A town centre shop has been hit with its second zero-star hygiene rating in less than a year after inspectors uncovered blood-soaked floors.
The business in Ashford received another damning report highlighting a catalogue of failures including poor hygiene practices, damaged equipment and mould.
Also in today’s podcast, a pensioner with a fetish for listening to women urinate claimed he was “desperate” from a stomach upset when caught using ladies’ cubicles.
The 67-year-old was busted in Herne Bay om June this year, when he was subject to a court order banning him from "lingering, waiting and standing" outside public loos.
We’ve spoken to a Kent pub boss about proposals to introduce smoking bans in some areas including beer gardens.
Some say it will be the final nail in the coffin for the pub industry.
You can also hear from the manager of a Morrisons daily who tells us why he stayed in the job for 51-years despite once being held up at gunpoint.
The 65-year-old is giving up his 4am starts after starting with the company as a paperboy aged 14.
And a former vaccine centre in Sittingbourne that has been left empty since the pandemic is being transformed into a “much-needed” cafe and food bank.
The Podcast has spoken to some of the people behind the renovations and what they mean for the community.
This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello, it's Thursday, the 29th of August. Thank you for downloading today's podcast. Coming up today, we'll hear from a Kent pub boss on the new smoking bans being proposed by the government and we'll also hear from man who stayed on in the same job for 51 years despite being tied up and robbed at gunpoint. But first taking a look at our top story today, a business in Ashford has been given a zero-star food hygiene rating after inspectors found blood-soaked floors. M.M. Cash and Carrie, which is a butcher's and a supermarket in New rents, was also found to have raw food stored incorrectly and mauled in the kitchen. Lucy has been following this story for the Kent Online Podcast. It's the second time in less than a year that M.M. Cash and Carrie has received a zero-star hygiene rating. The latest report highlighted a catalogue of failures, including poor hygiene practices, damaged equipment, and mauled. The large chiller had no working light and meat products were coming into contact with blood stains on the floor. Raw food was found stored next to ready-to-eat foods in the walk-in chiller, including an animal carcass next to fresh herbs and salad. Inspectors also found there was no suitable hand soap or hand-drying facilities. And as you say, this isn't the first time they've been given a poor hygiene rating. That's right. In 2016, an active cockroach infestation was found and it was ordered to close. In 2021, officers issued a two-star rating after dirty fridges and missing tiles were reported. Last year, issues included broken fridges out of date food, flies and a worker washing their feet in the sink. One of the business owners had to say. Well, a spokesperson for the store said it's made all the necessary changes and has since been cleared on all fronts. They say they've had issues with training, but operations have completely changed and have been updated to comply with guidelines. He goes on to say everything is clean and there are methods in place to make sure standards don't slip again and they're just waiting for another inspection. A spokesperson for Ashford Borough Council added the improvement notice has now been complied with and they'll be continuing to monitor this business to ensure that improvements are maintained. Thanks, Lucy. You can see pictures of the condition of the shop at Kent Online. Kent Online News. A man has been jailed for sexually assaulting a woman in Canterbury while she slept. Lloyd Sands carried out the attack in 2019, despite the victim telling him she did not consent. He also filmed the whole thing on his phone. The 30-year-old who lives in Plymouth in Devon has been locked up for 12 years. Four men have a beating court accused of being part of a town centre brawl in Medway. Police were called to Chatham High Street in May after the fight broke out in broad daylight. The group pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been released on bail. Their trial won't start until November due to a backlog of cases. A hern bay man has been locked up after a court heard he had a fetish for listening to women use the bathroom. Michael Goodwin was spotted shuffling into the female facilities at Heron's leisure centre in June. The 67-year-old who lives in Highview Avenue was subject to a sexual harm prevention order at the time. He's been sentenced to two years and ten months. A Kent pub boss has been giving us his reaction to reports of a potential smoking ban in some outdoor spaces. It's understood the government is considering introducing restrictions in places including beer gardens, restaurant terraces and some parks. Ministers haven't confirmed the proposals but say they're looking at a range of measures to make Britain smoke free. Philip