There is a shop opening on Saturday, at the top of East St Helen Street, where Local Roots once was.
There is no sign yet but the screen says …
“Mobile Accessories … Laptop & PC Accessories … Storage Devices … … Gaming Zone”
A story appeared in the Caterer and Innkeeper a couple of days ago …
“Oakman Inns and Restaurants has bought the freehold of the Crown and Thistle in Abingdon-on-Thames and it is due to close in January for a £1.4m refurbishment.
Oakman will completely overhaul the bar and restaurant areas to create a modern pub comprising a restaurant and two bars, as well as 19 bedrooms.”
This is in addition to the development of the Nags Head Inn, the Old Post Office Inn or however Weatherspoons re-name the business, and the new restaurants in the Old Gaol.
In the Spring 2009 Town Crier there was a picture of the official opening of the Mousehole Cafe in 1959 with a very early Italian coffee machine.
After the Mousehole closed, the cellar lost some of its sense of fun.
On 8th July 2012, the cellar re-opened as a cafe again, run by Throwing Buns, and called Basement Buns. It seems to have again found that Joie de vivre.
If anybody has any pictures of the days of the Mousehole in days gone by, please let Phil and Kate, from Throwing buns, know. They would like to display some pictures of their heritage.
Bath Street is the one shopping street in the town centre that has not yet been repaved, although the flower beds at one end, and the war memorial at the other have seen improvements.
At the further end of the street shops like Marie and Masons have many followers, but some of the businesses in the middle of the street do not seem to have fared so well.
The florist has closed, and last week, to add insult to injury, somebody went on the rampage and broke their shop window, and those of some other Bath Street shops.
Next door, was once a well known letting agency, which has not been re-let. Now, there is a planning application to create more accommodation at the rear of this shop and above. Flats do work and bring in money.
But it is to be hoped, once the nearby precinct work has been completed, that increased customer footfall will benefit Bath Street.