On Thursday 8th May, a street party was held on Market Avenue in Ashton Town Centre to celebrate Victory in Europe Day.
Local residents and businesses came out in full force to make the event happen.
ThanSai Thai Massage and Spa were cooking up a storm out in the street with a variety of meats, seafood and vegetables.
Plus, The Hidden Kitchen even opened their doors outside of their usual days especially for the street party.
We spoke to Andy Kleek, owner of monopoly events, who helped organise the VE80 event: “It’s been fantastic. The people that have been down and the interest that has been shown. And to pull that together in less than 24 hours, it just shows, and next year when we do have the time to plan something, I think we can really do something special.
“I want to schedule in entertainment every half an hour. I want bands coming down the streets, Maurice dancers, maybe even the army. Next year we want to make a real big thing of it.
“All the businesses are involved as well. Everyone has come together last minute, they’ve out food on. Everyone’s got involved.”
The businesses along Market Avenue along with Andy have big plans for the future and hope to put on street parties during summer too.
Jason, owner of bar To the Moon and Back, helped Andy in setting up for the party: “All the shops here, we’re working together and especially with Andy behind us. We’ve all got the ability to grow something.”
Andy is also working on renovating the Metro Majestic Cinema on Old Street in Ashton and the Palace on Market Street in Stalybridge.
Recently Andy and his team have found a variety of tunnels under Ashton Town Centre, he plans on making the tunnels into something special as well as making Market Avenue into a real life Diagon Alley.
Andy and Jason joining the festivities.
“We have some very exciting plans including themed businesses. We are going to be digging out the tunnels that we found and create museums underground. We are going to create an underground ride, and no one knows that yet!
“This whole avenue is going to be turned in like a Diagon Alley, so we’re going to have dragons on the roof and all sorts of crazy stuff. We want to have more street parties too.
“So, this street party is the first of many. We are going to have a lot of big celebrities opening them as well.
“We chose Market Avenue because it’s a beautiful Victorian Avenue and if you look down the street it’s just stunning. I’ve got a vision and I’m going to bring that vision to life. It’s going to take a couple of years but when you see the final products you’ll understand it’s going to be like Diagon Alley but better.”
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