High Street Update – Updated (Again)

It’s been a while hasn’t it? Some would say too long. Others might say it’s not been long enough since our last high street update. We’ve not been totally idle though, because we’ve published our Twickenham mega-shopping list which indexes the 220+ retail outlets in central and west Twickenham and discusses the future of shopping in the town. We’re certainly not short of retail space although some of the shops listed certainly appear short of customers. But there are success stories too. Have a look and have your say on the Twickenham retail experience and on the likely winners and losers. The link is below. In the meantime, here’s a quick update on what’s going down on the mean streets of ‘Nam.

OCTOBER UPDATES:

JoJoLoo cafe and “mini-super” on Heath Road has closed. Open for less than year, it’s a shame when small businesses close but you have to think that this one was never really going to work. There’s no shortage of cafes and convenience stores in the area and another small one of each was always going to find it hard to carve out a share of the market.

High Street Update: Summer 2012

Langtons, Par Ici and Dapper on Church Street. Card Factory and Clintons on King Street. Laura Ashley on Heath Road and HMH Electrical on Cross Deep. No spotter’s badge for guessing what they all have in common. That’s right, they’re all closed or, in the case of Langton’s, are just about to. Need more examples? Just take a look at London Road. Indian restaurant Indus has cleared the decks after just 18 months or so in business, and the financial adviser across the street is no more. On Heath Road, Karahi Spices “new management” seemed to have opted for a locked door policy and the nearby “doomed from the start” Internet café has now closed its shutters to the world. (Given that most people actually have their own computers these days and some even have internet access both at home AND on the move through wifi and via their mobiles, it was just never gonna happen. Let’s leave the internet cafes back in the late 90s, please.)

So what is happening then? Work is underway to fit-out the old Laura Ashley shop as a Sue Ryder charity store. The Harlequins Shop at Twickenham Green is gone and is being replaced by bridal wear shop Emma Elizabeth. Meanwhile Belmont Bakery on Queen’s Road has an “under new management” sign up but we await details of what’s going on. Let’s just hope mouse dropping are not part of the new set up. And, wait for it, even the tiny JoJoLoo café is now open. It ain’t busy but it’s certainly now open. At the moment.

More interestingly what was The Ranch (and before that the Hook, Line & Sinker) on York Street is to re-open as Ales & Tails giving Twickenham a bar which features specialist beers and cocktails. Sounds interesting. Something a little bit sophisticated for the twickerati, perhaps? It’s due to open from July through to August as a “pop up” bar but could stick around longer. Who knows, it might even become the quintessentially totes amazeballs bar of Twickenham. It’s being set up by the people behind Citizen Smith in Putney so they’ve got a little bit of history in catering for the drinkers of south west London. Power to the people, n all that.

That’s probably enough to be going on with for now. We’d like to be more positive but we just can’t, although do check back soon to cast your eye over more letters strung together to form words about shops in Twickenham town centre.

Btw, check the Index side bar for previous High Street Updates. Or have your say on regenerating Twickenham, the Twickenham Action Plan and El Brute’s new “Village Plans” on our longer article here.

High Street Update: May 2012

You like living in Twickenham but there’s always something missing, isn’t there? You have that nagging doubt, a doubt that never truly leaves you. Richmond Road, King Street, London Road, Church Street; wherever you walk you’ve always got that sense of something not being quite right, of something lacking. You can’t quite place it. Is it a some kind of repressed memory from your seemingly happy childhood fighting to get out, or does it stem from the fleeting glimpses into a dark corner of your mind where missed opportunities are piled high in dusty crates stamped “unfulfilled potential”. Chillax dudes! It’s much more straightforward than that. What’s troubling you is your subconscious concern about the lack of cafes, the dearth of charity shops and absence of estate agents in town. Breathe out. Here’s the latest high street update to fill you in and, we hope, bring peace to your troubled mind…

Best Chinese or Thai in Twickenham. You tell us.

