General Discussion
Not using the train that often I found myself in the position of getting the train into Exeter and a return to Dawlish, I have to say network rail or whoever is responsible for maintaining the station should hang their heads in shame, from the moment you walk onto the station platform what are you greeted with a decaying signal box which I understand has been like that for the past 10 years or even longer, when is someone going to get of their backside and do something about it, my return journey to Dawlish was no better, when you walk up the stairs the bridge reeks of stale urine hardly a good advert for tourists visiting our town and the bridge itself is a rusting heap and the viaduct has seen better days as well, when you consider that people who visit the town via train and this is what they see and smell it’s a Wonder if they actually return, all it needs is a bit of investment
Dawlish Community Trust was asked to press for improvements to Dawlish Station by the Town Council, and we have established that:
Network Rail is planning to replace the footbridge over the track towards the end of this new financial year. For some time Teignbridge planners were being demanding over the Listed status of the station building until Network Rail pointed out that the present footbridge was a replacement, circa 1930, and was second hand from Park Royal, London, and was cut down to suit the length needed at Dawlish. It should have been repainted before the end of Wessex Trains franchise and has now deteriorated beyond economic repair, so a new bridge is proposed.
There's just a chance that we may be able to make a bid for lifts to be installed for disabled access across the tracks. We are making determined efforts to line up support (you may have seen that our MP used this as an opportunity for publicity in the Herald Express recently), but if there's any possibility we will do our best to follow it through.
Network Rail is also putting out a separate contract to scale back and repaint the viaduct which they refer to as the colonnade, and that work is timed to start in September so that it is finished before the winter gales. It will probably take about 8-10 weeks and they will ensure that at least one of the passages to the beach will be available at any time.
The signal box is a different issue. It has no functional use, since the signalling system was transferred up the line a long time ago, and the goods siding was also removed (where the car park now stands). The structural frame has corroded badly and has now to be supported by the steel gantry and concrete counter weight. The estimate for repair is in excess of £200K because the building will have to be dismantled to get at the frame and make it strong enough to stand on its own, then everything else will have to be put back together. It poses the question "Is it sensible in anyone's terms to spend £200K on a building that has no current function?"
I'd like to say that we have also conquered the problems of public behaviour requiring the liberal application of disinfectant. I pass that challenge to you.
Bob Vickery
It poses the question "Is it sensible in anyone's terms to spend £200K on a building that has no current function?"
Definately not, it's about time people in the UK realise that when a building is no longer needed the time has come to knock it down. This old wooden box is neither use nor ornament. It should be demolished asap before the demolition costs go up.
Absolute disgrace that the station is in such a state.
When I'm in London I see huge posters encouraging burnt out Londoners to spend money to travel down to beautiful Dawlish on the majestic railway line by the sea.
What must they think when they alight at rusty old station?
whilst I welcome your comments and clarification on the points I mentioned , I moved to Dawlish 10 years ago and I still find it hard to believe that a decade later the station is still an eyesore, if the repairs had been done at the time surely the cost would not be as high today, and as far as the old signal box again that has not been touched since the day I arrived in Dawlish and to say that it would cost £200k to repair it, my god you could build a house for that much!, again if the signal box had been sorted out all those years ago by whoever the cost would of been a lot less.
Last year they locked the public out of the station loos on air show which when you consider the extra profit they make that day was really taking the P...
Grecian 2011, I am one of those travelers from London.... I had fond memories of our Annual family holidays in Dawlish in the early 1980's when I was a child. Our family travelled all the way down from Yorkshire most years and rarely went anywhere else. More recently I decided to visit with my girlfriend in summer 2011 to see how things had changed over the years. I truly wish I hadn't bothered and had left happy memories alone. From a long list of dissappointments I could quote, the train station was the worst, and as you say the first thing that hits you. Not only the discraceful smell of urine as you walk over the bridge, thinly masked by detergent which also smells vile,...but also the visible state of the bridge from outside, ...brown staining of the white bridge completely ruining every prime viewpoint of the town, and every holiday snap. As a child the trains and station and were the main attraction. Now the state of the station is the main reason that that I will never return. It tells me everything I need to know about the general abandonment of Dawlish as a tourist attraction. Sadly it looks to me that the place is beyond recovery. Somebody somewhere (in local Government ?) has completley failed Dawlish. Such a shame.
