Boutique developer wants to build flats on the former restaurant site

Local residents near the former Pissarro restaurant are still hoping to persuade the developer planning a block of flats, to include a cafe/restaurant for the community.

Boutique developer Fruition Properties has plans for a collection of new-build apartments, some with river views.
The site was bought by Fruition/Corney Reach Way Ltd for £3.5m in a private sale last January. It was previously held by Gort Investments.

Fruition plan to hold an exhibition on 27 June, 4pm to 8pm at the Pier House to which locals are invited.

Letters are being sent out and flyers delivered this weekend.

A spokesperson for the local community said they were waiting with interest to see whether the new owner would , as they had promised, respect the need for a café/bar for the local community.

"We will wait to see whether they will be like the previous owners just trying to maximise the amount of money they can extract out of it by squeezing in as many flats as they can without regard for the local community.

One leading campaigner said that the Corney Reach Estate was a bit of an anomaly in that it was designed as an Urban Village – as defined in the Character and Context Study. However it is a private estate that has to give pedestrian and vehicle access via private roads and walkways to the River, House Boats, Pier, Pier House and café/bar (Pissarro’s)

Fruition Properties, which has acquired seven new sites in the past 12 months, says it is preparing to work closely with Hounslow Council to draw up a revised planning application.

The acquisition of the 0.24 acre Pissarro site marks Fruition Properties’ first site in Chiswick. The company sold its first commercial space – a 5,597 sq ft new build office block in Ravenscourt Park, to The Omni Group. The company has been involved in new-build and restoration schemes in West and South West London.

Gort Investments had been turned down for planning on the site but had acquired permission to demolish the building. However, this was never carried out.

At the time there were over 152 objections to the proposed development including: loss of the restaurant, no replacement of community facility, a design 'out of keeping' with the surrounding area, that it would impact on neighbours with loss of outlook, privacy, etc, and that it was an inappropriate area for high-density development.

The restaurant closed in 2013 and a previous application to redevelop the restaurant into residential units was turned down in 2014. The RNLI also lost the flat it rented on the premises, and there were a number of failed attempts to encourage restaurateurs to take on the site. The site has been lying idle since then.

Pissarro, which was named in honour of the 'Father of French Impressionism', Camille Pissarro (who painted many local scenes in the 1890s), opened in the late 1990s when it was owned by local investors. The restaurant had a chequered history, and at one stage suffered a serious fire. When it closed management said there was not enough business in that area to make it a commercially viable.

June 16, 2017