The hoarding came down earlier in the week and the smartened up ex Post Office is ready when Wetherspoon choose to move in. I can’t see Abingdon among the ‘new pubs opening soon’ on the Wetherspoon website which says “We recruit for our new pubs six to eight weeks before they are due to open. ” So could still be months rather than weeks but we will see.
why does everything in Abingdon take ages to get off the ground?
I was told that the bar has been built (local carpenter) and I looked through the window and it still needs decorating so maybe a June opening ready for the summer?
This looks good but noted this afternoon while walking home that there is no ramps or low level access to the main door. My wife is in a wheelchair so if we want to go for a drink, I would have problems getting her chair into there. Will there be folding ramps or something to let disabled people in there?
I think you have a rogue comment here backstreeter.
usually something is put in – there’s a former cinema in whitsable that’s now a wetherspoon and there’s a mechanical lift.
obvious question is, how did disabled get inside when it was a post office?
Thanks Pat (4). The rogue comment software misses some but gets most.
I remember a ramp in the porch on the left hand side – but I can’t remember if it went right down to street level. Was there a separate little ramp for the step?
It looks a very formal building at the moment with the black heavy doors . I cant wait to see inside and cheap drinks for the summer .
Helen, yes, I’m pretty sure there was.
might be open for September is what I am hearing !
Just walked past there today – I can’t see them getting disabled access up those steps. But maybe there will be a rear entrance?
No sign of a ramp ?…. I’m sure they’ll get right on it after they’ve finished the zip wire for easy access to the bookies opposite… Wetherspoons “catering for a the all day drinker” !
Disable access ramp for Post Office used to be to the left of the door. (cutoff from picture). It was (if I remember), at ground level.
But badly designed, because the large parcel window queue was in the same place!……
My late father was in an ‘attendant’ wheelchair.
There were signs of activity in the Old Anchor this afternoon and it’s no longer being advertised on the GK website. Anyone any news?
I heard today on BBC that new river that owns the abbey precinct will be doing a deal with a major retailer . The program asked how can they improve Abingdon most people said free parking and sort out traffic .
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22154456
I hope they sort something out – it just needs one big name to make the leap and then Im sure others will follow
The shops have lost vast amounts of trade and some have gone out of business because of the redevelopment . You imagine if you went to work and your boss said i am having an extension done on my house and i am going to cut your wages to cover it . This is how shop keepers are feeling and when you go into their shop they still greet you with a smile . New river should give each shop some compensation it would nothing compared to the 4.5 million total cost of building .
Here is a CGI of the finished article is still to be leased.
http://red.capitasymonds.co.uk/1/properties/Abingdon/info/Documents/Final%20Brochure%20Abingdon.pdf
…some of the shops have closed for other reasons; nothing to do with the development. But this of course won’t suite any negative nay-sayers out there or make such a ‘good’ ‘bad’ story.
Daniel I went into town today and the only shop i saw that was busy was costa coffee . The book shop new look , Frend & co, Abingdon fashion , Qs , Outdoor traders gift centre , Dorothy perkins were empty . Have you not heard the BBc report . The footfall has halved thats 50% lees takings for shops there will be more shops closing soon trust me . I do not want to see anymore shops close for christs sake cut the business rates and help these shops if people are not spending money in them the owners are going to cut staff its simple
I must agree town was quiet today people are not shopping for goods only errands .
The number of parking hours through the car park ticket machines has increased since the two hours free parking started. It cannot be simultaneously true both that footfall is down and visits by car are up.
I was in town today too at about 2ish. I went to the library which was pretty busy, then to AfCIC on Bath Street which had about eight customers browsing and buying, then to Barclays where two other people were at the counter when I got there and one came in behind me. Then to Loyds pharmacy one waiting , two came in when I was waiting and then two as I left. The Co-op had one till open and three people queuing at it. Then I sat in the Market Place for a bit and watched a lot of the world go by. Did you notice six chaps in suits doing business at an outdoor table at Costa?
Neither your town visit or mine are statistically significant. You can go into town at any particular time and see a totally different picture.
Some shops close because the business doesn’t need a shop, others close because the business doesn’t work. That’s normal, not a tragedy that needs to be prevented by government intervention. I say government because business rates are not set locally by town councils or county councils but by government.
Get and petition the government over this instead of whingeing here. However bear in mind that taxation serves a purpose and we can’t all have more help for businesses yet pay less taxes. Business make money and tax needs to be paid: that is what makes the world go round.
NewRiver Retail – General – UK, NewRiver gives update across its portfolios achieves new lettings and plans developments
Date: 09 Apr 2013
Completion of the refurbishment of The Abbey Shopping Centre, Abingdon, Berkshire
NewRiver, as asset manager of the Abbey Shopping Centre for Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, has managed the extensive £3.7 million refurbishment and modernisation of the Centre through to completion. As part of the redevelopment NewRiver has constructed two new large retail units for which it is in advanced letting negotiations with leading retailers, has redesigned the Centre’s entrance and frontage and is currently engaged in the rebranding of the Centre.
Afraid I have to disagree ‘Rachel – the other one’. Town Centres are much more than a collection of businesses, they also serve as the Social Hub of a community. Lose the shops and you lose the communal meeting place.
As such, they deserve outside support from Government and, most especially, from the locals.
Do we really want a life where the majority of our social interaction (and shopping choice) is in the hands of the soulless supermarkets giants?
Well said Cassandra The local council can find 3.5 million for the guild hall but will not help the shops they got
Just to clarify…you want “the council” (which one of the 3?) to pay or give 3.5 million pounds to the shops and presumably businesses in Abingdon? Is that correct?
