HIGH STREET EXTRAVAGANZA!

Just how bad are things in our town centre??  

This is but one of a series of 'Spotlights' on various parts of what remains of the town centre. This series has been running in the local paper, The Oldham Evening Chronicle for several days. 

This piece features the High Street once the main shopping artery through the town. As a measure of how far we have sunk this Christmas advertising campaign managed to feature just Five shops. These being: Meeks - Shoe Shop,  Simpsons - Jewellers,  and NW Bullion, who are after buying your old gold. These shops are on High Street. The other two stores : Frillys - lacy lady things and Specsavers - opticians are on Lord Street and Curzon Street respectively. That is the sum total of Christmas advertising from High Street Oldham. Two of the outlets are not what you would call Christmassy stores so that leaves just three stores vying for your custom this Festive Season.

Was it worth turning on the spotlight?  Is anyone in the 'corridors of power looking at these things and wondering is it my fault?  How many stores will be left to entice us by the time the unwanted Metrostench arrives and the town centre is regenerated?  This feature is a truly awful indictment of the way our shopping centre has been neglected and allowed to slip away.  If anyone reading this truly believes that the town centre will be regenerated by the arrival of trams at the bottom of the St Peter's cliff face you are severely deluded. It will be a ghost train not a tram service.


The situation will probably get much worse after the Christmas rush (Ha!). Several store chains are in serious financial trouble so expect closures to accelerate in the new year.

We might have had four stores on High Street advertising in this feature but Barratt/Priceless shoe stores went into administration last week so expect more lavish displays of brown paper.


One can only sympathise with the remaining traders battling to survive in the town. There is no help or relief from the twats in the Ivory Tower. Everything possible has been done to deter folk from visiting the town centre. The way the fucking clowns are performing, every bastard road in the town will be closed by Christmas.

This cannot go on much longer!!    We have to put a stop to the rot!!

Beware you greedy, self serving,clueless bastards.   We are coming!! 

PS.  OEC we think Environs would have been a better word