Jump to content

Lerwick town centre


suuusssiiieee
 Share

Recommended Posts

People avoid the town because speed bumps are more of a hazard for the cars because people see them as unmarked crossing points, and as for that raised red painted area, what is that all about. It all makes the town centre look chaotic and un inviting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speed bumps are not a 'hazard' for any vehicle with normal ground clearance travelling below 20mph.

Every time I visit Lerwick I see loads of cars dealing with them quite happily and then parking up in the town area to visit. So how come they are such a problem for yourself?

 

In all the places I have lived in the UK, I have never known anyone who sees speed humps as 'unmarked crossing points'.

 

As for 'looking chaotic'.....really? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People avoid the town because speed bumps are more of a hazard for the cars because people see them as unmarked crossing points, and as for that raised red painted area, what is that all about. It all makes the town centre look chaotic and un inviting.

 

Which is the greatest hazard, the speed bumps or the people that decided that they would inflict them upon us?

Edited by George.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problems on the street has little to do with motor vehicles which have been  using it for years,but more to do with accessibility and parking which is limited.

 

With many shops now established in the industrial estates where access is easier all round it is difficult to see how anyone can succeed running a shop on the street anymore.

Edited by Urabug
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Urabug isn't there plenty of parking for you with the rows of parking from the top to bottom of Hill Lane for you to park and get some exercise and walk to the street, not very far indeed at all if you are able, just laziness saying eg Bolts is so accessible.

 

Then there is parking along commercial street near Fort Chippie and if you wish to pay for parking which you shouldn't have to there is Lerwick Harbour Pier Car Park, pay to park south as have to but not here.

Edited by playlist
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speed bumps are not a 'hazard' for any vehicle with normal ground clearance travelling below 20mph.

Every time I visit Lerwick I see loads of cars dealing with them quite happily and then parking up in the town area to visit. So how come they are such a problem for yourself?

 

In all the places I have lived in the UK, I have never known anyone who sees speed humps as 'unmarked crossing points'.

 

As for 'looking chaotic'.....really? 

The hazards are the idiots trying to avoid them or speeding between them and suddenly braking when they get to the speed bump, causing other road users to take action.

 

Maybe pedestrians down south don’t use speed bumps as crossings, but in Lerwick they do. Pedestrians are always just stepping into the road without always due care and attention.

 

Still does anyone know what the red pattern is in the road near M and Co. or is it the council’s idea of art.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problems on the street has little to do with motor vehicles which have been using it for years,but more to do with accessibility and parking which is limited.

 

With many shops now established in the industrial estates where access is easier all round it is difficult to see how anyone can succeed running a shop on the street anymore.

Ever tried driving down/parking on Buchanan Street in Glasgow to nip into a shop there? No - because you can’t. And yet it’s either the second or third most successful shopping street in the country.

 

Totally different to Lerwick and we’ll never attract the kind of shops it can obviously but the point is that if there are the kind of shops or other things in any town centre that attract folk they’ll find a way of getting to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Speed bumps are not a 'hazard' for any vehicle with normal ground clearance travelling below 20mph.

Every time I visit Lerwick I see loads of cars dealing with them quite happily and then parking up in the town area to visit. So how come they are such a problem for yourself?

 

In all the places I have lived in the UK, I have never known anyone who sees speed humps as 'unmarked crossing points'.

 

As for 'looking chaotic'.....really?

The hazards are the idiots trying to avoid them or speeding between them and suddenly braking when they get to the speed bump, causing other road users to take action.

 

Maybe pedestrians down south don’t use speed bumps as crossings, but in Lerwick they do. Pedestrians are always just stepping into the road without always due care and attention.

 

Still does anyone know what the red pattern is in the road near M and Co. or is it the council’s idea of art.

Well between the ‘idiots trying to avoid them’ ‘other road users’ pedestrians and dee it’s fine that they’ve not deterred everybody from visiting da street ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I normally park at the old swimming pool,and occasionally below the Fort but I want to be able to drive through "Da Street" as i have been able to do in the past with no problems should I desire.

 

Commercial Street cannot be compared with Buchanan Street in Glasgow as most if not all of these shops will have alternative access for delivery and pick-up of goods plus they probably see millions of folk annually where we see thousands.