There is work being down on the viaduct at the moment and the bridge is also going to be replaced made of a material that will withstand the effects of saltwater. There is also a regeneration of Dawlish in place but how long that will take----------- I agree Dawlish has been allowed to deteriorate, but I still love living here and live in hope that it will get better before I depart this world
Brazilnut, that's good to hear. Just out of interest, have you lived threre a long time ? I ask because my memory of the 1980's was of it being a popular busy place on the beach during the day and in pubs and restaurants at night. But at my mid August 2011 visit there were more dogs than people on the beach and in the evening the whole place was eerily quiet. We honestly could not find one pub that was open on a Saturday night and only the Chinese restaurant was serving, in which we were the only cutomers the whole evening. Maybe its just my distorted childhood memory. What do you think ?
@Fotterson - cannot blame you for feeling the way you do about dawlish as many of the locals feel exactly the same.
One of the biggest problems is that to few people have to many vested intrests and think they own the place, so long as they are making money out of the local area nothing else matters.
We also have a three tiered local government system which goes along with the most stupid ideas usualy put foward by the few as mentioned above again in self intrest instead of public majority. Between them they have managed to kill the warren as a tourist destination by allowing the removal of the most loved attractions and permiting the holiday sites and existing buildings to be used for residential use
They then sold the town center to Sainsbury's for a mere £200,000 which they have now probably spent on deciding weather or not to pedestrianise the Strand.
They stood by and watched neihbouring Teignmouth modernise and flourish
and finally if you read most of the posts on here you will get a general picture of what happens when people try to organize any form of event in the town, they all come on here and moan and groan
The Airshow commitee dont speak to the carnival people anymore so you can bet either one or both will go down the pan and the town council only speak to themselves
Other than that the sun still shines here and there is still no charge for breathing the air so all is good and if you can afford it, it really is a great place to live
I'm looking forward to Network Rail completing their current work on the viaduct, before they then turn to replacing the footbridge. No town is perfect but I'm confident that Dawlish is on the first steps to recovery. It might take 10 years but it will be worth the wait.
As it happens Dawlish Warren turned out to be the saving grace of our trip. There seemed to be more going on there than I remembered of the 1980's. I decided that this was why the beaches of Dawlish itself were dead. I had no doubt that self serving interests in local government would be at the heart of this and I sympathise with those of you locals who are on the receiving end of that. Not sure what the solution is but as long as folks like me are put off it will take a great deal longer than 10 years to fix this. I expect to live another 30 to 40 years and will not be returning during that time nor recommending to others. Sorry, I am just being honest about that. Again I 'm still interested to know if the business/popularity of Dawlish and it's beaches really has dimished over the last 30 year's or if it's just my memory playing tricks on me. PS-where have all the fish gone from the stream that I used to throw bread to ?
When exactly did you visit - because the beaches aren't empty? Still plenty of fish in the Daw but please don't chuck bread in it, as that encourages the gulls. I don't blame self-serving councils, I blame self-serving minority groups such as DARE and suchlike for holding back improvements to Dawlish. The saving grace is that Teignmouth was in a worse state 10 years ago, but look at it now. It's our turn next, and I can't wait.
@Nelson - going off topic a bit i admit but as you've mentioned it above i'm just curious to know how minority groups such as dare have such clout if they are, as you say, a minority group?
@Fotterson. weather wasn't very good mid-august, hence the quiet beaches. try spring or september for guaranteed sunshine.
@Lynne. it's the same wherever you go my dear. the vocal minority always sway the decision-making because what they lack in numbers they make up for in emails and letters to the authorities. their very name, 'dawlish against ruining everything', sums up their King Cnut The Great attitude.
I would love to know what activities they take part in that actually improves the town. I would willingly offer my services to them if they were to organise, e.g. beach-cleaning, promenade sand-clearing, promenade ballustrade painting, pigeon culling (lol) or other activities that make a real difference to people's perception of the town.
Unfortunately, as MugOnHead has intimated on another thread, people's perception of the town is that it's full of moaning minnies who say a lot but don't actually do a lot. Look at that awful Eyes Of Dawlish facebook page, for example...
