Lots of comings and goings since our last update on Lavender Hill traders at the end of 2022 – and this is a review of who has left and who has arrived, roughly running from the east to the west along the street. First up: M’s dining rooms is opening soon at 14 Lavender Hill, promising an African Carribbean takeaway, as well as the best Nigerian Suya spot in London! This is a site with a complicated history – the previous restaurant, Leilani, was initially quite successful but got tangled up in a series of licensing difficulties . They carried on trading on for a while after the license was revoked – but the premises was eventually repossessed by the landlord. Building work is now well underway, and this should be a fresh start for a large venue with lots of potential.

We’ve previously reported that No Boring Beer hit difficulties when faced with soaring utility costs, which tipped this small business over the edge. The site will soon reopen as a new base for SpyWines, who are a distributor of quality wines run by local resident Tim Harmsworth, and and who have been in Battersea since 2014. Stock is in at 22 Lavender Hill, and signage is on the way.

Room 43 at 43 Lavender Hill has closed – having become a popular live music venue, and quite a local favourite for many. As we understand it, it was good while it lasted but the business wasn’t making stacks of money and its owner’s heading on to new things. It’s been an orderly closure where the premises have been handed back clean and tidy for a new tenant – we hear it may become a cafe.

Grand Estates were a local property business, based in a former bank premises at 37 Lavender Hill (which still has a huge thick-walled safe room built in to the structure!) which has a long and varied history including as a recording studio called Lavender Sound Studios. They have been here for quite a while but have now moved on, and the premises has become a personal training gym.

The Hill Launderette next door is (as we have previously reported, with a short tribute article after years of service) awaiting some fairly minor building works to convert it to an animal grooming and daycare business. The front of the premises will house a reception and a selection of pet supplies for both cats and dogs – including packaged food and treats, and pet jumpers and coats, collars, leads and harnesses, grooming supplies like brushes, combs, shampoos & nail clippers, pet beds, toys, enrichment, and dietary supplements. The rear will be a doggy day care, including a stay and play section, small agility and enrichment stations, beds, water bowls, sofas and kennels for rest or isolation. There will also be a small soundproofed room for cat grooming. Yano Sushi at 39 Lavender Hill next door has closed at least for now, and its future is uncertain.

Snog, maker of frozen yoghurts, currently run a dark kitchen at 67 Lavender Hill, which serves the delivery trade only and is not open to the general public. It unfortunately had a fire break out because of an equipment fault – no injuries, but the premises remained closed for several months. Following building work to repair the damage they are now back in business.

Thermaluminium, who make aluminium windows and doors, are opening a small office and showroom in a shop that was once one of Lavender Hill’s longest running empty premises – and which had fallen in to ruin until it had a comprehensive refurbishment and extension, at 71 Lavender Hill (the junction of Lavender Hill and Rush Hill Road).

We’ve written separately about one of the most disastrous openings ever – where China Garden at 103a Lavender Hill took so long to fit out the premises that they were almost doomed from the start, and lasted just a few weeks. That premises has been cleared out for a new tenant, and we hope it goes better this time!

pHresh Juice will be opening at the end of November in 103e Lavender Hill – the premises between Pizza Da Vinci and the Baguette Deli that was previously Eve & Grace Wellness Centre. The place is looking smart already, and will offer cold pressed juices, ginger and turmeric fruit shots, smoothie drinks & bowls, specialty tea & coffee, healthy foods.

The whole row of shop units by the side of the Business Centre has had a spruce up, as part of a wider upgrade to the Business Centre that has seen new roofs, new windows and a lot of repainting and general tidying up – and as part of this, long established maker of proper wood-fired pizza Pizza da Vinci has also had a complete interior makeover – and has gone from being just a takeaway to also having indoor and outdoor seating. It’s quite an impressive change and the premises feels like it does them justice now.

Burnt Furniture – who opened at 125 Lavender Hill at the end of last year, and who specialise in up-cycling furniture, with an emphasis on highlighting the woods natural beauty using burning techniques and bold colours – are looking for local artists & designers who would like to sell their works at the shop.

Little dessert shop, who were about to open at 145 Lavender Hill in our update last year, are doing a healthy trade in delivering sweet treats – with a large range of iced coffees, milkshakes, waffles and crepes, cheesecakes, Italian gelato and cooke doughs.

One of our favourite premises, the big high-ceilinged corner spot at 137 Lavender Hill, on the junction of Lavender Hill and Sugden Road, has opened as Fitstudioz, provider of bespoke personal training. As insured, certified fitness professionals, they offer tailored sessions by appointment, and are part of a small London-centered chain.

It’s a good space, with a weights area at the front, but several more hidden rooms behind that can cater, as well as for a wider set of treatments. It’s a well equipped venture in a good location, and we wish the super enthusiastic team success!

