Crewe

Ken Dodd was back in Crewe on Wednesday night. I never rated the fella until a mate convinced me to go and see a show at the Lyceum a few years back (cheers Jonesy). I thought we'd get an hour or so, plus another act. We went in at 7.30pm and he let us out just after midnight! I didn't stop laughing. I didn't get to see him yesterday but the mayor of Crewe and Nantwich, Cllr Brian Silvester and th

The senior side did, just, albeit by a solitary strike courtesy of Clayton Donaldson. And in front of just 2,593 supporters! The game was a poor advert for football, Crewe Alexandra were easily matched by non-league opposition and Ebbsfleet really deserved a draw. Steve Holland was booed but the singing fans backed the players. The banners, however, didn't come out today. The protest was by the 10

Thanks to several bloggers who emailed us about the Esso garage by the Crewe Arms Hotel (off the B&Q roundabout). It is closing, but will reopen as a Tesco mini-market in a few weeks. On Thursday the shop was almost empty and one of the staff confirmed that it will close today (Friday). It seems that there will be an extension built to allow for more shop space, while the petrol side of things

Not so long ago this gate stood alone, the bottom of Goddard Street and just down from Morrisons supermarket off Dunwoody Way. Then the new housing developments started (Signals, Grand Junction etc). Then they stalled. It would appear that this block is back up and running, but the mock gate that, I believe, represents the old works' entrance, now looks somewhat lost. Shouldn't this be open, allow

Only noticed this last week as I wandered down Gresty Road with the kids and my mate Marco. The old Wright-Manley Livestock Market entrance that took cattle and traders between the terraces and on to auction has gone. In fact, the properties either side have also been spruced up and the block is ready for a new chapter in its life. We couldn't remember when the cattle market finished, but Marco's

I am not going to start describing the football game that Crewe and Northampton played recently, but a quick few words on their new loan player. The new owner of the number 31 shirt is Denis Lawrence. At a height of 6ft 7" his is one of the tallest players in the football league. He has a rather skinny look to him, a little like Peter Crouch the Portsmouth striker. I just hope that over the next 3

As My wife and I turned left into the long drive towards the hall itself we had our first look at our venue. I slowed down my car to a crawl as I took in the breathtaking scene. On each side of the drive the trees were dressed with miniature lights that glistened like clusters of stars. The immense hall dominated the scene as we arrived.Inside was even more spectacular. We were surrounded by dark

Tonight my wife and I will be visiting Crewe Hall for what we hope will be an excellent meal.I have never experienced the delights of Crewe Hall before so I am rather exited.I have been warned though, that the drinks are rather expensive. £4.50 a pint of bitter was mentioned in a recent conversation with a friend of mine. On the positive side though the food is supposed to taste fantastic.So I wi

We've covered the Lyceum and a number of its productions over the last couple of years but we're hoping to have a regular monthly slot showcasing what the grand Crewe theatre has to offer. A favourite in the Crewe blog household is the annual panto, and this year it's Jack & the Beanstalk. It's only September but this event is nearly always a sell-out. In fact, following the success of last ye

One of those sights that you see in Crewe. Snapped by Dale on Wednesday evening, if you got caught up on Nantwich Road around 8.30pm then here's the reason why. The driver hauling some rolling stock out of the station and along Nantwich Road didn't quite get the corner turn quite right. Apparently, it took him 15 minutes to sort it out. For anyone interested in Crewe's rail history (inc recent stu

Open Days at Crewe's Heritage Centre (what was the Railway Age) are almost over for 2008, but this weekend (September 27th and 28th, 10am - 4pm) offers families and enthusiasts a last chance to see snippets of Crewe and general railway history, plus grab a ride on the miniature railway that runs across the centre. You can check out the Friends of... website here and the official website here..Unle

Ok, so he didn't run into Crewe. It would have made a great photo opportunity though. Still, Lord (Seb) Coe popped into MMU University just after lunchtime on Tuesday and then headed to the Cumberland Arena to meet, greet and endorse Crewe's bid to to host 2012 Olympic athletes during the build-up to the London games. At the town's athletic track Lord Coe met with the Crewe & Nantwich U12 girl

