Great Yarmouth 10:46 - Oct 8 with 13794 views | itfcjoe | Been away for the weekend in a Haven park up near Yarmouth, and as my boy got a bike for his birthday we elected to across to the town yesterday so he could ride it around as more space there etc It's sad how run down the whole town is there, admittedly going to a seaside town out of season on a fairly miserable day is never going to show it in a flattering light, it is just totally run down from top to bottom. Everything is dated, everything is cheap and tacky and everyone seems down on their luck, admittedly again this was a Monday so most of those who do work would be at work. These are Brexit towns, but putting that aside, is there anything that can be done to turn these sorts of town's around, I'd guess they are just too far gone. Regardless, I had an enjoyable day, I do like a seaside town, and my over arching emotion was sadness at a town which used to be booming back in the summers | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:51 - Oct 8 with 6584 views | StokieBlue | Killed by the cheap package holiday which is now being killed by cheap flights and hotels booked separately. Without a USP it's hard to see how somewhere like Yarmouth could win back large amounts of tourists. However, I do think there is hope for places like Yarmouth - there is scope for building and maintenance of turbines which are reasonably skilled jobs which could bring money into the community. When money comes, infrastructure tends to follow. SB | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:52 - Oct 8 with 6576 views | wkj | You think thats bad, you should see Pakefield Butlins now. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:55 - Oct 8 with 6565 views | footers |
Great Yarmouth on 10:52 - Oct 8 by wkj | You think thats bad, you should see Pakefield Butlins now. |
It's Pontins, you dope. Another reason for such towns, including my beloved Lowie, are on their arses is that, aside from lack of available jobs, many councils send their 'undesirables' there thanks to cheap housing. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:56 - Oct 8 with 6557 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 10:51 - Oct 8 by StokieBlue | Killed by the cheap package holiday which is now being killed by cheap flights and hotels booked separately. Without a USP it's hard to see how somewhere like Yarmouth could win back large amounts of tourists. However, I do think there is hope for places like Yarmouth - there is scope for building and maintenance of turbines which are reasonably skilled jobs which could bring money into the community. When money comes, infrastructure tends to follow. SB |
There was an Eon wind farm that you could visit the information centre right by one of the piers there but didn't get across to it, hopefully something does happen to pick these towns up but I just can't see it. If only Dale Vince, who is from Yarmouth, put his money into GYFC rather than Forest Green it may have helped! | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:57 - Oct 8 with 6564 views | homer_123 | Indeed - go further North and you'll see more and more run down Towns and not just on the coast. You can then begin to understand why people voted Brexit (even without knowing what they were voting for). The choice was keep the status quo (which clearly isn't working for them or the local Town) or vote for Brexit (even if the likelihood of changing for the positive is slim). Whilst many won't agree - once you've seen, first hand, just how bad some places, peoples situations are then you can completely understand why they voted as they did, even as a protest vote. Coming back to your original question - can anything be done....no. The reason being is that anyone young enough or skilled enough has left already. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:58 - Oct 8 with 6547 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 10:52 - Oct 8 by wkj | You think thats bad, you should see Pakefield Butlins now. |
My wife and Mother in Law drove past it on the way up there and said how it looked so run down, I did drive past it late last night but was dark so probably showed it in it's best light. Again, I had some great times there as a youngster though and it is sad. With young kids, I think these places are much better than going abroad if it is a short trip, but on Sunday the weather was so bad you could barely do anything and going abroad tends to negate that risk to an extent | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:59 - Oct 8 with 6543 views | flimflam |
Great Yarmouth on 10:52 - Oct 8 by wkj | You think thats bad, you should see Pakefield Butlins now. |
Pontins? | |
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Great Yarmouth on 10:59 - Oct 8 with 6546 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 10:55 - Oct 8 by footers | It's Pontins, you dope. Another reason for such towns, including my beloved Lowie, are on their arses is that, aside from lack of available jobs, many councils send their 'undesirables' there thanks to cheap housing. |
