Perhaps Maesteg Is Not The Only Indoor Market Under Threat In Bridgend

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have in this blog explained the state of Bridgend Town from time to time. Brought on mainly by what I would argue by the local Labour council.It is my view that if Bridgend Council was a parent it would have the town taken from it by the courts due to neglect.

Speaking personally there are generally only three reasons why we go into the town now. a)The bank,b)The Post Office to sort out the car tax c)to get a new battery put into a watch.

Well today (Wednesday) I'd a day off work. Knowing this the wife had asked me to go to town and get a new battery installed in her watch. No reason to refuse so off I went.

Now a quick digression: You may remember that there is a new retail development being built in Bridgend Town. I had mentioned that whilst genuinely wish the centre every success I did not understand that the council were happy with the construction whilst still do doing anything about the decay surrounding it. Well that was in April. In October other than the building is getting larger nothing else has changed.

Note the two closed down shops: For about 18 months now

And a quick digression part 2. When I first wrote about the state of Bridgend Town in April. I gave an admittedly extreme but pertinent example of a disused McDonald's that had been closed down in 2000 and has just been left to rot since. Well nothing has changed at time of writing, but I've been told on Twitter (by @Coffee_Johnny - Credit where it's due - All rights reserved etc) that the building is still a McDonald's shell and it still has McDonald's door handles. Halloween is coming and you can't help wondering whether ghostly staff (including the now fashionable clown) will make an appearance Monday week waiting for people to order Big Macs etc and wondering why no one's turning up.

Anyway back to my trip to what is a relatively small market and am surprised to find that it's even smaller than when I last visited given that there is a large number of empty spaces in its centre. Space wise I'd guesstimate about a fifth of the market is suddenly empty. I say suddenly because the last time I'd visited the place was about three to four months ago.

Just gone

Thankfully the stall where I need to get the watch battery replaced is still open and as the lady professionally does the job for me I ask about the empty spaces. The response was that the stall holders couldn't handle the increased council rates for the stalls and just closed down.

Note the irony of the heart / Bridgend sign

Now as I remember it this stall sold all sort of "Welsh" gifts on it. I may be wrong but think it's been around since at least I've moved in the Bridgend area in 2000.

I'm sure I've ordered flowers from here

So essentially what the council have done is to create a scenario where they have damaged the Bridgend Indoor Market and the town overall by adding even more reasons for people not to visit. Thus you could have a situation that because of low customer footfall possibly leading to other stalls closing down the market could just wither and die.

And what's worse is that things could get even worse than that.

The Labour council are proposing savage budget cuts in the next few years. Including some street lampposts going dark and cuts in the street cleaning services. These cuts will affect the whole Bridgend area and not just the town but as Bridgend Town is in such a bad state already it's in danger of buckling under the pressure first. After all, less lit street lamps and dirtier streets are hardly attractions to what already is a bad situation.

Now the Labour Council will probably blame the funding from the Labour Welsh Assembly.who will probably blame the Tory UK government. But speaking specifically about Bridgend Town then I mainly blame the council. And the reason is that when I compare it now to somewhere similar like Caerphlly or Pontypridd town centres then it fails and it fails miserably. I'd argue the council have made blunder after blunder to bring the town to such a situation.

Bridgend council are doing "public consultations" about the issue. But going online and creating "Community Workshops"  and "Information Stands" is hardly a referendum.

A third digression here. These "Information Stands" will be touring the Bridgend area in the next few weeks. Amongst the places this stand will be are Bridgend Indoor Market and,incredibly, Maesteg Indoor Market that the council are trying to close down. I would hope whoever is manning the stand there receives danger money.

What the council are "consulting" the public on is where they think the cuts should be made. As I think I've said before this is like asking someone whether they want to tortured by water or electricity ignoring the third option of "I'd rather not be tortured at all thank you very much".

If you want a prediction from me about these cuts. It's that the old trick will be done in that there will be cuts but not as badly as the current proposals. This will be spun as a success trying to make people forget that cuts will be made.

You know I always assumed that the council's attitude towards Bridgend Town is one of neglect. The more things get worse however I'm wondering whether what we're seeing there is a slow murder due to the poisoning of the atmosphere.

Until the next time.