Basingstoke Festival Place

[yellosAD]

Yeah bit if they had left it as it was you would be slagging it off saying the place is a dump. Anyway from what I can tell they only redeveloped the carpark and market square, personally I think it looks much better. I think they should go further and redevelop what is left of the old walks shopping centre, maybe something like the new Malls that isn't closed off at night.

[Mocodan1232]

they are making new upgrades now mamy you should add pics of that

[dougfather]

Actually...in hindsight the old town was a bit of a masterpiece ...

[flachi32]

They should just have taken down the multi-storey car park and left the town centre as it was.. The old town centre had much more of a community feel to it compared the corporate shell that Festival Place is ....

[st8y69]

I prefer the old town. This one's poncey, same as all the others.

[EquinoxstudiosUK]

Erm, so depressing. I remember the Wimpy in New Market Square, Angies Nightclub and I worked at Thirlwall And Allen next to Husseys and across the road from Giffords Cycles. The new town centre is an abortion and wants levelling by a Lancaster bomber bouncing explosive objects at Festival Place in time to the theme to the Dambusters.

[andy29081983]

Festival Place is dull, bland and generic. There was more character in the old town.

Now Basingstoke is just like Reading-Lite.

[joeyhumbo]

That is pretty crazy! i remember walking through the town and at the image 0:29 hearing the swimming pool from underground and smelling it. do you remember ?

[KarenMCRmy]

@joeyhumbo I remember that! That smell used to make me feel really sick

[Superlegos1]

3:38 I remember when that part of marks and spencer was an electronic boutique. lol i spent so much money in there!

[drunkenmaster1605199]

yeah yeah the improvements and festival place are all very nice, but let's be honest, it's just polishing a turd. chucking up a load of daft looking plastic and painted metal is a nice thought, but the place is still soulless... and maybe with even less character now it's been made to look like any old plasticy new shopping megathon. bah humbug

[garlicdudes]

wonderful trip down memory lane!

great compilation. Thankyou.

[nickburton100]

Best shopping centre? Brent Cross North London.

[criticalhavoc]

omg

[MotionFlyerPictures]

i grew up in basingstoke a long long time ago, and remember all this! I so moved away.couldn't you make this film any quicker. !

[lightlife07]

WOW!!! Amazingstoke.......yawn yawn :-(

[lightlife07]

WOW!! ---Amazingstoke. Yawn yawn

[111anya1111]

looks much much dif from the old days :P

[111anya1111]

OMG!!!!!! HAHAHAH looks nothin lyk it now

[acdkat]

Good old Amazingstoke!

[mormenladie909]

thats well old man it dont look nuffin like dat now

[SGH1467]

Festival place FTW nice plave to go after college

[mesembe]

amazingly put 2gether

[maepumpkin]

oh my god!

i dont remember AT ALL what the town looked like before festival place!

so much has changed.

[Subliminallll]

God this takes me back to being 6 again!

[mesembe]

fuckin amazin

[ksaathoff63]

Does anyone know what this music is?

[wappid]

Dance of the Knights from Romeo & Juliet (otherwise known nowadays as the tune from The Apprentice!)

[jazzzzdude]

@wappid And it really winds me up when they play it WAAAAYYY too fast like this.

[LolliAnime]

Haha, Basingstoke rules!

It's Amazingstoke, not Boringstoke!

[DarkfireFX]

@LolliAnime i agree.. but fuck the feds around that centre.. was arrested twice in there and i didnt do anything.. and got charged with criminal damage to the bus stop.. dickheads. :L

[twilightfan4eva1]

good times!

[SexyCrazyINC]

this place brings back memories i may be 14 but still there is some AWESOME times had here :)

[mesembe]

is dis mike or lewis

[MellyBooHere]

haha my dad is in this at 3:05 lol

[godchanel]

lol its hard to recognise most of the first few mins..

