General Discussion
dawlish
I moved away 3 years ago back on a visit to my mum, I cannot believe how Dawlish has gone downhill. You have to get real this is my home town I am 25 and it has lost something there is nothing for tourists other than the beach there is nothing for the people who live here.
Dawlish needs to grow and prosper not have shops closing down. Seems to me, and I maybe wrong people move here to get away from cities to have a quiet peacefull life either retiring or live here and work away or a weekend cottage
I was going to move back with my husband now have second thoughts because its not the town I left
Can't honestly see that it's changed much in the last three years for good or bad; perhaps you have?
Well you must be blinkered. More shops have closed its tattier on Saturday daytime there was hardly anyone in the town 3 years ago yes a mere 3 years there would have been a lot more people. A burnt out playpark in the Manor why has it not been cleared.
Maybe since moving I looked back with rose tinted glasses but it seems like the heart has gone from the town
If my memory serves me correctly it absolutely poured with rain yesterday (Saturday). Perhaps that could explain the lack of people in the town?
The burnt out playground in the Manor Park I understand is soon to be addressed.
There are how many shops empty in the town? 3? 4? better if they weren't I agree. But can
you suggest something to help this?
What would YOU like to see in the town? And how do you think that could be achieved?
Dawlish is full of contrary people a while back someone was praising Dawlish & very few people replied those who did were mainly negative most of the threads are negative. I started this one to see if anyone would defend Dawlish and they did.I love coming back had to leave because of work
i have been coming down to dawlish for many years now, normally two or three times a year (i have always loved the place and have felt a close affinity with the it). Also it has always been my dream to one day move to the town. I have to admit that Dawlish is not as nice as it used to be. BUT, this is simply a society thing. You could go to any village, town or city anywhere in the country and 99.9% of people would say the same thing. Dawlish may not be the place it once was, but it is still a whole lot better than living in many other places. I have to say that I wouldnt like a development to be built in sandy lane as it is little offshoots like those leisure facilities that amongst other things attract tourists to dawlish. I think some of the shops are poor, but if you look at most seaside towns, the shops are geared up more for seasonal trade. And just remember, its the people that make the place what it is.
So true.
I judge any town and people on the number of pubs it has..I think Dawlish has 12 or so.
There is little point in setting up a shop now and paying rates etc.. when you know people will walk in and say 'I can but that cheaper online' and in fact they are right for the best part.
Lots of seaside towns have good shops Gays Creamery caters for both residents and visitors we need other shops like (dont mean have lots of food shops) Dawlish has to be attractive to tourists but its residents should come first.
the tourist trade is only a few months of the year hence employment isnt permanent.
Dawlish is a great place to live it needs investment then we can say its thriving
True .. but the back bone to trade in Dawlish is the tourist trade. Gays is very quiet in the winter and so is Dawlish anyway, the lawn is empty. The question is why does Dawlish not attract what you call 'good shops'? Businessess know shopping habits here, their primary trade is the holiday season else they would be here now.
re 'the tourist trade is only a few months of the year' .. it is from Easter to October with December, that is 9 months being the majority months in the year thank goodness.
the tourist trade although mainly consisting of the summer months, could still be catered for by dawlish in the other months. although not everyones cup of tea, it is a very attractive place for train enthusiasts, great for walkers, bird enthusiasts to name but three. There is no reason why a couple of art gallerys (with the correct stock), and a decent restaurant or two couldnt do well in dawlish. Its just finding someone with a bit of flair and who is prepared to take a chance. some people suggest on here that the local people wouldn't support more expensive restaurants or art galleries etc. Well they would if the places were good enough and kept their standards high. i firmly believe it is possible to have a good mix in Dawlish of traditional "tacky" seaside shops together with quality shops to. when alwyn crawshaw had his gallery, it was tucked completely away and wasn't really enough to attract visitors just for that on its own.
D Wonder agree with you. Teignmouth has good restaurants art galleries clothing (not chain shop) shops with good quality bits & pieces for the home the majority of these outlets also sell on the internet. Out of season, we get coaches of pensioners families come bank holidays and the 6 weeks in summer.
Agree about the niche market this should be exploited.