Thawley runs Thawley Taverns in Thanat. We have outdoor smoking areas. The company has been going for over 50 years and so we were trading pre-smoking ban. We've got over that hurdle really well. We have really nice outdoor smoking areas. We have heaters. We have televisions there for people to be out and watch the sport. We have nice comfortable seating and it works. I don't find that there is a need. Sometimes you go, "Okay, there may be a need that wants to get sorted out here. I don't see where the need or the driver is coming from." Probably the health lobby on want to get the people not vape and not smoke at all. I think there's an element of public choice in there as well. Some people have said this could be an alien in the coffin for pubs. Do you agree with that? No, I don't. I think pubs have been around for centuries. They're extremely resilient and our customers change as times go on. But I think choice is really important in life and those people who come into our venues, if they don't want to consume alcohol, we have a vast range of non-alcoholic drinks. If people want to vape, then we ask them to go outside. If they want to smoke, we let them to go outside. And people are really compliant and happy with that. We do have a balcony on one of our pubs, which is right on the cliff top. And it's quite a narrow balcony and the tables are quite close together and we do quite a lot of food. And we actually have part of that outside area as part of it is smoking and part of it's non-smoking. And that works really well. We don't have, in fact, we get compliments about it rather than complaints about it. So I just think it's a common-sense thing. I think that if you were to say you couldn't smoke in the pub outside smoking area in the pub garden and then push people onto the pavement, I don't think that's a very sensible solution either. So I think it's ill thought through. It's another one of those things that they'll just put up and it'll just disappear where it should go down the plug hole. It's online news. Our court has heard a diverman subjected his girlfriend to a campaign of abuse and violence weeks after being released from prison. Stuart Turnbull had previous convictions for a violent street robbery when he punched, headbutted, kicked and strangled his victim in attacks between last September and January. The 30-year-old who lives on Big 'N' Street has been locked up for another five years. Investigators believe a fire at a school in Folkestone may have been started deliberately. As we recall, to Cherryton Primary on Church Road two weeks ago, it's reported a man wearing a black balaclava was seen in the area at the time. A computer shop boss from Medway is thought to be the first person in the UK to be charged with crypto ATM offences. Habiba Raman is accused of operating an illegal cryptocurrency machine without proper registration from the gadgets shop on Chatham High Street. The 37-year-old who lives on Langdon Crescent in East Ham in London is due in court in October. The building in Sittingborne that's been left abandoned since the pandemic is getting a revamp. Age UK's Heather House in the Avenue of Remembrance is being transformed into a much-needed cafe and food bank. It's thanks to Swale Community Care Project and Sittingborne and Sheppy Helping Ukraine who have come together to give it a new lease of life. Our reporter Cara Simmons has been chatting to organisers Dan Marsh and Michelle Hennico. Age UK have leased this property since it was built in 1989, so they've got a long history of providing support for the community. When COVID hit, Dan Marsh just came in and used the building as its vaccination centre. And then when that finished and the need was finished, Dan Marsh just sued it. So local offices, whilst they re-housed elsewhere. So from generally this year effectively, the building's been empty. And I think it was literally everything was left as if somebody had backed away from the building. We picked out iPads and people's personal belongings and even a few shops were in the kitchen area. So it was literally left. As it was, there's a closed line still when they had the shooting up between the cubicles for the people to be injected. So it's taken it a while to clear it all through. We've purposed some of it, where we have, if you're making a paper, we're really good to say where possible. Please use what's here. So we've got on and done that. And so we've just tried to now sort of reformat it in a structure that we think will be useful for the community. Why is this needed for sitting born? Why do you think the residents need a place like this at the moment? [LAUGHTER] The swan sway itself is quite financially deprived in an awful lot of areas. Sadly, we're pacing, seeing, having their phones cut. They're having to cut services that are needed locally. And we understand why. But that leaves people in sway without essential care, really. You have people that will sit in their home one day with nothing, not sleep to another soul. And that's their life. And so two charities can get