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News Andy is new man at The Mall RETAILING is in the blood of Andy Davy, the new manager of The Mall, in Maidstone.


As a Saturday boy in his local branch ofWHSmith in Eastbourne, he decided not to fol- low his peers to university, but instead towork his way up the ranks in store man- agement – a move that saw him stay


Andy Davy


with the stationery chain for 27 years. He said: “WH Smith had a fabu-


lous training system and it enabled me to work in a variety of loca- tions.” Andy (52) lived for 20 years in


Petersfield, Hampshire, prior to taking up his Maidstone post. Having spent a lifetime commut-


ing long distances, Andy has cho- sen to live in St Leonards-on-Sea, near Hastings – a “mere hour’s commute” to Maidstone and 20 minutes to his beloved fishing boat, which is moored in Eastbourne. He said: “I worked for The Mall


group before and knew the chal- lenges that lay ahead in Maidstone and what the group had in mind. But I also saw it as a chance to move back east and restore some of mywork/life balance.” Andy’s wife Cathy has taken a


job at a store in Tunbridge Wells, but he said: “An hour is the short- est commute I have ever had. At one point, I was driving to


Uxbridge along the M3 and M25 – which could take two-and-a-half hours eachway.” After 27 years with WH Smith


and three years in management for Homebase, Andy joined The Mall group in 2008, initially working in Southampton. He said: “It’s a great company to


work for. I have far more accounta- bility and autonomy here than any- where else.” As well as taking his boat out to


sea, Andy enjoys walking his two dogs – a Westie and a Tibetan ter- rier.


He and his wife also love deep-


sea diving. Both are PADI-qualified rescue divers and take part in a “reef clean-up” in the Red Sea each February. Andy’s ambition now is to shark


dive in the Bahamas, or the waters around the Galapagos Islands. Back on dry land, he’s in charge of a shopping centre worth £80m


and a working budget of £2.5m a year.


But, as a man well used to sur-


viving in choppywaters, the future of the Mall looks to be in safe hands. He said: “Maidstone is a lovely


town and there are a lot of people trying to do a lot of good things. There is some fantastic stuff going on. It just needs a strategic, more co-ordinated approach to make this the best county town.”


£4m faceli for shopping centre Continued from page one


where a large planning applica- tion was refused but might go to appeal. Mr Davy revealed that The


Mall had 80,000sqft of vacant space available at present – equivalent to the space required atNewnhamCourt by the key de- partment store. He said: “The long-term plans


for The Mall depend on what does or does not happen at J7.” But he revealed that whatever


the outcome, the town centre would not be standing still. He said: “We have three plans


in place – short, medium and long-term. At the present time, we don’t know which route we will take.” He said only leases of up to two


years were now being granted: “If the Newnham Court redevel- opment does not go ahead, we want to be in a position to react


quickly. Maidstone needs Deben- hams – it is the missing depart- ment store.” Another factor in Maidstone’s


future was the recent takeover of Aviva’s stake in The Mall shop- ping centre chain by Capital & Regional, which had resulted in a huge pot of money being made available to invest in its six cen- tres across the country. The first £4m to be spent in Maidstone would start in January in a year-long improvement plan. A planning application was


due to be submitted for two new entrances – in King Street and Gabriels Hill – which would form part of a mid-term plan to redevelop the western end of The Mall and the former TJ Hughes site, creating space for two de- partment stores, said Mr Davy. He said: “Without a doubt, the


centre is out of date. It hasn’t had money spent on it in a long time.”


Day centre manager Sue ‘will be missed’


SUE Tallowin has stood down as manager of Maidstone Day Centre after 10 years.


Her dedication will be missed by the homeless who use the centre in Knightrider Street and the team that supported her, says the Home- less Care charity, which runs the centre. Trustee Angela Clay said: “Sue made her mark and will be greatly missed.” Taking over from Sue as manager


is Polish-born Zofia Grzymala. An- gela said: “Zofia is experienced, en- thusiastic and excited about the challenges of this increasingly busy time for us.”


Also leaving is Adam Dyer, who organised much of the charity’s Food for Thought opera- tion, which distrib-


utes donated food from traders and


supermarkets to those in need. He has been replaced by Mike Philps. The day centre, which provides breakfast, a shower and fresh clothes for the town’s “rough sleep- ers”, says in future those using the service may be given particular times to call to cope with increased demand.


The charity also runs a 10-bed hostel at Godsell House in the cen- tre of town and Maidstone Chris- tian Care.


Discount a boost for young bus pass holders


STAGECOACH and Arriva will offer holders of the new young person’s travel pass the chance to take the bus in the evening and at weekends for £1 per journey. The discount is for to 11 to 16- year-olds travelling by bus out of school time and in the holidays. It will soften the changes which


36


took effect from September 1, lim- iting use of the £200 pass to week- days before 7pm. KCC cabinet member for trans-


port David Brazier said changes were needed to meet savings tar- gets.Headded: “Research showed that 75-78% of all journeys are made between home and school,


Maidstone South September 2014


sowefocused our limited funding on that element.” Arriva publicity manager Richard Lewis said: “The previous Kent Freedom Pass, which al- lowed free travel throughout Kent, was very popular and we want to encourage youngsters to continue using bus services.”


But he assured: “It will always


be a community mall, with inde- pendent retailers – that formula will not change.We may have dif- ferent anchor retailers but there will always be independent traders.” Amajor £100m overhaul – to in-


clude housing and parking – as revealed by Capital & Regional six months ago, was still 10 to 15 years away, saidMr Davy, but he added: “The major plan is chang- ing all the time, but one thing is certain –we are absolutely deter- mined to be part of Maidstone in the future.”  A spokesman for Land Se- curities said the landowner was yet to decide whether it would appeal against Maidstone Coun- cil’s decision to refuse planning permission for the large retail scheme at Newnham Court. The company has until December to contest the decision


Older people scam warning


MEMBERS at a meeting of Maid- stone’s Older People’s Forum were warned about scams and fraudulent activities targetting elderly and vul- nerable people. Mark Craig, of at-home care providerHomeInstead Senior Care, advised on how to spot a scam. The event at the Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone,was also attended by or- ganisations including Macmillan, representatives from Time for Change, who promote more open discussion about mental health is- sues, solicitors and Kent Police. For a free protection kit, go to


www.homeinstead.co.uk/maid- stone.


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