Three weeks ago the Crown and Thistle was covered in Scaffolding.

Two weeks ago the scaffolding came down.

In two weeks time the Crown and Thistle will re-open for another chapter in its long and illustrious history.

The Grade II Listed 17th century Coaching Inn, which John Rushkin called home for a while, and where Douglas Fairbanks Junior parked his boat, and which became a Berni Inn in the 1960s, will re-open on 27th November following a £1.8m refurbishment.

It is the 8th property opened by Oakman Inns, who have just won the Pub Company of the Year award – organised by Restaurant magazine.

I did a piece some time back saying that there was a new cobbler in Stert Street. At first the business was regularly open, but since the start of the summer holidays the opening of the shop has become very erratic, and was last open about two weeks ago. Notices appeared today to say the landlord has taken back possession of the shop because of unpaid rent. Anybody wanting to pick up their shoes needs to provide a receipt and description.

The jury ,who sat through the three week trial, were unanimous in dismissing all the allegations.

Those allegations must have been like hell to live through for Paul T and his young family over fifteen months.

Before the allegations there was nobody worked harder for Abingdon than Paul T.

The state of the shops is a regular story in the Abingdon Herald.

In 2001 and 2002 there were concerns about shop closures. By 2003-5 headlines had become more positive with Stert Street doing better. Although there were concerns elsewhere in 2007.

After the opening of the new precinct in the 1970s one of the older shopping streets, Stert Street, did go into decline. In July 2002 there were 9 empty shops. However a delicatessen was due to open in November 2002.

On Saturday some of the town traders were on the Market Place to promote their businesses. Two were from Stert Street: Dream Doors

and Added Ingredients, the delicatessen that opened in November 2002.

That appears to be the turning point for Stert Street. Since 2002 Stert Street has been on the rise. Mod31 opened about the same time, and Finishing Touch in 2003. By 2005 there were 2 empty shops and Stert Street was soon to benefit from the new traffic system with wider pavements and less traffic.

In the last 3 years I cannot remember an empty shop in Stert Street, and so despite difficult trading conditions elsewhere, Stert Street is doing fairly well.