Quiet town, years before lockdown

With the challenging times of the last few years, with Brexit and the Covid crisis, everyone in one shape or form desperately wants normality back and longs for the way things used to be, even though normality seems a distant memory.

We took everything for granted and unless it was a special occasion that occurred just prior to last March, many of us haven’t any memory of exactly what was our daily routine.

It may take longer than we all want it to, but a sense of normality will prevail sooner or later.

Some argue that normality ended some 30, 40 or even 50 years ago in what, for many, were largely preferable times.

Little of this arguing about vaccinations and bickering over European law and the European governments’

disgruntlement over us not wanting to be part of their ‘club’ any more.

Yes I know there were difficulties in past times, but modernity has brought some of the most difficult times in many of our lifetimes.

Officials aren’t backwards at coming forwards to show us their true colours - take Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen, for example!

Back in the 1970s, much was different in our world and on the High Street things had remained stable for hundreds of years, even through two World Wars.

Businesses didn’t go bust in their droves, as they inevitably have with the pandemic.

Pre-war businesses came out the other side and it wasn’t until the 1980s at the earliest that many of these disappeared due to modern challenges. In more recent times this has been the growth of online shopping.

Ashford was and has never been Canterbury or Maidstone, but it still had many reasons to justify and sustain trade in its heart and particularly on the High Street.

Many long-standing businesses that existed at the time call these the good old days.

This week Remember When takes a look back at how the centre of Ashford looked in 1976 and in the days before Sunday trading.

Many thanks to John Wallage whose late mother, professional photographer Valerie Wallage, took these splendid pictures perfectly depicting the era.

■ Do you have any photographs or slides of old Ashford that 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!

Email me: rememberwhen_ kmash@hotmail.co.uk

2 1976 - Comparable to an early lockdown scene from 2020, this deserted scene illustrates North Street post-opening of the Ringway which encircles the town today, albeit altered from its original format. It’s hard to believe that in 1962, adjacent landowners applied to demolish these beautiful old buildings.

3 1976 - The buildings remain largely the same, but the businesses have come and gone. The historic quarter of Middle Row still retains some business including Church View Tea Rooms, Your Move estate agents, a massage centre and a barbers but nothing like the capacity or success of the 1970s, for example.

1 1976 - A splendid view of the Upper High Street shortly after pedestrianisation for the comfort of shoppers and the completion of the Tufton Centre. Note the vacant site on the right of the picture with Marks & Spencer’s and the stores along New Rents yet to materialise.