George's Play a blinder
Getting Sunderland’s Riverside development right is ‘make or break’ for the city, says George Clarke.
The architect and TV presenter, who grew up in Washington, was back home on a whistlestop tour of Hillarys Blinds’ factory on the Bentall Business Park, to mark the firm’s 50th anniversary.
George has been working with the city council on the regeneration plans and believes things are finally on the up.
“Sunderland is full of great people, passionate people, but let’s be honest, we’ve had 20, 30 years of false promises,” he said.
"I think this is the first time where it could really happen.
"They have got some good plans in place for Riverside Sunderland, they’ve got some good people there that I think can deliver it.
“Seeing some development happening on the old Vaux site is great – we all know how ridiculous it was for the Vaux site to be abandoned for as long as it was and, if anything, it stopped the city from moving forward for 20 years.
“Now that regeneration is being planned on it, it’s really exciting.
"I genuinely think its a great time for the city.
"I think the Riverside is make or break for the city, I really do.
"Sunderland will genuinely be transformed by that riverside development.”
Lifelong Sunderland AFC fan George sees the city’s rebirth mirrored in progress on the pitch.
“In some ways the football club is a representation of what has happened to the city,” he said.
"We’ve gone from being a Premier League club to League One.
"Now we are top of the league, we’ve made some good signings, we’ve got a new owner.
"Let’s see what happens.” During his tour of the Hillarys Blinds unit on a return to his native North East, George met up with some familiar faces.
He grew up with workers Linda Fergus, Alan Middlemiss, Michael Ohara and Jill Hanson in Blackfell.
"It’s amazing, we’ve not seen each other for about 30 years,” said Linda.
Michael added: “We always knew he would go on to do something – he was the only one who did his homework.”