Beloved hotel torn down for Sainsbury’s

In recent months, we have looked at the shopping experience in Ashford in times past, and this week we take a rare look at the site of another of the town’s larger chain competitors of the late 1960s.

The one-time site of the Courage-owned Saracen’s Head Hotel at the corner of High Street and North Street had been snapped up by Sainsbury’s

in 1966.

Its first store in the town at 18 High Street (now part of NatWest), will be remembered for its counter service, its marble counters and its beautiful Minbehind ton tiles, which once adorned the walls of the counter service stores up and down the country.

The store featured a beautiful mahogany screen at the rear of the premises, where the cashier would take payment from the customer for their purchases.

Sainsbury’s operated from there for over 30 years, and by the 1960s, the popular chain deemed many of its ‘counter service’ stores too small.

Further along the High Street, and much to the disgrace of local people, planning had been passed for Sainsbury’s to demolish the Saracen’s Head Hotel to build its new self-service store.

The Saracen’s had for many years stood at the corner of the High Street and North Street.

The hotel proved a popular venue, and together with its bar ‘Saracen’s Head Shades’, it is still sorely missed today, by the generations of Ashfordians that used it.

The futuristic-styled building was constructed by local builder Messrs Epps, and these rare pictures taken in 1967, as viewed from Middle Row and also Park Street, illustrate an unobstructed view of the church.

Two of the three views could

The new supermarket opened in 1968, but history again repeated itself, this time after a shorter spell, new larger premises opened in 1978, the High Street site. The 1968 premises became Boots the Chemist in 1979, and the chain’s last town centre location closed in 2000, to become the recently departed Wilko store. Sainsbury’s opted for out-oftown shopping, and opened its Warren Retail Park store in 1992, and the store has been progressively extended since its opening. This week’s trio of images illustrate the fortunes of the site following the demolition of the Saracen’s Head. Do not you have any picture memories of the town of Ashford that you would be willing to share with readers? Email me at rememberwhen_kmash@hotmail.co.uk

1967 - The former site of the Saracen’s Head Hotel seen here prior to the construction of a new Sainsbury’s

1963 - The High Street elevation of the Saracen’s Head Hotel pictured at the start of the 1960s

1967 - A rare and unobstructed view of the former Saracen’s Head Hotel site while being prepared for the new Sainsbury’s