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Lavender Hill for Me is a community website working to support Lavender Hill, a neighbourhood in Battersea, London and a home to about 250 shops, restaurants and small businesses. We take an active interest in developments that could improve Lavender Hill for residents, traders and visitors.
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Recent Posts
- It all goes wrong at Donna Margherita on Lavender Hill
- The surprising history of a smelly alley behind some bins near Battersea Park
- After decades of service, Hill Launderette fades in to history
- A takeaway disaster: was this Lavender Hill’s shortest-lived business?
- A rare high-rise industrial building being planned for Havelock terrace
- Clapham Junction’s Lidl supermarket is growing
- Controversial but useful – new offices & workspaces coming to Culvert Road in 2024
- New opening: Remedy Kitchen
- Battersea Park Station: Step-free at last?
- Opening soon on Lavender Hill: Marhaba Minimarket & butchers
- Arding & Hobbs in Clapham Junction: The first signs of what the redeveloped building will look like
- A spruce up for the Battersea Business Centre on Lavender Hill
- The enduring mystery of Sisters Avenue’s giant blue shed
- Retail roundup: new shops & businesses coming to Lavender Hill
- Battersea’s Rush Hill Road: History of a south London street
- Take a moment to appreciate the architecture of Battersea’s Reference Library
- New business in an unusual location: AL Coffee Roasters, a Colombian coffee roastery on Culvert Road
- In pictures: Wandsworth’s newest Council estate
- London photographer Ricky Leaver has a pop-up gallery, on Lavender Hill until 16th October
- Donna Margherita: back from the brink?
- All welcome to help build the community garden next to Battersea Arts Centre
- Up for sale: The Asparagus pub on Falcon Road
- The ‘Commercial Buildings’ ghost sign on Lavender Hill is back
- The Cedars Road Estate: A tale of two ambitious architects
- Tough times at No Boring Beer
- New occupant of the old Cornerstone Bookshop: Thermomix
- A refresh for Clapham Baptist Church’s mural
- Another new pub for Clapham Junction
- Queenstown Road station’s new entrance – progress at last?
- The 1960s canopy around Clapham Junction’s Arding & Hobbs building is coming down
- A bold new look for Khan’s Indian restaurant
- Several new cycle sheds on the streets & estates around Lavender Hill
- Donna Margherita: Is this goodbye?
- The new rooftop floor is appearing Clapham Junction’s landmark Arding & Hobbs building
- Fabrics Galore, celebrating 30 years of saving good people from bad fabrics…
- Reopened: Maiella Worth Cafe
- Back to the future with a new front entrance for the Clapham Grand
- Carpetman, the new occupier of Mr Liu’s old takeaway
- The lost community & uncertain future of Culvert Road
- Revealed: The first two new businesses replacing Debenhams in Clapham Junction
- The 1998 Motorcycle Murders on Lavender Hill
- An unusual new house for the Shaftesbury Estate
- New cafe: Maiella Worth, 789 Wandsworth Road
- A new ‘tiny house’ house for Marney Road?
- A cluster of new office developments is coming soon to Queenstown Road
- In Pictures: Ashley Crescent at dusk
- Farewell to The Corner Stone bookshop on Lavender Hill
- Has anyone forgotten a boat on Queenstown Road?
- In pictures: Lavender Hill’s fading mural still has plenty of charm
- Lavender Hill’s mystery weathervane
- A chance Google Street View encounter in Clapham
- Brace yourselves for a flood of lamp post advertising banners
- The complex past & intriguing future of the Boots site on Falcon Lane
- Work begins on the controversial block of flats on Parma Crescent
- A new start for the old Royal British Legion on Lavender Hill
- In pictures: Lavender Hill Fish & Chips is opening a sister business next door
- No Boring Beer is now open on Lavender Hill
- Works update: Arding & Hobbs at Clapham Junction
- Exhibition and play on John Archer, the first Black Mayor in London – this Friday at Battersea Arts Centre
- A new tower on Battersea Park Road – with 213 flats!
