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The Quiet Opening of Cheddar Deli – Northfields Avenue

New cheese shop on Northfields Avenue

Amongst the mayhem and chaos in West Ealing over the past few days a new cheese shop has opened on Northfields Avenue.  A local husband and wife team opened Cheddar Deli on Monday 8th August and seem to be doing a brisk trade.  I went in yesterday and bought some manchego, jarslberg and quince cheese. Brent (the owner) was very helpful and let me taste the jarslberg as I wasn’t familiar with the flavour. My lunch today was delicious – I’ll certainly be going back for more.

They also offer a monthly, quarterly, twice yearly service. I’m not sure if this is delivered so best to go in and ask.

Cheddar Deli - open for business

Apart from cheese they sell meats, home made tarts and a small range of top quality produce such as crackers, oil, jam.

 

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Time to turn on the power: West Ealing street traders still without power

West Ealing's regular Saturday farmers' market

For well over a year, probably even two, the stalls in the weekly farmers’ market have been waiting to plug in their lights and equipment to the specially installed power points in Leeland Road. Some years back when Leeland Road was smartened up with new pavements power points were installed in some of the street bollards. The trouble is, so I’m reliably informed, the last time someone from the Council turned up to give access to these power points, which was some months ago, they had the wrong key and so this dismal saga still drags on.

On top of this, almost 18 months ago, the Walpole Ward Forum agreed to set aside about £10,000 to pay for power points in Melbourne Avenue for the traders there to use. As with Leeland Road the traders were more than happy to pay for the power they use but, as yet, almost a year after the completion of the improvements to Melbourne Avenue there is still no sign of any power points being put in.

This has been dragging on long enough. Please Ealing Council can this all be sorted out soon!

David Highton

 

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Hitting the high notes – opera comes to West Ealing

Sitting quietly at the reception desk at OPEN Ealing this morning I heard wafting down two flights of stairs the unmistakeable sound of an opera singer practising her scales. She is the lead singer with Opera Viscera, a group of graduate musicians who have moved into OPEN Ealing for three weeks to compose, rehearse and then perform their brand new opera Narcissus and Echo in preparation for the company’s performances at this year’s Secret Garden Party.

Based on the classic Greek myth about love, vanity and decay this new young opera company is throwing open its inner workings and running a series of free opera related events culminating in the first ever performance of their opera on Wednesday 20th July at OPEN Ealing (this is £8 a ticket). The events are:

  • Friday 15th July Opera screening and discussion from 1-3pm  Free
  • Saturday 16th July Costume workshop for adults 1-4.30pm  Free
  • Sunday 17th July  Opera workshop for children 1-4.30pm  Free
  • Wednesday 20th July Performance of Narcissus and Echo 7.30pm £8 adults and concessions apply

For more details and to book your places for any of these online visit www.operaviscera.com

OPEN Ealing is at 113 Uxbridge Road Ealing W5 5TL (opposite the fire station) Tel: 020 8579 5558.

David Highton

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New monthly cheese subscription service launched for Ealing residents

When I took a break from being on the WEN Abundance stall at the Hanwell Carnival on Saturday I wandered over to visit the W7 Emporium stall. W7 Emporium has been set up by Hanwell resident Claire Rosser and is a brilliantly simple idea. She offers a monthly cheese subscrption service whereby for £24 a month she will deliver a carefully sourced and selected range of British and international cheeses. For your £24 you get 1kg of cheeses, often award-winning, which you’re not likely to find in your local supermarket.

I bought five cheeses from her at the Carnival and we had a tasting last night,  and they were all good. Some deliciously strong cheddars, a tangy ewes milk cheese and a very creamy Shropshire Blue amongst them. She will deliver to the W7, W13 and W5 areas on the last Friday of each month.

I’m about to fill out my subscription form and you can find out more details by emailing w7emporium@gmail.com or call Claire on 07828 971200.

I’ll update this post after we get our first delivery.

David Highton

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Why do people shop in West Ealing? A recent survey gives some answers

‘Why do people shop in West Ealing?’ is the title of a survey late last year of 400 shoppers carried out by Brunel University on behalf of Ealing Council.  The answer – buying food is the main reason people come to shop in West Ealing, but there’s a good deal more valuable information in the results of this survey than  this one answer.

The final report is 20 pages long but here are some of the key findings from this survey:

What’s good about shopping in West Ealing:

1. Buying food was the main reason for people shopping in West Ealing.

2. Buying specific non-food items came second

3. Eating and socialising ranked third as a reason to come to West Ealing

Overall, West Ealing is liked for its varied, multi-cultural location that is good for food shopping, pubs, eating and socialising.

What needs to be improved about shopping in West
Ealing:
1. Better shop fronts

2. Improved cleanliness

3. Better safety and security

Interestingly, in an entry last December in his shopping blog (www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/12),  expert retail analyst Graham Soult sees independent shops as West Ealing’s brightest hope. He writes:

‘Arguably, it’s West Ealing’s independent shops that give it the
brightest hope for the future. Walking through, despite the visible problems,
the area has a cosmopolitan and colourful feel, with ethnic food shops
displaying their wares in the street. The West Ealing weekly farmers’ market
in  Leeland Road – which seemed to be well advertised when I visited – also adds to the area’s reputation as a mecca for foodies, and is apparently its trump card in attracting shoppers from other parts of London.’

