County Square

County Square is a shopping centre in Ashford, Kent, England. It is one of three main shopping facilities in the town, others being Park Mall and the Ashford Designer Outlet.HistoryThe centre was originally an open-air shopping area named The Tufton Centre. It was originally home to an International Stores and Tesco Home Store which later became a Littlewoods. The centre was known for its Oast roundel style confectionery and advertising hoardings. It was covered by a large glass roof and a substantial redevelopment in the late 1980s.ExtensionOn 20 March 2007, County Square opened its new extended shopping mall to accommodate its new anchor store Debenhams, as well as stores such as New Look, Jane Norman, H&M, Next, River Island and Waterstones. The extension saw the centre double in size, increase its store total to 60 and increase its car parking facilities to 600.The extension to the centre was furthered in January 2010 with the introduction of GZ Computers, which was positioned in the older part of the centre prior to the extension. Watch Town, an independent watch store, was also introduced into the centre, as well as SilverLeaf, an independent jeweler. A kiosk selling confectionery, drinks, tobacco and newspapers (managed by the staff who operate Ashford News in the town's Bank Street) has also been introduced into the new extension.