Friday, July 11, 2008

Parliament Street Upgrade

We have often spoken about the urban decay which has hit the historic Central area of town, and the moves that are being made to reverse it. Another exciting project by the Mandela Bay Development Association which is in full swing is the upgrade of Parliament Street.
Until recently, this area was the site of many street fights and muggings due to the proliferation of illegal pubs that took over, and Max has been known to refer to it as the longest urinal in town.

But now it is closed off, and, with the co-operation of business owners in the street, is being turned into a one way street with ample parking, wide pavements with sidewalk cafes, beefed up security and a pleasant atmosphere... YAY!

4 comments:

  1. as long as the beefed up security is not 'in your face' it should be good!

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  2. The Building on the left behind the barricades is mine.

    We have a nightclub restaurant and conference facility as you can imagine business is a nightmare at the moment we have closed the restaurant during the day.

    Fortunately I have found a short term job in Shanghai which is paying the bills.

    The security is already in place and working well, we have a police reservist patrolling the street during the day and a full team Friday and Saturday nights they are not intrusive and have got rid of 99% of the problems.

    Despite the short term problem the long term benefit should be great, previously it has been impossible to attract business people, I advertise without mentioning the location and as soon as I give the address the phone goes dead.

    When it is finished we will have a 6 meter pavement on which we can have table and chairs, we will make our section like a Paris café.

    In my absence I am looking for a manager for the café restaurant who shares my vision the person needs to have run a restaurant and be enthusiastic

    I can be contacted at colin@nmbtours.com

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  3. hi Colin, great to hear from you! Thanks for the interesting input. I do hope all goes well and you find just the right person to inject life and enthusiasm into this undertaking.... we can't wait for it to get on stream so we can start visiting the various restaurants, sidewalk cafes etc without the need for pepper spray! Please keep in touch if there are any interesting and positive developments, and we will gladly photograph them and feature them as they come on track!

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  4. It is great to see the photo I have been away for 6 weeks and the chaos was only just starting.

    I have been told many times I was mad to invest in Parliament St as it was a no go zone and now it actually is.

    Hopefully fingers crossed you should lots of people there this afternoon when Bay United win as we are holding the after party.

    Please keep the photos coming

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