Outrage as iconic shopping centre loved in the 90s to be demolished in just months after ‘spiralling decline’
PEOPLE are outraged as an iconic shopping centre loved in the 90s is to be demolished in months.
Businesses in Park Mall in Ashford, Kent, have until the end of August to vacate after owner Ashford Borough Council said the site is no longer viable.
The local authority states it has “been in a state of spiralling decline for several years and is operating at a significant loss”.
The open-air mall, which opened in 1987, was once home to big High Street names such as Next, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Boots, and was described as the “heartbeat” of the town in its heyday.
Current traders are being offered support amid the impending transition but say they’re worried shoppers will remain loyal after the move.
They are also concerned about potential job cuts.
Rita Bhandari, from Divine Beauty Lounge in the centre, told BBC Radio Kent: “We don’t know where we can move our business to.
“That’s the main thing because we have regular customers from 13 years ago.”
Steven Carroll, Pound Stretcher trainee manager, said they don’t want to risk bringing in more staff to then tell them “in six months they could be out of the job”.
Local resident David Smith said the decision is “absolutely terrible” and urged the council to reconsider.
While shopper Effie Devenish said the town centre is at risk of becoming “empty and unloved”, adding it already “seems to have gone downhill quite a bit”.
Resident Sean Miles told KentLive the council isn’t catering for locals and it feels like the town is “falling to bits”.
Andrew Pardy added: “It will make the cost-of-living crisis much worse as many of the shops that are losing their location are great cost-savers.
“So many shops are relocating to outside of the town – all development is happening outside Ashford and the centre feels neglected.”
The council told the BBC closing the centre will help reduce operating losses at the site and pave the way for potential “redevelopment and regeneration” there.
It added that there are many vacant units in the town centre which it hopes some of the vacating businesses can move to.
Ashford historian Steve Salter believes the decision has come about due to an extension to the neighbouring County Square shopping centre in 2008 and the introduction of Ashford Designer Outlet in 2000.
He told KentOnline I think the outlet extension “has been a huge nail in the coffin” and building it so close to the town centre “should never have happened”.
“And I always thought the council should have made Park Mall undercover like County Square because I think that would have made it more desirable and less open to the elements,” he continued.
“As we have all seen, some of the shops which left Park Mall ended up going to County Square, and the extension there in 2008 made that a better standard too.”
Matthew Abercrombie says he used his life savings to open Vapeology at the site and wants £30,000 in compensation from the council.
Mr Abercrombie, 45, took out a 10-year lease when he filled an empty unit previously occupied by a printing shop in 2019.
But he says he is now “scared” for the future.
The council says traders can apply for a grant of up to £10,000 if they spend the same amount and move to one of the town centre’s vacant units.
However, Mr Abercrombie and fellow trader Vince Monticelli, who owns The Record Store, agrees the grant doesn’t go far enough.
The 66-year-old said: “If there were concern for the businesses then I think something more than this grant would be on offer for us.”
When it opened on a plot previously home to houses and commercial buildings, Park Mall had been in the planning for nearly a decade.
By the 2000s it had attracted a host of national chains. It’s flagship unit was home to Sainsbury’s in the 90s, which attracted plenty of footfall.
The space was later taken up by Wilko – but with many big names already leaving, the bargain retailer also vacated in 2023.
The council secured the leasehold in 2015, with the site still home to around 20 businesses today.
In a statement, the authority said it has “always been clear that our longer-term plans are to redevelop the area away from retail”.
“Initially, (in 2015) it was about taking over an unloved part of the town centre and turning it into a hub for local, independent traders and while we have seen various traders come and go over the past decade, we feel it’s been a success within a really difficult trading period,” it said.
“In recent years, though, we have seen even more challenges across the retail sector including the loss of key anchor store Wilko, which has had a detrimental effect on footfall.
“The advent of the Covid pandemic slowed down any proactive consideration of redevelopment, but it is now time to progress regeneration plans, as the asset cannot support a continued managed decline anymore.”
The Sun has contacted the council for further comment.