I wasn't around when this went up ... then went right off.
Can anybody explain to me why it was such a resounding unsuccess and how come it got abandoned?

a lack of quality shops, its off the beaten track so to speak and the shops that were there were quite expensive.

Cruise took over for a while and for a good 2 or 3 months they had some really nice quality clothes. Sadly they didn't get the custom required to keep such a big store open and it closed.

They should have just made it a big pound shop. They are the only shops that seem to do well round here

Cracking spot for IKEA I've often thought

Ikea would never build a store in Hartlepool. They like to keep them few and big and they've already got one in the North East so don't hold your breath.
What annoys me is that their national distribution centre is about 15 miles from my house but I have to go half way across the M62 if I want to buy owt from them.

Having said that the only thing that interest me at Ikea is the Scandinavian grocery.

I still don't understand why Jacksons was completely abandoned. It wasn't letting the rain in was it? They could have turned it into an indoor market or something. Why not a fish market - or don't we do fish any more?

Probably the council thinking this site was an easy touch and put the rates even higher. They have done more damage to the shops in this town than the recession.

There is a strong possibility it will be renovated soon and becoming a night club I hear

there are several uses for it, why not make it into an ice rink?

Ice Rink would be a good shout especially as the rink at Billingham Forum is soon going to be closed for a while I think

But you can just see the council meeting....

An ice-rink you say?
Cheap family entertainment you say?

Nah cnuting fookit, lets open another shitty boozer

i think it should be turned into a music venue something like the carling academy would have a decent capacity, and would also be a good attraction to the town.

It's going to be closed from July, for 18 months. They are spending 15 million, on bringing it all up to date. It was originally opened 40 years ago.

Football stadia??? stands overhanging the water?

untrue, council rejected the idea as it is too close to the water! it will never be a nightclub im afraid

If that's the reason they rejected it, it's one of the worst things I've ever heard!

Isn't one of the most popular areas in the North of Bastad England 'The Quayside' in Newcastle quite close to water!?

Our town lacks a decent nightclub or even just a nightclub, if we had one (that people would come from out of Town to go to) the place could take off. A couple more bars on the Marina and a good sized night club that's decent and you could be talking about somewhere people would consider for stag parties and the like. Typical of our small minded council that it's back heeled because people might get pissed and fall in the sea. They'll probably never sell IOR the Vic in case they make the place bigger and it gets too noisy.

stupid i know but thats come from someone high up in the council so i believe it to be true.

Does he work on the top floor like

I'd have thought a bowling alley might have been an idea - the one we do have in the town is tucked away at the back of a permantly empty car park and hidden away on Brenda Road.

Yeah but everyone who wants to go bowling knows its there. We want this to be an attraction for people out of the town to spend money why would anyone come to play ten pin bowling.

It'd be an ideal place to send football 'firms' to knock fck out of each other instead of doing it in the town centre.

If there was a viewing gallery I'd probably go down and watch.

And stockton council aren't being the most helpful to try and get a temp pad in place from what i gather

Jacksons landing would be excellent for a temp pad. Not only is it ideal size and shape etc but would give hartlepool a great base to open their own if it happened.

The people who owned jacksons landing need to have a long hard look at themselves - why when up the road can a wind tunnel like Dalton Park be reasonalby succesful and Jacksons Landing with a better location and more around it fail????

Dalton Park had a lot of similar shops to Jacksons landing when it first opened but it seems as if the management were more proactive up there and the range of shops has widened and is now more attractive to your average punter.

It really is an example of the poor leadership in this town that we have the potential to have excellent shops / leisure facilities but contrive to let it all slip into a big bucket of dog mess.

The bars on the marina are going to be a prime example - what should be a pleasant sunny location for families to eat out and enjoy the scenery is slowly being taken over by rarfs with more white powder up their nose than beer in their stomachs - and the asociated chew that goes with this. Anybody who knows Hull reasonably well will know that there Marina Bar / Restaurants fell to a similar fate a few years ago and was all shut up due to trouble last time there.

Are you the kipper which mike newell attacked watson with?

Indeed!

Whats all this about have I missed a good bit of gossip

Back in the promotion season when rumours we're aplently, it was rumoured mr watson was attacked by mr newell by a kipper, around about the same time he had a magic self driving bus and he put his boots in the bin and all that stuff.

That stupid mullet lad from the board made it up i reckon, idiot!!

how about a ten pin bowling ice rink night club? I bet there aren't many of those.

Casino please.

And if we aint allowed pubs etc near water then why are Brewers Fayre, Vibes etc etc open?

I'm surprised it hasn't been turned into a giant Greggs pasty shop.

or a bookies, shows you the level of scum bags in the town when its littered with pound / 99p /home bargins / bring a penny and we will rip your hand off shops and about 7 betting shops. I cant name a decent shop in the town for blokes clothing. And why is there about 5 travel agents all together near WH Smiths.

I've mentioned it before - if I was a business man and I wanted to open a retail business in Hartlepool, I would take one walk around the shopping centre and never come back, never mind contemplate actually opening the business.
These, remember, are the very people who also support Man U and Newcastle etc - they are too thick to change and their gene pool is defective, so their kids are exactly the same. Mass ethnic cleansing of those of defective intelligence is required in Hartlepool. The population may initially drop to 25,000 or so, but after that things will get better.
I'll start digging the graves if someone wants to employ me.
Hell, I'll carry out the Poolie Final Solution myself.

it just goes to show Hitler had some good ideas, but should have wiped out chavs instead.

Just shows you:

Bookies = to throw your dole money away
Pound shops = To spend what you have left and buy bacon grill for you tea
Travel agents = with cheap flights to Magluf to get $hit faced and come back with an STI

And the best buisness in town Wetherspoons.

I heard they're turning it into a room for our MP's ego.

Is it going to get an extension like

Something like Xscape would be good

http://www.xscape.co.uk/snow/castleford/?PHPSESSID=d877a4b6d1aa15e1aa8d7356505fdc29