More on Tonbridge Loyalty Card....

This letter from Susan Adams of the Tonbridge Town Team tells us everything about how our town is to get some TLC (that's short for Tonbridge Loyalty Card.) Maybe I'm just an old cynic but I'm still not convinced that this initiative will save the town and that it's not all maybe just a bit too old hat. Or does every little help? Might it be worth 50 quid to find out? What do you reckon??
Here's the letter from Mrs. Adams:

 

 

Those businesses that opened two Sundays ago for the Taste of Tonbridge day did exceptionally well, with reported crowds in our town centre of over 20,000. 

I was surprised how many shops managed to find window space to advertise a show in Tunbridge Wells that was on at the same time, but not for this event that would keep the public in Tonbridge.

 

To build on the Taste of Tonbridge success, the Town Team aim to launch a Tonbridge Loyalty Card on 1st October.  A basic overview of the scheme is as follows (N.B.  IT IS NOT A DISCOUNT SCHEME) : 

• Cards are given out to shoppers at no cost (available from various locations in the town, from participating traders, shops, businesses)
• Participating shop, businesses, traders each have a unique Tonbridge rubber stamp
• Every time someone spends £10, their card is stamped (maximum of 3 cards/18 stamps in any one spend) - if participants collectively felt a £10 spend was not enough, or indeed too much, this could be tweaked
• Once a card is full (6 stamps in total) shoppers then "post" the completed card into prize boxes - these would be hosted at various town locations.
• Once a month there will be a prize draw, the owner of the winning card is issued with £50 of Tonbridge vouchers (issued in various denominations) to be redeemed in any of the participating shops and businesses.
• How the redemption works - for example someone buys a bike from you and has £50 of Tonbridge Loyalty vouchers - you would validate the vouchers and deduct £50 from their spend.  You then return the validated vouchers to the Town Team, who in turn refund you £50.  Therefore even though the vouchers have been redeemed in your shop, you are not at a loss.

That in a nutshell is how the proposed scheme would operate (there would have to be a set of rules and standards, ie any winning card agrees to have their picture in the local press, as a prize draw with no visual winner is not good promotion for the scheme) - it's not a discount scheme and businesses are not actually giving money away to customers, it's all about promoting shopping and using local shops and businesses and a networking means for participants.  There would be advertising in the local paper with a photo of the monthly winner being presented with their vouchers by a participating business, and underneath the article (how this works elsewhere) a list of the participating businesses.

 

The cost to each participating business would be £50 a year, and for this each would be issued with a unique Tonbridge rubber stamp, cards to go in their window and by the till, and also a number of cards for giving to customers for stamping.  The scheme would run January to December, so anyone joining in the first year would get 15 months for the price of 12 (ie October 2013 to December 2014).

 

Nothing is set in concrete. The prize draw figures could be altered and if the scheme grew we could then afford to have a number of monthly draws, a bumper month or could decide to say put on a late night shoppers event etc etc  Also this type of scheme is not limited just to High Street shops, we see it including all town trades, shops and businesses in Tonbridge.   

 

Members of the Town Team will call on you shortly to request your involvement.  Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them, or email me.

 

Kind regards

Susan Adams

SARA. She's so 21st Century!...

I see that Slade Area Residents Association who are, in many ways the heart of the town, has finally launched itself into the 21th Century and gone and got a web site. I haven't had a peek yet so let Tonbridge Blog know what you think. Click on SARA

Roped in yet again!....

Sunday was set to be a bit of a dull day what with nothing being planned and the garden looking depressing over grown. That was a job I knew couldn't wait. So obviously I decided to let it wait and went for a bike ride along the Penshurst cycle trail instead. It been quite a while since I'd done it and I fancied a ride out across our beautiful countryside. So off I wobbled on my wife's bike which is a good one but a lady's one nonetheless and they are different you know. I'm not sure quite how, apart from the obvious cross bar missing, but they definite handle differently. Anyway after a very pleasant slowish ride along the river, across fields and through woodland, after a very steep climb I then descended down into the village with the majestic Penshurst Place looming in the foreground. After a little tootle through the village I noticed that the Leicester Arms was closed and up for sale which must be a sign of the times. Then I noticed that the village fete was on so decided to venture in. What a lovely setting for a village fete it is as well so I locked up the bike and headed over for the stalls to have a look. Moments later I was sitting in the shade on a glorious summers day drinking Chiddingstone Cider and watching the world go by and listening to a fairly competent singer who was doing a good job of entertaining the kids centre stage. He did remind me a little too much though of the cabaret singer on that bad but addictive comedy Benidorm; a very decent singer but a bit cliched and hammy. Incidentally they put ice in the glass which worked a treat making a really refreshing drink which I felt I'd earned what with all my cycling activities. I then rounded it off with a succulent burger from the barbe to get some energy for the ride back. Then came the announcement. The Leigh village team are the traditional challengers to the Penshurst team in the Tug Of War and they hadn't turned up so they were looking for volunteer team members. Must have been the effects of the Kent cider but, amazingly, I found myself raising my hand to offer my service. I must have inspired others to have a go because before too long a team of eight reasonably burly blokes was assembled and, do you know what, the scratch team made up of villages and dads who just fancied a go didn't half give the Spotted Dog team a tug for their money. We lost 2 1 but were by no means anihilated. Okay there was some cheating on the leg we won and we may have gained a couple of extra members but no one cared and it was all good, if not clean, fun. Next came the tyre lifting competition which again people seemed reluctant at first to join in the fun. As you can imagine, after the high adrenelin of Tug of War, I was feeling well up for it and managed to lift what must have been a small lorry tyre above my head a full 22 times which ain't bad for an old codger like me. I was pretty pleased with that and, for a time it looked like no one could beat it. Until, that was, the reigning champ traipsed up to the centre and nonchantly did 34 lifts. I almost had my moment of glory and a medal. So close!
So it only goes to show sometimes you're in for a dull day and turns out bright and cheerful....

