 A new cake shop has opened its doors to customers in Chatham High Street this weekend, offering completely egg-free versions of fresh cream treats. Cake Box opened its latest branch on Saturday, 29 August, which is located next to the Shoe Zone footwear store. The franchise first launched in 2008 in London, on a mission to provide the UK with a new concept; delicious fresh cream celebration cakes made without using eggs. It opened its first franchise a year later and now has more than 140 branches across the UK, including the existing store in Strood.  As well as offering click and collect, Cake Box also creates personalised cakes which can be ordered online and collected within an hour.
It is not known how many jobs have been created at the new Chatham branch. However, the opening of Cake Box comes at a difficult time for Chatham town centre, which has faced numerous store closures by national brands. Only this year, at least four big businesses have pulled out from the 'city centre' of Medway, including Debenhams in January, Buzz Bingo in July and GO Outdoors just earlier this month, while the Co-op Bank will permanently shut in November.  Medway Council has awarded VolkerHighways a contract worth more than £9 million to install thousands of energy efficient street lights across Medway.
The work, which began on 24 August and will continue until July 2022, will see the replacement of around 24,000 street lighting lanterns with efficient energy saving LEDs and the provision of a 'Central Management System' (CMS). A further 2,000 existing lanterns will also be retrofitted with CMS. By using a CMS system, the lights can be controlled remotely, saving even more energy, minimising on-site maintenance and reducing costs for the Council. As part of this work, VolkerHighways will replace 3,500 concrete and 1,000 steel columns with aluminium versions - a highly durable and aesthetically pleasing option. In heritage areas, a total of 1,350 lanterns will also be carefully refurbished or replaced with sympathetic designs. Cllr Phil Filmer, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for Frontline Services, said: “I am pleased that thousands of energy efficient lights will be installed across Medway over the next two years. These lights consume less energy, reduce light pollution and support our ongoing work around climate change. "The lighting upgrade also includes a new management system, which will allow us to switch the lights on and off and dim them, where necessary. This will give us better control over power consumption and the system will automatically notify us of any faults and reduce the need for regular inspections. "This project is just one of many ways that we are seeking to reduce our carbon footprint, improve the environment within Medway and start to lay the foundations for our Smart City ambitions." The contract is additional to VolkerHighways’ existing five-year Highways Term Maintenance Contract with Medway Council. Photo: Pixabay  A new cake shop is opening in Chatham High Street this weekend, offering completely egg-free versions of fresh cream treats.
Cake Box is preparing to open its latest branch to customers on Saturday, 29 August, which is located next to the Shoe Zone footwear store. The franchise first launched in 2008 in the heart of east London, on a mission to provide the UK with a new concept; delicious fresh cream celebration cakes made without using eggs. It opened its first franchise a year later and now has more than 140 branches across the UK, with the closest store currently located in Strood. As well as offering click and collect, Cake Box also creates personalised cakes which can be ordered online and collected within an hour. It is not known how many jobs will be created at the new Chatham branch. However, the opening of Cake Box comes at a difficult time for Chatham town centre, which has faced numerous store closures by national brands. Only this year, at least four big businesses have pulled out from the 'city centre' of Medway, including Debenhams in January, Buzz Bingo in July and GO Outdoors just earlier this month, while the Co-op Bank will permanently shut in November.  The Co-operative Bank has confirmed it will be closing its Chatham branch due to the current "economic uncertainty" and the shift to online banking.
The bank in Military Road will close its doors for the final time on Wednesday, 25 November. Although it is not known how many jobs are affected by this decision, the bank says it would look to redeploy staff members where possible. The Co-op Bank's chief executive, Andrew Bester, said was he "very sorry" for the closure, which will see 17 other branches nationwide close and 350 jobs lost in a bid to reduce costs. "We're not immune to the impact of recent events, with the historically low base rate affecting the income of all banks and a period of prolonged economic uncertainty ahead, which means it's important we reduce costs and have the right-sized operating model in place for the future," he said. "We are responding to the continuing shift of more and more customers choosing to bank online, with lower levels of transactions in branches, a trend which has been increasing for some time, across the banking sector and more broadly." As part of the decision, the Co-op assessed the Chatham branch over a 12-month period (January to December 2019) to determine its long-term viability, which looked at factors such as the availability of alternative banking facilities and customer footfall. The bank claims that of the customers who used the Chatham branch in the last 12 months, nearly 62% visited the branch in just one or two months during that period. The closure of the Co-op Bank joins a growing list of national retailers or service providers who have pulled out of Chatham town centre this year, including Debenhams in January, Buzz Bingo in July and GO Outdoors just earlier this month. Photo: Google Maps |
