Has Bournemouth gone fitness mad?

“Now hold on a minute”, I hear you say, “I live in Bournemouth and there’s absolutely no way I could be confused with an adrenalin junky”. “…and fair play to you”, I would say, however, it does seem that the Borough of Bournemouth (which, for those finickity types out there, includes Boscombe) is starting to take on a ‘wellness of the populous’ stance in their city planning.

First there was the Boscombe ‘rejuvenation’ project that included a new pier approach, The Overstrand (with it’s endless kayak, surf board rentals and Urban Reef) and the artificial reef - a transformation of the beach front itself. Not so much geared towards fitness, but on a clear day who could refrain from a quick surf lesson with somebody from the local Sorted Surf Shop. Before you know it your abs too could look, well, different.

Bordering on convenience (or: Tescos takes over Border store)…

Yes – astonishing as it may seem – news broke today that Tescos would be taking over the Borders store in Bournemouth Square.
Shocked pensioners were seen to be dancing in the street as they heard that they too would be eligible to buy cheap alcohol from right in the centre of Bournemouth, despite initial protestations from the chap who owns the mini-convenience store round the corner on Richmond Hill.
When interviewed Barry Garlow of “Extract This” (the well known boy band of the 90’s) demanded, “This is just the sort of inner city rejuvenation project old pop bands like ourselves love, it’s a win-win situation all round”.

The Bournemouth IMAX– on it’s way?

Who can forget the all pervasive sounds of disgruntlement that seeped into your car as you drove past Bournemouth Pier – back in the years that followed the erection of the IMAX cinema. What an erection it was.
For some reason or another the planning office had agreed to give planning permission for what appeared to be an enormous metal box next door to the pier. After construction it was clear that it deprived everyone approaching the sea front of half of the view of the Solent.