Aberystwyth Boom & Bust

Boomtown Aber'

Ceredigion is in an 'Objective One' area (ie the local economy is performing at less the 75% of the EU average) and the tourist industry has been in decline for many decades, however, Aberystwyth is going through a mini boom, with:

Aberystwyth Town Clock

• Large, glass fronted, Welsh Assembly, office block in Llanbadarn
• New retail 'park'(sic) opposite the bus depot
• Substantial footbridge over railway line
• New university department buildings on Penglais Campus
• Islands - for decades there was only one. As if making up for lost time, traffic planers have added half a dozen of these in the past few years.
• New suspension foot bridge
• Major re-route of the town's one-way traffic
• New Rheidol cycle track starting at the main bridge in Aberystwyth and going past Cwm Rheidol and on to Devil's Bridge
• Extensions to Coleg Ceredigion local FE college
• Extension to the Hospital
• Development of the flood plane between Aber' and Llanbadarn
• The renovated SPAR shop in the centre of town is open 24 hours a day.
• Another extension added to the National Library
• Major additions to the University's Llanbadarn campus
• Large extension to the Arts Centre
• Pedestrianising the area around the market hall
• New town clock
• New cafés & restaurants
• Redevelopment of old Railway Station
• Redevelopment of many of the towns pubs
• New retail 'park'(sic) by the railway station
• Out of town shopping development
• A student village with 1,000 places
• The university doubling its intake in the late 90's.
• New Marina
• New Police compound
• Redevelopment of promenade

Negatives

There are probably lots more, but here's a few to start/put you off:

Town Centre

• Traffic
• Parking
• Early morning grid-lock, backing-up through Penparcau, Southgate, Rhydyfelin into Llanfarian and out the other side
• Litter mentality
• Drunks
• Side-stepping puke
• Evenings too 'rough' for many older people to come into town centre any more
• Few weekends pass without a shop window being broken
• High Crime Area NEW
• Post Office Collection Office is 4km out of town

This whole area

• Sundays
• Weeks of endless rain and grey skies
• Off the beaten track - takes 2 hours to get to the closest city
• Finding accommodation
• Least affordable accommodation in Wales (house prices divided by income)
• Almost permanent roadworks
• 'Objective One' area (ie the local economy is performing at less the 75% of the EU average)
• Limited choice of careers
• After relocating to Aber' for a job, finding your partner a job
• .....