Nelson Arndale Centre

[helmclaret]

Pathetic comment from you. Explain yourself why Nelson has gone downhill?

The British Government and Councils and compete lack of investment over the last 15-20 years for a start.

Immigrants are always an easy target for narrow minded people.

[NewClaret]

Anyone know the names Victorian buildings were knocked down to make way for this 60’s monstrosity? Or have any pictures of what was there before?

[MalaysiaMo]

My dad had two (Chemist) shops in Nelson throughout the 1970s and 1980s, before retiring in the mid 1990s ~ one on Leeds Road and one on Chapel House Road (Frank Taylor Chemists). He learnt Urdu at night school so that he could better communicate with many of his customers. His businesses did OK, but Nelson centre was in the shadow of Burnley and later Colne throughout most of that time. Always seemed to be a place that most people passed through or by on their way somewhere else, and the latter was particularly the case after completion of the M65 in the early 1980s (and the associated demolition of Seedhill Stock Car Stadium ....).

[GodIsADeeJay81]

The British Government and Councils and compete lack of investment over the last 15-20 years for a start.

Immigrants are always an easy target for narrow minded people.

Arndale was only recently taken over by the local council
Before that it was owned by an a fella of asian heritage/his company since about 2006
He did, in fact, get sued by the council during the compulsory buyout, which it's rumoured got him £3 million or so

So if the Arndale/Pendle rise has gone downhill, that isn't the fault of the council or gov is it?
Its down to the owner of the building I'd say


Whilst we're at it, town centres up and down the country have suffered for decades to due inept councils, high rates and a change in shopping habits where people have switched to the convenience of online buying instead for better prices
We've then seen a rise in cheap naff shops, coffee shops and charity shops etc

Rinse and repeat across the UK

Did you know WH Smiths makes more profit from its airport stores than it does from its town centre ones?
That should show why town centres are dying slowly from what we remember them to be like

My Eastern European mates have often said the UK towns usually have the same sort of shops with little in the way of difference and tbh they're not far wrong from what I've seen
There's little in the way of encouragement to open up a retail store these days for something a little different, the rates are often high, then there are the usual running costs which keep going up
Decrease in footfall
Larger edge of town retail parks
No free parking and the pay and display stuff is usually daft money and patrolled by parking wardens, whereas the retail parks give you about 3hrs free

There's no motivation to go shopping in town centres, especially the smaller towns
I'd rather go to Manchester than Burnley or Nelson town centres and I felt like that when I last lived in Burnley 15yrs ago

[MalaysiaMo]

Ironically, and as indicated above, I think it was (heavily delayed) Government investment that started the retail decline in Nelson town centre ~ in the form of the completion of the M65. The M65 is effectively the Nelson by-pass, converting Nelson (and Burnley) into commuter towns feeding Manchester with workers and shoppers. And then came the rise of online shopping. I have no idea what immigrants might have to do with the decline. In fact you'd expect the reverse - immigrants add to the local population, and presumably therefore in Nelson's case helped sustain local shops beyond what might have been otherwise the case (and especially those retail outlets that were able to adapt).

[CharlieinNewMexico]

My dad had two (Chemist) shops in Nelson throughout the 1970s and 1980s, before retiring in the mid 1990s ~ one on Leeds Road and one on Chapel House Road (Frank Taylor Chemists). He learnt Urdu at night school so that he could better communicate with many of his customers. His businesses did OK, but Nelson centre was in the shadow of Burnley and later Colne throughout most of that time. Always seemed to be a place that most people passed through or by on their way somewhere else, and the latter was particularly the case after completion of the M65 in the early 1980s (and the associated demolition of Seedhill Stock Car Stadium ....).

Think your dad and my dad probably knew each other pretty well then !

[MalaysiaMo]

Think your dad and my dad probably knew each other pretty well then !

My dad was John Taylor (he passed away in 2009, just before the playoff match with Reading). He co-ran the business with his younger brother, Bob - a keen golfer and still alive but also long-since retired.

[HunterST_BFC]

Formative part of my life.
Went to college there.

There was a small Our Price?
and downstairs an independant - Dave? ran it who got in/ordered for me so much vinyl I asked him for plus found more he knew I'd probably buy...
Happy times.

In the main walkway upstairs I once got tricked into being in a knife throwing show for some reason - strapped to a board, blindfolded and scared to bits.
My mates thought it was super funny at first until the knives started whizzing...
I think I spent the aternoon down the pub and missed an exam. Bizzare day.

