OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Food court goes bust adding to shopping centre’s struggle
SKIN IS OUR
PHOTO BY MARISSA COOPER
LARGEST ORGAN WE TAKE CARE OF YOURS AT
EXCLUSIVE • Central Market staff not paid • Companies House dissolves business By Richard Williams
20% OFF use code
TWTIMES22 to book online at
elloraskincare.com 47 London Road Tunbridge Wells TN4 0PB
A STREET food market that was hoped to breathe new life into an abandoned arcade in Tunbridge Wells’ flagship shopping centre has been dissolved. Companies House – the government department that regulates businesses – has struck Central Market in Royal Victoria Place (RVP) from its list of registered firms for not filing any accounts in two years. It means it can no longer exist as a business and cannot continue to trade. The news will come as a blow to many in the town, who hoped the food market would increase custom to the shopping centre, which has struggled with departures from big chains. Not only did BHS abandon its site in
2016 after the retailer collapsed, but other big brands, such as GAP, H&M and Topshop disappeared during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revitalise Central Market opened in 2019 in the empty Ely Court – the arcade attached to RVP that opens onto Monson Road. Set up by Spanish businessman Joan Ferras Qunitero, the food hall had a number of stalls that were owned directly by Mr Quintero as well as several franchises. When it opened in October 2019, the street market promised to revitalise the ailing Ely Court, which had sat empty for a number of years, and included pop-ups such as Wok and
Sushi, The Argentinian Grill, and Indian Street Food. These franchised vendors paid a percentage of their takings to Mr Quintero, who was supposed to pass it on in rent to RVP. But the pandemic has meant that footfall has been dramatically reduced, with one stallholder in Central Market telling the Times at the end of last year that takings were down 60 per cent in 2021 compared to when they first opened. The Times has now learnt that not only have none of Mr Quintero’s staff been paid since November, but also no rent has been passed onto to the
See more on page 2
r EEape FRwsp
Local, National and International
S , DrE A OK SoIuTM O INYRIS NBRURE CH RA AT C E in F
Times
All the news that matters
Ne
Wednesday January 12 | 2022
Council numbers set to be reduced THE number of councillors at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] is likely be cut, despite attempts by elected members at the authority to block the plans. Currently, the Council, which is under no overall control, has 48 councillors who represent the borough’s 50,000 voters in 20 wards. TWBC was contacted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England [LGBCE] in December 2020 after it discovered a disparity between the number of electors and councillors at the Town Hall.
Voted The local elections watchdog called for a review and said the authority had to cut numbers and needed to have an equal number of councillors - especially as voters elect members a third at a time, with elections held three years out of four, rather than annually. It asked the authority to come up with a plan for a reduced Town Hall, but councillors voted down an attempt to cut their numbers last October. Now the government body has said it is ‘minded’ to reduce the size of the Town Hall to 39 councillors and is asking the public for its views. In a statement released yesterday [Tuesday], the LGBCE said: “The Local Government Boundary Commission has decided that the number of councillors in Tunbridge Wells should be 39. This is a change from the current council which has 48.” It added that a 10-week consultation on the proposals available on consultation.lgbce.org.uk will run until March 21, 2022. The change, which will take effect in May 2024, will not only mean that the number of elected members will be cut, but the boundaries and number of wards is also likely to be adjusted.