The Ashley Centre celebrates its 25th Anniversary!
01 October 2009
The Ashley Centre was opened by Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth
II. It originally provided 250,000 square feet of floor retail
space and the first shop unit to be reserved was Marks &
Spencer, their 262nd store. The Ashley Centre cost £37million and
when it opened it provided jobs for 1,500 people. The building of
the Centre both necessitated and enabled the new Epsom Playhouse to
be built as the previous borough halls were partly on the site and
had to be demolished and the developers contributed to the cost of
the new construction. While building the centre, fine silks,
gambling equipment and the bodies of greyhounds were found where
rubbish had been thrown out after the town's recession in the
1720s.
Bourne Hall Museum are putting together a commemorative display in
The Ashley Centre celebrating the history of the shopping
centre, Epsom and the Market Place. Photos will be displayed
showing the construction and early years of the Centre as well as
memorabilia and press cuttings.
Other activities taking place in the anniversary month include a
spectacular fashion shows throughout the day on Saturday 10th
October. This will include professional models and dancers who will
parade Autumn/Winter fashions on the catwalk, which are available
from The Ashley Centre retailers including House of Fraser, Marks
and Spencer and Monsoon.
In addition, students from The University for the Creative Arts,
Epsom will stage a fashion show at The Ashley Centre on Thursday
evening 22nd October, just after 5pm. This is a rare chance to view
the unique, creative and cutting edge designs of foundation year,
first year and graduate students.
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