[irongut12345]

jesus i never new how much it changed

[englishlad101]

Everyone, I live here too, but anyone who doesnt live here dont think this place is shit because it HAS been refurbished, these pictures were taken when festival place wernt even there, I'd say these pics are from around the late 90's, we're now in '09 lol. :) 5 stars though bcoz basingstoke ROCKS!! :D

[Cheeseruler]

good days

[peteftwomg]

i used to live there! wanna go there again

[BarbieLambada]

Wow

[LukewMorgan]

a pity they forgot to knock down the Sun Life of Canada building.

[iluvafc]

yea f off u.s and rest of da world basingstoke is da best town in the world

[lelvish1]

God, it used to look sooo awful. Its improved so much.

[DavidoStunts]

I'm 19 and i remember the old town. Thanks for posting this, it brings back memories.

I always remember the little sprial concrete staircase from the car park to 'the three cooks' for some reason.

[sk8erbenc]

I Rember When It Was All Getting Rebuilt And That Kind Of Rember IT Before It Got Rebuilt As Well :)

[joegoodall8]

this is so cool brings back memories of what it was like before they did it up a few years ago i live in overton so i go there alot

[TRivalpursuit]

lol

[addski1]

ah brings back some memories!

[AnGrYbRiTiShKiD]

Basingstoke is the best town in the UK bar-none!

[beragrond]

newbury! newbury! :P basingstoke is only good because it has festival place :P and aquadrome, and the ice rink

[bramleybabe]

that was just pure genius putting that together!! Laughed a little when I saw the bridge near Martines, one drunken night in my heels in the rain I flew down them!!!!

[JamesF87]

cool :D thanks for sharing, im from basingstoke

[HannahM930]

is this what it serecly used to look like coz it looks way different now lol

it used to be well small befor the new bit was built

[escapeuk]

Cracking video - brings back a few memories

[lifeisbeautiful01]

primark is also open now

its improving day by day.I am from India

but i feel basingstoke is a nice place to live

in. calm place with friendly ppl :)

[hazbrowne]

mr mucnch yh where it used to be where is that i think itss where a ware house is by the bus station

[Dansponner]

u added this on its 5th birthday

[Social8th]

Looks like any other boring UK town.

[AnthraxMuffin]

Brings back old memories, Primark ftfw!

[ulysseskimmi]

I really enjoyed looking at those old photos - well done!

[pontusgiles]

I lived in Basingstoke for most of my life, and looking back on those stills it really was clear why it had the terrible reputation it had. It was a DUMP!!! Its easy to forget that when you see the new shiny improvements. It is a lot nicer now, I suppose, but I remember the old vibe, too. I remember that shop 'fusion' by the old bus station. WHO'D EVER THOUGHT I WOULD REMINISCE NOSTALGICALLY ABOUT BASINGJOKE?? Never went to martines, though - too young (23 now) but i do remember the SNAP parties

[dasimstoo]

HA my next door neighbour was the owner of Martine's!! So i got to go in there when i was like 6!! Lol..i went to snap once then it got cancled :(

Good time's in Bstoke lmao

[kiiabby]

God, I remember it looking like a dump... Have to say, since they knocked it all down and started again Bstoke is a rather nice place to live now (excluding some areas obviously!)

Shame my ugly mugs in one of the pictures though!

[starzwine]

id almost totally 4gotten about how different basingstoke used to be! the best shop now has gotta b h&m!!

[Mysterioux]

Haha!

I'm 16, and had pretty much forgotten what it used to be like! Lol @ Gok Wan, I have some friends who went to the book signing thing he did. :o)

[chaztaylor1991]

3:09 The best store in festivak place, Proud to say i work there!!!!

[Jack0697]

i live in basingstoke and ive seen all the changes from when i was born till how old i am now (11). all come to basingstoke ice rink today at 2pm till 4pm on the 20th of january 2008!

[wappid]

Don't skate at the ice rink, but do like to go along and watch the Bison play ice hockey every week. Now that's a fabulous night out!

