Museum,
just after it opened in the 60s
Choices
Culture
There is none. Or very little. Not even a good bookshop. We have a small museum with some interesting exhibits run by keen people. Cusworth Hall concentrates on the Victorians; the Earth Centre and the Aircraft Museum are relatively new. There is an old small theatre, due to be replaced with a new small theatre, which puts on local productions. The Library Service is generally very good and centred on the main library in Waterdale with local libraries in each village. The Dome leisure complex might not classify as culture per se, but a number of nationally renowned entertainers have performed in the auditorium. And we have the old Victorian Music Hall, run down, which many people would like to see refurbished. There are places in the area for lovers of history, see below.
Culture vultures in Doncaster generally go elsewhere.
Should you come and
live here?
Well, it depends.
If your idea of a good time is getting smashed at the weekend there are a number of clubs and pubs in the town centre that render it unsafe for families to visit after nine in the evening. Other towns send their young people here to get drunk, having limited their own drinking establishments to sensible numbers.
If you are looking for a rich and varied cultural life in the true sense, then no, look elsewhere.
However, Doncaster is surprisingly rural in aspect (a fact its still-large market reflects, though even that is not as good as it was). Ten minutes driving time from the town centre in any direction (traffic willing) will have you in green fields and open vistas. There are any number of small villages within fifteen miles of St George’s that trace their history back to the Domesday Book, as does the town itself, and parts of which have remained largely unchanged for centuries. Country pubs, walks, views, churches and historic places to visit abound within an hour’s drive. Even local transport will, with planning, get you to most of these places for a pleasant day out.
The Council until recently had an awful lot of crooks in it, now dealt with: some gaoled. The new councillors are making great promises about the way forward. We even have an elected Mayor instead of the usual council. It has to be said that after a year in office most people have noticed no difference. Over the past eighteen months or so a lot of new housing has been started and new people are moving into the area.
The people of Doncaster, when you meet them, are as friendly and helpful as anywhere else, if a touch taciturn in the Yorkshire way.
If you choose your location carefully there are worse places to live…