00:14Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight live here on KMTV. I'm Chloe Brewster and here are your
00:20headlines on Friday the 3rd of April. Water woes. Some properties still without water near
00:26Tombridge on the second day of supply issues. I'm registered as a priority user because of
00:33my age and I haven't had a delivery at home. And the pay rise we need? Kent residents believe
00:40the minimum wage increase is still not enough. What happens of course is that those prices
00:45get passed on to the consumer. That means that we have inflation. The Bank of England
00:50of course will raise interest rates to try and combat that and so on. Suddenly everyone's
00:54worse not. And finally, taking a bite of history, we try out the very first sandwich in the town
01:01of Sandwich. We know how this works with social media. There's a ripple effect. People will
01:05share, people will talk about it and then people will actually think, let's go and visit.
01:19First tonight, South East Water have told us that suppliers have mostly been returned to
01:23homes in the villages of Pembury, Brenchley, Horsemunden and Matfield, but some still remain
01:29without water. For them, it marks 24 hours without supply and they've been sharing their
01:34frustrations. Finn McDermid was at a bottled water station in Pembury to find out more.
01:40While many homes in the villages of Brenchley, Matfield, Pembury, Horsemunden and the surrounding
01:44areas have today had their water returned, there were still some without water in the
01:49second day of the outage. At its peak yesterday, the incident had nearly 6,000 homes, businesses
01:55and other properties without water. But here at one of the supply stations, locals say that
02:00despite the great work by those manning the water stations, it isn't enough to forgive South
02:04East Water.
02:05Well, I would like it to have it fixed rather quickly. I can't imagine that in this day
02:11of age we're having these sort of problems. It seems, you know, inimaginable that, you
02:17know, we're running out of water, like, you know. So hopefully it'll be fixed within a
02:23few hours now.
02:24Now, admittedly, it is a different kind of fault. There was an issue with a key water pipe
02:29at the Buell Treatment Works in East Sussex. But for many residents, it's simply not good
02:35enough. And I've been hearing about their frustrations as they've been coming and collecting their
02:39water, especially one woman who's on the priority list, but she didn't have her water delivered
02:43to her.
02:44They're very nice, the people here giving out water and they're generous with it. I'm registered
02:48as a priority user, because of my age, and I haven't had a delivery at home. We get little
02:56messages from, text messages from South East Water saying today's message was sort of,
03:04sorry, those of you that haven't got any water, and if you've got water and it's white and
03:09cloudy, it's not really a problem, don't use it. And then it ends up saying thank you for
03:15your patience and understanding. And I posted on our local website this morning, I've got
03:20no more patience and I've got no more understanding.
03:23Steve Benton, Incident Manager for South East Water, said we're sorry to all customers who
03:28have been impacted by no water, intermittent supply or low pressure in Pembry, Matfield,
03:32Brenchley, Hornsmondon and the surrounding areas. Water has been returning overnight to
03:36the majority of the 5,850 properties affected by the burst, although some isolated issues remain
03:42as we continue to refill our network and work to remove airlocks.
03:45For many, the memories of the previous water issues in West Kent haven't yet faded. It
03:50was only January when outages were hitting Tunbridge Wells and only a few months before
03:53that when we first heard of the problems. The questions likely to be going through locals'
03:57minds are is this something I have to anticipate, is it something I have to prepare for and will
04:01it happen again? And with this being yet another outage, the patience of residents is likely
04:06running as thin as the trickles from their taps. Finn McDermid for CAME TV in Pembry.
04:12This week, almost three million people will be receiving a pay rise as announced by the
04:16government last December. The new minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over will now be £12.71,
04:22a 50p increase. But many residents and businesses are sceptical. Our reporter,
04:26Nayla Mahamid, joined me in the studio earlier. So Nayla, what can you tell us?
04:31So around three million people this week are set to receive a pay rise. And this is because of an
04:36announcement made in December last year, 2025, where Chancellor Rachel Reeves,
04:40announced that in April this year, there will be an increase in the national minimum wage. And as
04:45you can see on the graph here, in the past decade, it's risen by just over £5. But what I
04:52do want to
04:52note is that on the graph, prior to April 2021, the increase was for people aged 25 and over. And
05:00then up until 2024, it was for those aged 23 and over. And then obviously now it's to those aged
05:0621 and
05:06over. We have apprentices also getting an increase. Their wage is now going to be £8 an hour. And then
05:12also those between the ages of 18 and 20, theirs is now going to be £10.85. And even though
05:17this is an
05:18annual increase, there is a lot of concern about the rise. Many are thinking that it may lead to an
05:25increase or like a reduction in jobs available. And others are suggesting that it's a step in the right
05:30direction that, you know, with the increase of cost of living, this is what's needed to help people
05:35bridge that gap. And we went out to Canterbury to speak to some residents on the street about what
05:40they actually thought about the increase.
05:42I think more could be done. I think more help could be put in place to help people, like you
05:49say,
05:50with the cost of petrol and things. Obviously, that's quite a current situation. And I mean,
05:56I feel like other countries are dealing quite well with it.
