| The Curse of Great Colman St 20:20 - May 2 with 3153 views | wkj |
Forgive me for posting something about 5 months late here, however I couldn't figure out in my head the answer to this riddle today-
I appreciate this topic was covered when the "Pump and Grind" business went in at #1 Great Colman Street, and I recall my comment was it looked like it ran out of money before it opened and had to open before it was ready, and looking in the place as I walked past today, i could see the same water damage never got fixed, and the substandard paint work on the exterior never got finished - So the fact it closed is not where the mystery lies.
However; That, and the place round the corner which has been a Diner have both been hotspots of high turn over Tennant/owners over the year. In my head this is a prime location for night and day life - It's near the buses, and the 66 picks up from it's doors, it is close to most of the town's taxi ranks, and it is right near the main shopping street (although it barely qualifies as that any more)
So why in a world and time of "Location Location Location" does it seem that this area can not sustain profitable businesses, The nightclub, the corner building and the big ex diner now estate agent (I think that is what it is) In my mind this would be a prime spot to run a business - unless its the age old issue in Ipswich where very high rent is charged which seems to run businesses out for newer more lucrative suitors once the property values climb.
That is all
[Post edited 2 May 2017 20:22]
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:25 - May 2 with 3102 views | Lord_Lucan |
Waterfront / St Nicholas St |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:27 - May 2 with 3093 views | wkj |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:25 - May 2 by Lord_Lucan |
Waterfront / St Nicholas St |
The waterfront is a mystery to me as well as large areas of unfinished building work with poor parking and a bit of a distance from the bus hubs (I guess the Eastern Counties hub is close) I am amazed they ever actually managed to get the waterfront near as successful as it has become [Post edited 2 May 2017 20:28]
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:39 - May 2 with 3048 views | BackToRussia |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:27 - May 2 by wkj |
The waterfront is a mystery to me as well as large areas of unfinished building work with poor parking and a bit of a distance from the bus hubs (I guess the Eastern Counties hub is close) I am amazed they ever actually managed to get the waterfront near as successful as it has become [Post edited 2 May 2017 20:28]
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Bus links aren't very important in Ipswich. Most walk or drive. |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:52 - May 2 with 2999 views | bluesimon |
Pump and Grind was evicted after they refused to pay for the repairs of the building. Apparently the landlords went back on their promise to get the roof and windows sorted when P&G first took on the place.
I guess the nightclub, which is being turned into a hotel, will cause some regeneration in that part of town. But rent will probably rise because of it. It looks like the Diner is being used as a site office for the hotel works. But... there hasn't been much activity recently, and looks like works have stalled. |  | | |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:54 - May 2 with 2996 views | Dubtractor |
In the case of Pump and Grind I think the issue was a crap landlord (Mitchells and Butler) not playing ball in terms of improvements.
It's odd, although those premises are very close to town centre, they don't really get enough "walk by" trade compared to lots of the rest of the town.
Plus the Borough council is utterly obsessed with the waterfront and so the bulk of the focus and promotional activity is on that area. |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:31 - May 3 with 2758 views | bluebud |
The main issue is footfall on Gt Colman St. It's noticeable the Turkish restaurant does really well still as it's very good so draws its own customers.
..it didn't run out of money before it opened - it just never had any. Two people opened it up, the guy from the the paper bag factory and the girl who ran Snobs in the Corn Exchange. They fell out after a couple of weeks and the guy continued it - this was while he was trying to get a licence to sell booze, which the police/council wouldn't give him due to sniffy issues at the Paper bag factory.
.......the main problem was they didn't have booze for the first few months. He actually had some good ideas and good energy he however lacked the basics....never cleaning the windows and not making it easy to see in was another - people like to know what they're walking into and it was also easy to walk by and not realise there was a new business there. |  | | |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:47 - May 3 with 2737 views | Lord_Lucan |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:31 - May 3 by bluebud |
The main issue is footfall on Gt Colman St. It's noticeable the Turkish restaurant does really well still as it's very good so draws its own customers.
..it didn't run out of money before it opened - it just never had any. Two people opened it up, the guy from the the paper bag factory and the girl who ran Snobs in the Corn Exchange. They fell out after a couple of weeks and the guy continued it - this was while he was trying to get a licence to sell booze, which the police/council wouldn't give him due to sniffy issues at the Paper bag factory.
.......the main problem was they didn't have booze for the first few months. He actually had some good ideas and good energy he however lacked the basics....never cleaning the windows and not making it easy to see in was another - people like to know what they're walking into and it was also easy to walk by and not realise there was a new business there. |
So basically he was a bit daft. | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:53 - May 3 with 2720 views | bluebud |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:47 - May 3 by Lord_Lucan |
So basically he was a bit daft. |
....pretty much.
