Witney has a great variety of venues catering for coffee/cake, takeaway food, pub grub and full on gastro pubs and restaurants. There is a good mix of national and local operators which adds variety and spice to whats available. Some venues such as mine www.rush-witney.com remain secret to a fair number of people that live in the town partly due to location even though we are in the centre we are on a historical industrial estate that is not the easiest just to come by and partly because it is more of a niche pastime. Hospitality is suffering currently due to economics which will pass however it is also seeing a change which is also evident in the leisure sector and that is down to local politicians and councils not having a plan to cater for the youth demographic. Witney has a great many things for those later on in life BUT ot fails dismally when providing outlets for our kids to enjoy themselves. Planning policies have also created issues by allowing conversion of office space in central secondary locations such as above shops in the town centre into residential which has then resulted in the late night industry butting heads with the council when it comes to noise and disturbance. A vibrant attractive town to visit needs outlets for all visitors and its own population and Witney categorically fails in this regard. If we are not careful the youth will desert the town and when the population demographic changes which its starting to do there will be a further impact on hospitality. Local plans need to be developed to balance the needs of hospitality and the local population more evenly and provide the landscape for more youth orientated ventures to open or move to the town. The massive expansion in housing makes this an urgent requirement. Lockdown policies have changed the habits of the generations that came of age during them and we need a roadmap to ensure the next generation that come of age have an outlet to socialise and enjoy. We also need far more options for under 18’s to express themselves and enjoy, there is a marked lack of options for them and this means invariably they make their own entertainment and get into mischief!
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And now for the Big Conversation!
This is your opportunity to talk about "Visit Witney"... Why visitors should come to our town, what's nice about Witney and what is not, what could be done to improve the town for visitors and give them an even better experience, the ways that residents might benefit (or for that matter not benefit), how Witney compares with other similar towns... The floor is entirely yours!
We have deliberately not started with lots of photographs and descriptions of the best-known Witney sites and sights, because we do not wish to lead the conversation... but wish the direction to come from you. So you are very welcome to add any and all photographs etc to your posts to help make your points, and we will build galleries to illustrate how we all see Witney as the conversation develops.
To help keep things as easy to follow as possible, we have set out some 'categories', and invite your posts, and comments on those posts, exactly as you please.
And now, over to you... Please log in and kick off!
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