What No Flamingos!
John Lewis has opened a roof garden with a little coffee and sandwich hut, high above Oxford Street.
Depending on the weather, it could be a nice place to have a snack.
Sadly they don’t have any flamingos, as Derry and Toms did in their famous roof gardens in Kensington.
Doddle To Expand
According to this article, the parcel shops at rail stations called Doddle is in for a big expansion.
The sooner they open at Dalston Junction station the better.
SS Canary Wharf Is Approaching Launch
Canary Wharf station is starting to resemble a large cruise liner, as more and more of it gets completed, in the dock beside the towers of Canary Wharf.
Although, Crossrail will not open until 2018, I have read that some of the shopping centre on top, will open earlier in May 2015 according to this information.
I suspect too, that the walkway to the Docklands Light Railway at Poplar station will be in place before 2018.
What Are The Retail Implications Of Crossrail?
The title of this post is from an article in Retail Week.
This article is typical of what we will see in the coming months, as commentators and analysts realise what effects Crossrail is going to have on London and the South East.
The enormity of the project is summed up by this paragraph in the article in Retail Week.
There are 40 construction sites in total and 1,700 companies involved – all the major developers are in on the act, and Transport for London is leading. London will be the greatest beneficiary, but the potential value of the Crossrail project to the wider UK economy is estimated at £42bn.
I think that most Londoners don’t know the effect that Crossrail will have on the city.
If you compare the figures with the Olympics, this article on the BBC says the 2012 Olympics cost £9bn and the UK economy received a boost in trade and investment of £9.9bn. For comparison purposes, the budget for Crossrail is £14.8bn.
It will be interesting to see what the true audited figures for Crossrail are in about 2020.
If they are this good, then we should be looking for more projects like this, all over the country.
The Harrods Of The East End
I’d never heard of Wickham’s Department Store known in East End folklore as the Harrods of the East End, until I read about the building and its troubles in Private Eye.
Note how the two parts of the building are different sizes, with an off-centre tower. All caused because the jewellers in the middle wouldn’t sell out.
If you need to know more, there’s an excellent article here.
Boden’s Sense Of Humour
I just had to take a picture of this sign outside of Boden’s building as I walked by.
Boden’s Sense Of Humour
As this blog is only about things that are good to look at, I decided to show a picture of just the sign.
Thinking about it, I suspect that an ugly building is cheaper to rent or buy, so why not save money and just make fun of it.
I wonder what discount they got for The Shard?
Will Lord Myners Get Co-Operation?
The BBC has reported on Lord Myners review of the Co-Operative Group. Here’s the start of the BBC report.
The Co-operative Group spent too much time on takeover deals that proved “breathtakingly value-destructive,” an initial review has found.
Lord Myners’ review is highly critical of the group’s takeovers of Britannia building society and supermarket chain, Somerfield.
Just up the road from me is a new Co-Operative convenience store at Dalston Junction.
The Co-Operative Store At Dalston Junction
From the outside it looks good.
I regularly come home via Dalston Junction station, from where I catch the bus home to avoid a walk, so you’d think I’d be one of their target customers.
But when I did and I was wanting a bottle of wine for dinner at my son’s, there was only one person on the tills, no self-service ones and several people in the queue.
At another time, I went in looking for a Genius loaf. They did have one, but it was like a plastic bag full of dog biscuits.
The management obviously couldn’t possibly organise a piss-up in the brewery.
I have three convenience stores from the main chains and several independent ones too, all within a short walk from my house. And if pushed, I can walk to the much bigger Sainsbury’s on Kingsland High Street!
I doubt, I’ll buy anything in that Co-Operative store in the next few years.
If that is the best they can do in a thriving retail area, no wonder they’re going down the drain.
I do hope that when they finally decide to jack it in at Dalston Junction, that this store becomes a littleWaitrose. After all, in the next couple of years, the nearby Sainsbury’s will be getting a makeover, which will put more pressure on this Co-op store.
Is Islington Council Run By Labour Or Sainsburys?
As I walked past Islington Town Hall today, there was a guy outside holding up a placard, bearing the title of this post.
Is Islington Council Run By Labour Or Sainsburys?
As I’m not an Islington resident and don’t know too much about the intracacies of the local politics, I was a bit baffled. Especially, as it seemed to be a one man protest.
I did find this story on the Islington Tribune site, so it could be about converting the cop shop in Highbury into a Sainsburys
WH Smith Go Backwards
I’m a subscriber to The Times and get vouchers to pay for my paper.
Where I live there are two shops that take them and I usually use them, when I’m staying in for the morning. Or I might use the supermarket, when I do an early morning shop.
But when I travel by train, I usually pick my paper up at the station to read on the journey.
Until earlier this week, I just went into the WH Smith picked up the paper and put the voucher in the box.
They’ve now removed the boxes and expect you to use the self service machines. It’s a pain, so now they won’t get my custom.
Usually, when I go to the station, I don’t pass a paper shop that takes vouchers. So today, I’ll have to walk the other way to the shop that does, before I go to St. Pancras.
I can’t help feeling that lots of people will forgo their morning newspaper or buy it elsewhere.
Too Many People In Oxford Street
This is predicted to happen, when Crossrail opens in 2018 in various media articles over the last couple of days. Look at articles on the BBC and in the Standard.
I have just added this comment to another article.
What Oxford Street needs is a moving walkway along the street at first floor level, with escalators up and entries to the shops at that level. It could be covered over much like the long escalator in Hong Kong. It could also be expanded as time goes on with cafes and stalls, and sub branches down Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road and towards Soho, Hyde Park and the British Museum.
Underneath would be for buses, taxis and cyclists, and for pedestrians going to and from the various stations.
All it needs is a bit of vision and Oxford Street would be the envy of the world, rather than the overcrowded gutter it is today.
This may be an old idea of mine, but I think even more that its time has come.
The Anonymous Widower 