As part of her work experience, we asked our Year 10 Hollins student to do some research on Accrington town centre and the proposed developments. Here’s what she wrote:
This is about the development of the Accrington town centre where a 70 million pound revamp is occurring to turn Accrington town centre back into a place where everything is bustling, a fun place to go do shopping and the home of Arndale. The £7.5 million complex of near 30 shops that helped Accrington during the 1980s, as the revenue helped make Accrington well known not just for its bricks, that are in some of the most famous buildings in the world like the Blackpool tower and even Empire State Building. These Accrington bricks, called nori were a type of iron-hard engineering brick that were produced from 1987 to 2008 (they weren’t needed as I was created) in Accrington. They were renowned for their toughness and their long lasting capabilities. For these reasons, they quickly became known by many places and were used in all sorts of different kinds of building.
This new initiative was approved by the council who say that it will help create the atmosphere of a ‘vibrant, bustling, proud’ town centre in Accrington. There are many things that will be done, such as reimagining the market hall into a food and cultural venue. This will bring many people to Accrington as they will want to see for themselves the changes that are slowly starting. The plan began in 2022 and is hoping to come to a finish in 2032. This is a 10+ year plan that has 18 different projects in it, like restoring the Victorian arcade, into a place where the newer generations would go and is to likely bring in more revenue. Though this plan may bring in more attractions and tourists to Accrington, many people in the older generations may view this as too much change. The generations before us may not see this as a revamp, and as such they could think that this is changing the way that Accrington town centre used to be, which in turn is ruining how Accrington was in their youth. Though this is a stereotypical way of thinking about older generations, it may still hold very true for some and it is not just them, many people don’t like change whether young or old! It may be true that you dislike what’s happening or it could, in your opinion be a very good occurrence as it will bring more jobs to Accrington. While older generations may think in such a way, there are still the younger generations who may think that this revamp is something that is needed to ensure that Accrington will begin to thrive as it once did when it was younger Then it was a place that was bustling with kids and parents going to get their shopping.
There are many opinions of all sorts of people, and the council wants to take as many opinions into accoutn as possible. One of the business owners that I spoke to said ‘I feel that this change is for the better in the long run as it will end up bringing in a lot more money that the town centre has made in a long while’. This the view of one market owners there are many others who may disagree. Another person I spoke to is a parent who was born in Accrington. Her belief was that either way the money isn’t going to be able to do much as the town centre isn’t the same as it once was so there is no point to all of this work being done as by the time it is done there will be new things that are even better. There were also a few opinions that were positive as there was an older man who said he believed it was fantastic plan and that he hopes and believes that it will work in helping get people back to Accrington and creating the atmosphere that is inviting to all that arrives.
Now I, at the end would like to add my own opinion on this as a young person. I think that it is due time for a change to occur as the Accrington town centre had basically become deserted compared to what my mum used to tell me about and I would love to see Accrington like that after so long. Thank you for reading this!
Many thanks to all involved who shared their time, information, images and photos.