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.

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.