Dawlish News
Has the regeneration been completed, we are coming down for our annual Dawlish holiday over Easter from Yorkshire and am hoping the town looks as lovely as it always does?
Simply --- No, works will cease over the Easter Weekend but will still be ongoing until May. Be prepared!!!
@Mwnl you can see the works as they are at the moment in ziggy's photos at https://www.dawlish.com/photo?albumid=765
Save your money and go to Scarborough or the Dales. Dawlish isent ready for visitors yet. Have another look around June time or come down for carnival week.
You werent making comments like that when me and others signed your planning appeal to TDC to keep your pathetic tent, which incidenly dosent fit in with the image the regeneration guys want for the town. So you may be needing our help again in the future.
Scarborough or Dawlish, hmmmmm thats like comparing Beirut to Dubai. If I wanted to go to a dump I would go to Scarborough but have been coming to Dawlish since I was 13 (1985!!) so you wont put me off. You should be proud of your town, at least it looks like they are developing it. I was born in Bradford but now live in Brighouse and Bradford is a dump, ruined by the council and never developed.
I'll be in Dawlish for a week from the 6th of April,Kind of resigned myself to the fact it won't be the pretty Dawlish that I know and love because of the work thats going on
@Mwnl and @Cazb68 don't be put off by the pessimists, especially if you have read some of the other discussions. the town is getting ready for spring and we hope for decent easter weather. there are some new shops and cafes/restaurants, and others have moved around. the street scene changes daily as the county council scheme for the strand is moving ahead, but will not be finished until may and so you can see the way the changes are occurring.
There's a new pavement by the Lawn to replace the dull grey limestone wall and this is wide enough to avoid the need for railings, and so there are more open views across the Lawn and to the shops. The paving in front of the shops is to be replaced and widened also in York Stone, and it will give you a chance to see the dreadful state of the old pavement and look forward to the whole length of the Strand being refinished. When it is, the on-street parking will be free for the first half-hour to aid those who pop into town each day for a few items, and encourage more of this shopping, while longer stay visitors can be encouraged to use the other car parks, or the urban bus service. Clearly the whole wearing surface of the Strand roadway will be replaced and there will be raised crossing points for those with prams or invalid scooters.
If you want to see the plans, there is a copy in the Public Library.
The Teignbridge Planning decision to allow Sainsbury's development at Shutterton Bridge came with funding for an extended bus service and £200,000 for town centre improvements. If you look around you will see new pedestrian signage, a 'shoppers' map (available in shops, cafes and the Tourist Info Centre), and we are sharing a Town Centre Manager with Teignmouth, only recently appointed. In addition there are landscape and planting works to be done to finish off the face of the Lawn adjacent to the Strand, and other works. The Town Council is working hard to press for all of this, and more, but we are dependant on the County and District councils to stump up the goods for the areas they control (most of it). We have managed to get Network Rail to replace the footbridge at the railway station with a "fibre reinforced polymer" structure and we are assured that First Great Western will repaint the station later this year.
We are planning some celebrations at the end of May for the completion of works, so come down again then and join in if you can. There will be more news on the Town Council website in due course.
Vanguard - a Voice for Dawlish
@Vanguard - well said!! a good balance to the usual doom-monger suspects on the site.
@ Mwnl - is Bradford still the home of Harry Ramsdens which at one time (before being franchised out) set the standard in fish-and-chip dining? I'll never forget the glass chandeliers.
Usual council bullshit from Vanguard who will probably be on the front row of the photos taking the credit come the May celebrations. Shame no comment made on how and why a footpath to no where has cost 1.7 million pounds and why the scheme publically voted for was not implemented
neilh, yes Bradford still has Harry Ramsdens and its still going just but has been taken over. 3 inches of snow up here, am starting looking at long term forecast for Dawlish, never seen any snow there!!
Fredbassett, you should be glad you have a councillor who is willing to stand up for your town.
Well we are here and the roadworks are fine. You just have to walk around them, town centre is beautiful as usual and so are the Great Cliffe apartments we are staying in. Looking forward to a lovely week, the sea is splashing up already.
Welcome! Hope you have a really restful Easter break. Willo's cafe is perhaps new since your last visit, and is great for a coffee and bacon sarnie after a bracing sea walk. Also there are really nice meals to be had at Jack Sprat's on the Strand. Doug and Sue are new too, and give a warm welcome in the Strand Cafe. Plus you should find some old favourites too. Have a great holiday!
Can I just say we have a lovely holiday, ok there are roadworks in the town centre but you just walk around them!! Food at Jack Sprats and Taylors was excellent (though taylors was shut on Friday?!) The apartments we stayed in at Great Cliffe were fantastic, views of the sea crashing over the walls at the beginning of the week were breathtaking. Went for a jog every morning, only spoilt by too many dog walkers with their dogs off their leads. Only let down was food at the Ugly Duckling which was average at best and a takeaway from the chinese near Gays Cremery which was awful. Dawlish delights was brilliant too, my teenage son loved their pizzas. Back to work now, salads for a week me thinks. Cant wait to come back next year.
Allan Furness
Glad you had such a great time Mr Furness
Dawlish is always a great place to visit (and for us lucky few, to live) even when it is miserably cold
I gather that Taylors was closed due to new owners beginning to re-fit, so there will be another new eaterie to enjoy on your next visit
Go easy on the salads now .........
Cheers Michael, I realise most of my post was about food. The wife wont cook on holiday, she deserves a rest so its eat out all the way but we are on holiday and I do go jogging to make up for the kebabs and cider!!