Author Archives: David

The Battersea Studios office complex may be growing again

We keep an eye on local office and business space developments (see our previous article on the subject here) – because being able to access reasonably local jobs and employment matter more than ever now, and because the office space … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Baguette Deli: A new French cafe on Lavender Hill

London is full of little nationality clusters, and the eastern end of Lavender Hill is very much a French one! It’s been helped by the Wix French and bilingual school (a pioneering initiative that’s been running for over a decade), … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Food & drink, Retail | 3 Comments

Stormont Road: Car crashes in to the DayLewis pharmacy…

Not a good day for someone here – this car crashed in to another parked car at speed, and then slammed in to the wall of the DayLewis pharmacy at the junction of Stormont Road and Lavender Hill. It’s not … Continue reading

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Controversial plans to remove and pave over *all* the plants and greenery around Asda at Clapham Junction

Monday update: Strong responses and a lot of concerns raised on this one – a lot of you have got in touch, and we see a lot of comments have also gone to Wandsworth on the planning application in the … Continue reading

Posted in Environment, Planning | 6 Comments

A new cycle lane – and less car parking – on Lavender Hill

The Coronavirus is changing travel habits – with a steep drop in bus & train use, and a similarly steep increase in journeys by cycle or in cars. And our roads are being adapted to this. Lavender Hill has always … Continue reading

Posted in Transport, Useful to know | 4 Comments

Lavender Hill’s Pizza Express is reopening

It’s a difficult time to be in the restaurant trade, whether you’re an independent trader or a large nationwide chain. Amid a painful series of layoffs and closures, it’s maybe not surprising that Pizza Express has been the latest to … Continue reading

Posted in Food & drink | Leave a comment

In pictures: A charming Book Swap on Shirley Grove, Battersea

This lovingly designed and remarkably well-stocked book swap is on Shirley Grove – at the very south eastern corner of the Shaftesbury Estate. There’s a note – “During the COVID period please feel free to use the bookswap for other … Continue reading

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Revealed: The future of Arding & Hobbs (Debenhams)

As we confirmed some time ago – Debenhams at Clapham Junction will never reopen. It’s a great shame to lose it, and our sympathy is with our many readers who used to work there. But it raises a very immediate … Continue reading

Posted in Arding & Hobbs, Business, Planning, Retail | 3 Comments

In pictures: A quiet morning in Battersea’s Shaftesbury Estate

We’ve tried to capture, in 60 photos, a typically quiet weekday morning on the Shaftesbury Estate – the maze of Victorian cottages occupying the low lying area north of Lavender Hill. Unusually the text isn’t ours – but instead, it’s … Continue reading

Posted in Street by street, Useful to know | 7 Comments

The proposed block of flats on Parma Crescent has shrunk… and maybe disappeared.

A while back we reported on a proposal to replace an unusually small house which had an unusually large garden on Parma Crescent with a rather larger building housing five flats. We didn’t say much about it, but it later … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Planning | 1 Comment