Today I finally made a visit to the reviving Chatsworth Market where I found out what halloumi is, bought a lovely bit of fruitcake and scoffed a tasty portion of sate wrapped in roti from Chock's Wok. I also met Diane Cunningham of the traders and residents association who expressed confidence about the market's future. The number of stallholders has risen to thirty from a pre-Christmas sixteen. Almost all of them are local people, trying their hand at market trading for the first time.
The market's Facebook page tells us that it is scheduled to continue running fortnightly through June and July and that the long-term goal is to go weekly. With the Sunday Morning Market at Rushmore school and Hackney Homemade behind the Book Box also doing business just a spit away, there seems every chance that Chatsworth Road could develop into a thriving Sunday market centre.
The Mayor of London, a man whose activities I take a close interest in, will be visiting the City Academy tomorrow (Thursday) evening to preside at the latest of his "community conversations" about youth violence. The idea is to solicit views from the public on how to tackle the problem. If you wish to attend and possibly submit a question in advance, you should either complete this booking form or telephone 020 7983 4100. You can hear recordings of previous events of this type that took place in Brent, Croydon and Waltham Forest here.
This is what will rise from the ruin of the late public convenience, assuming the Council's planning committee gives the go-ahead next month. The architect is Claridge (I trust they don't mind my reproducing their image) and the development of the site would be a joint enterprise involving Ali Demirbag of IDP International Properties Ltd and Temel Alp, who owns Fairdeal Foods and bought the site a few years ago. You can see details of Mr Alp's application via here, including this report from Claridge which provides a lot of useful insights into the thinking behind the design.
This picture shows a Transport for London revenue protection operation taking place at the stop by Tesco Express the other day - that's catching fare-dodgers to you and me. I've accompanied such teams going about their business in Ealing. It was an educational experience: those collared ranged from silent teenagers borrowing friends' Zip cards to over-staying foreign migrants. There was a UK Border Agency contingent in the party I was with - an unswiped Oyster card can be the tip of a law-enforcement iceberg.
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