General Discussion
Licensed eatery in Dawlish coming sometime soon?
Was in the town this morning (mega crowded pavement along The Strand - buggies, disability scooters, kids, grown ups, you know what I'm saying? - not a pleasant shopping experience at all - but I digress....) as I was saying, I was in the town this morning and noticed that someone has applied to have a alcohol licence for the premises where the deli and the cafe used to be. Looks like the new place will be called "Jack Spratt's". An application for a music licence for the premises has also been submitted.
This is a seaside town, and it's Easter weekend, what do you expect? I'd rather the crowds, than a desolate Strand.
Not complaining that it was busy - complaining that it was crowded.
Thought the whole thing about the Strand reconfiguration is that it will, hopefully, make it a less crowded but busier place.
Well in that case then the (re)boosting of the economy of Dawlish is easily solved. Let's just go for crowd creation projects and forget any other regeneration ideas.
Simple.
(And then perhaps someone should tell Mary Portas that the secret to town centre regeneration is......crowd creation.)
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Council should have made it a pleasant shopping road with no cars, lets not go there anymore. . At least Sainsburys has had no effect on the volumn of visitors then..I never thought it would. I dont think Dawlish 'ticks the boxes' for Mary Portas scheme, she would find herself forever swimming against the tide don't you think.
Make the most of the crowds while we can. Wasn't it glorious to sit by the side of the Brook yesterday afternoon in the sunshine with an ice cream from Gays. Unfortunately, rain is forecast for Easter Monday onwards.
Sorry to be a doom-sayer; but we needed the rain, just not right now! Rainbow Fun House in Torquay is very good for kids when the weather's like this (plus, of course, the Monkey House in Dawlish for the smaller ones).
And given that this weather isn't exactly unusual for this country (well, up until recently anyway) I think that even more reason why British holiday towns and camping sites need indoor entertainment facilities. Indoor swimming pools on campsites on days like today must be godsends for parents with kids.
Pity we haven't got a small studio cinema and bowling alley in the town or out at the Warrern. On days like this I'm sure such facilities would be very busy.
Brilliant idea, Lynne. Where should it be sited though as I can't think of anywhere accessible in town that's within walking distance. Otherwise, as you say there's always the Warren.
Warren, or in the Warren direction, I would have thought might be the more sensible place.
And bear in mind this - with all the extra houses and thus residents that are planned for Dawlish (and most of these houses are planned to be to the north-west of Dawlish which is not a million miles away from the Warren) wouldn't it make sense for indoor entertainment facilities also to be in the Dawlish Local Plan? Sited near the new housing development(s) and near the holiday- maker centre of the Warren would make absolute sense to me.
Yet I see nothing in the draft Dawlish Local Plan to this effect.
What will happen is that people will get in their cars and head to the nearest indoor entertainment - Torquay, Exeter, etc. thus adding to traffic congestion and doing nothing for the council's or government's so-called "green" agenda.
Yes, Cassandra, I totally agree with you about the nonsense of needing to travel to Exeter, N.Abb and Torquay in order to see a film/go bowling and it is especially nonsencial when we hear so much about having 'green', sustainable communities. I am sure I am not the only one whose teenager regular travels up to Exeter to see a film. Wouldn't it be nice if they didn't have to do that?
Here is an extract from the notes taken of the Dawlish Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group meeting held 24.11.11. I've highlighted the relevant bit in bold. I wonder why, if everyone was in agreement that Dawlish/the Warren should have more wet weather entertainment facilities, that such facilities are not shown on the draft plan that will be going to the independent examiner later this month?
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Action 3.0 - To support tourism
3.1 Dawlish Coastal Park
Comments made by Steering Group members included whether the facilities earmarked for the Coastal Park would be better placed at Dawlish Warren. There was general agreement that Dawlish and Dawlish Warren needed more wet weather facilities. It was questioned whether the Sunburnt Arms area would be a good location for a hotel, cinema or bowling alley. Comments received included the need get away from low end of the tourism market (ref: p202) and the need to make the town centre more attractive (ref: p373).