A depressed town (Redhill in general)

Member Name: bookworm123

Product:	Redhill in general
Date:	14/09/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's fairly safe to walk around

Disadvantages: The town centre has been badly effected by the recession

I've lived in Redhill for most of my life and the main thing I have to say is that over that time it has changed dramatically. Not necessarily in terms of the buildings (although there are quite a few new developments around the area) but in terms of the atmosphere and the town centre in general. A few years ago they put a lot of money into rejuvinating Redhill and for a while the town centre looked a bit better. Unfortunately as the economic climate has changed so has Redhill. The main shop on the high street was Woolworths but obviously that has shut down and nothing has been put up in its place. Sainsbury's is the one and only supermarket in the town, it is far too small for the size of the town and this means that it's constantly crowded with long queues and often running out of the essentials (like bread!). The rest of the high street is mostly taken up by a range of discount shops, charity shops, an Argos, a couple of restaurants (even Burger King shut down) and a few pubs.

The Belfry shopping centre looks a bit more pleasant but the economic climate has affected that as well with shops having been empty for months on end with no prospect of new occupants. The Marks and Spencer appears to be coping quite well but that could be due to the fact that there are only a few clothes stores in the town. The Belfry does contain a range of chain stores including Dorothy Perkins, Waterstones, Clarks, Boots, WHSmith, Robert Dyas and Cargo Homestores. They all appear to be riding out the storm and I think this now means that any future stores moving into town will try and secure a spot in the belfry as the business is here.

For food in the town there are a range of restaurants. McDonalds, KFC and Subway make up the fast food part of the scale. Costa Coffee and a couple of small local cafes provide a chance for a short break in your day. Mamma Mia, Everest Spice and Prezzo are the main restaurants. Mamma Mia and Prezzo are Italian and the Everest Spice is Nepalese (very good food). Generally for restaurants it is better to head across to Reigate where there are more and a wider range.

The cheapest pub in town is The Sun as this is a Wetherspoons. It is normally very busy and generally has sport playing on the TV. The Abbot, The Dog and Duck and The Junction make up the remainder of the Town Centre pubs.

The big advantage that Redhill has is its transport links. Redhill is on two major rail lines, the London to Brighton and the Gatwick to Reading. This means that it is fairly easy to get anywhere from Redhill. It is also next to Junction 8 of the M25 so road links are good as well. To top it all off Redhill is only 15 minutes away from London Gatwick Airport making it very easy to get to other countries as well.

Unfortunately with the down turn of the town centre and the lack of entertainment for anyone under the age of 18 Redhill has become a place where lots of groups of teenagers hang out. The police and community support officers do try to combat this by making their prescence felt at all times of day and night. To my knowleddge there haven't been many issues caused by these groups it can just be a little intimidating to walk past them.

A few years ago I would have raved about Redhill and said how much I like living here and now as I read my review back I can see that I am no longer impressed. Hopefully Redhill will pick up again and who knows maybe in a few years I'll write another review saying how great Redhill has become.

Summary: Maybe a place to visit in a few years time