at one point in about 1985 there were 23 shoe shops in Newbury

The control tower would make an excellent community facility, the obvious being bird watching, wildlife talks and the like a fabulous coffee shop underneath for those family weekends walk and bike rides a Cold War interpretation museum and a hundred other uses I am sure. It was I THINK subject to a bid by the Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust a few years ago, but it went nowhere. I am pretty certain that the Greenham Common Trust would stump up the money and they are just reading these posts to see what useful ideas emerge for it. It's well built and I am sure that we are not in any real danger of losing it. Lets hope that someone comes up with a good scheme for its shared use not only for the tower but of the buildings beneath and around it and doubtless a couple of hundred thousand will bring it into use for visitors to Greenham Common. It would be silly not to really, the views up there must be pretty impressive.

To limit access to Donnington Castle car park would be a retrograde step, I use it from time to time and would support others in their plea to ensure that the gate is opened at 7am and closed at say 9pm in the summer months let's say April to September and say 7 am to 6:30pm during the winter say October to March. I am aware that the lead was stolen from the roof of the castle about 4 years ago and the gates being locked would probably have prevented this. Any other exclusion would smack of just that --- exclusivity.

Indeed, so if I decide to go and paint all of the towns bus shelters a nice shade of green or all of the town benches dark blue that's ok, no need to ask permission, just do it and let them know afterwards who it was, because I am not in trouble. Its an absurd notion and under no circumstances shoukd councils or any authority countenance this type of behaviour. Ofcourse we should welcome the active participation of people and no doubt a working party to meet, agree and carry out the work would be fine.

My point is it's just plain mamby pamby to say it's fine they are not in trouble...... Just going around painting other peoples property is no better than grafitti, it's criminal damage as far as most people are concerned, commoin sense on the part of cllr Allen ? no, a very wrong message about local democracy. Perhaps there could be an example where we might be happy for someone to take a brush into their own hands, I suppose if there was obscene language painted there and the council had done nothig to remove it and out of frustration a member of the public had decided to cover it up, then I would perhaps support that. I am not sure if this was the case here.

I am baffled by Newbury Cllr Allens assertion as it appears on the NT website that whoever painted the council skate ramp is not in trouble ? Does this suggest that anyone can go about painting anything they like as long as it is blue ? Perhaps he was not quoted in full context ? I don't know, but I am sure that this sends out a wrong message to young people or is it just me ?

I thought the town did itself proud yesteday, the atmosphere building up to the arrival of the torch was every bit as exciting as the arrival of the torch itself. For those of you that read these posts and were in any way involved then please except thanks from a grateful resident..well done

My staff are looking forward to the Olympic Torch being carried through the town on the 11th. West Berkshire Council have done a good job at telling my business about the arrangements, very informatve leaflet recieved today, no idea how much this is costing though

oh dear, my post was meant to be a little light hearted comment in the midst of a serious moment, didn't really want to commence a conversation about terrorism. Though the prospect of a Chines burn at school was quite often a terrifying one !

over and out

I agree with the ever sensible Black Dog

Do you think The Queen was tempted to give Martin McGuiness a Chinese burn ?

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/drived-...ph-police-chase

Pity the Police did not divert him down the A339 !

THIS MORNING. It took me 25 minutes to get from The Ashford Hill Road where it was backed up to heading West to Newbury, traffic heading East was logged up to Ecchinswell / Greenham Roundabout and slow as far as the Burghclere turning. I also noted a significant number of cars now coming out of the the road that emerges from the left Darling Buds pf May Nursery, these cars looked very much like rat runners to me. Yes at 7:15 last night it was clear heading East.

I did see a man in a high Viz jacket this morning !

And the delays continue, they were tailing back to the Greenham Common / Ecchinswell roundabout this morning heading East and as far back as Cheam school heading west and of course absolutely no work at the weekend and they are finishing by 4.30 each day.

