Is Weston-super-Mare set to be the new Brighton?

[Hollis]

Article in the Telegraph today... The young folk are moving there, hipster cafes, seafront renovation ?

Is it true? I largely know it for donkey rides and the seafront putting course. The town itself was always shite..

 

[kalidarkone]

It's a lot less white then it used to be which is great.

 

[Karl Masks]

Article in the Telegraph today... The young folk are moving there, hipster cafes, seafront renovation ?

Is it true? I largely know it for donkey rides and the seafront putting course. The town itself was always shite..

No, it's a shithole.

I mean there are nice people that live there, ofc, but it is a dead end town with a lot of poverty and a lot of people with addiction problems

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If the Telegraph is saying it, it probably isn't true, no. Remember this kind of thing being said of Hastings 20 years ago.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

No, it's a shithole.

I mean there are nice people that live there, ofc, but it is a dead end town with a lot of poverty and a lot of people with addiction problems

A place can be more than one thing at the same time, though. Hastings is like that. There is a lot of poverty and there are a lot of people with addiction problems. But it's also a place where interesting stuff does happen, and it has improved in recent years.

Whatever Weston was or is, it can change and improve.

Shit thing is that I'd wager The Torygraph's angle has to do with fucking house prices. 'Doing a Brighton' afaict mostly means 'becoming unaffordable to live in'.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I went there as a kid and all I remember is the donkeys. Are they still there?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I went there as a kid and all I remember is the donkeys. Are they still there?

without knowing how old you are, and how long donkeys live for, i couldn't say

 

[BristolEcho]

Rents gone up a lot there recently which is usually sign. My friends old landlord put his rent up by roughly £200 over a year ago. He moved out instead.

It has decent transport links and the area around it is quite nice. I've spent a lot of time there and feel it has changed a bit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

 

[A380]

…Is it true? …

No

 

[Boudicca]

I saw a presentation a couple of years ago from someone at the Arts University who had moved to Bournemouth from Weston and claimed to have turned round the fortunes of Weston using 'art'. I can't quite remember how though.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I saw a presentation a couple of years ago from someone at the Arts University who had moved to Bournemouth from Weston and claimed to have turned round the fortunes of Weston using 'art'. I can't quite remember how though.

By leaving?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Rents gone up a lot there recently which is usually sign.

This is the problem. New people move in somewhere and landlords/home owners see pound signs.

 

[Karl Masks]

A place can be more than one thing at the same time, though. Hastings is like that. There is a lot of poverty and there are a lot of people with addiction problems. But it's also a place where interesting stuff does happen, and it has improved in recent years.

Whatever Weston was or is, it can change and improve.

Shit thing is that I'd wager The Torygraph's angle has to do with fucking house prices. 'Doing a Brighton' afaict mostly means 'becoming unaffordable to live in'.

It can certainly improve. I hope it does.

 

[Elpenor]

It’s Worles apart from Brighton

 

[rubbershoes]

It's partly a commuter town for Bristol. House prices go up but the town stays shit

 

[Hollis]

Here's an extract from the article...

 

[Elpenor]

Lovely muddy beach I suppose

 

[Chilli.s]

not in a million years

 

[Hollis]

Bit more from a young Bristolian recently moved to Weston:



Never bored - sounds great! Does it have a good bookshop now?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

There you go. All about fucking house prices. Fucking Telegraph.

 

[Hollis]

They key bit:

 

[Hollis]

There you go. All about fucking house prices. Fucking Telegraph.

May I post you this as a reminder that the Guardian is full of shit as well. This article hasn't aged well... the headline feels like something Chris Morris could've written:

‘People seem to be looking for another way of living’: how Taunton became property hotspot

 

[Hollis]

A place can be more than one thing at the same time, though. Hastings is like that. There is a lot of poverty and there are a lot of people with addiction problems. But it's also a place where interesting stuff does happen, and it has improved in recent years.

Whatever Weston was or is, it can change and improve.

I stayed in Margate a couple years back.. and that was mighty weird.. a small very 'arty' enclave in the middle, surrounded by what looked like a pretty 'down-at-heel' town..

 

[kebabking]

It was always going to happen when Bristol became such a popular place - Bristol is now one of the most desirable (quite legitimately imv..) cities to live and work in in the UK, and there's a seaside resort half an hour down the motorway. Weston has its problems (which, let's be frank, is massively increased by every council within 50 miles dumping their 'problem children' in Weston because it's cheap) - as Weston becomes more desirable and the rents those councils have to pay goes up, they'll find somewhere else. Merthyr? Pontypool?

The amount of money that will be on offer means that it will be worth whatever investment is needed to build swanky gaffs and rip down the shitty bits of the town centre.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It was always going to happen when Bristol became such a popular place - Bristol is now one of the most desirable (quite legitimately imv..) cities to live and work in in the UK, and there's a seaside resort half an hour down the motorway. Weston has its problems (which, let's be frank, is massively increased by every council within 50 miles dumping their 'problem children' in Weston because it's cheap) - as Weston becomes more desirable and the rents those councils have to pay goes up, they'll find somewhere else. Merthyr? Pontypool?

The amount of money that will be on offer means that it will be worth whatever investment is needed to build swanky gaffs and rip down the shitty bits of the town centre.

Maybe. That was mostly the logic applied to Hastings 20 years ago. Brighton is now stupid expensive, and it's just up the coast, commuting distance, affordable (exact same history of dumping people there).

But this is mostly just fluff, talking up a small change that's happened as if it heralds a transformation. It probably doesn't. As Hollis says, Margate has also gone a bit like that. IME of these places, they can become and then remain half and half. The old 'shithole' coexists with incomers with new ideas. Better than before, but not the 'new Brighton'.

 

[Raheem]

I like Bristol a lot. But how diverse it is compared to how white a place it is to go out in is really something it needs to address.

 

[JimW]

Only been there for the football, used to have regular pre-season friendlies with WSM. Be in the same league again soon at rate we're dropping.

 

[Karl Masks]

Bit more from a young Bristolian recently moved to Weston:

View attachment 424119

Never bored - sounds great! Does it have a good bookshop now?

It had a boardgame cafe that shut over a year ago as the cost of living crisis bit over that rough winter of price hikes in energy. They hostda couple of radical bookshop events and the owners were really nice. Shame.

It has a Waterstones and quite possibly the oldest WHSmiths in Britain. The Ur-Smiths, if you will

 

[RevolutionSound]

Lots of rehabs in Weston

 

[Dystopiary]

New Brighton is New Brighton.