Christmas in Ipswich

[mossie]

It was a dull gloomy day so took the bus into town this morning, as I often do, just in order to escape my four walls.

Browsing the bookshelves in one of the several charity shops, glanced a book "Britains Crap Towns". Not hard to believe but Ipswich is ranked 25th, the town has more than its fair share of charity shops, bookmakers and amusement arcades, not to mention empty shops. It also suffers from a surfeit of Middle Eastern and East European type men strolling about in gangs, not forgetting the Roma women selling "The Big Issue". So it can be a depressing place.

Not all gloom and doom, the council have splashed out after all the previous years criticism, and invested in a decent Christmas tree which cheers up the town centre here



the rest of the street decorations are fairly plain, but I suppose they have tried



The two shopping malls have made a better effort. This is the Buttermarket mall, so named because it leads off the Buttermarket street.



and here is the curiously named Sailmakers is the revamped Tower Ramparts centre.





Sorry, this reads rather depressing, it wasn't intended to be. I heard today described as "Panic Thursday" as people rush to buy that last minute present that they had previously forgotten, or are desperately hunting for something unattainable.

[cheerypeabrain]

I think most British town centres rare similar...nice pics Mossie dear xxx

[lagatta]

Ipswich has good bones, though. Very attractive central square and buildings on the street leading off it. There are some fine buildings shown at Wikipedia.

It is true that the name reminded me of the notorious serial killings, but those can happen most anywhere...

It would be a very long (and expensive) commute from Greater London, but I could see its potential for people whose work doesn't require them to travel to a major city daily, and doubtless cheaper than London. The wikipedia article says there has been some gentrification.

[tod2]

Thanks for showing me that my town is 10 times worse than yours! In comparison Ipswich looks positively bright and cheery.

[kerouac2]

I think these medium-sized European cities are holding up quite well and learning from some of the mistakes of the big cities. The don't overdo things, but they still have proper pedestrian streets and squares to keep things very livable.

[mossie]

A lot of people do commute to London to get the much higher wages. The train takes about 1 hour 10 mins to Liverpool Street, which is walkable distance from many city offices. The cost is very high because our railway is run by the Dutch national rail Abellio, and like the rest of the country, is a total rip off. All our railways have been sold off to foreigners who take out handsome dividends openly and then, by fancy accounting, take out even more under the counter. All with the connivance of our government. I just wonder who is getting, and how big, the kickbacks are.

Ipswich is doing fairly well, but is far from being a boom town.

[lagatta]

Actually, in many places that isn't a long commute, but I hate to think of the cost. Ideally, with wifi and a little folding desk to work on, it wouldn't be time lost. Didn't Britain have the first rail system in the world? What on earth has happened to it?