Anyone else get these letters or is it just me?!..

....and just by way of contrast a very polite young lady, a Miss Dennis, from Ghana in Africa has written to me asking for my help. I'm not sure how she knows me but maybe she just likes booksellers and bloggers or something. Maria Dennis doesn't sound much like an African name come to think of it but who knows. She wants to send me some money which has been locked up in her uncle's bank account I think. What should I do?!

Dearest Beloved!

 

My name is Miss.Maria Dennis, from Republic of Ghana in West Africa. I am 23 years old and i am the only child of my parents, I lost my parents in a road accident in the year 2004. My father was a successful business man before he died. He had a large estate which he willed all to me but my uncle have  confiscated everything and subjected me into an unbearable pains since the death of my parents.He forced me to live in his house,he treats me like a slave to worsen all my movements and life is being restricted and monitored all day.

 

But i am glad to discover that he could not trace one of my father's assets which is a consignment deposited in one of the leading security companies in our country. This very CONSIGNMENT contains

($6.800,000,00) My father's lawyer which was my fathers close friend was able to move this CONSIGNMENT to a Finance Company in our neighboring country Togo and have been waiting all this while for me to get to this age before he reviel the infomation to me.

 

I want to ask you if you are capable to help me on this by receiving this fund in your account and also investing it into any business that can benefit both of us.Long as you we remain honest till we meet to gather.

 

Also i will connect you to my father's lawyer who will stand on your behalf to facilitate this transaction. Immediately this fund is transferred into your account i will come over to meet with you in your country for the investment of the funds to any tangible business that can benefit both of us.

 

I look forward to your feedback.

 

Best regards

Miss.Maria Dennis

 

PS. In all seriousness, if you don't know it already, never respond to one of these emails. I have spoken to some who have fallen for it and it has cleaned out their bank accounts. Instead talk to me first or, if you have spare cash click on the Donate button to the right and give Tonbridge Blog however much or little you can afford!!

Just Clegg it mate....

Some guy called Nick keeps writing to me on an almost weekly basis. I just can't seem to shake him off. He just will not get the message. I'm not interested in you babbling. It's all hollow lies:

Dear Mark, Money, jobs and investment dominated the agenda this week. On Wednesday, the chancellor set out details of the Spending Round: the last set of savings we will have to announce in this Parliament. On Thursday, Danny Alexander followed up by announcing massive new investment in our roads, rail, housing and infrastructure. And the moment he was finished, I rushed down the road to talk with the leaders of some of Britain's biggest cities about the next wave of "city deals", devolving financial and economic power to our great urban and industrial hubs. Creating jobs. Stopping the build up of Labour's unsustainable debts. Getting the economy back on track. That's the central purpose of this government: it was on the day we started and it will be right through to May 2015. And what about Labour? For three years their central purpose has been to accuse Liberal Democrats of betrayal for our determination to tackle the deficit and rebalance the economy. And now? They've effectively admitted we were right: they wouldn't reverse a single one of the cuts we have made. They finally accept that the difficult work we've done to set Britain back on the right path has been worth it. So if you've been on the receiving end of attacks from Labour supporters over the last three years, now's the time to fight back. They're the ones who crashed our economy and racked up unaffordable debts. They don't have a credible economic plan and it's no wonder people don't trust them with their money. Labour want us to be embarrassed about our record in government, but they couldn't be more wrong. We can be hugely proud of what we're achieving. Balancing the books and rebalancing the economy isn't easy - especially not for the millions of families still struggling to adjust after the collapse of our financial system in 2008. We haven't relished any of the difficult decisions we have had to take, but we know they were needed. Because even though progress is frustratingly slow sometimes, it is happening. More than a million new jobs created, and a million apprenticeships started, too. Tax cuts for every working person, with two million freed from paying any income tax at all. Better protections for pensioners, higher standards in our schools, and help for all those struggling to find work. We need to get out there and explain that story to everyone we meet. Labour don't have an alternative. They should be apologising to the country for the damage they did to the economy - and apologising to us for the brutal accusations they laid at our door while we were cleaning up their mess. Liberal Democrats have done the right thing, in the national interest: cut taxes, created jobs and invested in Britain's future. There are just two years until the next election so let's stand up and be proud of what we've done. Best wishes, Nick Clegg

Farmers Market in the High Street?...

Interesting how many people are commenting about how well the market in the High Street worked on last Sunday's Taste of Tonbridge day. Tonbridge Blog has always said that the railway carpark location for the Saturday market is not a good one and was only ever meant to temporarily house it. So why don't we grab the initiative, seize the moment and strongly request that at least the monthly Farmers Market be held along the High Street as a trial. That way shoppers would be drawn onto the street instead of a car park at the back of Waitrose and shops would have a reason to open up on Sundays. If it was a regular event car drivers would know where they stood and could plan around it. In any case the effect on traffic on Sundays would be minimal. This should be the moment to push for this. Are you reading this Steve the Farmers Market organiser and Tonbridge and Malling Council officer responsible and Highways department official at Kent County Council and Tonbridge Lions marshals. Actual this last sentence kind of highlights why it probably won't happen. Too many cooks spoiling the broth?!

Make Tonbridge Amazing!...

I've just discovered this YouTube link which I think may have been part of the Mary Portas pilot bidding. Can we make Tonbridge amazing? Have a watch and let's hear thoughts....

Dragon Boats in Tonbridge....

I hope the Dragon Boat racing goes well this weekend as part of A Taste of Tonbridge Day and just a quick reminder that I do loan myself out to boat crews. If they are short of a team member I'm your man. I do a bit of canoeing, I'm 6'2", I've even got my own paddle oh, and two strong arms. I'm reasonably fit for a bookseller I guess so how about it? I'll have my swimming trunks and nose clip on stand by! It's about time we made more use of the river running through our town and I'm looking forward to watching the races. In or outside the boat!! Might open up Mr. Books in the afternoon as well to enter into the spirit of things....

