What does Middlesbrough need to do to become a city?

Matlex71 said:
Agree with everything said here.
It's also a crying shame that all the beautiful old buildings in Boro have been either pulled down or left to rot.
Newcastle and the other big cities of the north seem to have found a way to utilise and modernise their historic buildings without destroying their heritage.
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Sadly, so many cities destroyed their Victorian buildings in the 60s and 70s. Sunderland knocked down its Town Hall. Newcastle drove motorways through many buildings of note.
 
Nero said:
That is very true, but it’s activity that largely goes unnoticed because it’s industrial. Stockton has the High Street about to be opened up to the river and has homes, businesses and colleges right next to it. Yarm is right on the river too, so the perception is different.

Middlesbrough has the broken down Transporter and looking across the river at match days isn’t the best. Just nothing but blank spaces or heavy industry.

Newcastle transformed its city centre based on the Tyne. It went from abandoned old buildings and businesses to what it is now. Not saying that can happen for Middlesbrough of course. The Town itself doesn’t seem to have been built with a riverside ever in the thinking.

Another terrible decision in hindsight was putting the A66 right through the heart of what could be a cracking part of town.
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Middlesbrough came into being as a deepwater port in a loop of the river and that loop has always been used by heavy industry, at Stockton and Newcastle it moved downstream. Much did at Middlesbrough but it has always been an industrial zone of wharfes etc and yards etc,. And remember it is a modern town.
 
NorthumberlandBoro said:
Not sure about that list.
There about 800k on Tyneside for starters!
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Thats grown a bit, it used to be 52k
fmttmadmin said:
Middlesbrough came into being as a deepwater port in a loop of the river and that loop has always been used by heavy industry, at Stockton and Newcastle it moved downstream. Much did at Middlesbrough but it has always been an industrial zone of wharfes etc and yards etc,. And remember it is a modern town.
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It is the industrial part of the river both sides of it, Stockton too well past its barrage.
Its developed its river front and is still in the process of doing so, and the barrage, its really nice down there. There is a big spruce up job happening soon due to the River and Canal trust neglect.

As a note *If companies relocate its business as far up as Riverside Industrial park - Hudson Quay and right down past Teesport. It will get massive substantial help and with reductions in rent and rates up to 10 years FOC I was led to believe, due to the Freeport.
 
Mysonpat. said:
I was told a while ago, that if (unofficial Middlesbrough) Southbank, Eston, Grangetown where part of Middlesbrough instead of being lumped in with Redcar boundary, Middlesbrough would be the biggest town in Britain by a distance?

So we seem to as a region shoot ourself in the foot.

But I would just be happy to see some investment into Teesside, so if Middlesbrough and Stockton with surrounding areas wanted to make a joint bid and call it Teesside city with us all as places within, i think that would be an unstoppable bid, as the that’s a region with a population of nearly 400k.
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I've often wondered why Eston, Grangetown, South Bank, most of Ormesby, Normanby and Teesville get lumped in with Redcar in the first place tbh.

Most from there, especially Ormesby and South Bank, consider themselves as from the Boro rather than Redcar, which is a good deal further away, instead of joined on as the same conurbation.
Plus like said, tacking them onto Middlesbrough's proposed "City" area would put the population north of 200K or so and therefore far more likely to be approved?

If Stockton, Thornaby, Billog etc were to join with Middlesbrough, Eston etc for "Teesside City" than I imagine it's makeup would be considered similar to that of Stoke.
 
Working away in the UK a lot you can easily tell whether you are in a town or city depending on whether there is still hustle and bustle after 5pm.

Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Nottingham, London, Bristol - If you visit any of these, they still have bustling city centres, with big name brands, restaurants open, and people about after 5pm.

Visit places like Stockton, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Barnsley, Preston, Mansfield, Luton, Swindon - places are ghost towns. Barely any shops open except the odd Costa/Starbucks with down and outs and druggies everywhere with an air of menace. In fact the further north you get, the worse it is. The North has well and truly being neglected and it is frightening how shockingly poor and impoverished Stockton and Middlesbrough have been allowed to become. Especially sickening when you see local politicians like Houchen and Clarke allowing the rich to become richer while poverty reeks across our region.