Ross Kemp did a programme on this in Clacton with a load of Londoners heading down there. It's an easy solution to a problem for them - huge seaside hotels and B&Bs which are empty most of the year, but the town just gets dragged further and further down in a vicious circle | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:00 - Oct 8 with 6526 views | Herbivore | The sea will claim it back in a few years, probably best all round. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:00 - Oct 8 with 6534 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 10:57 - Oct 8 by homer_123 | Indeed - go further North and you'll see more and more run down Towns and not just on the coast. You can then begin to understand why people voted Brexit (even without knowing what they were voting for). The choice was keep the status quo (which clearly isn't working for them or the local Town) or vote for Brexit (even if the likelihood of changing for the positive is slim). Whilst many won't agree - once you've seen, first hand, just how bad some places, peoples situations are then you can completely understand why they voted as they did, even as a protest vote. Coming back to your original question - can anything be done....no. The reason being is that anyone young enough or skilled enough has left already. |
"If you vote for Brexit you'll end up with less" "Less than nothing?" | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:02 - Oct 8 with 6521 views | wkj |
Great Yarmouth on 10:59 - Oct 8 by flimflam | Pontins? |
They all look the same. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:03 - Oct 8 with 6511 views | homer_123 |
Great Yarmouth on 11:00 - Oct 8 by Herbivore | The sea will claim it back in a few years, probably best all round. |
Norfolk? | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:03 - Oct 8 with 6511 views | StokieBlue |
Great Yarmouth on 10:57 - Oct 8 by homer_123 | Indeed - go further North and you'll see more and more run down Towns and not just on the coast. You can then begin to understand why people voted Brexit (even without knowing what they were voting for). The choice was keep the status quo (which clearly isn't working for them or the local Town) or vote for Brexit (even if the likelihood of changing for the positive is slim). Whilst many won't agree - once you've seen, first hand, just how bad some places, peoples situations are then you can completely understand why they voted as they did, even as a protest vote. Coming back to your original question - can anything be done....no. The reason being is that anyone young enough or skilled enough has left already. |
This is a good point, it's easy to sit here in relative comfort and criticise the lack of critical thinking involved in voting Brexit but if it's a choice of something changing rather than continuing on the same dead-end path it's understandable why people voted that way. The real tragedy will be when Brexit happens that nothing changes in these areas or things actually get worse. SB | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:04 - Oct 8 with 6512 views | footers |
Great Yarmouth on 10:59 - Oct 8 by itfcjoe | Ross Kemp did a programme on this in Clacton with a load of Londoners heading down there. It's an easy solution to a problem for them - huge seaside hotels and B&Bs which are empty most of the year, but the town just gets dragged further and further down in a vicious circle |
One of my previous landlords actually asked me about investing in property in Lowestoft, just so he could stuff the places full of DSS tenants and rake in government cash. With this sort of thing going on, the only way is down, as you rightly say. Unfortunately, at the minute, Lowestoft is pretty much the answer to: "What happens if you stick ~60k people in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do?" It's also living up to the jokey moniker of "the town so sh1t even the fish fooked off". Industry is still being ripped from the town as we speak. In fact, my mum, who works for a well-known travel company, is in fear of her job, thanks to the American firm which has basically asset-stripped the company. In Lowestoft especially, there's anger at the EU for taking away the fishing jobs. But as we all know, it wasn't the EU at all, but successive governments signing over quotas to foreign companies. People are rightfully angry, but unfortunately they're just angry at the wrong people. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:06 - Oct 8 with 6503 views | Churchman | My mother was born in Great Yarmouth and just about all her family live in and around there. I went back there for the first time since my grandmother died in 1981 in June and like you was saddened by how run down it is. Your description is 100%. I used to spend a fair bit of time there as a child and it was always a bit on the tacky side, but it had a certain sort of seaside vibrancy that’s now gone, along with its fishing industry, birds eye and other employment. I know there isn’t much work there and even for things like the windmill construction, I was told the profits all go back to the parent company abroad and benefits for the town are limited. It was always basically a really hard life for people there, as the occupations of my ancestors on my mums side show, but I hope it reinvents itself in the coming years. I too like seaside towns and they have a fascinating history. Brighton and Torquay are particular favourites. | | | |
