News Pub to close as
landlord quits A POPULAR pub in Maidstone will be closing its doors after the manager decided to quit – but the ownerswant to re-open as soon as possible. Owners ofDrakes Cork&Cask
in Fairmeadowwill haveto find a new landlord to run it, which means aclosure of the establish- ment until oneis found. But Ei Publican Partnership is
hopeful that thepub will only be closed for ashort time. A spokesman for the company
said: “Wecan confirmthatDrakes will close for ashort period fol- lowing thecurrent publican’s de- cision to ceasetrading. “Wewould like to reassure the
local community that we plan to re-open thepub as soon as possi- ble, with anew operator, and we look forward towelcoming guests back for adrink.” There is currently no timetable
for when the pub will stop serv- ing or when it will re-open for business, but the pub’s vegan restaurant, Ponga, run by chef Steph Hinton, has already stopped trading.
downsmail.co.uk
M2 0 accidents prompt post-Brex
HIGHWAYS officials are being urged to look atM2 0 traffic man- agement as crashes becomean al- most daily occurrence. Kent county councillor Rob Bird
has now called for aban on HGVs using the outside lane during Op- eration Brock, the post-Brexit con- traflow system designed to keep themotorwaymoving. Cllr Bird has been warning for
months of serious implications to Kent’s transport network if Britain leaves the EU without aworkable customs systemin place. He claims the introduction of
customs checks at the Port ofDover willmassively increase the amount of time it takes for lorries to move through the port, causing huge tail- backs on both sides of theChannel. Operation Brock, says Cllr Bird,
is likely to cause a severe bottle- neck. It means using the M2 0 J8 -9 to
park lorries destined for Europe, while other traffic in two lanes goes onto the London-bound side on a
contra-flowsystem. Most observers concede Brock is
workable, but vulnerable to crashes, which will bring it to a standstill. Cllr Bird argues the contra-flow
may also pose a danger to mo- torists, particularly if large lorries are allowed to overtake.
it chaos fears Cllr Bird has written to Jim
O’Sullivan, chief executive ofHigh- ways England, calling for aban on HGVs using the outside lanewhen Operation Brock is in place. Hewrote: “Aswe have seen sev-
eral times recently, accidents in- volvingHGVs in this stretch of the M2 0 often result in the temporary closure of the motorway, with a devastating impact on traffic con- gestion in the surrounding area. “Yet,with 5 0mph limits in place,
HGV drivers have little to gain from attempting to overtake each other. “WillHighways England impose
aban on HGVs blocking the out- side lane of theM2 0 between junc- tions 8 and 9 during the current works and whenever the motor- way is operating as atwo-lane con- traflowunder Operation Brock?” Brock is seen as an additional
measure toOperation Stack, not as areplacement or an alternative. We approached Highways Eng- land for acomment.
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20 Maidstone November 2018
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