Tonbridge Open Studios....

I managed to visit several of the South East Open Studios in the Tonbridge area over the weekend and was mightily impressed with many of them. In fact it was a lovely peaceful way to spend my Fathers Day morning. I particularly enjoyed going to Hadlow as there is a little cluster of studios in the village centre which you can get round in less than an hour if you're pushed for time. A couple of them even had tea, coffee and cakes for sale at school fete type prices.  The studio which really stuck out for me, even if just for the beautiful garden, was Lucy Prescott at Natal House in the shadow of the Hadlow Castle tower. Even the drizzly rain didn't stop my enjoyment of looking at some really quite striking glass and metal sculptures majestically sprouting from the flower beds and hanging from tree branches. Open Studios is a smashing idea where the public can just visit without appointments at the allotted times in the programme (you can of course view them online if you prefer) see artists at work, get tips on how to improve techniques or even buy some of their works. Most are still open this weekend so go and take a peek for yourselves....

What's In the Tonbridge Mirror this week?

 

 Hope you like this new innovation. It is, quite literally, a Mirror of Tonbridge which is used in Mr. Books as a What's On type notice board. Originally it just happened to be a spare space in the shop but I thought it was quite appropriate to let it "mirror" what's going on in the town. I'll probably make this a regularly updated post. Oh look I see in the Tonbridge Mirror that it's A Taste of Tonbridge day this Sunday with Dragon Boat Racing and market stalls all up and down the High Street. Soon the Tonbridge Arts Festival will be upon us with it's shows on the Castle Lawn and talks at K College. Then in the Tonbridge Mirror there's a music Festival called Music on the Hill later in July. What's that you say? That's Kings Hill? Well it's still Tonbridge and Malling Borough isn't it?! Apparently it's worth the ten mile trek over that way as well so I'm told. Keep looking in the Tonbridge Mirror to see what you can see....

 

Do I enter again or not?

Tonbridge Half Marathon 2013 Sunday 22nd September   In support of the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, Carers First and other local charities

Warning: Tunbridge Wells folk realise Tonbridge is better!....

Some fellow bloggers from over the border in the upstart daughter town,Tunbridge Wells, have written nice things about Tonbridge. The Anke's a couple, who each have an influential blog on their adopted town, sort of a His and Hers of the blogsphere, came a for a visit last week and Mrs. A has posted a lovely write up of their visit and some even lovelier photos including one of Yours Truely. The new Turkish Restaurant gets a big thumbs up as well. Yes it's true Mr. & Mrs A we have a park and a swimming pool, a castle and much older buildings than your quaint young town. We also have shops, some of them nice independent ones, and some very nice eateries.They are very welcome to come and visit our town any time they like but let's hope that they don't spread the word about Tonbridge too much. I mean we don't want a full scale invasion now do we! Read it here 

Favourite Takeaways anyone?...

Some of my favourite takeways like The Daily Rice and Avebury Avenue Fish and Chip shop have already been mentioned on Tonbridge Blog over the years but what are yours? Let's hear what the best are in Tonbridge. Are they charging too much or is it about right. How often can we afford them? Are they healthy or should we make the effort to cook every day so we know what we're eating? Are so called free deliveries really free if these food businesses give you a discount to collect or is this just a clever ruse? When you can easily spend £50 on a family curry or Chinese carry out isn't this stretching the budget too far? Nothing like putting businesses in the spotlight to improve services and quality!...

The Ghost of John Adams Bookshop!...

This is a letter sent by Doug Jeffers, who some readers will remember was for many years the owner of John Adams Bookshop which was opposite the Post Office, to Shepherds Directory which publishes an influential weekly newsletter for the rare and secondhand book trade. Although it is somewhat off the wall, to say the least, it does raise some serious questions which we are all aware the High Street is facing thanks to much publicized campaigns from the likes of Mary Portas. Doug closed down John Adams a few years ago sighting the opening of Oxfam Bookshop as his main reason for leaving Tonbridge. He decided instead to concentrate his efforts on his Balham bookshop which, sadly, he's now decided to close as well. Here's his letter to Shepherds:

Business Rates We are closing very soon after 23 years.
  The reasons are the depredations caused by large corporations, facilitated by the free-ride given them by governments of every stripe. The first lesson of the 'Free Market' is that that there is no such thing. The 'big battalions' which can do a job for government are given privileged status: financial institutions, private utilities, supermarkets, internet and phone companies all facilitate the retreat of the state and herald the 'Corporate State'. Mussolini must be smiling up or down as his dreams are being fulfilled!
  So I am closing down because:

  1. At my last rent review, coffee shops like Starbucks were mentioned as a comparator - this is a surprise as they are a struggling company which hasn't made a profit for 13 years! But they do useful work in giving our under-employed MPs somewhere to sit and wi-fi their John Lewis catalogue.

  2. The rent goes up, the rateable value goes-up. Landlord's profits go up and mine go down so illogically (curiouser and curiouser) I more tax and rates! If landlords had to pay this tax, it would slow their hand when it came to raising rents and their huge lobbying influence would stay the hand of government from raising rates. The rentier economy - the property boom - got us into this mess in the first place and now the present government is squeezing the last dregs out of retailers to make us pay the deficit. Something like 26 billion p.a. is paid in commercial rates!
  They have deliberately raised the multiplier to 45% and moved the revaluation back two years because businesses are prisoners of a lease-system where upward-only rent clauses are prevalent and tolerated in law and landlords costs are mitigated by service-charges and often a 'hidden rent'. Lease holding rate-payers are low-hanging fruit for the government, because unlike Starbucks and Amazon, and other privileged cosmopolitan aristocrats of the economy, the bailiffs can visit their address without a plane-ticket and international warrant.

