The Local in Ham Street

I have only lived here for something just over twenty years so I do not know the full history of The Local in Ham Street but it was definitely Ham Village Store previously and I believe that it was Dunkley's before that so the new signage has both the new name and old ones. 

It is also a very smart and contemporary sign. I love it.

The new look Fox and Duck

As someone who has been known to go to the pub occasionally (!) I have had little good news locally in the fourteen years that I been doing this blog so I am absolutely delighted with what is happening to The Fox and Duck.

I liked the old pub, and went there regularly for the music, but I accept that put me in a minority and to survive the pub needed to attract a wider group of people. The new owners are doing just that.

I took these photos of the new front area at around 10am when I popped in for a coffee and a nose around. All the other times that I have gone there, or passed on the bus, this area has been busy, as has the surprisingly large inside.

Window box

I always walk along Petersham Road with mixed feelings as the awfulness of the traffic on one side is balanced by the interesting houses on the other. On this walk the interesting houses won thanks to this delightful window box.

Ben Forrest has a van

I have seen many small 3-wheel vans in Paris but not so many here, so this one was definitely worth a photograph. It is also nicely decorated, which you would probably expect from a shop that deals in looking good.

A minor point; the branding here has "Ben Forrest" as two separate words whereas the shop concatenates them into one.

Early days

The controversially demolished end-of-terrace house in Sandpits Road is being rebuild and while it is very early days the signs are good. I am impressed by both the materials selected and the quality of the work.

Into Richmond Chase

Richmond Chase is all but finished and, after four years, this will be my last photograph of it - until something changes, obviously.

This is the path into Richmond Chase from Latchmere Lane. It is also something of a short cut to Church Road if you are heading west, not that many people do that. 

CE09 ZWA takes all of the pavement

I am not happy that cars are allowed to take half of the narrow pavement in Clifford Road and even less happy that CE09 ZWA oversteped that mark and took all of it. 

Neighbours in Dickens Close

The works on this house in Dickens Close generated a lot of mess when it was in full swing about a year ago and now that it is all finished the difference from the outside is minimal, which is clearly a good thing. The garage door on the far left has been replaced but the new brickwork and door are fully in keeping with the rest of the house.

The garden seems to be the current area of work so I made need to go back to take another picture of the final result.

Meanwhile next door has started its own building works and these seem to be far more substantial. Obviously I will be going back to see how this work progresses too so Dickens Close will remain on my walking route for a while to come.

Incidentally, this house has been featured here before because of its neatly shaped shrubs. These are looking a little ragged at the moment so that is something else to keep an eye on. 

That's the way to do it

I have been trying to get a photo of this extension on the corner of Clifford Road and Meadlands Drive for some months but each time I went there the view was ruined by having a car parked on the pebbles. This time I was lucky.

I took a few pictures of this while the work was in progress and the finished result was every bit as good as I hoped from the early indications. Obviously I have no idea what the house looks like inside but from the outside the extension is absolutely spot on. I love what they have done here and am delighted to be able to share it.