The lights are again on in Bargain Booze on the High Street, and the shelves are being re-stocked. All the infrastructure is already in there and in a good condition. Notices in the window say SPAR Opening, and Job Vacancies.
There was a fire in the Cottage Imperial on Friday 3rd October 2008. We did not realise back then how long it would take to get it up and running again. There were few signs of the fire outside but inside it had been extensive.
It has finally re-opened and there is 25% off for the first couple of weeks.
The Cottage Imperial is the one on Bridge Street at the corner of Turnagain Lane.
On Heritage Day (Sat 11th September this year) we usually try to organise a competition. Two years ago there was ‘find an unusual object in shop window’. Last year it was a quiz. This year it is ‘Shops – Past and Present’.
These pictures of the Chinese Kitchen – Past and Present, come from The Judy Thomas and Elizabeth Drury book Abingdon – Past and Present. The pictures show the building as it was in 1895 – as the Rising Sun Inn, and the pagoda like replacement that must have shocked people when it first appeared, but which now makes a perfect setting for the Chinese Kitchen.
The competition will be to find as many past and present shops as you can and say what they once were and are now.
The Gift Centre are to move from No 25 Bury Street to No 29 Bury Street, that is between Samuels and Dorothy Perkins.
Currently their picture framing workshop is off site, but at no 29 they will have room upstairs for both picture display and framing.
Their old unit at No 25 will be knocked through to create a larger unit for a national chain.
Who is your money on?