Twickenham Festive 5s: Big Up Yours

Greetings! Christmas is fast approaching you’re probably thinking about those gifts you still need to buy, what food to stock up on, which parties to attend, which ones to avoid and generally pondering on how to cope. You need some need top tips, right? Right!

Perhaps you’re also looking back on the year and thinking of all those New Year’s resolutions from last January that have crumbled to dust in your trembling hands. OK, so forget that for a minute and let’s think positive, festive thoughts and mull over the good stuff.

So whether you’re a retailer, a punter, a blogger, a worker, a vocal local or like us here at twickerati just downright normal, we want to hear the five things, just five things, that we need to know to complete our year. You’ve got the gist of it. We need your Twickenham Festive 5 and this item gives you the chance to big up yours.

Take a look at the replies at the end of the piece to see what’s been added so far.

High Street Update: UPDATED

Well, Twickenham, it doesn’t seem that long ago since we did a High Street update on here does it? That’s because it isn’t. It’s just two weeks in fact. But things have been busy, busy, busy so we thought we’d sneak in another one. Just for fun, like. (The last one’s here btw).

Sign at Belmont Bakery

Belmont Gone? One of Twickenham’s longer running businesses appears to be no more. We’re talking Belmont Bakery with shops on Queen’s Road and Heath Road. The place has been looking distinctly closed for a week now and that “closed for a couple of days” is sign looking increasingly permanent. Whether the closure is indeed permanent or just temporary it’s a shame. But Belmont did have something of the 1970s about it and perhaps that is (or was) part of the problem: lots of white bread, meringues, Chelsea buns and gingerbread men. All have their place, but only some of the time and sometimes back in time. In September the Twickenham Town Centre Manager ruffled a few feathers by calling for a high quality baker in the town. Many leapt forward to say we already had one in the form of Belmont. We suggested a compromise whereby Belmont should simply stick the word ‘artisan’ in front of its products and charge an extra 50p a loaf. Flippant perhaps but Belmont didn’t seem to make much headway in tapping into the Farmers Market / Laverstoke / Patisserie Valerie foodie vibe brewing up in Twickenham. Perhaps trying to compete with both the supermarkets and the more upmarket specialists left Belmont fighting on two fronts. And now what? If Belmont has gone, we’ve two more empty shops to fill.

Twickenham: December What’s On

Christmas Tree, Twickenham

Can you believe it’s almost December? No? Well it is. And there’s a whole bunch of stuff going on to get Twickenham in the festive mood. No, we don’t mean skint, irritable and desparate for your guests to just flippin well leave! Just GO! “Seriously Derek, if your sister criticises my turkey legs again I swear I’m going to punch her”. No, we don’t mean that, we mean the party mood of course. When it comes to Twickenham related websites we can assure you that we’ve plagiarised the very best of the rest to bring you a few of the highlights of what’s going on over the next few weeks.

The stuff that’s been & gone is down at the bottom in case you want to know what you’ve missed.

Sat 10th Dec – Christmas Shopping event in Church Street
Discounts, offers, story time at Langton’s, music in the newly refurbished Fox pub. <a href="More and better info on all of the above: * Twickenham Town Business Association * Twickenham Town Centre site” title=”Church Street Christmas Shopping day” target=”_blank”>Details here.

Sun 11th Dec – Twickenham Library Christmas Craft Fair
10.30am – 1.30pm. Christmas stalls & gifts for a spot of hassle free Christmas shopping.

High Street Update

Hey. Why so sad? Presumably you’re looking for the previous, very long running High Street Update and can’t find it? Worry not, Twickenham. Dry your eyes and look at the categories index on the right. You’ll be able to find previous versions there by clicking on “On the High Street”. Right then. Jog on. Where were we? Ah yes, it’s over a month since we last gave a round up of new shops and businesses on the High Street. The very shame of it. But we’ll press on regardless with an update here.

The Rugby Inn

In the land of Pubbington-Upon-Booze, what was The Grand Union on London Road is being converted into The Rugby Inn. Surely some mistake here. This is suburban London not some small midlands town. Oh, yes. We get it now. Rugby. The sport! Because of course there really is nothing to Twickenham apart from rugby is there? It’s not open yet and it’s fresh layer of paint is not looking as sharp as it might on our dark autumn photo so we’ll have to assume it’ll be nicer inside. We’re not sure if the Grand Union chain have sold the pub or if it’s just a rebrand. Perhaps some of the late night problems experienced by the GU had something to do with it. Here’s hoping for a better pub this time around.

Best place for pizza & Italian in Twickenham?

Italian food, eh? Tricky chap, Johnny Italian. You just never know who’s going to show up. A delicious meal with fresh ingredients simply cooked, or something which arrives within seconds of the final ping of the microwave. In reality it depends on many factors including your definition of Italian food. Is it pizza or pasta? Or maybe ye olde “salade tricolore” or some wild mushrooms oozing with autumn flavours? Or even some kind of bizarre Romanesque offal affair. Who knows? Well you do for starters…

High Street Update

We’ll keep on bouncing item this up the site if and when anything interesting happens on the High Street. And, if we’re totally honest, we’ll just bloody do it anyway.

SEPTEMBER
So as we hit the end of September in full on sunshine, what’s hot on the High Street apart from the tarmac?

