A while ago I was asked, along with some blogging colleagues covering different areas of London, to capture a glimpse of the Bush that summed up some of the issues confronting Londoners as they choose their next Mayor. I chose the future of our Market, partly because it's one of the biggest battles in our area at the moment pitting our Boris-backed Council against residents and traders and partly because in an area as transient as W12 the Market is one of the few fixed corners of the Bush.
Have a read here - it's a contribution to the Manifesto for a Model Mayor project beig run by the newspaper at the moment, which seeks to 'crowd source' ideas from Londoners themselves about what a genuinely representative set of policies would look like.
Quadrophenia a 1960s classic? I take it this was written by a teenager.
ReplyDeleteInnit
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, I enjoyed the other blog pieces too, the cable car appears to be one of Boris's more useless vanities........ Iain Muir
ReplyDeleteI recently tried to leave comments on Orion's website regarding in the development but sadly I was unable (annoying too, since I spent a fair while crafting my objections in glorious prose). However, it was the first time that I had really had a chance to study what they want to do with the market.
ReplyDeleteInitially I was just hostile to the idea of knocking down the row of shops on Goldhawk Road but to be frank the rest of their ideas for the market are rather terrible. It seems they want to take a working street market and turn it into something more palatable to the middle-classes, with 'performance spaces' and areas where people can sit for a coffee (ignoring all the businesses around the Green). You couldn't imagine them doing that to somewhere like East Street Market, so why here?
alexander's comment has really bought a power image to light and im scared and so upset about what it will look like. the great thins bout bush is the diversity - a glam mall, townhouses, maisonettes, bistros, e-cafe's, posh supermarkets, morrisons, a traditional market, all within 5mins walk of each other and it works! its unique, why oh why ruin this?
ReplyDeletechris - how can i get my voice heard loud n clear? please advvise, i will do everything i can.
I think that I have said this before - go to Spitalfields market for a glimpse of what could come. It's not attractive.
ReplyDeleteAnon 0907 - I'm afraid our Council has already made their mind up, with the only things standing in their way now being the legal challenge from the shop owners on May 15th or the small matter of a change of London Mayor - Ken Livingstone has strongly hinted he would block this scheme
ReplyDeleteDon't know about Spitalfields market - I thought that the council's desired outcome was to be more Borough Market! More choice and increased selection of goods would be a good thing. Completely changing the character of Shepherds Bush Market would not.
ReplyDeleteThe market is run down and smelly - it could be great. Solutions, anyone?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this development might not be a bad idea. From what I can see the buildings in question are hideous and I'd be hard pushed to spot an original 1890s feature on any of them. As for the shops, I may be wrong but I believe that they have been offered tenancy in the new shops that will replace them.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I think it also may mean the end of the wet hostel behind those shops which may mean and end to the drunks milling around Goldhawk Road and pissing on my street.
The "wet hostel" you mention is only being relocated to behind grateful residents of Lime Grove which is only a stone's throw away. So you may well still benefit from the incontinent activities of the clients of the establishment.
ReplyDeleteAs for the shops being offered tenancy in the new shops: I doubt they could afford it, nor withstand the loss of business in the meantime. They currently own their shops, so don't pay rent. Why should they be forced to become rent-paying tenants instead? It'll either drive them out, or drive up the prices. And some of the eateries can't be moved into new premises, either, as their main selling point is (for example) their antique fixtures and fittings.
ReplyDeleteWho needs much-loved pieces of local history and thriving businesses when we can have an hideous block of luxury flats and organic juice bars where we can sit and watch the living statues?
ReplyDelete