together and open something as simple as a cafe, change up persons' life. Why wouldn't you do that? And we know how many people it's going to affect already because of conversations that have been had, because of messages coming through. Because of other services that are contacting us saying this is fantastic and we've heard that we know how needed this is in the area. Kent Online News. A medway mom says it's only a matter of time before a leak at her home in Twiddle causes the whole ceiling to cave in. Marley Simmons says her five-year-old daughter has already had a lucky escape when part of the bathroom ceiling gave way. A medway council say they're working with the family to address their concerns and make sure everyone is safe. Businesses in Kent say they're still counting the cost of the Euler's expansion as we mark a year since it came into force. Anyone with a non-compliant vehicle has to pay £12.50 a day to drive into greater London. TFL say the expansion has led to a 13% drop in nitrogen oxide pollution from cars in the city. Bosses and Thames Warders say they want to try and raise customers' bills by 52% by 2030. The company, which covers part of North Kent, says it would invest the money in new infrastructure. They've criticised plans by the regulator to put a cap on price increases, warning it could put them out of business. The Kent Online podcast has been speaking to the manager of a Morrison's Daily, who's retiring after 51 years. Kevin Forman started with the company as a paperboy at the age of 14 at Martin News Agents. He stayed on when it changed into Martin McColl's. He's been at the Morrison's Daily branch in Larkfield for 44 years, but now the 65-year-old says it's time to give up the 4 A.M. starts. He's been telling reporter Ellie Hodgson about some of the more challenging moments. I was robbed to get in early in the morning. I was by myself, spent while I passed 5 in the morning, and I was tied up at the back of the shop. That was the worst time. I was actually tied to the ratings on the shelving at the back. It was horrible because I was tied, just the stuff you could do. You'd have to wait until somebody had come in the shop to find out what was happening. That was the worst part. What you've gone through in this job is extremely traumatic. Well, it is, yeah. I nearly gave up then because I lost a lot of weight, and I really got healed then. But he can't let him win. But he's also recalled some of the reasons why he stayed in the job for so long. He's just gotten too much, and my health suffered a bit this month. And when I went in the hospital, sat in Sunday, when I was caught in there, something, he woke me up a bit. And I think it's time to move on. So I was very tired from that from 51 years. It took my whole life to the retail trade, not Morrison's, because Morrison's only been with us for about three years. But the whole trade, and I loved every minute of it, really. It's set for a lot, obviously, a lot of it, but others, but some people coming in, the customers coming in. It's just, I said, "Those are the customers. They're really lovely." It's a lovely trade to be in, but it is business now. What has kept you so loyal over all these years? Loving the job. The customers come in and say, "Oh, you're coming to work." I say, "You've got to actually enjoy it." It's not been out in the six o'clock, but I'm there at four o'clock in the morning. Why are you doing your two hours of your time? Because I love it. It's for me. It's not to accompany. I can get more done in my own time. It makes my job easier. People say you're a mug, because people go nine to five jobs. But if you enjoy what you do, it's not what I'm doing over time, so you don't get paid for it. But if you enjoy what you do, you don't want to, it's like footballers. They get paid over a lot, but they enjoy what they do. Some of them don't, but they do, because it's a money. But money's never really bothered me. It's just that I enjoy what I do. He says he's going to spend time with his family and kids, and watch them play football. Kent Online News. The bomb squad has been called to a property near Sitting Born. Following reports of a suspicious package being sent to a home, police set up a cordon in the polls in Upchurch yesterday morning. After concerns were first raised, the package has since been removed and appears to have been harmless. Good news for drivers. Operation Brock will be removed from the M20 this weekend. The contraflow system has been enforced between Maidstone and Ashford for the last seven weeks to minimize the impact of delays at the border. Some of them have been forced to be removed from the M20 for two weeks. Some of them have been forced on 22 occasions. Brock will be removed overnight on Sunday. A community initiative in Medway is hoping to reach out to men who might be feeling lonely or isolated. Men in sheds is a game commissioned by a better Medway. They're coming together to promote change. It comes as a government statistic, say we're facing a silent health crisis with four out of every five suicides a