To say Middlesbrough is a city would be a lie and a complete joke. How can it improve? Maybe become like Salford Quays. Build a complex along the river near the Transporter with hotels, restaurants facing the river with a promenade to walk along. Build a new theatre like the Lowry, and build tramlines from a Riverside stadium terminus along the complex, up Albert Rd and towards Albert Park.
 
NortonExile said:
Working away in the UK a lot you can easily tell whether you are in a town or city depending on whether there is still hustle and bustle after 5pm.

Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Nottingham, London, Bristol - If you visit any of these, they still have bustling city centres, with big name brands, restaurants open, and people about after 5pm.

Visit places like Stockton, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Barnsley, Preston, Mansfield, Luton, Swindon - places are ghost towns. Barely any shops open except the odd Costa/Starbucks with down and outs and druggies everywhere with an air of menace. In fact the further north you get, the worse it is. The North has well and truly being neglected and it is frightening how shockingly poor and impoverished Stockton and Middlesbrough have been allowed to become. Especially sickening when you see local politicians like Houchen and Clarke allowing the rich to become richer while poverty reeks across our region.

To say Middlesbrough is a city would be a lie and a complete joke. How can it improve? Maybe become like Salford Quays. Build a complex along the river near the Transporter with hotels, restaurants facing the river with a promenade to walk along. Build a new theatre like the Lowry, and build tramlines from a Riverside stadium terminus along the complex, up Albert Rd and towards Albert Park.
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There are some bustling towns. You're picking post industrial towns with generally high levels of poverty. There's quite a few cities where it's quiet after dark too.
 
Whether Middlesbrough is labelled a town or a city I think it's window dressing really.

The reality of what I see is a town that feels like it's dying, as does Stockton in the same way.

The north east and teesside especially has been criminally neglected for decades and the current situation is sadly predictable.

Call it a city, call it a town, the reality is the same.
 
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Humpty said:
Yes but i'm also a Stocktonian. Should the profile of the respective football club really play a part in whether either town attains City status? There's a multitude of cities that don't have a professional club let alone a high profile club. See Sunderland for example :cool:
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TEESSIDE UTD
 
Don’t when it wil come around again but we neee to bid to become a city.

I don’t if the decision is political or based on the best bids.
 
NortonExile said:
Working away in the UK a lot you can easily tell whether you are in a town or city depending on whether there is still hustle and bustle after 5pm.

Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Nottingham, London, Bristol - If you visit any of these, they still have bustling city centres, with big name brands, restaurants open, and people about after 5pm.

Visit places like Stockton, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Barnsley, Preston, Mansfield, Luton, Swindon - places are ghost towns. Barely any shops open except the odd Costa/Starbucks with down and outs and druggies everywhere with an air of menace. In fact the further north you get, the worse it is. The North has well and truly being neglected and it is frightening how shockingly poor and impoverished Stockton and Middlesbrough have been allowed to become. Especially sickening when you see local politicians like Houchen and Clarke allowing the rich to become richer while poverty reeks across our region.

To say Middlesbrough is a city would be a lie and a complete joke. How can it improve? Maybe become like Salford Quays. Build a complex along the river near the Transporter with hotels, restaurants facing the river with a promenade to walk along. Build a new theatre like the Lowry, and build tramlines from a Riverside stadium terminus along the complex, up Albert Rd and towards Albert Park.
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Preston is a city.
 
Ipad1977 said:
If Stockton, Thornaby, Billog etc were to join with Middlesbrough, Eston etc for "Teesside City" than I imagine it's makeup would be considered similar to that of Stoke.
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The Tees Valley is already a 'conurbation' with status above that of a bog standard 'new city' like Preston or Wrexham. But the locals haven't really embraced it as an identity. Reasons for this are probably quite varied and vast.
 
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