.For once we're not talking about whether Crewe's train station will move to Basford. Instead, there's something very different going on across the platforms and stairways later this week (25 – 29 September). The Station/Stationary project has been commissioned through the Cheshire’s Year of Gardens Spaces Programme, which is also linked via the various transport gateways to Liverpool’s Capi

Liverpool will hand a debut to Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri for the Carling Cup visit of Crewe.Fabio Aurelio is still ruled out as he recovers from a calf problem and Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are both likely to be rested.Crewe boss Steve Holland must check on the fitness of striker Calvin Zola (calf) and midfielder Michael O'Connor (blisters) ahead of the Anfield trip.Crewe have

Just last Wednesday a few of us in the office were discussing Christmas and whether we should have a party, a meal or just meet for a few drinks. I know, it's the start of September! Still, the following day we had an email from blog reader Nigel asking about potential venues for the aforementioned office party. So, if you run a bar, pub or restaurant what have you got to offer the Crewe and Nantw

Personally, I think that the role of mayor is great. It's not a position of power and yet the mayor can get things done, help promote the town and publicise the good work done by many people, charities and organisations. A little bird tells us that there is a meeting at the council's Muni Buildings this Wednesday to discuss the issue. They are going to way up the pros and cons of having a town may

If you like hopping on to the blog once in a while chances are you enjoy some of the photos by yours truly or by some of the regular contributors. If so, there's a good chance you'll like what's happening at Crewe Library on Saturday 13th September (10am - 3pm). The Crewe Photographic Society (CPS) are holding an open day when you can pop along and get advice about photos, cameras and even enter

A now (quality) regular slot, former Crewe resident Rupert Flange delivers his third dose of Crewe life from some 50-odd years ago. We're loving it...Tall in the Saddle(I Didn't Have Much Money but Me Dad Had Piles).Alternatively: Up Hill, Down Dale and Saddle Sore!.It's a bit of a leap from BMX-ing to tricycle racing , but in the late 1940s and well into the '50s the name of Albert Crimes was eve

We can't expect gorgeous sunshine every day, can we? Sometimes we get a bit of rain in otherwise tropical Crewe. In fact, it was grim today. Oh, and a tad wet. Regular snapper Dale was out and about and sent a number of depressing snaps into the blog. Here's Queensway in the rain...

More: click here…

As if you didn't know, the Crewe & Nantwich Festival is under way with stacks of events ongoing across this week. CNBC Mayor Brian Silvester officially opened the festival with a ribbon cutting ceremony over at Nantwich's St Mary's church. Accompanied by the Mayoress he met people and organisations who have helped prepare for this year's events. It all culminates with the carnival at Queens Pa

We've mentioned Quakers Coppice a few times on Crewe blog. It's one of those little gems that often go unnoticed. Tucked away behind the business park off Crewe Road (map here) and adjacent to new warehousing units and car dealerships off University Way, this oasis of calm is conveniently situated on the edge of Crewe. You can walk, bike or catch a (no.20) bus to it, there are plenty of (free) pla

How exciting has this Olympic games been? Edge of the seat stuff, from slick cyclists to the well-oiled oarsmen and women who have scooped gold after gold. For Crewe, most of the pre-games hype surrounded Beth Tweddle, the accomplished gymnast who has a World Championship to her name and was expected to excel in Beijing. There was a stutter in the team event when she clipped one of the bars but cl

Look close enough and you'll find a creepy side to any town. We have more than our fair share of the stuff around these parts and it extended over to Crewe Station last week courtesy of TimP and his Crewe & Nantwich Ghost Tours. Indeed, a tour of the creepy side of the station took place as part of a Drama and Dance Residency Week, itself part of Crewe and Nantwich Festival. The group took in

UPDATE: The Dream in the Park production at 3pm on Monday 18th August will go ahead in the park cafe if the rain continues, so get along regardless. Don't forget the week-long series of events that make up this year's Crewe & Nantwich Festival. A few bits and bobs started on Saturday that you might have seen advertised, but projects, performances, workshops and displays take place across the w

The national news stories surrounding property prices continue to be gloomy. Here in Crewe it's obvious that we're also in the thick of it despite seeing the value of properties rise for years. It had to end. Some streets now boast a ridiculous number of To Let/For Sale signs, so surely it's a buyer's market? Trouble is, as the banks clamp down it's hard to get a mortgage. So where next for Crewe