3. But it's not that the government doesn't care. Tony Blair's 'sofa government' has been improved by feeling-down the back of the sofa for the TV remote control. Out-of-touch MPs - Eton, PPE at Oxford who have never had a proper job - can find out about today's Britain by watching reality TV (which amounts to about 75% of programmes these days) and then get the 'experts' (someone who's been on TV) to fix the country for them - Jamie Oliver, Sir Alan (three bags full!) or Mary Portas. Poor Mary - the unscrupulous con-men in government pushed her out into the tumbleweed 'high streets' with a few pantomime horse outfits and a whole Million Pounds in her little purse. As Noel Edmunds would say "a life-changing amount of money." (compare 25 billion).  Our pantomime horse outfit never arrived (and anyway I'm not going to be the back-end and that's final!) so we are shutting-down.
  Did I mention my rates have increase by 125% in three years and that I pay considerably more per square metre than the Sainsbury superstore next door?
  Wouldn't starting zoning from the back of the shop be closer to a progressive taxation- system especially in these days of 'click and collect' which is making warehouse space as valuable as high street frontage?

4. I'm so angry about the insult of the rates I nearly forgot 'Oxazon'! Amazon, as it is widely known as, struggled for more than eight years before they made a profit. Yes, I know, us booksellers are pushing for that record at the moment.
  Someone up there in the great candy floss machine of the money market kept dipping their stick in to keep them going until they achieved monopoly position. Meanwhile, they trailed the great wooden horse of internet bookselling up to our ramparts and we all rushed and pulled the necrotic parasitic beast inside.
  For us 'second-handers' while Amazon was delivering crushing volleys of lefts and rights to the body a new corporate giant arose from an unexpected quarter: the Big Society.
  Oxfam fervently abandoned its conscience domestically and joined the capitalism game. They employing a big-hitter from the city who rolled out a chain of 'Conranised white cubes' which chimed with the minimalised modernity of middle-class culture - more and more of less an less. If they claim innocence of delivering the knock-out blow to second-hand bookselling, they are at least guilty of holding the bully's coat and delivering sly and sickening kicks to our ankles.

5. Apart from the weather having a nervous break-down this year, our shop has had other severe environmental problems. As soon as the snow clears or torrential rain stops, the privatised utilities, or the railway, or TFL, or somebody arrives to dig up the pavement outside, and palisade the shop against passing trade. Obligingly, at quiet times - like Christmas.
  As TV cook fans will know, freshly-dug trenches have to be 'proved' like dough for several weeks before they can be worked on, and allowed to settle for a similar period afterwards before they can be filled-in. This gives the prisoner time to try to claim for collateral damages such as broken windows and ringing up Paris to find out when the hole might be filled in. Isn't business so cosmopolitan these days? They even have a French phrase for the powers that these organisations have over you - 'droits de seigneur' which, I believe, has vulgar sexual connotations.

5. Mrs Thatcher abolished UBR to stop Commie-councils from raping business with exploitative business rates to pay for the feckless poor. And so our story ends where we began, except that it's the government that is raping businesses to bail-out the feckless rich.

6. So if the government would only start looking after the voting-tax payer and stop playing little boys games: if it could lose its fascination with things 'big'; big funerals, big Olympics, big London, big 'small wars', big society, big business, big ideologies (yes, free-market is an ideology) and provide some bigger government for small business, perhaps, as even Lord Young has recently claimed, we could start to cure our economic woes from the bottom-up by soaking-up unemployment. The 'clones' might get less of a kicking from the 'clowns'.

To booksellers everywhere 'Good-bye and Good luck'. Doug Jeffers - MY Back Pages, Balham - and yes Closing sale Now On!

Dragon Boat Racer anyone??..

Love the sound of the Tonbridge Taster Day and especially the Dragon Boat race. If only I had a crew to latch on to. Me being an experienced canoeist, veteran of at least three dragon boat regattas 6' 2" and built like a brick, er hem, out house and all. Any takers? Or are you scared of the competition?!..

PS. Have the Town Team got a web site? If so can they let me know it and I'll post a link....

Scallies!...

I'm afraid this is one of only a few words I can think of to describe the low life scum who robbed the Hospices of Hope Charity shop at the north end of Tonbridge High Street last week, as reported in the Courier newspaper in today's issue. This piece of pond life brazenly asked the staff in the shop if he could use the upstairs toilet and then proceded to ransack the office for cash and help himself to the money in the cafe till. He took advantage of the fact that there are quite a few volunteers there and lots of comings and goings. Most probably he had been a work experience "volunteer" there himself at some point and had used it as an opportunity to case the joint as it were. It's a sad part of life that scallies like this exist at all and I for one wish it weren't so. The recession and hard times stories are just no excuse. This crime is only marginally up from robbing an old granny of her handbag....

A young couple walk hand in hand in Tonbridge....

The other day in Tonbridge I saw something I'd never seen before in the 24 years that I've lived in the town. As I walked through the shopping arcade I saw two young men walking hand in hand. Not overtly petting or hugging or snogging or anything really other than just holding hands in a way which clearly showed that they were a couple. Having been born in the early 1960s when, in point of fact, homosexuality was still, technically at least, illegal, was I supposed to feel, even in some small way, remotely shocked or disgusted or feel any sense of revulsion? Well if I was then I certainly didn't. In fact, it looked just normal and actually quite sweet. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it looked no different than any other hetrosexual young couple holding hands otherwise I probably wouldn't have felt moved to write anything here about it but it did make me feel quite warm inside that they felt confident enough in themselves, in Tonbridge town centre that day,to just express their tenderness for each other in such a natural way. It made me feel quite proud, even if just fleetingly, that we live in an infinitely more tolerant society to the one in which I grew up. I walked past them and they probably didn't even notice me, and why would they? I don't really wish to open the can of worms which is the debate about gay marriage, and I have no idea what the Tonbridge churches' view on the subject is, but seeing this apparently very loving normal young couple, obviously in love, did make me wonder what the problem would be....

