Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
Why not start your Christmas shopping a little early this year and come along to the craft market in St James Avenue. There will be a wide selection of goods and gifts on sale, including some from our Abundance project. You can get in early for our new season jams, chutneys and jellies as well as local apple juice.
Saturday 2nd November in St James Avenue from 10am – 3pm
I’ve been wondering what was happening to the old Miss London shop which has been empty for months. It occupies a prime site on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Singapore Road. Now I know, it’s going to be a 97p shop and will sell alcohol along with its many other products.
We seem to be battling against a tide of betting shops, money lending shops and 99p or, in this case, 97p shops. The West Ealing shopping centre needs a balance so that our high street isn’t simply defined by budget shopping. Otherwise, a whole swathe of local residents have little reason to shop locally and their money goes out of the local economy. We need to find a way to strike a balance and I just don’t think it can be just left to market forces.
It doesn’t look that this morning’s storm was anywhere as near as devastating as the 1987 one but there has definitely been some damage. Northfield Ave was blocked first thing this morning by a large branch and buses stacked up at The Lido unable to head south. The tree clearing team said they were on their way to a call out when their path was blocked so tbey got out and cleared it.
Here’s some good news from Tony Luckhurst:
Next to the newly opened Morrisons on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and St James Ave, the West Ealing craft market is open for business tomorrow from 10am – 3pm. If you’re doing your Saturday morning shopping just take a walk up to St James Ave and come and see what we have to tempt you with:
It’s juicylicious! It’s this season’s first consignment of local apple juice (with a pinch of pear). It’s on sale at our Abundance stall at Saturday’s craft fair in St James Ave 10am – 3pm. All the fruit is local with some from our Walmer Gardens orchard and others from trees in local back gardens. It’s pure juice with no added sugar or preservatives. It’s £2.80 a bottle (75cl) or three for £7.50. Also available will be the last few bottles of our elderflower cordial. So come along on Saturday and stock up whilst you can.
The old Blockbusters stood empty and forelorn for some months and then work on the new Morrisons Local started and it’s progressed very quickly and will open at 9am on Thursday. On the corner of St James Ave and the Uxbridge Road this supermarket should bring some much-needed footfall down this end of the high street and, hopefully, benefit the nearby shops.
The agent’s board is up on The Grosvenor pub. Tucked away in the dense pattern of residential streets, this pub is in need of some serious tlc if it to have any chance of surviving. Can it be revived and become a key part of the local community? The Forester has been transformed under new ownership. It was absolutely jam-packed a couple of weekends ago for the YUMW13 event, so it can be done with passion and imagination.
I know the monthly w7edge music nights bring plenty of people in to The Grosvenor and there is a big catchment area for it with very few other pubs in easy walking distance. If you have about £850,00 to spare it can be all yours then comes the cost of completely revamping it. I guess the question is whether someone sees it has potential as a business or whether its true value lies in its potential as a site for new homes.
I asked this exact same question the last time there was an application for a new betting shop – Betfred on the ground floor of where the new hotel is supposed to be going. Yet, here we are again with William Hill wanting to open a new betting shop at 70 Broadway:
I missed this licence application and the closing date for objections has passed but just how many betting shops do we need in West Ealing? Can we keep leaving it to market forces to determine what happens in our high street or should local residents have a say?
There is an opportunity to have your say about betting shops and other forms of gambling by completing the Council’s online survey as part of its consultation on its gambling policy. Some of the questions are about clustering of betting shops so directly relevant to West Ealing. The online survey closes on September 27th so not much time left to complete it. You can find it here.
I don’t know how much effect these surveys have but if we don’t say anything then silence will be taken as consent to what’s happening. I for one think we should restrict betting shops and other similar establishments, especially those with ‘fruit machines’ and fixed odds betting terminals which are a major route in to problem gambling. You can find out more about all the issues around gambling at the GamCare website.
We set ourselves the challenge of transforming the fag-butt filled empty flowerbed at the top of Melbourne Ave for the SoundBite Festival. Here’s the before:
and here’s the after:
Particular thanks to Dean at the nearby flowerstall for all his hard work and let’s hope we can keep it looking this lovely from now on as it really does cheer up everyone who sees it.