Thanks for sharing. My family lived in Southborne from 1946 then moved to Highcliffe a year later. It's lovely to see how the town I know and love looked decades before I was born, (even before my grandparents moved there).
I was so lucky to spend my teenage years in wonderful, beautiful Bournemouth. I wouldn’t live there now for a double pension. Overcrowded, just part of a huge conurbation, Poole and Christchurch now included. The heart has been ripped out of this once beautiful town .
I've lived in Bournemouth and Poole for all of my nearly 50 years, and even in that relatively short time I can see how badly the area has declined. Much of it is not specific to this area, it's just wider societal decline and erosion of manners, standards and respect. But, watching this video and others from the 1950s and 1960s, it's sad to see how pristine and beautiful these towns once were and how they've subsequently decayed.
I bet thetrain journey took two hours as it does now- we are Low Speed Rail Project Number One. Unfortunately we have a completely incompetent Council who we in Christchurch have been forced to join totally against our wishes.
Lived here for 10 years..The place has so much potential but is now a ghost town with closed stores, inflated rents and the council has filled its old hotels with refugees that doesn't seem to appreciate the town at all.
What a negative comment. Towns are like people - they have a youth, a maturity and an old age. Bournemouth is in it old age now, 222 years old this year and subject to all the stresses and strains of a creaking national economy, changing shopping habits as people go online more and more - recently exacerbated by a pandemic with lockdowns - and the follies of previous town planning decisions that put pedestrianisation before any thought of a more modern transportation system that does not need acres of car parks and parking meters - a monorail perhaps, connecting all areas of town. I was born there 74 years ago and remember eco friendly trolley buses, people choosing the town for their annual summer holidays and a time when it was not swamped with foreign students, conference delegates and binge drinkers out on the piss. It is up to residents, working within their communities, as much as the local BCP Council, to change things for the better. Other towns have a Neighbourhood Plan where residents are consulted on what they want to see put in place for their aspirations, which are usually very successful in combatting the 'ghost town' aspect you speak of. My advice, if you truly want to see changes for the better for dear old Bournemouth, is to find out who your local councillors are and tell them of your concerns and see how they intend to address them. They tend to listen, in my experience as an ex local government officer, especially coming up to elections!
@@rodrollingstone2362 Thanks..I know that the council has a debt of 50 million..Bournemouth is a gem in so many ways..It's Art Deco and Victorian era architecture is world Class..But it's clear that they don't even see it..Everything is falling apart..
Castlepoint, A giant ASDA, and a John Lewis “at home” deliberately located away from the town centre has served to negate the need for locals to use any town centre stores.
At the end of the day the truth is imo Bournemouth was a far better place to live when it was part of Hampshire. Bournemouth was run by Dorset C.C. For only 23 years but in that time is when the damage was done and it started by splitting the town in too with the crazy Wessex Way (A338) which just goes nowhere tbh not thought thru properly when built
Can anyone tell me where the "Indoor Bowling Green" was? - I'm a long time Bournemouth resident and quite old and remember many places mentioned in this film but the indoor bowling green in the 1940s is a new one on me.
In 1937, the new Winter Gardens was opened as an indoor bowling-green. War intervened, and it was decided to convert it to a concert hall. The building was later converted into a concert hall in 1946.
Bournemouth has gone downhill. Beggars and an overspill of drug addicts from the multitude of halfway houses in Boscombe, along with the spread of mass immigration have sealed the fate of this once, pretty pleasant town.
Lovely clear footage of lovely Bournemouth in its heyday ,l remember it in the swinging 60s ,looked much the same ,no pvc ,apart from the cars .
Thanks for sharing. My family lived in Southborne from 1946 then moved to Highcliffe a year later. It's lovely to see how the town I know and love looked decades before I was born, (even before my grandparents moved there).
I was so lucky to spend my teenage years in wonderful, beautiful Bournemouth.
I wouldn’t live there now for a double pension. Overcrowded, just part of a huge conurbation, Poole and Christchurch now included.
