Forum Topic

Another shop to close down

Noticed big Closing Down signs on A.B. Superstores which is  the general emporium next to Christchurch on New Broadway.This store has had intriguing content over the years and far superior to the pound shops that have followed.Will the site be filled or be another dark place

Colin Izzard ● 5871d24 Comments

The pound shop nearest WE Sainsbury is also closing.

Alan Brainsby ● 5871d

Thats a shame.

Marie Shelly ● 5871d

What a shame.  I always loved having a mooch around and that shop was always my first port of call for cheap 'n cheerful bits and pieces for party bags when my son was little.

M. Anderson ● 5871d

Are you talking about Pound World?

J Smith ● 5871d

I was referring to the £ shop on the corner of the pedestrianized section of Melbourne Avenue opposite Pound World. Its name eludes me for the moment.It's a pity AB Superstores is going, though. Greenford has already lost theirs. Presumably as the Dickens Yard development gets going the shops in that section will also close. One can only hope that the demolition and redevelopment will be speedy.What's the situation with the Glengherkin development? And where will the post office go?

Alan Brainsby ● 5870d

No - AB superstores.

M. Anderson ● 5870d

Tragedy. Somewhere where you could get what you couldn't elsewhere. Mind you, AB Superstores did have another branch in Greenford that closed down a couple of years ago.Down in South Ealing there have also been a couple of closures. Manley Motors is gone (no great loss: truly unpleasant people), and more recently (last week) Mark's Kebabs closed on the junction of Little Ealing Lane and the South Ealing Road.

Mark Maytree ● 5868d

Re  shop nearest WE Sainsbury is also closing        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      but I noticed this afternoon Lidl are opening up in West Ealing ( opposite Wilkinsons). Whether  the new store will be a replacement for the one in Hanwell or in addition to, remains to be seen, but the parking facilities in the new store will not be as good as the Hanwell one. And from what I could see, it also won't be as big, although I may be proved wrong on that score.

Tony Price ● 5865d

Guess A&B suffered from the pound shop opening in EB. Has anyone been in the new sweet shop near the horse yet? I really liked it.....sold lots of interesting things I haven't seen for a while.

Penny Crocker ● 5865d

I think there is another AB superstore in King Street in Hammersmith.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5864d

The much loved AB Superstore premises are to be demolished to make way for the Dickens Yard development fiasco. It may not be tomorrow or next year but it is on the plans passed by Ealing. Our council "sold" this land to a developer called St George. Here he slayed trees two enormous plane trees between P House and the Town Hall. There are no primary school sites ready to house the hundreds of new young inhabitants, some of the flats don't see the sun , other problems etc etc

Arthur Breens ● 5864d

I've always observed St George to be one of the better developers.

Susan Kelly ● 5864d

How many times is always?

George Knox ● 5863d

Every development of theirs which I have visited has seemed well built and well designed. Hence: always.

Susan Kelly ● 5862d

I remember visiting the day-long session held by St George in Ealing Town Hall about 3-4 years ago.  My friend and I were amazed at the size of the development with blocks of flats towering over a pavement area with retail units either side.  My friend pointed out to the St George rep hanging about by the scale model that selling those flats would be a challenge and who would want a 3-bedroom flat i.e. family sized dwelling when most people with children wanted gardens not roof terraces?  The cut through from the completely empty paved space next to Christ Church - grandly called Town Square - to Longfield Avenue looked like the kind of place you wouldn't want to be on a cold winter's evening.  And exactly how do they intend to market those retail units with shops in Ealing closing every week and Westfield just up the road?The Council completely missed the boat on this - too late and with lousy concessions.  Where's the swimming pool we could have had for everyone to use?  Where's the space for meetings, concerts, film nights?It's bad enough having public space sold into private hands but for such poor negotiation to be have been done on behalf of the local population makes it even worse.  The Councillors involved and the regeneration team should hang their heads in shame.  They have served us very poorly.