Which businesses? Just the ones in the centre, or all of them? Up to what boundary? All the ones down ock street, or just some?
I assume you want the Business Rates paid for, specifically?
Out of interest, throughout the precinct development, and before, it is fairly easy to spot the businesses where the interested parties are out in wind, rain and snow handing out flyers, drumming up business, smiling at potential customers, speaking to people etc….and it’s equally easy to spot the businesses that appear to sit in their shops with a face as grey as the weather wondering where everyone is, expecting people to part with their cash with seemingly no “upping of their game” to counter the circumstances.
I wonder which ones of those two differing types of business will survive…and which won’t?
And with that in mind, should all the businesses who are doing all they can get your council funded help, or should the un-proactive ones get it. Or perhaps both?
Perhaps if there’s no business rates some shops can continue to do nothing and survive a little longer … But then what? Who can they blame next?
Daniel how about a rate free holiday for six months for all businesses in the town centre effected by the redevelopment . You can smile to people all you want it makes no difference if you was an Aston Martin dealer and blew me a kiss and give me a flyer i still would not buy it . I tell you a way to get all shop staff and owners smiling try getting the council to advertise the town so the footfall increases so instead of the shop owners taking £20 per day they take £200 then they will praise the town . They are not going to be pleased when people have got the same shops in Wantage & Didcot and they are earning double because their town is better .
@Daniel dont make me laugh sweet choclate are always polite and many people eat sweets . They have to close during the week because everyone buys sweets in poundland . Ybuynu tried to be different and did everything the town asked with plus size clothing kids clothes and be like a ebay shop and they have closed within a year .
The newsagents news plus have shut or are you saying people dont like sweets clothes and newspapers and tobacco .
The bookshop in the precinct has been in the oxford mail and bbc news several times complaining the development has killed them and there has been no discount in rates .
It is people like you who are blind make the town worse like sweet chocolate said 15 empty units does this sound like a town that is doing well dream on . The only people who know how bad the town is doing is the shops owners and they want free parking and rate cuts . I will make it simple for you if your house value decreases drastically it will be rebanded for a lower council tax which you would be over the moon about . However it it wend down in value and you still paid the same amount you would be crying . The rates set for shops was in the boom when shops made mega money now it is a recession and the town has had a double wammy of the redevelopment .
Man + Man, fair enough; a rate reduction is what we need. Let me know who you write to and I’ll send a letter as well.
(I don’t see why I’m blind though…or why I am making the town worse?)
@Daniel you are making it worse keep saying how good it is when clearly it is not go around and ask . I bet many people say i dont bother going into Abingdon its rubbish .
Does anyone reading this think that there is anything good about Abingdon?
Sorry Abbo man I think I must be missing something – you think lower business rates would solve the problem, but business rates are set by central government, so the only way they can be “reduced” is for local councils to subsidise them out of our council tax. But there is a cap on increases in Council Tax so they could only do that by reducing services. It would be interesting to hear what you think should be cut to generate the money to support the businesses?
Also, re one of you earlier comments, we will be able to find out more about the Guildhall plans when the consultation starts tomorrow, but what it says in the paper today is that there are 6 options and we, the public, are being asked our opinions on which they should go for. Also, that they do NOT have 3.5 million – if we want them to spend that much they will have to raise some of it from elsewhere.
So there’s your opportunity – go along to the consultation, tell them that you don’t want a cinema/arts/social centre for the town, like Didcot and other places have, and suggest they redirect the money to support the shops…
@Hester you can have all the social places you want such as a cinema theatre etc . Where are you parking then ! there is not enough parking in town now to visit the shops let alone new developments . Spend a few million on the traffic build a bridge from culham to preston road or a new road off Drayton road to to a34 .
abbo man is right….the key issue is the traffic / parking…
I dont care who writes on here you can not tell me any different i have been up town all day today and its dead . I encourage any independent business owner that does not sell food or drink to write on here today and say trade was good and you made a profit state your name and business . Have you seen the cars parked down Wilsham road do you want to park up and have some lunch and watch the river well forget it because from 8am – 5pm there is no spaces . The best thing you can do with the guild hall is demolish it and get more parking and why you are at it make it free . The cinema will only seat 100 people that is not even enough for 4 single mums
Hi – I went into Abingdon yesterday and it wasn’t dead. I really do think this board has too much doom-mongering…..parking/traffic is a key issue, but there are lots of positives e.g. OlD Gaol, Crowne Thistle, River, New Thai, New Lebanese, investment in houses and one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
If the town is not dead why is there 15 empty units and 2 new large retail units still empty . The large retailers would have bought the tenancy before it was built if the town was any good . New river are begging for retailers to come to the town so say for free .Nick R everything you mentioned was food and drink .
According to a couple of correspondents, a car parking space in town can’t be found for love nor money, yet the town is also empty of people.
Moody man – one word answer – recession.
– and what is wrong with having a good selection of food and drink outlets – maybe we buy everything else online, maybe its quite nice to have a town centre with outlets where people spend time and talk to one another, rather than just shopping for material “stuff”.
Hester yes you are right i noticed how the recession has ruined Witney & Wantage & Didcot you are wrong footfall is down and people are going out of Abingdon to shop or have you not noticed the traffic problem . People are moaning about the amount of coffee shops now as that is all Abingdon is. lets have some big brands shops here .
Goodbye QS another empty unit coming soon but dont worry because Abingdon is on the up ….Yeah right
Good spot abbo man. Darn it….more parking…if only we had more parking!
I see The Grapes is up for sale on Rightmove
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