LastGarrison
Well-Known Member
What a fucking pointless post then.
Coventry City of Culture 2021 (9 Viewers)
- Thread starter GaryJones
- Start date
Terry Gibson's perm
Well-Known Member
Why thank you, the point is in case it passed you by somebody who is involved in an event will obviously say how great it is so you can pretty much ignore their statements
LastGarrison
Well-Known Member
Tell you what have a Google and see if you can find a bigger cultural festival in the world in 2021 than the City of Culture one which lasts the whole of the year!!
Otis
Well-Known Member
They are though aren't they? There is so much being redeveloped now. Right down from Poundland (used to Woolworths) to the arcade and then Hertford Street too and then by the station.
Plus the Burges, where they are going to open up the river.
So much is indeed being 'ripped up'.
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
Is it all actually happening this time? I saw that it's all boarded off where that ugly building by the old Woolworths is coming down and that big escalator is either going or gone which is a start but I just found walking round incredibly grim. Hertford St and the arcade in particular, felt like the land that time and retail forgot.
chiefdave
Well-Known Member
Not sure Poundland will be the saviour of the city centre!
Is opening up the river actually happening this time? Seems to have been planned for as long as I can remember but has never progressed.
Really needs someone at the council to get hold of the city centre as a project who has a bit of vision beyond just putting up plans every couple of years that are so ambitious they are never likely to get off the drawing board. They have lots of space and lots of empty units to play with.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
Are you seriously telling my CRFC have a bigger national profile than Wasps? Come on.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
Problem is always money. All the council can do is try and get funding for projects that attract private investment. Take Friargate, they could build Friargate One as a new council house, but needed RICS to support Friargate Two so when they fell through they’re left with a hole.
City Centre South as well, needed an anchor store that they can’t find so it hasn’t got off the ground (leaving aside whether CCS is a smart project in a 21st century shopping environment).
Belgrade Plaza had a hotel due then the crash hit and they all pulled out and it’s only just getting started again.
I think I read that we are getting money from the “buy off new Tory voters” fund that’s going to opening up the Burges so hopefully that’s happening.
Still holding out hope CCS goes tits up and we need a large entertainment project say about the size of a 20,000 seater stadium to fill the hole
FWIW I think the city centre is a lot more vibrant than it was a few years ago. The plan to move students in there and the frequent events seem to be working. But we’ve always got the problem of high end stores. Not enough executive housing in Cov so higher spenders tend to go to Leamington or Birmingham/Solihull and we are stuck with Poundland.
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
Problem is always money. All the council can do is try and get funding for projects that attract private investment. Take Friargate, they could build Friargate One as a new council house, but needed RICS to support Friargate Two so when they fell through they’re left with a hole.
City Centre South as well, needed an anchor store that they can’t find so it hasn’t got off the ground (leaving aside whether CCS is a smart project in a 21st century shopping environment).
Belgrade Plaza had a hotel due then the crash hit and they all pulled out and it’s only just getting started again.
I think I read that we are getting money from the “buy off new Tory voters” fund that’s going to opening up the Burges so hopefully that’s happening.
Still holding out hope CCS goes tits up and we need a large entertainment project say about the size of a 20,000 seater stadium to fill the hole
a lot of potential partnerships with the CCC seem to go tits up. It makes you wonder why?
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
There is a lot to blame them for, not sure what they could’ve done about RICS or the financial crash though. CCS I think was a bad idea from the start. Fine in 1995, but as I say without the higher end consumers we don’t have the demographics to attract the sort of stores we’d need and I really think city centres and high streets need a rethink in the 21st century that’s clearly beyond the capability of the council.
I honestly do think that a football stadium/music venue type thing like a mini Ricoh in the middle of town would hit the spot. Not going to happen though.
But overall I think they’ve been doing a decent job rebuilding the city centre and it’s easy to cherry pick the large projects that don’t work and ignore the stuff that has. Cathedral Lanes is a success, so is lower precinct IMO and Belgrade Plaza is coming along now, the area by the Burges is totally transformed.