Happy Birthday Tonbridge Farmers Market....

If anything desrves a plug then it's our town's farmer's market. Here's the press release from organiser Steve "The Chilli Man" Wood....

Tonbridge Farmers Market 9th June, our 2nd Birthday and we've been to the Houses of Parliament

 

Tonbridge Farmers Market

Tonbridge Farmers Market 9th June, our 2nd Birthday and we've been to the Houses of Parliament Second Sunday of every month Sovereign Way, Tonbridge TN9 1RG 9.30am – 1.30pm With over 65 stalls booked in already this month, it is going to be the biggest market in Kent, and we are two. It's two years since the first Tonbridge Farmers Market. On that 1st Sunday back in June 2011 we had absolutely no idea if the people of Tonbridge would support or even wanted a farmers market. Well two years and over 50,000 customers on, we think we know the answer, an unmistakeable yes. In this short time we have be become the biggest and best supported Farmers Market in Kent and probably the South of England. We have been runner up in the Taste of Kent awards, Best Farmers Market category. We have also been nominated and short listed for the BBC Food and Farming Awards. Market manager Steve Wood said “ it's great to be successful. It's even better when you and others love what you do” “Lets see if the next year will be just as exciting for us and our customers.” And don't forget it's carnival day as well, what a great day to be in Tonbridge.   Westminster “Taste of Kent” day showcases best of local Kent produce   Tonbridge Farmers Market with it's sister market, Elm Court, and some of our producers were invited to Westminster by Tracy Crouch MP on the 15th May to promote Kent Produce. Kent MPs in association with Visit Kent and Produced in Kent held an event in the Jubilee Rooms at the Palace of Westminster. Jo Reid from Jo's Cakes, Matthew Kearsey-Lawson with Harriot Wood from Kent Fine Foods and Steve Wood from the market went along to tempt MPs, Westminster staff and members of the public to some of our wonderful produce. There was plenty of interest in the produce and the market. Steve Wood said “I hope this event will boost the profile of our market, farmers markets in general and of course Kent and Kent produce. We were all looking forward to meeting the Prime Minister, but he was in the USA so sent this message to all of us”. “I am delighted that Kent's producers have come to Parliament today to showcase some of their high-quality local produce. I am sorry that prior commitments abroad mean that I am unable to join you today - I was particularly looking forward to being able to sample the honey brought to London by the Dartford Beekeepers, which I’m told is truly delicious! I am sure that today's event will offer an opportunity to celebrate Kent's fantastically diverse agricultural sector and will, I hope, promote the county’s producers as they continue to flourish. I wish all those producers who have travelled to London to showcase their produce - and all involved - my very best wishes for an enjoyable and successful day.” Other guests that did come and see us on the day included Justice Minister (and Kent MP) Helen Grant, Minister for Agriculture and Food David Heath, the Head of Catering at the House of Commons, and the key architect behind the plans for the Swanscombe Peninsula Theme Park, Tony Sefton.   The Market Kitchen As always, cookery demonstrations will run with what's in season right now. Future markets and events at the market will include. ·         14th July 2013 ·         11th August 2013 ·         8th September 2013 ·         13th October 2013 Pink Sunday. Raising money for Breast Cancer Care. Customers dressed in something pink will have 10% of all the money they spend today donated to this cause. And lots more pink stuff. ·         10th November 2013 Love Cheese. A celebration of local cheese. ·         8th December 2013 Christmas Drinks Special. Local drinks to make your Christmas go off with a bang ·         12th January 2014 Farmhouse Breakfast Market ·         9th February 2014 Scallop Sunday ·         9th March 2014 Seedy Sunday ·         13th April 2014 The Big Curry. With the help of our customers some of the producers are raising money for the Big Curry which is part of the Soldiers Benevolent Fund. ·         11th May 2014 Love your Local Market ·         8th June 2014 Our 3rd Birthday You can now follow what the market is up to on Twitter @TonbridgeFmMrkt , Facebook and Flickr. Follow the links from our website.   Customers wishing to get a reminder for the market can do so by emailing steve@tonbridgefarmersmarket.co.uk and just put “reminder” in the subject box or for a text reminder, text “Tonbridge” to 07557739903. Photos. We now have a good selection. You can view these on our flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonbridgefarmersmarket/ These photos are for your use. If higher resolution photos are needed please contact us. Contact details are Steve Wood 07876 685853 steve@tonbridgefarmersmarket.co.uk www.tonbridgefarmersmarket.co.uk

Tonbridge Sausages!!!!

I've just had a bit of a late lunch. Left over sausages from yesterday's barbeque in my garden actually, if you must know. Doesn't sound very appetizing? Think again. These weren't just any sausages, and they weren't succulent M&S sausages before you ask, they were in fact Tonbridge Sausages! Yes that's right such a thing does exist and Chatfield's, the new butchers next to McD's has only gone and reinvented them.  Mr. Chatfield recommended them to me in the shop yesterday (yes they were going the extra mile by being open on a bank holiday Monday) and he did tell me some of the secret recipe but obviously I can't divulge that kind of information without you agreeing to let me kill you afterwards! Suffice it to say that they are truely de lish cious! Even cold in a sandwich the next day they are out of this world. The Kent Burgers and Hadlow Sausages and, come to think of it, the chicken breast and everything else weren't at all bad either....

Pursued by Bishops....

