Streetlife

Not long ago GYBC and assorted regeneration bodies were reported as wanting it for a place where the unemployed and start up businesses could get advice and training, which is a massive waste of retail space and council funding. I agree about the indoor market which would provide opportunities for start up businesses to have stalls, hairdressers to have chairs maybe. But it would have been better if Outfit was in the Co Op building instead of out on a retail park out of town. Dorothy Perkins has now shut, Peacocks, Top Shop, Select etc-terrible slow death of Yarmouth as a place to shop..

I agree with Lee, an indoor market would be great and offer a great chance for recovery in our town centre. If I had the money I would certainly invest. Maybe we should set up our own coop in memory and to carry on the tradition!

You won't get any big retailer coming into Yarmouth and taking over the old Co-op building because its not viable to them, they won't get any profit from a seasonal town, so yes, an indoor market can be a good idea, but it has to be one that doesn't take the trade away from the outdoor market or the local shops around which will make it difficult. Definately no more food stalls or units, perhaps indoor eateries that cater for all nationalities and gives you a chance to try out each country's cuisine, similiar to what you now find on the top floor of shopping centres, but not junk food, proper food from each country, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, etc.

And offence Lee C but I for one wouldn't like to see a Live Music Venue as you suggest, I'm part of the 40+ you talk about and wouldn't set foot inside the place, why, it will end up getting out of hand with noisy, boozy, sweaty people, singing, shouting and dancing around making it un-enjoyable for the rest of the patrons, that will spill out into the market and surrounding areas and eventually after a certain amount of time, it will probably get shut down.

It also sounds very much like going back to the 'Good Old Days', do you remember that variety programme, people sitting in the audience in turn of the century clothes watching the likes of music hall turns and guests with a compere to introduce them. No thank you, never watched the programme, so wouldn't watch it live.

I like the idea of international food stalls, antique floor ( no charity shops), arts and crafts a crèche for shoppers in the Town. Come on investors where are you?

A Great Yarmouth Community BAZAAR - Crackin idea & i for one would be interested in taking a unit, i remember the indoor market under the oasis tower a few years ago & regularly visited to buy cd's, tapes ect as well as have a bite to eat and a cuppa...Hope there could be something similar in the old co-op building as i have a little idea that i'm sure people will like but i'll keep it under my hat for now.

Sorry Rich D, I hate the word Bazaar, I can only see a flea market with a caff, secondhand and new, buy at low prices, that's not what we want, low prices maybe, but we need something that will bring outsiders into Yarmouth to boost the koffers and maybe we might just get the council to regenerate more than just the sea front, which they seem bent on keeping up the maintenance on, shame on them, the rest of Central Yarmouth needs a make over as well .

Lots of work needed to be done in GY for sure - 1 good thing is community sites like this, because eventually members come together into community groups and great ideas are worked upon..i quite like the word BAZAAR Pam D it evokes pictures of people trying, and you can't knock a trier - Talking of words, i hate to hear or see our town called YARCO.

What does YARCO mean exactly, I always thought it was short for Yarmouth Council as its turned up in conversations about the council.

Rich D, no, you can't knock a trier but I come from Essex and a Bazaar always ended up being called a flea market in my neck of the woods.

Ooops, sorry Lee C I've noticed a woopsy on my part, I meant to say "And no offence" not "offence", my apologies.

I have no idea where it comes from - i hear it a lot and it makes me cringe (YARCO)..i'm originally from the north east  Pam D..This time last week this site was a ghost town, its great to see so many people jumping on board and having their say, lets hope the powers that be are taking note & lets hope something positive comes from this website for the benefit of all in our seaside town.

Rich D, I'm an ex Essex girl myself, so a bit used to name tags. However looked up Yarco and came up with these two definitions. Wiktionaryyarco (plural yarcos) (slang, derogatory, subcultural stereotype) Someone from, or living in the area of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, UK; a chav.
& the World English Dictionary

yarco (ˈjɑːkəʊ) — n , pl -cos informal , derogatory ( East Anglian ) a young working-class person who dresses in casual sports clothes.

I think the second description is more accurate than the first, not every person is a Yarco in Yarmouth.

