Kentish Express Ashford & District
Shoppers shouldn’t need to risk a soaking
We’ve suffered the wettest June for 19 years according to the weather experts Anyone who has walked through Taylors Passage in Ashford - the alleyway linking the High Street with the taxi rank outside Wilkos - will definitely be aware of that.
Because every time it rains (and that seems to have been almost every other day for weeks) a torrent of water pours down from the leaking gutters on the roof of the Tesco Express store. And apart from the leaky bits of the gutter there’s one whole section of guttering actually missing so rainwater just cascades down from the roof there.
Walking along Taylors Passage when it’s wet is now a challenge for anyone without an umbrella who hopes to stay dry.
So here’s the obvious question. Why don’t Tesco, or the landlord or Ashford Borough Council do something about it? It would probably take a couple of workmen a morning or an afternoon to repair or replace the guttering.
It seems a simple, fairly inexpensive solution to us. But given that this problem has existed for about two years now we can virtually guarantee this suggestion will fall on deaf ears... yet again.
However, in the vague hope someone from Tesco, or their landlord, reads this, maybe they could think “Every little (gutter repair) helps”. Talking of wet weather, we’re still on the lookout for an umbrella that doesn’t blow inside out when it’s raining and windy.
The small handbag/manbag size brollies are hopeless. Even a big golfing type umbrella can’t resist a strong wind on a blustery day.
Surely someone, somewhere could invent an umbrella that keeps you dry even when it’s blowing a mini gale.
Hopefully everyone has now recovered from the shock of the EU Referendum result, whichever way you voted.
But we thought it might be interesting to let you know where the dreaded (or not) word Brexit emanated from.
Back in 2012 Citi chief economist Willem Buiter coined the phrase “Grexit” with his Citigroup colleague Ebrahim Rahbari to describe the possibility of financially precarious Greece exiting the Euro zone.
Subsequently “Brexit” was coined by The Economist magazine in 2012 as a twist on the word “Grexit”. So “Brexit” is a combination of the words “British” and “exit”.
There was a time when Ashford didn’t mind having an association with now former England football manager Roy Hodgson. But following England’s disastrous departure from Euro 2016 tournament last week, at the hands of minnows Iceland, we reckon there will not be too many people now recalling Roy’s Ashford links too fondly. The ex Three Lions boss played half a season for Ashford Town, joining in August 1972 and leaving in February 1973 to play in South Africa. He also had spells at Maidstone and Crystal Palace. As a manager, he led Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup finals, and took Inter Milan to the UEFA Cup final in 1997. Unsuccessful managerial spells followed at Blackburn, the United Arab Emirates and Finland, before he became Fulham boss. He then briefly managed Liverpool and West Brom before taking the England job.
As we reported last week, Cineworld has put in a planning application to add another three screens to its cinema at the Eureka Leisure Park, including an IMAX.
This is the latest in a string of proposed new developments that are set to happen in and around the town centre over the next few years.
These include the hotel/ cinema/homes plan alongside Elwick Road, the redevelopment of the former Powergen site in Victoria Way, Chapel Down vineyard’s proposal for a brewery and visitor centre in the same road and the construction of a new Aldi store in the same area.
Then there’s also the proposal for the new model railway centre on the old Newtown rail works site, while construction is now well under way on building scores of new homes on former industrial land off Godinton Road.
The unprecedented scale of new development is amazing.
It’s a bit like buses, you wait ages for one and then a load turns up at the same time.