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Post by porkystone on Feb 10, 2017 6:37:20 GMT
That's awful news. The last decent pub near the town centre. Killed by the one-way system, I suppose. Once they put the that in, that end of Stone Street died. I'm surprised the Pilot lasted that long. If you were a bright eyed town planner you'd look to do something with that part of Maidstone which currently hasn't got a lot going for it............... |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 8:26:51 GMT
Doubtful, look what they did with our river frontage!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 10:05:27 GMT
I'm sure our bright eyed town planners could come up with something. Although that floral sheep will take some bettering.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 11:38:31 GMT
Maidstone town planning is a sick joke.
Most towns would kill for a river like ours - what do we do? Stick a duel carriageway between it and the town. Then, instead of developing the ex-industrial riverside with pubs, gardens, etc, we build warehouse-style shops and car parks and the ugliest hotel in the country (quite possibly, the world).
I used to live by the river and it always amazed (and saddened) me just how little it was used and how it was ignored. I bet most people who drive in from the West, don't even realise the one-way system is actually bridges over the river. And if they do, it's just something they glimpse as they sit at the lights.
In fact, a quick walk round the river - over the old bridge, down to the church, over the Millennium bridge (itself, an eyesore), and back past the court - will tell you everything that's wrong with Maidstone town planning. The gyratory system, the 'bypass' through the middle of town, that hideous hotel, that ridiculous 'grandfather clock' (I bet most people don't even realise that's there!), that god-awful mess of a floating restaurant (that's expanded over most of the river-side walk, where my kids used to feed the ducks),completely ruining the view of the Archbishop's Palace (and originally sold to the council as a 'sailing barge-style' restaurant!!) - and the pièce de résistance, the stunningly ugly and inappropriate 'bandaged egg' thing in the little garden in front of the Priest's College.
If anyone has never seen that, I recommend a brief visit. I have never seen anything so gobsmackingly ugly. God alone knows what it cost.
And I haven't mentioned the subways that flood every time it rains (and which remain closed for weeks after they are dry again), the Macdonald's drive-thru, the lower high street 'development', and the latest 'improvements', which have involved bricking up two pedestrian subways (but, I suppose, at least that solves the flooding problem...).
We don't deserve that river - they should flog it to a town that would really know how to use it.
(And we could then develop the 'river' side' of the JWW without any problems!).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 12:43:54 GMT
Maidstone town planning is a sick joke. Most towns would kill for a river like ours - what do we do? Stick a duel carriageway between it and the town. Then, instead of developing the ex-industrial riverside with pubs, gardens, etc, we build warehouse-style shops and car parks and the ugliest hotel in the country (quite possibly, the world). I used to live by the river and it always amazed (and saddened) me just how little it was used and how it was ignored. I bet most people who drive in from the West, don't even realise the one-way system is actually bridges over the river. And if they do, it's just something they glimpse as they sit at the lights. In fact, a quick walk round the river - over the old bridge, down to the church, over the Millennium bridge (itself, an eyesore), and back past the court - will tell you everything that's wrong with Maidstone town planning. The gyratory system, the 'bypass' through the middle of town, that hideous hotel, that ridiculous 'grandfather clock' (I bet most people don't even realise that's there!), that god-awful mess of a floating restaurant (that's expanded over most of the river-side walk, where my kids used to feed the ducks),completely ruining the view of the Archbishop's Palace (and originally sold to the council as a 'sailing barge-style' restaurant!!) - and the pièce de résistance, the stunningly ugly and inappropriate 'bandaged egg' thing in the little garden in front of the Priest's College. If anyone has never seen that, I recommend a brief visit. I have never seen anything so gobsmackingly ugly. God alone knows what it cost. And I haven't mentioned the subways that flood every time it rains (and which remain closed for weeks after they are dry again), the Macdonald's drive-thru, the lower high street 'development', and the latest 'improvements', which have involved bricking up two pedestrian subways (but, I suppose, at least that solves the flooding problem...). We don't deserve that river - they should flog it to a town that would really know how to use it. (And we could then develop the 'river' side' of the JWW without any problems!). I have only lived in Maidstone for a dozen years and the above Post sums up my own feelings exactly. Wasted opportunities and atrocious traffic management. Is it my imagination or has the new road layout at the bridges made the traffic problems worse? I live near Sheals Crescent and the traffic does seem to back up more now. Almost any other Town with a river, such as York, can show how it should be done. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 15:08:14 GMT
Maidstone town planning is a sick joke. Most towns would kill for a river like ours - what do we do? Stick a duel carriageway between it and the town. Then, instead of developing the ex-industrial riverside with pubs, gardens, etc, we build warehouse-style shops and car parks and the ugliest hotel in the country (quite possibly, the world). I used to live by the river and it always amazed (and saddened) me just how little it was used and how it was ignored. I bet most people who drive in from the West, don't even realise the one-way system is actually bridges over the river. And if they do, it's just something they glimpse as they sit at the lights. In fact, a quick walk round the river - over the old bridge, down to the church, over the Millennium bridge (itself, an eyesore), and back past the court - will tell you everything that's wrong with Maidstone town planning. The gyratory system, the 'bypass' through the middle of town, that hideous hotel, that ridiculous 'grandfather clock' (I bet most people don't even realise that's there!), that god-awful mess of a floating restaurant (that's expanded over most of the river-side walk, where my kids used to feed the ducks),completely ruining the view of the Archbishop's Palace (and originally sold to the council as a 'sailing barge-style' restaurant!!) - and the pièce de résistance, the stunningly ugly and inappropriate 'bandaged egg' thing in the little garden in front