About Us
We are a collection of businesses in and around Ashford, working together to make Ashford a safer place to live, shop, work and socialise.
We formed a Limited Company, and nominate a Board of Directors from our group to oversee our activities.
The Scheme is managed on a day-to-day basis by our Scheme Manager. The manager has regular contact with Ashford Police and Ashford Borough Council, as well as managing information reports from our members.
Our members report incidents via our DISC information app; we share information with each other about those people who commit crime in our venues.
Exclusion Scheme
We operate an exclusion scheme in our venues; persons involved in crime or anti-social behaviour can be banned from our venues, usually for up to a year, but for much longer following serious incidents.
Our exclusion scheme operates a ‘banned from one; banned from all’ policy; a person excluded under our scheme following an incident at one venue could be declined entry at all our venues in future.
You can see a map of our venues here.
Our Scheme has a number of retail and hospitality venues in and around Ashford town centre.
These range from small independents to the larger retail venues such as County Square and the Designer Outlet Village.
The vast majority of licensed venues in the town centre are members of Pub Watch, along with several premises outside the town, such as The New Fox Inn; The William Harvey Inn; The Pheasant; New Chimneys; The Singleton Barn; and The Beaver Inn
DISC is a secure information sharing system for our members. Accessed by web-browser or smart-phone app, information about criminal behaviour can be shared with businesses, police and the CCTV camera operators.
Our digital radio network provides communications for businesses, police and CCTV across Ashford. We also run a radio network in Tenterden.
Featuring a permanent talk-through system and emergency ‘urgent assistance’ button, our radio handsets are robust and weatherproof for users in all situations.
Ashford town centre has a network of Safe Spaces – premises people can go to if they need help and support when out in the town centre (look out for the window sticker or find them on the StreetWise app)
CitizenCard, a recognised Proof Of Age Card provider, has arranged a discount code to allow local residents to obtain a card Free of Charge.
Just go to their website and follow the instructions to join.
At the checkout just enter the code APAC to qualify for a discount; this effectively reduces the card cost to £0.
The card can be used anywhere that requires photographic ID, such as to purchase alcohol or lottery tickets; to vote; to enter licensed premises. Plus! Claim a whole range of discounts from sellers online.
Ashford town centre benefits from having a HD CCTV system.
Covering most of the town centre, along with a number of locations outside the town, the cameras are monitored 24hrs a day by qualified SIA-registered staff.
The control room staff monitor and control our radio network, and also have contact with police response teams.