Dave Bryant: please note, I didnt say I liked all these sort of changes that happen as places regenerate/gentrify. If you get me on the subject of BWB heritage-style railings round locks and hanging baskets and "moorings officers" (mostly previously sacked from concentration camps for over-zealous behaviour).....well I'd never stop.
   I worked in the Albert Dock in Liverpool before it went....well, like it is now. I don't revisit it now for pleasure, put it that way. But it has certainly generated jobs, and preserved the fabric of the water-front buildings.
   At least the Rochdale Canal is now open again at Miles Platting...some years ago they filled it in with concrete (leaving a cosmetic water depth of 6 inches), did a bit of "landscaping", and got an architectural award for doing so. I will forgive the tweeness, the cafe latte, the whole package of tarting up, at least it's kept the places operational and full of life, instead of dirty ditches full of crap and haunted by degenerates.