After a four-week local trade war, which also involved two other Canterbury printers and stationers William Flackton and Thomas Smith, Kirkby agreed terms and went into a long-term partnership with Simmons.
[4] As well as newspaper proprietors, they were stationers, bookbinders, printers and publishers, ran a circulating library, and sold patent medicines.
Between 1787 and 1791 he was a prime mover in the Pavement Commission which was established by Act of Parliament 'For the Better Paving, Cleansing, Lighting and Watching of Canterbury'.
[2] In his second term as Mayor, Simmons oversaw further modernization, such as the establishment of a new market building (the Buttermarket) and the demolition of several of the medieval city gates.
He was also responsible for the purchase and landscaping of the Dane John Gardens within the walls of Canterbury, which is still an important civic open space.