I was only in
Stevenage town centre briefly today, to make a connection on the
bus to visit my dad, but the few minutes spent there were still a bleak
experience.
I say this from
the point of view of someone who grew up there for the first sixteen-ish years
of my life and didn’t want to leave it, which either suggests I was looking at
it through some kind of filter inspired by youth, or that standards have
seriously dipped since; I would say it’s a little of each, but mostly the
latter, as the town needs serious regeneration to shake its lacklustre image.
The problem with
Stevenage new town is it isn’t, by
which I mean it’s barely shrugged off its original 1950s architecture to move
with the times and find improvement; this makes for a wholly uninspiring,
apathetic atmosphere that it’s very hard to change. I think it takes real
energy for anyone to sum up the motivation to want to leave it and move on;
that’s not they should have to, but it’s not like it’s a town buzzing with
prospects.
I was fortunate
when I lived there really, as not only was I based in the old town, which was
nicer, but I was in a band that I cared about, and also wanted to be an actor;
this gave me drive. If I hadn’t had that, I don’t know what I’d have done with
myself.
Put me there at
16 now and I’d be completely overwhelmed, which I think is illustrative of the
change in my lifetime. People walk through the street looking miserable at best
or angry at worst, but can you really blame them? If you live in Stevenage, what
is there to do, except visit Fairland’s Valley, Cineworld of the Gordon Craig?
It’s like a town with an unbreakable forcefield. around it That said, I’ll be the first to defend it if
someone knocks it too much; yes, Hitchin is my home, but I still have a soft
spot for what Stevenage represents for me.