Long-lost roads will not be forgotten

It’s certainly justifiable to say the street scene in Ashford has changed fourfold, with many roads largely obliterated through redevelopment and the historic streets that remain changing beyond all recognition from how they were in yesteryear.

But it’s the little nooks and crannies of our town of the past that we tend to forget and many have long been buried beneath our feet.

Every corner we turn, many of us reminisce about the lost features of our market town.

Sometimes we are so smothered with the present, we don’t even recall what used to be and just how things once were.

The shopping experience in Ashford has been severely compromised in recent years with the loss of many big names and chains and many hanker after the simpler times, with many saying ‘before planners wrecked our town’.

It’s true to say that Ashford did suffer at the hands of our planning predecessors and perhaps one will agree with a statement that many Ashfordians make by saying ‘the damage was done many years ago’.

While efforts are constantly being made by authorities to rejuvenate the town and encourage investment in Ashford, there are many missing factors that need to be addressed with some factors which can only be rectified by the authorities themselves.

One such gripe of many of us – including myself – is the shopping element in the town centre.

We no longer have the array of shops that we used to have and which the town was known for.

And worse still, the current Covid-19 pandemic is certainly not going to help matters, with many businesses closing for good.

This week’s Remember

When takes a look back at a trio of images illustrating the town of the 1970s.

Do you have any photographs or slides of old Ashford you would be willing to loan me, to enable them to be scanned for possible feature in the Kentish Express?

Please don’t delay, get in touch!

Please email me: rememberwhen_kmash@ hotmail.co.uk

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

Follow me on Twitter: @ SteveKMAshford.

1971 - This picture also of Park Road looks the other way towards Albert Road before the ringway was built. Park Road Post Office can be seen on the left at the junction of Kent Avenue

1976 - Park Road (now obliterated by Park Mall shopping centre) is seen here in the mid 1970s with one-time businesses like Folkestone Glass (pictured left) and the New China City Restaurant (pictured right). Castle Street can be seen in the background

1978 - The Ashford ringway at the time of the new Sainsbury’s store being built (now Wilko) by Canterbury construction company John Wiltshier. Charter House can be seen in the background