Let's change the whiny record on Sunderland city centre

I'm a sucker for a motivational quote, and I love scrawling through Instagram and reading positive sayings.
The Bridges SnowdogsThe Bridges Snowdogs
The Bridges Snowdogs

Quite some years ago I came across a saying that I’m sure most people will have heard before ... ‘if nothing changes, nothing changes.’. It’s one of my favourites, mostly because it’s so true.

For me, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

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I’ve spent a lot of time in the city centre over the last week since my pop-up shop opened, and I’ve been chatting to lots of people, and often the conversation has turned to things going on in the city, and I’ve been more than a little surprised to hear people saying negative things about the city, suggesting that there isn’t much going on and the town is full of pound shops! But in my opinion they couldn’t be more wrong.

First of all, everyone loves a bargain so for me there is nothing wrong with the odd bargain shop here and there. Secondly, if you open your eyes and look up as you walk through the city centre and surrounding areas, what you will actually see are lots of new exciting shops, a brilliant snowdog trail, the illuminations and lots of people working very hard to bring new things to Sunderland.

We’ve attracted some major cool new retailers and visitors from outside the area, and there is so much more choice now in Sunderland when it comes to shopping, activities and eating out.

For some reason it seems it’s all too easy to get stuck in the past and just keep spouting the same old opinions and statements that are now no longer valid! When you actually look around it’s clear that lots of things have changed ... and for the better.

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So now it’s time to change the words we use to describe and talk about our city, because if we don’t start speaking more positivity about Sunderland, why should we expect other people from outside to, and why should they believe that Sunderland is a brilliant place to visit, and spend there time and money in?

If we don’t change, then the perception of Sunderland won’t change. If we aren’t proud to be from Sunderland then why should businesses choose to trade from here, so let’s put some effort into speaking about the good things.

I’m by no means saying that we are perfect as a city, of course we have work to do, but so does every city in the country! Every city has less desirable areas and the odd dodgy character here and there ... we aren’t the only ones.

Change can’t be achieved by just a small percentage of Sunderland lovers, it has to come from everyone, so if there is something you’d like to change about our city, get involved in making that happen, give you time, give your energy and give your constructive input.

So let’s change the whiney record, and celebrate what’s great!