Category: Transport

New Bus Station For Blackburn

Posted by Roving Mick on November 3, 2013

Dummy's guide to Blackburn Bus Station

Dummy’s guide to Blackburn Bus Station

Due to work on Blackburn’s new Cathedral Quarter, we now find our bus station has been evicted from the Boulevard.  It was right in front of the railway station and as good a transport interchange as you could ever find.  Sadly it is no more.  Fortunately our new bus station is being relocated on the old market site.  So it’s only a hop, skip and jump away from where it was before.

Our temporary bus station is on Brown St, next door to where its permanent successor is being prepared.  Unfortunately it is located within sight of four pubs, none of which sells beer.  Both Bulls and the Fleece are boarded up, whereas Daniel’s – named after the neighbouring brewery’s founder – acts as Thwaites’ training centre.  This pub used to be called the Waterloo, a fitting name for Blackburn’s town centre nightlife.  That’s what you feel you’ve met when you venture there for a night out and look for places to go.  Also adjacent to the brewery are two other redundant hostelries:  Uncle Tom’s Cabin, also boarded up, and the Veteran – now a bookshop.

So the weary traveller, arriving by bus into Blackburn, doesn’t receive a very refreshing welcome.  We must be the only town with a population of over 100,000 to have only a dozen pubs open in its town centre.  It’s also very sad when Rovers are playing at home, visiting fans don’t ask directions to Ewood Park any more.  They ask directions to the nearest pub instead.

Perhaps one answer could be for Thwaites to re-open either Daniel’s or the Fleece – or even better – why not both?  What better way to train potential landlords, managers and bar staff than in a proper working pub?  This is where Daniel’s really could kill two birds with one stone.  It would continue its training purpose, but could also provide a welcome amenity for the new bus station and its dry surroundings.  Get them in Danny!

Vouchers

Posted by Roving Mick on October 31, 2013

Get them told!

Get them told!

Earlier this month, Rovers ground out a 1-0 home win over Watford.  Being a night match, I went to catch the special Outer Circle bus home after the final whistle.  I’d arranged to meet one of my mates and Quarryman’s regular, Rob MacNeall, at the bus stop.  Rob was there and so was a queue of Rovers fans, but no bus!  It was the same at the bus stop round the corner, where a sister bus travels in the opposite direction back to the depot. Rob and I waited for this elusive bus, but to no avail.  We came to the same conclusion; it wasn’t coming, so nipped for a pint in Ewood Park Workingmen’s Club.  We let the football traffic disperse and caught a taxi to the Quarryman’s.  This cost us £4.50, plus we had a pint apiece in the club and pub, costing us more loot. Now Rob and I are not unfamiliar with experiencing bus problems.  We recently teamed up to win a skirmish with the local bus operators over using our bus passes on evening services.  Both of us catch various buses to get to and from our respective workplaces.  At one point our paid-for bus passes were not accepted by certain operators when they took over certain routes at night.  This was resolved to our satisfaction after a bit of effort from Rob and me. And so we resolved to contact Transdev and complain about why tonight’s service had ducked and were these special buses still going to be laid on after Rovers night matches?  Next morning I sent a whingeing email to Transdev and tweeted my complaint to them on their Twitter site.  Rob followed suit and we both received apologies and three travel vouchers apiece.  Hopefully this was a one-off and I expect to be catching the Outer Circle home after our next night match at Ewood Park.  Maybe Rovers can grind out another result.  We certainly managed one.