Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
Sad to see the end of Blockbuster. It’s now closed down and we await to see what comes in its place. The betting seems to be on Morrisons. I’m trying to get this confirmed but no luck so far. A few streets away in Leeland Road I saw a sign on an empty cafe announcing the arrival of a noodle bar. It’s taking over Joey’s cafe next to the Salvation Army hall. I can’t remember a previous noodle bar in West Ealing so it will be intertesting to see how it does. I wish it well.
Craft market in St James Ave with Blockbuster on the right corner
Hot on the heels of Jessops and HMV the next high street chain to go in to administration is Blockbuster UK, though it appears it will keep trading whilst a buyer is sought. Blockbuster has a shop in West Ealing on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and St James Ave. This spot is a key one for WEN and others who are working on ideas to reclaim the dead space at the top end of St James Avenue. WEN has run a monthly craft market here since April and OPEN Ealing may move its arts centre to the building above Blockbuster. In addition, there may be TfL money to improve this pedestrianised area at the top of St James Avenue and the Council is putting in a bid for ‘pocket park’ funds to add to the Tfl ones. What happens to Blockbuster on this corner could have an impact on these plans. So we’ll be watching events carefully to see what happens.
I managed to catch some of Jacob and Goliath’s session at Saturday’s craft market and was mighty impressed with this young local band. A great new addition to West London’s alternative/indie folk music scene. Three of the band members braved the cold, blew on their icy guitar picking fingers and really put their hearts in to their music. Lead singer Jacob Simpson has got a very striking voice and already has an impressive stage presence. You can see a recording of a part of their session at the market on a later post on this blog. Watch out for them and find out where they’re playing next on their Facebook page.
Next Saturday we have carols, local folk band Oddfellas and the dynamic gospel choir Singology- more information on the next post down on this blog.
Congratulations to Cultivate London for winning the Producer of the Year award in the 2012 Observer Food Monthly Awards. In the company of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nigel Slater and Sir Terence Conran as prizewinners, Cultivate London was set up and is funded by West Ealing based charity Pathways.
Cultivate London converts derelict land in to urban farms to grow herbs and plants. It has two sites in Brentford and you can find its produce at the weekly farmers’ market in West Ealing in Leeland Road.
The Ealing Today website has a fuller version of this story.
Our next monthly craft market will be in St James Ave this Saturday with a variety of locally made goods on sale – jewellery, prints , original drawings, scented bags and much more. Come along and be tempted!
A while back I mentioned I’d joined the monthly cheese subscription from Claire Rosser at w7emporium and I’m delighted to say she is now opening her delicatessen on Saturday. It’s in Boston Road in Hanwell on the right hand side almost opposite Wickes (post code is W7 3TR). It opens at 11am and I’m definitely going along, not least because I’m going to collect my next monthly selection of cheeses. Claire has worked fantasically hard to get this venture up and running and I wish her success and I hope lots of people can drop in and see and taste what’s on offer.
There’s been work going on in the old Peacock’s shop in the West Ealing shopping centre for a while but until yesterday I hadn’t been able to find out what is going in there. Now, thanks to a WEN colleague, I’ve found out it’s Brighthouse. To quote their website ‘BrightHouse is the nation’s leading rent-to-own retailer. Providing top brand household goods on low weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments and quick & simple credit.’
It’s yet another interesting reflection on the state of the local economy and how some large national retailers view West Ealing. Brighthouse clearly sees a local market for rent-to-own rather than outright purchase when money is so tight. It’s good that the shop has been taken as it has left an ugly gap in the high street. What worries me is that the shopping centre is becoming unbalanced with an ever-increasing predominance of budget shopping, money lending shops and betting shops. All are fine but we need to find a way to make our hight street more varied to attract in as wide a range of residents as possible. Any form of ‘monoculture’ is risky and a budget shopping only high street is not good for the long-term health of West Ealing’s shopping centre.
As I’ve said before, WEN would like to work with the Council and landlords to find a way to use empty shops as business incubators or start-ups for small local businesses who want to try to make a go of it but cannot afford the high rents charged by landlords. This would bring back a better balance and a greater variety of shops.
The long empty shop on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Avenue has a sign stuck to it announcing the application for a gambling licence for a Betfred betting shop. Whilst I’m glad this shop will be re-opened does West Ealing really need another betting shop? I can think of at least two between the Lido Junction and Eccleston Road, so why a third?
I guess Betfred have done their research and, at a time when money is very tight, there is a market for people willing to gamble, hope for the best and turn a blind eye to the saying that you never see a poor bookie.
If I had one wish for the newly established West Ealing Centre Neighbourhhod Forum it would be for it to set down tough guidelines for what sort of shops can come to the West Ealing shopping centre. We have enough betting shops and money lending shops in our shopping centre. What we don’t have is low-cost space for new and small local businesses to be given a chance to have a high street presence to see if they can make a go of their business. We need to find ways to give local businesses and entrepreneurs a start in life and low-cost retail space for, say their first year, would be one way of helping them, creating new jobs and keeping money in the local economy. Through running the monthly craft market and annual Arts and Crafts Fair we know there are plenty of local craftspeople and some would jump at the chance to take this next step.
I’ve been trying to find out what’s happening to the now empty Peacock’s store and am told there have been holes drilled down in to the ground to look at the foundations. The view is that it’s testing the strength of the building for building flats above. I’m also told the owner of the store now also owns the empty store next door on the corner of Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Ave. So, expect to see plans for a redevelopment of this whole corner before long.
Anyway, during my efforts to find out all this I got talking to a guy who cleans many shop windows in West Ealing and who I’ve seen about for years. He was telling me that more and more shops in West Ealing, and mostly those that are part of a chain, are stopping using his services and taking out central contracts with national companies. All of which means the money that was going in to the local economy is now going out of it.
It may only be one small example but multiply it for other services that shops and offices need and you start to build up to a significant amount of money that could be spent locally but looks gradually to be going out of the area. I don’t pretend to know how to stop this but it just struck me again that all of us who live locally need to be aware of the importance of thinking carefully how and where we spend our money. A conscious decision to use local shops and services could be a key factor in whether or not these businesses survive and people keep their jobs.
Our second craft market last Saturday was a bit damp with the rain but the general feeling from stallholders was that more people were buying this time. It will take time for people to know the market is there in St James Ave on the first Saturday of the month but there feels to be a gathering momentum and a lot of good will. We had some music and that went down well. I think we need to investigate whether we can get some modest amplification for future music. We’ll see if we can get more musicians for our next market on 2nd June which is Diamond Jubilee holiday weekend.
You can see photos of the May market on WEN’s website