British Land - New Stadium

[IamJack]

Very rare for me to post something, but hopefully the start of some positive news... ahead... sometimes!

Last night I attended a networking event in central London for building contractors, developers etc.

The regional development Director from British Land, confirmed directly to me, they are 100% still the building partners for the new stadium and have not or even discussed pulling out (This could just be a commercial view point to say ofcourse), and confirmed it is not them who make announcements regarding a build or progress and in the case of this project it will be down to the club.

According to said gentleman, Brexit has had an issue developing retail and entertainment partners for the site and new developments in general with uncertainty of what may happen but as far as he is personally aware, everything is "very slowly" coming together.

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

[MK Shrimper]

Very slowly indeed. If it gets any slower it'll go backwards and we'll play at the Kursaal.

 

[Supernaut]

Very slowly indeed. If it gets any slower it'll go backwards and we'll play at the Kursaal.

LOVE this idea. Demolish that **** estate and build a football stadium - that's what I'd call progress!

 

[Jai]

Very rare for me to post something, but hopefully the start of some positive news... ahead... sometimes!

Last night I attended a networking event in central London for building contractors, developers etc.

The regional development Director from British Land, confirmed directly to me, they are 100% still the building partners for the new stadium and have not or even discussed pulling out (This could just be a commercial view point to say ofcourse), and confirmed it is not them who make announcements regarding a build or progress and in the case of this project it will be down to the club.

According to said gentleman, Brexit has had an issue developing retail and entertainment partners for the site and new developments in general with uncertainty of what may happen but as far as he is personally aware, everything is "very slowly" coming together.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Promising news, thanks for sharing. Although it certainly is very slow, I can understand the uncertainties in the sector at the moment.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Thanks for the update. Why didn't the club just make an announcement to dispel the rumours, and explain exactly this regarding Brexit ? Oh, silly me. We're just paying customers :blush:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Thanks for the update. Why didn't the club just make an announcement to dispel the rumours, and explain exactly this regarding Brexit ? Oh, silly me. We're just paying customers :blush:

This one is simple to answer - fingers have been burnt too many times by saying something only for it to not happen!
Better to keep schtum.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

This one is simple to answer - fingers have been burnt too many times by saying something only for it to not happen!
Better to keep schtum.

I must be missing the point here. I'll give you an analogy.

You're at the train station, waiting for your train to arrive. You wait for about half an hour, and still nothing. Another passenger on the platform then says they heard a rumour it's broken down and it won't be arriving at all.

Now....would you rather the train operator announce "Sorry, unfortunately the train is running late, but don't worry we've had confirmation definitely it's still on it's way. We'll let you know more information once it becomes available", which dispels the rumour from the other passenger.....or would you rather they kept "schtum" while the hours pass, and left you wondering whether the rumour could be right after all...

I know what customer service I would rather have ! :blush:

 

[OldBlueLady]

I must be missing the point here. I'll give you an analogy.

You're at the train station, waiting for your train to arrive. You wait for about half an hour, and still nothing. Another passenger on the platform then says they heard a rumour it's broken down and it won't be arriving at all.

Now....would you rather the train operator announce "Sorry, unfortunately the train is running late, but don't worry we've had confirmation definitely it's still on it's way. We'll let you know more information once it becomes available", which dispels the rumour from the other passenger.....or would you rather they kept "schtum" while the hours pass, and left you wondering whether the rumour could be right after all...

I know what customer service I would rather have ! :blush:

That's totally different, you have brought a ticket for a service (to get on a train) so you do have a right to know. No-one on here (as far as I know) has invested any money into Fossetts Farm so therefore we do not have any such right.

Ron has been criticised (rightly, imho) in the past for saying too much, and making promises that haven't materialised. He also is criticised for not saying anything. So, is he better to keep quiet and say nothing while stuff is going on in the background (and it is, I can assure you of that, as I have seen evidence of it recently but am not prepared to divulge it) or keep saying stuff none of which happens?

I know which I would rather have!

 

[londonblue]

I must be missing the point here. I'll give you an analogy.

You're at the train station, waiting for your train to arrive. You wait for about half an hour, and still nothing. Another passenger on the platform then says they heard a rumour it's broken down and it won't be arriving at all.