WEN has been arguing for some years that West Ealing is a great place for food shopping and that we need to build on this strength as a central part of any plan to regenerate the high street. We’d love to hear your views about our shops.  Use our forum to tell us where locally you like to buy your food, why and what you’d recommend others to try out.

David Highton

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West Ealing – hub for car accessory shops

It hadn’t occurred to me until Desire Motorsport opened last week (where Hewden Tool Hire used to be) that this end of West Ealing near the junction with Eccleston Road has a cluster of tyre and car accessory shops. There’s Ealing Tyres in Eccleston Road itself, Kieran’s tyre, MOT and accessory shop in the Uxbridge Road, Kwik-Fit on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Coldershaw Road, Cartronic Centre in Coldershaw Road and now Desire Motorsport tyre and alloy wheel hub shop has joined them.

I spoke to the owner of Desire Motorsport who lives in Hanwell and has worked locally for many years. He realised the value of being part of a cluster of car-related shops.

Good luck to him and I hope all these shops and businesses, and West Ealing, benefit from being near one another.

David Highton

Newly opened Desite Motorsport joins the cluster of car tyre and accessory shops in West Ealing
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Duck waiting patiently outside Sainsbury’s

Just as I came out of Sainsbury’s this morning I heard this quacking noise and there waiting patiently near the front door was a Mallard duck.  Maybe its mate had gone in to shop!  After a while it gave up waiting, quacked loudly and flew off.

That’s by no means the first time I’ve seen ducks around that area. I’ve seen and heard them walking the streets around Melbourne Ave and St James Ave a few times over the last couple of years. I do wonder where they come from? Maybe they are based in one of the ponds at Walpole Park and come to visit West Ealing a few times each year.

If anyone else sees them please do let us know.

David Highton

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The changing face of our high street

Pamela Howard School of Dance: One of the new shops on our high street

The recent opening of the British Heart Foundation’s new shop (see previous post) made me think again about the changing nature of our high street. Yes, you could just say it’s yet another charity shop and we already have eight. But, it struck me that this shop is something rather different for West Ealing. Almost every time I go in to one of the charity shops it seems busy as I try to manoeuvre my way between the shoppers and the clothes rails. What BHF seem to have noticed though is that there is a complete gap in the market for a charity shop selling household goods such as electrical appliances and furniture.

Much has been written about how Britain’s high streets are changing. I
have lived in West Ealing since 1978 and, like many others, can all too easily reminisce about how West Ealing’s high street used to have a Marks and Spencer, a WH Smith, Mothercare, let alone the department stores such as FH Rowse and Daniels. But that time has gone and in the last few years the twin impact of the recession and the growth of internet shopping have undoubtedly left their mark as shops have moved out or closed down. In a recent article in the Financial Times Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said ‘Given the structural nature of these changes
there is no point harking back to the old high streets we all claimed to love. We need to be creative in looking for new roles and uses for these empty shops.”

I think BHF has been creative. We have seen new shops move in and  Lidl and Poundworld are now part of our high street. They have been joined by some rather different businesses – British Immigration Solutions and The Pamela Howard School of Dance. West Ealing Arts has opened a community arts project in an old office building a short walk away from the main shopping centre (see later article). The London Residents Forum is hoping to open the old Oxfam shop as a borough-wide resource and drop in centre for tenants.

Yes, our high street is changing, it has to, but I see these changes as a sign that the high street still has a purpose for our community. It is still trying providing goods and services that we need and want. Please let’s just make sure we cherish and use our high street and other local shopping areas.

David Highton

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A charity shop with a difference opens in West Ealing

Newly opened British Heart Foundation shop

British Heart Foundation opened the doors of its new shop today and it set me thinking about charity shops and our high street. I thought first off I’d better count how many charity shops there are along the street between the Lido Junction and the junction with Eccleston Road. I counted 8 (including the Salvation Army) plus the mystery Storefair which threatened to open back in September but has remained resolutely shut for months.

In my experience most of these shops are usually busy and you have to manoeuvre your way round them between the clothes rails and the shoppers. So, I think the BHF shop, which sells electrical goods and furniture, is a clever move as it fills a gap in what charity shops usually offer. Most charity shops won’t touch electrical goods as they have to be properly checked for safety etc. When I went in this morning it was packed both with goods and people and looking at what is on offer in BHF I was impressed. I think it will do well.

There’s a much wider question raised not just about charity shops but also about what sort of future we want for our high street? But I’ll leave that for another time.

David Highton

 

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Hair and Beauty shop taking over old Richer Sounds site

Chair of WEN, David Highton reports on developments on West Ealing’s high street.

The owners of Farah Hair and Beauty who sold their shop on the Uxbridge Road a few doors along have taken the lease on the old Richer Sounds shop on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and St James Avenue. I bumped in to the husband of the couple that ran Farah and he is hoping they can open up their new salon in about another three weeks once the fit out is finished.

Catalyst Housing Association owns this site along with a number of key blocks of homes locally.  WEN and then West Ealing Arts tried to secure this shop for its community shop idea but, mainly due to the cost of refurbishment, it all fell through.

That corner desperately needs revitalising and we wish them all the best and hope to see them make it a thriving business. Oh, and I’d still like to see a coffee shop and tables in that bit of St James Avenue.

 

David Highton