Edwin Apps was at Mr. Books for a book signing event last Saturday and he was a lovely chap. He's 82 now and has been living in France for nearly forty years but once upon a time people used to recognize him and wave from the bus as he wandered down Piccadilly or Shaftesbury Avenue. In the 1950s and 60s he was a well known face on TV and in the theatre. His main claim to fame is his TV comedy creation, All Gas And Gaiters, which was a sit com based in a Cathedral. Edwin is now an artist and was over in Tonbridge for an exhibition which was held in the Parish Church and Tygers Head, the Tudor house down Church Lane. Appropriate venues really when you consider that the theme of the exhibition and indeed the title of Mr. Apps' autobiography was Pursued By Bishops. It was great to meet Edwin, his lovely partner, Josette, and his publisher Patrick who visited my shop I think every day last week and became one of my best customers! I was so impressed with Edwin's art that I even treated myself to one of them, although not a bishop inspired painting. Well it was my birthday last week! At the book signing he didn't just sign the books he even went as far as drawing some random pictures of mad pursuing bishops in some of them. He really is a man obsessed, or possessed! I have a few copies left in Mr. Books should anyone feel the urge to own one....

Should Tonbridge have its own version of the Cheese Race?...

After having heard that the cheese race in Gloucester has gone ahead in spite of health and safety nutters trying to ban the traditional annual event Tonbridge Blog got to thinking that maybe there should be a Tonbridge equivalent. Maybe it would be pomtastic to have an annual apple fight or a cherry smearing-wrestling competition (sound a little fruity for you?!) Or maybe a hopping race around the country lanes because it would be a play on words like hopping on one foot and hops as in hop picking and what you put in your beer and it might be fun... oh suit yourselves. You have a go then. It's harder than you might think coming up with a new country tradition!...

Crackers....

Nowt to do with Tonbridge but I hear that the annual cheese rolling race has been the subject of the dreaded 'ealth n safety inspectors. Now admittedly the competitors have to be pretty loony to chase down a very steep hill after an 8lb piece of Double Gloucester but surely that's up to them isn't it? If they want to risk life and limb for an age old tradition then who are few namby pamby modern safety inspectors to stand in their way. Well this year the event did go ahead but without the cheese! They used a fake piece made of foam rubber instead. The lady at the traditional cheese supplier was apparently threatened with police action if she was deemed to be, in any way, an organiser which they reckoned she would be for supplying the cheese. How ludicrous can you get. The event goes ahead but without the vital savoury ingredient it's just crackers! It's not quite the Pampolono Bull Run but people come from all over the world for the event so leave them to get a few bruses and scrapes. It's hardly the Wicker Man is it! You can't mess with these harmless country traditions because people will simply take the law, and the cheese into their own hands....

PO Off today....

Don't be caught out, as I was, taking heavy packages along to Tonbridge central Post Office today only to find out that they're closed all day. Industrial action is the reason. Not sure what they are taking the action over but, if I worked there I think I'd also find any excuse I could just to get out of the God forsaken place. I wouldn't mind so much but I'd made a special trip on my bike in the rain to get something in the post. Oh what's the point in moaning about it....

Edwin Apps in Tonbridge this week....

Well worth a visit is the Edwin Apps art exhibition at both the Parish Church for the Pilgrim's Progress series of paintings and Pursued By Bishops at The Tygers Head which is that lovely Tudor house half way down Church Lane. It's on till Saturday I believe. Pursued By Bishops is also the title of Edwin Apps' autobiography which is currently on sale pretty much exclusively in Mr. Books. In fact Edwin will be at the bookshop signing copies and talking to fans on Saturday form 2pm to 6pm. He's a lovely guy who has a great story to tell particularly about theatre and TV comedy of the 1950s to 70s. His claim to fame is that he created the hit comedy TV and radio series called All Gas and Gaiters starring a wonderfully bumbling young priest played by Dereck Nimmo. Only a few episodes survive, because the Beeb wiped many of them, but have a look on YouTube for some funny moments from the series if you get a moment. More information on the exhibition and book signing can be found here....

Worth Contesting Traffic Offences?...

Some readers of this blog may recall a few weeks ago that I was sent a Penalty Charge Notice from Camden Borough Council after having been caught red handed in what I think they like to call a "box junction." You know those traffic lights with a yellow or is it orange grid across them. Call them what you like they are a licence for the authorities to print money. Being controlled by a Big Brother-esque camera in the sky which takes photos and a video of your vehicle from all angles they have you bang to rights, done up like a kipper. There's nowhere to hide they are police, judge, jury and executioner. Or so you'd have thought for, as it turns out, they've let me off the hook. I'd written off £195 which is what the "fine" had risen to as a result of me daring to challenge the notice  and thought, at the very least, they'd sting me for the original charge of £65. But I appear to have got off probably the only way possible: on an administrative technicality. It seems that because their online system was down on the day I made my challenge and that they may have given me an incorrect email address I have escaped all punishment. At least I believe that's their reasoning because all they actually say is that, words to the effect, They haven't met the normal high standards expected of Camden Borough Council parking services. I feel like a man on death row who's just had the call from the Home Office! Well not quite, obviously, but I did feel an almighty sense of relief when I opened the letter. But should I have been put through all that stress just to help a London borough council rake in some more loot. It still stinks to High Heaven but, nonetheless, I'll take it as a bit of a result....

A little bit of politics....

The Thatcher books have been selling well I have to say. In fact I've sold several copies overseas as well as the one's before and after Charles Moore, the author's, signing at Mr. Books. It seems that some folk don't mind paying full price for a signed copy of this particular book. The more I read of it, and I was far from being a fan of the late Margaret Thatcher, the more I think that it will go down as a very serious and thorough account of her life. I'm sure that Charles intended it to be exactly that as each piece of evidence, each archive, is carefully footnoted so that historians, ever after, can verify and perhaps expand upon this information. The book reminds me a little of some of the academic journals and papers I read when studying Economic History at university all those years ago. It may even be judged a masterpiece of biographical writing one day. That said I wouldn't necessarily take The Authorized Biography as your beach time holiday reading unless of course you want to appear intellectual or else you want  to wear your political leanings on your sleeve. But it is worth spending some time wading through its 859 pages. And that's just volume one!...

