The Hand and Flower is coming back (again)

Having been empty and inactive for several months The Hand and Flower is coming back as an independent pub with Thai dining. Similar approaches have been tried in the past without success and I hope that the new venture has better fortune.

It is encouraging that they are keeping the name and I like the new logo with a pink flower.

It will be interesting to see what the balance between food and drinks is but I hope to be using it both as a pub and as a restaurant.

Ivy House refreshed

A couple of weeks ago I noted that Ivy House on Upper Ham Road was being repointed and now that the work has finished I am rather impressed. 

At this distance it is hard to see that anything has changed, though the whiteness of the windows suggests that they may  have been repainted not long ago, and it is only when you get closer that the newness of some of the pointing can be seen.

Three out of four

It is worrying that three out these four properties on Upper Ham Road are empty commercial units (the other is the intermittently used Ham and Petersham Cricket Club pavilion) and more worrying still that there are no signs on any of them suggesting that the owners are looking for new tenants.

Common parking

Ham Fair is the biggest event in Ham each year and it is always good to go and to see so many other people there enjoying themselves. 

Unfortunately the Fair also brings traffic on Upper Ham Road to a frequent stand-still as visitors are allowed to park half on the road and half on the Common. The car on the left here is stationary while vehicles, like the bus in the distance, struggle to make progress on the narrowed road.

Repointing Ivy House

While the recent works at Ivy Cottage have been hidden at the back of the house the work at its twin, Ivy House, is very visible. I caught it mid-repointing when the front wall was covered with dust from the gouging out.

16 Upper Ham Road

The Hand and Flower has been closed for some months with little visible evidence of this other that no lights and no customers but the arrival of a crude security door confirms the fact.

It also gives the property number as 16 when it has almost always been referred to by its name. Hand and Flower, rather than the number. This may suggest a possible change of use.

Two empty units

While the unit that used to be Rowleys seems to have found a new owner at one end of Ham Parade at the far end two units have become empty.

In June last year there were for sale by auction signs up and more recently a sold sign appeared, but far too briefly for me to photograph it. Whatever the new owners have in mind does not include the two businesses that were there.

Personally I will not miss Taylor Made having had various animated discussions with some of their drivers over their frequent pavement parking.

With the Hand and Flower closed and the former Gate House also looking for a new tenant, the top end of Ham Parade looks grim at the moment.

Gate House goes black

No sooner had the Gate House on Upper Ham Road gone grey than the windows and sills went black, including the windows in the original (listed) part of the building.

Gate House goes grey

The refurbishment works at Gate House on Upper Ham Road have taken a surprising, and very grey,  turn. The recently rendered walls have been painted grey as have the windows and the panels inside them. And the hard standing has been paved grey too.

Elsewhere this may have looked reasonable but in a conservation area it looks very out of place.

Gate House works

Following in from its clean-up, Gate House in Upper Ham Road is having more substantial work done to it, including the rendering of the brick wall on the right.

Irrespective of the merits of this, I cannot find a planning application for it and the building is in Ham Common Conservation Area so Richmond Planning may have something to say on the matter.

Gate House clean-up

The former Gate House on Upper Ham Road, at the top end of Ham Parade, as been empty for a year and this is the first sign of activity that I have seen there since then. 

Time will soon tell whether the cleaning and tidying-up are for a new tenant or the effort of the landlord to try and entice one.

28mph

A speed display sign is often deployed alongside Ham Common and while it is noticeable that some cars do slow down towards the official 20mph limit it is equally noticeable that many do not and it is not unusual to see a speeding car being overtaken.

I have posted this picture not because the speed, 28mph, is unusually high but because it was the first occasion that I could take such a picture with no cars in it and I was not going to wait for a bigger number, 28mph is enough to make the point.

Work at Ivy Cottage

There seems to be quite a lot going on at Ivy Cottage on Upper Ham Road. The sizeable collection of old windows is the biggest clue while the disturbed ground beyond the open gate and the plasterboard suggest that the work is more than just windows.

Pleasingly, the open gate also reveals the deep red ivy at the back of the house.

Cables

There always seems to be filming going on somewhere locally and so it takes something a little unusual to attract my attention and this time it was the long line of thick cables running neatly along Upper Ham Road.

Window work

This window faces directly on to Upper Ham Road so it is easy to monitor progress on it as the house is refurbished. Most of the paint has been removed which implies that it is going to be repaired and kept rather than replaced

Further preparation

It is over two years since I first noted that this mid-terrace house in Upper Ham Road was being prepared for a refresh and nothing visible has been done to it, until now.

Freeholds for sale

The "For Sale By Auction" signs are not an immediate worry but the auctioneer website says, "The lots offer a variety of potential different uses/further developments" and "The site has previously had a positive pre app commercial, residential & mixed use development with an additional 2.5 stories."

The threat is not immediate as both tenants have leases running to 2029 but that is only four years away.

No signs

The Gate House on Upper Ham Road (the top end of Ham Parade) is looking a lot better without all the gaudy signs associated with its last use, though there is still a plaque for Shockwave Clinics, a previous role.

It does worry me slightly that some of the fixings used for the signs have been left and were sometimes drilled into brick rather than mortar; one can be replace but the other cannot.

Gunam Cottage

A famous red brick has got some company.

The red brick at 7 Upper Ham Road featured here in 2009 and pops up in local forums from time to time. Following extensive renovations of the property it has been joined by both a house name, Gunam Cottage, and a rather pretty number 7.

Individually all three signs have their merits but I think that they clash more than the compliment each other.

Telltale arch

Today, Ivy Cottage and Ivy House on Upper Ham Road are two properties in one building but the closed arch in the middle of that building suggests that is was once one property. The wall leading up to the closed arch is the boundary wall between the two properties,