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Now that Tescos is nearly ready for the big opening, what would you like to see next? the town centre from the Cross area back towards Hough Lane has been an eye sore for many years, all those buildings that were knocked down seemed to have been wasted, when you consider that nothing was built in their place.
What's in the pipeline? a cinema? bowling alley? car park???
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In The Pink
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None of the various newspaper and web articles I've seen actually show where the new Tesco store is located.
I remember there being a lot of angst about the impact on the old Fox Lane weavers' cottages, but then I've seen descriptions that suggest the store is on the site of the old Church Road "rec", between Towngate and Eden St.
We used to live at Number 7 Church Road, which subsequently became the location for the Doctors' parnership (Raven, McDowell, et al) that subsequently went to the Sandy Lane Clinic. Originally, our front arden opened directly onto the road - there was no sidewalk on the north side between the cross and the War Memorial. We lost a big chunk of the front yard to the road widening scheme and got a bus shelter on the front doorstep. Our house and its opposite half, along with the terrace to the east, Heaton's shop and Tomlinson's lumber yard/funeral parlour were demolished as part of the first redevlopment.
Having susequently demolished everything from the Cross northwards, including the Conservative Club, Masonic hall, Public Hall, the old Co-op and the original redevelopment of the east side of Towngate, the new developers certainly have enough acreage for just about anything.
If anyone knows of a web site that shows a ground plan of the new stores complex, I'd certainly be interested.
Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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quote:
What's in the pipeline? a cinema? bowling alley? car park???
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I reckon it'll go one of two ways. In Wigan we had a large development built on the edge of town (Robin Park) with shops, enlarged Asda, cinema and the new sports ground. It caused (still causes on Sundays!) traffic chaos until the council re-organised the road junctions and I notice shops in some streets in the town centre are getting very shabby or closing down as business is drawn to the retail park.
In St Helens there has been a fair bit of demolition closer to the town centre and we've seen a cinema complex built with all the attendant fast food outlets etc. just 5 or 10 minutes walk from the Town Hall. There's a recent nightclub right in the town centre and lots of bars and eateries opening up. There has been a retail park development, but it doesn't seem to have had the same knock on effect on the town centre shops.... leastways, not yet. It remains to be seen what happens when Saints' Knowsley Road ground is closed (in the pipeline) and the club look for a new site.
Another influence is car parking charges. It's generally free at retail parks, but town centre parking in Wigan is dear - it's a bit cheaper in St Helens - so people aren't willing to cough up a large parking fee when they get free parking to shop, eat and go to the cinema just out of town.
What happens in Leyland will depend how close to the centre any developments are built and what level the council pitches its parking fees.
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quote:
None of the various newspaper and web articles I've seen actually show where the new Tesco store is located.
The best I can manage at the minute Frank is this http://www.leyland-lancashire.co.uk/tesco.htm
It shows where the store will be bur sice it's notyet complete it obviously isn't on a map yet.
For my part I would like to see the Tiger be demolished, it looks a real eyesore now, and of course there is the L&B housing estate well under way, maybe the remaining industry should be taken out of town, Iddons etc.
The significant owl hoots in the night.
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Thanks, Noel. The artist impressions on the web site you flagged suggest the store is between Cow Lane and the old Public Hall site, running east/west where Singleton's grocery, the dry cleaners, the old Conservative Club and the Masonic hall were.
When my wife was in Leyland in February for her aunt's funeral, she came to the conclusion that the store was to be immediately south of Spring Gardens. Since the site encompasses a lot of acreage, I suppose there are a lot of smaller store units around the edges of the development.
I guess I'll have to wait until my next trip to Leyland to satisfy my curiosity. Whatever they've built must be an improvement!
I certainly agree with your comment about the Tiger/Hippodrome. What an eyesore.
I hope the housing developments on the L&B site work out as well as those on the old Leyland Motors North Works site. My sister lives on Kingswood Road, just north of the new Market Hall. That whole development seems to have been very well designed and executed, by British standards. Of course, after 35 years in the US, the houses seem awful small and I'd be heartbroken not to have my 1700 square feet of living space, the mains-pressure 60-gallon hot water heater and forced air central heat.
Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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Hi all, well it seems that the Tiger's days may well be over. The Lancashire Evening Post is running a story tonight saying that a local developer wishes to knock it down and build a block of flats there!
I have not seen the site of the new Tesco yet, only live 4 miles away but never seem to get to that end of Leyland anymore, hope the area is improved with the new building. The area round the cross has always been my favorite area of Leyland but has looked very run down for the fast few years.
Does anyone know what will happen to the L&B building on Golden Hill Lane?
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quote:
Hi all, well it seems that the Tiger's days may well be over. The Lancashire Evening Post is running a story tonight saying that a local developer wishes to knock it down and build a block of flats there!
I have not seen the site of the new Tesco yet, only live 4 miles away but never seem to get to that end of Leyland anymore, hope the area is improved with the new building. The area round the cross has always been my favorite area of Leyland but has looked very run down for the fast few years.
Does anyone know what will happen to the L&B building on Golden Hill Lane?
Yes I worked there until a couple of months ago. The building which was built in 1915 is coming down. Golden Hill will be closed off for a while when that is happening.
The significant owl hoots in the night.
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How sad that that magnificant old building will be demolished. Both my father-in-law and sister in law worked at L&B, I worked for a very short time for Leyland Medical. That area of Golden Hill looks so empty now.
I'm off for 2 weeks in the sun today so I dread to think what the site will be like on my return.
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