Taunton becomes national property hotspot.

[cupid_stunt]

Bridgwater has had huge housing developments since you were around. The town now extends all the way down to junction 24 .

The population has gone up hugely and loads of money has gone into the town on the back of the new Hinkley station. The smell has gone since cellophane closed. It's still a shithole though.

People can discuss the relative merits of different towns but everyone agrees that Bridgwater is a dump.

That smell used to be horrific.

I remember when people were given the right to access their medical records, and several were angry with 'NFB' being marked on records by staff at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, when they discovered it meant 'Normal For Bridgwater'.

ETA - as hinted at in this article.

There’s a long-standing joke in Somerset that people in Bridgwater are different. Many will have come across the abbreviation NFB – Normal for Bridgwater – used ungenerously by those who should know better over the years.

We're breaking down outdated perceptions about Bridgwater people and building a better Sydenham

There’s a long-standing joke in Somerset that people in Bridgwater are different. Many will have come across the abbreviation NFB – Normal for…

www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk

And, there's even an album.



See edit, rubbershoes.

 

[rubbershoes]

A lot of the villages near Bridgwater are really nice though. It's a shame the town hasn't improved.

 

[cupid_stunt]

A lot of the villages near Bridgwater are really nice though. It's a shame the town hasn't improved.

When I worked at Somerset Life magazine, we would get complaints from subscribers in those villages, because we had added 'Bridgwater' in CAPS to their addresses , we had to explain that to get the bulk mailing discounts, addresses had to be correct and include the postal town in caps, they were not happy.

 

[hermitical]

Went to a very nice veggie cafe that also did good coffee in Taunton. There's worse places to live

We're lucky to have a great vegan cafe in Wellington. The owners ran what was our local pub here as well as the Prince of Wales in Bishopston, Bristol.

I used to go and watch Tiverton Town FC quite regularly in the early 00s and went back again for the first time in a while around four-five years ago when Torquay had a pre-season game there. The town did seem to have gone very slightly upmarket.

I think Tivvy's reputation is increasingly historical nowadays. It was quite an industrial town for a long time, then a post-industrial one, in an area that was otherwise very agricultural. That said, it does have its moments (see local news for details) and I'll be staying in Exeter thanksverymuch.

I think it is a similar story to Wellington, turned around in the last few years when it could quite easily have slowly died.
It also has its moments, we thought it was quaint when the local police went door-to-door because a bike had been stolen from a back garden. We had a major incident just before Christmas as well:

Police appeal after window smashed near Wellington town centre

POLICE are appealing for help to identify the person who smashed this window in a building off Wellington town centre.

www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk

No idea. I left Zummerzet not long after it opened, and I only ever went to Wellie for evening classes.

Might have been a few paces from where we are, there is a Somerset learning centre, looks like a small old school.

Crediton's also a good place check out with a strong sense of community, nice range of local/niche shops, cheap housing, reasonable transport links and a short drive to Exeter for the bigger outlets.

Yep, again similar to Wellington. Great sense of community, lots of local/independent shops (as well as some small supermarkets, Asda, Waitrose and it looks like Lidl might be getting the go-ahead). The transport links could be better but we are near the motorway, National Express and Falcon (Plymouth <> Bristol 24 hrs a day) stop here and as I mentioned above there is a target opening date of May 2025 for the train station, Cullompton likewise.

 

[stavros]

Might have been a few paces from where we are, there is a Somerset learning centre, looks like a small old school.

That's right, just off the road towards Milverton, next to the sports centre.

 

[hermitical]

Yep, that's us, right at that end of the street where the car park entrance is. As for Milverton, it's where we both work.

 

[Elpenor]

I may go over and take a look at Wellington one weekend. I don’t think I want to live in Exeter long-term, and it seems to have the tick boxes I want from a town - cinema, swimming pool, rugby club, running club.

The station will be a game changer I think.

 

[stavros]

I may go over and take a look at Wellington one weekend. I don’t think I want to live in Exeter long-term, and it seems to have the tick boxes I want from a town - cinema, swimming pool, rugby club, running club.

The station will be a game changer I think.

Is there a station going in? It was always somewhat amusing that Wellie has a Station Road, but no station.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Is there a station going in? It was always somewhat amusing that Wellie has a Station Road, but no station.

Looks like it's going ahead.

The full Budget and Spending Review document has revealed that the Government will continue "to spend £500 million to restore transport services lost in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and improve local connectivity".

This will include £5 million of development funding to re-open railway stations in Wellington, Somerset and Cullompton, Devon.

Budget 2021: Development funding announced for Wellington train station

DEVELOPMENT funding has been announced in the Autumn Budget to progress plans to re-open railway stations in Wellington and Cullompton.

www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk

 

[hermitical]

There was an update in the last week or so, May 2025 is targeted opening date.

