'Shanty Town?' Readers speak out on the state and future of Dudley after traders have their say

For example Alison Wade who has kept the Cards and Gifts 4 You shop in Dudley town centre for 30 years - she labelled it "like a shanty town."

And Paul Heard and Julie Burford who run Scent from Dudley reported their worst trading day ever recently since moving to the town from West Bromwich five years ago - they took £60.

So has reports of Dudley's demise been exaggerated with the seemingly unstoppable rise of nearby Merry Hill and the trend for the public to do much shopping online in the internet age often cited as reasons for the struggle.

A number of comments on the article called for a return to free parking in Dudley, including Richard Johnson who wrote a four point plan to revive Dudley for shopping and then said he had just described Merry Hill.

Rob Steventon said: "Shopping centres and supermarkets killed high streets. Now, websites are killing shopping centres.

"Hopefully it'll all come full circle, one day, and go back to the high streets."

David Kaesey started by calling for the town centre to be tidied up and the roads sorted out. He went on to say: " Stop prioritising buses and bicycles. Let people park. Seize properties that have been empty for five years or more. Bring the Black Country Living Museum into the market stalls. Bring the zoo into the market square. The answers are not the stuff of fantasy. "

John Wood continued the parking theme, saying: " Funny how just after Merry Hell was built parking charges were introduced in Dudley and Stourbridge."

Mitch Raftery touched on public transport with the long awaited tram link to Dudley still not in operation. He said: " It's pretty impossible to get there unless you drive, Bilston, Wednesbury, West Brom all have the tram line, Dudley has no trains, trams and barely any bus routes there now."

Ann Worton continued on the theme, saying: " Two years the bus station has been closed, no sign of it opening. No wonder it’s a shanty town. "

Scott John Wakelam made a football song reference in calling it "Forty years of hurt." He said: " Merry Hill, COVID , Metro work, Hippodrome, museum closure ,online shopping, car parking issues, no real plans to move the centre forward by both parties has all done the damage.

"People used to love Dudley and could not get enough of the place back in the day .Now I walk around the place and it depresses me politicians come and go but nothing changes,

But Sy Hawkes refused to blame Merry Hill for the problems Dudley was facing, saying: "  It’s not Merry Hill’s fault, the whole country has turned into shanty towns and cities."