business's closing in town....

mrh35 · business's closing in town....

There have been a high number of shops shut recently for a variety of reasons so whats next ?

sweepstake time: Laughing

latest odds:
Tesco 4/7
somerfeild evens
jordannes 11/10
ashes 13/8
hectors cafe 2/1
post office 3/1
teds news 5/1
sams barbers 10/1
karma 12/1
woolworths 25/1
sun shack 33/1
rolling mill 66/1
pendragon 200/1
somerset 250/1
ladbrokes 2500/1
dones 2500/1
HSBC no odds closed most of time anyway
robbing rons not as long as he chrages more than focus

its only a bit of fun dont get serious...

Saeson

The pubs and bookies will be the last to go.

Honestly, if a town with the architecture (no I`m not joking) and surrounding countryside like Abertillery has was in the Cotswolds everybody would want to live and shop here.

martin lewis · state of the town

Having just visited Abertillery this week [its my home town] i was shocked at the many shops that are closed ,the town is dead on its feet,what the way back is i dont know,but it doesnt seem too positive,what once was a thriving town has now diminished to nothing,it s not possible to keep small shops open especially with the large superstores around.and i visited Brynmawr, it too is in the same boat.

what the remedy is i do not know. Crying or Very sad

Doodlebug

Just tarting the shops up won't work they need to modernise the town and surrounding streets behind it. The one way system is a waste of space and you can hardly call it pedestrianised with traffic coming at you from all ends

Borracha

I totally agree with Saeson. Lots of the buildings in Abertillery are great and the surrounding countryside is stunning. In fact, when I have had visitors (Spanish, Swedish and Japanese to name but a few nationalities) they have, without exception, all been gobsmacked by the scenery. It is such a shame that the town in general is so run down.

Carolyn

I too agree with saeson, but BGCBC insatiable greed for land for building houses don't see it that way

john gibbs

I was in Aber over the weekend, Christ it's absolutely desolate.
You have to ask yourself if anyone in their right mind would invest in such a place.
It's actually worse than Dover (which is near where I live) and that takes some beating.
As for the scenery, it's ok if you like pine trees.
Sorry for being so negative, it really is depressing....... Crying or Very sad

jaybe

People go on about how we can breath new life into the town and then go on to say how wonderful the new train service from Ebbw Vale will be to make it easier for us all to go shopping in Cardiff. Less than a hundred years ago Aberbeeg, Llanhilleth and Crumlin were small towns in their own right and there's nothing left of them anymore, Abertillery will just go the same way.

Carolyn

I do agree with you on he state of the town it is desolate especially in the afternoons, many of the small shops now close early. With the new parking facility and regeneration of the shop fronts it does look a little better especially when they are closed prior to that it did look a little like the Bronx with broken and boarded up windows I had visions of tumbrils blowing down through Church Street. I am sure it did deter businesses from opening up in the town and townspeople from shopping in the town. Let us hope that the regeneration of the town is not too little too late and we can encourage people back

A lot of work has been done in redevelopment of the surrounding areas and despite the unatural pine trees which has spoiled the area considerably over the years the scenery is beautiful.

mrh35

Lovely pictures do you have any of Six Bells?

Saeson

Brilliant pics. They show us just what assets we have got up here. The days of the High Street family butcher, baker and candlestick maker are gone - people can, and will, go to Tesco for that nowadays; probably the same ones who mourn the loss of local traders. It`s small upmarket businesses which are the shape of things to come. Unfortunately we don`t live in an upmarket area - yet. It needs a well thought-out long term strategy, not a kneejerk injection of cash with no forward planning.

martyn142

It's a fair point made about the pine trees though - they are horrible, generally impossible to walk through, and kill all undergrowth. However, the Forestry Commission (I assume) has in more recent years begun planting deciduous trees and although they will obviously take time to come to fruition, they should make the mountains a bit more like they must hjave looked in pre-industrial times.

I agree by the way Carolyn - great photos.

Carolyn

mrh35

well the food factory in market street does have a nice roof Laughing

Does anyone remember this place open?

