I wrote this short piece for our June newsletter:
‘One sure sign of regeneration?
Walking along Northfield Avenue the other day it struck me that a sure sign of an area changing is when estate agents come in to or leave a high street. Northfield Ave has loads of estate agents with new ones moving in regularly. Will a sign that West Ealing is on the up be when a new estate agent opens on the high street? Anyone willing to say when this will happen in West Ealing?’
Crossrail is already having a significant effect on house prices. You’ve only to look at the estate agents’ adverts in the Ealing Gazette to see the regular mention of Crossrail. Then someone recently said to me ‘we’re being gentrified’ referring to the nearly refurbished Grosvenor pub (which I like). Change is a slow process but it’s happening in West Ealing.
What are the other signs of regeneration – an artisan baker, new restaurants, improved schools, more affordable housing? I’m curious what others think or whether I’m imagining change is in the air.
Then I read an article in yesterday’s Sunday Times ( 15th June) about spotting the signs of gentrification. Apparently, if there’s already a Waitrose and Carluccio’s you’re being gentrified. The signs it’s starting to happen include:
1. ‘When the local boozer suddenly gets rebranded as a gastropub’
2. Cupcake stands
3. Organic food outlets
4. Shops billed as ethical or sustainable open up
5. Companies that trade on being cool or hitting a zeitgeist
6. Charity shops moving out to make way for higher-value occupiers
7. Solicitors and accountants noving from the ground floor to the upper floors as rents rise
I can think of two such signs in West Ealing recently. The tired old boozer The Grosvenor being bought up and refurbished and offering decent food. The Warren Evans ‘green’ bed and furniture store opening in the last space on the ground floor of the old Daniels site. What next?
The new bed shop ticks box number 4. But I would hate the high street to become all of the above. Because of public housing there will always be people on lower incomes living in the area. There are also pensioners and thrifty people like myself who want to be able live as cheaply as possible. The charity shops are the heart and soul of the high street. I think they would be more likely to raise their prices and become more posh if the area becomes gentrified.
I love cupcakes but cholesterol is something everyone should watch!
I would rather have civilised behaviour on the streets – no littering, no spitting, no swearing in public, no making noise on the street late at night, people having good manners and being aware of how their actions affect others, shopkeepers who keep their shops presentable – than posh shops.
I think when LBE, the Police, the WECNF and the population at large gets rid of the disaster that is Chignell Place we might regain some self respect for our neighbourhood.. Drug dealing, intimidation, free-form completely unregulated car parking and regular fly tipping – all just have to be curtailed.
The new hotel when it’s eventually built and open will give us a clean, safe 24 hour presence in the centre of West Ealing.
It certainly doesn’t feel like a very inclusive part of the neighbourhood.