It’s not often I’ll say this but it looks like Mayor Lutfur has trumped Mayor Boris.
A couple of weeks ago, Lutfur promised a small meeting of residents in Bow (I was among them) that he would look at investment opportunities to improve the area. He promised he would write about it in East End Life and he has kept his word. His latest column is pretty much devoted to Bow, talking firstly about the history and the importance of the Roman Road and then about the impending upgrade of the nearby Malmesbury estate.
I wrote about that meeting here when I also highlighted an application made by another group of residents (the Roman Road Town Team) for Government funding under the Mary Portas pilot scheme, an initiative being driven by Local Government Minister Grant Shapps (quite possibly the Government’s best “blue-sky” thinker) to reinvigorate a selection of run-down British high streets.
Today, Grant Shapps announced the 15 latest winners of that bidding process, with the three London winners picked by Boris Johnson. Roman Road appears on the list…but not in the way many had expected.
The Roman Road Town Team had wanted to appoint a town centre manager who who would try to bring in new cafes, renovate existing shops and even initiate a good quality night-time economy to make it feel more lively.
However, that bid has failed. Instead, Boris picked a rival bid involving those two well-known pioneers of careful spending, the NHS and the Idea Stores. It has secured a pot worth £100,000.
Here’s an extract from the official press release from the Department for Communities and Local Government:
London Borough of Tower Hamlets – Chrisp Street, Watney Market, Roman Road
The Town Team will use the strength of their highly innovative ‘Ideas Stores’ – combining the best of traditional library and information services with activities programmes – exploiting their high visitor numbers to run a series of programmes including NHS driven healthy food initiatives.
These 15 pilots will now receive:
- A share of £1.5 million to make their ideas a reality;
- A dedicated contact point in Government to provide advice and support to encourage greater local business growth;
- Free support from retail industry giants led by Boots, as well as Mary Portas’s team; and
- Opportunities to meet and discuss lessons learned and experiences with fellow Portas Pilots
I’ve asked DCLG for the details of this application but on the face of it, it does sound as inspiring as a wet lettuce, which is probably what shoppers on the three market roads will be told to eat by the new NHS shop barons.
If the £100,000 pot is divided between the three markets, that’s about £33,000 each. I’m not quite sure what can be done with that kind of change, apart from printing a few thousand happy clappy leaflets telling people what they already know.
There’s another interesting bit of contorted logic to this. When the Idea Store programme was launched way back in 2003, they were deliberately built next to supermarkets and shopping centres so they could take advantage of high footfalls. It’s curious that the Idea Store programme is now being cited to say its high footfall can drive a shops regeneration. It just goes to show you the bubble they live in.
When I have more details from DCLG, I’ll post them here, but this really is a chance for Lutfur to show he can push something else through with flair and imagination, two characteristics some associate more with Boris.
Trial by Jeory 
Sorry, I know this is moving away from the main topic but…
Grant Shapps probably the Government’s best blue skies thinker?? You are (as they say) ‘avin a larf aren’t you? Or else the quality of other Government thinkers really is abysmal.
Please, please do tell where you get any evidence for this remarkable claim.
Oh, and I agree about the pointlessness of Boris’s preferred bid which completely fails to take account of the regeneration needs, at least for Roman Road (can’t speak for the other two areas). And even if residents wanted to eat the wet lettuce leaf they are prescribed it will be difficult to find one to buy – there’s only about 2 stalls left on Roman Road selling anything with Vitamin C in them.
Only 10 years ago there were 3 butchers shops and at least 4 fruit and veg stalls on that road. I went up there on Saturday to try to get some shopping done and there’s only 2 fruit and veg stalls that I can see.
I don’t think supermarkets are the answer to all our prayers but the local food shops there sell barely anything that might be part of a regular shopping list. I may be being frightfully middle class but I couldn’t get coffee apart from tiddly jars in Costcutter (I wasn’t even looking for fancy stuff, just a large jar of Gold Blend type instant) and had difficulty finding brown sugar. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a shopping area to be able to stock basics like that. There is next to nothing on that road that is going to make me want to go back there and Boris’s plan is not going to make a blind bit of difference to that situation.
Hmm, not sure you were looking properly…one of the big problems is that far too many fruitand veg shops have opened inthe past few months. There are loads of them now, all selling the same. Everyone’s puzzled how they can cover what used to be sky-high rents on Roman Road
O there’s no shortage of fruit and veg stalls – and what’s more and good in these tough times is, the housewife with an eye for good stuff can shop around and get a far better deal for a fraction of the supermarket price. What there is too much of is Tescos Express and Metros … killing off the local trade of shopkeepers who do bother to get up in the morning to make a living serving their customers; maybe not the city types who they don’t cater for and anyway can find all the fancy stuff they need around Spitalfields or Shoreditch or the local Tescos … A lot of ‘professional’ types of the comfortable backgrounds and expensive schooling that are moving in on the cheap to the east end these days seem to really resent the locals, and a lot of the locals resent being resented … Also, the Idea Stores, though not ideal, or even stored to the rafters with great ideas, do provide a pretty decent service. The Library in Watney Market is always full of kids who need more books, more computers, more space to learn out of school and home, so another Idea Store locally would really hit the spot. But yes, they could be better run.
Ted I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not but I don’t share you’re enthusiasm at all especially regarding Watney Market. Why are we spending three million pounds on the Watney Makret Idea store when the flagship idea store is literally a 5-minute walk down Sidney Street? The match funding from the Lottery would have been better spend on another project in my opinion. With the exception of the one stop shop unless you live in Shadwell or Wapping why would you go to the new Shadwell Idea store rather than the one in Whitechapel?