Never say that there's nowt to entertain you around the borough. From free stuff in the town centre to pubs, clubs, concerts and exhibitions. Loads on if you seek it out. Here's a selection....Star Search: Fancy yourself on the big stage, a slot on the X-Factor maybe? Well, CNBC’s Town Centre Management, in partnership with The Market Centre and Wulvern Housing, wants talented residents to join

Had a call from one of the friendly chaps at Network Rail the other day. He wanted to clarify a few things. There are loads of rumours about the train station, its future, Basford and of course CREAM, the campaign group being led by Cllr Roy Cartlidge. Basically, no decision has been made about the station. There is a lot of investigation work to complete. They are, apparently, keeping an open min

There was a familiar face back in Crewe on Saturday. In fact, there were some very familiar looking shirts as well. Whatever, it was great to see some footy of a Saturday afternoon. Back to the story and older Alex fans will recall a talented, tough-tackling midfielder called Steve Walters. He had the tracksuit on but the boots have been hung up as the Crewe lad is now concentrating on management

The footy friendlies are upon us but we thought it was about time that the girls should enjoy a bit of publicity instead. The Crewe & Nantwich Girls Football Club was founded 18 years ago to provide local girls with an opportunity to play competitive football against other girls' teams. They now have teams at U10, U12, U14 and U16 age groups - all playing in the Cheshire Girls' League. The clu

The last week has been dominated by knife crime, violence and death. I'm talking about national news and yet it dawned on me over the weekend that Crewe has had its fair share of high-profile crime stories of late. Just last month Adam Swellings from Meredith Street made the papers when he was sentenced for his part in the killing of Gary Newlove from Warrington. Then on Friday, 19-year-old Lauren

We promised some artists' impressions of what is planned for Crewe's Sherborne estate, so here they are. Residents of the Wulvern houses off Middlewich Street and anyone who has passed through the area (Sherbourne Road, Haslemere Way, Greenacres and Roedean Walk) will know that it's in need of a revamp - to say the least. .Well, over the last 12 months the Wulvern team based at one of the estate'

After the big news about the South Stand being build theres been loads of transfer news, i’m going over all of them but there is one that sticks out. Gary Roberts has staying in the UK while Crewe are on a pre-season tour in Bulgaria. Apparently he’s going to be chatting with ourselves and Cardiff. [...]

Crewe’s historic Christ Church is celebrating The Victorian Heart of Crewe as part of National Archaeology Week (NAW) on Saturday 12th July. “It’s easy to think of archaeology as just finding things in the ground from centuries ago, but it is as much about seeing the stories in the buildings, landscape and townscape which give the historic environment we all live and move in - whatever that

Remember to take a look at what local events are taking place around the borough. The What's On Crewe & Nantwich? blog can be accessed here or by clicking on the icon on the right. Latest additions include the festival taking place at St Andrews this weekend, the Nantwich Family Fun Day next Saturday and a request for exhibitors later this year...

Hi allI was passing the petrol station along Crewe road in Wistaston last night (Tuesday 1st July 2008) and noted that the cost of fuel was as follows.Unleaded 118.9 pence per litre.Diesel 131.9 pence per litre.If you have any up to date petrol prices drop me a line and I will include them on the blog.RegardsPete

Who doesn't want to save a few quid on the fuel bills? Add to that the whole environmental argument and installing solar panels and wind turbines. Well, a Renewable Energy Exhibition will be held at the Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe Green Road, Crewe campus on the 5th July 2008. Organised by the Energy Saving Trust advice centre and Cheshire Renewable Energy Initiative, visitors will b

Taking a break, with the law courts to the left of shot, the library to the right, with Christ Church bell tower in the distance...