Birthday Blues....

Unbelieveably I'm 51 years old today. I know some of you are thinking "How does he do it? Is he using harmony hair spray and Oil of Ulay?" Well, the answer is no I just sell books and enjoy my work. That's what keeps me so young looking! Every so often though, and I'm sure all people of a certain age have done the same, I look in a mirror or at my reflection in a shop window and it catches me unawares. You know what I'm talking about: that split second when you think "Who is that old fella staring at me?" Then of course you quickly realise that the old fella is in fact you!
I remember the days when I used to feel so excited about my birthday that I'd be bursting with joy for days if not weeks before. Then I grew up and, as the years passed by the birthdays became that bit less exciting and gradually quite depressing. So, I'm sorry to be such a kill joy but I'll just quietly get on with my day at the shop and hope that no one knows or makes a fuss if it's all the same. On the other hand I have blogged about it so now everyone knows that IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Over 100 beers coming soon to Tonbridge....

The rugby season is all but over and I understand that the Tonbridge Juddians, better known as the Mighty TJs, had another decent season. Consolidation was the aim and I reckon that's what was achieved by all accounts. Which all means that it must be almost time for the SIBA Beer Festival which the club organises and hosts. Over a hundred different real ales and ciders all in a row all waiting to be sampled and consumed. A marquee and some keen young men and women to serve us up these hoppy delights. Burgers sizzling away on the barbe. What's not to like? The posters are already up outside the TJs carpark and it's all happening on the weekend of July 12th to 14th. My mouth is watering at the thought of it and I'm counting down the days....

PS on the Thatcher Biography....

I had one of those nit picky type conversations, which having a bookshop encourages, the other day regarding the spelling of Authorized in the title of Charles Moore's book, Margaret Thatcher The Authorized Biography. So is it spelled with a "z" of an "s"? Which does, rather irritatingly, remind me of that awful Liza Minelli song about Liza with a zee not Lisa with an s cos Lisa with an s goes ssss. But, in a way the song helps because the word authorized should sound like authorized with a zee because otherwise it it would be, phonetically at least, like "authoriced"wouldn't it? Anyway, whatever you and I think the authority on the subject, namely the Oxford English Dictionary, has it with a zed so that's good enough for me. I can't remember the exact episode but I also recall that knowledge of the correct spelling of this type of word once assisted Inspector Morse in solving a murder enquiry. Does any of this matter? Should we just let people spell words like Privatize and Incentivize however they choose and let the English language evolve or should we stand up and eulogize?  Let TBlog know your thoughts....

Edwin Apps in Tonbridge....

I met Edwin Apps in Mr. Books yesterday. He of All Gas and Gaiters fame (I can just about vaguely remember Dereck Nimmo playing a vicar in the comedy series.) He has an exhibition of his art starting on Saturday at the Parish Church and all week in Church Lane and then a book signing on Sat. May 25th 2pm to 6pm at my shop. He seems like a lovely chap but I was struck by him not knowing what a 50p coin was. He had a perfectly spoken English accent which made you fully expect him to know our coinage. But you see Edwin has been an artist living in South West France for nearly 40 years and hardly ever comes over here. I really like the look of his paintings myself and will definitely be going to take a peek. Find out more HERE

Beware the Orange Grids!....

Now we all know that we're not supposed to enter the dreaded orange (or are they yellow?) grids unless we're pretty certain that we won't end up sitting in the middle of it if they traffic is snarled up ahead once the lights change. We all know that don't we? I can see the logic of this in that, obviously, we don't want to block a busy junction. But entering one in London can be very costly indeed so do so at your peril. Coming back from Bloomsbury Book Fair a couple of months back I had to stop very suddenly just inside one such a grid on Southampton Row. I swear that I wasn't causing any sort of a blockage because, really, it was just the front end of my car that was inside the grid. The London Borough of Camden Council didn't quite see it like that though. In fact they slapped me with £130 fine or Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) as they like to call it. They send you a photo of your car in the grid with a freeze frame of the elapsed time as "proof" of your dastardly act. You see they have cameras watching you from every angle at these junctions so that they can catch you out and rake in lots of cash, er, sorry I mean keep the traffic flowing. They like to encourage you to pay up early do Camden Borough Council so they incentivize you by offering to halve the PCN payment if you cough up within seven days. Being a man of principle though I, naturally, felt incensed by this outrage and set about to challenge the notice. I couldn't do it online as their system was down at the time so I elected to send in my challenge to the notice by email, which they duly didn't receive for some reason. This challenge, whilst still ongoing, is likely to result in my fine increasing to £195 all for the heinous "crime" of having my nose in an orange/yellow grid. They also threaten you with sending in bailiffs should you not comply. Someone tells me that just one of these Big Brother controlled junctions generates revenues of over £1 million for one lucky London borough council, and I can well believe it, so there's no wonder they're so ubiquitous. They are an outrage and I cannot see how they can possibly encourage trade or visitors to the capital. They cause nothing but fear and a bad taste in the mouth but it seems, in Camden at least, they are police, judge, jury and indeed executioner. Beware the grids!....

Leave the car at home today....

