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Aldershot town centre manager David Phillips
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Manager promises improved Aldershot town centre

By Nicola Hudson
November 11, 2009

THE town centre manager for Aldershot has promised residents and shoppers that immediate improvements are to be made to the town.

David Phillips has drawn up an action plan outlining the work needed to tackle issues of concern, including cleanliness, empty shop units and appearance of the town centre.

He has put his job and reputation at stake by claiming that if people cannot see a noticeable difference in Aldershot in six months time then he will have failed as town centre manager.

Mr Phillips produced a list of measures for implementation after carrying out an audit of Aldershot.

He spoke to traders and spent time walking around the town to find out which were the most basic problems that could be improved quickly.

Shops have expressed concern to Mr Phillips that in its current state Aldershot will not attract enough customers in the run-up to Christmas, a time when businesses will be hoping to increase their takings after a poor year.

Within the last fortnight Rushmoor Borough Council has had a team cleaning the High Street car park and painting the stairwells.

Chewing gum removal company Gum Clear has been busy on the streets, with Victoria Road, Station Road and Wellington Street on their list of places that have gum litter problems.

During the next few days pictures will be placed in the windows of three empty shop units in Wellington Street, depicting Aldershot in the 1900s and displaying the shops that are open in The Arcade.

Mr Phillips hopes that when hundreds of people arrive in Aldershot on Saturday for the annual Christmas lights switch-on they will be impressed enough to return for their Christmas shopping.

He said: “The overwhelming message I was getting from traders was that while some of the bigger long-term projects are important, their immediate concern is for the simple basic things in the town that will affect them on the day to day basis.

“They are the issues we are looking to address, with some completed before the Christmas lights are turned on and some before the start of Christmas.”

Ken Lamplugh of the Aldershot Civic Society praised Mr Phillips efforts to improve the town and said he has done an excellent job so far.

“We are very pleased with him. He’s been around the shops a lot and I think he’s getting the shop owners together to discuss the future of Aldershot,” Mr Lamplugh said.

“I do think that what he’s done has been good for the town.

“We are looking forward to working with him during the next couple of months.”

Meanwhile, Mr Phillips said it is important that the message gets out to the community that things are starting to happen in Aldershot.

“People need to start seeing evidence that things are changing and they will start to change over the next few months,” he said.

“If people don’t think anything’s been done in six months time then I’ll have failed in my job but that won’t be the case.”

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"Kate Austin, Pizza Express and Nandos & six other Restaurant's are signed up for Westgate"

This IS very good news for Aldershot - and long overdue - but it would be nice to see something unique that makes people from Fleet / Farnham / Camberley want to visit the town.

It is the same everywhere. As the old established businesses close we see the same old names monopolising the high street. The reasons are obvious - high rents and high business rates pricing out the small business man. The Internet has also made it harder for small businesses to succeed. Empty premises then become charity shops, modern equivalent of the penny bazzar... or worse still... yet another mobile phone shop. (the lesson here is 'use it or lose it'. I do try to use local shops and tradespeople whenever I can afford to and would encourage others to do the same.)

pjt
17/11/2009 at 13:51

I totally agree with Kathy, that getting in some of these big names retailers would be fantastic for the town. However, it’s clear that they’re not in a position to come in at he moment, particularly in the current economic climate. My immediate job, I believe, is to improve the appearance of the town to make it a place that will appeal to these retailers. The ‘action plan’ referred to in the article, includes covering empty shop units, removing scruffy signage, replacing old bins, encouraging shop owners to redecorate their shop frontages…nothing particularly revolutionary, just basic stuff, but things that I hope people will notice and will make a real difference.

The comments I made about making improvements within six months have been taken out of context. I was told by the reporter interviewing me that someone had emailed her recently to say that a ‘two day a week’ Town Centre Manager would not be enough. My response was that only time would tell. If in six months time people didn’t think that anything had been done to improve the appearance of the town then I would be failing in the job, and this person would be correct. I’m not complaining… it’s great that the News is paying such an interest in the town at the moment. It’s also a very good piece of journalism by a very good reporter. It’s just not a true reflection of what I said. In six months time, we’re not going to be looking at Rodeo Drive, but I’d hope we’ll have a clean, tidy and well maintained town centre.

By the way, I’ve noticed that there are a number of people who regularly comment on this site about Aldershot. If you want to speak to me direct about anything to do with the town centre, I’d love to hear from you at david.phillips@rushmoor.gov.uk or on 01252 329155, or just pop into the Princes Hall.

David Phillips Town Centre & Cultural Manager

David Phillips
17/11/2009 at 08:57

Reply to Kate Austin, Pizza Express and Nandos & six other Restaurant's are signed up for Westgate. Its just go's so show, if you have the right environment in our Town, retail investment will come. As Westgate shows they want to come here.

So having some of the town issues, that is stopping Retail chains coming to our Town being addressed, can only make it more desirable for Retail investment.

stephen dawson, Aldershot
14/11/2009 at 14:06

We have heard so much from others that they will improve Aldershot and yet we still wait, If Mr Phillips can do what he says then we all wait in the wings and see what he can do in 6 months especially when we have waited for over 20 years or more.

Great some that says they can do it in 6 months

we will just wait and see won't we?

Aldershot Born
13/11/2009 at 20:56

Pianting stair wells and removing gum is nice, but what you really need to do is get some retailers in to the empty shops. Proper retaillers as well, companies like - River island, Primark, Zara and Mango, Body Shop, Soccer Scene, Fat Face to name a few. Restuarants like Zizi's, Pizza Express and Nandos, Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Not the pound shops and kebab houses that seem to be attracted to to Aldershot in their hundreds, There is only one reason to visit Aldershot at the moment and that is Marks and Spencers Food dept and even that is done first thing on a Saturday morning to get in and out as quickly as possible.

Kathy

kate austin
13/11/2009 at 16:14

"He has put his job and reputation at stake by claiming that if people cannot see a noticeable difference in Aldershot in six months time then he will have failed as town centre manager"

We'll be saying goodbye in May then because Aldershot will still be a chav town where no serious shoppers will go.

Thanks for trying but you should have checked the demographics before making your improvement claims.