A misty start to Saturday Morning

2 Replies

This morning in town
The view of Abingdon Lock, from Abingdon Bridge, was hidden by a slight mist this Saturday Morning..
This morning in town
Posters have been put up around town announcing a circus, down Wootton Road, at the end of this month, and the annual Michaelmas Fair at the start of October.
This morning in town
Friends of Radley Lakes were on the Market Place, with a well stocked Tombola, with tickets at 50p. Tickets ending in ‘0’ win a prize.
This morning in town
The Cottage Imperial is currently closed, but there is now a notice saying that the premises will soon re-open as The Imperial Express.The lease was up, and the previous people decided, even though they loved Abingdon, to open a restaurant in the rapidly expanding town of Bicester instead.

Les, the remaining residents traffic warden, was doing his rounds in the town centre. He was about to retire this weekend, after 20 years in the job, but has been asked to continue until the new system is put in place. All will soon become clear.

Music at The Northcourt

1 Reply

Thanks to Mark for this …

There is a new music venue in Abingdon at the Northcourt (home of Abingdon United FC)
Music at The Northcourt
Since commencing in April there has been a steadily increasing audience and the decision has been taken to move from one gig a month to two gigs a month starting in February 2016.

The bands income is the door money so the more people they have attending the larger their purse and the more inclined the better bands are to come and visit us here in Abingdon.
Music at The Northcourt
They have had some bands that have been very popular with the audience, such as Egypt pictured above, and such bands get re-booked.

The Music at the Northcourt website has a lot of info, and the Facebook page even more. Thanks to their Facebook for the images.

Next Gig is on September 25th 2015 and features The Jeffery Brothers – Canadian rockers + support.

Abingdon BID voting to take place in October 2015

68 Replies

Abingdon BID
This evening, at the Crown and Thistle in Abingdon, the team behind the Abingdon BID (Business Improvement District) outlined their proposals to representatives from businesses in the town centre.

Ballet papers go out in the first week of October, and the result will be declared on October 29th. There needs to be both a majority of businesses, and also a majority of businesses by rateable value, for the BID to go ahead for five years.

There were also presentations from the Wellingborough BID, Lancaster BID, and Newbury BID telling people what their BIDs had achieved in their areas.

An overview of projects to be funded by the £800K from the BID levy – paid for by businesses in the Abingdon town centre area, over the next five years, would include:

  • Marketing, promotion and PR
  • High-quality events to boost trade
  • Improvements to the town centre environment with parking and cycling initiatives
  • Business support and lobbying on behalf of businesses

Full details are to be found at abingdon.bid

Traffic Mitigation will be successful if Traffic is no worse than before

24 Replies

Two pedestrian crossings are replacing one crossing here in Abingdon. A developer came up with the scheme, and a planning inspector gave it the thumbs up, and so now it is nearly built.
2nd crossing
The 2nd replacement pedestrian crossing, at the top of Ock Street, has caused a lot of traffic problems while being built. And has made it more difficult for pedestrians to cross the roads.
2nd crossing
It also caused a lot of controversy before being built. It is being put in place to allow 158 dwellings to be built on Drayton Road, and should ensure traffic problems are no worse, after the additional housing, than they were before.
2nd crossing
Local people wanted no more developments in South Abingdon without better infrastructure. Local people argued that the development was in the wrong place but that did not sway the planning inspector.