Update (January 2021) – it’s finally occupied! By established local signmaker Signtair, who have relocated from their smaller previous shop across the road. Signtair’s former unit also has a new tenant which we’ll report on soon.
53 Lavender Hill is a shop that’s been empty for years. And that’s despite being half way along a healthy run of shops, and being blessed with a rather elegant green tiled shopfront, a front forecourt, and a basement that’s bigger then the ground floor. Empty commercial properties only get a short 3-month break from tax – which means someone out there has been paying business rates on it over the years, with no rent coming in. And we know a few people who have tried to find out who owned it with a view to letting it. But no – it stayed empty…
Many moons ago, we’ve heard it was the Co-op’s butchers. But we really do mean years ago – that’s before the old Co-op shut down at some point in the late 1990s; since then several neighbours have come and gone until a Co-op reopened next door.
It’s hosted a couple of pop-up art exhibitions along the way (where the exhibitors were offered the premises by the owner for a few days as a favour) – but other than that – nothing. We understand that it’s in the same ownership as its neighbours the Co-op and Pizza Hut, as well as the building above. But this particular unit has stayed so empty, for so long, that we’ve sometimes wondered if there was something else going on. More so early in the year, when a large amount of general debris was removed from the premises, seemingly to clear it for a new use.
A few planning applications have come and gone over the years – though up to the point where the neighbouring units were joined togethger and converted to the new Co-op supermatket, none of them were seemingly implemented.
And now there’s a new planning application – for the creation of a restaurant. However it doesn’t give a lot of detail (other than that there’s what looks like a large grill counter area at the front, with seating further back in the unit) – the proposed ground floor layout is shown in the picture t the right. The basement will see a slight tidying up to house bathroom facilities.
The planning permission was looking for permission to change the use from retail to restaurant – noting that as the next door premises recently made the reverse switch (from the Ichnusa restaurant back to the Co-op supermarket) the overall health of the shopping street will be maintained.
The application was submitted on the 21st, ans wasn’t expected to be especially controversial: The key thing is that the empty unit, half way along a run of shops, needs to remain in active use, as it will help the attractiveness of this local town centre – whether it’s a restaurant or a shop doesn’t matter too much. And it is part of a protected secondary retail frontage (so can’t be converted to a dodgy ‘converted shop’ flat).
For a moment, dared wonder if the eternal emptiness of 53 Lavender Hill, our longest-unoccupied unit, might be close to an end.
But it wasn’t to be – the application was then withdrawn on the 16th July. The application doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention, and we’re not sure why it was withdrawn. We’ll keep you posted if a new application is submitted…
Something unusual’s happening to all the lamp posts on Clapham Common Northside. You may have seen it yourself – what usually happens is a gentleman in hi-viz digs holes about two feet deep, throws in a big copper grid, wires it up to to the lamp post electrics, pours a bag of clay back in to the hole, adds a gallon or so of water and then puts the pavement back, as though nothing had ever happened.
What does it all mean? Those involved are happy to explain what they’re doing – and it turns out these are preparatory works to be able fit an electric car charging socket on to every lamp post between Lavender Hill and Clapham Common Northside.
It turns out there’s plenty of electrical capacity to do this (since the street lights were converted to use energy efficient LEDs a few years ago, the cable have been carrying much less load!) – but the earth connections, some of which date back to the 1980s, aren’t really up to modern standards for a car charger – hence the need for an earth connection underground, made of copper and an electrically conducting clay.
Some time back we explored, in detail, whether you could really run an electric car in Battersea – given we all share our parking spaces (our article at this link). The answer back then was ‘maybe, but it’s not easy’. There are a fair few chargers scattered about that run at various different types, and speeds, and costs – but with a mix of ‘pay by the minute, and probably full’ fast chargers, and ‘decent and cheap – but good luck finding one that’s available’ slower chargers, it was clear that the biggest headache will be finding somewhere you can park your car and leave it to charge!
