Hemel Hempstead residents give their views on town centre 

This is not just limited to Hemel Hempstead, other Towns across the UK are turning into ghost towns. Local Planners / Councillors allow more and more junk food shops this brings with it more litter. There are many fast food outlets (too many) coupled with an astonishing amount of Turkish Barber Shops in one area of the town. Sadly the fabric of society is / has changed with less commitment to the area they live in. On-line shopping is a major contributor to smaller shops and businesses struggling to survive in a very harsh environment. The now unused bus station and market square has been allowed to be left to decay. All of the above adds to the towns decline.

shop online lol. i like the green spaces and countryside round hemel, is nice . look to positive, trust me theres a lot worse towns than hemel

It would also be nice if shops that close at 5 opened atleast 1 hour later!

If you've previously worked for dacorum borough Council like I did... you will understand the incompetence. I worked in the IT department. They brought in 2 consultants who were charging 1500 a day each. They were there for over a year. At the end all they did was sack almost everyone. Theres no money because it's wasted by useless entities such as DBC

You need a few full hotels, you think town centre bad now, wait till home office sees your lack of diversity in town.

Our towns and cities have been destroyed, I once lived in Dunstable many years ago, and i do remember how Hemel was, Dunstable is similar with so many shops closed, I now live in the Stockport area and again i see boarded up shops. Its nationwide and we have an uncaring out of touch with the people government led by am unelected PM who do not understand what they have done , People cannot afford to go to shops due the extremely high cost of living, shops cannot keep up with the ever increasing business rates. , in the 1970s Hemel was thriving, so somethings happened and i think i know what it is !.

It went down hill after Buncefield blew up as loads of employers had to move out of Hemel. Maylands Avenue used to have big employers like Kodak but there is not the opportunities there once was. Remember the firework factory!

My dad moved to kd tower in 2019 and has lived there since, in which I would stay at his every other weekend , even in the late 2019 the town had the slightest bit of life left , now it’s horrible , no good shops and no one wants to have a shop there , only way they can re build it is build multiple blocks of flats , which there currently doing

Its happening everywhere, shopping online is something people are drawn to because you can get anything straight to your door ! I also think people are less sociable now a days, we cant blame it all on the internet, the effort's just not there. A Saturday trip to town was more of a social, teenagers meeting there mates, mums gossiping, dads looking board. Towns up and down the country are a sorry sight due to the high rates. Who wants to look at boarded up shops its depressing !

It’s been ruined look at past films of the the town centre,from the Pavilion to the water garden under the Wimpy and the Waggon and horses gone. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wti9EZecwQA.htmlsi=CsJeKMyU61iTPYye

Make parking free

*when you extort your own population for rents.....

I moved to Cheshire from Hemel Hempstead in February 🎉

I moved out of Hemel there’s nothing down there

Its shite!

Is a total dump

The death of Europe.

Left in 1990 when they just built the new shopping centre at the bottom of the Marlowes. It was booming then. Glad I don't live there now and in the UK. Fucking shithole.

Born. In hemel. 78. Years. Ago. What. A. Come down. Glad. Don't. Live. There. Now. Cost. So. Mutch. To. Live. There. Council. Don't. Seam. To do. Mutch for. The. Money. You. Have. To. Pay.

It is the same everywhere....All over the UK......And we all know who is to blame don't we