Joy for Nelson as it is named as a 'Portas Pilot' town (From This Is Lancashire)

If you think a hundred grand is gonna help put Nelson on the map your totally deluded.

The only map you'll find Nelson on is the same one as Mordor.

If you think a hundred grand is going to put Nelson on the map then you are totally deluded.

The only map you'll find Nelson on is the same one as Mordor.

Cha'mone MF wrote:
If you think a hundred grand is going to put Nelson on the map then you are totally deluded.

The only map you'll find Nelson on is the same one as Mordor.

Well done Nelson. I can't wait to see how Mary Portas and her team with £100,000 are going to achieve a fraction of their ambitions. I wish them well but I fear dissapointment will be the end result.

Nelson Town Centre has improved markedly in recent years in terms of streetscape but it's the range of shops which is poor because of the low income base of the working population of the town. Unless the government does something to improve the industrial base of NE Lancashire then towns such as Nelson will continue to struggle and this will be reflected in the success of its town centre. You only have to see southern towns on TV or visit them to see their relative wealth.
Until the North has more control over its economic an political affairs it will continue to be relatively neglected - the South sucks in the wealth of the nation.

Just saw the report from Nelson this morning on BBC breakfast where the reporter is stood in the middle of a pedestrianised street telling us how the local council has spent money making it a safe place for shoppers to walk when out of nowhere a car drives streight down behind him, parks up and a young asian lad gets out and starts doing his shopping, needless to say the reporter was stuck for words for a second or two!
Welcome to the backwoods of britain.

It's not just about the £100K. It's about getting people together, to work together, to think together, to use their collective energy and enthusiasm to see the positives and potential of their town, to generate hope for future instead of giving up.

I saw the television news item this morning and of course it was an elected member being spoken to, the people who no doubt did most of the work to attract this funding would be the Town Centres Team but the first sniff of publicity and they not only don't appear but don't even receive a mention.
I have no doubt it will be down to Town Centres and Property Services to implement the scheme but I am also certain it will be elected members making sure their names appear in the media.

This story is hilarious.

A heady mix of the nation’s unhealthy obsession with celebrity and the unbelievable incompetence of the over-paid bufoons who are riding the gravy-train in the council.

Surely it is local governments role to stimulate growth in the town. But no, they have to wait for a visit from Mary Portas to come and sprinkle her celebrity fairy-dust on the town.

No disrespect to Mary Portas and all the best to Nelson, but this situation is laughable in the extreme.

i passed by as the liers from the council were telling the cameraman etc the reason for nelsons decline,,now sit down and no laughing!!the decline is due to internet shopping and retail parks??nothing to do with this useless money pocketing council,who have run Nelson into the ground!!

sorry cannot stop laughing i live in Nelson, highstreet where, they have just spent million on it and we have not got a shop where I a white british female can buy any item of clothing, oh sorry 3 charity shops stop wasting money on it, it is the bowel of the Country

nonjob wrote:
This story is hilarious.

A heady mix of the nation’s unhealthy obsession with celebrity and the unbelievable incompetence of the over-paid bufoons who are riding the gravy-train in the council.

Surely it is local governments role to stimulate growth in the town. But no, they have to wait for a visit from Mary Portas to come and sprinkle her celebrity fairy-dust on the town.

No disrespect to Mary Portas and all the best to Nelson, but this situation is laughable in the extreme.

No doubt they will get Cheryl Cole "Why Aye Man coz I'm worth it like" to open the next pound shop.

The money will go towards bringing more art into the town centre, with artists being commissioned to work with young people in some of the currently vacant shops.

An art and vintage market is also on the cards and ‘Freshers’ Week’ activities to encourage students to use the town centre are also planned.

Why do the eejits always think getting 'artists' to stick a few pictures in empty shops is going to help re-vitalise Nelson? And as for getting students to come into the town centre, well, judging by the amount of take-away rubbish they leave behind, then the guys that sweep up in the centre will have their bins full. If this scheme works, I'll shift Pendle hill with a wheel barrow!!

Izanears wrote:
The money will go towards bringing more art into the town centre, with artists being commissioned to work with young people in some of the currently vacant shops.