Which is why this initiative by Wandsworth Council is very welcome. It’s actually been on the cards for a while – helped along by a grant the Council won from the Go Ultra Low Cities Scheme. It’s encouraging to see that despite all the Coronavirus chaos of recent months, the longer term need to do something about air pollution and our future climate hasn’t fallen by the wayside.
We do have several rapid chargers in the neighbourhood (details here), which work more like a petrol station and are likely to serve those passing through (and electric taxis) – but realistically, it’s these less slower-charging and frankly less glamorous ‘SimpleSocket‘ lamp post sockets that will probably do the most help Lavender Hill residents with cars to go electric. Because they provide the cheapest option to charge a car, because there’ll be one by your house or flat, because a good half of all the parking spaces will be in reach of one with a decent extension lead, and above all because you can just plug the car in and leave it to get on with it.
Around 200 of these SimpleSockets have been installed in the Borough over the last couple of years, with a few already up and running on Forthbridge road and Ilminster Gardens – they’re the yellow pins on the very comprehensive Zap map of electric charge points. There’ll soon be many more: as far as we can tell, preparatory work is underway on every lamp post that is next to car parking spaces (which is most of them). The streets south of Lavender Hill are the first in line for a major rollout of car charging sockets, but if this works we suspect the concept will extend to the Shaftesbury Estate too. We’ll keep you posted as this develops.
Update (early August) – Wandsworth have now published more details of the scheme, including this map that shows the coverage area, below (which is pretty much what we expected based on where the lamp post works have been underway – and which, as you would expect, pretty much corresponds to the local permit parking zone). They also report that the effort to make it easier to own an electric car in the borough is having some success: the annual number of plug-in vehicles bought by people living in the borough has grown from 252 in 2012 to 4,527 in 2019 – with numbers rising by more than ten per cent every three months. And that Wabdsworth’s own vehicle fleet is gradually being converted to electric power. Full details on the Wandsworth website here.
La Baita, the well-established cafe at the centre of Clapham Common, is applying to Lambeth Council to also run as an off license – for sale of alcohol that can be taken elsewhere on the common. Their current license limits sales to ‘on the premises’, which essentially limits them to sales for the cafe itself and its front seating area. This should help the owners make the most of their unique location, and allow a more socially distanced use of the space around the cafe.
The cafe has come on quite a bit in recent years, with an internal refurbishment and a better organised food operation. They maybe haven’t yet quite hit the potential goldmine of selling really premium coffee – but they have done a healthy trade in decent Italian food and also manage to run a surprisingly large ice cream trade throughout the year. A tiled floor and ‘pre-destroyed’ furniture means they can also be very accommodating of the small children, pets and muddy shoes you’d expect in the middle of our largest green space – and as a result are justifiably popular.
There may be nervousness in some quarters about having another premises able to sell alcohol on a retail basis, given the recent huge gatherings seen on the Common nearer Clapham High Street, and the degree of litter and chaos caused – but the cafe has a good track record and we doubt that this application will be controversial. Details of the application here – search for 20/00205/PRMVAR.
This is Forthbridge Road bus stop, on Clapham Common Northside. It’s one of the first to be extended, to provide more waiting space – and to allow safe use of the pavement at the same time as the bus stop. A new section of pavement has been added to make sure that prams & wheelchairs can still use the bus boarding ramps. Note the rainbow too!
We can expect to see more of these extensions, which TfL call ‘bus stop buildouts’, at busy bus stops where pavements are narrow and traffic is fast. TfL are also considering relocating some bus stops away from places that are likely to generate crowds or queues on the pavement – for example shops with external queueing areas, and cash machines.
Lavender Hill is already in a good place in terms of bus stops as it;s blessed with unusually wide pavements. The only case where this is likely to be particularly tricky is the stops near the junction with Queenstown Road, where the pavement is unusually narrow and the bus stop is busy – but there’s not really space to add one of these extensions.
Some good news on the Queens Arms, just off Queenstown Road. Neighbours & regular readers will know it was closed in 2017, and architects Boon Brown won planning permission to redevelop it, creating five flats (four two-bed ones and a studio) by reorganising the interior, extending the upper floors, and adding a new storey on the roof.