We have a huge problem with duplication in Tower Hamlets and it’s killing of our markets and town centers. Watney Market is a very good example. Watney has just been spruced up and it’s still dead. It’s not the exterior that’s the problem it’s the people it attracts. The majority of shops there target the lower end of the income spectrum and there really is nowhere for our professionals to spend there disposal income. Obviously there’s a balance to strike here but so far I don’t think we’ve found the right mix.
We need to attract people with more disposal income or different groups there’s only so far you can get with a Iceland’s supermarket, a Peacocks, Percy Ingles, Sari shops PFCs and the numerous money transfer shops that are all over the place. Westfeild is vulgar and I hate it but those types of shops are the ones that will attract the largest amounts of disposal income and you’ll get more regeneration as a consequence.
I think we should think seriously on how we encourage big brands or niche independent ones into our town centers. Failing that a community shop would be a good idea. I really hope they don’t spend this money on PR or aesthetics
I think Phil makes some good points. The council should put more effective restrictions on having, for example, multiple money transfer shops in the same street.
So these “different groups” with disposable incomes are inescapably drawn somewhere by the mere presence of high-end goods for them to buy. What indefatigable logic. What beauty there is in its simplicity. If I may develop your masterpiece further; presumably they would get into their cars, in let’s say, Barnet, and then drive to Watney Market just to buy stuff. Or Perhaps they would decide to actually move to Shadwell from, let us say, Kingston upon Thames because they found out they could get Burberry Check down the Bigland.
What utter genius.
The only small problem I can identify with what is otherwise an ingenious panacea to the problems of inner city sink holes everywhere is that the people with the disposable incomes (or “different groups” as you say) who you suggest would be drawn like moths to some decent shops would in reality rather gauge out their own eyes with sticks than expose their families to the hostile ghettos surrounding Watney Market.
The streets off Cable Street and Commercial Road are hostile to every form of life save the mutant viruses that swarm and multiply in the pools of spittle decorating those filthy pavements.
The “different Groups” with their disposable incomes whom you’d like to attract tend to be put off by the frequency they get mugged on their way home (which is jolly annoying), the menacing gangs of council funded ‘youth workers’ and ‘community volunteers’ who cheerfully let them know what a “vibrant community” they live in, blud, and how [un]welcome they are, and their children end up getting beaten up at school because of their skin colour and forced out by depressed teachers too scared to do anything about it.
On the rare occasion that somebody who lives around Watney Market does come off the dole (and not by selling drugs), what do they do? Do, they start demanding a branch of Tiffany’s opens in Lukin Street? No – the very first thing they do is move as far away as possible! And why not.
Watney Market is what it is because of the legacy of one million years of Labour and neo-Labour control at Tower Hamlets. Labour wilfully created this ghetto because they mistakenly thought they could import and then breed a pliant group of people who’d then keep voting them into office for ever and ever. It was so simply, so flawless. Whoopsy-daisy.
Probably the best thing that could happen would be for some of the people currently on the dole in Shadwell to be given new homes and jobs in the Falkland Islands. We could then sell the islands to Argentina and get some of our money back.
What a pool of toxic drivel. Still, as you’ve exposed your ignorance so eloquently, I’m sure it’ll do you all the credit you deserve.
I live near the Roman Road. This is a big shame. It is exactly 1km from the Olympic stadium as the crow flies, but it looks more run down than ever before. I blame the local Council and Councillors. They’ve spent years doing all the wrong things.
The problem with Tower Hamlets street markets is that they are so badly run and not a pleasant or safe place to visit.The Mayor has spent thousands revamping the market dept. and as usual is a complete farce.Stallholders run rough shod over the trading laws,display goods all over the pavement,risking injury to shoppers.They also clearly over extend their pitch allocation and make it a uncomfortable enviroment for shoppers.As for the new market enforcement teams,these are like the community safety officers which Rahman likes so much,you never see them apart from about one hour in the morning.Take Bethnal Green Road you can barely walk down it,with traders exceeding their pitch size,goods displayed on the ground.Plus shop keepers displaying almost the entire stock outside their premises.With prams,mobility scooters etc you can barely navigate this road.
I also totally agree with Harvey Milk the new Idea Store in Watney Street is a gross waste of money,with Whitechapel being only five minutes away.These stores are also badly run.They are grossly overstaffed.Staff just stand around all day,talking,on their phones etc.Why in this now self service age are so many employed there,you could easily carry out a cull of these staff ,without affecting services.Even now books are shelved wrongly,staff usually don’t have a clue where to find anyhting.CDs and dvds are displayed in all the wrong sections.I don’t beleive many of the staff have heard of alphabetical listings.At the end of the day there is massive savings to be made in the libraries dept.
All councils pay way, way over the odds for books,cds and dvds and never question this expense.Instead of purcashing from stockists like Bertrams they could easily buy their stock at a fraction of the price from other outlets such as clearing warehouses,amazon etc.Why pay out sometimes £25 for a dvd,when in a couple of months you can buy the same titles for about £3 in HMVor on line.Masses of council tax is wasted by the inept management in this borough.So all these promised cash will as usual be wasted.Expect a kiosk erected in Roman Road where council staff will earn nice little amounts of money for yawning at shoppers,plus a nice big billboard of the Mayor beaming down on the market.As a side issue why does the council not reveal the amount of overtime paid out to council stall on the annual Mela weekend.