Is Stoke in as bad a decline as some make out?

[Rack Admirer]

I've seen quite a few videos on youtube about the decline of Stoke e.g. External Link/Members Only

It seems as though the demise of the high street has particularly hit Stoke as it's made up of 5 towns, and so there are 5 areas of boarded up shops. Also, some quite acute drug abuse issues as well as a lack of jobs in the area. A lot of the old factory buildings, etc, seem to be in disrepair. Of course, most of the massage parlours have long since closed down, as has been discussed on other threads, so no need for a trip down memory lane. I presume there are no "must see" WGs in the remaining parlours or on AW?

I've only been to Stoke a few times over the last decade and I'm not a local, so would be interested to hear what people think.

[ulstersubbie]

I was there a couple of weeks ago, it's definitely in decline like a lot of British cities. Tunstall where I was is particularly rank, lots of boarded up shops and filth and litter everywhere. Hanley wasn't much better, so yes Stoke is pretty much f**ked!

[Roadster]

It's six towns.  Stoke, Hanley, Burslem, Longton, Fenton and Tunstall.  Five towns comes from the Arnold Bennett novel "Anna of the five towns".  He left out Fenton.  Some say becuase he thought five towns scanned better as a title, other say it was because his mother in law lived there so he just erased the entire town.

Irrelevenat to your point thogh.   

[Hugger-Mugger]

I've seen quite a few videos on youtube about the decline of Stoke e.g. External Link/Members Only

It seems as though the demise of the high street has particularly hit Stoke as it's made up of 5 towns, and so there are 5 areas of boarded up shops.
I've only been to Stoke a few times over the last decade and I'm not a local, so would be interested to hear what people think.

I'm a local, and yes, Its High Streets are in terrible decline as seems to be every high street within a 50 mile radius. Longton was particularly hit by the demise of Wilko, about the only reason to go there. I was shocked to see how bad it's got and it was already grim.
I'm old enough to remember when all those shops & factories were open

Some of the out of town shopping areas are doing better, mostly revolving round *B&M & Home Bargain.

If you want to see decline, head over to Crewe town centre, where even Poundland, THE POST OFFICE, and Iceland couldn't survive.

I've noticed even the assorted B&Ms are looking empty

[robsmith149]

I've seen quite a few videos on youtube about the decline of Stoke e.g. External Link/Members Only

It seems as though the demise of the high street has particularly hit Stoke as it's made up of 5 towns, and so there are 5 areas of boarded up shops. Also, some quite acute drug abuse issues as well as a lack of jobs in the area. A lot of the old factory buildings, etc, seem to be in disrepair. Of course, most of the massage parlours have long since closed down, as has been discussed on other threads, so no need for a trip down memory lane. I presume there are no "must see" WGs in the remaining parlours or on AW?

I've only been to Stoke a few times over the last decade and I'm not a local, so would be interested to hear what people think.

There are plenty of jobs, unfortunately most are min wage crap, warehouses and the like.

[dog999]

On a recent trip to Stoke and Hanley,  no point searching for a massage shop as the whole place looks like a shit hole. Run down full of boarded up shops litter everywhere, the whole area wants pulling down and starting again. What's the hideous building in Hanley with all the coloured plastic over the outside?, looks like a massive blot on the landscape as you go up the main road.