Conscious that many pubs in Wandsworth are now protected from conversion to other uses, the owners fought hard to be able to convert the ground floor to a shop. This didn’t, in the end, wash and the applications to change the use were withdrawn.
The building is looking good – fully cleaned, with new windows and a new roof. It’s in the Park Town Conservation Area, and is locally listed as a ‘building of merit’.
The plans preserved about 3,300 square feet of space for pub or restaurant use (most of the ground floor and basement).
This space was offered to let with no ties (i.e. no link to any particular brewery) and ‘nil premium’ (which means there’s no up front payment to be made to the outgoing landlord for the value of the current trade and clientele, which seems reasonable as the pub has been closed for over two years). The expectation was for a 20-year lease, the rent rising every five years in line with open market rent or retail prices (limited to between 1% and 4% a year). Adverts for the pub also noted that offers may for the long leasehold or even the building freehold might be considered. The adverts sought offers over £60,000 a year. However there was little sign of activity and in our previous post a few months ago, we were at a bit of a loss on whether it would ever reopen.
The good news is – there is a new licensing application on the doors! As with most licensing application notices it doesn’t give much away, other than that the prospective new licensee is Connor McLoughlin, that operating hours are generally 10am to 11pm, that the name of the pub isn’t changing, and that they are seeking permission to show films. We don’t know which pub company (if any) is behind this – a possibly-related Connor McLaughlin is linked to the recently-opened, and well reviewed, independent Woodman pub in Wimbledon Park, between Earlsfield and Wimbledon – but that’s about it.
We haven’t managed to find out much more at this stage (but as ever – any tips from our readers most welcome!) – however a license application is a promising sign. And while the current crisis is a tough time for any pub, let alone what will essentially be a brand new one, we’re increasingly optimistic that once this all passes, the Queens Arms will be able to return – after many years – to being the heart of the neighbourhood that it used to be.
The other news is that a distinctly architectural new 2-3 bed house has been built in the back yard. It’s a little hard to do it justice in a photo, but it’s definitely a one-off design that has been carefully built to a high standard. A great deal of thought has gone in to the design of the building, which includes a sunken inner courtyard over two storeys, an underground gym, and an angled roof to preserve light to buildings behind. The image below (by Boon Brown, the architects) gives some guide as to how a relatively large house has been fitted in to the plot (it’s shown from the back – so the red brick house on the left is the first house in the existing terrace along Tennyson street).
Your author thinks it makes rather clever use of the space – it occupies a very strange shaped and awkward piece of land that won’t have been easy to work with. This seems to have been mainly a back storage yard for the pub in a previous incarnation, and (partly) an old substation plot.
With a bit of luck – and assuming Mr McLaughlin gets his license for the Queens Arms – the new occupants of the house won’t have far to go to their nearest pub.
One of the houses on Eccles Road is smaller than the others, but with a much larger garden. Regular readers can probably already see where this is going!… Developers love houses like the one above – with a huge garden, as well as several garages and outbuildings. We presume it was built on the site of a World War II bomb site, as it’s one of a small cluster of non-Victorian houses.
And sure enough – there are plans in to demolish it all, and build a rather larger building, covering most (though not quite all) of the plot, and containing five flats (one has a single bedroom, three of them are two-bed, and one is three-bed). Every flat has a balcony or a terrace. The two pictures above show the current layout, and what’s proposed.The proposed design is modern, but with some nods to the general shape of the Victorian houses around. The general design is fairly inoffensive and has some parallels with the existing much-extended house to the north, at the Eccles Road / Lavender Sweep corner.
It’s already had a few objections though – partly as it’s a major densification of one of the few relatively open spots in the area, replacing the current house which is set well back from the road with a low and fairly open garden hedge, with three storeys of building right up to the pavement. It does seem the architects of the current house deliberately left some space here to make the street feel a bit more open, and this would inevitably be lost. It also removes quite a lot of sunlight form the back of the houses to the north.