SkyBlueZack
Well-Known Member
How much do you know about CRFC?
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Even with CCFC in the city, they would still try and push the London franchise as the main attraction.
rob9872
Well-Known Member
If the trust can actually get some backbone in the next 12 months, then this City of Culture is a perfect opportunity for them. They should already be preparing and organising demos and events to clash and bring down any event planned with maximum publicity to ensure that our plight gets coverage away from the game. They won't of course and if they did, they'd turn it into an anti SISU or Tim & Joy event, but with the eyes of the nation on they should be all over it. That should be from the midnight bell on Jan 1st through to any closing ceremony.
Sorry mate
Sorry mate but the city centre is not more vibrant than a few years ago , I go into town ever Friday and Saturday night and some times in the week , its a soulless ,sad , pitiful,place , nothing to do with housing , its has always been neglected by the council , we use to have in the seventy's and eighties a vibrant place but even then only two or three clubs a couple of taxi ranks , that's why it always kicked off , on New years eve this year ,around 5 pm I walked passed two council employees giving out parking tickets to cars that had over ran there time , that's not how you compete with above mentioned , The council are in for a shock if they think 2021 is a switch and all of a sudden people are gonna flood here , they have even said they expect most people to come to the region and then just pop in , I'm sure HULL never said that, And by the why the student bars are no where near as busy as they used to be as the song goes this a ghost town
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
I never go in at night, I’m talking about in the day. I didn’t go for a long time and having been in a few times recently it’s far less depressing than it was. Nightlife is poor I’m sure but I’m too old for that these days. I can’t ever remember Coventry having decent nightlife.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
Im not sure how that’s relevant. I don’t follow rugby at all and I’ve heard Wasps mentioned in media and stuff since before they moved here far more than I’ve ever heard Cov.
chiefdave
Well-Known Member
Suggested this for city of sport.
Every event, especially the more formal ones involving the council, should have had a protest outside. Even if it was only a handful of people doing it at every event would have been embarrassing for the council and might have encouraged them to do something.
Was no interest unfortunately.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
This idea that we can embarrass people into doing *something* is a bit of a non starter to be honest.
CCC are helping the club find land by all accounts which is the main thing they need to do. They can’t force Wasps to drop their conditions or Sisu to sign the non-aggression/indemnity clauses.
I’m all for protests with a specific request we can determine if it was successful but just making noise and ruining things that non CCFC people would probably see as good things can only make us look worse TBH.
CCC are helping the club find land by all accounts which is the main thing they need to do. They can’t force Wasps to drop their conditions or Sisu to sign the non-aggression/indemnity clauses.
I’m all for protests with a specific request we can determine if it was successful but just making noise and ruining things that non CCFC people would probably see as good things can only make us look worse TBH.
BornSlippySkyBlue
Well-Known Member
Don’t do Instagram but are any of those 29 comments asking the obvious question?
ccfc1234
Well-Known Member
It's a wider point, but do we promote CCFC to the next generation of fans sufficiently? I saw an article saying the population of Coventry is one of the fastest growing in the UK and surely that would mean our potential fan base is growing too? Given that football is the national sport we should be able to expand our fan base. I know the current shenanigans will not be helping but I feel more could be done as most children love local sporting hero's. There are many simple things that could be done to raise our profile and win the hearts and minds of the young people in and around the city.
LastGarrison
Well-Known Member
Didn’t RICS want two lower ground floors but weren’t given them hence their move to Brum?
Was actually chatting to an ex-RICS colleague about this the other day.
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LastGarrison
Well-Known Member
I have to somewhat disagree. You’re comparing the 70’s and 80’s to now but how about comparing the 00’s to now?
The city is on an upward curve compared to what is was like 10 and even twenty years ago.
If you think we now have the Botanist, Cosy Club, Las Iguana’s, The Yard, Samoan Joes, Catch 22 which have all opened up fairly recently.
