Shock as 16 tonnes of soil mistakenly dropped in Shrewsbury

An accidental delivery error left 16 tonnes of topsoil dropped in completely the wrong place at a new community garden at the heart of Shrewsbury.

On Tuesday (September 15), Martin Monahan and his team at the Buttermarket, who are behind the new Pocket Park development underway at Abbey Foregate, were left in shock and amusement when they found a mass of topsoil dropped on the site’s pedestrian area.

The Pocket Park is located in what was previously a vacant site between Hair 21 and the railway track.

The soil, Martin said, was meant to be dropped at the garden area of the site, as the pedestrian section was meant to be completely clear ahead of getting tarmacked the following day.

Talking about his response to learning about the delivery error, the Buttermarket owner said: “My reaction was no! Why? Because this week has been a critical week.”

He added: “Lots of things have been happening to try and get this completed by the end of September. And obviously any sort of mishap like that does set us back.”

However, Martin, his team, and others from the local Abbey Foregate community rallied round to get the topsoil moved as quickly as possible, and the pedestrian area was tarmacked on schedule.

Asked about the clean-up operation, which took a couple of hours, Martin said: “Everyone rallied round and even Lee Ozturk, the owner of The Peach Tree, came and lent us some staff to help us move it.”

He went on to say: “Once again, a great community effort from the community, for the community, so it is great.”

The new Abbey Foregate Pocket Park is still on course to successfully open at the end of the month, Martin said.

The pocket park will feature free high-speed public WiFi, lighting, secure cycle storage and a Brompton bike hire station.

The land is owned by The Buttermarket’s owner Martin Monahan, who will coordinate the setup of the space.

Martin said the support for the community park from the public has been “overwhelming”.