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I've been meaning to write this for a long time now, my account of how Edgware has slipped into a mess, and the only people I can blame is Barnet Council, or 'The London Borough of Barnet', to give them their daft name. To walk through Edgware's town centre is to see a place that has become a mess through neglect, from a lack of interest by a Council that would rather it didn't have to have te area in its remit.
Postcard from Edgware.— Mark Amies (@Superfast72) February 28, 2019
A town neglected by its Council. #edgware #london #barnetcouncil pic.twitter.com/KffdUcsOFz
To walk through Edgware's town centre is to see a place that has
become a mess through neglect, from a lack of interest by a Council that
would rather it didn't have to have te area in its remit.
The streets are filthy, and have not seen a proper clean in years.
Just a quick pass through with a street cleaning machine, early in the
morning. You can see this by the snail-like train it leaves.
Paving slabs are shattered, and jutting out, roads are covered in
potholes, some having had bad patches, that have come apart only months
after being 'repaired'.
You look at the Underground station, once a proud-looking building,
and you see despair. It is filthy, the brick road surface in the forecourt
is pitted and and the businesses surrounding it are not encouraged to
present themselves in a decent way.
We get told that Edgware has plenty of shops. Yes, it's doing better
than many high streets, but consider that fact that in February Marksand Spencer left the Broadwalk Shopping centre, after being there since
the development opened in the late 1980s. That's not an endorsement is
it?
The fact is that Edgware has become an unattractive place that
provides no draw, no focus. It's not for want of getting it sorted
thought. Myself and a number of others have campaigned to get The
much-loved Railway Hotel fixed up and to act as a focus of change. I'm
not saying anything more about that, check the #railwayhoteledgware on
Twitter to see what's happening.
Progress report on #railwayhoteledgware, roof tiles going on. pic.twitter.com/iEyev3UKnu— Mark Amies (@Superfast72) February 28, 2019
Yet, with all of this we get told by the 'good news squad' from
Mill Hill, the bloggers and tweeters who have multiplied in the last
month, that everything is fine. Yet what would many of them know. They
don't live in Edgware, they don't use the facilities, so why comment?
Plus, if the mainly Conservative-adoring social media types are so
adamant that all is good and that Barnet Council are doing a good job,
where is the Twitter accounts for Edgware? The blogs? This tweet below is just one example of the alternative reality that some would have us believe.
So where are the residents on twitter saying this? There are none. Edgware is better than I remember in the 80s........— An Even Better Mill Hill (@EvenMill) February 21, 2019
You see, it's easy to say everything is rosy when the place your in
is nicer, but try living near Edgware. I used to shop regularly in
Edgware, (and I live in Canons Park by the way), but now I'm thinking
that Edgware is just too depressing to visit.
There's so much potential in Edgware, there really is, but it is
sliding into neglected dereliction and despair. It needn't be that way,
but it needs some care and attention.
Lets get the conversation going. Let's give Edgware some Edge!
Mark Amies----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Amies lives in Cannons Park and uses Edgware Station for communting and Edgware High Street for shopping. He has been spearheading a campaign to Save The Railway Hotel. He is an expert on architectural heritage and has a regular feature on BBC Radio London every other Tuesday at 12.30pm on the Robert Elms show. You can follow Mark on Twitter - https://twitter.com/Superfast72
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