[skylerpony]

Hi Jack. I know you won't like this reply but I'll say it anyway. As a minor (11?), PLEASE don't advertise yourself being at a location at a certain time over the internet. B/stoke has a low crime-rate but no-where is 100% safe to be 'advertising' like that.

[kat281080]

that, jack is my younger brother and he got a huge telling off from me and my parents, I btw am over 18!!! Thanks for the concern, he has been warned! x

[Dansponner]

i think you bit to young dont worry im only 15 this is so i can see all the stuff

u was only 2 when it was demolished

[skylerpony]

Brillient. Basingstoke was an awful concrete nightmare, drab and grey, before Festival place. I like the improvements.

Hey... I bet Wappid's a 'Festie/Purple Ranger' or whatever you call the security/staff there. :">

[wappid]

No I'm not a 'Festie/Purple Ranger' but glad you like the improvements done over the years!1

[Dansponner]

we call them festies

[barbusbs500]

Yep I agree with some of the comments, Basingstoke was a much nicer little town pre Festival Place.

Dont miss Martines tho :)

Paul Wiles :)

[HEMAfan]

Basingstoke is a great place to shop, I love going there!

And thank you for posting this - it's really interesting to see the changes ;-)

[doubleaxel87]

what a lot of memories! I remember that bridge and stairway that went over the bus station I'm trying to remember where it lead to though!

[wappid]

The stairway that you're thinking of led to a department store, the lighting shop and of course the nightclub under the car park (Martines?)

[Faeden]

Martines OMG, I have some very good and bad memories of that place. I remember having to dodge the many pavement pizzas the next morning while shopping on a Saturday

[redmeth07]

im from basingstoke im 20 male and u no what i miss the old town back when we had wimpy's and the old mr munch was better had character the old market remember mum used to take me around i would run around sit on those stands rite near the bakery going up towards the old burger king

yeah much more better the vibes were good

[KatieVSBubbles]

same as Im 20 and i remember the old market opposite the wimpys and the ice cream hatch.

[loltbh324581]

@redmeth07 luckily theres a new wimpy now then :p

[stargateoracle]

@redmeth07 i agree and also what have we gotten out of festival place? CLOTHES SHOPS!!!! borrrring miss the old market and newsagents down there

[higgsie1]

Brilliant video, Well done all!!!

[basingbird]

Wow changed days in Basingstoke! What a difference, I even looked for the centre and found their website, not bad either. I think I might visit the town soon.

[Faeden]

If you want to put to bed the reputation of Basingstoke being a boring and dull town, the last person you want to publicize the place is Alan Titchmarsh. LOL

[anniekav]

I actualy like going out in Basingstoke now

[KirstyXD]

Wow...I remember when the town was like that (The pictures from 1997 onwards)

[hazbrowne]

i swear in 1997 the buses was still red

[hazbrowne]

i cant rember i rember the dorr opsite that the door in the middle of the path erm those big ugly stairs oppsite that

[hazbrowne]

around 1 min 1. 34 is in 1999

i dont no y the old town center made basingstoke feel bigger like a city

now its new and moden we feel like a samll town

i only just rememer it i defo remeber the car park i bet in in the rear 2041 on or more they will build a new town center

at this rate does any one remeber what game used to be called to jog you memory it used to be where the mark spence extention is that corner porchester square

[wappid]

Before it was named Game, the store was called Electronic Boutique, then Game EB, now Game

[simes61]

hazbrowne - we don't have a town center. We do have a Town Centre though! Judging by the rest of your post (spelling and grammar) I seriously wonder if you attended school! LOL

[hazbrowne]

welllllll sorrrryyyyyyyyyy

still in schoolllllll

how do u know i might have some disorder word blindness witch i cant spell

im starting to wonder are u some posh gite

[sunkj]

Happy Birthday Festival Place! Some much change!

[janestewart59]

Brilliant, what a difference. Well done Basingstoke and happy 5th birthday Festival Place

[tonybgb1]

Brilliant !! What a difference

[86jamie95]

Really good video!