***Warning for Colchester Chris **
I think I can speak for Lucan here and would like to declare that at no point are we making fun, mocking, bullying or suggesting that we feel superior to others by reason of intellect. We also don't have a problem with brushes. | | | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:56 - May 3 with 2710 views | Reuser_is_God |
Why did Edwards ever shut down? That place was always heaving. |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 10:01 - May 3 with 2696 views | brazil1982 |
Bring back Mortem's | | | |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 10:06 - May 3 with 2691 views | hoppy |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 20:52 - May 2 by bluesimon |
Pump and Grind was evicted after they refused to pay for the repairs of the building. Apparently the landlords went back on their promise to get the roof and windows sorted when P&G first took on the place.
I guess the nightclub, which is being turned into a hotel, will cause some regeneration in that part of town. But rent will probably rise because of it. It looks like the Diner is being used as a site office for the hotel works. But... there hasn't been much activity recently, and looks like works have stalled. |
The only activity I've seen there in the last couple of weeks or so have been a bunch of police cars outside a couple of times, with the dog unit as well, due to 'some people who shouldn't be in there' having got in (I heard them telling an inquisitive old lady as I walked past), presumably via the scaffolding... |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 10:34 - May 3 with 2657 views | Lord_Lucan |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 09:56 - May 3 by Reuser_is_God |
Why did Edwards ever shut down? That place was always heaving. |
Not towards the end.
That side of town is knackered, everything is heading towards the waterfront and despite peoples moans it is perfectly understandable. If IBC had any foresight they shouldn't have spent a ridiculous amount of money on the new green and red bus stations but turned the Woolworth and Co-op car parks into a large transport hub with a dual bus station and put the market on Electric House. | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 12:44 - May 3 with 2563 views | wkj |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 10:34 - May 3 by Lord_Lucan |
Not towards the end.
That side of town is knackered, everything is heading towards the waterfront and despite peoples moans it is perfectly understandable. If IBC had any foresight they shouldn't have spent a ridiculous amount of money on the new green and red bus stations but turned the Woolworth and Co-op car parks into a large transport hub with a dual bus station and put the market on Electric House. |
The Buttermarket revamp was an utter disaster and really wasn't needed in my mind- Though I think the Tower Ramparts depot needed the revamp. That said I couldn't agree more about Woolie's/Co-op carpark- I know it is a bit crap people always banging on about Norwich shopping; but the multi storey carpark near the train station which has a pedestrian feed right onto the waterfront area is a perfect example of a well thought out and 100% accessable system. | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 12:56 - May 3 with 2540 views | Reuser_is_God |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 12:44 - May 3 by wkj |
The Buttermarket revamp was an utter disaster and really wasn't needed in my mind- Though I think the Tower Ramparts depot needed the revamp. That said I couldn't agree more about Woolie's/Co-op carpark- I know it is a bit crap people always banging on about Norwich shopping; but the multi storey carpark near the train station which has a pedestrian feed right onto the waterfront area is a perfect example of a well thought out and 100% accessable system. |
You don't think the Buttermarket needed revamping?! It was virtually empty. | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 13:07 - May 3 with 2521 views | wkj |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 12:56 - May 3 by Reuser_is_God |
You don't think the Buttermarket needed revamping?! It was virtually empty. |
The bus depot at the buttermarket I meant to say, the shopping center itself is an entirely different story I agree | |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 13:20 - May 3 with 2479 views | JimmyJazz |
The bus stop didn't really help P&G as the bus stopped almost directly at the entrance. For most of the day the people waiting for a bus were not the kind of people who would frequent P&G so you would have people hanging around the entrance smoking intermingling with the blue rinse brigade waiting for the 66, and no doubt each group annoying the other |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 13:28 - May 3 with 2465 views | hype313 |
That part of town back in the nineties was buzzing, you had a run where people would go to the Rep, then Churches, then Flour and Furkin, Chicago's, Double O, Bar Extreme and The Attic.
All of those have now gone, so if anyone did open up a bar where P&G is now they wouldn't get the footfall as it is so far away from all the other places.
That being said, I wouldn't want to open up a bar in town these days, there just isn't the money/people that can sustain places, Arcade Tavern is one place that has it right for a certain demographic, but that's generally catered for the more affluent/older generation. |  |
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| The Curse of Great Colman St on 13:38 - May 3 with 2445 views | Lord_Lucan |
| The Curse of Great Colman St on 13:28 - May 3 by hype313 |
That part of town back in the nineties was buzzing, you had a run where people would go to the Rep, then Churches, then Flour and Furkin, Chicago's, Double O, Bar Extreme and The Attic.
All of those have now gone, so if anyone did open up a bar where P&G is now they wouldn't get the footfall as it is so far away from all the other places.
That being said, I wouldn't want to open up a bar in town these days, there just isn't the money/people that can sustain places, Arcade Tavern is one place that has it right for a certain demographic, but that's generally catered for the more affluent/older generation. |
I sort of agree with you but I think The Arcade Tav proves that if you do a job well you can make it.
I know of a couple of places in Brum (bigger town I know) that are in the middle of a sh1t hole area but they are always busy.
It can be a bit of a waiting game, you need the money to withstand a long slow start. | |
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