SWLNeurostar – by James Gamble
Locals and businesses in a Kent town are pleading for the Eurostar to return after a five-year absence – saying the centre has become “depressing” since the rail service disappeared.
The swanky international station in Ashford has been out of use since the first Covid lockdown and is now a time capsule back to a pre-pandemic age, with March 2020 editions of magazines still sitting on tables in the lounge.
Eurostar trains have not stopped at struggling Ashford, Ebbsfleet or Stratford’s now vacant platforms since before the pandemic, despite increasing public and private fervour to reopen them.
One French businessman who moved to Ashford three decades ago – when the town was seen as an “El Dorado” for European businesses – estimates that his digital company has lost more than £1m since the Eurostar station fell into disuse.
Local councillors added that 30,000 jobs the stations provided across Kent have also vanished, whilst locals mourn the days when they could pop across the Channel to lunch in Paris or Brussels and be home in time for tea.
Now, they bemoan the expense and ironic effort of having to travel to central London’s St Pancras International Station before passing through their disused home station on their way to Europe.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, responding to a question in the House of Commons from Ashford’s Labour MP Sojan Joseph, recently encouraged Eurostar to start stopping at its abandoned stations in Kent once again.
However, locals say they were left disappointed by Sir Keir’s statement that the decision was ‘ultimately for Eurostar’.
Ashford residents and businesses say they want to see the government put pressure on the company to reinstate the stations and encourage growth in the struggling town.
One local resident, who has lived in Ashford all his life, said it was ‘crazy’ the town’s station remained shut after the pandemic – especially given another £10m was spent upgrading its signalling in 2018.
“Obviously the Eurostar trains should be back,” the 47-year-old, named Giles, said.
“It was sneaky. Nobody was thinking about it during Covid so they killed it and haven’t brought it back.
“As soon as lockdown was over, people went, ‘Can we get the Eurostar?’, and it was like, ‘No, it’s not there anymore’.
“It was a good thing for the community. It’s huge. It was better when Eurostar was here. It would bring people into the town.
“I would love to see somebody else come along and create some competition.
“In this day and age, to spend that amount of money and not use the station… It’s crazy.
“I think it should be a priority for the government.
“I’d jump on the Eurostar tracks to protest if other people did it. It’s kind of criminal.”
Steve Sitton, a Green Party representative and local business owner, says the loss of the Eurostar has hit the hospitality, hotel and taxi industries in Ashford especially hard.
“A lot of hotels have seen a downturn in people coming over to go to Europe,” Mr Sitton, who runs multi-use venue Coach Works In Ashford, said.
“It has caused issues for the taxi trade as well.
“Passengers would stay the night and go out in the town centre and in the morning get the Eurostar.
“A lot of people and businesses moved here for the transport connections.
“That resource has been taken away and it’s a real, real shame.
“The station sits there empty and it’s tragic, really.
“The government keep talking about investing, but we already have the infrastructure here – we’re just not using it.
“It’s mad to put millions into new projects when we don’t use existing infrastructure.
“It’s really, really important to get it back.”
French entrepreneur Jean-Claude Cothias moved to Ashford 27 years ago because of its connections to mainland Europe and says his digital business has suffered terribly since the town’s international station fell into disuse.
“A lot of businesses in and around Ashford have been affected by Eurostar not stopping at Ashford anymore,” the 51-year-old said.
“It has drastically complicated our physical connection to the continent.
“Before, it was less than two hours from Ashford to the centre of Paris.
“You could leave in the morning, do a full day of meetings and come back in the evening.
“Now, it’s impossible. You have to get a hotel, go to London and take twice the time for the journey and it costs a lot more money.
“We have lost opportunities, clients and investments [as a result of Eurostar not stopping in Ashford anymore].
“It has had a significant financial impact on us. Over the last years, in loss of revenue and opportunities, we have probably lost in the region of £1m.”
Mr Cothias echoed the need for the government to give Eurostar an ultimatum and tell it to either stop at all its UK stations again or face competitors.
“Everyone but Eurostar wants to see [the station] opened again,” he continued.
“Eurostar only care about their profit. I find it despicable – it’s a public service.
“It’s not only important to businesses but for investment in general.
“Ashford was a really small town with nothing – not even a cinema – 20 years ago.
“The government should step up and do something. I think it’s a very easy job to do.
“It wouldn’t cost them anything and it would send a great signal.”
Labour Councillor Diccon Spain, from Ashford Borough Council (ABC), backed the call to give Eurostar an ultimatum.
The 58-year-old, who is a spokesman for the Bring Back Euro Trains campaign group, added that perhaps it was a mistake for the UK government to sell its 40 per cent stake in Eurostar for £757.1m to a consortium of Canadian and British investors back in 2015.
