I see with great mirth that there appears to be plans for a Mac Donalds in Hebden Bridge. This I am afraid to say does not surprise me one bit. If you consider that not that long ago Hebden Bridge had it's own horror crypt museum ,it comes as no surprise that other organisations are out there are looking at HB in the same light to see if there are openings that can be exploited. I mean,how many coffee shops and tea rooms have come and gone over the years. I don't think that most of them failed miserably because the custom was in short supply. In fact no; it's simply a case that the main stream of visitors who come to HB come to look mainly at the town with the same expectations as a visit to Blackpool. Make no doubts about it these people have money to spend. But it is hardly a fun day out for the kids to go browsing through curio shops
( that can also be read as junk shops)and then be robbed in a cheesey little tea room.
You see I look at it like this. When I first started work in HB in the mid seventies it was a busy Industrial town with plenty of places of work. Yes it was grimey,but come 5 o'clock the place would be full of people coming out of work and the town would be buzzing. Now,most of you would be led to belive that the demise of the employmet in HB was down to external forces like recession,and the government etc. Where I am firmly of the opinion that the fate of HB rests in the hands of a few individuals who,promoted tourism at the expense of local employment.Ok it would be unfair to blame the entire loss of jobs in HB on these individuals. But never the less the situation is that you are now embroiled in the legacy of nothing more than a get rich scam. I put this to people who are natives of the town or indeed anyone else who has resided in the town for the last say; 30 years to look at what there once was and look at what has become of it all.
I have lived away from HB for a number of years. With the exception of spending a year home in 99/00.Yes it was nice to be home and see old friends and places (what was left of them).But to see the appalling mess that's been made of Valley Road,the news of the Mount Skip pub, the closure of the Working mens club,and the proposed closure of the picture house. Well,regretfully
I must say that I wasn't too sorry to leave.
So what's next on the hidden agenda?
cable cars across the valleys? Or maybe a big wheel on CalderHolmes? Belive me it will get worse.

Cynically Yours :-)
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