Wear crossing

Hooky said:
But it does not, that's the point, nobody on here could name the previous "Iconic" road bridge built in another provincial town/city. As a city its may bring some small bit of internal positivity because recently as a city we have had very little to shout about, but on the outside nobody cares, especially businesses.
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Humber bridge, Severn Bridge(s), Dartford Crossing (Queen Elizabeth Bridge is it?), Millennium Bridge, the one in Salford Quays, the bridge across the Clyde in Glasgow, all Iconic and that's just thinking quickly.

Hooky said:
Its hard to say if the millennium footbridge helped with investment, as a large metropolitan city the investment was probably always going to come, maybe the bridge just gave it a focal point. My argument is if you were a really successful Sunderland based business and you wanted to expand into the Midlands and you had a choice of Derby, Leicester or Stoke you would not make your decision on a bridge, or would you look at quality of work force, technology infrastructure, disaster recovery options, tax brakes, access issues etc.
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Kinda answered your own question there. Gateshead Quays massively benefited from the Millennium Bridge, it's difficult to argue otherwise - look where the development is I'll give you a clue it's not at the Swing Bridge end.
 
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Sandboy said:
original would have been brilliant man, wasn't it twice the height of this one ?
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About 50% higher but that was just the horns and because of the way it curved in it looked a bit like going through a tunnel. This one looks light, bright and imposing.

Also I don't get why people from Newcastle take the line that they wouldn't come to Sunderland. Why wouldn't you be in the least bit curious about a city 13 miles down the road. Seems strange and a little parochial to me. They just slag the place off having never been.
 
Boris Bear said:
About 50% higher but that was just the horns and because of the way it curved in it looked a bit like going through a tunnel. This one looks light, bright and imposing.

Also I don't get why people from Newcastle take the line that they wouldn't come to Sunderland. Why wouldn't you be in the least bit curious about a city 13 miles down the road. Seems strange and a little parochial to me. They just slag the place off having never been.
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They do, but its often not people from Newcastle. In my experience those from newcastle seem less insecure about where they live than those in peripheral towns. Places with both Newcastle and Sunderland fans are the worse.....i.e. South Shields, Washington, Gateshead, Hebburn, Peterlee, Houghton . etc etc. It would be fine if the north east wasnt viewed so binary to the outside world i.e Mackems v Geordies. We all know there's much more diversity to the north east than just two cities!

People in peripheral areas cant prove their genuine "Geordieness" so they have to be very vitriolic to Sunderland, as if its a right-of-passage from random little North East town to the geordie nation! Its insecurity about where they come from.

citybythesea said:
They do, but its often not people from Newcastle. In my experience those from newcastle seem less insecure about where they live than those in peripheral towns. Places with both Newcastle and Sunderland fans are the worse.....i.e. South Shields, Washington, Gateshead, Hebburn, Peterlee, Houghton . etc etc. It would be fine if the north east wasnt viewed so binary to the outside world i.e Mackems v Geordies. We all know there's much more diversity to the north east than just two cities!

People in peripheral areas cant prove their genuine "Geordieness" so they have to be very vitriolic to Sunderland, as if its a right-of-passage from random little North East town to the geordie nation! Its insecurity about where they come from.
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The most sinister aspect of this is north east tribalism & bias has found its way into economic development/media/politics/decision making in the north east. i.e One North East, Tyne and Wear development corp, Regional media. There isnt fair representation for Sunderland in this region. This manifests as insistent low opinion of Sunderland regionally.
 
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Boris Bear said:
Also I don't get why people from Newcastle take the line that they wouldn't come to Sunderland. Why wouldn't you be in the least bit curious about a city 13 miles down the road. Seems strange and a little parochial to me. They just slag the place off having never been.
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None of them seem to understand the contradiction when saying the place is a dump and then saying they've never been.
 
citybythesea said:
The most sinister aspect of this is north east tribalism & bias has found its way into economic development/media/politics/decision making in the north east. i.e One North East, Tyne and Wear development corp, Regional media. There isnt fair representation for Sunderland in this region. This manifests as insistent low opinion of Sunderland regionally.
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This is very much my biggest concern. My job brings me into daily exposure of general anti-Sunderland opinions and decisions. On the plus side, I've seen some faces drop followed by almighty back pedaling, when I inevitably announce where my true allegiances lie. Sadly, my employment contract has a "whistle blowing" clause so i can't say much more, but some of the things I hear are truly appalling.
 
