Southend's Property Boom

[Smudger]

The UK's number 1 property hotspot...

I've been away for quite a while now but this made me smile this morning....

So is Southend on the up?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

If you're going to live in England outside of London (which personally I wouldn't want to), you could do a lot worse than Southend.

Anyway, the thing they don't mention is schools. Essex is always a property hotspot because the grammar schools mean there are lots of good schools for middle class parents.

 

[DTS]

Funny enough I seem to be getting more and more people moving to Southend.

 

[Kent Shrimper]

I love my home town but would never move back

 

[OldBlueLady]

Glad they put "Hol of a town" rather than "Hole" of a town under one of those photos!

I'd hazard a guess that may have something to do with the Uni and people buying up houses as student lets.

 

[Smudger]

Or the airport?

 

[Medway Blue]

Or the airport?

I bet this has a lot to do with it. Makes me chuckle thinking about those gullible/naive/stupid/greedy (delete as necessary) fools who think that the airport has depreciated the value of their homes!

Can see why Southend appeals to a lot of people looking to move here but going on appearance alone, I can't wait to get away. The town centre is nasty and the A13 corridor from Chalkwell Park, right the way through Westcliff and the town centre to the White Horse, is an eyesore. The whole area around the top of the High Street needs bulldozing and starting again. The Greyscale 1960s tower blocks and a whole host of other buildings just need to go.

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[Yorkshire Blue]

I bet this has a lot to do with it. Makes me chuckle thinking about those gullible/naive/stupid/greedy (delete as necessary) fools who think that the airport has depreciated the value of their homes!

Can see why Southend appeals to a lot of people looking to move here but going on appearance alone, I can't wait to get away. The town centre is nasty and the A13 corridor from Chalkwell Park, right the way through Westcliff and the town centre to the White Horse, is an eyesore. The whole area around the top of the High Street needs bulldozing and starting again. The Greyscale 1960s tower blocks and a whole host of other buildings just need to go.

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Where to?

I don't necessary disagree with any of that but pretty much all town centres are nasty. And those that aren't nasty are mind-numbingly dull.

 

[Medway Blue]

Where to?

I don't necessary disagree with any of that but pretty much all town centres are nasty. And those that aren't nasty are mind-numbingly dull.

I'm moving to Florida for a year in July!

I see what you're saying. But I am literally just talking about the very centre of the town. It's just horrible here. I lived in Ipswich for 3 years and I'm no fan of the place, the periphery of the town centre (Nacton,Chantry,Norwich Road areas) is worse than Westcliff, Southchurch, etc. But the commercial precinct in Ipswich is lovely. The High Street is really nice, the little side streets surrounding it are attractive, there's a good selection of shops, and very little horrid 1960s architecture (in fact Ipswich retains a lot of its 17th and 18th century buildings). The town centre there is lovely to walk through. So is Chelmsford. Colchester is nice too. Southend High Street is horrible and the bit at the top from the Curry's roundabout right through to the roundabout with the underpass on the other side, is just a plague on the eye. I really wish they'd do something about it.

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[Yorkshire Blue]

Wow, enjoy Florida. Would be interested to hear what you think of that once you've lived out there. I haven't been to Florida but I find US town centres make me nostalgic for Southend High Street!

The worst thing about UK High Streets is that they all seem identical as they all have the same chains. What the High Street needs is independent retailers providing some individuality, uniqueness. Tomassi's is more or less the only independent place I can think of on the High Street whilst there are something like 4 branches of Santander.

I'd love to see some fashion start-ups, new restaurants, cafes and independent bars given dirt cheap rent to see if they can establish themselves. If they do a fashion course at Southend Uni, get some link-up with the Uni to start their own shops to sell the products they make. Get that independent side of it going and you can then up the rent on the big retailers who want a slice of their footfall. A high street full of JD Sports, H&M, Accessorise, River Island, Boots, Greggs, Slug & Lettuce, HMV type chain places is just going to struggle as it offers nothing different from any other town centre in the country and people can just as easily go to a Bluewater/Lakeside/Westfield Stratford/Chelmsford/Basildon or whatever other hell hole they want. You need stores that make Southend different.

