Epping, the lowdown?

[Griff]

I was in Epping the other day and popped into what I thought was Thorntons chocolate shop...its was like the wardrobe in Nania...it just went on and on and on and more and more mysterious . Is this shop taking over the whole of the high street by stealth?

Yeah, it's owned by the bloke who owns Amy Louise, the flower shop. So you go in for a card or some chocolates and you wander through and get some flowers on the way out.

 

[Griff]

Oh well, in the 2 weeks since there was anything else on this thread, the old greengrocers in the centre of town has packed up and there's a 'business for sale' sign in the window of Euro Cafe. They've only been open for less than 2 years.

 

[mattie]

If that's the case you can go to the horribly plastic Prezzo which used to be the Thatched House pub.

The thatched house has gone? Shame, I had a few mates I played football with (coopersale) who drank there and it always seemed OK.

I trust the entertainer has long since stopped trading? I once saw posh spice in there, which added a final insult to a dire night.

No-one seems to have mentioned the town hall, which is perhaps the most ill-advised eyesore I've ever laid eyes on. Epping, for all its sins, has relatively attractive houses, which made that monstrosity even more glaring.

 

[Griff]

I trust the entertainer has long since stopped trading? I once saw posh spice in there, which added a final insult to a dire night.

No-one seems to have mentioned the town hall, which is perhaps the most ill-advised eyesore I've ever laid eyes on. Epping, for all its sins, has relatively attractive houses, which made that monstrosity even more glaring.

Funnily enough The Entertainer is still there. Not that I've ever ventured inside what seems to be a pit for elderly drunks. Vile looking and sounding place.

Yep, that Town Hall is ridiculously ugly, and it makes me laugh when they turn down planning permission for shop signs that are illuminated from behind, because they 'aren't in character with the town'. And that building is?

 

[mattie]

Excuse me!! But I live in Harlow.

Okay so a lot of it on the surface does look horrible and it can be quite scary to walk around late or even not so late at night well anytime after it gets dark its not safe to wander around the town centre especially for boys and young men...I tend to think no one is interested in me.

There are however some good bits as well..we have our history and some art dotted around and there are some nice cycle tracks and walks where you can feel like you are in the countryside.

Also the threatre used to be good, well it was when I used to do the Am dram.

There is a lot of poverty and I'm not just talking about money but rather a poverty of spirit and you do see lots of pinched little faces weighed down with lots of bling. But you also have real little communities with neighbours supporting each other as well so its not all bad.

As for Epping, I agree mostly with Griff it has changed and not all for the better. Its lost its small town/village identity and just seems like a shabby London suburb without all the multiculturalism. I did like Prezzo's though.

I feel for you, I was brought up in Old Harlow!

It's an odd place in that Harlow is really just a load of villages and hamlets connected by housing estates - essentially each area was focused around a 'hatch', a small precinct with pub, newsagent and takeaway, in order to generate a sense of small-scale local community. All this seems to have donw is killed any sense of identity or community for the whole town. When I was growing up there was only 1 pub and 2 clubs in the whole town centre, not counting the bar in the playhouse. Very cruel in a town which is only one imaginary stop away from being on the London underground - the London underground used to go as far as Ongar but shut the line due to lack of use, if only they'd gone to Harlow instead...........

Buidling the M11 on the wrong side of the town didn't help matters, either.

 

[mattie]

Funnily enough The Entertainer is still there. Not that I've ever ventured inside what seems to be a pit for elderly drunks. Vile looking and sounding place.

No idea what it's like now, but when I went (god, about 10-12 yars ago!) it had the feel of a very, very messed up working men's club that young people only went to as it had a late licence. Certainly it had nothing to do with the music or the ambience. The decor was so shoddily arranged and fitted it suggested that the owners didn't expect to keep their licence for more than a few months, which is why I'm amazed it still exists.

Growing up, I had the choice between highwire/heights 2000/millenium/whatever_it's_now_called and the entertainer. It's a measure of how bad highwire was that the entertainer frequently won, even taking into account the need to ponce a lift.

Yep, that Town Hall is ridiculously ugly, and it makes me laugh when they turn down planning permission for shop signs that are illuminated from behind, because they 'aren't in character with the town'. And that building is?

It would be OK if it was tucked away somewhere, but it's pretty much the first building someone hits coming along the road from the M11 roundabout. I can't find any onlinre pictures of it, which I was looking for out of nostalgia, perhaps that's for the best.

 

[Griff]

No idea what it's like now, but when I went (god, about 10-12 yars ago!) it had the feel of a very, very messed up working men's club that young people only went to as it had a late licence. Certainly it had nothing to do with the music or the ambience. The decor was so shoddily arranged and fitted it suggested that the owners didn't expect to keep their licence for more than a few months, which is why I'm amazed it still exists.

In 6 years of living there, it's a place that never, ever appealed to go to, even for a late drink. Fucking 'ell if it was that bad 10-12 years ago, you can only imagine what it's like now.