Evening Standard on Shepherd's Bush Market

As our Council's PR machine is in full throttle at the moment on the Market I thought I'd flag up an interesting article from last night's Evening Standard which highlights the realities rather than the spin. It underlines both the history and the character of the Pie & Mash shop, along with others, which is what makes them such an important part of the Bush.

Interestingly Richard Olsen of Orion, the property developers, is quoted in the piece as saying that they decided against doing up the old buildings on the basis that they were too decrepit. This is not the version he gave at this public meeting - I remember him clearly stating that the real reason was because they wanted to make way for a third entrance to the new Market and that not to do so would make the venture "non viable" because it wouldnt net them enough profit. At this point Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh insisted that he would not permit the buildings to be knocked down if the owners didn't want them to be - a clear public promise - which has now been broken.

I assume Mr Olsen changed his story after some helpful advice from our Council's press office, who have been working alongside Orion for rather a long time now - certainly well before the "consultation" had ended.