If you want to see the detailed plans, and maybe make a comment (whether to support, oppose or just make a general comment) you can do this on Wandsworth’s planning website – where you should search for planning application number 2020/0906. In theory comments had to be in by the 14th April, but our Council planners are pretty sensible people and will usually pay attention to late comments if they can.
Staying in on Easter Friday? Aren’t we all! Luckily the BBC has come to the rescue, with another showing of the vintage 1951 Ealing Comedy that made Lavender Hill famous – The Lavender Hill Mob. It’s a well-made film with a simple plot that has aged well, and which the British Film Institute ranked the 17th greatest British film of all time –
“One of the most famous of the 1950s Ealing comedies. An unassuming bank clerk, in charge of gold bullion deliveries for almost 20 years, hatches a plot to steal a consignment. His plan comes to fruition when a lodger who owns a small foundry making Eiffel Tower paperweights arrives at his digs.”
The film poster – from Wikimedia Commons
The digs in question are the Balmoral Private Hotel on Lavender Hill, which is quite is key to proceedings as the place where the protagonists plan an audacious bank robbery. Lavender Hill was apparently chosen as a location that was a plausible place for a slightly down at heel guest house, which sounded genteel but wasn’t really (at least in 1951). Edie Martinplays the landlady at the property – described as “a small world of Victoriana and strict rules – ‘wipe your feet, no business occupations may be performed on these premises'”. It’s where Guinness and Stanley Holloway .
The strange thing is that despite being partly set on Lavender Hill, none of the film was actually filmed here – or indeed anywhere in Battersea! The guest house in the film was apparently actually a film set, and the exteriors seem to be somewhere in Ealing.
TV Guide listing (though note BBC’s online listing now seems to have shifted the time to 4pm)
That doesn’t mean the locations aren’t pretty interesting though – you’ll see shots around the City of London (notable for the vast areas of rubble and bomb damage, interspersed with a handful of surviving recognisable buildings), as well as the riverside when it was still lined with working wharves. As well as many residential streets in Gunnersury, Acton and of course Ealing. And a few scenes in Paris. For a very thorough ‘then and now’ guide to the locations, which really shows just how much London has changed since the 1950s, see the ReelStreets page on the Lavender Hill Mob which compares stills from the film with photos of the same locations now.
Thanks, by the way, to one of our readers for the tip that this is showing again!
Mrs Le’s Banh Mi, at 178 Lavender Hill, is unusual in that it’s the only shop on the street that is currently in use as a temporary home! Here we explore, for our readers’ curiosity, the occasional phenomenon of shops being surreptitiously taken over as flats.
The restaurant was only open briefly, for the first half of 2018 – but was generally well reviewed. It was branded very similarly to Mien Tay next door (Mr’s Le’s was run by the same people as Mien Tay, but with a shorter and more focussed menu) – but the interior re-used most of the equipment that was left when Salisbury’s Fish and Chips closed.
After it closed in summer 2018 most of the interior fixtures and fittings were removed, leaving a rather messy shell with no lights and dangling wires. And our readers may have noticed that it’s now been taken over and converted to a makeshift flat – with a “squatters’ rights” notice attached to the door (pictured above – though we’ve edited it to remove any personal details).
These notices used to be a familiar sight on all sorts of empty and abandoned buildings, but following concerns that ‘professional’ squatters were emerging – and that the line between squatters and burglars was becoming rather blurred, and that the effect was pushing up insurance premiums (and hence the cost of renting flats), the law was changed in to make squatting in houses or flats illegal – punishable by 6 months in prison, an chunky fine or both.
The government did, however, recognise that many squatters had a genuine need for somewhere to stay (and it’s worth noting that at the time the law was changed your author knew of several buildings along Lavender Hill and Wandsworth Road at the time where squatters were living quietly and respectfully). So they deliberately left open an option for squatters in non-residential buildings – which was not made a crime (although it’s a crime to damage the property – obviously it’s hard to gain access without causing some damage, but the well worn line is “oh, the lock was already broken…”).
