It will still only be transitory and will collapse a long time shorter of the durability that the old buildings had. NB started going down the drain when they stopped painting the railings on the sea front and repairing river front buildings so that everything started to look seedy compared with what folks could get in Spain, that and the prices. The price of a cup of tea is ridiculous never mind some munchies to go with it. Modern concrete buildings with plastic fittings soon look like shoit and they are built so that no one can get at the fittings to maintain them, we'll see.
I took a video of the baths after the storm, I can assure you that the infrastructure of the main building (the riverside ballroom and the pump house that was below it) had been well and truly wrecked beyond repair. Could it have been re-built, maybe but why? People hardly ever used the place, it was too cold in the water and too cold out of the water many days. Could it have been roofed over and made into a POP / Rock venue? Maybe but some would still have moaned about that.
So when Neptune came along what did we have (remember we can't blame Neptune for the decline it had already happened when they came along) a theater that was in need of investment, a run down crazy golf, a sailing school behind a high wooden fence running out of containers, a run down toilet block, mounds of rubble where the pool was, a half demolished Grand (now fully demolished) a run down Fort (sorry owner I know you're trying your best but if people only come to New Brighton to walk the kids & empty the dog you'll never be able to afford to make your venue more interesting) Wilkies half hearted attempt at a fair and a shed load of memories.
Now, with the theater looking great and the other work underway things are looking up (yes I know it's not Victorian but it's looking good).
The Guy above talks about sacrificing the water front to save a trip to Birkenhead to see a film .... WHAT WATERFRONT? It was a cattle auction site, all railings and bare tarmac, the baths site was a mud pile and the sailing school was like a building site, behind a big blue fence that you couldn't see over and running from the aforementioned containers.
From what I've seen you will still be able to walk around the road side part of the lake, the area between the sailing school and the shops should be a safe place to sit with kids and the whole thing will make it worthwhile for others to "Clean Up" their act ! The Queens now looks great after it's face lift (only undertaken because the owner could see other investment going on and knew his venue would have to compete with the new stuff). The Cafe has had a face lift too so now not only does it serve some great grub but is pleasant to eat in too. The bowls, while just a modern box building, is at least a NICE place to go and the Floral is something to be proud of.
All in all I think it's going to make a BIG difference.
And Neptune's pandering to the shareholders? ... well unlike many others in the past they DID put their money where their mouths where and up to now they have kept ALL of their promises.
I took a video of the baths after the storm, I can assure you that the infrastructure of the main building (the riverside ballroom and the pump house that was below it) had been well and truly wrecked beyond repair. Could it have been re-built, maybe but why? People hardly ever used the place, it was too cold in the water and too cold out of the water many days. Could it have been roofed over and made into a POP / Rock venue? Maybe but some would still have moaned about that.
So when Neptune came along what did we have (remember we can't blame Neptune for the decline it had already happened when they came along) a theater that was in need of investment, a run down crazy golf, a sailing school behind a high wooden fence running out of containers, a run down toilet block, mounds of rubble where the pool was, a half demolished Grand (now fully demolished) a run down Fort (sorry owner I know you're trying your best but if people only come to New Brighton to walk the kids & empty the dog you'll never be able to afford to make your venue more interesting) Wilkies half hearted attempt at a fair and a shed load of memories.
Now, with the theater looking great and the other work underway things are looking up (yes I know it's not Victorian but it's looking good).
The Guy above talks about sacrificing the water front to save a trip to Birkenhead to see a film .... WHAT WATERFRONT? It was a cattle auction site, all railings and bare tarmac, the baths site was a mud pile and the sailing school was like a building site, behind a big blue fence that you couldn't see over and running from the aforementioned containers.
From what I've seen you will still be able to walk around the road side part of the lake, the area between the sailing school and the shops should be a safe place to sit with kids and the whole thing will make it worthwhile for others to "Clean Up" their act ! The Queens now looks great after it's face lift (only undertaken because the owner could see other investment going on and knew his venue would have to compete with the new stuff). The Cafe has had a face lift too so now not only does it serve some great grub but is pleasant to eat in too. The bowls, while just a modern box building, is at least a NICE place to go and the Floral is something to be proud of.
All in all I think it's going to make a BIG difference.
And Neptune's pandering to the shareholders? ... well unlike many others in the past they DID put their money where their mouths where and up to now they have kept ALL of their promises.
Any chance of uploading the video to YouTube or the likes? Thanks
I think it'll look nice. A supermarket isn't needed though.
On a related story, they demolished an old 50's building in Chester and while everyone was expecting another set of steel/glass apartments/hotel/shopping centre, they instead put a park there and it looks really nice.
I took a video of the baths after the storm, I can assure you that the infrastructure of the main building (the riverside ballroom and the pump house that was below it) had been well and truly wrecked beyond repair. Could it have been re-built, maybe but why? People hardly ever used the place, it was too cold in the water and too cold out of the water many days. Could it have been roofed over and made into a POP / Rock venue? Maybe but some would still have moaned about that.
So when Neptune came along what did we have (remember we can't blame Neptune for the decline it had already happened when they came along) a theater that was in need of investment, a run down crazy golf, a sailing school behind a high wooden fence running out of containers, a run down toilet block, mounds of rubble where the pool was, a half demolished Grand (now fully demolished) a run down Fort (sorry owner I know you're trying your best but if people only come to New Brighton to walk the kids & empty the dog you'll never be able to afford to make your venue more interesting) Wilkies half hearted attempt at a fair and a shed load of memories.
Now, with the theater looking great and the other work underway things are looking up (yes I know it's not Victorian but it's looking good).
The Guy above talks about sacrificing the water front to save a trip to Birkenhead to see a film .... WHAT WATERFRONT? It was a cattle auction site, all railings and bare tarmac, the baths site was a mud pile and the sailing school was like a building site, behind a big blue fence that you couldn't see over and running from the aforementioned containers.
From what I've seen you will still be able to walk around the road side part of the lake, the area between the sailing school and the shops should be a safe place to sit with kids and the whole thing will make it worthwhile for others to "Clean Up" their act ! The Queens now looks great after it's face lift (only undertaken because the owner could see other investment going on and knew his venue would have to compete with the new stuff). The Cafe has had a face lift too so now not only does it serve some great grub but is pleasant to eat in too. The bowls, while just a modern box building, is at least a NICE place to go and the Floral is something to be proud of.
All in all I think it's going to make a BIG difference.
And Neptune's pandering to the shareholders? ... well unlike many others in the past they DID put their money where their mouths where and up to now they have kept ALL of their promises.
Great pics, thank you for posting them on here. It's great for people to see how they are getting on down there. The WirralCam website only gives one live webcam.
This development will generate some money, however it's not really what we want.. if you look at Southport, a perfectly good potentially unique seaside development turned into another Business Park.
What New Brighton is getting is another Business Park, albeit with a little landscaping and a lido. I'm a sucker for Victorian seaside resorts, and I think NB would have benefited from a modern version of Victorian resort! (similar to those on the N Wales coast)
Perhaps best would have been for a New ferry terminal to be built, also perhaps to build a pier, a strong one, that really would have been awesome!
Phil I see the Lido there, it's actually bigger than I thought it would be!
Last edited by stephenprudence; 28th Apr 20114:06pm.