Flowers, chocs & champagne

Chez Chevallier is opening its doors on Heath Road. It’s in what used to be the hat shop, opposite the refurbished Three Kings. It’s a florist which bills itself as selling Dutch flowers, Belgian chocolates and Champagne. To be honest we’d have given it a flippin medal of honour if it had managed to source sparkling wine from Luxembourg to maintain the Benelux connection. “Real” Champagne will just have to suffice. With all that on sale, expect big queues of harrassed looking middle aged men come February 14th next year.

Din’s Grill on York Street hasn’t been open long and already there’s newspaper up in the windows. The note on the door says that the takeaway is closed for “technical reasons”. Faulty equipment perhaps? A planning problem? Or maybe a lack of money? That kind of minor glitch could well be seen as a “technical reason” depending on your point of view. We just don’t know. So where are you getting your kebabs these days? AKA KAKA??

Pallavi, purveyors of south Indian cuisine, is currently closed (though looks about to re-open) and new sign “Ragam 2″ is up over the door. Ragam (the 1st) is in central London and owned by the same company that owns Pallavi. Perhaps it’s just a rebrand but they’d better be quick about it because Karahi Spices does seem to be generating a bit of trade on the vegetarian food front and getting some good reviews too. (see below).

The Italian Deli, Corto on Church Street is now open for business. Information reaching this office (in the form of the cheese in the twickerati HQ fridge) is that it’s actually pretty good.

Elsewhere, Premier House, home to Waitrose and various offices, is getting a big makeover and just across the road Twickenham’s new Post Office is now well and truly open for business. Any reviews? What are the stamps like??

Heading up the Staines Road, the recently re-opened Sussex pub has had a couple of good comments on Twitter. Worth checking out perhaps?

Earlier this month…

Beer today, gone tomorrow: The state of the pub trade

Pubs are closing up and down the country. Why? Much of it is down to cheap supermarket booze, high rents and pub chains that have more in common with property companies than the traditional idea of what pubs are about. So, what does it all mean? Bagrat Shahbazian from Last Try Wines, the independent wine & beer merchants on Whitton Road, Twickenham, gives his opinion…

Twickenham Festival Season 2011: Yep, it’s TwickFest!

All the top summer festivals for the twickerati (that’s you, btw) are revved up and ready to go. You already know that we don’t do listings on this site. They’re just too hard for our tiny brains to get to grips with. But for your special reading pleasure we did think it would be worth putting all our festival eggs into one listings page basket. And this is it. We’ve tried to pull together the main “festivally” events in and around Twickenham over the next couple of months.

We’ll keep this thread bubbling on the site for you to add your comments. And if you use Twitter then why not get into the ol’ hashtag thing by adding a nice #twickfest to your Twickenham festival tweets. Let’s make some social media mayhem. Or not. Your choice.

So, here’s what’s coming up:

Fresh Deli & Cafe: A review

As mentioned previously on our twickerati high street update, Twickenham is fast becoming the café capital of South West London. In fact, we’ve even tried to work out which is the best café in the town.

With so many cafés to choose from already it’s a brave person that chooses to set up shop in central Twickenham. Competition is fierce. One new café that’s recently joined fray is Fresh Deli and Cafe at 25 Heath Road (opposite Blockbuster). Local resident, occasional twickerati collaborator and all round good egg Monkeybanjo (he’s something of an expert on the price of the things) went to talk to the owner of this latest café to find out more. Here’s his review…

High Street Update

NOTE: This item, after months of loyal service, has been superseded by this one.

Yes, twickerati brings you one whole item highlighting new shops, restaurants and bars that spring up in the town. And talking of springing, this page will bounce up and down the site just like an excited puppy chasing a ball, the ball of new business news.

May

Laverstoke Farm butcher opening soon

The Butcher of Twickenham is coming. What was Coffee Republic and before that lingerie shop Contessa (which featured briefly (briefly, geddit?) in Bend It Like Beckham) is now set to become a new butcher. It’s being set up by Laverstoke Park Farm who already have an online business for the products from their organic Hampshire farm. Those of a certain vintage might recognise the name of the guy behind Laverstoke. It’s Jody Scheckter. Who? Former Forumla 1 racing driver, that’s who. Funny old world ain’t it? As well as their website they’ve even on Twitter.

Right then… you remember Wineland Taverna on Heath Road? No? It was a restaurant that never seemed to be very busy. It closed and was eventually replaced by a Lebanese place called Kaswani, or something similar. That didn’t last long and was soon replaced by Nights of Terhan, a Persian restaurant. That was never busy and… well, you’re getting the picture aren’t you? Now the place has a new name, Pablo’s and is specialising in Mediterranean cuisine. Most of the signage is the same so we’re not sure if it’s a whole new venture or just a re-branding exercise. Either way, the location has not proved itself to be a winner over recent years so let’s hope the food is good enough to draw in a decent number of regular punters.

And it looks as if the WH Smith in King Street will be open very soon. The hoardings are down and the signage is up. It should be a useful addition to the high street.

Fresh Cafe Deli Twickenham

“Fresh” cafe & deli has opened on Heath Road, just up from Lloyds Bank. It’s probably fair to say that it’s entering a competitive market, there’s certainly no shortage of cafes in the town. Of course, we wish them luck with the new business.

Make-up salon “Kiss n Make Up” is now open on Church Street in the shop previously occupied by Sweet Memories, and round the corner on London Road on the site of the shortlived Shhaakes milkshake bar is another new shop, Fone Gadget. With this one, the clue’s in the name really. Nope? Still need a clue? Well that’s just too bad. Again, good luck to both of them with the new ventures.

Older stuff is below…