The thinking was that these kinds of buildings will have professional landlords and (when not empty) tenants, and the risk and potential cost of squatters can be more easily accommodated. Most squatters go for low-grade office buildings in the inner suburbs, but factories and even shops are sometimes occupied, as is the case here. By and large this compromise approach seems to be working reasonably, despite a few horrifying cases where working businesses have been trashed and held to ransom by ‘squatters’. We haven’t heard any reports of the residents at Mrs Le’s causing chaos, and in the current crisis are safe and have a roof over their heads.
One day, the unit will get back in to retail use. Frankly it doesn’t look particularly appealing for a prospective new business at the moment, and it’ll certainly need some TLC, but the current shabby state seems to be more a result of flyposters – and what was left behind when Mrs Le’s left – than the current residents.
Mid-June update: This was our most-read & most-shared post ever. Following the reopening of ‘non essential’ shops the content is now a bit out of date – many more of our local traders have reopened, and the range of services has increased. A very special thanks to all our readers made an extra effort to help local traders going. We’re not out of the woods yet, but every bit of trade helps get through the worst of it.
It’s going to be a tough few months for everyone. But one group who particularly need our support is the traders of Lavender Hill! Many are still open, still stocked, and ready to serve takeaways and delivery to the neighbourhood. Please make the most of the huge range on our doorstep – and maybe explore a few more of the local options you’ve not yet had a chance to try out. We’ve collected the details we know about who is offering what. We’ve also flagged any restaurants that are especially new (including two that opened the week before the lockdown), as the first weeks and months are a challenge even at the best of times.
Restaurants & Cafes
El Patio – Tapas Bar & restaurant, 171 Lavender Hill (where The Lavender used to be – they’re actually a reopening of the same restaurant that was there before The Lavender). Brand new – just opened the week before the lockdown! Very enthusiastic and have quickly become part of the neighbourhood despite the very unlucky timing – they’re offering delicious meals for takeaway, as well as deliveryvia deliveroo. We’ve also had excellent feedback from many of of our readers. Telephone 020 7738 1888 or elpatio.uk/takeaway. The latest updates are generally on the ElPatioTapasBar page on Facebook.
Donna Margherita at 183 Lavender Hill – our long established local Italian restaurant is still doing takeaway and delivery, and have now converted the former dining area to be able to sell a wide range of quality food products to take away Wednesday to Saturday (fruit, eggs, fresh bread, sauces, even the ever-elusive dried pasta) – with no queues either! 020 7228 2660 / 07483 914284, and more details here.
Costa do Estoril– Our local Portuguese cafe and restaurant is open (to roughly the usual hours), for takeaway only.
Maiolica Cafe – New – Sicilian cafe which opened a couple of months ago, on Wandsworth Road, not far from the eastern end of Lavender Hill (where The Roastery used to be). A range of cooked breakfasts, pastas and salads. Open for takeaway, and also for delivery via Deliveroo & Just Eat. They also have a range of vegetables, fruit, bread, eggs and other foods for sale, and are doing free delivery of a fruit and veggies case in the immediate neighbourhood – with consistently excellent service. 789 Wandsworth Road, 07955 007000.
Lavender Hill Fish & Chips–New – the long absence of a fish & chip shop, following the closure of Salisbury’s, was finally addressed when they open a few weeks ago, at 23 Lavender Hill. Your author hasn’t yet been but the reports back from others are very good. Offering takeaway and now also delivery via Deliveroo.
Sendero coffee – The coffee shop at the corner of Lavender Hill and Queenstown Road, as well as the brand new one at 37 Patcham Terrace (see our article here if you hadn’t realised they had two branches!) remain open for takeaway, with revised opening hours They are also selling a small range of food and fruit.
Cafe Parisienne (cafe & all day breakfast…) – offering bacon sarnies, and an extensive menu of cafe foods, as well as sandwiches, soups and fresh juices. Our long established local (ever cheerful owner Kazim is pictured below!) remains open for takeaway. 225 Lavender Hill, 020 7924 5523.