We missed a trick there mind. We could have made a bid to use HMS Queen Elizabeth turned broadside on until they could afford to buy the aircraft to put on it.
 
Bakerlooline said:
This is very much my biggest concern. My job brings me into daily exposure of general anti-Sunderland opinions and decisions. On the plus side, I've seen some faces drop followed by almighty back pedaling, when I inevitably announce where my true allegiances lie. Sadly, my employment contract has a "whistle blowing" clause so i can't say much more, but some of the things I hear are truly appalling.
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I wouldn't want you to jeopardize your employment. i've raised my opinions with the local MPs regarding unfair representation for sunderland locally. And I implore others to do the same. I fully endorse any politician who fights tooth and nail to get the best deal for Sunderland.
There has been too many people who's worked in areas of decision making and have said Sunderland has missed out because of it's status within Tyne and Wear.
 
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Sandboy said:
original would have been brilliant man, wasn't it twice the height of this one ?
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Bigger than canary wharf, but £££££££ stopped it.

WHD said:
None of them seem to understand the contradiction when saying the place is a dump and then saying they've never been.
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Probably hear us lot saying it all the time. We like to put ourselves down.

Weremuthe said:
The bridge design is OK, but why the ugly, utilitarian massive sheds on either side of the river? The Wear should be reclaimed for the peeps!
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Why don't they knock them down then?

StiflerPG said:
He gets it, have a like sir.




and again....its the people thats wrong with this city, its starting to make some real progress and they are quick to shoot down anything that is happening.
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More bothered about their bins getting emptied than roads and bridges being built.
 
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MrOompapa said:
Once again people just dying to put down Sunderland as a place on this thread :rolleyes: the city can't move forwards if people are not prepared to challenge the negative attitudes.
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It true, because there's nothing stopping people joining this forum, even subversive mags who hate Sunderland but masquerade as Sunderland fans/citizens. The oververtly negative comments should be taken with a pinch of salt!

Sunderl:cool:nd
 
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citybythesea said:
There has been too many people who's worked in areas of decision making and have said Sunderland has missed out because of it's status within Tyne and Wear.
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I always assumed it was an exaggeration, or maybe we did have a chip on our collective shoulder. But since I took this job I've seen it with my own eyes time and again. Honestly, some of the comments from supposedly professional people have been absolutely disgraceful.
 
MrOompapa said:
It fundamentally changes how the city is marketed and presented to the wider world, it's not about "headline grabbing" it's about when you sit down with those you want to invest and you sell your case (and we've had a lot of investment lately, so don't pretend that doesn't happen).

I repeat, did the millenium footbridge in Newcastle have no impact on securing investment to the Quayside whatsoever?
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*Gateshead Millenium Bridge ;)

The Resource said:
Humber bridge, Severn Bridge(s), Dartford Crossing (Queen Elizabeth Bridge is it?), Millennium Bridge, the one in Salford Quays, the bridge across the Clyde in Glasgow, all Iconic and that's just thinking quickly.



Kinda answered your own question there. Gateshead Quays massively benefited from the Millennium Bridge, it's difficult to argue otherwise - look where the development is I'll give you a clue it's not at the Swing Bridge end.
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Was kind of built to coincide with the development, rather than the development coming as a result, but aye, the Millennium Bridge is an essential part of Quayside down there.
 
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CEF said:
*Gateshead Millenium Bridge ;)


Was kind of built to coincide with the development, rather than the development coming as a result, but aye, the Millennium Bridge is an essential part of Quayside down there.
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The Jury's Inn, Gateshead College, Ramada Hotel, Northern Design Centre have all gone up in the last few years. Now there are plans to build an arena there, the bridge isn't the only factor but it is an asset with regards to access.
 

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