 

I remember the street when it was a hive of activity not the desolate hole it is now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LK's 'shopping' areas are divided in to three, the street, Tesco's and the Coop/Bolts, folk will not traipse around all three to do their shopping, they'll go to the one, or maybe two that where they can get the greatest majority of what they're needing at that moment in time. And with Tesco/Coop pretty much covering the grocery/weekly/monthly shooping lists of most folk/households, guess what, the street is always end of the queue. Folk are only going to come there when its something they cannot get elsewhere, or on a whim.

 

Perhaps what Orkney is doing right, that we're doing wrong, is to have a\ll their shopping outlets in one general area, so that folk only have one place to go and when they get there they can pick and choose what they buy at bargain basement from the retail behemoths, and what they're a litte discerning about, and will pay that little more for something with better functionality/of better quality from a more specialst local business. With our three site system, folk tend to make do with whatever the retail giants have, as it a choice between that and having to 'vaarg aa da wye in trow da toon fur just wan ur twa things' and that not worth it for many.

 

Maybe if instead of turning the North Ness in to the 'cultural quarter', they'd put a supermarket or two there, it would have been close enough to the street for the knock on effect from the people they dragged in also using the street too, but the ducks didn't line up to make that feasible, and there's no place else near enough to the street availabe or likely to become available.

 

Personally, as I've said before, I think a opportunity was lost when the Coop first went to Grantfield, and then to Holmsgarth in the 70's/80's and 'food' shops were closing left right and centre on the street, and the writing was on the wall of where the future was headed. That the Council, instead of insisting on trying to keep an outdated barely fit for purpose in the late 20th C. shopping street on life support, should have planned and encouraged the establishment of a new and modern shopping street somewhere along the west side of Lochside, which at that time was undeveloped waste ground. If that was there now, established with a mix of local independent business old and new and outlets for a few national chains, in modern, roomy, well lit shops with plenty of parking in front, which would you rather use, them, or the street....And as things have turned out, it wouldn't just be folk getting their errands from the Coop who'd be 'just niping up the road to get xxx from yyyy'....It would be thos egetting their errands from tesco too, a win all around situation for everybody.....

 

Its probably not even late to follow through on the idea even yet - after all, if they can dig up football pitches for chopper landing pads, they can dig them up for a new shopping street, the same way as they knocked down a perfectly good swimming pool to make a\ carpark......but there would be an awful lot of running to get caught up, considering how the local retail community has decidned in the last 30 odd years.

 

The street has naturally become all it can be I'm afraid, the banks and PO, along with a collection of nick nack and curio, 'impulse buys' luxury item outlets, and the usual selection of eating, drinking and entertaning places, all of which seem close to saturation point - It either takes an existing business to close for a new one to risk opening, or if one opens that takes off, its not long before one or two existing ones close down.

 

If you want to revitalise the street, you're going to have to open up things that don't exist in Shetland already, that would appeal to the masses, and there's not much of that kind of thing left to pick and choose from that either the Council and/or the existing street businesses would allow in without one hell of a fight. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not seeing a gambling den, lap/pole dancing place, strip club or similar being welcomed, but that's just about all thats left to pick and choose from that you'd presuade anyone to invest serious money in to set up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Commercial Street cannot be compared with Buchanan Street in Glasgow as most if not all of these shops will have alternative access for delivery and pick-up of goods plus they probably see millions of folk annually where we see thousands.

 

I remember the street when it was a hive of activity not the desolate hole it is now.

The number of folk passing through is irrelevant – Glasgow might be an extreme example but the point I was making is that there are other vibrant/successful town centres that shoppers canna drive down the street, park right outside, nip in, get what they want and then go again. Yet that seems to be an issue for a lot of folk here as far as da street is concerned. I’d imagine most of them get their deliveries early in the morning or at night but if – as a shopper – you want to pick up something you have to fin’ the nearest (probably paid) parking space and get off your backside and walk to get it.

 

I too mind da street how it used to be and sadly times have changed. But maybe we all need to come up with some workable, realistic ideas as to what could be done to improve it rather than constantly greetin’ and moaning about what’s all wrong wi it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...