Category: West Ealing

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Blues music and more coming up in Ealing soon

As a long-time Blues music fan I’m delighted at the revival of The Ealing Club. The team there have worked so hard to get live blues music back at the home of British Blues Music.  The Ealing Club is still in its original home, now called The Red Room, and is putting on regular music sessions.

This month the Blues nights are the 17th and 31st May:

The Ealing Club

Thursday 17th May

Blues Guitarist ROBIN BIBI + support from the Riotous Brothers. A must for any Blues fan at the Home of British Rhythm and Blues

Thursday 31st May

Louisiana Cajun and Zydeco music arrives to the heart of Ealing with the Creole Brothers.

Tickets at £5. Starts at 8.30pm. Box Office: 07927 965797

In addition, The Drayton Court Hotel continues its regular EELDADDY  music nights with the next session being:

Friday 8th June

S. Townshend, DuBellows and Blushing Bones

DuBellows and Blushing Bones recently appeared at OPEN Ealing so I can recommend them. Go to the Ealing Club website for more information and to buy tickets.

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Peacock’s, window cleaning and spending money locally in West Ealing

The possible development site on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Avenue - on a dull and rainy day!

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.

 

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It may have rained but craft market stallholders’ spirits were high!

Music in May – Steven Boyle playing under shelter!

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

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Musicians wanted to play at West Ealing monthly craft market

Having got the monthly craft market up and running last month it would be great if we could add some music to create an atmosphere and a sense of occasion. We may not be able to pay but we can offer local musicians a venue to play and a chance to perform somewhere a bit different. The market is the first Saturday of every month in St James Avenue from 10am-3pm. It’s suitable for acoustic music rather than amplified as there is no power available. If you are interested in playing for an hour sometime on that Saturday please email us at westealingeighbours@gmail.com

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Follow the West Ealing Monthly Craft Market on Facebook

You can find out more about our monthly craft market in St James Ave on its just-launched Facebook page –

http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Ealing-Craft-Market/387521781287733

Stalls for our market on 5th May include The Buttoneer with her jewellery made from buttons to Nick Lazarow’s locally made wood-turned products including candle holders and bowls. The full list is:

  • Cosmetics & toiletries
  • Candles
  • Hand-knitted clothing
  • Greetings Cards
  • Notelets
  • Soft toys
  • Ethnic clothing & accessories
  • Leather goods
  • Woodturning
  • Cakes
  • Swarovski crystal jewellery
  • Button jewellery

 

 

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The Bees have finally arrived at Walmer Gardens!

For those of you who have been keeping up to date with WEN Abundance activities you will know that we have taken the renovation of on a small orchard in Walmer Gardens W13. We cleared it and pruned the trees over January/February (ably managed by The London Orchard Project)  Ealing Transition have the rear part of the orchard where the pond is for their first bee hive and on Saturday around 15,000 bees finally arrived in their new home.  The crew donned suitable clothes before opening the box to let them into their new home.  Needless to say once I had taken a picture of this I scarpered! Pictures of the event below.

Look out for more news when the Elderflower season starts towards June!

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Work starts at Lido Junction on Monday

Ealing Council will start work next Monday (16th April) on putting in pedestrian crossings and other changes at the Lido Junction.  This is great news and will make an enormous difference to pedestrian safety for many residents. Nevertheless, please be aware of delays at this junction over the next 10 weeks.

Every effort is being made by the Council and their contractors to plan and progress the works in an efficient and timely manner in order to minimise the impacts on pedestrians, residents and motorists. Signs advising alternative routes for traffic are due to be installed in the coming days and wherever possible work will be scheduled to avoid peak hour traffic flows.

Your patience will be much appreciated whilst the work is being carried out and the end result will be a much, much safer crossing.

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CCTV cameras being installed in Dean Gardens

I walk through Dean Gardens to OPEN Ealing most days and have watched the gradual installation of three CCTV cameras. The cameras are part of the response to the anti-social behaviour problems that have affected Dean Gardens over the last few years: street drinkers in daylight hours and an eclectic mix of people from across the borough at night. It’s particularly been the night time occupants who have been a major problem. I’m told the CCTV cameras are good enough to ‘see’ at night and, indeed, have spotlights that can be shined on people if necessary.

Before the decision was made to install CCTV cameras there were discussions about other options including additional streetlighting style lights, pieces of public art using light features and closing the park at night. In the end, CCTV was chosen and I hope it proves effective. It does, however, tackle the symptoms and not the causes. Dealing with the drink and drug problems and housing must surely be part of any long-term solution but that costs serious money and that is not likely to be found at times of severe cutbacks.

 

 

 

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West Ealing monthly craft market off to a successful start

After two years of planning and discussion West Ealing Neighbours launched its monthly craft market today with its bright red gazebos signalling its presence in St James Avenue. West Ealing was fairly quiet to day but the craft market got off to an encouraging start. The general feeling was a good first day and we now need to build on this and start to establish the first Saturday of the month as a regular date for the diary.

Our thanks to the Council, St James Church and everyone else who contributed to helping get the market up and running.

Watch out for our next market on Saturday 5th May.

 

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Another loan shop in West Ealing

This morning I noticed yet another cash/loan shop opening in West Ealing. This one is called Cash Generator and comes on top of the various other loan shops and pawnbrokers already operating the length of West Ealing. These tough times clearly seem to  mean there’s enough business to go round for all these shops. Yet, I just wonder if letting the market rule is always the right approach to regenerating the high street?

One of West Ealing Neighbours’ top priorities is to work towards bringing together the key stakeholders for West Ealing and explore new ways to bring fresh ideas to our high street (see our website for details). So, for example, how can we encourage start-up businesses to take space? It’s not realistsic to expect start-ups to be able to afford the full rent and rates on a shop. Are there ways we can work with the Council and landlords to offer start-ups a small low-cost space in a larger shop for a couple of years so the business has a chance to grow and then move on and let someone else have that space? Could we even think about the idea of a community shop where a range of local groups work together to make it a community hub with information, advice, a meeting place for locals and more. It’s not going to be easy but I just feel we need to look at this sort of option and not always hand over control of our high street to the free market.