Jonathon Wardman

Mark & Spencer in Aldershot Town Centre

The announcement made by Marks & Spencer at the end of June that they intend to shut their Aldershot Outlet store must have come as a real blow to the town’s management team. Rushmoor Borough Council have been pumping money into regenerating the town’s pedestrianised shopping area, the area in which the M&S Outlet takes centre stage. The unit itself is one of the largest in the town centre and sits in a key location half way up the high street directly opposite the town’s main shopping centre, The Galleries. As one of only a handful of clothes shops in the town centre, the closure of the shop would leave a gap in the town centre in not just a physical sense — there would be a severe lack of quality clothing outlets too. [read more]

Aldershot – the coucil’s response

I wrote back in August about a consultation put out by Rushmoor Borough Council regarding a £4.5 million pound regenration scheme of the Aldershot town centre. The response I posted on my blog was the response I gave to the council in feedback. I was apparently one of 280 people to provide feedback on the scheme, and last Monday I recieved an email from the council regarding the consultation.

The majority of you were very positive about the plans and you also took the time to share your own ideas to regenerate the town, which included everything from encouraging new shops to Aldershot, supporting businesses, tidying up shop fronts and building on the town’s Victorian heritage.

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When it snows…

This was the view from my window at 7.35am on the 2nd of February 2009 following what they say was the heaviest snow fall in the UK for nearly 20 years.

I’m not sure that’s true though.  I’ve lived in the north for most of my life, and it’s not unknown to get pretty heavy snow up there.  I remember one winter not long after we had moved to Halifax there was a heavy snowfall.  It came on very quickly and people weren’t prepared.  The council opened the town hall up to look after people stranded in the town centre for the night and schools were closed.  But the council did their thing and next day everything was back to normal.

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