You might want to take a look at the plans for Dawlish as being proposed by Yellow Book - the consultants employed by Dawlish Community Trust to come up with ideas as to how Dawlish could be regenerated. For a copy contact the the Town Council - email: townclerk@dawlish.gov.uk
Totally agree that Dawlish could so easily be a year round attraction - railway, walks, birdwatching. Fling in some art studios and a couple of more up market restaurants and BINGO! (Well...perhaps not that..but you know what I mean)
Dawlish needs MARKETING!
the theatre could be used more have music acts and art exhibitions. Trouble with Yellow Pages is they are big buisiness would like to know how much the Regeneration Trust pays out for Yellow Pages and the people they employ
one thing that slightly puzzles me about dawlish is this: in most towns ten or twenty years ago, the average high street had a butchers, bakers, candlestick makers etc etc etc. Now generally the high streets have been decimated due to large supermarkets (with their petrol stations), diy superstores etc outpricing the minnows and forcing their closure. dawlish has neither of these competitors and yet still the little shops have gone.
I think the answer to this is that most people in Dawlish drive to Newton or Exeter supermarkets to do their shopping. So the small firms in direct competition with supermarkets have bitten the dust, those able to find a valuable niche e.g. the deli in the Strand have, and will, survive.
I moved North to a town about the size of Dawlish its thriving without a tourist trade. It has a huge Somerfield and Sainsburys and a weekly market.It makes me feel despondant Teignmouth is thriving my hope town is going to the dogs
but having a supermarket may make it more convenient for dawlish residents not having to travel to newton and exeter, but it wouldn't solve any of dawlish's problems of trying to regenerate the town. in the area i live it is labelled tesco town and believe you me, the old town is fast going to the dogs.
The Old Town has gone to the dogs . My son and his wife moved to Starcross they go to Teignmouth for their bits and piece there is nothing here, I am 42 was born here my town is dying
People will still go to Newton or Exeter even if Tesco does come here, as for some reason locals will take a dislike to something at the new store, be it their local staff or 'the grass greener on the other side'.
All these postings do not exactly give anyone any encouragemnet to set up shop here.. who would? It is why Teignmouth is better, honestly if you wanted to risk opening a shop which is the safer bet? .. maybe neither lol.
Maybe we should be more positive about our town it does have a lot going for it.
I think people would shop here if there was a decent supermarket Somerfields used to be really busy
Everyone spends alot of time comparing the Co-Op to Somerfields. As I recall when it was Somerfields everyone spent the whole time complaining about that aswel. You say Somerfields was busier, but then complain at the length of the queues in the Co-Op. Surely that in itself shows it is busy. There are the same queues down the ailes now as there was in Somerfield! Can everyone stop moaning on this website and appreciate that all shops in the town have limitations and all are doing their best! None of them will ever be able to compete with the likes of Tesco or M&S, so can we all just give them a break..........
Totally agree with you Anon.
Can I also point out that comparing Dawlish shops with those in Teignmouth is also a nonsense as Teignmouth has many more shops than Dawlish. Dawlish town centre is basically 1.The Strand. 2.Brunswick Place and 3.Queen Street.
Because Teignmouth has shops Dawlish hasn't it will of course draw trade away from Dawlish eg New Look, Peacocks, Specsavers, W H Smith, Moshulu. It also has two co-op stores both of which are bigger than the one Dawlish has. One of which is bang in the centre of the shopping centre the other, right on the edge.
Because Dawlish cannot compete with Teignmouth I think is all the more reason why it should, and can, reinvent itself. As has been said before - niche market - not only in terms of the type of shops in Dawlish but also in terms of its image and the type of tourists it wishes to attract.
2 x type of market - 1. Residents and 2. Tourists.
Whats wrong with critisism maybe if enough people complain something will be done most of us want the town to grow and flourish.
The long queues in Somerfields were in the summer not all year round.
On the Jeremy Vine show radio 2 today they had a phone in about youth crime so many people are having their towns villages & lives wrecked by gangs of youths here in Dawlish we have the odd disturbance but nothing like some parts of the country. One woman said that because their station is unmanned in the evenings it is completely wrecked our station is unmanned yet there is never any trouble on it. People complain about a few skate boarding kids on the lawn why? they are not vandalising.
Agree with you I went away for 10 years came back last summer what a joy Dawlish is where I lived was quite a nice place but every house had to have burgler alarm my car was broken into kids as young as ten in the park drinking etc Exeter is great must be the safest town in our country.
Dawlish may lack a few amenities but the sense of community is what its all about.People pay to come here carnival week becuase it is so good and we get it for free
You dont have to spend a penny carnival week to enjoy it. The beach Dawlish Warren they are free.If you are so anti Dawlish and the people why live here
Have a look at the general site someone wants to move here from Hampshire because of all the trouble with gangs etc. Its about time people learnt to apreciate what we have here a bit of positiveness goes a long way.
returned expat said, "carnival week becuase it is so good and we get it for free". I said, "nothing is for free".
The law states that no on street collection of any sort maybe collected in open containers, ie buckets, tin cans or any other collecting aid.
