To mark our first birthday we thought we’d take a look back at the major news stories of the year, how the village has changed during the past 12 months and what we can look forward to in the future.
Over 250 articles have been published so far on alderleyedge.com with the most controversial news stories being the opening of Tesco Express on London Road and Dobbies Garden Centres announcing their plans to build a gardening superstore on a 17 acre site in Nether Alderley. We have published a number of articles concerning both issues, all of which generated considerable comments.
The biggest story of the year however has to be the discovery of a body at Arran Coghlan's home on Brook Lane last month. He has since been charged with the murder of gangster Stephen Akinyemi and is due to appear before Chester Crown Court tomorrow.
Other important stories include the construction of the A34 bypass. Birse have kindly provided us with regular updates and aerial photographs enabling us to keep the local community informed of their progress.
During the past 12 months a number of changes have occurred in the village. One of our first articles in March last year announced the closure of No.15 Wine Bar after 35 years. We’ve also said goodbye to three off-licenses, Envio and Deli Lavelle - whilst Tuula relocated to a more central position in the village.
Additions to the eating and drinking scene during the past 12 months include Heddy Ghazizadeh opening Stay Bar & Restaurant and local mum Anna Sheridan opening her Fruitcake cafe with its homemade cakes and children's play area. Panacea opened the doors of its refurbished restaurant just over a year after being destroyed by fire and the Village Cafe, a joint venture between Firat Altindag, a familiar face from Gusto, and Ali Isit the owner of Konak, is the most recent arrival.
Other newcomers include Fitted Interiors, the independent wine merchants Corks Out and Hang It Framers on Trafford Road which also sells a variety of prints, ready made frames and greeting cards. Having spent over eighteen years in the property industry, Alderley Edge resident Michael Chapman set up his own independent estate agents and interior designer Philipe Marques opened a showroom in the old sorting office on Macclesfield Road. Additionally House of W’s Couture Salon and Day Retreat took over the building previously occupied by Envio with the aim of taking pampering to a whole new level.
Grocery shopping in the village also changed significantly, firstly the Co-operative invested £550,000 converting and transforming the Somerfield store, then in February Tesco Express opened across the road following months, if not years, of controversy.
Looking to the future we know that Living Ventures, owners of Gusto, are scheduled to open The Red Piano at No.15 London Road during the summer months and there are a couple of empty retail units on the high street which will hopefully be occupied before too long.
The very successful summer fete is returning for a second year at the Alderley Edge Cricket Club and in October a weekend festival will be take place in the village to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, written by Alan Garner.
Drafting of the Parish Plan is nearly complete so the main document is expected to be ready towards the end of April. It will then be published and in the public arena by June. Nicholas Ridings, Chairman of the Parish Plan Committee, told me “We massively under estimated the time it would take to move from a good draft, to the final version. It does not help that the Steering Group are almost all full time workers. Considering the time spent by a significant number of people on the Parish Plan, we feel the final document has to be of a certain quality which cannot be just thrown together.”
Looking to the future of our village we are hoping to be able to start bringing you information from the Alderley Edge Parish Council, as requested by several members. Unfortunately our Parish Council have chosen not to engage with the local community via alderleyedge.com, which obviously they are not obliged to do, so we have requested access to their meeting agendas, minutes and financial reports. This is all information which the Parish Council should make available and which we feel will be of great interest to many readers.
Our vision for alderleyedge.com is one that is rich with editorial and local opinion so as a member of alderleyedge.com you can publish your own news stories, or opinions on local issues in your own words. However should you prefer us to follow up on a story then please do get in touch. If it’s happening in Alderley Edge we want to know about it so we can share the information with the local community.
To mark our first birthday we have also put together an article looking back at our achievements, and forward to the next 12 months - touching on our plans for the site and hopefully enabling us to obtain some feedback from our readers.
If you missed any of the stories mentioned above, or would like a recap, please use the search box in the top right corner of the website to find the relevant article.
