Britains most abandoned high street

In 2013 the West End in Morecambe was given the title the "Empty shop black spot of Britain" due to the amount of boarded up shops. I thought I'd pay the town a visit to see if things have improved in nearly 10 years. #abandoned #shopping #poverty

[@andyparnham7542]

I live in Morecambe, I moved here in the 80’s when it was a booming tourist location. Then Morecambe council was taken over by Lancaster council, who proceeded to strangle Morecambe’s finances and demolish any attractions rather than repairing them. The street you showed with mainly boarded up shops is called Yorkshire street. It was once a bustling popular shopping street, until the council decided to pedestrianise it and remove most of the parking spots. That decision killed it, no one shopped there anymore due to limited parking, so the shops all went out of business 😩

[@DGMediaUK]

Thanks for telling your experience Andy. Hopefully the Eden project north helps the place recover a bit

[@petrus666love]

Sound. Like Torbay where I was born and grew up , the council ruined that town too .

[@monacophotographyevents2384]

I've never understood why people would want to take a holiday at a seaside 'resort' in the UK. They are so tacky.

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

@@monacophotographyevents2384 Cornwall is nice. Our family used to go there every year and go sailing.

[@KarenaDashfield]

That's exactly what happened....a mistake the council could have rectified but chose not to. Yorkshire Street was thriving with one of the best confectioners I've experienced. The pies were to die for.

[@David-uf8ex]

Sadly these places could be anywhere in the uk these days , whole place becoming a dump

[@buy.to.let.britain]

record house prices though

[@winniewotsit4452]

Jeesh! So sad. I lived there for a year or two in the mid 1950's. It was a great place back then. Vibrant and full of life. I remember the Aqua stadium for example. Each afternoon throughout the summer, the Aqua Goons would put on a show for the holidaymakers. I didn't get much pocket money so I could never go in, but you could watch their antics on the high diving board from the promenade. Still, you could skate for miles along the prom, weaving in and around the sunken gardens. On Saturdays there was the morning film matinee for kids at the Odeon. That only cost a tanner. At the Battery end there was a pie shop that sold the most delicious pork pies. Folks would queue outside to buy them fresh out of the oven. We lived near Poulton square where there was an Italian ice cream parlour that made the best ice cream I have ever tasted. So many happy memories of the place and so sad to see it now. Foreign holidays will have brought about much of the decline - but it's still a sad indictment of our pesky governments ineptitude over many decades. High streets are under pressure everywhere these days. If only those in power understood how to generate wealth and well-being for the country, for the 90%, rather than for the few at the top. I get angry about the waste and the present direction of travel. Sorry pointless rant over.

[@DGMediaUK]

Not a pointless rant, its good to hear peoples opinions. Seems like you had some good memories of Morecambe at least :) Especially the ice cream :P

[@jamesw4895]

Not pointless. So many abandoned towns in so many countries.

[@carlosgomes2783]

I lived in the West End of Morecambe between 1966 and '86 (near that Central Laundry on Alexandra Road). You wouldn't believe it from your video, but Yorkshire Street, Alexandra Road, Regent Road and Albert Road were thriving then, with branches of national stores like Boots, bank branches, two post offices and thriving local businesses (I'm glad to see the 'Lady Cobbler' is still going, she used to do a great job of my shoe repairs). The decline you show here is truly horrific. I keep hoping Morecambe will turn around. If the new Eden Project could get started, that might make the difference.

[@museonfilm8919]

The shops may be empty and in need of refurbishment, but the place actually looks like it has some nice solid buildings, full of character.

[@metalman4141]

I’ve visited Morecambe three times and like most people do only for the Deco Hotel. The minute you leave the building all becomes very apparent that it’s on its arse, the people are super friendly and don’t deserve what’s happening to the area but I did hear rumours about an Eden style project was coming soon fingers crossed for all the good people of Morecambe

[@iqofafish1073]

Hell fire that was depressing. My parents ran a hotel on West End Road in the 80's and the writing was on the wall when they moved out in 88. A mixture of Thompson's, who owned Frontierland and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancaster C.C and the Tory party''s policy of housing the unemployed in the hotels. Hotel owners could make more money from that than holiday makers. Shameful. I also happened to live in a flat opposite that Co-op before I buggered off in 88. As for the Park Hotel, it always had one room permanently lit up with a flashing green light. As kids we thought it was haunted. 😂

[@claremaidofthewave251]

Think I’d call that a “Dead Good Walk”😉 and not a graveyard in sight! 😂 I worked in Morecambe for a year about 13 years ago, loved its character and sea front. I wish for better things in the future for this seaside town.

