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March 28, 2024, 08:42:42 AM

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Marble Arch shit heap

Started by WhoMe, July 27, 2021, 06:30:32 PM

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jobotic

Quote from: Mr Banlon on July 30, 2021, 12:52:05 AM
Rabid right-wing cunt blames leftie/snowflake Khan for Marble Arch Mound even though it was built and paid for by the Tory Westminster City Council. Bunch of thick fucking racist wankers piling on in the comments : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4YisY6l70Y

Who the fuck's that Deliverance looking cunt?

The shit heap is now free entry to all, they've decided that charging to visit isn't viable after it got a kicking upon opening.

Fambo Number Mive

Interesting how little coverage there is in certain areas of the media of this massive waste of public money, such as GB News. I suspect some organs don't want to cover Tory councils wasting public money.

Alexander Jan, chair of the Central District Alliance and Hatton Garden business improvement districts and chief economic adviser to the London Property Alliance, thinks the media have been too harsh about the Marble Arch mound.

https://www.onlondon.co.uk/alexander-jan-theres-more-to-the-marble-arch-mound-furore-than-meets-the-eye/

I wouldn't go up the mound even now it's free. What's the point? Clearly some people disagree with me though, as the free tickets for going up the mound are sold out between 11am and 1130 on the 9th August, with very limited tickets for between 1130 and 1145.

gilbertharding

From that article:

QuoteHaving visited the attraction, I too was underwhelmed.

Woah! Don't go overboard!

QuoteThen there are the ubiquitous plastic barriers and wheelie bins, the empty fountain and the grotty-looking subway connecting to the Tube. Though not quite visible from the Mound, we could add Central London's abandoned phone boxes, unending road works, dumped domestic and commercial waste, crumbling roads and drains to the list of public space failures that pervade much of the city.

You're really selling it now. Wait - you say you can't quite see piles of dumped waste? Boo!!

QuoteIf I was disappointed by this unfinished project, my reaction was one of sadness rather than visceral disdain.

Where did you say I could buy tickets?

QuoteApart from that, it was fine.

steveh

Was in the West End this afternoon so had a wander past it. It's really not very big and the plants and turf are already starting to look a bit scruffy. There were reports that after the heavy rain last week some bits had become waterlogged and then fallen off when they'd dried out.

Fambo Number Mive

I like this comment from Stuart Love, the Chief Executive of Westminster Council, at the end of a statement on the mound.

"We are very much looking forward to welcoming visitors back so they can enjoy everything London has to offer and can make their mind up about the Mound."

Is it shit or is it not? You decide!

I wonder what the residents of Westminster think of their council spending £2m on this mound. I imagine that not all the residents of this borough are incredibly wealthy and would have liked that £2m to be put to better uses. I know it was meant to bring people back into the City but I can't imagine it will unless the revamped mound is very different.

Fambo Number Mive

I was in London today and decided to get a bus from Victoria to Paddington due to a banterous number of Garies queueing to get through the ticket gates at Victoria underground station. This meant I went past the mound, it looks even more rubbish when you see it close up (well, as close as you can when going past on a bus) A stream of people were going up it, though. I suppose they though if it is free for a bit why not see how rubbish it is.

I think I've already made up my mind about the mound, apologies to Mr Love.

Janie Jones

I went up yesterday, it's free throughout August and yesterday at least there were loads of tickets available, no queues, some people were just walking up and booking their tickets on their phones there and then. Having read this thread I knew what I was in for and I quite enjoyed it on a sunny, clear day. The security staff seemed to have the right attitude, sort of laughing along with it apart from one man at the top who kept scuttling round yelling crossly, 'Five minutes, you all go! Plenty people come!' Everyone ignored him.

bakabaka

The cost of this has just jumped from £3.3 million top £6 million. Deputy head of Westminster Council has resigned to spend more time with his brown envelope.

WhoMe

Quote from: Janie Jones on August 11, 2021, 10:07:38 AM
I went up yesterday, it's free throughout August and yesterday at least there were loads of tickets available, no queues, some people were just walking up and booking their tickets on their phones there and then. Having read this thread I knew what I was in for and I quite enjoyed it on a sunny, clear day. The security staff seemed to have the right attitude, sort of laughing along with it apart from one man at the top who kept scuttling round yelling crossly, 'Five minutes, you all go! Plenty people come!' Everyone ignored him.

Why are tickets still required if it's free?

imitationleather

Quote from: WhoMe on August 13, 2021, 09:47:00 AM
Why are tickets still required if it's free?

To control the numbers?

Fambo Number Mive

I find the statement of the council leader fascinating:

Quote...Tickets are now free for August. We are working hard to deliver a new exhibition space and make sure the 130 steps climb to the top is the best experience it can be, with a café for a drink and snack at the bottom.

We are determined to continue our hard work to restore our city's vibrancy, bring back visitors and ensure people can keep their jobs. Doing nothing was never an option. So when the Mound fully reopens in September, I hope that people will come and see it for themselves. The Mound may delight or divide views and that's ok, but we're confident that in the end it will fulfil its original brief - to get people back into the West End and remind them of why this is a world class City...

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/news/westminster-city-council-update-marble-arch-mound

Doing nothing might have been a better option. I don't see how they can tell how many people would have come into the West End to spend money due to wanting to visit the mound, unless they survey ticket holders.

I love how they mention you can have a drink and a snack. That will make all the difference. Let's hope that doesn't lose money as well.

Why have costs risen so much? What plans are there to actually attract people to the mound when it reopens? Will an exhibition space really make the difference? It's like something out of the Thick of It. It would be hilarious if it wasn't such a waste of money that could have made a difference elsewhere.

What would attract people to the West End? Personally, I find Oxford Street far too crowded and I imagine a lot of the shops are quite expensive.

steveh

Selfridges - currently up for sale - is the only real upmarket store in the street. Most of the chains have reduced to just one shop on the street whereas before many had one towards Marble Arch end and one towards Centrepoint. Saw a figure that shop vacancies in Oxford St are currently 17% and that's with the growth of all those tacky American candy shops and tourist tat sellers on short-term leases that got discussed in another thread recently.

The mayor, TfL and others have been pushing to have Oxford St pedestrianised which would make it a lot more pleasant to shop and more competitive with the Westfields, but Westminster Council have held out against that saying residents and smaller businesses don't want it. The compromise they've now come to is pedestrianising both sides of Oxford Circus in a kind of piazza but with Regent St as normal in the middle, which I'm not sure really helps much.