 

[Smudger]

Wow, enjoy Florida. Would be interested to hear what you think of that once you've lived out there. I haven't been to Florida but I find US town centres make me nostalgic for Southend High Street!

The worst thing about UK High Streets is that they all seem identical as they all have the same chains. What the High Street needs is independent retailers providing some individuality, uniqueness. Tomassi's is more or less the only independent place I can think of on the High Street whilst there are something like 4 branches of Santander.

I'd love to see some fashion start-ups, new restaurants, cafes and independent bars given dirt cheap rent to see if they can establish themselves. If they do a fashion course at Southend Uni, get some link-up with the Uni to start their own shops to sell the products they make. Get that independent side of it going and you can then up the rent on the big retailers who want a slice of their footfall. A high street full of JD Sports, H&M, Accessorise, River Island, Boots, Greggs, Slug & Lettuce, HMV type chain places is just going to struggle as it offers nothing different from any other town centre in the country and people can just as easily go to a Bluewater/Lakeside/Westfield Stratford/Chelmsford/Basildon or whatever other hell hole they want. You need stores that make Southend different.

Absolutely spot on. Sadly it seems originality/creativity has never really been on Southend's radar, or at least not for a long long time. The university should be the opportunity to change this if it offers creative courses and not just Business Studies HNDs etc etc....

 

[Pubey]

I bet this has a lot to do with it. Makes me chuckle thinking about those gullible/naive/stupid/greedy (delete as necessary) fools who think that the airport has depreciated the value of their homes!

Can see why Southend appeals to a lot of people looking to move here but going on appearance alone, I can't wait to get away. The town centre is nasty and the A13 corridor from Chalkwell Park, right the way through Westcliff and the town centre to the White Horse, is an eyesore. The whole area around the top of the High Street needs bulldozing and starting again. The Greyscale 1960s tower blocks and a whole host of other buildings just need to go.

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Well said. I was gonna make a post about this but was worried about sounding like a dick/barna! I had the (dis)pleasure of venturing to Southend and the high street on Xmas eve and it was a sorry sight. All the way from Leigh to Southend and down the high street is looking very run down. Many empty shops and the ones that are open are pretty crap. Leigh is buzzing at the moment and so hopefully things will start to pick up in Southend. I guess lakeside/bluewater has an impact but I don't remember Southend ever being this bad.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Nice to hear Southend make the BBC news and the rest of the "mejia" for a good reason(for once).
The High Street's been a tip for some time now but Leigh(and most of Hamlet Court Road)have been more than all right for years.

Near the seaside,a brand new airport, two main railway lines to London plus the proximity of the capital itself,what is there not to like about Southend (apart from the High Street)?

I'm proud of my home town.Always have been.Always will be.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

I'm proud of where I am from but wouldn't want to move back to be honest. How the council can fly a banner stating "council of the year" when the town is closing down all around them is just bizarre. Needs a big shot in the arm to get it going again but then so do so many places around the country. Radio 5 live did a "my home town" series recently with Peter Allen going back to Basildon. He commented on the empty shops etc only for local council officials to state everything was okay and the town was thriving. Typical politicians really, trying to pull the wool over everyone's eye's.

 

[Medway Blue]

Well said. I was gonna make a post about this but was worried about sounding like a dick/barna! I had the (dis)pleasure of venturing to Southend and the high street on Xmas eve and it was a sorry sight. All the way from Leigh to Southend and down the high street is looking very run down. Many empty shops and the ones that are open are pretty crap. Leigh is buzzing at the moment and so hopefully things will start to pick up in Southend. I guess lakeside/bluewater has an impact but I don't remember Southend ever being this bad.

It isn't a nice sight at all. Leigh is indeed buzzing, but unfortunately I don't think that Southend High Street can take much from Leigh. They are two very different areas with very different shoppers to cater for. And I don't think Leigh could be done on as big a scale as Southend High Street anyway, unfortunately. I would love to see some more independent shops in Southend though, just to appeal to a broader spectrum of shoppers and to make Southend a little different.

