OUR PATCH FEBRUARY 2014
OUR PATCH FEBRUARY 2014
CONTENTS NEWS ROUND-UP
BRIDGE CLOSES FOR REPAIRS
NEWS ROUND-UP 2–3
A quick look at what’s been going on
in Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush
YOUR SHOUT:
NEW TOWN HALL
LOOKING BACK:
HAMMERSMITH CREEK
6–7
1,000
4–5
Local residents sound off on plan to
rebuild ugly town hall extension block
Once one of London’s worst slums,
it’s now a leafy haven
COVER STORY:
SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR
8–10
PARTNER PROFILE:
BRACKENBURYS DELI
11
Returning home never felt so sweet
for the local singer and mum
Two top offers from our first
Partner with two great local delis
PARTNERS & MAPS 12–13
Shop local! We bring you six more
local businesses and their free offers
WHAT’S ON 14–15
From the Empire to the Apollo, the
best in theatre, music, comedy and arts
TALKING HEADS:
JEAN SHIPTON
The life of the St Peter’s primary
headteacher is certainly never dull
MAKING GOOD:
OUR FEATURED PROPERTY
I’ve seen many improvements,
but none as good as this!
16–17
New homes fo
r
BBC TV
Centre site
AND...
ACTION!
Plans to regenerate the world-famous
former BBC Television Centre in White
City – preserving the Grade II listed
central ring, the famous Studio 1 and
other historic features at their heart –
have been approved.
Developer Stanhope, the new owner
of the five-hectare site on Wood Lane,
will now build more than 1,000 homes,
a hotel and new shops. The plans –
which bring £10 million in community
improvements and could create around
2,745 jobs according to the developers
– will enable the centre to remain at
the heart of the community where it
has stood for the past 53 years.
The scheme involves replacing four
18–19
PROPERTY GRID 20–22
CYCLE COMPETITION 23
Win £150 of Bikeworks vouchers!
PUBLISHED BY
Horton and Garton
www.hortonandgarton.co.uk
EDITOR
Geoff Cowart
DESIGN
Michael Stafford & Alison Tilley
[email protected]
2 / 3
DISCLAIMER
We thank our advertisers
for supporting Our Patch,
but Horton and Garton does
not accept responsibility
for goods or services offered
by advertisers
Printed by Purbrooks
Distributed by
Letterbox Distribution
BOJO: NEW RIVERSIDE STUDIOS IS GO GO
television studios, the restaurant
and drama blocks, the east tower
and connected buildings with up to
1,025 homes, a hotel, cinema, health
and leisure club, restaurants, cafes
and offices.
One storey will be added to the
height of Television Centre and two
will be created at basement level,
while the façade of the Grade II-listed
building will be retained and restored.
The well-known central ring, Studio 1
and Helios sculpture will also remain
with the current courtyard being
opened up to create a new public
space and a new path that links Wood
Lane to Hammersmith Park.
FILM CREW FALLS IN LOVE
WITH ‘GLAMOURSMITH’
The search for your dream home
in W6 and W12 starts here
FREE WI-FI IN LYRIC SQUARE
Hammersmith workers, residents and
visitors can celebrate as new wi-fi has
been installed in Lyric Square. Now
Hammersmith’s prime public space is
fully interactive, as people can connect
to the HammersmithLondon wi-fi for
free and with no password required.
Hammersmith Bridge is still closed
southbound for urgent repair works
during weekdays and on selected
weekends. The essential work means
that the bridge will be partially closed
on weekdays until the end of February.
The southbound lane over the
bridge (A306) will be closed between
7am and 3pm every Monday to
Friday from until February 28, to allow
essential repairs to the 126-year-old
bridge’s wooden decking panels.
There will also be three full weekend
closures, which are currently proposed
for January 25-26, February 1-2 and
February 8-9, from 8am on Saturday to
5am on Monday. The diversions will
be via Fulham Palace Road and Putney
Bridge for southbound traffic and northbound traffic will be diverted to Chiswick
Bridge during the weekend closures.
A group of Cambridge film students
chose Hammersmith as the subject
of their latest short film. Shooting last
autumn, the students set out to try to
capture the true spirit of the borough
and showcase its best features in less
than two minutes! The project will now
be sent off to be marked as part of the
students’ final dissertation.
The film, entitled ‘Why Hammersmith
Is Home’, is now available to view
on the Horton and Garton Youtube
channel. Visit: www.youtube.com/
hortonandgarton to check it out.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson
has given the green light to
developers to build a state-of-the-art
facility for Riverside Studios with
new production studios, a cinema,
theatre facilities, rehearsal space,
new riverside restaurant and café/bar,
as well as 165 new apartments. A new
riverside walkway will finally connect
the Thames Path to Hammersmith
Bridge. The plans, supported by local
comedian Bill Bailey (left), Jo Brand
and Simon Callow, were vocally
opposed by some local residents.
SUPER HOOPS ON RIGHT TRACK
TO NEW STADIUM IN OLD OAK
Queens Park Rangers
have signalled they
want to build a 40,000seater sports stadium
in Old Oak Common.
Sitting just to the
north of Wormwood Scrubs,
the ground would be near the
location for a new High Speed
2 (HS2) and Crossrail station,
potentially making it one of the
best connected railway stations
in the UK.
The 155-hectare site around
the proposed station is set to be
transformed into a thriving new
district with up to 24,000 new homes
and 55,000 jobs.
QPR and their development
partners, Stadium Capital
Developments, unveiled plans
for an ambitious mixed-use
district focused on a new
stadium and leisure
complex in December.
QPR chairman Tony
Fernandes, said: “Loftus
Road is – and always will be – a
special place for the club and our
supporters, but we need more than
18,000 seats. With no option to
expand, we have to look elsewhere.”
WELCOME TO OUR PATCH
FROM JOHN HORTON
H
ammersmith and Shepherds
Bush has been my home and
place of work now for over
17 years and in that time my
love for the area has only grown.
For me, it offers an array of fantastic
features and landmarks which really set
it apart from other more expensive and
traditionally more fashionable areas of
London. Features such as the river, the
bridge, the parks and the fantastic array
of local businesses all feed the thriving
and friendly community at its heart.
There’s more to experience
as a real ‘purple patch’
seems to be under way
And these are the things which
we’ve set out to celebrate and report
on within this magazine. Expect local
news, events, offers and exclusives
– our aim is to keep you up to date
with everything that’s worth knowing
about in Hammersmith and Shepherds
Bush. Hopefully we can fit everything
in! It seems there’s more to see and
experience every month as a real
‘purple patch’ seems to be under way.
From an estate agent’s point of view,
you need only look at the local property
prices to see how things have changed.
According to Rightmove, our borough
is now the third most expensive in
London with only our central Zone 1
neighbours Kensington and Chelsea
and Westminster ranking higher – a
staggering statistic which shows the
rest of London is finally starting to take
notice of the neighbours to the west!
Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush
is definitely where my heart is, and I’m
proud to call it my patch.