[@DGMediaUK]

Thats my brother :P

[@claremaidofthewave251]

@@DGMediaUK well I never 🤭

[@MrWindermere123]

Yorkshire Street leading off Regent Road. There was a shop called Charlton and Bagnall that sold angling gear and live ragworms or lugworms for sea fishing. When the west end pier collapsed in a storm in the 1970s, Regent Road lost its main attraction which drew people from the central area - and then the central pier was demolished...then Frontierland closed...too sad to continue.

[@leefairhurst9058]

Local authority stupidity and the Internet has just about seen off the high street in all towns now . Eventually these places will make way for housing

[@MrAlwaysBlue]

I stayed there 1984/85 while at Lancaster University. Quiet in the Winter as to be expected, but plenty of pubs and shops. Booming as the summer approached amy tenure finished. My landlady's son worked on the amusement park, which is now closed down.

[@Heemanngeesus]

Here I am living in Galway, Ireland watching a video on Morecambe's decline, sad to see

[@DGMediaUK]

Hi, Is there much decline over there?

[@vowxhing]

I really appreciate this view of a uk neighborhood because in my mind everything there looks like a Jane Austen movie

[@DGMediaUK]

I wish, wait until I show you a town called Blackpool Vow :)

[@vowxhing]

@@DGMediaUK Blackpool?! Please tell me Ryan Reynolds will be in one of the abandoned shop windows 😍

[@roybarratt5609]

That church on the sea front was used in the sixties film The Entertainer starring Laurence Olivier. There was a scene with a wedding filmed there.

[@envsf03]

I remember when the west end had banks. You couldn't move down there in summer. So sad to see. I hope the new Eden Project turns round the fortune of a lovely town.

[@user-nx8ii4ef7f]

I listened to the CEO of Wilko being 'grilled' and humiliated for the stores failure, by people who have failed the entire country!!

[@Battismore-Blue]

Oh , the irony

[@juanbbien]

We went to Morecambe a couple of weeks ago for the Easter weekend and we enjoyed it, we stayed at the Ashley BandB which was very nice with a lovely Breakfast it has its problems but which places don’t theses days.

[@CathyTx2001]

Don't know how I missed this one. Thanks 🌹

[@tracypark656]

I love Morecambe ❤ always will

[@davidknowles3459]

Ralph Lauren shop is definatly Fake.

[@robertkirk4387]

I lived there in the 80's before joining the Army and it was on the way out then, but this is bad, really bad. cheap Spanish holidays has killed our seaside towns for sure

[@hughiedavies6069]

I agree, I've got trapped in morecambe 🙄

[@farrendry5117]

The was a shopping area not to far from me that 20 years ago only had 4 shops open, a post office so you could cash your dole cheque, a fish and chip shop, a bookmakers and an off licence. Everything you need for a happy life😁

[@DGMediaUK]

What more do you need ha. Some of the happiest times of my life was on dole, didn't have much but the freedom (although limited) was nice

[@steerpike50]

I love Morecombe my nan lived in Lancaster and we came up every year for our holidays, great memory's of Happy mount Park and the funfair arcades candy floss the theatre and blustery seaside walks , i would move there but wife says no lol its the isle of wight for us [bit warmer]

[@DGMediaUK]

Thanks for sharing your memories. Definitely better weather wise down there. Always listen to your wife folks, they usually know best :)

[@evelynmelville3814]

We come to morecombe 2/3 time year its lovely place to go lovely views. Happy mount park. Winter garden yea loads shop closed morcombe not only place loads shops closed in.my hometown

[@JAMESLOONEY-kd1nu]

Fond memories of morecambe as I lived in Lancaster for 6 years.lots of Victorian houses. Would like to see some regeneration. 😢

[@888ssss]

at least morcambes house prices are 3x higher than ever before !!!

