War is raging over Canterbury’s future. Only two Labour councillors are left in the whole of Kent, in the north and south of the city, compared to the 57 Reform councillors who now control the county. Reform entirely replaced the Tories, who were left with just five councillors.
Canterbury’s tale is one of general decline. The lucrative parties of French schoolchildren and day-trippers have largely gone, partly because Ashford International, the Kent stop of the Eurostar, was shut and never reopened after Covid. The local economy has suffered as a result. The remaining businesses are coarsening the appearance of a city which is as important to the Anglican communion as Rome is to the Catholic Church. Some residents deplore the changing appearance of the commercial centre. ‘It’s like a second-class Las Vegas,’ moaned one ex-councillor.
The firms under fire include CJ’s Phone and Vapes, which sells second hand mobiles and small bags with cannabis leaves printed on them.
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