Target date for new railway station - Around Wellington

Wellington is on track to have a new railway station by 2025. Town councillors will receive an update on the multi-million-pound project at their meeting on Monday. Clerk Dave Farrow says in a report that Sarah Povall (Strategy Specialist, Somerset West and Taunton Council) had provided the...

www.aroundwellington.co.uk

Not going to be site of original station (basically at the end of our road) but I think near new estate just as you enter from the Taunton/M5 side.

 

[hermitical]

I may go over and take a look at Wellington one weekend. I don’t think I want to live in Exeter long-term, and it seems to have the tick boxes I want from a town - cinema, swimming pool, rugby club, running club.

The station will be a game changer I think.

In case it's your thing there is also a members only open air swimming pool in Wellington and also one in Wiveliscombe, a few miles away.
Cinema is an old-fashioned one screen affair so don't go expecting lots of interesting art-house stuff, but it is sweet and over the last year me and a mate have tried to go most weeks as a small way of supporting it.
Since The Dolphin closed (only five minutes walk from us) I've not been into town much for the pubs, there is the ubiquitous Wetherspoons (which I've not set foot in yet), some standard pubs and one that opened last year, just called The Pub which I think was aiming a bit more towards the craft ale side of things - doing pretty well afaik.

If there's anything you might need to know just drop me a line....

 

[Ground Elder]

Should I include an SAE?

 

[hermitical]

or a SASE if you will

 

[Dogsauce]

kilve is great for an easy day out from there. Really rocky bit of coast with tons of ammonites, like whole seams of them in the cliffs.

 

[ska invita]

kilve is great for an easy day out from there. Really rocky bit of coast with tons of ammonites, like whole seams of them in the cliffs.

love that place....i swam there last year....bit tricky to get into the sea though! and get out
lovely spot though, and also love the clifftop walk there

ive got some photos now i think of it

Beach:


zero people there

view from the cliff:



Filter achieved by sticking sunglasses infront of phone cam

 

[Hollis]

Quite exciting that Taunton now appears to have a piece of "public art" in the High Street..




I'm wondering if the 'smoke' is coming from the hot sausage stand that hangs around that area.

 

[stavros]

Quite exciting that Taunton now appears to have a piece of "public art" in the High Street..




I'm wondering if the 'smoke' is coming from the hot sausage stand that hangs around that area.

Have they still got the pop-up urinals at the bottom of the High Street?

 

[Hollis]

Down there last weekend... a couple bits of good news..

The Coal Orchard has survived so far under new ownership
French Wier has a decent cafe in it

Amazed at all the new build flats around the river/canal... all used to be fields when I was there...

 

[bellaozzydog]

Drunk, full of fish pie wine and weed I was just gobbing off about my previous life (starting in Taunton)

I went to the company Christmas piss up in Taunton on a Friday night. I was late and drove in to town and parked up…..then drunk so much I couldn’t remember where I parked my car and didn’t find it till first week of January

 

[Hollis]

I'm delighted to see Taunton's continuing exclusion from lists such as this now... seems the flirtation with the big time is over.

No suprises to see Exeter near the top.

These are England’s 25 best towns for downsizers... when will you move?

 

[stavros]

I'm delighted to see Taunton's continuing exclusion from lists such as this now... seems the flirtation with the big time is over.

No suprises to see Exeter near the top.

These are England’s 25 best towns for downsizers... when will you move?

Isn't Exeter excluded, on account of not being a town? (I'm not clicking a Telegraph link to find out the criteria.)

 

[Hollis]

Taunton's star appears to have dwindled further since the Guardian readers post-pandemic flirtation with it. Now bottom of the south-west's happiest towns to live in. Though I note they excluded Chard from this list.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Though I note they excluded Chard from this list.

And Bridgwater, I expect both come in somewhere south of position 200, TBH.

 

[stavros]

Being below Yeovil will sting Taunton.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Taunton's star appears to have dwindled further since the Guardian readers post-pandemic flirtation with it. Now bottom of the south-west's happiest towns to live in. Though I note they excluded Chard from this list.

View attachment 453827

Barnstaple? Barnstaple is on its arse. Ever since they built two giant supermarkets right across the river from the town centre the high street's been an absolute graveyard. And you can't commute from there to any sort of real place.

I don't know where the fuck Cirencester's supposed to be but it's not in the South West.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Salisbury's numbers no doubt artificially inflated by the high levels of Russian tourism.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I don't know where the fuck Cirencester's supposed to be but it's not in the South West.

Cirencester is in Gloucestershire, which, err, is in the south-west region!

 

[Idaho]

Massively Tory places that attract retired city traders always get high ratings in these kinds of lists. It's always places in the Cotswolds or Surrey.

 

[Elpenor]

Being lower than Swindon would sting

Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are only in the south west as no one else wants them.

Where I live always scores low But that
suits me as it hopefully keeps it on the down low