Town hall to host co-working space

Continued from front page

Town Square creates work hubs within existing spaces and supports remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses. They have work hubs in North Wales, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, Cardiff, Devon, Herefordshire, and London.

Community Director at Town Square Spaces, Jamie McGowan, told the Times: “When people work local, they shop local – and that’s just one way to benefit our economies.

“When you then support people to start their own enterprises and help them grow, you start to build something special.

“That’s what we’ve done across the country, and it’s what we hope to do in this incredible space at the heart of Tunbridge Wells.”

In their plans, Town Square proposes to lease 19,800 sq ft of the building as co-working space, including offices, meeting rooms and even the Council chamber. They aim to provide a range of co-working facilities, including conference, event and studio spaces for freelancers and small businesses. There will also be a café on the ground floor to ‘support the community and Council staff and encourage the general public to come and explore what is on offer’.

The co-working space will also allow access to the outside courtyard.

Mr McGowan continued: “There is already a strong network of local businesses in Tunbridge Wells and with a Council that understands the impact local, flexible workspace that supports grassroots enterprise can make, we knew we would have the opportunity to make a difference.

“Once we were able to take a look at the Town Hall – the potential was obvious – who wouldn’t want to work in such a beautiful building?”

Town Square hopes the work hub will give the Mount Pleasant Road building ‘a new lease of life’ as they provide office space as well as business support through training and workshops.

Hybrid

During the Covid-19 lockdown, many Council staff started working from home and as a result less office space is being used in the Town Hall.

Over the last year the Council has made changes in the building to free up disused offices and transform rooms into collaborative working spaces as workers moved towards hybrid working.

According to Town Square’s plans: “The building will not see an increase in footfall when the building is fully staffed by the Council, but the type of footfall will change. We anticipate when at 85 per cent capacity there will be approximately 40 micro/SMEs and 80 plus pre-start and sole traders using the facility.”

The remaining areas of the Town Hall that will be kept by the Council will be the security rooms, the museum, the vaults, and the first-floor corridor looking onto The Amelia Scott.

They will have shared access to the Council chamber and committee rooms which will be available to be booked for conferences and events as well as council meetings.

The Grade-II listed building will need heritage documentation to approve the changes. Town Square said that consultations with the Council and the heritage team will take place to ‘ensure listed building consent in received before any works are commenced’.

End of the road for Delaney’s food truck

STREET food van Delaney’s announced its closure last week.

Started as a pancake café on Camden Road in 2018 by Ed Delaney and Rosie Holley, the business later moved on to four wheels, with the vintage Citroën a familiar sight in the area.

The couple announced their decision on Thursday (February 23), in an Instagram post thanking customers for making their business a ‘blast’.

“We are sad to say with a heavy heart that we have had to call it a day on the food truck,” said Ed and Rosie.

“We want to say a huge thank you to all of our customers, your support means the world to us!”

Town’s jazz club set to sound its final note

THE Tunbridge Wells Jazz Club is to welcome Pete Rudeforth’s Jazz Club 4 for one of its final concerts.

This Friday at 7:30pm, the Masonic Hall will see one of the last three concerts.

Publicity manager Ann Best told the Times: “The TWJC has brought some of the finest Jazz musicians to play live and varied jazz for many years.

“It is no longer viable, but lovers of live jazz should come to enjoy the last few concerts that we can put on this year.”

Tickets £16, on door or from ticketsource.co.uk

Full Council to vote on bills, budget and bins

COUNCILLORS will vote this evening (Wednesday March 1) on the recommended budget and financial planning for the short and medium term, including the proposed rise in council tax and waste contract.

As the Times reported on February 15, the Borough’s share of Council Tax could rise by 2.95 per cent from April 1, adding £5.71 to a Band D property’s bill.

Kent County Council has already approved a 4.995 per cent rise in its portion of the Council Tax bill.

Today is secondary school offer day

THOUSANDS of schoolchildren across Kent and beyond will receive their secondary school offers today (March 1).

Parents must accept or refuse the offer directly with the school by Wednesday March 15 – even they decide to appeal against the allocation.

Kent County Council said accepting the place offered ‘will not affect your appeal and will guarantee your child has a school place if your appeal is unsuccessful’.

Cocaine dealer jailed after house searched

A DRUG dealer has been jailed after a quantity of cocaine and thousands of pounds in cash was seized from a house in Tunbridge Wells. Ben Freeman, 37, of Goods Station Road, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possessing criminal property [the cash]. Cocaine and £7,000 in cash were recovered from a property search on April 21, 2022 by the Tunbridge Wells Community Policing Team.

Of the £7,000 cash, Freeman said £350 was for his partner’s cake baking hobby and £475 came from selling cigarettes to work colleagues.

On February 23, Freeman was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to two years and four months in prison.