I ask again .Can anybody tell me what's up with the Eyes Of Dawlish facebook page . As long as it's not Nelson. Thank you.
http://www.facebook.com/EODawlish?ref=ts
A lot of people who "like" the page are from all over the country. You should join up, you'd love it.
Nelson, Sorry, I think I have confused things. All along I have been talking about 'Dawlish' the place on the South coast of England where, like anywhere else in the British Isles, August is the height of summer. But you apparently are talking about somewhere where spring and september are best parts of the year weatherwise with guaranteed sunshine. I have to assume that's somewhere in Asia. In anycase my holidays in the 1980's in Dawlish in the United Kingdom were often in August and given the British climate sometimes the weather was good, sometimes not so good,...but regardless of that, generally speaking I recall there being lots of people about on the beaches, and....as I said earlier....a busy townlife in the evenings in pubs and restaurants. None of this at all in August 2011. At times I wondered if there had been some sort of nuclear incident nearby and nobody had told us that the place had been evacuated.
The weather was crap in England throughout August 2011. Unlike April, May, part of June, September and the first week of October down here. Most of which time the beach was very busy thank you
Sorry you didn't enjoy your holiday, but please don't judge somewhere by one short visit in crap weather.
I'm not judging it, I'm trying to guage if less people go there these days than in the 1980's. If you had read my posts you would see that. Now,..if I were judging it I would talk about the following.... 1) The lack of pubs 2) The lack of restaurants 3) The fact that the whole place seemed to have closed down as soon as night fell, even on Friday/Saturday evening. 4) The lack of people generally ( was the weather so bad that people cancelled their holidays and went home ?) 5) The foul mouthed drunken scummers on the train on the way back from Torquay. 6) The rubbish and empty beer cans strewn on the pathways over the cliffs. 7) The dogs on the beach. A handy place to relieve themselves or where they sunbathing ? I could go on... By the way the weather wasn't that bad, not a scorcher but this is England. It would be a bit of a cop out to pin it on the weather. For some reason you keep ignoring the issue of the lack of evening facilities which are not so weather dependant really. Perhaps Dawlish is now just a quiet place for the older generation to retire to rather than a holiday destination. If that's the case then fair enough. But you can't kit it out for that purpose and still expect holiday makers to turn up.
@Nelson - as i recall dare were against dawlish having a new supermarket at all (dawlish now has one) and that given that it had been decided that a new supermarket was indeed what dawlish needed dare subsequently argued that that ladies mile holiday park was the better location rather than shutterton bridge. and where is the new supermarket located? shutterton bridge. hardly proof of a minority group having disproportionate clout is it?
And I believe both members time and money from DARE was forthcoming in the planting up of the planters by the viaduct area back in the summer and I think they may have also been involved in the planting of the bulbs that took place a few months back.
And no, I'm not a member of DARE (any more than I am your 'dear').
Last year was the driest in 20 years I believe although there was above average rainfall in June and August
Let me give you a really good example of how Devon County Council under the watchful eye of Cllr Clatworthy welcome holiday makers to Dawlish. They dont want anyone to drive their cars around the town anymore, you have to ride a push bike or walk. On road parking is subject to pay and display meters as are the car parks, and the charges are unbelievable 90pence for one hour. Where there is the oppertunity to park for free they paint double yellow lines ( I refer to letters recieved by residents in the Elm Grove Road area ) and they persist in obstructing the Queens highway by installing humps, bumps and anything else in an effort to damage peoples cars. Even the towns industrial estate where an effort to regenerate and attract business has been treated to the Yellow line parking ban. Most of the time they do this without the proper authority from the main goverment office which has to sanction road changes ( as in Exmouth and Starcross straight ) this costs the local tax payers thousands due to them having to repay all the fines etc.
In addition any assumption that Dawlish is the South Coasts answer to the retirement home problem is probably correct, Oh in addition to Sidmouth which according to a recent survey has an 86% population over retirement age.
Please dont be put off visiting the area Dawlish is just an insignificant dot which you can easily avoid by staying on the train for an extra stop.