An art and vintage market is also on the cards and ‘Freshers’ Week’ activities to encourage students to use the town centre are also planned.

Why do the eejits always think getting 'artists' to stick a few pictures in empty shops is going to help re-vitalise Nelson? And as for getting students to come into the town centre, well, judging by the amount of take-away rubbish they leave behind, then the guys that sweep up in the centre will have their bins full. If this scheme works, I'll shift Pendle hill with a wheel barrow!!

if you need any help,give me a call!!!

Why don't you move into another town rather than living in nelson and moaning about it?

Will Tesco be giving any advice on running a business in Nelson ?

I remember it well.

I remember there was great rejoicing among Pendle’s rulers when …

the expansion of the Pendle Rise shopping centre was going to kick-start the town;

the construction of Number One Market Street was going to kick-start the town;

the building of the ACE Centre was going to kick-start the town;

the repaving of the area outside the library was going to kick-start the town;

the addition of sauna facilities to Pendle Wavelengths was going to kick-start the town;

the building of a new transport interchange was going to kick-start the town;

the re-opening of Manchester Road was going to kick-start the town.

All of these things have improved the centre of Nelson enormously and the physical landscape has changed for the better beyond all recognition, yet the place remains a basket case.

Now the rejoicing is great because Mary Portas is going to sprinkle her magic dust on the place.

I wish this well and I hope it works but I do fear that what we might find is a need for permanent stimulus or the effects of the stimulus will soon evaporate.

Kevin, Colne wrote:
I remember it well.

I remember there was great rejoicing among Pendle’s rulers when …

the expansion of the Pendle Rise shopping centre was going to kick-start the town;

the construction of Number One Market Street was going to kick-start the town;

the building of the ACE Centre was going to kick-start the town;

the repaving of the area outside the library was going to kick-start the town;

the addition of sauna facilities to Pendle Wavelengths was going to kick-start the town;

the building of a new transport interchange was going to kick-start the town;

the re-opening of Manchester Road was going to kick-start the town.

All of these things have improved the centre of Nelson enormously and the physical landscape has changed for the better beyond all recognition, yet the place remains a basket case.

Now the rejoicing is great because Mary Portas is going to sprinkle her magic dust on the place.

I wish this well and I hope it works but I do fear that what we might find is a need for permanent stimulus or the effects of the stimulus will soon evaporate.

The Telegraph should give you an award for the best comments on news stories.

Leader of Pendle Council, Joe Cooney sounds like an over-excited child in this article, at the prospect of Mary’s visit.

So what have you and all your cronies in the council been doing all these years Joe, to justify your fat salaries?

Getting rid of all the useless, over-paid parasites in the local councils should be the first step taken to really helping this country’s economy.

Wake up, Eric Pickles!

Ah, poor old Nelson.It should by rights be a little tourist haven with B&B's aplenty.What happened? Oh. Love the Pendle Hill in a wheelbarrow comment.If you need another pair of hands,you only need to ask!!

Kevin, Colne wrote:
I remember it well.

I remember there was great rejoicing among Pendle’s rulers when …

the expansion of the Pendle Rise shopping centre was going to kick-start the town;

the construction of Number One Market Street was going to kick-start the town;

the building of the ACE Centre was going to kick-start the town;

the repaving of the area outside the library was going to kick-start the town;

the addition of sauna facilities to Pendle Wavelengths was going to kick-start the town;

the building of a new transport interchange was going to kick-start the town;

the re-opening of Manchester Road was going to kick-start the town.

All of these things have improved the centre of Nelson enormously and the physical landscape has changed for the better beyond all recognition, yet the place remains a basket case.

Now the rejoicing is great because Mary Portas is going to sprinkle her magic dust on the place.

I wish this well and I hope it works but I do fear that what we might find is a need for permanent stimulus or the effects of the stimulus will soon evaporate.

Ten out of ten Kevin.