This weekend’s local offerings, which you can also check out on the What’s On Crewe & Nantwich blog here or by clicking the button on the right...Saturday 21stWistaston Village Fete, with the Rose Queen Procession from 1.15pm and the official opening at the Memorial Hall at 1.45pm. Vintage cars, belly dancers, dog display, bouncy castle, fancy dress, stalls and games. All the ingredients,

Flick on BBC1 last week and you might have seen New Blues, a three-parter that followed the fortunes of a few PCSOs during training and later on the beat around West Yorkshire. There's a blog penned by a PCSO here and the author wasn't best impressed with what she saw. To be honest, some of the kids that the new PCSOs had to deal with in the series were verging on feral. Grim stuff. Back here in C

We promised that we'd keep you bang up to date with Edward Timpson's work in and around Crewe and Nantwich, so here's one of his first releases regarding his communications with Modus. There's plenty of unease about the lack of progress on Crewe's town centre regeneration and our newly elected MP has been pushing the developer for information. Apparently, he was over in Manchester meeting with the

With the by-election dominating proceedings in recent weeks it's easy to forget that we have now entered the final year of administration under Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. A couple of weeks back, the first meeting of the Cheshire East Unitary Shadow Council took place at Crewe's Municipal Buildings. A fitting place but will Crewe emerge as the best location to establish a base for the new

If you didn't know, it's Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08. Now apart from Queens Park (and that's not so hot right now) you don't associate once industrial Crewe with much green space or indeed gardens, do you? The "green" business park has gone some way to addressing that, and most of the new estates have incorporated recreational areas. They even tarted up Jubilee Gardens in High Town but that ofte

More from Edleston Primary School's day of celebration that took place last Saturday morning. The guest of honour, Margaret Simmons, cut the tape as the event started (see above with headmistress Mrs Bagni), before guests enjoyed photos spanning the school's 133-year history and then went on to take part in fun and games in the playground. A few bits and pieces are summed up in one of those cheek

I've had this image hanging around for a while. Chatting to the lads from the Riptides (first band on at The Waldron the other week at the start of the Crewe Live 08 weekend) they said they fancied doing an Abbey Road-style picture of themselves walking over a zebra. So, any local bands fancy grabbing the chance at this spot with the old Technical Institute as a backdrop? Get in touch and we'll so

Hopefully a new feature, a place to highlight, promote and showcase local events taking place over the weekend. Forget the paid-for, commercial stuff - they can look after themselves. We're talking proper local people and places, garden parties, charity events, car boots, duck races, the unusual things etc. So, this weekend... Saturday 7th June.Edleston Road Primary School (pictured) has been runn

I took the above snap of Crewe bus station on Monday morning. Depressing, eh? At least the local birds haven't deserted us yet! I've tried to remain positive about many Crewe-related issues but the bus station is an eyesore too far. It's almost beyond help. What makes me laugh is the local and national drive to get people using public transport. How on earth can anyone be expected to use a facili

This in from Cllr Roy Cartlidge (Labour Group Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council), blog reader and unhappy bunny on the back of last week's by-election defeat for Labour. His thoughts about how borough life will be under a Tory administration and MP...."Yes the By-election result was very bad for the Labour Party both locally and nationally! But what’s this change people are talking about - ch

I popped into Copnall Books on Meredith Street the other day. I'd wanted to ask Peter Ollerhead if it was ok to turn his walks around Crewe into photos. Peter produced the excellent Crewe - History & Guide book earlier this year and, towards the back, are three walks that take readers around various bits of Crewe. As I've probably poked my nose into most bits of the walks at some point or othe

Quick mention to Shanaze Reade from Crewe who scooped gold at the BMX World Championships in Taiwan (see BBC report here). We've covered a load of Tipkinder BMX stuff of late and we'll try and grab some snaps with the Crewe star when she returns. This win installs her as favourite for the Beijing Olympics this summer. Yesterday, Cheshire Ghost Rider Marco Dell'Isola took a world 5th in 25-29 men's

I'm going to start a new section of links for Days Out Near Crewe. Just yesterday, when Mrs Crewe blog said that she'd join us and take the day off, we wondered where to go, what to see. There are the usual suspects but we fancied something a little different, somewhere we hadn't been before but no more than half an hour away. .So Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre was spot on. It's just outside the bo

You might have seen a snippet in the press a few weeks back announcing a funding initiative that would benefit a number of local organisations. Indeed, around £7m has been awarded by the Housing Corporation as part of their National Affordable Housing programme. This cash does not go to the local council but to individual organisations, hostel/housing related. In this case, the recipients are Wul

