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This is what happened to the M&S clock which disappeared from Maidstone's Week Street

What has happened to the gold-edged clock that once advised shoppers of the time in Maidstone?

The clock projected from the fascia of 44 Week Street, the building that until the beginning of January housed the one remaining branch of M&S in the town.

The clock has gone!
The clock has gone!

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The town's other branch, a few doors along the road, had already closed in August 2020, just prior to the opening of the new out-of-town M&S super store at Eclipse Park.

The clock's supporting post now hangs forlornly empty.

It was housed in a beautiful green and gold case that had been attached to the building via a beam at its base and curved metal brackets at the top.

The beam and brackets were also painted gold. The housing contained two identical, white clock faces with the hours marked in Arabic numerals.

Marks and Spencer competition feature. Maidstone High Street store.Shop front for the old store
Marks and Spencer competition feature. Maidstone High Street store.Shop front for the old store

"Marks and Spencer" was written in white on the clock casing above the face.

The clock faces were protected by a glass cover in a gold surround.

Speculation has been rife over what has happened to the clock, ever since it disappeared, though no-one seems certain when that was.

Whoever removed it must have used a cherry-picker at the very least to reach it, so you would think its removal should have been fairly obvious, unless it was done in the dead of night.

One suggestion came from Tim Saull, who is marketing the vacant building on behalf of M&S.

The store today
The store today

He said: "M&S have a large archive of the firm's relics, and I think it's very likely to have gone there."

M&S owns the freehold of the property at 44 Week Street, which is being put up for sale or lease through the property company McMullen Real Estate. No price has yet been set for the building, with Mr Saull saying: "It's still early days."

No 44 Week Street had originally housed the retailer's menswear department, cafe and food hall, with women's wear sold from the other branch at 30-32 Week Street.

For the past year, No 44 has combined all the departments.

M&S do not own the freehold of No 30, and that is being separately marketed by its freeholder, believed to be Tandrige District Council, through their agents GCW.

The former women's wear unit at 30/32 Week Street is available to let
The former women's wear unit at 30/32 Week Street is available to let

They are seeking a monthly rent in the region of £20,583 for the 19,000 sq ft store.

Meanwhile the disappearance of the M&S clock has sparked much lamenting on social media, with 140 comments left on the Maidstone Past Facebook page.

Clare Bear McPherson said: "That clock was a staple of Week Street."

While Lisa O'Sullivan described it as "iconic."

Susan Edding observed: "Sad. Maidstone is dying," though we think she was referring more to the closure of M&S rather than the disappearance of the clock.

Others were more dismissive.

A flavour of the many comments posted on the Maidstone Past Facebook page
A flavour of the many comments posted on the Maidstone Past Facebook page

Dee Grant said: "It has not worked properly for years." Bridget Mead agreed, adding: "It won't be missed."

That was disputed by Kevin Spice who insisted it had been working just "a couple of weeks back."

Peter Treays suggested the clock had been running backwards - but only on one side.

While Katy Mander observed that broken or not: "It was still a feature of Maidstone."

Mandy Langan thought it would be nice if the clock were re-located to the new M&S store at Eclipse Park, but Daniel Huggins suggested it should go to Maidstone Museum.

Cllr Dave Naghi
Cllr Dave Naghi

Curiously it is not the first time the clock has disappeared.

Looking back in our photo archive we see there have been other times when the clock has vanished only to re-appear later - presumably taken away for maintenance.

Cllr Dave Naghi (Lib Dem) said: "It was a bit of Maidstone's history and it is very sad to see it go.

"A lot of people have noticed. It's funny - it's one of those things that you pay no attention to all the time it is there, then suddenly when it's gone, you miss it.

"I only hope M&S have plans to instal it somewhere else, perhaps at the new Eclipse Park store?"

The clock: present if obscured by bunting in 1980
The clock: present if obscured by bunting in 1980
It seems the clock must have been installed after this photo was taken in in 1935
It seems the clock must have been installed after this photo was taken in in 1935

Unfortunately that suggestion was quashed by M&S. Responding to our inquires the company said: "The clock was removed by the original manufacturer, Smiths of Derby, and has now been returned to their factory.

"We don’t have any plans to instal it at another store."

Marks and Spencer had been in Maidstone town centre for over 110 years.

Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer founded the company in 1884. The first store was in Leeds.

Originally it had set up as a Penny Bazaar, where every item cost 1d (0.4p in today's decimal money), with Mr Marks telling customers: "You don't need to ask the price, it's a penny."

The very first Maidstone M&S from 1912. Credit: The Marks and Spencer Company Archive
The very first Maidstone M&S from 1912. Credit: The Marks and Spencer Company Archive
Ilsa Butler, Maidstone BID manager
Ilsa Butler, Maidstone BID manager

The first M&S in Maidstone opened at 53 Week Street in 1912. That was later replaced by two stores on the opposite side of the road.

Ilsa Butler, the Maidstone Business Improvement District (BID) manager said: "As they are both key sites in Week Street, we are very keen to see the former Marks and Spencer’s units put to good and effective use.

"Week Street is a key area for the town centre, linking The Mall and Fremlin Walk, and leading to many of our other streets with a high concentration of independent retailers.

"As such foot traffic here is very high and it would be good to have the vacancies filled."

She said: "Maidstone is showing an encouraging recovery post pandemic and we hope that this trend is set to continue."

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