Category: Food

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WEN Abundance – 2026 update

Our Abundance project was set up almost 20 years ago in 2007. In Victorian times the area was well known for its apple orchards and market gardens. Some of our local street names reflect this history – Bramley Road, Hessel Road (Hessel is a variety of pear), Leeland Road and Leeland Terrace (named after the market gardener Charles Lee). You can read more about the origins of our street names and history here:

https://www.westealingneighbours.org.uk/category/west-ealing/local-history

We set up the project to make use of surplus fruit. Rather than see it go to waste we decided to pick and collect it, get it juiced and to sell at local events. The money raised has helped West Ealing Neighbours give small grants to a range of local community projects.

We pick fruit from a number of local trees during September and October. There is far too much to juice by hand so we take it for commercial pressing and bottling.

2025 gave us a good harvest and the apple juice is available for £3.50 a bottle. We have been selling it at community events at West Ealing Community Library and it is also available direct from WEN. Please email us at westealingneighbours@gmail.com for more information.

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June 2025 newsletter

In this edition:

  • Do you feel safe in West Ealing?
  • New award-winning café opens in Singapore Road
  • St Mary’s Cathedral breathes new life into empty church
  • West Ealing Community Library’s Fun Day hit all the right notes
  • Updates on some local issues – Lammas Park, West Ealing CPZ extended opening times, Apartment hotel proposed on old Woolworths site, Saving Victoria Hall
  • Can you help WEN with Instagram?
  • Classical music lives here
  • In My Secret Life: The Leonard Cohen Experience at St Barnabas Church

View the newsletter here.

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June 2023 newsletter

In this edition:

  • Controversial plans – an update on major development plans including Manor Road tower and Perceval House
  • Elizabeth Line gets even faster
  • It’s not just pigeons – plans for a rain garden in Dean Gardens
  • Solace – work of The Solace Centre and its services for people with mental health concerns
  • West Ealing’s burgeoning cafe culture
  • Finding a home in a system that fails us – a review of Kieran Yates’ All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived In

View the newsletter here.

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January 2023 newsletter

In this issue:

  • Draft 2023 Ealing Local Plan – a West Ealing Perspective
  • Kwik Fit to be demolished
  • Leeland Terrace – transforming a neglected green space
  • Green Man Lane Estate, West Ealing – 15 years on
  • Ealing Farmers’ Market
  • Is it back to the drawing board for the St John’s Parade plans
  • Read Easy Ealing – helping adults to learn to read
  • Still no news on future of St James Church

View the newsletter here.

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New from WEN Abundance – apricot butter now available as the perfect accompaniment to cheese

Yes, you can grow apricots in this country!  They may have come originally from China or Armenia but they have been adapted to grow in colder climates. Normally, the tree on our allotment gets hit by a late frost and that’s usually just about the end of the fruit for the year. However, this year the conditions must have been almost perfect and we had a bumper crop. So once we’d eaten some fresh and frozen some for later we still had a stack left. After a bit of experimentation the decision  was – let’s make apricot butter. Fruit butter, like fruit cheese, is a perfect accompaniment to cheese (the dairy sort). The difference is simply the amount of boiling involved. Fruit butters spread like butter and fruit cheeses need slicing.

If you fancy a treat then drop in to Cheddar Deli on Northfield Ave and buy a jar of our apricot butter and just taste how good it is with cheese. It works best, in my view, with hard cheeses and creamy ones. You may want to think twice before putting it with a blue cheese but no harm in trying it.

Cheddar Deli are also selling our elderflower cordial, apple juice, chutneys and lemon elderflower marmalade. Some of our produce is also available through Edible Ealing’s box scheme and we’ve just delivered some to The Fox Craft Barn next to The Fox pub in Green Lane, Hanwell. So, you’ll find our Abundance produce somewhere near you.  If you can’t get to any of these outlets then do please email us – wenabundance@gmail.com – and we’ll see how best we can help.

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Visit the WEN Abundance stall at the Hanwell Carnival this Saturday

Saturday is the longest day of the year so there’s plenty of time to come and visit our Abundance stall in the Artisan Food Tent at the Hanwell Carnival this Saturday from 12noon – 6pm.  We’ll have elderflower cordial, lemon and elderflower marmalade, and a selection of chutneys on sale.  All our produce is made from locally sourced ingredients and hand-made in small batches.

There’s loads more to enjoy at the carnival:

  • craft tent
  • dog show
  • children’s activities
  • live music
  • sports zone
  • animal zone …and much more

Full details here

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Pop-Up market in front of Sainsbury’s West Ealing today and Friday

There will be a pop-up market in Melbourne Ave by Sainsbury’s from 11am -4.30pm today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday).  It’s backed by the newly established West Ealing Business Improvement District and is part of the ‘Love Your Local Market Campaign’.

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Do please come along on one of the days and have a look. I know there’s a stall selling vintage inspired dresses and on Friday we will have our Abundance stall there selling the first of this year’s delicious elderflower cordial along with apple juice, lemon and elderflower marmalade and more locally sourced and made products.

 

 

 

 

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The Grosvenor packed for its opening night

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A group of us went for dinner to The Grosvenor on its opening last night (Tuesday).  We expected it to be busy but it was packed- luckily we had booked a  table.  The decoration, inside and outside, has been carefully thought through with the highlight colour being the green from its stained glass.  It’s interesting how they have refurbished it with many original features retained.  They have created a very pleasant atmosphere which worked well both when it was packed out last night and at luchtime today when we dropped in for a drink and lunch when it was much quieter, though a steady trickle of people dropped in, perhaps curious to see what it looks like.

I’m very wary of attempting to review its food as the first night was a bit of a dry-run to see how it all worked.  Even so, I can say that all six of us thoroughly enjoyed our food and would very definitely go again.  We also all thought the staff in the dining area did a great job with a real sense of enjoyment and that helps create a very pleasant experience.

A lot of thought has been put in to the refurbishment and the owners have put in a hefty investment to transform this once run-down pub.  The choice of colours works well, the stained glass windows are now a stand out feature and the tables in the dining area have been cleverly set up at various angles, and not too close together, to avoid any sense of being jammed together.  All in all, I’d definitely recommend you go and try it for yourself.  It’s got off to a fantsastic start and has the potential to be a great success and an asset to our local community and beyond.  I wish it every success and we will certainly be going back soon.

Details of booking a table etc are on their website

 

 

 

 

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Abundance plum jam on its way for SoundBite Festival

We’ve had a bumper crop of Marjorie Seedling plums this year. Other plum varieties seem to have suffered from last frosts but our tree is fairly well protected so must have avoided the late frosts which hit the blossom and stop any fruit developing. So, it’s been a busy weekend cutting up plums and making jam. The jam has an added ingredient to give it a little bit of a special taste -star anise. I’ve tried it and its delicious – a slightly sharp edge to the plums with a hint of aniseed.

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It will be on sale at the SoundBite Festival on 21st September along with blackberry jam, elderflower cordial, lemon and elderflower marmalade and more.

For all the latest on SoundBite – stalls, bands, children’s entertainment, food follow the SoundBite Facebook page