Fairacres – 5 years on from the £4.7m re-modelling and refurbishment

9 Replies

It is about 5 years since the Fairacres Retail Park had a £4.7m major re-modelling and refurbishment.

Post Christmas Sales are on all around the park, and Homebase had 20% off everything TODAY. In smaller print it said “if you spend £50 or more.”
Fairacres - 5 years on
Homebase, Pets at Home and Contact Electrical are much the same as five years ago, although Contact Electrical and Comfortmaker next door are now run by Beales – a company with 32 stores, whose original store opened in 1881 and is still at the same location in Bournemouth.
Fairacres - 5 years on
There are Closing Down notices in the window of Beales electrical shop. The smaller print says “TV & Audio Department”.
Fairacres - 5 years on
Argos is still there, alongside Subway, but the shop next door closed about a year ago, and is awaiting a new tenant.
Fairacres - 5 years on
Then there is Carpet Right who now sell beds.
Fairacres - 5 years on
Dreams, who sell hundreds of beds, might get their own back by also selling a few carpets …
Fairacres - 5 years on
and finally Vineys, an Abingdon original, now owned by Lee Longlands.

The look of the retail park and the names of most of the stores (apart from Vineys) are well known throughout the UK.
Fairacres - 5 years on
But the retail park is run by The Abingdon Mays who used to have their own chain of carpet shops, and they still do what they can to promote Abingdon Town Centre – where they started out.

Champion House Knocked down for 24 Sheltered Apartments

11 Replies

Champion House
Champion House, the large Edwardian House next door to John Mason School, on Wootton Road, has been demolished.
Champion House
An archaelogical survey says the house was built around 1914 on the site of an orchard that had once been a quarry. More recently the building has been used as offices by Oxfordshire County Council Care Services.

The plan is to turn the area into 24 sheltered apartments with communal facilities including parking.

A previous plan for Champion House was rejected and rejected again on appeal in 2011, but having modified the plans to make more space at the front, and reduce the size of the building, plans were approved in 2012. The town council strongly objected to the original plans, worried by a narrow entrance for traffic near a school, but had “No Strong Views” in 2012.

New Years Boundary Walk 2006 & 2013 – compared

1 Reply

two pictures compared
Martin Smith led the boundary walk in 2006 (when I first started doing this blog) and was still there leading the walk in 2013. On both occasions he was accompanied by a town crier who rang the bell and announced to anybody in earshot that we were walking the 1556 bounds of Abingdon. In 2006 we all went into a private garden to see a boundary stone and were given mince pies – something I’ve not experienced since.
two pictures compared
This year we could not follow the normal route along the Ock Valley Walk, which is still underwater, and so went down Caldecott Road instead. At one point we saw where the canal bridge would have been.
two pictures compared
We also made a small diversion at Box Hill Walk to view where Fitzharris House once stood, and saw the Motte.
two pictures compared
The other change from 2006 was that we could now cross the new bridge over what was the Abbey Mill Stream.

2012: Diamond Jubilee, Olympics and flooding. 2013: Here We Come!

15 Replies

2012 quick look back
On Jan 1st the Town Crier kindly posed with the boots and sack as we walked round the 1556 Abingdon boundary.
February did celebrate Valentine’s Day but most people were already looking forward to the olympics.
March brought Mark Steele to town as part of the Abingdon Arts Festival.
In April people competed to see who could throw a bun the furthest and help the councillors during the diamond jubilee bun throw.
2012 quick look back
In May was the amazing Abingdon Air and Country Show.
In June was the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and James May came with various contraptions to help councillors throw buns. It poured with rain but we showed Dunkirk Spirit.
In July Abingdon Museum was re-opened, and the Olympic Torch was carried through Abingdon.
2012 quick look back
In September the postponed Dragon Boat Racing took place – postponed because the river was flooded earlier in the year. The year started with a drought and hose pipe ban.
October brought the Ock Street Fair.
November brought floods, and December brought yet more floods.
2012 quick look back
Throughout the year contractors have been working on the Abbey Shopping Centre. Their super human efforts will hopefully mean a Happy New Year for Abingdon with shops like M&S and Debenhams queuing up to be part of this wonderful town.