The snooker hall was another haunt

The fountain also got the washing liquid treatment a few sunny days

Simpler Times

[CharlieinNewMexico]

My dad was John Taylor (he passed away in 2009, just before the playoff match with Reading). He co-ran the business with his younger brother, Bob - a keen golfer and still alive but also long-since retired.

Ahhh. I hope he rests in peace.
My dad was a local GP!

[Loyalclaret]

Arndale was only recently taken over by the local council
Before that it was owned by an a fella of asian heritage/his company since about 2006
He did, in fact, get sued by the council during the compulsory buyout, which it's rumoured got him £3 million or so

So if the Arndale/Pendle rise has gone downhill, that isn't the fault of the council or gov is it?
Its down to the owner of the building I'd say

The decline happened before said gentleman took over in my memory, although it did accelerate under his ownership.

It's no coincidence that all the people with any involvement or knowledge of the town blame the council.

[Clive 1960]

loved going to Arndale for bits at Wilkinsons because it was pretty quiet compared to Burnley, it's a shame it's closing..

[MalaysiaMo]

Ahhh. I hope he rests in peace.
My dad was a local GP!

Almost certainly our dads would have known one another then. Frank Taylor (the name above the shop fronts) was my dad's dad (my grandfather). The family business also included shops in Burnley (Coal Clough Lane - opposite the Gretna, and Manchester Road - opposite the Rose and Crown). My grandfather ran the one on Manchester Road.

[Clovius Boofus]

Not forgetting Grab a granny night at Trop.

If you're old enough to remember those days, then you'd probably be quite chuffed if you could still pull a granny in 2025.

[Herts Clarets]

Yes Sands, then Blueberries ...
viewtopic.php?t=58213#p1677087

It was called Lacys inbetween Sands and Blueberries....

[AlargeClaret]

Wasn’t Lacy’s a side entrance on the old precinct where the Arndale is sited now ? I remember it as Blueberry’s maybe late 80’s very early 90’s as the owner ( Beu?) opened Zanzibar’s .

As for Nelson arndale now … it’s been a horror show for seemingly yrs. Was rank in 2022 on my last visit , though few yrs before they used to have toilets … I can only think of a Cairo khazi as an equivalent, unless Nelson arndale had a visiting “ Indian Rope Trick” artist …

[BurnleyBob]

My grandparents lived in Nelson on Bentley Street and until the early 1960s my family ran a clog shop in Leeds Road. They made and repaired clogs for mill workers. I remember the Arndale very well and in its early days was quite highly thought of. Nelson as a town was always going to struggle as the mills and manufacturing declined (Victory V for one). My late wife came from Nelson (Barkerhouse Road) but we lived in the south after we married. If its any consolation what has happened to the Arndale and the town centre in Nelson has been replicated to a large extent in the South-East. Slough was once a very good shopping centre now that has gone for good. Even in nearby Windsor there is no longer a bank and the Post Office is likely to close.

[Jakubclaret]

It's been dying a slow death for a good while. Far too many reasons to list why it's been on it arse.

[forzagranata]

When I moved back to the Nelson area for a few years - I would pop into the Arndale now and then to get something from Allsorts. With memories of what it used to be like growing up, it was a depressing and even painful feeling every time I walked in.

It's very sad what has happened to the town.

It would be better for everyone if they just levelled the Arndale and indeed the entire town centre and just built some housing there.

[Fazz]

You all will be flocking to Nelson when it is completed

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[Rowls]

The sad truth is that these shoping centres are a thing of the past.

Building new shops on the site is the King Canute option.

They'd be better off being turned into wide open spaces - parks, esplanades and squares. Above all else they need to be beautiful.

[Nonayforever]

They have missed off all the pigeons on those photos.

[Bosscat]

They have missed off all the pigeons on those photos.

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[FCBurnley]

Try Thatcher and the Tories who spent the 80's disseminating the working class city's and towns of northern England. Sad thing is a lot of the boomers on here moaning how bad these places have become are the very turkeys who probably voted for her and her fellow scumbags.

Not only that but you also seem to be the morons still falling for their bullsh*t and being duped into scapegoating the immigrants and brown people instead of looking at the ruling class who bleed the country dry with their corruption and greed

Ah you mean the Royal Family Got it