man. The Men in Sheds program is a safe space for people of all ages to socialize in the hopes of bettering their mental health. They can take part in a range of different activities, including gardening. Malcolm Hazleton has been telling us the idea behind the project. What I hope we've done is enable guys with maybe low self-esteem to do things and to be effective. Some of the guys that come here maybe haven't been out in their house for three years. People get used to spending time on their own. They become poorly socialized. So for most people, they tell me this is a gentle place. It's welcoming. I think that projects like this, you might think of this as a social prescription because it gets people relating to each other. Alan Perrin is someone who uses the garden. It's helped my mental health. Yes, I'll come here every couple of weeks. I'll come into this socialize with people who will come here and chat to and I'm doing a bit of gardening. I enjoy gardening. Anyone who's anxious about taking the first steps is being encouraged to reach out for help. The Ken Wildlife Trust say we need to bring Beavers back into the wild to combat the impacts of climate change. They've joined forces with the Wildwood Trust to put pressure on the government to roll out a reintroduction strategy. They want more support for farmers and management groups, Lori Gardner is from the Wildwood Trust. All along the Riverstower catchment, the population is growing. And we are seeing lodges appear and they're quite territorial. The pairs will establish a lodge and then they will then breed. And then at two years old, the kits will then disperse to find their own territory. And so we're seeing increasing numbers of Beavers spread out along the Riverstower catchment. And we can now, pretty much from the middle of Canterbury, you can sit on a bench beside the river and at about after sort of dusk time, you see the Beavers emerge from their lodges and they just swim up and down the rivers. And it's just, it's breathtaking, it's beautiful. We have really forgotten how to live alongside wildlife and having moments like this. It's lovely. Oh, that sounds lovely. I'll have to look out for them next time I'm down in Canterbury. And you mentioned the benefits that Beavers can have on the landscape and in tackling things like climate change as well. I mean, can you just talk me through in basic terms what exactly is their doing? Yes, well, particularly Beavers have a very positive impact, particularly in upper river systems at the top of water catchments. And what they do is they'll build lodges and dams. And so they slow the flow of water. And what this means is it sort of establishes small pools, which is really good for biodiversity. So you get sort of fish populations. Fish fried do really, really well in the shallow areas. The water is full of wildlife and invertebrates. And it also further downstream, it slows the flow of the water. So it helps mitigate flood events in future. And obviously the water quality itself is improved by the activities of Beavers. So it not only helps improve the quality of the water, it mitigates flood events further downstream. And it creates other habitats for wildlife because obviously what we've done is we've kind of come in and humans have canalised water. And we want to get historically water from A to B as fast as possible. So we've created these artificially straight hard engineered sided river systems, which are completely unnatural and really devoid of biodiversity. So putting the beaver back into the landscape, putting these natural, slow, meandering water systems back with more pools, more wildlife that benefits. That benefits not just the water quality, mitigates flood defences. But also there's a well-being element as well. You know, it's lovely for us to see. So there's all sorts of benefits. And there's lots of evidence online that anybody who's interested can look at that, um, at the university have probably led the way in doing a lot of evidence-based, scientifically robust work to look at, okay, well, we think we know the benefits that beavers do. But let's actually make sure we've got the conservation evidence to substantiate this. Kent Online News. pupils at a school in Sheness have helped create a booklet designed to keep thousands of children across Kent healthy. Year three students at Halfway Houses Primary were asked about what matters to them and drew pictures to go in the booklet. It includes information about things like teeth brushing and emotional well-being and has been distributed to more than 10,000 school children across the county. And the new public artwork has been commissioned in Dartford to honour the life and work of Len Goodman, the former strictly judge, who set up a dance academy in the town, passed away at the age of 78 last year. Some of his most famous quotes are going to be engraved into the pavement outside. That's all from us today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up, just head to kentonline.co.uk News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