After a few years at The Peacock the annual Crewe ASi Family Footy Day is nipping over the border into Dabber Land. The Alex fans' group have always set out to promote footall and friendship across the borough so it's great to see that they will stage this year's tournament and fun day at the Wrenbury Sports & Social Club on Sunday 8th June. As well as the pitches there are superb kiddy facil

I've been pondering why it is raining so much seeing as it is a Bank holiday week and half-term for the schools. C'est la vie, probably. I've had to think of alternatives for days out. Days in with two small children are not necessarily as easy, at least for me! Gordon Brown must be thinking along similar lines. "Why is it raining, politically that is, such dire stuff all the time?", he contemplat

The play-off weekend is great. Except when your side isn't involved. Moreover, you haven't been involved in the promotion race at all. In fact, having spent the bulk of the previous season scrapping around at the foot of the table it's all a load of bobbins really. Worse for me is the on-off chat about transfer targets. Now I used to love it all, part of the pre-summer build-up. Waiting for the fr

I first met the NSS lads back in 1992. I'd gone back to univ and they were playing up in Middlesbrough, The Mal, in fact, a big club in Stockton where Pete Waterman used to film The Hitman & Her. Memories. Anyway, my mate Richard was playing trumpet for the NSS in those days, as well as belting out the odd tune at Gresty Road on the old Popside terrace. Again, memories! .Still, the NSS were a

The Crewe Live 08 festival kicked off at the Waldron at, well, about 8.40pm. When did a band ever stick to the script? In fact, it nearly didn't happen. . ..The Riptides (pictured above on the Crewe library steps) are a decent outfit and when they rolled into Crewe from Birmingham they wondered why they hadn't been given the big stage at the M Club. They're not big-time Charlies but these lads can

Unsurprisingly, the Tories have won the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, with a majority of over 7,000.Harriet Harman does not think Labour's campaign had anything to do with it.I beg to differ.One wonders how secure Gordon Brown's job is. Maybe Frank Field will launch another offensive, although he did himself no favours apologising to Mr Brown.Nick Robinson views the result as a sign David Camero

The Crewe ad Nantwich result ahs just been announced: Tamsin Dunwoody, Labour 12679. Elisabeth Shenton, Liberal Democrat 6040. Edward Timpson, Conservative, 20539. Mike Nattress, UKIP 922. Greens, 359. Several smaller parties not included. Rejected Ballot Papers: 67.

It's hardly been a secret over the last few days and in the early hours of Friday 23 May 2008 Edward Timpson was confirmed as the new MP for Crewe and Nantwich. The actual result was a bit of a shocker, with Timpson taking nearly 50% of the vote! Addressing the audience at Nantwich Civic, the new MP said the following to the people of the borough: "I'm on your side and I won't let you down.".The C

The Crewe ad Nantwich result ahs just been announced: Tamsin Dunwoody, Labour 12679. Elisabeth Shenton, Liberal Democrat 6040. Edward Timpson, Conservative, 20539. Mike Nattress, UKIP 922. Greens, 359. Several smaller parties not included. Rejected Ballot Papers: 67.

Longer-term blog readers will recall the unfortunate family in the Wistaston Road area that saw their back garden literally explode when the sewers burst open last year. Well, the heavy rain the other week saw it happen again with another monster hole appearing where their kids usually play. The smell is pretty bad too! The appropriate services have responded a little quicker this time but that’

Well, to Crewe blog. Thanks to Tamsin Dunwoody's campaign team who promised to grab some comment from the PM - and they delivered. Following Nick Clegg and David Cameron, a few words from no.10 for you. No snap of Mr Brown, so we bagged one from t'web...."Gwyneth Dunwoody was a much-respected,wonderful MP who was held in high esteem by people on both sides of theHouse of Commons. She is greatly mi

That's pounds for Hope House, not season tickets for the Alex! The Crewe ASi fans’ group is delighted to announce a guaranteed £750 donation to Hope House Children's Hospices, money that was raised at their Christmas Party and recent Race Night. In an attempt to increase that amount beyond the magic £1,000 barrier, ASi Secretary David Coleman completed the BUPA Great Manchester Run. David take

Cheers to TimP (who was in the audience) for the sharpish snap from tonight's Channel 4 News slot and debate at Bombardier (old Crewe Works) off Dunwoody Way. The studio was set up in one of the old erecting shops where locos and stuff get assessed, maintained and fixed these days. Bit of a cliche background but Crewe well and truly in the news...