- Changes at the Holy Trinity Church on the Common
- Lavender Hill retail roundup – September 2021
- A new start for this rather sad cluster of empty buildings on Wandsworth Road?
- Legal challenge to Lambeth on their approach to Clapham Common
- The Gideon Road Estate, off Lavender Hill, is getting several new buildings
- Broadband chaos in Battersea! But it’s likely to be worth it in the end.
- A new interesting beer shop & bar on the way for Lavender Hill
- The Lavender Hill / Latchmere Road junction is being rebuilt
- How have Lavender Hill’s restaurants done during the pandemic?
- The long-lost Cedars pub: finally restored, but not as a pub
- A new type of extension on the Shaftesbury estate
- In pictures: The new Pear Tree Cafe on Clapham Common
- Compulsory water meters are coming to Clapham Common Northside
- Part of the Queenstown Road cycle route’s set for an upgrade – but the worst bit may not see much change.
- The long-planned second entrance to Queenstown Road station may still be on track
- Lavender Hill’s back in business
- An update on the interesting Wixs Lane development
- Wasabi is opening a new branch in Clapham Junction
- Another twist in the development project at Parma Crescent
- Megan’s innovative new outdoor restaurant on the Common opens this Friday
Category Archives: Local history
The surprising history of a smelly alley behind some bins near Battersea Park
It’s not the most obvious spot for a landmark in the history of flight! Hidden behind a load of bins next to a Battersea petrol station, along an alleyway whose smell reveals its other role as a surreptitious urinal, is … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Local history
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After decades of service, Hill Launderette fades in to history
Hill Launderette is one of the longest established businesses on Lavender Hill – we don’t know when it started but it has spanned many decades. It stayed surprisigly well used, even as washing machines & tumble dryers became more widespread … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Curiosities, Local history, Retail
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Battersea’s Rush Hill Road: History of a south London street
Rush Hill Road is a small street leading off Lavender Hill. We’ve dug in to its past, in the latest of our local history posts. No-one knows who first named the area Rush Hill: at some point a field on … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Local history, Planning, Street by street
3 Comments
Take a moment to appreciate the architecture of Battersea’s Reference Library
It’s a bit hidden away on a side street, and now that the main access is through an unglamorous corridor from the main lending library few people even notice it. But if you venture down Altenburg Gardens to the old … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Local history, Street by street
1 Comment
The ‘Commercial Buildings’ ghost sign on Lavender Hill is back
We always like finding a ghost sign – those big faded advertisements in the ends of buildings that date back to before the era of poster boards and LED displays, advertising local businesses and products. There’s one at the junction … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Environment, Local history
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The Cedars Road Estate: A tale of two ambitious architects
Estate agents all love the Shaftesbury Estate – and it’s easy to see why, with hundreds of oh-so-desirable little cottages just waiting to be snapped up by well-heeled buyers. There’s a lot less said about our other estates like the … Continue reading
Posted in Housing, Local history, Street by street
6 Comments
Another new pub for Clapham Junction
Another new pub is being developed at Clapham Junction. A couple of months ago we wrote about Albion & East who will be taking over the ground floor corner of Arding & Hobbs (ex-Debenhams) – and now we hear that … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Food & drink, Local history, Retail
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Back to the future with a new front entrance for the Clapham Grand
Update: The temporary sign, in use for filming, is now visible – revealing a bit of a clue as to what has been filmed for the last few weeks, with rumours of it being part of Magic Mike 3, aka … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Curiosities, Food & drink, Local history
3 Comments
The lost community & uncertain future of Culvert Road
It’s best avoided after dark. A winding footbridge, with suspicious yellow puddles and high walls either side that are hard to see over, followed by a big and somewhat muddy yard with stacks of flytipped debris, where you’re completely on … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Environment, Local history, Street by street, Transport
7 Comments
The 1998 Motorcycle Murders on Lavender Hill
This week 24 years ago on Lavender Hill, about 1,700 people were at a Rockers Reunion concert at Battersea Arts Centre when a feud between two motorbike gangs took a dramatic turn – and ended up in a brutal double … Continue reading
Posted in Local history, Street by street
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