Is there a town in Britain without a Chinese takeaway? Come to think of it, is there a city in the world without a Chinese restaurant of some kind? To take each of those questions in turn, probably not and… probably not. Add to that the fact (and it is a fact, or at least a made-up fact) that Thai food is the new Chinese and that Vietnamese is the new Thai and we’re positively spoilt for choice when it comes to cuisine from the far east. Or so you might think. A recent delivery to twickerati HQ of a decidedly average Chinese takeaway sowed the [sesame] seeds for this item. Let’s just say that a few of the dishes were left a little bit wanton. New knowledge is required. We’ve previously established Twickenham’s best Indian restaurant, where the best Italian food is to be found and which is best local pub (the answer to all three questions being a very clear: “your personal favourite”) but what about the best place for crispy duck pancakes, or pad thai or pho? Whether it’s eat in or takeaway, the twickerati need to share their knowledge and reviews of where’s best in Twickenham for Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. And how about where to go for Indonesian and Malaysian food? Or perhaps we want to head north for some Japanese and Korean fare?

Here’s a list of most of the places that fit the bill in Twickenham although we’ve probably missed a few: Jun Ming (Heath Road), O’Zon (London Road), Shanghai Village (York Street), Pho Saigon (York Street), Miss Siam (York Street), Lakksa Thai (Heath Road), Thai Pin (St Margarets Road), Thai at the Prince Albert (Hampton Road), Makan Makan (Richmond Road), Fat Boys or Thai Upon Thames (East Twickenham), Sopa, (Strawberry Hill), Panda Garden takeaway (Heath Road) or E-wok takeaway (Crown Road).

Add your comments and reviews right here. We’re simply quite desperate to find out what you think.

P.S. Previous review threads on twickerati:
* Best Curry
* Best Italian/Pizza
* Best Pub
* Best Cafe

High Street Update

Let’s get the bad news over and done with shall we? But is it bad news Jeff? Is it really bad news? Well, it kind of depends… but mostly yes.

Chez Chevallier, the florist that was never really going to work, hasn’t worked out. The shutters have been down for a while and all those people who bought their flowers from M&S, Waitrose and WildAbout Flowers rather than going to Chez Chevallier will simply have to carry on doing just that. It was a funny place with its sign about Dutch Flowers, Belgian Chocolates and Champagne – although it should really have been Luxembourg Fizz to go for the Benelux triple challenge, of course. The reality is (or was) was that it didn’t seem to have enough variety to challenge the dedicated florists but nor did it have cheaper selections available for the ‘impulse buyers’.

Twickenham’s Perfect Pub? What Would Orwell Say?

The crucial question of Twickenham’s best pub was recently discussed on twickerati. It’s a toughie, a real toughie. But one pub came out of that particular survey very well. It used to be a little bit crap; now it’s rather good. In this review feature, Twickenham resident, pub-goer and beer drinker Newcastle Martin gets to grips with whether the revamped Sussex Arms really is the perfect local pub. Here’s his view.

The Sussex, Twickenham

Twickenham’s Perfect Pub?
In 1946, George Orwell wrote a famous essay on the perfect pub. He nominated a local called the Moon Under Water, specifying its good beer, popularity with regulars, open fires, decent food, friendly service, the “comfortable ugliness” of its Victorian fittings, ample garden and lack of ‘rowdies’ and radio. The only problem was that the Moon Under Water never existed — or at least it didn’t until many years later Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon fame gave that name to several of the chain’s pubs, thereby creating a modern dystopia Orwell might have satirised.

Twickenham’s Restaurant Glut: Food for Thought

All Quiet on the Twickenham Front?

Twickenham has its fair share of eateries. In fact it probably has more than its fair share. One might assume that a large number of restaurants and cafes is the mark of a thriving town but in Twickenham only a few are regularly full while some seem permanently empty. In this guest blog, local journalist Simon Hemelryk gives his views on the issue and looks at what, if anything, can be done to fix it. Got your own opinions or solutions? Why not add your comments below.

