Bulldozers disturbed the sound of silence

One expression used by many residents in recent times to describe the everchanging town of Ashford is “that’s progress!”, but not before airing their dismay over the loss of a particular feature or landmark that has long been part of the town’s history.

As a historian with many years’ experience, I still feel that the authoritarians of this town still undersell the rich heritage it contains.

There is much pomp and glory over the modernity of developments in recent years – which to a degree the town benefits from – but there is a sense of wallowing in achievement where these new developments are concerned with barely, if any, due consideration for the town’s old buildings.

There is sadly much evidence of this in every corner of the town.

Even the way that the upkeep of the town’s buildings is dealt with and the way they are presented is a due concern.

Not that long ago, the council had a stance against multicoloured shopfronts with over-bulky signage attached to its landmark buildings, but today we see the buildings on the High Street looking like something out of a Lego kit and others looking rather much like the famous P&O liner Canberra when she came back from the Falklands – all tattered and torn. Rotten windows, weeds growing from guttering and beautiful shopfronts of our heritage assets, some with kinky outfits adorning the window displays like never before.

Ashford – you really have let your standards slip!

Such colourful shopfront and other additions to the town should maybe be reserved for the likes of County Square, where such traders would not look out of place.

County Square, originally the Tufton Centre, was one of the ‘in the name of progress’ developments of the 1970s which saw a number of the town’s local landmark buildings pulled down.

One such building was the Elwick Club, in Tufton Street, which once stood next door to the Post Office that’s still in use today. This week, Remember When looks at a trio of pictures showing the club’s old premises before it vanished.

Do you have any photographs or slides that you would be willing to lend me, to enable them to be scanned and featured in the Kentish Express?

Write to me, Steve Salter, Kentish Express Remember When, 34-36 North Street, Ashford TN24 8JR, email me at rememberwhen_kmash@ hotmail.co.uk or follow me on Twitter @SteveKMAshford.

You can also leave a telephone message for me with brief details by calling 01233 623232.