Great Yarmouth on 11:08 - Oct 8 with 6491 views | chicoazul | Places like Yarmouth are perfect examples of the slow death by neoliberalism and globalisation that many parts of the country have suffered, to then be told Well Actually by politicians and the metropolitan commentariat for the last 40 years. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:10 - Oct 8 with 6484 views | Bent_double | Where to start... OK, GY in October (through to March) is never going to be the best place, unless you want nice quiet walks along the beach. As ever, July, August and September were very good months, very busy with lots of visitors coming into the town. The council doesn't seem to do much to encourage out-of-season tourism, which is a shame because with more to see and do during the quieter winter months GY would attract more investment and more visitors. There have been recent improvements, such as the £2.7m spent on restoring the Victorian Waterways and gardens, and there are plans to replace the ugly 70's monstrosity of a leisure centre on the seafront with a new £25m complex, plus there will be a new river crossing in a few years which may encourage more businesses to relocate here. Money is moving out of Norwich too, in anticipation of property prices rising over the next few years, bargains to be had here! It's what it is though, not too dissimilar to other faded British seaside resorts that have been better days and now seem populated with every nationality under the sun who spend their days trying to relieve visitors of their cash! I always say to guests use GY as a base for a few days, visit the Broads, Norwich, etc - there are some great family attractions in the surrounding villages, if the weather's good it's a great place for a few days on the beach.....but not much more! | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:12 - Oct 8 with 6475 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 11:04 - Oct 8 by footers | One of my previous landlords actually asked me about investing in property in Lowestoft, just so he could stuff the places full of DSS tenants and rake in government cash. With this sort of thing going on, the only way is down, as you rightly say. Unfortunately, at the minute, Lowestoft is pretty much the answer to: "What happens if you stick ~60k people in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do?" It's also living up to the jokey moniker of "the town so sh1t even the fish fooked off". Industry is still being ripped from the town as we speak. In fact, my mum, who works for a well-known travel company, is in fear of her job, thanks to the American firm which has basically asset-stripped the company. In Lowestoft especially, there's anger at the EU for taking away the fishing jobs. But as we all know, it wasn't the EU at all, but successive governments signing over quotas to foreign companies. People are rightfully angry, but unfortunately they're just angry at the wrong people. |
These towns just become the butt of the jokes opposed to an area that needs help - basically one seaside town gets picked as the posh one in the area and the left are rest to rot. Transport links are terrible, almost deliberately so, and there just aren't good jobs there, and any monies made aren't reinvested in he town - you need a philanthropic multi-millionaire from these towns who wants to see them back on the map and is willing to invest properly in them. Successive Governments have left these towns to rot whilst blaming anyone deemed to be an 'other', local people suffer as they always do | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:13 - Oct 8 with 6467 views | chicoazul |
Great Yarmouth on 10:57 - Oct 8 by homer_123 | Indeed - go further North and you'll see more and more run down Towns and not just on the coast. You can then begin to understand why people voted Brexit (even without knowing what they were voting for). The choice was keep the status quo (which clearly isn't working for them or the local Town) or vote for Brexit (even if the likelihood of changing for the positive is slim). Whilst many won't agree - once you've seen, first hand, just how bad some places, peoples situations are then you can completely understand why they voted as they did, even as a protest vote. Coming back to your original question - can anything be done....no. The reason being is that anyone young enough or skilled enough has left already. |
