the council makes consistently good decisions, they are the ones trying things.

Someone moaned about not making more of our time in the PL, it was the council who paid to plaster images of Gower all over London Underground stations and promoted Swansea all over the UK, driving a lot of those visitors to the city.

This thread shows it's easy to reminisce and criticise, but I don't see any alternatives being offered.

It was me that was apparently "moaning". I'm chuffed they plastered images of Gower all over the underground. It's just a shame they've run the city in to the ground.

If you want an alternative, how about they bend over backwards to attract top retailers to the city.

 

[monmouth]

Nothing can really be resolved until Wales gets a fair settlement from Westminster and the WAG is moved out of Cardiff, preferably to abandoned mid-Wales (or Monmouth ), and distributes resources fairly.

So, never.

 

[J_B]

They tried very hard to keep M&S but the council doesn’t have enough money to come close to offering them enough. Ultimately they would be funding a loss making unit belonging to a major company who make decisions purely on a financial basis.
We live in an economically depressed area that doesn’t attract top retailers. There simply isn’t enough spending power in Swansea to support them. How to break that cycle I don’t know and I fear that the council doesn’t either. I wouldn’t want to be making decisions on how to carve up the council’s budget.

 

[JackSomething]

It was me that was apparently "moaning". I'm chuffed they plastered images of Gower all over the underground. It's just a shame they've run the city in to the ground.

If you want an alternative, how about they bend over backwards to attract top retailers to the city.

I've probably told this story before, but a project I was working for about 12 years ago was slotted in under the remit of the city centre manager and he told us about the lengths they were going to in an attempt to attract Waitrose to open in Parc Tawe 2. They put together an incredible package for Waitrose that included nominal rent and other financial incentives to open in Swansea. Waitrose did a feasibility study and concluded that it still wasn't worth it to them, that there simply wasn't enough money being spent/shoppers visiting Swansea to make it worthwhile to them.

The only way the council could have bent over backwards more would be to pay retailers to open here and I doubt many residents would think that a good use of council funds.

As ECB and others have said, the majority have chosen the convenience of out-of-town shopping or the convenience and cheaper prices of online shopping to visiting our city centre. If everyone who complained about the state of retail in the city centre actually spent money there, it would probably be thriving.

I'm not here saying the council are great, many poor decisions have been made by successive councils. Bendy buses, the endless tinkering with traffic on the Kingsway and likely many more that aren't coming to mind right now. The pivot towards living accommodation, leisure, dining, etc may not work in the long run, but as I've said, I haven't seen a better suggestion made. What they do with the Civic Centre will be interesting, as that will be an attempt to connect the beachfront with the city centre.