Flower Market Proposal Gets Thumbs Up From Locals In Chiswick

Packed public meeting gets behind new ideas to revitalise the High Road

The proposal to set up a monthly Sunday morning flower market on Chiswick High Road received widespread support at a packed meeting last night (Thursday, February 21st).

The market, to be based in the car-park outside the George IV pub, a site that was formerly the old Chiswick Market, could be up and running by May, if all goes according to plan. The vision was to be the 'Columbia Road flower market of west London'.

Other initiatives discussed included a vintage clothing market, a vegan food market and a tenants & landlords club.

Several local traders attended the meeting and many spoke of the difficulties of operating in a climate of high rents and rates.

An initiative such as flower-market would attract shoppers and visitors to the High Road which would then have a 'spin off' effect for local shops, cafes and restaurants, they hoped.

The meeting was chaired by Andy Murray of the Grove Park Group. The team behind the venture on the stage included Karen Liebreich (Abundance, Turnham Green Piazza), Bridget Osborne (Chiswick Calendar), Ollie Saunders (commercial surveyor), and Ben Bullman, the general manager of the George IV pub.

Leader of Hounslow Council, Steve Curran, was present in the audience, as were several local Chiswick councillors, traders, and residents.

The W4 consortium of social enterprises, businesses and residents also includes surveyor Steve Nutt and landscape gardener Stefano Marinaz. A number of other local residents have also volunteered their expertise.

The meeting was told that the problem of empty shops in the High Road was as bad as it has ever been. The reasons behind why businesses were closing down was complex - the shift in shopping habits to buying online, competition from Westfield, high rents and rates were all important factors.

Karen Liebreich said the flower market would be run as a CIC (Community Interest Company) and there would be a site manager employed to run the market. Income would come from the traders who would pay rental. She was hoping to organise Cargo bike deliveries which would mean people would have their purchases biked to their homes. They would work with Hounslow Council on cleansing and other issues. She said they had been 'inundated with ideas' since news of the initiative became known.

Other ideas suggested included a vegan food market, a vintage clothing market to be run inside the George IV, a Christmas Arts & Craft Fair, an Art Centre on the High Road, a Food Bank, a second-hand book market, and pop-up art markets for the empty Lendlease shop fronts. It was generally agreed that that area was depressing with the number of empty shops.

The issue of parking was discussed. Ollie Saunders said they had carried out a survey. The market would probably mean losing 37 spaces, but there would be more people coming into the area. Disabled parking spaces would be relocated. Traders would unload and park their vans on private land- they would not be taking up public parking spaces.

Columbia Road flower market received about 5000 visitors, had 60 stalls, and was surrounded by 20 independent shops. Some traders have over 14k followers on Instagram. It is crowded from early morning, even during bad winter weather. Chiswick has a strong horticultural heritage and the market place in Chiswick is a bigger area than Colombia Rd, which is very narrow and crowded.

Ollie Saunders said research showed that though retail is going through tough times, people still liked experiences that could not be replicated online.

Tube entry/exit figures for Sundays at Turnham Green and Kew Gardens stations showed that Chiswick is losing people to outside the area, as people are going out of Chiswick on weekends, while Kew Gardens is attracting people into the area. He had spoken to traders at Colombia Rd and there was definite interest in a market in Chiswick. An advantage was proximity to the M4 for access to nurseries around the M25.

Ruth Mayorcas said that visitors should be encouraged to stay in Chiswick and visit other areas of interest such as Chiswick House. Markets such as that in Union Street attracted teenagers, and it would be good to have something to appeal to younger people.

Ollie Saunders commented that visitors to Columbia Road flower market also permeated out into Brick Lane and Shoreditch. Ben Bullman said they ran a kids table on Sundays in the pub and they could expand this to attract parents with young children. Karen Liebreich said they could have workshops for children, with seed sewing and crafts, similar to when she was involved with the Kitchen Garden project at Chiswick House.

Another resident suggested volunteer guides could be on hand to give information, similar to when the Olympics was in London.

Another suggestion was that the market be held weekly- it might be difficult for people to remember which date it was on if it was once a month. Karen Liebreich said they would have to start small, and they would do a six month pilot first, but people managed to remember when the car-boot sale was on, which was also held once a month.

A resident from Elliott Road said it was a 'fantastic idea' but there needed to be traffic management put in place otherwise there would be chaos.

It was generally agreed that Sundays were difficult as people tended to park all over the place, including bus stops, and there was no enforcement.

Traders from the other end of the High Road, including the owner of the Juice Bar, and a staff member from the Old Packhorse, spoke of how depressing it was to be based at such a dead end of the street. They wondered if the market could be held on Turnham Green. This was not a viable option they were told as the site chosen was the historic marketplace for Chiswick. However hopefully business would be increased as people visiting the market would look for places for food and drink.

The owner of Lizard clothing shop said that Sunday was the only time people could drive and park in Chiswick. If free parking was taken away, a lack of trade would result. The only way Chiswick could flourish was with independent shops.

Jeremy Day of Whitmans Commercial said rents were market-driven. There were opportunities to do better deals if traders would take advice. He was now letting shops in Turnham Green Terrace and CHR with rents 30 lower than two years ago. The proposal for a landlords/tenants consortium could help.

The owner of Crucial Food was concerned that bringing in traders from outside would put locals at a disadvantage. Karen Liebreich said that Wheelers and Pot Pourri were on board for the market. Ollie Saunders said a CIC would mean discounted rates for local traders- those coming into Chiswick from outside would complement the local sellers.

Bridget Osborne said she was setting up a Food and Drinks Award, inspired by the Ealing Restaurants Award. The public would vote in three categories (restaurants,pubs, cafes) and it would be an opportunity to find out about new places in the area. This would also help local businesses.

Anyone who wants to make suggestions on revitalising Chiswick High Road, and in particular the flower market, should email: info@chiswickflowermarket.com.

February 20, 2020