Pizzeria Pellone – Neapolitan wood fired pizza, currently open and offering home delivery via deliveroo et al. 020 8062 7133 / pizzeriapellonelondon.co.uk
I Cook U Eat – Lebanese restaurant.Brand new – with particularly awkward timing, our first Lebanese restaurant opened for the first time this week at 62 Lavender Hill, where Howdy was previously. Open for collection, as well as for delivery via Just Eat. 020 7228 0222. Link to menu.
Khan’s Indian Restaurant – well established with a lower-fat-than-average curry free of suspiciously garish colourings. Remains open for takeaway (call in advance for a generally accurate estimate of collection time – usually between 15 and 25 minutes), and for delivery via the likes of Deliveroo. Link to website & menu.
Palace Spice – our ever popular curry house is still open for takeaway, as well as the usual delivery options. Link to website. 020 7207 3925.
Tumnan Thai– still open and offering takeaway, as well as delivery via the likes of Deliveroo. 163 Lavender Hill. 020 7223 1046 / 020 7978 7077. Link to menu.
Siam Brasserie – 87 Lavender Hill – still open for takeaway and delivery. 020 8244 8319.
Nancy Lam’s Enak Enak (Indonesian). Our long established Indonesian restaurant (over 30 years on Lavender Hill!) remains open from Wednesday to Saturday, for collection only. 020 7924 3148. Link to Menu.
Social Pantry Cafe– still open on significantly reduced hours, and offering takeaway food and quality coffee – as well as delivery of breakfast, lunch and dinner packs – details here.
Sightly further afield from Lavender Hill, Pi Pizza at the top of Battersea Rise is running a delivery-only service via Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat – details here.
Basilico pizza, Da Vinci Pizza, Firezza and Pizza Hut deliveryare also open as usual for delivery only. Basilico and Pizza Hut are no longer allowing collection-in-store.
Sweet Smile (bakery).New – [update – SweetSmile are temporarily closed, due to an equipment fault that’s unrelated to Coronavirus, but which can’t be fixed for now! Terrible luck, but we’ll report as soon as things are up and running again] Our local bakery has been making waves since they opened a couple of months ago, with breads and pastries of all kinds, and Portuguese treats. They are trialling a Saturday delivery option within a 1 mile radius. Details will be at facebook.com/sweetsmileclapham.
Specialist shops
It’s not just restaurants and cafes though – while the supermarkets and food stores saw more trade than they ever expected for the first couple of weeks, and many others (including all the charity shops, salons, barbers and hairdressers) have of course closed, some of our more specialist shops who are used to getting custom from far and wide, now need a hand too – so try to think about them first if you’re looking at online and delivery options.
Decor Express – Lavender Hill store still open for now (with a 2-metre queue spacing marked out on the ground outside). They’re encouraging everyone to use click and collect wherever possible – the website has a fair part of the range on it, though there are other things also available that aren’t on the website like wood, plaster and mixed paints. They are also able to do contact-free delivery to nearby locations. Note that they have a large stock of blue cleaning paper rolls. Details here.
Barkers at 8 Queenstown Road remains open for household and hardware essentials. Maximum 2 in the shop at one time. 020 7622 0122.
Fabrics galore – another top spot for crafts if you can sew (or want to learn how to – and there’s probably never been a better time than now…). The Lavender Hill shop is closed for visotors, but still full of staff and stock – and the online store is definitely open. 020 7738 9589 – link.
LHP Lavender plumbing merchants at 2 Queenstown Road are open more or less as usual
Woofs to Kittys dog grrooming and pet supplies, tucked away up on Taybridge Road (between Lavender Hill and Clapham Common) is closed for grooming, but open as usual for supplies with revised opening hours (mornings Monday to Friday, and early afternoon Saturdays) and at-the-door service, with delivery also possible for orders over £30. – details here.
The London Framing Studio – every kind of picture framing! Still open, even though the shop is of course closed – they can arrange collection and delivery – details on their website. 020 7223 9334 or 07471 653 019.
Hamiltons Dry Cleanersare open as usual but with hugely reduced opening hours (Saturday only, 10am-4pm). 07447 000633 for any urgent enquiries.
