Abingdon Town Council have put some tubs with floral displays outside the shops at Reynolds Way. Forno also have their own enclosure with flowers.
However all is not as good as it could be. There have been two shops closed for nearly two years. McColl’s Newsagent and Post Office closed two year ago. The Chinese takeaway / chip shop closed soon after.
The three litter bins, outside the shops, were removed by Vale of White Horse District Council, and they were needed.
There has been some scaffolding holding up the Reynolds Way wall for about 18 months. The wall with community art murals is the back of a row of garages owned by Sovereign Vale Housing. Work could be pending but it is taking time.
Thank you for highlighting South Abingdon. People tend to forget this part of Abingdon. Yes it was a shame that the popular chip shop/chinese takeaway and the post office/papershop were closed. The shop area looks very delapidated now. The Vale of the White Horse does nothing for South Abingdon.
Janet, I don’t know the full details but from what I gathered on this blog, the Vale had nothing to do with the closures of these two businesses.
When you say nothing is done for South Abingdon….what would you like to be done?
The Vale sold the leases to the shops to one person who had an interest in evicting the papershop and post office. It was a bad move to allow one person control of all the shops,. We lost the post office which was needed for all the elderly and disabled who find it difficult to go to the town. Well for a start I would like the Vale to start rebuilding the wall of the garaged to get rid of all the unsightly scaffolding.
I’m not sure what the Vale can do about the wall? As backstreeter said it’s owned by Soverign. Maybe you could send them an email or letter Janet?
I also imagine that the paper shop would have closed no matter who owned it as the one in Northcourt and Peachcroft closed as well.
I agree the area looks tired but I’m not sure we can blame the councils for everything
and the Council to compulsorily purchase back the empty properties, so that one man no longer has the control to keep them empty for the benefit of his shop.
I`m glad too that you have highlighted South Abingdon and the shops at Reynolds Way. The pharmacy there is helpful and there is never a queue. Forno`s have made their
shop front as attractive as they possibly can. They deserve to be much better known – not just in parts of South Abingdon. Their pizzas are the best we have tasted and are really reasonably priced. (unsolicited testimonial!) Two positive reasons for coming to South Abingdon!
Thanks for the reminder about Fornos – when they first opened they didn’t do deliveries which was a downside for us from the other side of the Ock, but now they do so we’ll add them back to our list! And yes, I heard lots of good reports about the pharmacy when we were doing AbiMeds.
Thank you. I will contact Sovereign to ask when they are going to do something about the wall and the scaffolding. It has been there for some time already.
Ah Really glad to see Forno`s work. It is by far the best pizza. I remember talking to the guy when I was there sometime ago…seemed a really genuine guy with a real knowledge of Italian food. This has reminded me and I will definitely get down there. As saId previously, deserves to be much better known in Abingdon..streets ahead of the scummy pizza chains. 🙂 🙂
I am pretty sure that Sovereign sold these garages at auction (Allsop LLP) about four months ago……..Ian