Hanwell gets ready to rock as Hootie music festival pays tribute to ‘Father of Loud’, Jim Marshall.

I went to the first Hanwell Hootie last year and it was brilliant so if you enjoy live music from some great local bands then get ready for this year’s Hootie on Saturday 5th April from 4pm.

As last year, the Hanwell Hootie is sponsored by Marshall Amps.  Jon Ellery, Managing Director of Marshall, said: ‘Our philosophy with the festival is about celebrating our roots, bringing fantastic live music to small venues in Hanwell and putting the area back on the music map.’

The 2014 Hootie features live music from 30 bands playing across six venues between 4pm – 11pm, including The Prince of Wales, The Inn on the Green, The Fox, The Duke of York, The Kings Arms and The Village Inn. There’ll also be ‘fringe’ music activities in around Hanwell, including The Clock Tower Café, Ryan’s Bar and W7 Emporium.

Confirmed acts include: the nine-piece swamp pop, New Orleans blues group, The Dirty Gentlemen; the raucous rock ‘n’ roll gypsy band, Tankus the Henge; and nothing short of a super group, Bad for Lazarus, who boast ex-members of Nine Inch Nails, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and UNKLE.

The festival will kick off with a Minute of Loud near Hanwell Clock Tower at 4pm.   To keep up to date with who is playing where and when visitwww.facebook.com/TheHanwellHootie

Whether it’s ballet, blues music, classical music, the genius of Alec Guinness or curiousity about what happens at Ealing Studios, you’ll find something to intrigue and entice you at this year’s Ealing Music & Film Valentine Festival. Highlights include:

• Opening with a concert at Ealing Abbey with the English Chamber Orchestra playing music from Haydn, Holst and Vaughan Williams – Wednesday 12th February
• Dame Gillian Lynne in discussion with acclaimed film maker Tony Palmer about her career as a dancer and choreographer – Thursday 13th February
• Blues music at the Ealing Club on Thursday,Friday and Saturday evenings
• Showing of The Man in The White Suit starring Sir Alec Guinness – Ealing Town Hall on Friday 14th February
• Tour of Ealing Studios – Saturday 15th February
• Rock’n’Roll legend Pete Townshend talking to Tony Palmer about his career and worldwide fame with The Who – Questors Theatre Sunday 16th February
• Raga Jam – blues musicians from across the world playing together at Questors Theatre on Sunday 16th February

Full details of all the events at www.ealingmusicand filmfestival.org

 

 

 

Ealing Broadway station is used by many West Ealing residents so its design for Crossrail is an important matter for us – as will be the design of the new ticket office at West Ealing when the plans are made public.

There’s a lot of people who are unhappy that Crossrail’s plans for the new Ealing Broadway station do not address the real problems of an ever-busier station. The Council has appointed architects to try to improve the design – see the story on the Ealing Today website

At the same time, Save Ealing’s Centre has set up an online petition asking Crossrail, the London Mayor and Ealing Council to come up with some better plans for Ealing Broadway station.

 

After weeks of inactivity the new scaffolders are on site this morning. The site has had a stop-start history and let’s hope this time the work continues. Work stopped a few weeks ago when the scaffolding had to be taken down as , presumably, it was not put up properly. Let’s hope this time work on the new hotel on the corner of Melbourne Ave and the Uxbridge Road cracks on and we actually see signs of a building going up.

I’ve heard it said that West Ealing lacks a ‘night-time economy’. In other words, there’s nothing going on in the evenings to make you want to come out to West Ealing after dark.  Is that fair and what would attract you to come to West Ealing at night?

In terms of entertainment, our cinema days have long gone (not just in West Ealing but also in Ealing Broadway).  The Drayton Court puts on some excellent comedy and magic shows. OPEN Ealing has some sporadic events such as plays and exhibitions but these are one-off events. This may change if they can secure funding for their ambition to take on the cafe on the new Green Man Estate and turn this in to a cafe-cum-performance/exhibition space. We should know quite soon if this ambition can be realised. A number of our pubs have some excellent live music  – The Grosvenor, The Plough and so on.

If it’s food you’re looking for then West Ealing  has an ever-increasing number of fast food/take-away restaurants. Papa John’s pizza will soon open and Peri Peri Original chicken restaurant is about to open next to the Best Western Maitrise Hotel. We have very few ‘sit-down’ restaurants in West Ealing except in the strip running from the Lido Junction to Culmington Road. These seem to be very popular, especially the Persian ones, and they probably benefit  the nearby pubs and bars such as The Castlebar and Star and Anchor.

What we seem to lack is a strong ‘destination’ venue. Whether it be an entertainment venue with something on every night or a restaurant whose reputation attracts people from miles around.

This is just my personal view. What would make you want to come to West Ealing at night?