[@DGMediaUK]

They will go up even more if the eden project happens, good place to invest imo

[@888ssss]

well at the moment i have gone into commodities because i think inflation is going to go higher.@@DGMediaUK

[@oddities-whatnot]

Surprisingly its not cheap to live in Morecambe. Mind you, nowhere f..king is these days.

[@lesleymcclune3637]

Yorkshire street was a amazing shopping Street back in th dat

[@kevinbennett2208]

What a dump it’s become,

[@gabriellerichardson4477]

Wow what a shame 😔

[@geoffsullivan4063]

I'm just popping to the shops. Oh...

[@michaellaurence9966]

Come to South Africa and you will see the shops with metal roller doors at night. Gone are the days of evening window shopping. The price we pay

[@DGMediaUK]

That would be interesting but sad to see, maybe one day

[@ahassen1236]

I feel sad for the very few shops that are still open! How many customers do they get in a day? Surely must be some days when 1 or 2! Sad times, but you bet as soon as you park, you'll get a ticket.

[@fasthracing]

Ronnie Pickering's car at 5 mins 25

[@DGMediaUK]

who!?

[@ianrobert6239]

​@@DGMediaUKYou must know Ronnie Pickering 😂

[@fasthracing]

RONNIE PICKERING!@@DGMediaUK

[@oddities-whatnot]

Haha well spotted

[@fasthracing]

I strangely like Morecambe

[@DGMediaUK]

I want to open a shop there

[@fasthracing]

Selling what?@@DGMediaUK

[@dclxvi.tattoo]

@@DGMediaUKplease do, I live there. It could be an amazing place 😢

[@lesleymcclune3637]

The coop building was a super store years ago😊

[@dabogeyman6280]

William Hill sucking the life out of the place 😂😂😂

[@davidclark3603]

Try coming to Moseley? Everything has shut its doors and turned into houses or flats!!!!!!

[@-trixiespumpkins3846]

Utterly miserable place. Lived here from 2004-2007 and left just as the tidal wave of cheap Polak immigrants were flooding in to completely hammer the final nail in the coffin of Morecambe.

[@adeaston6553]

Who needs the High street anymore? Iv'e just bought Cheese online without leaving the house, without driving my car , without paying parking fees, without risking any accident or having to get wet in the rain. But my cheese will be delivered in 3 days free of charge, but I was cunning enough to order more before my last supply ran out. Councils are out of touch with todays shopping habbit's. Yes I feel sorry for the High street shop traders but its a dying commodity. Local Councils are making cars public enemy No1 and the public agree by shopping on line. In 20 years time when current pensioners are dead and have have stopped queueing in the post office for their weekly pension, then everything will be bought online, the only shops left will be Charity shops, card shops ,estate agents, holiday agents, hairdressers(Turkish) kebab takeaways, Chicken takeaways, Greggs, Spoons, and a few rough pubs. "There will always be rough pubs" I am 60 now and love the fact I can buy what I want without leaving the house. I live in Wales and have just invested £160 on a speed trap detector to counteract the nonsense of a 20mph speed limit(where it is not necessary) from the Communist Government in Cardiff. I am not prepared to drive like a "little old lady" but will protect my license by all legal means.

[@lesleymcclune3637]

Had some excellent nights in park hotel

[@susanmorris2325]

Hi all dont be put off morcombe by this video it was westend the main area is good

[@DGMediaUK]

I agree. As I said in the video its the worst bit

[@Melynnest]

The worst big that needs help and investment!!! It’s heartbreaking

[@metalman4141]

Good ole immigrants they do so much for this country.

[@WaterhenBloa14]

Reform will somehow blame this on immigrants 😂

[@jennybertenshaw7694]

That should say TYTHES but the Americans can't spell

[@jennybertenshaw7694]

AND that should also read 250 MILLION pounds

[@bigearedmouse17]

BOLLOCKS ! Every town has its shit areas and Yes Morecambe has more than its fair share however, Morecambe also has some really good areas and ultimately something down right AMAZING? It's Bay ! Which house, s not 1 but 2 AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and some of the Best Sunsets in the WORLD !