This was previously MyLondonHome estate agents, and their departure is part of a significant retreat and consolidation over the year, of what was a strangely large number of estate agents. Winkworth departed the vast space at 207 Lavender Hill, and were replaced by Noble Estates who lasted just a few months before moving to a rather very different site tucked away in a mews off Northcote Road, the space is currently empty. Courtenay, opposite Winkworths, were merged into ever-expanding Dexters – so the team transferred to Dexters’ existing premises immediately next door. And Gordon & Co next to the post office have been bought by Foxtons, so relocated to the Foxtons office. The survivors of this big shakeout are investing – with both Foxtons and lettings-only agent Winchester White investing in fairly extensive refurbishment works at their Lavender Hill premises.

Lauristons estate agents at 172 Lavender Hill also completely disappeared, and have since become Lavender Hill Local, a brand new minimarket under the Costcutter franchise, oriented towards food and drink (with a decent chilled section) but also stocking household essentials as well as the usual vapes and off licence. They have long opening hours – but have yet to get permanent signage installed!

The former Royal British legion club at 173 Lavender Hill, which needed a pretty comprehensive rebuild after it was sold off by the Legion following a steep decline in numbers (and which we wrote about in 2021), has finally seen the ground floor leased to Colour Me Posh Nail & Beauty – whose grand opening was just a few weeks ago. It’s good to see this back in use after being empty for many years and our resident small child also appreciated the sweets on offer to celebrate the opening!

El Patio, right next door at 171 Lavender Hill, bravely carried on through the Coronavirus and beyond, but all things come to and end and sadly so it proved for this local venture. The premises was reclaimed by the landlord, and has sat empty (but fully stocked) for quite some months – although in the last few days lights are on and people have been seen inside the premises, with the ‘to let’ sign gone so we suspect something new is on the way.

Heading west, we’ve previously written about the arrival of Mahraba Freshly Halal Minimarket – at 227 Lavender Hill, whose ever friendly and helpful staff stock fresh fruit and veg and a fairly eclectic mix of produce you won’t find elsewhere – and which has a small butchers at the back of the store.

The building at 178 Lavender Hill, which has seen a notably high quality refurbishment by MAC Building Solutions (which included the old Victorian ghost sign on the side of the building being restored – our post on that here) has let its rather smartly kitted out ground floor to a new beauty operator, Bamby Beauty, who look a few weeks (at most) away from opening.

Thermomix, the retailer of high-end kitchen mixers which can also cook food, as well as tell you what to do to make specific meals, and who we wrote about late last year, have developed quite a healthy business, as it seems to the move from a rather deserted business park in Chelsea Harbour to a new location just a minute’s walk from Clapham Junction has paid off.

Finally – there’s always a note of chaos somewhere, and on Lavender Hill it often seems to be linked with the Thirsty Camel Food & Wine, which lost its licence in the summer. As MyLondon report, the Metropolitan Police initially ordered a review into the shop, and Wandsworth Council’s licensing committee held a hearing in June which was followed by a decision to revoke the licence, amid concern that the business was selling nitrous oxide to customers, and of a knife being found under the counter, ruling that “there was no appropriate alternative”. The Police reportedly said that ‘the shop had also continually breached conditions on its premises licence concerning CCTV, staffing and recording incidents‘. Thirsty Camel is a small family-run business, and no one wants to see these small ventures fail (least of all us) – but this sort of trade does no one any favours and we’re hopeful that they can now turn the corner.

And finally, the flagship openings remain the tenants at the newly refurbished Arding and Hobbs. This has really come together in the last few weeks as the ground floor has been revealed and the gardens at the back and on the roof have been installed, and we can expect the first to get going to be Botanical Hall, as part of the Albion & East chain, to be followed some time later by a Third Space gym and spa over three levels, whose reception will be in the area pictured below. As we understand it one unit is still available, which is the one on St John’s Road that was at one stage lined up for Amazon Fresh until they scaled back their UK expansion plans. The full details here – and we’ll be doing a photo update on the redevelopment soon.

It’s been quite a lot of change over a year, and maybe reflects the difficulty of trading in a world of accelerating inflation, soaring utility bills and above all customers with less to spend. Lavender Hill is in one of the wealthiest parts of the country and trade here has fared better than a lot of other places – but it’s still been a tough year for many – and Lavender Hill still needs your custom. So when you’re looking for something or somewhere to go, do think of the hundred or so independent traders whose hard work, enthusiasm and imagination keeps things going on the street.

If you found this of interest you may want to see our wider articles on retail in Lavender Hill. Our 2022 retail roundup is here, with previous ones are here & here.