TONY WALES wrote:
As I don't want to buy, and walk around all day in a nightshirt, with a dish cloth on my head, I think I might give this one a miss.
It does not need £100K to work out that the shops in Nelson, are mainly selling food and items of clothing etc, which are only used by Asian people.
So I will continue to purchase items from the internet, or else shop in another town, which does not have a large population of Asian people.
Also, if the Asian people did not send such large sums of money back to the family members still living in Pakistan, but spent that money in Nelson, the town centre shops would have a better trade.

So very true about the ALL the shops in Nelson being targeted at Asian People.
I mean Wilkinsons, Store 21, Select, Home Bargains, SpecSavers, William Hill, Harry Garlick they are all strong Asian Establishments.
You continue to use the Internet for everything is it better that people like yourself stay in doors.

WrittenWord wrote:

TONY WALES wrote:
As I don't want to buy, and walk around all day in a nightshirt, with a dish cloth on my head, I think I might give this one a miss.
It does not need £100K to work out that the shops in Nelson, are mainly selling food and items of clothing etc, which are only used by Asian people.
So I will continue to purchase items from the internet, or else shop in another town, which does not have a large population of Asian people.
Also, if the Asian people did not send such large sums of money back to the family members still living in Pakistan, but spent that money in Nelson, the town centre shops would have a better trade.

So very true about the ALL the shops in Nelson being targeted at Asian People.
I mean Wilkinsons, Store 21, Select, Home Bargains, SpecSavers, William Hill, Harry Garlick they are all strong Asian Establishments.
You continue to use the Internet for everything is it better that people like yourself stay in doors.

You have forgotten about all the take-aways Written Word

Izanears wrote:

WrittenWord wrote:

TONY WALES wrote:
As I don't want to buy, and walk around all day in a nightshirt, with a dish cloth on my head, I think I might give this one a miss.
It does not need £100K to work out that the shops in Nelson, are mainly selling food and items of clothing etc, which are only used by Asian people.
So I will continue to purchase items from the internet, or else shop in another town, which does not have a large population of Asian people.
Also, if the Asian people did not send such large sums of money back to the family members still living in Pakistan, but spent that money in Nelson, the town centre shops would have a better trade.

So very true about the ALL the shops in Nelson being targeted at Asian People.
I mean Wilkinsons, Store 21, Select, Home Bargains, SpecSavers, William Hill, Harry Garlick they are all strong Asian Establishments.
You continue to use the Internet for everything is it better that people like yourself stay in doors.

You have forgotten about all the take-aways Written Word

My point exactly! There are shops/take-aways that are for both communities. Not all are for Asian People and not all are for White People. There is a mixture and for someone to say they are only targeting one community is a incorrect statement.

And I am sure that pizza's, burgers and currys are not all consumed by the Asian population.

But then again people and sweeping generalisations seem to be the flavour of the day.

Does every thing in this country have to be sanctioned by a Bloody so called celebrity you can't turn anywhere without or turn on anything without some celebrity in your face with their perfect avice and lives telling us mere mortals what to do,I wish they would all just go away and leave us alone.

I remember only a few years ago when Nelson town centre was doing really well. We had the man who used to sell Fish, the Plaice Chippy was always busy, the tabaccoist, an antiques shop, a sweets/chocolate shop. We also had the market which was busy. Nelson had some character to it.

All this was destroyed when some not so clever councillors thought to get rid of all these shops and instead build a great big pile of bricks called the ACE centre, which blocks off all the sunlight (what little there is of it) and it looks like any other modern pile of bricks.

Well done Councillors.

instead of being proud,our bent councillors should hang thier heads in shame,being chosen as one of the 12 worst shitholes in the country is nothing to be proud of!!!

Noiticer wrote:
Nelson Town Centre has improved markedly in recent years in terms of streetscape but it's the range of shops which is poor because of the low income base of the working population of the town. Unless the government does something to improve the industrial base of NE Lancashire then towns such as Nelson will continue to struggle and this will be reflected in the success of its town centre. You only have to see southern towns on TV or visit them to see their relative wealth.
Until the North has more control over its economic an political affairs it will continue to be relatively neglected - the South sucks in the wealth of the nation.

you have to be joking!! if the North looked after its own affairs like they run thier councils we will have more rich councillors and poorer town centres