Life and Death…of a High Street

The Odeon

Lots of stuff in the archive around Folkestone’s Odeon Cinema…an irreplacable theatre now made into Boots. A monstrosity of a building that currently shows all the symptoms as I write this, as going the same way as Debenhams.

If it does then there is the fantastic opportunity to build that cinema our daft Councillors were so misuidedlly rattling on about so recently! 😀

Let’s see how they compare:

Enough said.

So let’s cheer ourselves up and look at some photos of Odeon and the late lamented Sandgate Bar…better known as the Odeon Bar….

Related to the Odeon our archive contains photographs of many events; local bands playing there, it was a venue too you see. Fashion shows aligned with movie premieres, some attended by huge stars of the time like the beautiful Dina Sheridon and superstar Norman Wisdom,

We even a have a shot of one 18 years old Cliff Richard making his escape through crowds on those very steps in 1959 and of course, plus, we have the sought after and only photos taken by my father on 17th May 1964 The Rolling Stones gig.

That kinda drives it home doesn’t it?

Alas, we must soldier on and here’s a sort of round robin view of where we’re at…as we head on up towards Bobby’s

Bobby & Co.

My parents did a lot of work for Bobby’s….we have fashion shows, interiors photos, including the washing machine department, staff dances, and more. I’m not even going to try to write it all up so what you get is the gallery below featured a few selected photographs.

A quick aside here just for a moment….I don’t have exterior shots but opposite Bobby’s in the shop now called “The Works” was a furriers. It was there, the photos are lovely thus I have included them.

Halfway there?

Note Harry Hill in the photo below….there’s a big arrow making him easy to spot! 😀

We’ve reached the crossroads point…on one corner Barclays Bank, when it cared about and even liked people, appraently no longer the case; today it looks internally like a public convenience. On the other side….car crash, resulting from the intrduction of new traffic rules, Folkestone drivers then were, despite this, marginally better than they are now. That’s my the conclusion, but you have to wonder how the three of them manged to do this to themselves.

Over the road then to the competition….Westmister Bank before the merger in 1968 with National & Provincial…also now assymiliated again and then again and then into a huge organisation, RBS Group have a lot to answer for…and that’s just to me personally. Oh for the days when the term banker wasn’t rhyming slang eh!

PAY LATER

Before we move onto the final stretch….

I recall from that tender age taking this photo, it was outside the Electricty Board shop.

This old boy was a delight, utterly charming and patient holding this pose for a teenaged Richard out on the street learning a bit about photography, I have to be honest and tell the truth that I didn’t notice the sign behind him…a happy accident and an amusing lesson!

I’ve included this photo and will do this gentleman a little injustice professionally speaking.

He was great, proper charming as I said but this photo philosphically brings portent and a cautionary tale that has long gone unheard.

This chaps successors are a part of a shameful and inept policy that will be one of the bigger factors in the death of not just the main town further afield inflicting damage here in the sanctity of The Old High Street too.

We bleed customers daily to the damacles sword held over them by parking wardens…every day we open that is, all local shops do.

Death blows

Our local authorities need pull their fingers out more now than ever before. Inept local management by authorites, the nefarious introduction, against the will of the people in 2012 of this catastrophicly damaging “Parking Strategy” have added to the mortal blows dealt the high streets by the internet and now by Covid.

After 2012 the vast majority of shops, one of which was Debenhams, reported verbally an average 46% drop in footfall. FHDC carried on regardless, very nasty, I remember it well.

We all know that parking has to be paid for…but for Gawd’s sake help the town’s traders…..FHDC will you please install barrier parking.

At least partially remove that painful threat our visitors and customers carry of getting a Penalty Notice aka “Souvenir of Folkestone”…that is what it’s known as and it’s that which drives people out of shops and out of our town every day.

The money our traders lose our Council gains in fines. It is a terrible, crooked policy that does untold harm to our local economy, it needs addressing urgently….or you will witness the death of a high street right here in Folkestone, which is in fact, already happening now.

That needed said. Now we can proceed onto the final furlongs!