Current speculation is that the giant which is Primark may occupy a new unit at Westwood. Thanet Theroid can already hear the bays of protest from Anti-Westwood-Cross Thanetians. The main protest, Thanet Theroid imagines, will be about the possible/inevitable closure of the Margate store. The words nail and coffin spring to mind. Yes, if the Margate store closes it is a loss for Margate but the potential, financial and employment gain resulting from a larger store would, surely, be worth it.
Would it be an awful thing for a landmark Primark store to rest its haunches within Westwood? Gasp, Thanet Theroid thinks not! Indeed Canterbury cannot hold such a claim, nor even can Bluewater (Lakeside has one but is even further afield). With large stores noticeably absent from a close driving radius, surely this would be a boost for the Thanet area.
Primark representation in Kent, other than the current store in Margate High Street, can be found at Chatham, Bromley, Folkestone (if this has indeed taken over the old BHS), Gravesend, Maidstone and Dartford (TT may have missed one or two but let TT know if you are aware of any that TT is not – besides, all of these stores are a bit of a mission for the Theroid-Mobile). The largest Primark in Kent is the Chatham store, the largest in the South-East probably being located in Oxford Street, London, the largest in the world is reputedly in Manchester. Would it be a bad thing for Westwood, Thanet to have a supersized Primark store next to TKMaxx?
Time moves on, things progress. Buildings change, landscape re-scapes. To all of the Westwood Cross haters out there – where have you been shopping these past years since Westwood Cross and the surrounding superstores progressed? Thanet Theroid adores the shops of Broadstairs. Ramsgate has some gems to offer but Margate High Street began to crack and crumble before the arrival of the (supposed) bane that is called Westwood.