PowerPrint – printing and reprographics services – the shop’s closed, but some services are still running and their e-mail and telephone are still being monitored. Website. 020 7223 8953.
Gabriella Sandham Lingerie & swimwear – the shop’s closed of course, but they are still open online. 0207 223 5558 / gabriellasandham.com / 020 7223 5558.
Alex shoe repairs and key cutting – shop’s closed but can still offer services by appointment. 020 7223 4931.
Get a grip cycle workshop & sales – still open when we checked recently as cycling is currently a pretty safe way of getting around if you do need to, and repairs are also essential – but with revised opening hours and of course new rules in the shop – details on their website.
Drumshack is open for delivery and for collection at the store door – sales@drumshack.co.uk / 020 7228 1000 / drumshack.co.uk.
Lavender Hill DIY are open as usual (with a decent level of stock, though we hear it’s been a bit of a struggle to get deliveries) – so they’re there if you need urgent hardware, but if you’re passing by they can also supply what you need for any long running DIY projects you never quite got round to, or some seeds to plant with the children…
Partridges art supplies – stuck with the kids at home for weeks? Partridges have the paint, paper, card, brushes and craft supplies you need to get creative. 020 7228 7271. (current status still to be confirmed)
All creatures vets are open, strictly by pre-appointment only, for urgent cases.
Voo vets (next to Sainsbury’s) are also open for urgent care, with other appointments by telephone or video. Latest details & procedures are on their facebook page.
2Love coffee – aren’t currently open as a cafe, but are running occasional openings, typically a couple of days a week, for sales of takeaway coffee and teabags (to make coffee & tea at home) – for details of when the next opening is see their facebook page, or email info@2lovecoffeehouse.co.uk .
If you know of other businesses near Lavender Hill that is doing delivery services and should be on our list, or any of the information needs updating – please let us know. And please spread the word. Let’s all help our neighbours, as well as our local traders.
We’ve focussed on Lavender Hill (as you could say it’s our speciality subject!) – but do also have a look at the list published and updated by the Junction BID, which covers the area nearer Clapham Junction station – including Northcote Road and Battersea Rise – here.
One of our first ever posts, three years ago, featured then then-imminent opening of Sendero Coffee at the junction of Lavender Hill and Queenstown Road. The combination of quality coffee sourced directly by the team, comfortable sofas, pastries and light catering, occasional canine companions and latterly late sessions on Fridays and Saturdays in winter, proved to be a success beyond all expectations!
It has continued to work so well that Sendero are about to open their second coffee shop, a little further along Queenstown Road at Battersea Exchange – at 37 Patcham Terrace, SW8 4EX – which is maybe better known locally as the new development in the tangle of railway tracks between Queenstown Road station and Battersea Park station. It’s the smallish unit directly facing Queenstown Road in the yellow square on our photo above – the brand new building next to the rather scruffy looking corner that somehow escaped the surrounding whirlwind of redevelopment. Thanks to a traffic-free road heading under the railway arches, there’s also space for some outdoor seating in the summer.
It’s bound to be popular. The area round the new shop has been a bit of a good-coffee desert ever since Coffee Affair sadly closed their shop inside Queenstown Road station (a few years after successfully navigating what had at times seemed insurmountable planning and leasing issues to open it). Work has been underway at the new spot for a good couple of weeks now, and we understand everything should be up and running by the weekend [Weekend update: They’re now open for business!] – do drop in to say hello…
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.
One of the houses on Eccles Road is smaller than the others, but with a much larger garden. Regular readers can probably already see where this is going!… Developers love houses like the one above – with a huge garden, as well as several garages and outbuildings. We presume it was built on the site of a World War II bomb site, as it’s one of a small cluster of non-Victorian houses.
The proposed design is modern, but with some nods to the general shape of the Victorian houses around. The general design is fairly inoffensive and has some parallels with the existing much-extended house to the north, at the Eccles Road / Lavender Sweep corner.
One of our 
Lavender-Hill.uk : Supporting Lavender Hill 