The heart has been ripped out of this once beautiful town .
The town centre is a no go area after dark. Ashley Cross is the new social hub.
I've lived in Bournemouth and Poole for all of my nearly 50 years, and even in that relatively short time I can see how badly the area has declined. Much of it is not specific to this area, it's just wider societal decline and erosion of manners, standards and respect. But, watching this video and others from the 1950s and 1960s, it's sad to see how pristine and beautiful these towns once were and how they've subsequently decayed.
I blame the Teddy Boys.
I bet thetrain journey took two hours as it does now- we are Low Speed Rail Project Number One. Unfortunately we have a completely incompetent Council who we in Christchurch have been forced to join totally against our wishes.
Amazing Video!
Lived here for 10 years..The place has so much potential but is now a ghost town with closed stores, inflated rents and the council has filled its old hotels with refugees that doesn't seem to appreciate the town at all.
What a negative comment. Towns are like people - they have a youth, a maturity and an old age. Bournemouth is in it old age now, 222 years old this year and subject to all the stresses and strains of a creaking national economy, changing shopping habits as people go online more and more - recently exacerbated by a pandemic with lockdowns - and the follies of previous town planning decisions that put pedestrianisation before any thought of a more modern transportation system that does not need acres of car parks and parking meters - a monorail perhaps, connecting all areas of town. I was born there 74 years ago and remember eco friendly trolley buses, people choosing the town for their annual summer holidays and a time when it was not swamped with foreign students, conference delegates and binge drinkers out on the piss. It is up to residents, working within their communities, as much as the local BCP Council, to change things for the better. Other towns have a Neighbourhood Plan where residents are consulted on what they want to see put in place for their aspirations, which are usually very successful in combatting the 'ghost town' aspect you speak of. My advice, if you truly want to see changes for the better for dear old Bournemouth, is to find out who your local councillors are and tell them of your concerns and see how they intend to address them. They tend to listen, in my experience as an ex local government officer, especially coming up to elections!
@@rodrollingstone2362 Thanks..I know that the council has a debt of 50 million..Bournemouth is a gem in so many ways..It's Art Deco and Victorian era architecture is world Class..But it's clear that they don't even see it..Everything is falling apart..
Castlepoint, A giant ASDA, and a John Lewis “at home” deliberately located away from the town centre has served to negate the need for locals to use any town centre stores.
@@bergssprangare Planners and councils put culture and visual beauty at the bottom of the spending list.
At the end of the day the truth is imo Bournemouth was a far better place to live when it was part of Hampshire. Bournemouth was run by Dorset C.C. For only 23 years but in that time is when the damage was done and it started by splitting the town in too with the crazy Wessex Way (A338) which just goes nowhere tbh not thought thru properly when built
Can anyone tell me where the "Indoor Bowling Green" was? - I'm a long time Bournemouth resident and quite old and remember many places mentioned in this film but the indoor bowling green in the 1940s is a new one on me.
In 1937, the new Winter Gardens was opened as an indoor bowling-green. War intervened, and it was decided to convert it to a concert hall.
The building was later converted into a concert hall in 1946.
@@lilacfloyd Many thanks.
@@marklatimer7333 Winter Gardens now demolished. Loved it in the fifties not so much now; sadly the fate of many cities.
Bournemouth has gone downhill. Beggars and an overspill of drug addicts from the multitude of halfway houses in Boscombe, along with the spread of mass immigration have sealed the fate of this once, pretty pleasant town.
Bournemouth full of English people ..... now there's a novelty?
Hopefully as it's a tourist area it's full of all nationalities eh?
@@chriskemp6272 - Yeah, sure thing Snowflake, keep your cheeks pulled nice and wide, you'll find the pain slightly reduced!
All people and nationalities have to live somewhere. X
@@valeriezabienko3553 - THAT is a fallacy, 'they' can, by-and-large live in the country of their birth.
@@valeriezabienko3553 Asia and Africa were made for these people. They should stay there.