There’s a standing joke in my household about the number of restaurants, cafes and pubs-that-do-food in Twickenham. My wife has always reckoned there must be at least 50, but I thought it might be as many as 70. So, a couple of days ago, I cycled round the area and counted them.

The actual figure is 128. Yep, that’s one establishment for every 153 of the town’s 19,555 residents – from the Beefeater at the top of Sixth Cross Road, to the little café next to Marble Hill House, to La Cena close to Richmond Bridge. I’m not even including anything that could be said to be Teddington, Old Isleworth or Whitton, or takeaways that don’t have proper seating.

Best Pub in Twickenham? Name it!

A sunny Easter weekend @ The White Swan

Face it. For the last few months you’ve been lying awake at night agonising over whether to mention a delicate issue that’s been bugging you day in, day out, day in, day out. Running around your head has been the same refrain, “When, when, WHEN?”. You ponder whether a cup of camomile tea or perhaps a large scotch will help you get back to sleep but it’s just no use. You can’t stop thinking about it. You just need an answer. You just need to KNOW. And so, at last, to answer that question, that all important question of, “When is that bloody twickerati site going to do an item on Twickenham’s best pub?” we can reveal to you that the answer is… NOW!


OK, perhaps you’ve not actually considered the question before or maybe, like a publication from the El Brute press office, you’re now trying to work out if there’s a hidden agenda here or if you read the text backwards it will reveal a satanic message from “Dark” Lord True in support of tougher parking regulations. We can assure you that there’s nothing so complicated or fanciful here. We’re simply asking the question: what’s the best pub in Twickenham?

High Street Update

If, as they say, brevity is the soul of wit then this High Street Update is for you. It’s certainly brief, so let’s just hope you bloody love it. But first a question, if sarcasm is the lowest form of wit (and whoever said that must be really, really pleased with their absolutely massive contribution to the world) then what’s the highest form? What is the highest form of wit? We’ll tell you. It’s repetition. No doubt about it. It’s repetition. No doubt about it.

Church Street has gone all flag-tastic in the run up to Valentine’s Day. There are offers going on in the shops and money being raised for charity. Don’t let the cold weather put you off, after all, you know that desperately rushing around to find a gift on the afternoon of February 13th is the mark of true love. Try not to leave it so late this year, get yourself down there at the week end.

Jojoloo, Twickenham

So then, let’s get to the rest of it. Lots of things are almost ready to heighten your High Street experience. Jojoloo Coffee Shop and ‘mini super’ is almost open on Heath Road. There’s activity going on inside but then again there’s been activity going on behind those whited out windows for a wee while. (Yes, you get the alliteration free here). Round the corner, in case you’re running low on coffee or tea between say, Caffe Nero or Bellissimo and, say, Cafe Taste or Puccino’s at the station then Lulu’z tea room, cafe and patisserie could be for you. It’s set to occupy what was once the Twickenham Chinese Restaurant on London Road. You’re probably familiar with the location from being in the police station. Good luck to them. And there are still signs of work going on next door to Lulu’z in the ex-Forever hairdresser which, one avid reader told us, may well be set to become…. a hairdresser. Hooray. Or should that be “hair-ray”? (Update: It’s called Hair Institute)

The Cabbage Patch

The Cabbage Patch will re-open on 10th February after its refurb and paint job. It was probably overdue for a spot of tarting up given that quite a number of the competition have had recent makeovers (The Fox, The Three Kings, The Sussex and, a little longer ago, The Royal Oak). The completion of the work fits in nicely with the upcoming rugby internationals as, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new look has a rugby theme to it.

And that’s about it. Both Casa Mia, which only opened a few months ago, and Chanterelle on Whitton Road are still looking pretty much shut (unless someone has evidence to the contrary) but Da Vinci on Heath Road continues make a go of it. Reviews for Da Vinci have generally been favourable even if pizza purists are horrified by the concept of pineapple on a pizza. Eh? You mean the Hawaiian pizza idea is not authentically Italian? Come on! You’ll be saying chicken tikka massala isn’t even Indian next.