Dang! Missed him. The Flying Brick, the official Monster Raving Looney Party's candidate, was outside the Grand Junction pub today. I'm sure he had some serious points to make and I'm grateful to Richard (blog regular) who grabbed the snap. I've got him finishing a comfortable 8th at the moment, ahead of the petrol tax guy and, maybe, UKIP. Is he worth your vote?

Cheeky boy Lembit Opik MP has been out and about in Crewe and Nantwich today. He's part of the Lib Dem bandwagon that most of the nationals believe has hit the buffers. Look at the bookies' latest odds and you'd be wasting your cash if you backed Elizabeth Shenton in the by-election. Still, the senior figures have been out backing her and refuse to give in (as you'd expect). Lembit joined the Wulv

We had Nick Clegg last week and now, cheers to the local Conservative campaign team, we have a blog from David Cameron. It's a bit party political broadcast, but it's a gesture. Will we get something from Gordon? Anyway, here goes (picture from last week when he went walkabout with Edward Timpson around Nantwich)...."As I think readers of the Crewe blog will know, I’ve been up to Crewe and Nantw

If only a small number of these MPs were genuinely concerned about Crewe our town would be transformed overnight. Sadly, we'll be short on politicians come Friday morning. They'll be back in Westminster. Unless Gemma Garrett has a late surge on the back of tabloid promotion, we'll be left with one of the big three's candidates to take us forward. Tamsin Dunwoody hopes it's her and brought Jacqui S

If you noticed the Politics Show on BBC this Sunday you'll have seen the three main candidates being prodded and poked by another presenter hoping to draw them on local issues, being a toff and the price of bread. They all stood up well, and didn't the Duchess of Sutherland look impressive in the background? If you didn't know, Crewe's Heritage Centre is just off the entrance to Tesco and is well

Some news from blogger Guido Fawkes on the Crewe-by election.Labour have a tories soft on yobs logo, although the colour scheme makes no sense. the liquid dripping should be red, not black.He also says that the Labour high command has condoned the campaign, despite denials from Labour ministers.It would be nice if the Lib Dems won this seat, given Labour's vile campaigning.

Here's a gorgeous local lass who is hoping to win the Miss Photographic heats, which is held by the organisers of the national Miss England beauty competition. South Cheshire College student, Adele Prior, aged 18, has made it through to the heats and needs your vote to progress, hopefully landing a place in the Miss England finals. I met Adele in Market Square on Saturday as she was out and about

But no Mike Nattrass. He couldn't make it this weekend but will be around on Monday in Crewe dishing out leaflets and chatting about his party. Later, he'll be addressing the public at a meeting at Nantwich Town's Weaver Stadium (starts at 7pm I believe). If you'd like some more info about UKIP and their Crewe & Nantwich campaign you can check out their website here or visit their Crewe HQ at

Received this the other day, from Nick Clegg no less. His office mentioned in passing that he'd be happy to do a bit about Crewe and the Lib Dem candidate Elizabeth Shenton, but I didn't expect it. Still, here goes his piece... ."One of the things I most enjoy about being leader of the Liberal Democrats is getting out from the Westminster bubble and meeting people all around the country through my

The media circus had several Crewe options today, but delayed trains from down south caused scheduling chaos! I grabbed time after lunch to nip over to Bombardier (Crewe Works) where Lib Dem candidate Elizabeth Shenton was joined (for the second time) by party leader Nick Clegg. As you can see, there was a fair old pack awaiting the campaign team, inc a persistent chap from Newsnight. More later..