Now....would you rather the train operator announce "Sorry, unfortunately the train is running late, but don't worry we've had confirmation definitely it's still on it's way. We'll let you know more information once it becomes available", which dispels the rumour from the other passenger.....or would you rather they kept "schtum" while the hours pass, and left you wondering whether the rumour could be right after all...

I know what customer service I would rather have ! :blush:

That's not a good analogy. A better analogy would be that you're waiting at the platform for your train, and they don't make an announcement about the progress of a new station half a mile away. What difference does it make to you, it doesn't impact what you've actually paid for, i.e. a ticket for a journey (or actually a ticket to watch a match)?

Don't get me wrong, I would love to know what is going on, but I also recognise I don't have a right to know.

 

[Jai]

Frustrating but we don't have a right to know anything. This is exactly why it is so important to have fan-owned clubs. Unfortunately with the financial state of the English game it's not a viable prospect at the moment.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I must be missing the point here. I'll give you an analogy.

You're at the train station, waiting for your train to arrive.

Oy, you can't pin the failure of FF on me sunshine. :angry:

 

[Rob1920]

To be fair to the club, why should they put out a statement denying there is a problem with BL when the rumours of problems weren't started by them in the first place. There are always people who take pleasure in creating negative rumours, its not for the club to have to deny them all. That said they could certainly be more forthcoming with progress reports!

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

Once again rumours of impending apocalypse turn out to be attempts to stir up FUD. At this point that ought to be the default assumption, but confirmation is still always very welcome so many thanks to the OP. :thumbsup:

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Oy, you can't pin the failure of FF on me sunshine. :angry:

Oops ! Sorry :sad:

 

[united we stand]

That's totally different, you have brought a ticket for a service (to get on a train) so you do have a right to know. No-one on here (as far as I know) has invested any money into Fossetts Farm so therefore we do not have any such right.

Ron has been criticised (rightly, imho) in the past for saying too much, and making promises that haven't materialised. He also is criticised for not saying anything. So, is he better to keep quiet and say nothing while stuff is going on in the background (and it is, I can assure you of that, as I have seen evidence of it recently but am not prepared to divulge it) or keep saying stuff none of which happens?

I know which I would rather have!

Ron's problem is that he kept giving out inaccurate information. He kept giving out the 'if everything comes together ' view and didn't explain the numerous hurdles that we still had to go through and the opportunities for delay. I dont see how a lpt of this is commercially sensitive because to people in the industry its all obvious so there was no excuse for not doing it properly. If he had given out said detail and them been misquoted then fair enough- but that has not been the case as far as I know. Assuming the poster is correct and BL are stil on board I see no excuse for not saying something every 6 months even if there is little more to say. I don't expect him to reply to every rumour - that doesn't work for obvious reasons

 

[IamJack]

A very interesting point he did make was how the location of the site is not great for retail premises and that discussions had been had regarding an entertainment village (Like Bas Vegas). The fact unless you live to the East of Southend you would need to travel past other out of town retail outlets or town itself makes it a not so attractive retail outlet location.

 

[londonblue]

A very interesting point he did make was how the location of the site is not great for retail premises and that discussions had been had regarding an entertainment village (Like Bas Vegas). The fact unless you live to the East of Southend you would need to travel past other out of town retail outlets or town itself makes it a not so attractive retail outlet location.

That is indeed interesting because it is so close to Waitrose and all the shops around there. It'd be interesting to know what makes that a better site...

 

[RHB]

That is indeed interesting because it is so close to Waitrose and all the shops around there. It'd be interesting to know what makes that a better site...

Including now a whopping great big new Wren store in the old Comet shell.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

According to said gentleman, Brexit has had an issue developing retail and entertainment partners for the site and new developments in general with uncertainty of what may happen but as far as he is personally aware, everything is "very slowly" coming together.

It's Rigsby's fault then, I knew it.

 

[The Big Dady]

Are British Land a good commercial landlord?

British Land own the freehold of the Basildon DIY Homebase store.

Homebase have announced that its store will close on the 3rd Dec 2016 with the loss of 48 jobs after failing to agree a new lease with British Land.

It is rumoured that British Land wanted to increase the annual rent from 900k to 1.6m a year.