REGENERATION
Natasha Patel, project assistant at the
BID, said: “The number of businesses
who voted in favour of forming the West
Ealing BID was a huge endorsement
and it’s been a busy and exciting start
to the BID’s term. Having launched
a new consumer brand for the area,
InWestEaling, we set up our vintage and
antiqu es market which has trebled in size
already, with more than 30 stalls. Training
and development courses, free to
businesses and their staff, have proved
popular; and the BID has also been
brokering joint services for members.
“Meanwhile, a number of businesses
have been given security radios which
connect them to the police, council
CCTV operators and the BID team. In
addition, since January, Town Rangers
have been patrolling the area to support
businesses. The BID team is looking
forward to leading more projects for our
businesses throughout the next year.”
GETTING INVOLVED
Each event held in West Ealing
has offered the partnership an
opportunity to speak with the
community to ensure local people
get an opportunity to have their say in
shaping the area’s future. In particular,
it has worked with West Ealing Centre
Neighbourhood Forum, Ealing
Community and Voluntary Service
and the Lido Centre.
Pop-up shops
and start-ups
B
y developing relationships with landlords
and business owners, the partnership has
helped to bring vacant and underused
business premises back into use as pop-up shops
for new businesses to test their product.
The Ealing Pop-Up Shop was a very successful
four-month trial which gave eight new
entrepreneurs the chance to test out their
business ideas in a high street shop. One of
these businesses has gone on to establish
a successful handmade clothing company
called Rapallini; a second, Tea Darling, teamed
up with a social enterprise to provide a
traditional tea and cake making service; and
a third business has gone on to set up in West
Ealing itself, with the help of a shopfront
improvement grant from Ealing Council –
Juice Cube sells healthy juices and smoothies
and now employs local residents, too.
Masroor ‘Nash’
Khan of London
e of
Joggers with on
ios
the security rad
Qitai Ooi, co-owner of Juice Cube,
pouring out a juice
Co-owner of Juice Cube, Anuj Dhanak, said: “We
were given our first chance to run a juice bar in
the pop-up shop by the council and have received
lots of support from its regeneration team. The
grant was a massive help in getting the shop
ready for opening. We want to help our customers
learn about ‘eating clean’ and its health benefits.”
AND THERE IS MORE…
T
The Drayton Green shop was provided rentf
free by a local landlord so that the partnership
c
could trial a number of initiatives there.
Nigel Presky of
Express Print,
BID member
A local art group called OPEN Ealing ran
workshops, performances and exhibitions
before moving to the new community café in
Singapore Road, parallel to West Ealing high
street (www.openealing.com).
Now, a new five-month trial has seen the
shop transformed into a space for business
people to share ideas, work, run seminars and
benefit from a low-cost site in a high street
location. It is being run alongside Chat and
Meet, a networking café, to create a business
buzz in the centre of West Ealing. You can find
out more at www.ealingblueprint.co.uk
around ealing
Spring 2015
35