Who cares.

Quoted from brian

Why we have to be rated against other towns is just for marketing. Newbury is unique and one hopes that it will retain its unique character after all the development has been completed and our leaders are sitting back admiring their handiwork.

Nope, people will always rate Newbury against other towns.

How else would they make their choice where to live, where to start a business, where to shop, etc?

this parkway website has been running for months

Quoted from jamoza

this parkway website has been running for months

Not in it's present format it hasn't. Have a look at the Google cached pages for February 10th.

Quoted from user23.3

Which towns would you rate Newbury against?

Bicester, Witney, Abingdon

Quoted from brian

What criteria are you using for the judgement. My view is that we are streets ahead of Basingstoke, this after a visit for a one and I might add only ever visit to that dreadful Festival Place last week. Reading is about OK as some of the shops are worth a visit and have some character but Newbury has to rise above that town's level mainly because of the number of layabouts that seem to frequent it. Andover, I have no knowledge of so cannot comment.

What is dreadful about Festival Place. The shopping is far, far better than Newbury.

Quoted from Lovejoy

What is dreadful about Festival Place. The shopping is far, far better than Newbury.

In what way?

Quoted from Lovejoy

What is dreadful about Festival Place. The shopping is far, far better than Newbury.

The beautiful traditional neon signs and marble effect flooring - makes you proud to be British - don't it

Quoted from Lovejoy

What is dreadful about Festival Place. The shopping is far, far better than Newbury.

The day I visited was wet, and a school half term. The car park is a nightmare badly signed with turns that seem to not be access turns at all. Inside is a bright, brash, any other shopping centre in England with a noisy echoing clautstrophobic environment and a layout with slopes on the ground floor that are excessive.
Did nothing for me other than make me wonder why I was there and to resolve that I didn't want to return. If I lived in Basingstoke, I might be inclined to study the layout to make the experience a bit more acceptable as it is in my opinion, the journey is not worth the effort.

Even the new Pavilion in the Park has timber cladding.

Quoted from Archie

I felt my comment was perfectly valid.

It probably was Archie but I think that Parkway, love it or hate it and I am pretty much in the latter camp, is here to stay, there is no going back and it's probably a good idea for the sake of the town to moan about it in private. Prospective tenants are unlikely to consult Newbury.net but the forum always seems to get top hits on Google so we don't want to frighten them do we.

Quoted from brian

It probably was Archie but I think that Parkway, love it or hate it and I am pretty much in the latter camp, is here to stay, there is no going back and it's probably a good idea for the sake of the town to moan about it in private. Prospective tenants are unlikely to consult Newbury.net but the forum always seems to get top hits on Google so we don't want to frighten them do we.

I gave up posting on newburytoday.co.uk because my postings were being censored. Now it appears that they are being "manipulated" on this board. Is there some sort of cover up going on?

BrianB  sent me a private message to indicate why this site gets such good rankings. He should be utilising his abilities to expose some of the things going on in this town.

Quoted from brian

It probably was Archie but I think that Parkway, love it or hate it and I am pretty much in the latter camp, is here to stay, there is no going back and it's probably a good idea for the sake of the town to moan about it in private. Prospective tenants are unlikely to consult Newbury.net but the forum always seems to get top hits on Google so we don't want to frighten them do we.

Parking in Newbury is inadequate, overpriced and poorly managed.

In 1968, Newbury had 2,000 parking spaces. There are now currently just over 1400 spaces (some of them in obscure corners of the town). When Parkway opens, there will be another 600. In other words we will be returning to to 1968 levels.

Quoted from BrianB

Parking in Newbury is inadequate, overpriced and poorly managed.  In 1968, Newbury had 2,000 parking spaces. There are now currently just over 1400 spaces (some of them in obscure corners of the town). When Parkway opens, there will be another 600. In other words we will be returning to to 1968 levels.

Does this include retail park parking, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Bayer, etc?

Parking on its own doesn't put me off going to Newbury town centre, but I notice that my prefered car park is a lot fuller these days.

The main reason I don't go shopping in Newbury much, other than to, what often turns out to be fruitless visit to HMV, is that  retail parks provide all I usually need in that regard.  That, and the Internet.

Quoted from Greenham Common

Does this include retail park parking, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Bayer, etc?

The only car park out of those which could be considered as a boost to parking spaces in Newbury is the Sainsbury car park although I will give you Bayer but only on a weekend.
The etc might include Camp Hopson as I doubt that was included within the 1968 2,000 spaces.

I'm sure that there was a lot more on street legal parking back then for the 'pop in' shopping which would not have been included as it was free parking. Most of Northbrook Street and Bartholomew Street for instance. Parking was a little more relaxed in those days as penalty tickets were not handed out like confetti at a wedding just to boost income and providing traffic flow was not impeded, it was an acceptable part of town life.

There's forty years of progress for you.