There is plenty that *could* be done to reinvigorate once-proud industrial/tourist towns like Yarmouth, it's just that they are all expensive. For one thing, flying is looking more and more abhorrent by the year, so specifically on tourist towns much more money could and should be spent on encouraging people to holiday there, ideally travelling by train. That's if Yarmouth isnt underwater in 20 years of course. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:19 - Oct 8 with 6441 views | Herbivore |
Great Yarmouth on 11:03 - Oct 8 by homer_123 | Norfolk? |
Some of it. I'm looking forward to Norwich becoming the UK's answer to Barcelona though as a bustling city on the beach. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:19 - Oct 8 with 6450 views | itfcjoe |
Great Yarmouth on 11:10 - Oct 8 by Bent_double | Where to start... OK, GY in October (through to March) is never going to be the best place, unless you want nice quiet walks along the beach. As ever, July, August and September were very good months, very busy with lots of visitors coming into the town. The council doesn't seem to do much to encourage out-of-season tourism, which is a shame because with more to see and do during the quieter winter months GY would attract more investment and more visitors. There have been recent improvements, such as the £2.7m spent on restoring the Victorian Waterways and gardens, and there are plans to replace the ugly 70's monstrosity of a leisure centre on the seafront with a new £25m complex, plus there will be a new river crossing in a few years which may encourage more businesses to relocate here. Money is moving out of Norwich too, in anticipation of property prices rising over the next few years, bargains to be had here! It's what it is though, not too dissimilar to other faded British seaside resorts that have been better days and now seem populated with every nationality under the sun who spend their days trying to relieve visitors of their cash! I always say to guests use GY as a base for a few days, visit the Broads, Norwich, etc - there are some great family attractions in the surrounding villages, if the weather's good it's a great place for a few days on the beach.....but not much more! |
I stayed up that way a few years back at Waveney River Centre and this time was at Wild Duck site in Belton and have had 2 really good breaks - doing as you say in using them as a base. Had a day in GY last time, and this time was only Saturday to Monday, but spent yesterday there, and actually headed in for a few hours on Sunday to go the Sealife centre which is good and about the only activity we could think off in the rain bar swimming which we did in the afternoon on the camp! I'd go there again, i think i drove past the agrdens and they looked nice and similar to what has happened in Felixstowe, Yarmouth is absolutely massive though with regards to the front etc, and will take serious investment to bring round. Maybe in 50 years with more and more people working from home, being by the sea will be more attractive if not needing to commute from these places for a good job | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:24 - Oct 8 with 6420 views | N2_Blue | Great Yarmouth is one of the poorest places in the country so no sure what you were expecting. It's been like this for years but actually looks in a better state than 10 years ago. At one point i think it had an unemployment rate bordering on about 50%. The beach is actually quite decent but really wouldn't want to go there which is sad as i often visited as a kid in the 90s. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 11:32 - Oct 8 with 6383 views | SWGF | I walked around Blackpool for a hour or two on Saturday lunchtime. Yarmouth is Puerto Banus. Edit: Saying that, Blackpool was absolutely facking heaving...predominantly by different groups of 4-6 shaven-headed men in search of the Wetherspoons Edit: And every guesthouse we walked past had "no vacancies" signs in the windows [Post edited 8 Oct 2019 11:36]
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Great Yarmouth on 11:33 - Oct 8 with 6371 views | TRUE_BLUE123 | Holiday parks get a bad rep. Went on a stag do in butlins, was absolute class. | |
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Great Yarmouth on 12:03 - Oct 8 with 6264 views | C_HealyIsAPleasure |
Great Yarmouth on 10:57 - Oct 8 by homer_123 | Indeed - go further North and you'll see more and more run down Towns and not just on the coast. You can then begin to understand why people voted Brexit (even without knowing what they were voting for). The choice was keep the status quo (which clearly isn't working for them or the local Town) or vote for Brexit (even if the likelihood of changing for the positive is slim). Whilst many won't agree - once you've seen, first hand, just how bad some places, peoples situations are then you can completely understand why they voted as they did, even as a protest vote. Coming back to your original question - can anything be done....no. The reason being is that anyone young enough or skilled enough has left already. |
Spot on | |
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