[Earlier High Street Updates can be accessed via the Category Index on the right hand menu]

High Street Update: with added TWAP

New in Town

So then, what bright new diversions have we got to amuse us on the High Street this January? Not a lot to be honest but we just couldn’t enter the new year without bringing you a spanking new High Street Update. It’s simply not the done thing. Our previous update was jam packed with stuff, what with Belmont closing, the return of The Fox and Marc Jason’s Shoeworld opening and all that. We think we had it all covered. So what now? Is there even anything left to look forward to? Ever?

Well, the Gurhka’s Inn is now up and running at 25 York Street and alongside it at number 27 in what used to be Sagar (Indian restaurant) is now Atithi (Indian restaurant). Why? Because you can never have too many South Asian eateries, apparently.

Heading up Heath Road to opposite the Alsford timber yard and next to the kebab shop, two empty units are being turned into… a deli grocer / cafe. Are you spotting a theme developing? We don’t want to sound like a bunch of miseries but delicatessens don’t have a great track record in the town. London Road, King Street and Church Street have all played host to short-lived delis in the last few years. Will this one work? We hope so and the market is probably more receptive now than it was back then, but will it be too far from the Sandys / Laverstoke axis to get sufficient foodie footfall? It’s certainly a risk. And as to whether we really need another cafe in Twickenham, well, that’s a subject for heated debate across the whole of Middlesex County. But we like the idea of a decent deli carrying a diverse range of stock so good luck to ‘em.

Meanwhile spies report that the premises of long defunct hair salon, “Forever” on London Road is showing signs of life. That sure was one hairdresser that didn’t live up to its name. Anywayyy… we say “spies” but what we really mean is that it’s got a big “Let By” sign over it and a bloke was recently spotted inside fiddling with a plug socket. There you go. PROOF! We await full details but apparently it’s going break new ground in Twickenham by trialling the sale of “curryccinos”! Imagine it, “Would you like garam masala sprinkled on top, madam?”

Shops. What shops?
Rambling on… with a whole shiny year ahead of us, perhaps it’s time to ponder on what shops Twickenham needs in its shopping streets especially as we have quite of lot of retail roadage. From Richmond Road near Lebanon Park through to Heath Road up by Twickenham Green, including Church Street and London Road, there’s a huge amount of shop frontage to fill with cafes, chemists, charity shops, independent traders, estate agents and more charity shops. There’s over a mile’s worth of stuff. With Richmond and Kingston down the road and out-of-town and online shopping becoming the norm for many, there simply isn’t the volume of trade going on locally that there once was. Or not for the same kind of things. And anyway, who has the patience to stroll up and down a high street buying 20 individual items from 20 different shops? You don’t that’s for sure. Unless it’s for some week-end leisure activity, of course. Ahh, so that’s what the cafes are for.

With this in mind it’s worth a look at El Brute’s Twickenham Area Action Plan which is now out for your comments and consultation. It’s good to have plan for the town event if it does contain a lot of what our American friends might refer to as motherhood and apple pie. After all, what’s not to like about a thriving retail, tourist, rugby destination full of wonderful shops (both chain and independent), restaurants, cafes, bars and community open space complete with children’s choir? Yes please to all of that! And the money to fund it. And the appropriate landlord and planning permissions too! One thing the TWAP does do is suggest the Twickenham retail area is focused more heavily around King Street, York Street and Church Street. To get some kind of ‘shopping critical mass’ does seems pretty sensible even if that does sound like the freakish lovechild of Mary Portas and Professor Brian Cox. It would help to create a clear shopping destination but they’ll have to move fast on York Street if that’s not to become wall to wall bars, cafes and curry houses. In fact, did you know that two more cafes have opened since you started reading this article?

LINKS:
Twickenham Area Action Plan

BTW, our last High Street Update is here, or just wend your way back in time by clicking on the “High Street updates” on the Categories Index on the right.