I came across this and thought others of a certain age would like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3WwJLJnIo

I came across this and thought others of a certain age would like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3WwJLJnIo

I remember seeing this a few years ago. I think the videos were taken form the 'Peeps in the Past' books. I remember my Nana bought them (the books) and it was interesting to see the change in culture from the 60s to the 80s. One thing that sticks in my mind was a 1960s picture of Bank Park (if I've got that right) which is next to Bridge Foot. It was pristine, fulll of flowers and people were using it. Bridge Street in the background looked well-kept and prosperous, with tidy buildings and smartly dressed people going about their daily business. You could be forgiven for thinking it was somewhere like Windsor. If you look the town from the 80s onwards, everything has declined immeasurably. I guess that's partly due to the reality of post-war investment honeymoon and rebuilding period slowly dying down, but it's clear that not all parts of the country have suffered this way. There aren't many towns in the South-East with which you could draw a comparison and say the same. I think Luton is probably the closest example, and you could argue that's almost in the Midlands.

The strange thing is, Warrington isn't a town that's economy has collapsed due to the end of industry (such as mining towns). In fact, it's one of the more prosperous in the North and has been for some time. There is also a disproportionate level of affluence if you consider the surrounding Cheshire villages as suburbs, compared with places like Wigan, St Helens and Widnes. It's a shame we weren't able to regenerate our town centre into something like they've achieved with Stockton Heath. Leeds has done a tremendous job with their city too. We certainly aren't going to get people to take pride in the town without first giving them a few things to be proud of. Hopefully that will start with a Super league title for the RL team next year

doo you mean marshall gardens by any chance?

Yes, could be. I've lived most of my adult life overseas so I tend to forget places I used to know! I do visit the folks regularly though, just rarely pop into the town centre. I get to about 2 games a year but walk in from Stockton Heath. I've moved to south Cheshire now though so no excuses!

Is Marshall Gardens the one between Bridge Foot and the iron railway bridge? Sort of opposite Mr Smiths (or where it used to be)?

EDIT:

Yes, it was Marshall Gardens I meant, thanks Google. Looked nice a long time ago:

I like social history like this and there are quite a lot of videos on youtube which show different cities/towns in the 50s/60s/70s/80s etc. One thing which always strikes me is how well dressed people were in the 50s and 60s. Everyone looked smart, or those who were part of some subculture like mods or whatever clearly made a lot of effort with their appearance.

Coincidentally that's currently getting gutted by a bunch if volunteers, it had been left to go pot and was used for local down and outs to have an afternoon snooze, its all been cut back with the intention of restoring its former glory

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... wn-centre/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... wn-centre/

Wow some memories there, a lot of that was still the same when I was a kid.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"I came across this and thought others of a certain age would like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3WwJLJnIo'" Those featured bogs at Bridge Foot used to come in handy after a skin full; sadly got closed up well before they were demolished due to an ever increasing frequency of lewd acts and importuning type behaviour of the Local Muckers

Quote Wires71="Wires71"I came across this and thought others of a certain age would like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3WwJLJnIo'" Those featured bogs at Bridge Foot used to come in handy after a skin full; sadly got closed up well before they were demolished due to an ever increasing frequency of lewd acts and importuning type behaviour of the Local Muckers

Well that's my new word for the day.

Talking of Marshall Gardens anyone remember the running battles with the Widnes fans in there.

Was that the "Battle of Bridge Street" or was that contested with Wigan?