@Fotterson. where in dawlish were you staying? 1) plenty of good pubs sone of which serve goodfood all day and into the evening. dawlish can be justly accused of lots of things, however a lack of pubs isn't one of them! 2) harder to defend. but during the day you should have no problem. at night you've too delicious, witches bowl, jeera's (as was called) and the pubs. not a great choice and i don't know how that compares to the 1980's. 3) what do you want to be open at 9.30pm (nightfall)? 4) lower numbers is a worry that investment and improvement will address. 5) you get drunken scummers everywhere. 6) agree that rubbish should be cleared. to be honest, rubbish shouldn't be dropped by locals or tourists alike. a sad indictment of society during the last 50 years. 7) dogs aren't allowed on the beach between may and october. the selfish owners should be fined. mind you, back in the 80's dogs would have been allowed on the beach all year round (whatever happened to white dog poo?).
Nelson, anybody who has been to Europe will know what I mean by a busy evening townlife. Have you never been to France or Italy and wandered the streets soaking up the bar/restaurant/cafe culture ? Contrast that to Dawlish where not a soul can be seen after 8pm. And don't start on the weather again in response to this, its warm enough in the British summer evening to support the same sort of thing,..it doesn't even matter how sunny it has been. Anywhere, somewhere in the thread I think we have got to the answer. The reason nobody is around in the evenings in Dawlish is that the local residents are sat knitting and drinking Ovaltine with their hair in curlers in front of the box rather than running the type of evening business that attracts tourists. And blaming everybody else.
Whereabouts in Dawlish did you stay? By the way, you'll be pleased to know that part of the ambition behind the proposed pedestrianisation of the Strand is to engender a continental-style cafe culture. I'm all for it.
A bit harsh. I'll neither be shutting up nor telling anybody else to ! I stayed not far from the sea front. Exact location not relevant. The whole place is withing 5 mins walking distance. I hope they succeed with those plans. But already I'm cringing at the thought of some sort of 'traditional' british sea side scenario with slot machines, chips, rudepost cards and screaming children. Need to forget all that and attract tourists with money $$$.
I hope you're right Fotterson. We have a massive opportunity within our grasp, I but hope that the proposed improvements do happen and, crucially, are embraced by locals and tourists alike.
Fotterson, why do you keep on being so negative about Dawlish, and what is with the interest if you don't plan on visiting again..... I have lived here all my life and your post about the 'nightlife' bears no substance. The nightlife now is just the same as it was in the 80's, if not better. We have some amazing local bands playing in lots of venues around town. Yes, Dawlish needs a hand in 'sprucing' itself up, but, the beaches are the same as they have always been and dogs are 'not' allowed now during certain months, in the 80s they were, so, again no substance in your post.
Enjoy Benidorm.....
Cosey
Cosey, have you read my posts? Somebody commented that visitors these days would be dissapointed, so I confirmed that from my experience of recent compared to 25 years ago. The defensiveness that has come back is probably part of the problem. I won't be going to Benidorm, I'll continue to visit other Eureopean areas that cater for adults and put the effort in to be current, hygenic, and alive. Weather is a poor excuse. With money tight these days people are crying out for a British alternative ! Enjoy the Ovaltine.
@Fotterson it is not fair to compare dawlish with your trips to france. i do not know which areas you visit but, i have lived in france for many years and it is my experience that most towns, even those much bigger than dawlish, all the bars shut at around 7.00pm. laving only restaurants open in the evening. this only changes in large cities or large seaside resorts where bars, mostly for teenagers, are open.
For its size, Dawlish is very good. There are many pubs with outside seating but punters only choose to sit outside when the sun is shinning.
You obviously did not enjoy your trip to Dawlish, why blame the local pubs & bars just because two or three were then for sale. At least two of which are now up and runnig again.
It's a fair comment about the size of the place I guess. And perhaps, rather than ranting, you have actually answered the question as to why it seemed there were so few pubs open, given two were up for sale at the time as you say. I am still puzzled though by those childhood memories of the place being a proper buzzing holiday resort both day and evening. Something was very different on this recent visit of mine. Perhaps those of you living there have simply not noticed a very gradual 'quietening' over the years.
Yes....and Wham bars too. I was going to mention that I also tried to go 'crabbing' in the rock pools and that there were a lot less crabs than I had found as a child. But I don't think we can blame local Government development policy for that one.