You may know what you give, but do you know what everyone else has given?
Viaduct the carnival is free its ones choice to make a donation and if someone puts more in than someone else so what.
What you put in is your choice, that does not concern me. What happens when it comes out? That should concern everyone.
Hope you are not infering the money does not go where it is intended to, a very good friend is on the carnival committe and wouid be most upset by your comments he is very dedicated puts 52 weeks of the year in for Dawlish,is a honest upright citizen, yes theft did happen a few years ago this theft came to light with a tragic ending for the person who committed it.
As someone else said why do you live in Dawlish. Do you in fact see any good in anything
or anyone
You completely miss the point.
Laws are in place for many reasons.
People make assumptions as to what should or should not be, they invariably have little evidence to back up their claims. To find someone guilty you need evidence, not hearsay, not rumour but fact.
The facts are that money has been for years collected in open containers, not just in Dawlish but in many other places as well. The law states (and I will put it in simple terms) that money must not be collected in open containers for any purpose, and that includes charities, however upstanding you think a charity is, they come under the same laws. What is not fact is what happens to your money after you have dropped it into an open container. You have made a statement that is probably not based on fact but on hearsay.
Recently there has been a case where a solicitor's clerk from Teignmouth, fleeced over £1M from clients over a 28 year period. No doubt he was seen as an upstanding pillar of society.
How much goes into a bucket/container is anyone's guess. How much comes out could also be anyone's guess unless there are a number of people there at the count. Why do intended councillors/MP's attend the count of voting tickets at an election. Where money is concerned, measures should be put in place where there can be no doubt. Ahmen!
Viaduct those people who make stupid nanny state laws are the same ones who fiddle expenses etc the MPs
Viaduct you are an extremly sour person you dislike youth have doubts about the honesty of people, suggest you move away you and your elk do nothing positive for this town goodbye in anticipation
Some people find it hard to face the truth. Others find it hard to seperate fact from fiction. There are others that believe in fairies.
The youth are the future, they should be helped, but not at any price. There are muppets on this forum that are prepared to pour money down the drain, not to help the youth, but to make out they are. I remember when there was uproar over how much the youth were given by your council to build a youth center. That was years ago, the youth are still waiting.
There is a youth club its along the brook in Barton car park, its not perfect but its good and a lot of kids go there.
Seems all kids are judged on an unruly few.
Surely kids are a product of our society.
How often are parents taken to task oover their kids behaviour,
Maybe if parents were threatened with asbos etc they would to a better job of parenting
Olive grow up and take your head out of your arse, officials have had their snouts in the trough for years
No need to be offensive people usually are when they are thick,Am pointing out the carnival committee arent a load of thieves and give up a lot of there time, for the people of Dawlish to enjoy carnival week and events at other times,
Jambuster if you or Viaduct have issues about the honesty or integrity of the carnival committee suggest you go to the authorities.
Or better still join the committee then you can keep an eye on the coifers and put in some hard work.
Perhaps I should been more clear with my comments, I was NOT referring to the Carnival Committee but politicians in general
Totally agree with you the amount of expenses they can and probably do claim is more than most of us earn in a year
I think you will find that Viaduct is only pointing out the law, and he is correct it is illegal to collect money in open containers. If as it seems you are a morally correct person, then you should agree that breaking the law, IS BREAKING THE LAW
Are you and Viaduct the same person.
Its nit picking.
Thoses in glass houses shouldnt throw stones and we ALL break the law some time or other in out lives i.e. going 26mph in a 25mph zone
I dont care how they collect the money least they are doing something for the community and not sitting on their backsides complaining about those who do
She does not derserve an apology, and as for you, are you clairvoyant that you can see me sitting on my backside if you are that is incredibly wrong.
Jambuster/Viaduct whover you really are. Go back read your posts. You inferred that not all the money collected in the buckets at carnival went where it was supposed to go.
Olive stuck up for them and you was abusive.
You obviously dont help with the carnival else you would know the money is all accounted for,
Its easy to sit at a computer behind a pseudonym accusing people of wrong doing & breaking the law
Where did viaduct mention carnival? Nowhere until now.
Someone must have a guilty conscience to connect with what I said to the carnival.
Has not Rotary members stood outside of Lloyd's bank collecting for a duck race, which is illegal.
Are there not buskers who collect acting illegally when they collect. And they I have noticed are moved on if the right person happens to see them. But not rotary or the carnival or the fire brigade who collect in a big sheet on carnival night.
The law is the law. Why do some think it is ok to break some laws but not others?
Do I detect anarchists in our midst?