Then you have the Ivy House, Campbell (soon to be changed back to this), Quids Inn, Earl of Mercia etc all making a decent living off the students and especially on Wednesdays.
And believe it or not the Kasbah is now a super club that is packed out every weekend.
It’s far from being the best night out in the country but it is a hell of a lot better than when I was going up there in the early 2000’s!
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Completely correct. The city centre is far more vibrant than it was 10/20 years ago - both during the day and at night. There is no comparison really. The built environment is improving, there are new leisure facilities opening all the time, new eateries, bars etc. Retail is still struggling, but it is everywhere else too, and even here we have signs of progress with the improvements just getting underway.
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
So the chance to really boost the economy and improve the lives and life chances of the people of Coventry should have been abandoned because the football club was forced out of the city by a rugby club? Even if you bring CCC into the equation, the City of Culture year isn’t to help them, it is there to pump money and life back into a tired old city.
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
I can't stand our council, it hurts me to think of the plaudits they'll get for delivering city of culture if it goes successfully, (I always think that anything that goes well in this city is in spite of them rather than because of them).
But I totally agree, the sort of cash injection this will give the city, the on going benefits of investment and the raising of our profile are not to be sniffed at. We ned to embrace it, hope it goes well and we reap the benefits for years to come.
letsallsingtogether
Well-Known Member
Garbage....
There can be no doubt that the likes of the Botanist ,Cosy Culb ect are a vast improvement , but they don't have many customers as , the Culture of the citizens of Coventry is not to use the city centre , Cathedral Lanes has only swopped places with Sky dome, Mortimer's, Orange house ect, yes a upgrade but to be vibrant you need them all . Quids inn even the Cambell or what ever its called now is no where near as busy as the premier place for all the students in coventry , Take out all the student stuff from the video and where are the places for the citizens of Coventry to go , where's the night clubs or club for the 30/40 year olds to go , only 5 or 6 pubs in the city center with a population of nearly 300000, show live sport and of them, only a couple would you want to take a friend. go to cov train station on a Friday and Saturday night and see how many people are going over to brum for a night out, and now go on a Saturday morning to see how many are going to brum for football , its heart breaking if you have set the bar so low for a night out in your own city, with such a big population
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shmmeee
Well-Known Member
Night lift is down everywhere though. It’s a national trend. People don’t drink like they used to or go to nightclubs.
Last orders for nightclubs: UK nightclub attendance drops by 34 million in 5 years
These days it’s escape rooms and mini golf and the like. And mid range restaurants like Nando’s and that. Tinder and Netflix keeping people at home and not needing to go out to find a shag.
There is some of that which I won't argue with, but what I am saying was that there is significant progress. It isn't just about Cathedral Lanes. Three new eateries are opening at the Co-op in the next few weeks, a new restaurant on Spon St, Belgrade Plaza is now fully let, the units at the base of the new build at BP are getting a new tenant soon (a Sisha bar I believe). There are new venues that we probably wouldn't have conceived of a few years back - gaming cafes, escape rooms, some really quite interesting stuff. The Empire are rumored to be moving to the old cinema on Hertford St I believe? Drapers Hall is currently being converted to a music/arts venue.
The city centre is generally a lot busier because there are more people living there for a start, and not just students, a lot of residential developments are underway or about to start.
Small moves, but you can really see the progress. It's not perfect of course and there is a long way to go. It's always been a odd place Cov, it is not a poor city. Average earnings here are exceptionally high, the economy is quite buoyant. But, a combination of poor housing stock and an unappealing city centre has seen so much of that wealth leave the city, but the tide is turning on that I feel. Personally, I get a sense of a city that is really coming alive.
I hope your right , next year they get one chance at getting right, they never have so far in my lifetime, Oh and for the record , I would defend my city to any Brummie , scouse, cockney or manck , but on here I can say it as I see it PUSB