1989: Bin day in Swansea

[MrSwerve]

 

[Swanjaxs]

I watched that yesterday, brought back good memories

 

[Muteswan]

Great coffee from that coffee machine in the baling plant canteen.

 

[Jack2jack]

Great coffee from that coffee machine in the baling plant canteen.

Did you work in the BP, J.

 

[jack123]

Looking from the 21 minute mark, where the bin lorry driver goes into his own car, and takes a spin around town, then goes into the car park behind where the Odeon was, and there’s a lady putting Tesco bags in her boot. Surely 1989 can’t be the date? Looking at comments on the YouTube page the lorry drivers son makes a comment that it was filmed early 88, but google reckons Tesco closed 1978 I honestly can’t remember, I know there was definitely a shop there after 78 though.

 

[exiledclaseboy]

Looking from the 21 minute mark, where the bin lorry driver goes into his own car, and takes a spin around town, then goes into the car park behind where the Odeon was, and there’s a lady putting Tesco bags in her boot. Surely 1989 can’t be the date? Looking at comments on the YouTube page the lorry drivers son makes a comment that it was filmed early 88, but google reckons Tesco closed 1978 I honestly can’t remember, I know there was definitely a shop there after 78 though.

Tesco on the Kingsway didn’t close in 1978. I worked for Tesco between 1989 and 1997 and I did a few stints in the Kingsway store.

 

[jack123]

Tesco on the Kingsway didn’t close in 1978. I worked for Tesco between 1989 and 1997 and I did a few stints in the Kingsway store.

Hmm, google ai is pretty adamant it was gone. I just asked it to show me a picture of Tescos on the kingsway in the mid 90s, and this is the response.

It is not possible to show a picture of the
Tesco
on
The Kingsway
from the mid-90sbecause the store had already closed by that time.
As mentioned previously, the Kingsway Tesco closed in 1978. By the mid-90s, the building had undergone a complete transformation:

• The Nightclub Era: In 1989, the site was converted into the Mayfair nightclub, which by the early 90s had become the famous Ritzy and Icon. Any photo of that specific building from 1995 would show nightclub branding rather than a supermarket.
• Retail Occupants: During the 1980s and early 90s, the retail space was used by Shoppers Paradise and Fine Farebefore they also left the site.
• Tesco's Location in the 90s: In the 1990s, if you were shopping at Tesco in central Swansea, you would have been at the Swansea Marina (Oystermouth Road) store, which opened in 1986 to replace the old Kingsway branch.

What the Building Looked Like in 1995
If you were standing on The Kingsway in 1995, you would have seen the large grey facade of the Ritzy & Icon nightclub complex. Work had not yet begun on its later "Time & Envy" or "Oceana" rebrands.
Would you like to see a photo of the Swansea Marina Tesco from that era instead, or perhaps a picture of the Ritzynightclub as it appeared on The Kingsway in the 90s?

 

[exiledclaseboy]

Mate. Google is wrong. I don’t know when it closed but it wasn’t 1978 and it was definitely open sometime after 1989.

 

[J_B]

I'll take ECB's living experience over Google Ai every day and twice on Sunday.
I've lost count of the number of times Google Ai has popped up with information that I know is wrong.

 

[JackSomething]

Second person here saying Google AI is definitively wrong on this one.

I was a student at Swansea University from summer 1998 and the Tesco on the Kingsway was definitely still open and the Oystermouth Road store wasn't built. We'd go into town from Hendrefoilan and either shop there or at Sainsburys as they were the only options.

It may have closed during my 3 years in university, but it was definitely still open in my first year.

 

[JackSomething]

Proof here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/how-swansea-became-tesco-town-15259298

It doesn't say when the Kingsway store closed, but does state the Oystermouth Road store opened in 2000, so would have been around the same time.

Edit: I think Google is getting confused with a previous Tesco on the Kingsway. The one we're talking about (in the building that was Odeon and became Jumping Jacks), is not the same building as Ritzy and Icon.

 

[exiledclaseboy]

This is the Google equivalent of driving your car into a river because the satnav told you to.

 

[Muteswan]

Did you work in the BP, J.

No I didn’t work there but I used to go there often for work I was involved in. ️

 

[MrSwerve]

I remember Tesco on the Kingsway and I was born in 1987.

 

[jack123]

Proof here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/how-swansea-became-tesco-town-15259298

It doesn't say when the Kingsway store closed, but does state the Oystermouth Road store opened in 2000, so would have been around the same time.

Edit: I think Google is getting confused with a previous Tesco on the Kingsway. The one we're talking about (in the building that was Odeon and became Jumping Jacks), is not the same building as Ritzy and Icon.

I think the problem is, that google doesn’t recognise that Mayfair/Ritzy were underground so to speak, and it’s assuming when they opened that Tesco closed. I’m finding it hard just to get a picture of the front of the Mayfair nightclub I know there are some images and videos knocking about of the kingsway back in the 80s, 90s by Spielberg.

Edit: Just reread what google ai says about the site, it’s definitely getting confused because the Mayfair nightclub was just the Top Rank revamped. Not the Tesco site.