Allison Franklin ● 5858d

Alison, Indeeed they have served us very poorly; no very very poorly.

Arthur Breens ● 5858d

"...no very very poorly."...Isn't this the price of democracy? That we can vote in a bunch of amateurs to run our communities, country, and Europe?

Alan Brainsby ● 5858d

The problem is that money talks (shouts) louder than democracy. Further there are officers whose agenda and principles may be very distant from the people they purport to serve and indeed who pay their wages. This group are pretty unaccountable. The Regeneration Team interface the developers in Cannes every spring at the Mipim fair but they haven't tried openly and honestly to have a dialogue with the people. The LDF consultation has so far been an example of obscuration. What our "bunch of amateurs" should have done was to have selected a new team and started again rather than reward failure.

Arthur Breens ● 5858d

Isn't this the price of democracy? That we can vote in a bunch of amateurs to run our communities, country, and Europe?------------Depends what you mean by amateurs, doesn't it?  My ward councillors have been at it for years and seem to be immovable objects so I would not class them as amateurs and it's probably the same for most Councillors - they are re-elected, year after year.  Not my definition of amateur by any manner of means.  And the regeneration team at Ealing Council certainly act like amateurs even though they aren't - they are paid professionals who seem to be half-awake or in thrall to developers or just not up to the task.

Allison Franklin ● 5858d

"Depends what you mean by amateurs, doesn't it?"I define an amateur as an enthusiast, someone who has not been trained and examined to at least a minimum competence standard to perform a particular job.Thinking of the antonym - professional - I would define that as someone who is paid to perform a task, but should be qualified to a minimum standard for that task. That individual should also be accountable to a professional body.One wouldn't want to be treated by an unqualified medical practitioner or dentist, or have gas work done by an unqualified fitter. Even driving a motor vehicle on the public highway requires a demonstrated minimum level of competence, the driving test, although not everybody knows that.Experience is not a substitute for basic qualifications together with experience.

Alan Brainsby ● 5857d

Re  the driving test, although not everybody knows that.                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    is that a tactful  way Alan of saying not everbody complies with the law on that aspect of being in charge of a motor vehicle, and other aspects as well. The latest wheeze I am told of is to buy a licence in China ( e g by countrymen thereof temporarily resident here), it being feasible so I am told of being able to bribe officials there to get a licence without taking any test although actual presence of the applicant is required I think for photographic evidence, the licence issued is able to be registered with the Chinese  Authorities as being valid, which then can be swapped for a Hong Kong licence or the actual bribery / bogus test may well take place in that province and due to a hangover from pre 1997, it is then possible to exchange the seemingly valid H K licence in this country  for a fully fledged bona fide British licence for someone living here, albeit temporarily, and with no test whatsoever  ever having been taken.

Tony Price ● 5857d

"buy a (driving) licence in China"...What will they think of next?I was also thinking, tactfully of course, of those never having held a licence or, worse if consideration is given, disqualified from driving.

Alan Brainsby ● 5857d

I define an amateur as an enthusiast, someone who has not been trained and examined to at least a minimum competence standard to perform a particular job.Thinking of the antonym - professional - I would define that as someone who is paid to perform a task, but should be qualified to a minimum standard for that task. That individual should also be accountable to a professional body.---------------------So by my reckoning, the entire lot - Councillors and the Regeneration Team - are professionals acting like amateurs, given that one group is salaried and the other can claim expenses and gets an allowance.They may not be accountable to a professional body but they are accountable to US, the public, and between us I think we've got more than enough skills, experience and qualifications to sit in judgment of them. 

Allison Franklin ● 5857d

Re  experience and qualifications to sit in judgment of them.          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  whereas that may be so Allison, the trouble is most ain't worth voting for, of any Party. I went to one Ward meeting and was most disenchanted.No wonder most young people are not interested in Politics. ( we  certainly have strayed from the theme of this thread, who was responsible ! )

Tony Price ● 5857d