Anyone halted their boycott of the Goldstone Retail Park since the Amex opened

[cheshunt seagull]

Broke it once with a trip to Toys R US in a failed, misguided and desperate attempt to placate a family row. Sat in the car whilst everyone else went in and worked out that I was parked somewhere near the North Stand penalty spot. Felt like a total Judas and have never returned.

 

[Icy Gull]

Once we had permission for Falmer I agreed, reluctantly, to go to DFS with my daughter as she wanted to look at sofas. Felt dirty and won't ever be going again. Prior to that I occasionally drove past and looked but never set foot.

 

[Tory Boy]

Had an urgent pi** in the Burger King, but that's my sum total of visits there.

TB

 

[shabba]

Never

It's a "no" from me and always will be and I hope to carry it on to generation after generation of my family. Anyone who has succumbed once should not have done so and shame on you. If you are a true Albion fan you will never, ever go there!

 

[Notters]

It's a no from me too, though I wish they'd build another drive-through Burger King somewhere!

 

[HovaGirl]

My bro, a vehement boycotter with NS ST, finally went to Comet and bought a washing machine. Frankly, I think it was the day he finally grew up (if only because he had finally become domesticated)! We have a nice, new home now. The past is history. The future looks good.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I try not to live in the past...but...sometimes the past lives in me

 

[hoveboyslim]

I didn't go shopping there until Falmer was under construction. It's hard to imagine if we had stayed at the Goldstone because I don't think we would have ever got Falmer. I miss the Goldstone and funnily Withdean, had magic days at both Stadiums. It was for us guys it was a long wait but in the History of the club it was just a short space of time to wait for such a new exciting era for our club.

And that's the conundrum. If we still had the Goldstone what sort of ground would we have now as we it is highly unlikely we would have ever got permission to move away?

For me, I started going once works first started at Falmer. I loved the Goldstone and was sickened as everyone else when it was taken away from us. However, for us to develop as a club our future always would have lead us away from that ground eventually, as there was simply no space to develop it into what we have now.

 

[Jack Hackett]

No. Never.

This.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I try not to live in the past...but...sometimes the past lives in me

And this. I always said I'd never go there until we had the new ground but now that we have I realise that I couldn't ever set foot there.

 

[Biscuit]

No. Never.

 

[cardboard]

Not got an issue in going there at all. As previous posters have said, we would never had got the Amex if we had stayed.
The ground was sold to a developer who then built these warehouses and then leased them to these stores.
I still have no idea how it is comet, toys r us, burger king etc's fault

Yes it was our home and the way it was taken away was shocking but life goes on. Just because the Germans bombed us in the war, doesn't stop us buying German products now. Things move on.

The Amex is a million times better than the Goldstone. We all loved the terraces but we wouldn't have them now anyway, we would have plastic, crappy seats in the north and it would hold about 1,500 people with no facilities to speak of. Open seats in the east, again with horrible facilities. We would still have 7-10k crowds and drifting between league 1 and league 2 maybe even worse. We would only dream of having the players we do now.

Sorry about the rant and i do get why people don't / won't go there but in a perverse way, it's done us a massive favour

 

[c0lz]

Yes,I had many happy....some depressing moments at the Goldstone since the 50s... but looking through the rose coloured spectacles the real happy times stood out..........but they are just memories...at the time I was horrified to find we were losing the hallowed ground but then with the benefit of hindsight I wondered what would have happened if we had stayed there. We could'nt build up the East side,we could'nt expand in any direction...what sort of ground would we have? I now look at the Amex and how much we had to go through to get it, so as much as I hated the terrible three...just a little of me says a very small thank you...but my real thanks are for Dick Knight for saving the club and an almighty thank you to Tony Bloom.....Amex....one of the finest stadiums in the country. And no have never been to the old Goldstone retail park.

Good post and agree

Had we stayed we could of ended up like palarse ground today,
And yes since the Amex i have been shopping there a couple of times.The past can't hurt you anymore not unless you let it

 

[LlcoolJ]

Easy for me to stay away living oop North but I also always boycotted Focus to the extent that, as an accountant, I'd disallow receipts I saw from there. Know Archer had nothing to do with them by the time they went under last year but it was still oddly satisfying.

 

[wilko1]

For me it was never anything to do with Toys r Us, Burger King, Comet, DFS
I dont blame them, and would and have shopped in their stores, but in other locations

It was about the loss of the Goldstone....yes I know we MAY have not got the Amex, (and who can say for sure)

 

[Bold Seagull]

Would it be a greater challenge to the boycotters if there were actually better stores there?

The fact is, it isn't exactly that hard to boycott a Burger King, JJB, Toys-r-us, Comet and DFS is it? ....What if there was an Ikea on site?

 

[PFJ]

No , never have never will. When my kids were younger , I used to drive to Toys R Us in Portsmouth for Christmas and birthdays .Sort of became a bit of a day out .

Even if a more tempting store opened there , we are now in the days of the interweb , so my stance would not need to be challenged .

 

[Bold Seagull]

so my stance would not need to be challenged .

Which is kind of my point. I bet there are a lot more people in Brighton who have never been there because it's mostly crap, as there are people who have never because of a self imposed ban.

What if the Albion moved from Queens Rd, and replaced JJB with a new Albion Superstore?? This would unlock any boycott's wouldn't it? Would it then also mean you could pop in BK, and Comet after??

 

[Seagull58]

We bought a sofa from DFS once. Weirdest experience of my life. Buying a sofa where Peter Ward once played. Never been back.

Ditto. I also bought a sofa there. Only time I have ever been and only because they had a massive sale on.

 

[u'vebeenamexed]

No. Never.