Once is good, twice impressive (as of Monday afternoon) but with a third David Cameron visit in the pipeline you've got to conclude that the Edward Timpson (Conservative) Crewe & Nantwich campaign is serious. They really want to win this seat! With an aborted meet and greet outside Crewe police station (above) because of a rent-a-crowd bunch of hoodies, the Tory bandwagon rolled on to their Cr

Ever wanted that few minutes of fame, or a chance to put your point across to a few of the country's politicians? Well, BBC Newsnight is coming to Crewe & Nantwich to host a special edition from the constituency two days before next week's by-election. The special programme - broadcast live on Tuesday 20th May - will be hosted by Jeremy Paxman alongside a panel of senior politicans and an audi

According to an ICM poll for the Mail on Sunday, the Conservative candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election has a good chance of winning the seat. Could the Tories be on target to snatch a win from Labour for the first time since 1982?The poll puts the Tories on 43%, Labour on 39% and the Liberal Democrats on 16%. Whatever the Labour Party may be telling the electors of Crewe it doesn't seem

What has come out of the last few days is outsiders' lack of knowledge about Crewe. It's something that we have all known for years, that the town struggles for identity with - effectively - two town centres! Queensway (above) is one of the main shopping areas, but speaking to visiting photographers and journalists yesterday most of them thought that the station and Nantwich Road area were Crewe's main drag. That really does need addressing. I discovered a fascinating snippet from Network Rail yesterday that could have gone some way to fixing that (more of that news on Monday), but the current Modus scheme is something that now concerns me..I have been positive about the redevelopment of Crewe town centre for over a year now and still believe that our town will be transformed beyond all re

Bit of a surreal one today. An early start up at Crewe station to see Nick Clegg roll into town as he gave his full support to Elizabeth Shenton of the Lib Dems. I caught a great moment (image below) that deserves to be a photo caption competition. If you do post comments, keep 'em clean! Anyway, there was a burst of activity around the station when the party leader arrived, the obvious handshaking and photo opportunities with party campaigners and then they were whisked into town where they did an interview with the Crewe Chron (when they walked along Victoria Street they must have been impressed by the full window display poster that advertises Edward Timpson's Conservative party - next door to the Chron office). . It was all cameras and journalists but, last minute, a film crew arrived

I have a leaked By Election Bar Chart from the Crewe and Nantwich byelection. I'm assuming that they won't be using this one.

Keeping it simple, here's the full list of 10 candidates who will seek your votes on May 22nd to become MP for Crewe and Nantwich....The Flying Brick - Monster Raving Looney PartyTamsin Dunwoody - LabourGemma Garret - Beauties for BritainMike Nattrass - UKIPDavid Roberts - English DemocratsElizabeth Shenton - Liberal DemocratsRobert Smith - Green PartyPaul Thorogood - Cut Tax on Petrol & DieselEdward Timpson - ConservativeMark Walklate - Independent.Just for fun, there's a poll on the right. Click on your choice to give us an idea of how the Crewe & Nantwich by-election will pan out. It's just a click, you don't have to identify yourself...

UKIP are getting more professional and they have just launched a by-election site for Mike Nattrass MEP who is the UKIP candidate in Crewe and Nantwich. They have a battle bus too, so this should add to the fun as well as the publicity!

Always like to post other people's photos on the blog, plus any comments they might have. Kevin Ruscoe mailed us the following thoughts on last weekend's Buzzcocks gig at the M Club, plus some great shots of the band. You can see his other Flickr snaps here....."The Buzzcocks were fantastic and a pretty decent turn out, too. Messrs Shelly and Diggle et el ripped through all there best known tunes including Oh Shit, Orgasm Addict, What Do I Get? and closing with Ever Fallen In Love. Perhaps the only slight niggle was the sound was a bit loud and seemed distorted a little but that might just have been my aging ears. I enjoyed the gig anyway good to see another top band visit Crewe."

We've talked about other gateways to Crewe before, like West Street, Hungerford Road, Macon Way etc. Here's another one, the old Chester Bridge that feeds cars, buses and pedestrians directly into Market Square. To the right of the snap most of the shops and offices are now taken but the land either side of the bridge has been derelict for a while. Noticed the other day that a fresh agent's sign has gone up suggesting that there's a push to offload the plot again. I'm told that it was part of the leisure complex land but, for various reasons, has never been developed. One reason was financial elements that restricted the sell-on and subsequents profits, but that's another story. Over the road there are plans to breath life into the land that borders the path by Lloyd's bank. Not sure if I'