of the Priest's College. If anyone has never seen that, I recommend a brief visit. I have never seen anything so gobsmackingly ugly. God alone knows what it cost. And I haven't mentioned the subways that flood every time it rains (and which remain closed for weeks after they are dry again), the Macdonald's drive-thru, the lower high street 'development', and the latest 'improvements', which have involved bricking up two pedestrian subways (but, I suppose, at least that solves the flooding problem...). We don't deserve that river - they should flog it to a town that would really know how to use it. (And we could then develop the 'river' side' of the JWW without any problems!). I have only lived in Maidstone for a dozen years and the above Post sums up my own feelings exactly. Wasted opportunities and atrocious traffic management. Is it my imagination or has the new road layout at the bridges made the traffic problems worse? I live near Sheals Crescent and the traffic does seem to back up more now. Almost any other Town with a river, such as York, can show how it should be done. Sheals Crescent just about sums it all up. Can you imagine living on that road - traffic pouring past day and night? We have friends used to live there and they had triple glazing on all the front windows - not just the noise, but the dust was incredible, and Christ knows what the diesel particulate count is like there. Some time ago three school girls were killed on that route - whilst waiting at a bus stop in Hayle Road. A lorry came round the bend too fast and wiped them out (there's a plaque on number 8, marking the spot where they were killed). That should have been a warning that high-volume traffic 'by-pass' schemes don't co-exist with urban communities, but all they did was put in traffic lights and more speed signs. |
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Post by skydweller on Feb 10, 2017 17:53:19 GMT
Terrible shame about The Pilot. There have been some very unpleasant landlords in there over the years though and the beer was getting ridiculously expensive so I'm not entirely surprised.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 11:44:59 GMT
I'm sure our bright eyed town planners could come up with something. Although that floral sheep will take some bettering. Didn't they put that up one week before we played Germany in a cup semi final and then acted surprised when drunk people climbed all over it and got arrested? As for bettering the floral sheep, don't forget the 'totem pole' that only cost something silly like £60k and looked nothing like a totem pole. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 12:13:45 GMT
I forgot that silly spikey pole thing with the coloured lights in-between the bridges!
Where we used to live, our living room window overlooked it, so I was reminded of its crass stupidity every bloody day, but I suspect most people don't even notice it.
AND there's the coloured lights on the bridges - you can change their colour by text message!! I wonder just how many people have ever noticed them. Or how much they cost...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 20:57:19 GMT
I forgot that silly spikey pole thing with the coloured lights in-between the bridges! Where we used to live, our living room window overlooked it, so I was reminded of its crass stupidity every bloody day, but I suspect most people don't even notice it. AND there's the coloured lights on the bridges - you can change their colour by text message!! I wonder just how many people have ever noticed them. Or how much they cost... I once replied to a local councillor (via the KM) after he spouted off and told Maidstone fans to stop moaning because there was only a few of us and maybe people wanted things other than a football team in the town. I challenged him to meet me outside of the shopping centre and we would conduct a questionnaire to shoppers to see if they wanted the football team back in the town or a totem pole. Strangely I never heard from him. |
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Post by liburd on Feb 13, 2017 14:40:28 GMT
I forgot that silly spikey pole thing with the coloured lights in-between the bridges! Where we used to live, our living room window overlooked it, so I was reminded of its crass stupidity every bloody day, but I suspect most people don't even notice it. AND there's the coloured lights on the bridges - you can change their colour by text message!! I wonder just how many people have ever noticed them. Or how much they cost... I once replied to a local councillor (via the KM) after he spouted off and told Maidstone fans to stop moaning because there was only a few of us and maybe people wanted things other than a football team in the town. I challenged him to meet me outside of the shopping centre and we would conduct a questionnaire to shoppers to see if they wanted the football team back in the town or a totem pole. Strangely I never heard from him. What was the councillor's name? Knowing what some of them are like I wouldn't be surprised if they were at the Brighton game in 2012 claiming the credit. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 20:48:35 GMT
I once replied to a local councillor (via the KM) after he spouted off and told Maidstone fans to stop moaning because there was only a few of us and maybe people wanted things other than a football team in the town. I challenged him to meet me outside of the shopping centre and we would conduct a questionnaire to shoppers to see if they wanted the football team back in the town or a totem pole. Strangely I never heard from him. What was the councillor's name? Knowing what some of them are like I wouldn't be surprised if they were at the Brighton game in 2012 claiming the credit. Alas, Liburd, I struggle to remember what I had for dinner yesterday so the chances of me knowing a councillor from the 1990s are fairly low. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 22:10:20 GMT
What was the councillor's name? Knowing what some of them are like I wouldn't be surprised if they were at the Brighton game in 2012 claiming the credit. Alas, Liburd, I struggle to remember what I had for dinner yesterday so the chances of me knowing a councillor from the 1990s are fairly low. I wouldn't be suprised if said councillor's first name was the same as Mr Paxman (the quiz show host) and surname same as a Moors murderer of the 60s |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 9:27:08 GMT
Alas, Liburd, I struggle to remember what I had for dinner yesterday so the chances of me knowing a councillor from the 1990s are fairly low. I wouldn't be suprised if said councillor's first name was the same as Mr Paxman (the quiz show host) and surname same as a Moors murderer of the 60s Not quite the same, "le" rather than "ley" |
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Post by toonarmy on Feb 15, 2017 20:16:41 GMT
Would have to agree it looks bloody fantastic
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