Online voices

STORY:

Sunderland city centre footfall almost back to pre-lockdown levels as people take advantage of Eat Out to Help Out and shops reopening.

Ivor Prestwood:

Great news for Sunderland, that along with the low C-19 infection and death rates just shows how resilient and rule abiding us Mackems are.

Angela Clark:

I don't think any 'bounce back' should be mentioned until the furlough scheme ends.

Jonathan Martin:

It managed to look quieter than ever when I went last week.

Robert Robson:

Can I just point out this is utter rubbish! Eat out to help out has worked well, it ends on Monday. The way the footfall is calculated uses mobile phone tracking data. This means every phone passing in or around the town is classed as using the shops and bars in town.

STORY:

The opening of Sunderland’s muchanticipated STACK Seaburn development has been postponed due to Storm Francis.

Rachel Johnson:

It’s got nothing to do with a storm. It’s because it’s not ready. We went past it Monday and it’s nowhere near ready.

Ian Bailes: So it’s closed before it opened. So why doesn’t that surprise me of a Sunderland city project? More like construction hasn’t been completed on time, and therefore the weather is being blamed.

Chris Parry: That’s a disappointment but you can’t control the weather.

Colin Sanders:

Drove past on sunday before the storm arrived and it looked a mess was never gonna be ready for opening on time with or without the bad weather.

Dave Palmer:

I thought the usual suspects would be pleased about this. It gives them something to whinge about. It's almost as if some people want this development to fail so they can say "I told you so". Imagine being so bitter you want something to fail so you can be proved correct.

Ivor Prestwood:

Does it really matter if the opening is delayed by a few days?