ISSUE 74 Market Place make-over Keeping you informed... Little explorers wanted REASONS TO LOVE... • Beautiful custom-designed nursery with the highest quality facilities and resources Come and see us • Located just a few minutes walk from Epsom train station Please arrange a visit • A passionate and welcoming team will work in close 0208 770 3222 partnership with you www.fennies.com • Bright and spacious indoor and outdoor areas created to [email protected] maximize early years development EXCLUSIVE OFFER • On site Nursery Chef prepares nutritious and delicious meals daily and caters for all dietary requirements 10% OFF • Private, drive in car park and buggy park for safe and 10% off one months fees convenient drop offs and pick ups quote ‘INSIGHT19’ • Fully inclusive fees and settle in period Fennies, 1a Hook Road, Epsom, KT19 8TH 8463 Epsom insight A4 Ad.indd 1 07/02/2019 16:21 Contact us Mayor’s Borough Insight is published by Epsom & Ewell message Borough Council for residents and delivered free of charge to households in the borough. Councillor If you have any queries on its contents please Neil Dallen contact: The Editor, Borough Insight, Epsom & What a huge privilege Ewell Borough Council, Town Hall, The Parade, and honour it is being Epsom, Surrey KT18 5BY Mayor of this wonderful Phone: 01372 732000. borough. Email: [email protected] Weekly meetings with Designed and printed by: PPL Group, Global House, my Chaplain; numerous 1 Ashley Avenue, Epsom, Surrey KT18 5AD visits to schools and youth Phone: 01372 743377 groups, who’ve also been hosted at Email: [email protected] the Town Hall (including a group of Taiwanese students); calling into care homes, nurseries, shops and businesses; Borough Insight is printed on paper from sustainable sources. Please read and recycle this copy. congratulating award winners and thanking volunteers, has all been a regular part of my life since last May. There have been other highlights. An unexpected one was on behalf of the borough to support Scarlett Lee, a local resident, live on ITV’s X Factor in full mayoral Advertising opportunities in Borough Insight robes and chains. Would you like the opportunity to promote And internationally, meeting mayors and choirs from your business to 32,000 households? Epsom & Ewell Borough Council offers advertising space at Chantilly (France), Watermael-Boitsfort (Belgium) and competitive rates in Borough Insight magazine. Überlingen (Germany) has broadened my knowledge. Hopefully, our twinning with Chantilly will continue to For further information contact PPL Group grow. So too these other connections; offering residents of on 01372 847889 or Epsom and Ewell further opportunities to participate email [email protected] in twinning events, and giving a message of peace Epsom & Ewell Borough Council does not accept and friendship. responsibility for, sponsor or endorse any products Thank you for all the support that you have given us as or services offered by advertisers in this magazine. Mayor and Mayoress. e-Borough Insight With thanks, in particular, to the many businesses who For the latest events, community information and have sponsored and supported the Mayor’s three charities: lots more delivered straight to your inbox each Girl Guiding UK (Epsom division), Epsom and Ewell Talking month, subscribe to e-Borough Insight at Newspapers, and Work Stress Solutions. It has been a https://insight.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/subscribe wonderful experience, to both raise funds and to discover Social media more about these charities’ considerable contribution to For the latest borough council news and the borough. information, alerts and updates, why not: I look forward to continuing many friendships and visit our website www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk relationships in the future. And KEY although this is my swansong as Find us on: PRIORITY: Mayor, I still have until May to Supporting our support your organisation. My community successor, I am sure, will be equally happy to help. 223 Epsom’s beating heart Epsom’s central Market Place has long been a defining focal point of this bustling market town. Today, the area is not only for shoppers there’s a flourishing dining and leisure scene too, so now it’s being brought into the 21st century. Market Place 1800s with the Importantly, the Market Place’s historical former Watch House characteristics will be preserved and enhanced; the clock tower will be protected, with both the There’s little doubt that UK retailers are currently Richmond cattle trough and the time capsule stone experiencing major change. And, although Epsom taken to a specialist stone mason for restoration. and Ewell is faring better than other similar sized The current trees within the Market Place will all be towns, with considerably fewer empty