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Anger expressed over closure of shopping centre

Phil Harrison
BBC News, Ashford•@philharrison77
Jacob Panons
BBC News, South East•@JacobPanons
Phil Harrison/BBC An outdoor street in a shopping centre. There is a woman in a grey coat walking in the red bricked-alley.Phil Harrison/BBC
Shops in Park Mall in Ashford have until the end of August to move out

Shoppers and staff at a Kent shopping centre have expressed dismay over the closure of the site.

Shops in Park Mall in Ashford have until the end of August to move out as owner Ashford Borough Council (ABC) says the site has "been in a state of spiralling decline for several years and is operating at a significant loss".

ABC says it will help tenants as much as it can by providing advice, and by signposting owners towards financial support and empty properties.

But traders say they were unsure if customers would remain after they moved, and also expressed concerns over employment.

Rita Bhandari, from Divine Beauty Lounge in the centre, told BBC Radio Kent: "We don't know where we can move our business to.

"That's the main thing because we have regular customers from 13 years ago."

Phil Harrison/BBC A woman with long, brown hair. She is wearing a white shirt under a black jumper. She is standing in front of an orange background.Phil Harrison/BBC
Rita Bhandari is a beautician at Divine Beauty Lounge in Park Mall

Steven Carroll, a trainee manager at Pound Stretcher, says he is worried about local employment.

Mr Carroll said: "We don't want to bring people in and then tell him in six months they could be out of the job again.

"It's quite a big knock-on effect, as you could probably imagine, with all the people wanting jobs at quite a young age."

Phil Harrison/BBC A man with a brown beard and short brown hair. He is wearing a grey hoodie and standing in front of a Pound Stretcher.Phil Harrison/BBC
Pound Stretchers' trainee manager Steven Carroll has lived in Ashford

Ashford resident David Smith said he thought the idea to close the centre was "absolutely terrible".

He urged the council to "put more thought into Ashford".

Shopper Effie Devenish said: "If you don't have a lot of things going on in the town centre it all becomes empty and unloved.

"And this way back in the past used to be a very good and very friendly market town and it seems to have gone downhill quite a bit."

She has called on the council to "stop and think again".

Phil Harrison/BBC An elderly woman with short, white hair and blue glasses. She is wearing a blue cardigan and standing in a shopping street near Greggs.Phil Harrison/BBC
Effie Devenish visits the shopping centre every week

The council says the centre's closure will reduce the authority's operating losses on the site and "pave the way forward for the onward redevelopment and regeneration" of Park Mall.

"We hope that tenants are able to find units elsewhere and remain in the town centre," a spokesperson said.

"There are currently many vacant units in the town centre."

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