| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Redevelopment of Brentford | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 27/02/15 22:10:00 |
| Dawn, I wasn't around 60 years ago but some of the photos I've seen suggest that many parts of the town were an eyesore - eyesore having an entirely visual meaning and not in any way reflecting people's character or behaviour. Generally speaking all the negative points posters make about Brentford apply to many towns these days. My place of birth (Cleethorpes/Grimsby) has suffered enormously since the fishing industry declined, and in a completely different context we recently moved offices to Chertsey and suffice to say the place depresses the hell out of me when I pop out for a sandwich at lunchtime. Personally speaking, I don't want a new shopping centre and lots of amenities, because I don't believe such things will ever be a success and will end up quickly declining. Regardless of all the new residential development around, we have to recognise that Brentford's function isn't as a retail magnet for the surrounding area, the High Street should serve the immediate locality, and not get ideas above it's station. To me, if aspirations for the town's future are kept realistic, rather than overly ambitious, then hopefully the town will become a more attractive place for those people within the immediate locality than it currently is - whilst I enjoy the occasional meal in places like Sami's, and often walk or cycle along the canal, I shop in Brentford perhaps once a month, and sometimes over a week can pass with my only interaction with the town being driving through it on my way home (as regular posters known I live in Holland Gardens on the way away from town towards Kew Bridge). |