Loss of Debenhams will hurt our town

Next week, the corporate restructuring of Debenhams will see the company turn its back on four towns in Kent, leaving a huge void in Ashford, Canterbury, Folkestone and Chatham.

As far as Canterbury and Folkestone are concerned, the loss of the stores and the jobs they bring will be a considerable one for the chain has operated from both towns the longest out of any other town in Kent.

Elsewhere, towns such as Chatham and Ashford have gained a Debenhams store relatively recently.

The Chatham high street store had previously been the home of defunct department store chain Allders, while Ashford’s opened as a new build 11 years ago.

The move by Debenhams will leave some of the towns affected without a department store of such proportions for the first time in 100 years – Ashford being one of them.

It’s a huge blow to lose a reputable chain such as Debenhams for any town, but to lose a dominant local retailer is not good at all.

One feels for the staff in particular who have been displaced and lost their jobs in the move across all the store closures.

There was an element of huge excitement in Ashford when residents knew the flagship store in the new

County Square development was to be Debenhams and it’s awfully sad to think it is now ending its association with the town.

It was a big deal for Ashford to have a Debenhams and indeed an M&S and a BHS but, after Sunday, January

19, Ashford will officially no longer have a department store.

With the M&S unit up for sale at County Square and Primark refusing to come to the town, we really could do with some good news in the ever-turbulent retail sector in our town centre.

Folkestone and Canterbury are already looking how to fill these huge voids, even speaking of a possible cinema in the soon to be vacant Folkestone store, but within a shopping centre, one imagines the task to fill such a prestigious unit to be more difficult due to permitted use.

This week, Remember When looks back to a trio of images showing the construction of the Ashford Debenhams between 2005 and 2008, and the store on opening day in 2008.

■ Do you have any photographs or slides of old Ashford you would be willing to loan me?

Please don’t delay, feel free to get in touch.

Write to me: Steve Salter, Kentish Express Remember When, Unit 4, Park Mall Shopping Centre, Ashford, Kent, TN24 8RY.

Email me: rememberwhen_ kmash@hotmail.co.uk

Shoppers flocked to the new store which is seen on opening day in 2008

The new flagship Debenhams store under construction at County Square in 2006