shops and removed and replaced. With good reason; a legacy offices, the borough council wants to ensure it has of road being built upon road and topped with a town centre where businesses can thrive. paving, is that existing trees have had insufficient The latest renovation of the Epsom Market Place, space to grow and flourish. The new trees will be which has just started, is the first major public planted in more generous pits, enabling them to ‘ realm (that’s the accessible space between reach their potential. buildings, squares, streets and parks) investment in the heart of Epsom for over 20 years. Running throughout 2019, with a break in the run up to Christmas, the aim is to boost the leisure sector and the market will remain support local shops by providing an enhanced area, suitable for a wide range of vibrant activities. open throughout None of the work is being paid for by local tax payers. Instead, the money is coming from the ‘ borough council, which is making use of the contributions that housing developers have made to fund local infrastructure schemes such as this. The actual work is being managed by Surrey County Council and undertaken by their contractors. We have insisted that adjoining businesses and their customers should experience as little inconvenience as possible and that the market will remain open throughout the project. This will involve the use of temporary walkways. Market Place 1960s showing the market in the middle of the road. The Assembly Rooms is to the right of this picture (out of shot) 4 www.A24.Today Other improvements include: new seating, tree Market Place memories lighting, wayfinding signs and a drinking fountain • Middle Ages: Originally, trading centred on Church to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative Street, whilst the area now comprising the Market to buying plastic bottles. Place was a large pond! The pond, surrounded by rural The Evocation of Speed statue, commemorating buildings, appears in a later survey of the area, with the the first Derby winner, will be relocated from Assembly Rooms (built 1692) adjoining this rural scene. Epsom Square, and we’re talking with a local • 1700s: An avenue of elm and lime trees once stretched business adjoining the Market Place about an from the Assembly Rooms to East Street, providing enhanced public performance area. We will also be residents with shelter from the elements. In the late working with the Emily Davison Memorial Project 1700s, Sir Joseph Mawbey, the Lord of the Manor, had to offer a prominent location in the Market Place the trees felled and sold for timber. for their statue (see page 16 for more about this). • 1800s: In 1865 the Lady of the Manor, Elizabeth Evelyn, Whilst there have been changes, big and small, to was granted the right to hold a market between the the Epsom Market Place over the centuries, as there pond and the High Street. A Watch House once stood should if the area is to evolve and stay relevant to alongside the pond, before it made way for the building the times, it remains the heart of our community. of the current clock tower. The area became surrounded This investment by the borough council will keep it by businesses, shops and inns. And when the pond was healthy for many years to come. ‘ drained, celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897 kicked-off a new venue for public events. • 20th century: The market temporarily fell out of use the aim is to boost in the late 1800s but the council revived it in 1914. After World War II, widening of the A24 saw the Market the leisure sector and Place almost disappear; the market itself was held in support local shops the centre of the road requiring shoppers to dodge the ever-increasing cars, lorries and buses. The opening ‘ of The Ashley Centre in 1984 allowed for the current road layout and the reintroduction of the Market Place in 1991. KEY Market Place 2020: an artist’s impression with the current work competed PRIORITY: Supporting our community www.A24.Today 5 Community Alarm more than just a button Caring for a loved one is often an overwhelming and stressful task. Technology though has come a long way and the Community & Wellbeing Centre offers a range of support services to give you peace of mind. Sandra’s story Sandra recently discovered that her elderly mother, Lillian, had become the victim of a bogus caller. She feels concerned about her mother’s safety but knows that Lillian does not want to move house or go into a care home. She decided ‘I hope Mum is to install a Community Alarm with a telecare bogus okay?’, ‘I wonder if caller alert button – a discrete solution that can notify Dad’s taken his medication?’, ‘I just want to know the call centre and deter any con-artists. Lillian now they’re back safe.’ Does this sound familiar? Our feels much more confident answering the door.