Wow, enjoy Florida. Would be interested to hear what you think of that once you've lived out there. I haven't been to Florida but I find US town centres make me nostalgic for Southend High Street!

The worst thing about UK High Streets is that they all seem identical as they all have the same chains. What the High Street needs is independent retailers providing some individuality, uniqueness. Tomassi's is more or less the only independent place I can think of on the High Street whilst there are something like 4 branches of Santander.

I'd love to see some fashion start-ups, new restaurants, cafes and independent bars given dirt cheap rent to see if they can establish themselves. If they do a fashion course at Southend Uni, get some link-up with the Uni to start their own shops to sell the products they make. Get that independent side of it going and you can then up the rent on the big retailers who want a slice of their footfall. A high street full of JD Sports, H&M, Accessorise, River Island, Boots, Greggs, Slug & Lettuce, HMV type chain places is just going to struggle as it offers nothing different from any other town centre in the country and people can just as easily go to a Bluewater/Lakeside/Westfield Stratford/Chelmsford/Basildon or whatever other hell hole they want. You need stores that make Southend different.

Thank you! Yes I will be interested too. Obviously I will miss aspects of the UK and of Southend, of course I will, it's my home. And the British High Street is very well-organised, very linear, very easy to shop in and to find what you want. Downtown Orlando and indeed Downtown Anywhere in the US is very, very different. But I know that I am going to love it out there, it has been a dream of mine to live in Florida for a long, long time.

You're absolutely right about Southend being indicative of the British High Street. I don't know if anyone has read Bill Bryson's "Notes From A Small Island", but he made the same point when making his observations of what he saw as he travelled from town to town across the UK. Big town centres are like this now. And as I said above, if there was scope for independent retailers and for quirky shops to be able to afford to make a comeback, that would be a good thing - a broader spectrum of consumer would be enticed to Southend, more money would be spent by them, more money would be made by retailers, the council could then attract bigger national retailers to the town to operate alongside the independent and quirky ones, yet more money would come in, then visual improvements could be made. It would theoretically be a positive snowball effect. But methinks if it was this simple, it would have been latched onto by now!

I like your idea about university fashion and textiles students starting up small independent shops. What a great idea. I wonder if the university has looked into this.

I'm proud of where I am from but wouldn't want to move back to be honest. How the council can fly a banner stating "council of the year" when the town is closing down all around them is just bizarre. Needs a big shot in the arm to get it going again but then so do so many places around the country. Radio 5 live did a "my home town" series recently with Peter Allen going back to Basildon. He commented on the empty shops etc only for local council officials to state everything was okay and the town was thriving. Typical politicians really, trying to pull the wool over everyone's eye's.

Indeed. Pretty sure I spotted a Southend councillor defending the town in the Echo the otherday and claiming that it was thriving. One walk through the Victoria or down that grotty, grey windtunnel of a high street should tell you quite the opposite!

 

[Mad Cyril]

I think the Owl man can take most of the credit for this.

 

[Holy Joe]

I saw an item on this on the local news (think it was on BBC 1) yesterday evening. They spoke to an estate agent who reckoned it was bollocks - he would believe 1.5% price appreciation but not 15%. I guess as the number of property transactions slows the reliability of statisitics from organisations such as Halifax declines.

 

[GrumpyBlue]

I love my home town but would never move back

I don`t love my home town (only SUFC sometimes) and I will never move back

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

You're absolutely right about Southend being indicative of the British High Street. I don't know if anyone has read Bill Bryson's "Notes From A Small Island", but he made the same point when making his observations of what he saw as he travelled from town to town across the UK.

Bryon's "Notes from a Small Island" , started and finished on Southend seafront, outside The Foresters.I always though he should have got off at Leigh myself.:smile:

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

There are a lot worse places than Southend. I miss the place, and would move back.

However, I say this knowing I never will.