05:58I think the minimum wage going up is sorely needed. You know, wages have increased at the same rate as
06:04inflation has been going up for the past decade and a half. And that was a good step. I think
06:08they
06:09could definitely consider scrapping fuel duty or lowering it temporarily while the crisis is
06:14ongoing. I think it's very difficult balancing that because you have to support businesses in order
06:19for them to exist and employ people. On the other hand, they need to pay a wage that people can
06:24live
06:24on because otherwise the taxpayers basically funding the rest of it through benefits.
06:29So will this rise affect businesses? At the moment, it's way too early to tell. But the general consensus
06:34is that they're being stretched way too thin financially. You've got the war in Iran, which is
06:38increased energy, oil and gas costs. Tax rates, especially for hospitality, has increased
06:43early on in the year. And now this minimum wage has increased as well. There's a lot of costs
06:47coming out of a business and not a lot coming in. And so the one way to kind of equal
06:51it out
06:51is that businesses have to increase the price of their services and their products, which
06:56then leads to the question of, are people actually earning enough for the amount the product is costing?
07:02And this is a conversation that I had with Choose a Price.
07:05What happens, of course, is that those prices get passed on to the consumer.
07:09That means that we have inflation. The Bank of England, of course, will raise interest rates
07:14to try and combat that. And so suddenly everyone's worse off.
07:17Raising the national minimum wage seems to be a sort of self-defeating goal at the moment.
07:22And many employers and ourselves at the chamber here are of the view that actually it doesn't really serve
07:27the purpose that it was originally intended to do so.
07:30So we would really encourage the government to sort of to revisit this with a low pay commission
07:34and sort of understand exactly what it is they're trying to achieve and whether there is a better way
07:38of going around that.
07:39And so, as you can see, businesses are very sceptical at the moment as are residents.
07:43Amazing. Thank you so much, Nayla.
07:45And now for the weather.
07:53Temperatures for tonight stay between 11 and 12 degrees, partly cloudy across the whole of the county.
07:58Into tomorrow morning, temperatures slightly decreased, sitting at 10 degrees of cloud coverage
08:02across the county with wind speeds dropping to six miles per hour in the west.
08:06Into tomorrow afternoon, wind speeds increase to 23 miles per hour in the east and 19 in the west.
08:11Temperatures increase to 14 in Dover and lows of nine in Dartford.
08:14Your outlook for the Easter weekend, 15 degrees on the Saturday, 13 on the Sunday and 13 on the Monday.
08:20So looking okay.
08:28Have you ever wondered what the first ever sandwich tasted like?
08:32Well, this week, a historically accurate rendition of the original sandwich arrived in a pub in the Kent town of
08:37Sandwich.
08:38I went down to check it out.
08:40We have plenty of oddly named places in Kent.
08:43Noah's Ark, Fong Lane and Tickle Belly Alley to name a few.
08:47But one of the most loved is without a doubt Sandwich in the South East.
08:52And while I can imagine locals may be a tad fed up of the sarni-themed jokes levelled in their
08:57direction,
08:57today's event gathered lovers far and wide to the Crispin Inn in the town.
09:03Yes, the Crispin Inn.
09:05They were there to taste an authentic sandwich sandwich.
09:10The first ever sandwich was said to have been crafted in 1762 by John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich.
09:17It was said to have been because he wanted to be able to eat without having to use cutlery or
09:21taking a break from his gambling, allegedly.
09:23This way, he could eat as he played, using the bread as kind of a two-part edible plate.
09:28But what does that sandwich actually look like?
09:32So, there's bread, of course.
09:34There's prime steak, beef steak, which is excellent.
09:39There's Christmas pudding.
09:41Christmas pudding in a sandwich?
09:43But what do pub revellers think of it?
09:45It's really good.
09:46I'm a bit sceptical at first, but it actually really works together.
09:50Unbelievable.
09:52Very, very generous.
09:54Christmas is going to look a whole lot different now when I get out my Christmas pudding.
09:57So, I've just been served up the sandwich.
09:59I've taken my first few bites, so I feel like I can give a decent review so far.
10:04So, it's a bit strange, right?
10:06So, you've got your bread, you've got your beef, you've got your pickle.
10:09Very, very typical.
10:09But then there's like a Christmas pudding in it.
10:12It might have changed my favourite.
10:13Although the campaign is a marketing stunt, Mayor Emmett says it's done a world of good for the town,
10:18with even the local councillors getting involved.
10:21Before there were BLTs, before there were coronation chickens,
10:25there was the first sandwich.
10:28When it was announced to me, I just thought it was a great opportunity to sell sandwich
10:34to the wider community and hopefully instill some more tourism into the town.
10:39It hasn't cost us anything.
10:41I think it's all been run by a national company.
10:45We would have been silly not to buy into it.
10:48And, you know, we know how this works with social media.
10:51There's a ripple effect.
10:52People will share.
10:53People will talk about it.
10:55And then people will actually think, let's go and visit.
10:57Let's have a toast to Sandwich.
10:59Toast to Sandwich!
11:01Toast to Sandwich!
11:02Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sandwich.
11:09That's it from us this evening on KMTV.
11:11In the meantime, you can check out our special programmes
11:13for visiting our website, kmtv.co.uk.
11:17There you can check out the likes of The Kent Politics Show and Made in Kent.
11:21We also have our shows with Victor Sport and plenty of other shows.
11:25Also, have a brilliant Easter weekend.
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