Snoopy

yer and I know the guy that ran it or worked there. They could knock out the walls and make a smoking shelter for the commie, glasgo, sum and the wetherspoons when it is open instead of standing outside the pubs Laughing

cara1981

I seem to remember having a burger from there when I was about 9...so 17 years ago. Must have been nice if I still remember it!! Smile

Think it closed just after.

Every time I come home to Aber (I live in the midlands now) something else has closed, or opened and promptly closed again in the space between visits. It's really sad to see. When I was a teenager it was bad enough but it really is getting worse all the time. Unfortunately it's difficult to see a way out of the problem, we need some kind of miracle it seems. Sad

churchill · closing busineses

I agree with many of the posts on this subject, I am a 28 year old living it Abertillery and have lived here all my life. Abertillery backdrop has one of the most beutiful i have ever seen, with its mountains and steams, etc.. but the town is a joke! they seem to think that putting new woden fronts on the shops will make all the difference. these will only need to be replaced in a few years or so. Times are changing in Abertillery and we need to keep up! alot of old traditions have sadly left us, (local buthers and bakers are hard to come by), and pubs and takeaways seem to be the norm. But as a (youngster) @ 28 there is no-where in this town that I feel I can go and have a goodnight out. local pubs are small and dont have much atmosphere, when Bob Smith revampt the dolls house it was a nice change and refreshing, now its a home to hardcore rock&grunge. why havent we got a nice restaurant or eating place to take our loved ones? no wonder we all go out of town. Even the Met which was a masive entertainment spot is now struglling to give us good entertainment. Thats the councils fault for making it so difficult for people to put on shows etc there.. the way they treat the local dramatics group and charges they apply on them is disscusting!! And people ask, why dont the yougsters respect this town? Simple why expect yobs to respect it if our own council dont? We used to be the biggest and best in these valleys, now we would struggle to keep up with Cwm, ( no disrespect)

jaybe

This is just progress, you say butchers and bakers have disappeared from the town, what about corner shops nearly every street in abertillery had a shop forty years ago, and pubs in abertillery will go the same way because you can buy everything cheaper in tescos which is a good thing as far as i'm concerned because you wouldn't want to start paying corner shop prices for your goods again. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing but move with the times.

churchill · change

Yes I totally agree!!! move with the times I was just comenting on shops dissapering. and being borded up and nothing new done with then

Carolyn

The supermarkets opened up in the 60's but they were small by todays standards selling mainly food and limited household products, there was a lot of discontent about them opening as the corner shops could not compete on prices gradually the corner shops closed down. Being a young mother with a family it was much easier to shop taking the kids especially if you were working. Years ago many families could not afford their own homes and lived with their parents who were around to help with childcare and you had more time to shop in the town. Families bought their own homes and moved out and many of their parents went out to work so there was little or no etra help with childcare.

You now have bigger supermarkets, hypermarkets and superstores selling a whole range of goods which is taking over the smaller business in towns again they buy in bulk and the smaller businesses cannot compete in the price war. Many families have both partners out working and parents so have to juggle between work and school and prefere to do one main shop with cheaper prices to make savings, they simply don't have the time to browse around from shop to shop and use the town shops for bits and pieces they may have forgotten rather than stand in the supermarket que, in the same way as people used the corner shop when supermarkets first opened.

Older people now retired with more time on their hands remember the one to one service and when shopping was more of a social activity as well as a necessity and are reluctant to move with the times

jaybe

Yes,I can remember how small the first supermarket was in Abertillery Carolyn, If i'm not mistaken it was Kibbys, and it was in the old J and R Fashions shop Somerset st. You just went up the one side of the shop and back down the other with just one checkout. Then our first freezer centre was the corner of clynmawr st and portland st.

Carolyn

And Vernons, not sure but I think it may have been where the Community charity shop is now in Church Street. I remember the freezer centre being Bryn Hammonds, at least that is what you asked for to get off the Henley's bus Laughing

business's closing in town....

state of the town

closing busineses

change