Autumn walk in Bournemouth for @@ninalanyon

@ninalanyon bang in the centre of town; opposite Tesco Express

@meggie It's just occurred to me to reply to this now that I've been to Bournemouth again and spent a couple of days there. Much more attractive than I remembered. So here are the entries and some of the pictures I took

https://similarworlds.com/social/blogs/5406452-Ninas-Blog-Friday-26th-September-2025
https://similarworlds.com/social/blogs/5407086-Ninas-Blog-Saturday-27th-September-2025
https://similarworlds.com/social/blogs/5407868-Ninas-Blog-Sunday-28th-September-2025

@ninalanyon thank you Nina. We were both there at the same time. It used to be such a great few days away shopping with about 4 department stores, M&S, lots of nice shops like Cath Kidson, restaurants etc. But all that sadly has gone now. My very nice hotel on the seafront had 2 other hotels in the street full of asylum seekers who were quite intimidating. Bobbys used to be Debenhams. I didn't go in there, but the plant section upstairs looks great from your photos.

@meggie Ah, Debenhams! Good to see that at least one old Debenhams has been repurposed instead of just boarded up. The 'plant section' is actually a bar and cafe with live music in the evenings. It was very comfortable and the view was great but the lack of cake was annoying, there really wasn't anything to eat with the coffee. I think they were missing out because I could see quite a few tables occupied by people just drinking coffee who I'm sure would have bought a pastry or a cake had there been any.

@ninalanyon it's a shame we've lost so many great dept stores; Debenham, BHS, House of Frazer, C&A, TJ Hughes, and lots of independent ones too. There are virtually no supermarket cafes left now, all gone or replaced with Costa Coffee. A lot of the M&S stores have closed down and moved into out of town retail parks, too. I will check out that bar if I get back to Bournemouth again. I did eat in tgere when it was a Debs restaurant. They would make a lot more money if they had a cake and biscuit selection. Perhaps they don't have a food licence. Once you sell food, you do get monitored and closed down if standards are not met.

@meggie The Botanist definitely has a food license but it is mostly cooked to order hot food and a couple of desserts. And both more food and more expensive than I wanted. So I don't think that's the reason.