I also leave earlier, I can't bring myself to rat run through other villages, my opening point in all of this is that its not just for a couple of weeks or a month but 50 weeks, yes 50 weeks ! There must be alternative ways of strengthening a bridge such as this without the need for a very long contract time.

Leaving work early today in order to get through the 'roadworks' at Knightbridge, at 4 pm there was no work going on at all, no signs of any contractors whatsoever. School buses for the Clere School have been very heavily delayed, during exam times. It is pretty clear to me that this contract has been poorly let and its going to be very unimaginative in its execution. There is plenty of room to the south to build a temporary lane utilising a little of the Darling Buds field. The really annoying thing is that the restricted lane could have been unrestricted...certainly from 4 pm, who monitors these contracts, who monitors the contractors ?

The Activity farm has been shut for over two years, Darling Buds of May would doubtless suffer any inconvenience for a consideration of a few thousand.
There are relatively few people living very close to the 'roadwaorks' I am sure that they would prefer the whole thing to be over very quickly.

Kingsclere or Headley people should use an HGV route ? ! Have you the first clue as to how much disruption that would be to people, the added distance, do you want people to rat run through Burghclere, Sydmonton, Echinswell to get to Newbury !! you must be a highway engineer, how about some weekend working and evening working using the available light to say 9 pm to shorten the contract period, how about using The Royal Engineers to put in a temporary bridge to the south, surely some short term 24 hour working would hugely decrease the disruption to all, if you wish HGVs to to use the HGV route then great, I would support that, put a weight limit on the A339 from today between Greenham and Headley, that will sort it.

Yesterday traffic was queuing from Kingsclere to the 'road works' at Knightsbridge, it was taking people over an hour to get through. The sign advises us that the 'roadwork’s' will take 50 weeks to complete. Have Hampshire County Council lost the plot, have any of the highway engineers ever driven down that road during rush hour? The hold ups are going to be frustrating beyond belief. There must be a dozen other ways to deal with this. A year to strengthen a two carraigeway bridge ? I drove through at the weekend, too, no 'roadworks' going on, I drove through during the evening, no 'roadworks' going on, but the hold ups and delays will frustrate us for nearly a year, this is astonishing. Any views or experience of this anyone ?

Not missing any point, we could talk about Costa at the retail park too and the costa inside tesco at the retail park and the coffee shop inside M and S at the Retail park and the Starbucks inside the clothes retailer whose name escapes me.

Coffee is what people like to do, just to sit and watch the world go by, it's very much a leisure activity at the moment. The point if there is one to make is that there is a market driven over supply, (the strongest forgive the pun) of the mainstream coffee shops will survive. I hope Lavazza does ok because at the bottom of all this is local people doing local work and we don't want people to lose hard won jobs.

By the way I would never but a coffee in a car dealership !

Lets see now

We have Costa Coffee Northbrook street,
Costa Coffee Parkway,
Boswells Kennet Centre,
Munchies Kennet Centre,
Cafe Nero Kennet Centre,
The Juice come coffee bar in West Mills, Camp Hopsons,
Marks and Spencer,
John Lewis,
Hetheringtons Broadway
Hetheringtons Bartholomew
The Coffee Shop in Weavers Walk
Starbucks.
The Christian owned and run one plus the other that make great sandwiches whose name escapes me in the Arcade
The baguette house in Northcroft lane
A sandwich bar in the Bartholomew Street
The sandwich bar in Inches Yard
The Empire Cafe in Cheap Street.
Then the little coffee shop come French cafe in the Wharf
and the great little coffee shop come cafe tea shop in the Stone Building,
The Corn Exchange coffee bar is now run by the same people.
MacDonald’s
The market Place we have Ask
The Spanish Tappas, they both sell coffee inside and out.
There is also a little Portuguese sandwich /coffee shop in the Market Place as well

So that is I think that is about 24 outlets where you can buy a coffee. 25 if you count the Cornish Pasty Shop. There is no doubt a little over supply at this time. I know for certain that Cost in Northbrook Street and Camps are very down on trade and at some point something will have to give, Starbucks are hit very hard, that’s just market forces, the council at some point will start to think about 'user' but at this time they are just desperate to help fill Parkway that is also under performing in general terms. I am surprised that Lavazza have taken the bold step, I would not invest my cash into that location. Of course the Hatchet now also sells coffee as do other town centre pubs.