Not so good this morning coming into work. Now bear in mind here that I can walk to Mr. Books in around 23 minutes or cycle it in around 8 minutes. This morning I had to drop some boxes off, as I often do, on the way in to Lok n Store on Canon Lane so had no choice but to drive. Anyone who's been down there over the last week or so will know that there is a little set of road works narrowing the busy road into one lane controlled by a couple of blokes let loose on a set of traffic lights. They look harmless enough. The result though? Chaos! I then had to post several large parcels containing mostly the Maggie Thatcher biographies which had been signed at Mr. Books on Saturday by Charles Moore himself (scroll down for more on that story) and, let me tell you, it is one hefty tome. So, on leaving the storage depot, I had a simple choice: did I turn left and go through the lights of the road works to go to Higham Lane Post Office or do I turn right and go to the busy central PO and pay the 50p fee in the Sainsbury's car park for 10 minutes of parking? I made the classic wrong choice. Went to Higham Lane and, on the way, noticed a queue of traffic stretching nearly back to Hadlow. On the way back to the centre of Tonbridge I played smart and cut through Romney Way and the grandly named Royal West Kent Avenue to eventually reach Shipbourne Road. The traffic jam, presumably because of the knock on effect from Hadlow Road was almost as bad as if I'd just come back that way. In fact it took me over half an hour to get back to the High Street from Martin Hardy Way which would normally take less than five. All for a piddling little set of roadworks on Canon Lane. Good advert for leaving the car at home if you can....

The Pages ARE for Turning....

The Charles Moore book signing event at Mr. Books Bookshop went okay I guess. To be perfectly honest I expected a much better turn out though as let's face it, there must be millions of Maggie Thatcher fans around these parts. Was it that they didn't know about the event or was it the rainy morning that put them off. Certainly the lack of column inches given to the eminent ex-editor of The Spectator, Sunday and Daily Telegraph's visit to Tonbridge to sign his already famous Margaret Thatcher The Authorized Biography by the Kent and Sussex Courier wouldn't have helped. I never expect them to print anything and am always grateful for any kind of publicity for events I'm involved with so I suppose I should thank the reporters for the little paragraph they gave it. I couldn't help but notice though that Tunbridge Wells Football Club's trip to Wembley for some spurious play off trophy match against that great football team on everyone's lips, Spennymoor Town, managed to get an eight page colour special centre page souvenir pull out in the same issue of the paper complete with photos of a mostly empty stadium in the background! No doubt the sponsors forked out for that one! Anyway I still managed to sell about 40 copies of the Thatcher biography and have sold several since. There are still some signed copies left should anyone want one at the discounted price of £25. Actually I'm reading the book at the moment and it does look like being an important historical account of Lady Thatcher's life and not at all the gushing praise you'd be forgiven for expecting. Don't all rush at once....

Sainsbury's and Beales fall out of bed....

Thanks for all the comments about the Tonbridge Loyalty Card and Angel Centre developments. Incidentally I did mention on this blog that there was a rumour that Beales might be closing down. A post which enticed the Chief Executive of Beales to make a comment below the post which effectively issued a strong denial that this was the case. This was about two years ago so is it just possible that early negotiations between Sainsbury's and Beales had already begun at that time. Was it these discussions, if they took place, which sparked off the rumours? We'll probably never know since it's unlikely that, were it true, they'd ever come clean on the matter....

Thoughts on the proposed Tonbridge Loyalty Card....

Do we need a Tonbridge loyalty card? As a little aside it does amuse me that TLC is the abbreviated version of Tonbridge Loyalty Card but maybe, inadvertantly, they've struck the right note because, let's face it, our town is in urgent need of some TLC!  Lots of shops already have their own loyalty card schemes of course. Mr. Books has had one, Cycle-ops has one and certainly the new butchers has trialed one very successfully since its opening. But would a town wide scheme work? How would it be practically managed. It is one of the ideas being looked at by the Tonbridge Town Team/Business Alliance very seriously. Though dwindling in numbers over recent years, a meeting of many of the independent traders of Tonbridge was held last week to discuss the options. I didn't attend it myself but, as I understand it, some positive things came out of it albeit after some fairly lively discussion about the merits of the new plans for the town centre developments. But that's another story. My first instinct is that loyalty cards are a little old hat; but is that me just being an old cynic? How could it work though if every trader wanted something slightly different? One retailer may have more margin to play with than another. 10% off a high ticket item such as some furniture or a bike would clearly be more to consider than off cards or at the butchers. I think that I'm slowly coming round to the idea that such a scheme might help publicise the independent shops in the town but I am concerned that the take up from shoppers wouldn't be that great and I doubt whether it would actually have the effect of drawing shoppers to Tonbridge from other towns. So do I want to spend the proposed forty quid to find out? That is the question. But that's just my thoughts; what about yours....

Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher The Authorized Biography, Book Signing Event at Mr. Books Saturday 11th May....

Thankfully the scaffolding has now been taken down from outside Mr. Books and Clarke and Coleman Chemists. After six weeks it had started to seriously effect trade as potential customers could be seen giving it a wide berth and, in the process, not seeing the wonderful window display efforts of Mrs. Books! I've made strong hints to my landlord for compensation in the form of stopping the rent for a month but so far he hasn't bitten!
Back to normal then for me. Whatever normal is of course! One thing I said to myself I'd do when moving onto the High Street last June was to hold more events at the shop. "Mr. Books" I said, "You must hold more events at the shop...." I'd already had a few signing events at the old shop of course, such as Victoria Hislop and some local authors, but they were all a little low key probably due to my location being tucked away in Bank Street. Then came Anthony Horowitz and a two hour queue to get into Mr. Books. Yes, though I still pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming, it really did happen. I've put many irons in the fire since then and can now announce that Charles Moore will be coming to the shop on Saturday 11th May from 10-30am to 12pm to meet readers and sign copies of his much publicized book Margaret Thatcher The Authorized Biography. I'm really quite excited about the whole thing. So if you were a fan of The Iron Lady or even if you just want to talk to someone who had exclusive access to many documents and interviews with Mrs. T's close collegues come along on the morning.

The book will be on sale at the discounted price of £25 and you'll also receive a £5 voucher to spend on your following visit to Mr. Books. See you there hopefully. More details here