Our Patch JUNE 2014
Our Patch JUNE 2014
H
ere’s to following your
dreams. Twenty years
ago, Emma Hutchinson
imagined opening a music
school to teach children
the importance of playing,
listening and learning. So she strapped
her keyboard to the back of her
motorbike and began visiting families.
It was 1994 and the embryonic start
to her now roaring Music House for
Children project. “I wanted to have a
big house and live at the top, and all of
the children could spill into the rooms
so I could tell them how important
music is in life,” Emma recalls. “Life
amounts to a lot less without music.”
It took six years of piano runs on
her motorbike or teaching from her
home in Ingersoll Road before Emma
and husband Charlie Raworth (they
married in 1996) summoned the
courage to buy Bush Hall in Uxbridge
Road and create the West London
venue and music school.
“We thought the area was a bit
barren then,” she says with a laugh.
“But as soon as we put up the signs and
opened our doors, people came out of
the woodwork. As the Music House has
grown in popularity, our geographical
reach has shrunk. It’s been great to see
local residents embrace us.”
Emma and Charlie were brave to take
on Bush Hall. Built in 1904 it was used
as a dance hall through the roaring
Twenties, a soup kitchen in the Second
World War, a bingo hall and rehearsal
space for the likes of The Who, Adam
Faith and Cliff Richard in the Fifties and
Sixties, and finally a snooker and social
club in the Eighties and Nineties, before
being restored to its former glory.
“We quickly realised it was a very
expensive place to run,” says Emma.
And with three boys to raise – Louis,
Oscar and Casper attending Vanessa
As soon as we put up the
signs and opened our
doors people came out
of the woodwork
Nursery first and then St Stephen’s
Primary – it was only possible with the
help of a doting neighbour who would
babysit while the couple and their
mates hammered, sawed and painted
their non-profit venture into shape.
The Music House ticked over
through Emma’s network of 60 teachers
10 / 11
partner
profile
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to
C he c k o u e r s !
great of f –13
Page s 12
THE OAK W12
Emma Hutchinson at
the Bush Hall piano
– all handpicked – working in the
community to teach the importance
of music for children’s motor skills,
creativity and communication skills,
while Bush Hall steadily built up a
rapport with music promoters to lure
big-name acts such as REM and Kings of
Leon. But it wasn’t all plain sailing.
“It’s evolved – it’s not been an
overnight success,” Emma says. “And
when we hit the next crossroads, we
debate whether to push on or just sit
pretty. But we’ve always gone for it.”
The final piece of the jigsaw arrived
a few years ago when they finally
assembled the full site. The owner of
the Harp Café retired to Cyprus. So they
launched the Bush Hall Dining Rooms,
refurbished Bush Hall, and renovated
the Music House for Children along
with the flats upstairs to rent out.
“We can offer it all. Or in that terribly
abused line from Shakespeare: ‘If music
be the food of love, play on.”
While West London’s appetite for
top gigs and nosh has never faltered,
the Music House has used workshops,
musical theatre and outreach concerts
to make music with thousands of local
young people – some of whom are now
returning to the Music House to teach
the second generation of youngsters.
Recently, Hammersmith comedian
Bill Bailey joined as a patron and led
a workshop for children with special
needs. “They all had a ball,” Emma
says. “It was a great way to begin
our next 20 years.”
In every issue of Our Patch we will showcase a local business
from our Partners scheme. The new Horton and Garton scheme
aims to reward residents for shopping locally and supporting
the community. This issue, we take a look at The Oak W12
T
he Oak W12 was opened in
June 2013 by Jasper Gorst
– an experienced
restaurateur and local
resident of 15 years.
Following the success of
his two other restaurants, The Oak in
Notting Hill and The Bird In Hand
in Brook Green, Jasper seized the
opportunity to expand further into
West London with a new venture.
Since then, The Oak W12 has swiftly
established an excellent reputation with
the local community. “The majority
of residents in the local area are very
happy with the changes we have made
to the building and are pleased that we
are busy and growing in popularity,”
says long-time employee and assistant
manager Philippa Smith.
Jasper, who is also an interior
designer, completed a full renovation
of what had previously been the Grand
Union bar and grill before the new
restaurant opened.
The decor is now a mix of modern
industrial chic, old English eccentricity
and Italian antiques, with The Oak
aiming to be ‘informal yet informed’.
One of the stand-out features is the
huge brick pizza oven backed by a
floor-to-ceiling stack of hewn logs,
likely to be the only one of its kind
you’ll find in Shepherds Bush.
The pizzas themselves are one
component of a Mediterraneanstyle menu which sits alongside a
handpicked wine list, draught and
bottled beers, and cocktails.
As a key member of the opening
team and the face you will see most
often when visiting The Oak W12,
what is it that restaurant manager
Zdenek Uhlir – known to regulars as Zed
– thinks gives The Oak W12 the edge?
“The fact that we are willing to go
that bit further for our guests makes us
stand out from the competition.”
Find out for yourself! Turn the page
for our exclusive Our Patch offer.
www.theoakw12.com
Call: 020 8741 7700
Turn the page to see the
full list of Partners and
offers. To find out more,
keep an eye out for
our Partner stickers in
windows in W6 and W12!