The wiser money would stay away, but the difficulty with large operations such as the type that Lavazza wish to be is that they believe all the marketing hype, some of us know that the demographics in Newbury won’t support this level in the longer term and all we are doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul with town centre trade.

The town faces even greater pressure in economic terms in the months to come. In my business we remain very cautious and we are keeping a very close watch on costs. Of course we have to be outwardly positive, but it’s fool who does not say The King is not wearing any clothes !

[quote name='Gazzadp' date='May 31 2012, 01:58 PM' post='62898']
Well I see that the Thames Valley Poolice had a nice little bit of excitement in town today, leading to Park way and half of Victoria Park being cordoned off. Judging on the amount of police officers and PCSO's deployed to cordon the area I would safely bet that that was every police officer and PCSO that was on duty this morning.

Still no doubt the reason that all those police officers and PCSO's were all standing so far back from the crane as they were was no doubt a matter of "Health & Safety" that being that if they were any closer they might have got a crick in their neck from looking up!

Strange thing was they were not in any hurry to get to the bloke, when he climbed down at approx 12.25pm either!

Still alls well, that ends well, Who cares just so so long as the police can have their excitement!

"Move along please, there is nothing to see here" Yeah that unless you are being paid to wear a uniform and watch.


what a sad little post about an incident that could been very much worse, a little decency please.

As I understand it the BID area is very much the town centre from Black Boys Bridge in the South and to London Road in The North. Those business rate payers have now voted by a majority to go for a BID. This will mean a levy that we have voted for of 1% on our business rates. This money will then go into the control of the BID company for spending on BID initiatives. The town and district councils did support the process to get the BID going through their support of the Town Centre Partnership which as I have read has now been closed. The Town and District Councils are each business rates payers and will have to pay the levy (by law) too. But their further support is subject to a so called Base line agreement, this means the council - West Berks had to agree to continue with the delivery of certain services such as street cleaning for example, cart park provision etc, this base line agreement ensures that they can not walk away from pre BID services and leave the BID to pick up the cost, I hope that the town council continues to support the Christmas lights for example.

Not everyone will like the BID idea but it has gone through a process and has been successul in other towns up and down the country. We as Business Rate payers must now ensure that the BID company performs and spends the million pounds that it will recieve over the next 4 years in a wise way that will ensure a busier town centre that my business relies upon. There has been quite a debate here about this BID , I would suggest that people look at the BID web site where I did my research and by talking to the BID people as they came to visit the business to lobby for our yes vote. They got mine, but now they must make progress.

The Vison is an example where WBC wish to plough on with their agenda to knock down the Kennet Centre, build and urban village where the bus station is etc etc and to build their pavillion in the park. So people whatchout for another ten years of upheaval, change traffic chaos. Does anyone know that Bartholomew Street is going to be dug up again this summer by the gas board ?

how much ?????? !!! mind you its not much compared to Nick Carters salary 158K or Stuart Tagg of the Greenham Common charity circa £140k

The council has sent out its invites for the annual Vision Conference landing on the desks of local businesses like mine today. With the new bid coming in to being, that's going to cost me a quite a few quid, will the bid board be left to get on with it or will there be another lot doing their worst to get their way, which will doubtless cost me more than a few quid too

West Berkshire Council wish to demolish the toilets in Victoria Park, they are certainly tired now, unsightly a little, beyond repair mmmmmm I dont think so, thats just daft, has Newbury Town Council had anything to say on this matter. I do hope they will not be demolished until new ones are available ? People in the park need a loo close by, I hope people are not going to be told to use the Wharf loos which are some little walk.

I can't help feeling that the Pavillion is now back on the agenda, removal of the loos will be first little step in the campaign to create an argument for the Pavillon ?