The dad-of-one said: “The government need to be driving [the reopening of the stations].
“We need them to level the playing field with incoming competitors.
“We have a huge opportunity here for growth.
“Six years since it was last used, the station’s gathering dust. Two platforms at Ashford, two at Ebbsfleet and two at Stratford are ready to be used.
“The Heathrow third runway likely won’t be viable until the 2030s – this is a viable opportunity for growth right now.
“It’s gutting to have that asset sitting there not being used.
“It could make a huge difference to the economy and in jobs, in particular.
“You could more or less immediately relaunch it.”
Cllr Spain even suggested that the government found a rival operator of international trains ‘owned by the British people’.
“I think [the government] should be thinking about these kinds of things,” he said.
“30,000 jobs were lost in Kent when Eurostar pulled out.
“Whilst it’s great to hear Keir supporting the return to Ashford, the other part – that it’s up to Eurostar – was disappointing.
“I think they should be much more proactive and play hard-ball with Eurostar.
“If we are serious about growth, it’s right in front of us.”
Charles Suddards, husband of Ashford’s Mayor and an ABC Labour councillor himself, said he shut his sweet shop on the town’s high street following the pandemic partly due to the economic downturn that followed.
“Eurostar is to do with that. There’s massive economic and environmental reasons why it makes absolute sense to reopen the station.
“What a stupid nonsense it is that we have to go all the way to London just to pass Ashford now.”
Long queues and lengthy delays at the Port of Dover and Channel Tunnel mean locals are reluctant to travel via these routes to reach the Continent.
Cllr Suddard’s wife, Mayor Lyn Suddards, added that she hadn’t been to Paris since the Eurostar stopped running from Ashford – despite the City of Light being closer than the Midlands.
Jillian Roth said she used the Eurostar ‘all the time’ when it stopped at Ashford.
“I moved down to Kent in 2009 so I could get off to Europe,” she said.
“The train used to stop here at seven in the morning. We’d go to Paris or Brussels for lunch.
“I don’t see what the problem is… It was brilliant for Ashford. It’s a real shame it’s gone.”
Another local woman, who gave her name as Wendy and has lived in the Ashford area for over 60 years, said: “It should be back.
“The station’s not derelict – it’s just empty. People were looking forward to having it here.
“We don’t want to go to London to get the train and come back past the Ashford station.
“It seems a waste. What’s the point of having it?
“The town centre is getting more and more dead. It’s not thriving; in fact, it’s quite depressing.
“It would be a big boost to the town to have it back.”
Taxi driver Mike Simkins admitted Eurostar abandoning Ashford had been a ‘big loss’ to the taxi industry in the town.
“It should definitely come back,” the 43-year-old dad-of-two, who has lived in the area for around 40 years, said.
“The town has suffered without it.
“People from all over used to come to Ashford to get the Eurostar.”
Eurostar’s former chief executive, Jacques Damas, previously explained that the pandemic, increased post-Brexit border friction and soaring inflation had scuppered hopes of restarting Kent services.
But in a statement, Eurostar’s current CEO Gwendoline Cazenave claimed that whilst they will review their position on its abandoned Kent stations in the future, they serviced just four per cent of its passengers prior to the pandemic.
She said: “Following our constructive meeting with Kent MPs on the 3rd of February, I would like to reaffirm Eurostar’s commitment to maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue with all relevant stakeholders in Kent and Ashford.
“We value the strong relationships we have with local councils, businesses, and communities in the region and are fully aware of the expectations placed upon us.
“We are prioritising operational efficiency and sustainability in our main stations, ensuring that we can invest in our future and meet the growing demands of European travel.
“This includes modernising our fleet and infrastructure and addressing new competition in the market.
“It’s important to note that before Covid, and before the merger, passengers boarding and alighting at Ashford and Ebbsfleet stations represented around 4 per cent of our overall pax volume.
“Growth was never as strong as it was from St Pancras. In fact, passenger numbers stayed relatively flat for a decade.
“While our current focus is on ensuring the growth and sustainability of our core routes from London, we are committed to reviewing our position regarding the reopening of services to Ashford and Ebbsfleet in the future.
“We have made significant progress in discussions with the Department for Transport regarding infrastructure expansion at St Pancras and Temple Mills, and we remain hopeful that as we overcome capacity constraints, there will be opportunities to offer more services and connections across the Eurostar network.
“We are fully aware of the political landscape and the importance of maintaining strong ties with the communities we serve.
“I would like to reassure our partners in Kent that we will continue to evaluate all options moving forward, and we remain open to engaging with stakeholders as the situation evolves.”
ENDS
