Some things are worth hanging on to

Readers may recall how we carried out a survey back in the summer on the make-up of Ashford town centre’s shops and premises in terms or what kind of traders and businesses occupy them.

Our survey said ..... that with the main shopping areas of the High Street, Bank Street, New Rents, Park Mall, County Square and North Street now boasting 27 hairdressers and barber shops that was the most dominant trade.

The count we carried out prompted reader Peter Oliver of Kennington to contact us to say that back in 1953 he had carried out a similar town centre shops survey within or just outside the ring road.

The results certainly demonstrate how much times have changed.

Back then Mr Oliver found there were an incredible 25 grocers shops, 12 butchers, 10 bakers – but not a single candlestick maker.

There were also 12 confectioners, 18 boot and shoe retailers/repairers and 19 pubs/ hotels.

That’s a remarkable difference to what we have now and perhaps demonstrates how individual trades like butchery and bakery have been consumed into other more general food stores and supermarkets, the bulk of them now located away from the town centre.

Just for reference our 2016 survey counted 15 cafes, 14 restaurants, 12 fast food outlets, 10 estate agents, nine pubs, and nine banks in the town centre, and, sadly, 30 empty shop units.

And we’ve mentioned before what kind of shops we think Ashford town centre is currently missing (i.e. a butcher or DIY shop).

So we were a little surprised to see that the former Savia shop in the High Street, which has been empty for quite a while now, has now become a nail bar.

Thus Ashford town centre now has three nail bars within about 300 yards of each other. And when we say nail bars we mean places where you have cuticles tantalised, NOT where you buy things you hammer into a piece of wood.

And talking of how things used to be you may be surprised by the results of a new survey (oh how Nuts and Bolts loves a good survey), which shows how traditional many of us still are.

The survey of 1,002 UK consumers carried out by grocery delivery service Creamline.co.uk, shows that 54% said they make conscious decisions to shop locally and support local businesses.

One in three still buy milk via a milkman instead of from supermarkets, while 42% get their newspapers delivered to them by a papergirl or boy employed by a corner shop.

Also, 45% of those with a milkman know their name, while 33% of those with a paperboy or papergirl were on first name terms with them.

Rob Purvis, managing director at Creamline.co.uk, said: “It’s interesting to see that so many Britons feel such a strong sense of loyalty to local suppliers – and indeed that so many consumers feel traditional job roles, such as milkmen and papergirls and boys, play such a key role in their sense of belonging.”

If you were asked to ‘hold the line’ in this phone box that’s all you could do, because the telephone receiver has long gone.

This sorry looking and vandalised booth is located in Loudon Way, on Ashford’s Godinton Park estate.

Not only is it completely unuseable, and has been for as long as most people can remember, but with its graffitti-covered back looks a total eyesore.

BT obviously has no plans or wish to repair it, otherwise they would have done yonks ago.

So if that’s the case then why don’t they remove it altogether.

Changing ways of life (mainly the fact that virtually everyone now has a mobile phone) mean public phone boxes are now irrelevant and poorly used.

But in emergencies they can sometime be used, or not in the case of this one.

So here’s a little plea to BT .... either fix this phonebox (which you’re obviously not going to do) or bin it!

Busy Ashford High Street with 25 grocers shops and 10 butchers in 1953 and one of three nail bars in

The vandalised and unuseable phone box in Loudon Way on Ashford’s Godinton Park estate

One in three households still buy milk from a milkman