I suspect the Yarco came from the name of the local fencing company and was a handy insult.. I have lived near GY for over thirty years but some of my ancestors were Yarmouth Row mariners. When I first moved to GY the place was rough around the edges but honest and hard working and there was money about and streets full of shops.It was a not bad place to be, and was especially nice around Christmas time. The place is now unrecognisable as the same town, successive councils let the town and the fine old buildings deteriorate, the factories which employed so many people have gone, the offshore boom ended, the holiday industry took a hard knock once people started holidaying abroad and we have suffered wave after wave of  low skilled people moving into the town drawn by the prospect of summer work and cheap accommodation. For some years the town had a problem with gangs of drug dealers from the north and their hangers on- remember the kids sleeping in the Rows? The borough is now  two worlds-those who have reasonable jobs and those who are living hand to mouth, and not all of those are really Yarmouth people, some have moved in and don't forget the vast social housing estates in Gorleston, which are also part of the  borough of Great Yarmouth. Yarmouth'sproblems wont be solved by the tourist trade, they will only be solved by an upturn in the economy and the return of businesses which can provide a great many full time year round jobs for the unskilled workforce which is trapped in GY by lack of housing mobility. Tourism might help the town centre, but what would help more would be enough shops to persuade those who do have money to spend to spend it in the town rather than in Norwich. At the moment, with 70p an hour parking and  not many shops  v. £2.50 for all day on a Norwich park and ride there is no contest, Norwich wins every time.

I think you've hit the nail on the head perfectly Holly H

Well said, Holly H

I used to work at Primark HO years ago and asked the Board of Directors if they would like to come to Yarmouth (when Woolworths went) and they said no, because there was one in Norwich we would fall under their catchment area.  Perhaps we need to petition them and ask them to take over the Co-op, but I do like the idea of an indoor market, they have a lovely one in Whitby in an old church and a huge one half indoors and outdoors in Fleet, Blackpool and they are always buzzing with people all year round.

Thanks for all your comments. Pam D I wasn't thinking of an old time music hall, rather a nice themed venue, which put on acts along the lines of stars in their eyes winners, tribute acts such as Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Elvis, Babe, Cliff Richard and bands that are still around like The Searchers and The Drifters. Run very much like a sit down at a nice table watch a good show and have a dance or two...an over 25`s venue which would serve the locals for all year round entertainment and offer something new to the tourists.

The indoor market idea would enable new businesses and some of the existing market traders an opportunity a lock up and go premises in an indoor environment which would allow 7 days a week trading on two floors with a cafe {which is already upstairs} if anyone has over heard of InShops that is the concept. Primarily also would be great there and I for one would welcome that!
Any more ideas..or comments keep them coming. IF We could come together to get the market idea going I would be interested in exploring that with like minded people.

I think Gt Yarmouth has been going downhill since Market Gates was built as it seemed to split the town in two.  Also I agree with Holly H that successive councils have not preserved our old buildings as they should have, a fine example is the Regent Theatre which could be a wonderful asset to our town, but the council are not interested, we haven't got a decent theatre in the town.  In the 70s there used to be a choice of 7 types of shows you could visit in the summer.  The Aquarium theatre, The Little theatre, Brittania Theatre,
Wellington Theatre, The Windmill Theatre, ABC Theatre and The Circus. I know you don't get the stars doing long summer runs now, but Lowestoft Marina Theatre manage to get really good shows to put on which we go and see, it would be nice to see the beautiful Regent Theatre run on the same lines.

If there wasn't some kind of indoor shopping centre in yarmouth locals would be moaning and asking why havn't we got one...market gates is a bit of an oddity and i can only think the designers were on LSD or some other exotic potion when they came up with this and its unique indoor ski slope.

I for one am looking forward to what is going to be served up at st georges theatre and i'd love to be able to see great productions in our home town in a setting like the regent theatre...There's plenty of talent out there, its all over our tv screens week in week out.......Oh, maybe thats the problem...TV with all the comforts of home and the latest wide screen hi tech idiot box in the corner as the microwave goes ding to produce popcorn..Lets face it, the relative safety of home v's the mean streets of yarmouth where street crime is rife and there's no reassurance of police on the beat..i think home wins hands down.

The Market Gates was all tied in with the supposed solution for traffic before the new bridge was dreamt of. If only they had been able to get funding for a Bure Bridge to take traffic from the A47 to the north of the town. This would have taken the north bound congestion ( which used to be very bad) away from Fuller's Hill and left Gorleston traffic to go to Hall Quay. Instead we got a lot of nice old properties pulled down for the Yarmouth Way route to Haven Bridge, a bus station which has to be the rankest, noisiest and most uncomfortable in the country  a car park which seems to be used mostly by grockles, and a few shops which could easily have been housed in the town as it was. Like King's Lynn, where the destruction of the old town was even worse, if the old buildings had still been here we would treasure them now and call them tourist attractions. Or we would if we lived in towns where the councillors were not all philistines.I am constantly surprised when I travel about how so many towns are cleaner and smarter and look after their townscapes.

The old coop should be a primark

I agree ,the old coop should be Primark as it a huge big shop .

I couldn't agree more

What about an IKEA?

IKEA, far to small. . .  . . I installed the lift there. . . 

I think it should be primark or an indoor market with hippie/craft/local/unusual type stalls.....