Panic Over! Ross-on-Wye is doing incredibly well!

16th APRIL 2025

Have you been worried that Ross has all sorts of issues, that we have too many empty shops, that some things are a little bit crap, that Ross has declined over recent years, and the town is a bit dead?

Well don’t worry one minute longer! Panic over! You’ve got it wrong!

Yes, the shops and businesses are doing really well!

Did you think Ross was quiet when you walked through on Monday? Think again! It wasn’t!

The town centre is alive and bustling! It’s all hunky dory! (Who remembers Hunky Dory?)

Oh, that’s okay then….Recently have you noticed social media comments from mysteriously anonymous authors who seem frustrated with any Joe Public that think Ross is not what it used to be, seeming to want to tell those people how well Ross is doing and to stop moaning - these anonymous posts couldn’t be by councillors could they?

Are some councillors about to try to convince everyone that everything is rosey? Are some councillors chomping at the bit to broadcast some stats? To do your thinking for you.

Oh well, we’re used to politicians peddling stats at us to try to convince us we’re better off aren’t we? We know too much can be read into data, one tell-tale of over-interpretation is if they come with a typical side-dish of anecdotal fluff with a sprinkled pinch of PR.

Anyway, watch this space - but hey, the anonymous comments might have just been a bit of stroppiness?

Do be careful what you say and think yourself though...

Didn't a gazette column see a councillor announce about "town vibrancy" that they would "call out those who decry and try to drag us down"? Sounds ominous! Remember how Mavis from Camp Road made that comment about a shop front? Legend has it she was bundled into a van by two official looking people wearing dark sunglasses and hasn't been seen since.