THURSDAY 26th MAY, 2011.

Scooting about town

Win two flights Readers'ViewsPages22-25 Page 56

Page 16

What’s on... What’s gone...

Pages 32-36

Gulliver's giveawa

Page 33

We can make town the next

Alderley Edge

Pupils brush up on dental health

By Chris Young Congleton could soon become an Alderley Edge-style cosmopolitan evening venue.

That’s the vision of one developer who believes that as a number of empty uildings are transformed into high-end bars, the town will become a Mecca for “a better clientele”.

The former Lion and Bell/Music Box on Mill Street and The Staffordshire Knot/Beat Route on West Street are both currently being refurbished.

Developer Valentino Mar-tone said the Staffordshire Knot would re-open as a gastro pub in time for Christmas.

Last year, he opened The Courtyard across the street, a £250,000 development that contains an Italian restaurant, bar and outdoor terrace.

He said that along with DV8 bar on Little Street, which opened in 2009, the latest developments showed that town’s evening economy was gradually transforming into one more likely to attract people from outside Congleton.

Mr Martone has applied for a licence to keep the Staffordshire Knot open until 3am, and told the “Chronicle” that six people had objected to this plan. However, he said he also received a similar amount of objections to his plans to open Italian restaurant, TiAmo, which he said had been open for several months without incident.

He said: “People like Alderley Edge but they find it too expensive and hard to get to. People in Congleton want a nice environment to be in that isn’t going to cost them loads.”

He said places like the new Staffordshire Knot and DV8 would attract a better clientele to the town and added: “I haven’t spent all this money to have people come in and wreck the place — it is important that we keep a high standard. Congleton people want nice things.”

His business partner Stephen Conlon said the restaurant would soon be hosting a club night, and he expected people from as far as Birmingham and Manchester to attend. He added: “Hopefully people come to this, spend the night in a local hotel and then maybe come back to Congleton. We want to bring people from all around, especially Sandbach and Holmes Chapel.

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Pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School got their teeth into national smile month with a visit from the dental hygienists at the Old Coach House dental practice, Congleton. The children learned about dental health and were given information packs, which included teethbrushing charts. Pictured above, dental nurse Helen Egerton teaches Abbie Smallwood how to polish her pearly whites. (“Chronicle” photo. 2114a/11).

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Council boss survives annual meeting item that wasn’t on agenda

The annual gathering that is the highlight of Cheshire East Council’s civic calendar turned into a challenge against its leader on Wednesday.

During the annual meeting and mayor making at Tatton Park a secret ballot was held in a bid to oust Coun Wesley Fitzgerald who was described as a “Mickey Mouse Mussolini”.

His outspoken critic, Coun David Brickhill, made a play for the chair, with his supporters calling for a democratic leader who would lead strongly.

Many of the independent councillors were angered by high profile Cabinet sackings last year and the perception that Coun Fitzgerald wielded too much power in the corridors of Westfields.

In what was the first challenge to a Cheshire East leader’s primacy, councillors were asked to mark their preference on a slip of paper in a “secret ballot”. The votes were counted by two officers and overseen by chief executive Erika Wenzel.

Coun Fitzgerald prevailed by 45 votes to 20, with four unmarked and two uncertain. Despite the majority, it seems the leader didn’t get the unanimous backing of Cheshire East’s 48 Tory councillors.

He also received some stinging criticism from Independent councillors, including Coun Brickhill. He was removed from the Cabinet last year and quit the Tory party to go it alone in the council chamber

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