Waiting game as Covid closes library

1976 - The town’s much-missed Ashford Library in Church Road that opened in 1966 and was demolished and replaced in 2010 by Ashford Gateway Plus, a business model of Kent County Council

For decades, book lovers among us have been reliant on both libraries and bookshops to feed their interests. Though Ashford hasn’t as many bookshops as it used to have, splendid stores such as Waterstones still exist in the town.

We also have a smaller selection of books at WHSmith and The Works to choose from, too.

For those who want to not necessarily buy a book, the town’s long-standing library service has long proven popular among local people.

Sadly the pandemic and tier 1953 - Geerings of Ashford at 80 High Street (now Tesco) had a popular lending library many years back but disappeared in the 1960s following the upgrading of county-level services restrictions have necessitated the closure of our library service as a precautionary measure, and it does seem that these have been closed for a lifetime.

With no sign of restrictions being lifted until the vaccine is rolled out to all that accept it, there’s no chance of business as usual for the much-used and appreciated library facilities.

Ashford’s facilities were upgraded almost 11 years ago now when the splendid and much-missed 1966-built library was bulldozed in favour of the Kent County Council ‘model’ Gateway Plus.

Although boasting thousands of books, some say they preferred the old library and its reference, railway and local studies facility.

The town’s county library existed as early as the

1930s, but some long-lost independent stores such as Winds and also Geerings had a library service in bygone times.

In previous eras, these services were offered by businesses up and down the country.

Many retailers in Europe still offer lending libraries as a standalone business today, something that has sadly died out long ago in the UK.

This week’s trio of images illustrate the locations of the library services in the town in previous times.

Many thanks to the late

Richard Filmer for the Geerings picture.

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, 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

Or you can also leave a telephone message for me with brief details by calling the Kentish Express office in Park Mall on 01233 623232.

Thousands of babies started their lives in the Victorian buildings of Willesborough Maternity hospital but in January 1982 the three-and-half acre site was sold to developers after Environment Minister Michael Heseltine gave the go-ahead for its use as an industrial estate and factory units