Hammersmith Society Annual Report 2024-2025
Click on the image to open the pdf

Attached is this year’s Annual Report, reviewing the key activities of the Society, and at least three local megaprojects, this year also providing a reflection on the outgoing chairman’s three year term.

Subjects include:

• The changing face of Hammersmith
• Projects in development 
• Local Plan
• Hammersmith Bridge
• Committee members
• Reflections on Chairmanship 2022-2025

The agenda, accounts and other AGM information are or will be on the dedicated 2025 AGM page.

Our member Edward Rose has thoroughly researched the Black Bull, which we wrote about in 2022, and has now written the 180-page self-published book pictured, which he’s offering to members.

Since we wrote the original article, we’ve been working with Heritage of London Trust to try to find a suitable new home, and arrange for it to be restored, in a similar way to the Greek Runner and Leaning Woman.  We’ve been jointly investigating the somewhat opaque ownership of this Grade II listed figure as a precursor, work which continues. 

If you would like a copy of the book, please contact Edward using the form below.

Nomination for a Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2025.

The Hawthorn

Nominated by a member who says:  “The Hawthorn is on the corner of Thorpebank Rd and the Uxbridge Rd in Shepherds Bush. The pub was first built in 1878 and was taken over earlier this year by Peter Creed and Tom Noest of Publican Pubs  They also run five pubs in the Cotswolds and are well established in the hospitality industry.

They have completely renovated this lovely building, both inside and out. With new sash windows, signage and a traditional coloured paintwork, the building has been give a stylish and very welcome overhaul, and is vastly improved compared to the previous pub. The Inside is cosy and welcoming with butter coloured walls and a newly built bar…They have chosen a really great name, with a historical reference, as their Instagram post explains“

Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2025.

The Uxbridge road at its Shepherds Bush end has struggled for some years, and has been nominated for a wooden spoon in a number of respects this year, and by more than one person. There has been a significant amount of public interest and debate with the council, most recently a petition was put to the council to “Fix the Uxbridge Road”, and there’s been a proposal for a Business Improvement District for Shepherds Bush too. 

The list of issues are:

• Inappropriate retail frontages, often a downgrade on the former and perhaps more traditional frontages – a common problem nowadays throughout the borough – and one that we, and our members have campaigned for enforcement on for several years, as these developments often run contrary to the Local Plan.
• The state of the railway bridge, including its graffiti.
• Anti-Social behaviour.
• Problems with waste management – sacks of uncollected rubbish, often generated by retailers.

The council has agreed to take some actions as a result, detailed in the above cabinet report with petition details and here, and TfL are reported to have agreed to repaint the bridge.

Uxbridge road and environs. The two left-bottom images show predecessors to current frontages

Lawn House CGI

Lawn House stands on the corner of The Lawn and Uxbridge Road, next to 2023’s award-winning Hoxton Hotel, partly shown. Previously a Barclays Bank and now vacant, it provides the opportunity to complete The Lawn’s decade-long transformation into a series of hotels with improved public realm. This hotel is proposed to contain 130 rooms, 60% with kitchenettes.

A significant feature of the public realm are the arches of the proposed building’s frontage, said to echo the railway arches nearby, alongside the 2017 conservation award-winning Bush Theatre. These could divide opinion, perhaps considered as sitting uncomfortably with the uniform warehouse chic of the Hoxton adjacent, or acting as a pastiche of the Dorsett’s heroic arches and roofline – let us know your views. For reference, below is a photo of the existing building, showing the adjacent part of the Hoxton with its awnings. 

The design has considered the adjacency and daylight/sunlight issues with residents in Pennard Road directly behind, and the developers, Lamington Group, have been in discussion with them for some time. 

Lawn House – as existing

Nomination for an Environment Award, 2025.

Finely detailed brickwork is the feature in this new development on the corner of Macfarlane Road and Wood Lane opposite Westfield, designed by Maccreanor Lavington for Peabody Housing Association. It replaces the former BBC car park with a pair of appropriately-sized mid-rise buildings, providing 142 affordable homes in a mixture of shared ownership, London Affordable Rent and London Living Rent with 68 x 1 bed, 67 x 2 bed and 7 x 3-bed flats.

Macfarlane Place – H&C railway line – Westfield Living in the distance, TV centre tower under construction left

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – Wood Lane & public realm

Macfarlane Place – railway line

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – entrance

Macfarlane Place – brickwork shutters railings

Macfarlane Road – public realm

There are some echoes of the ‘warehouse chic’ of the 2023 award-winning Hoxton hotel just down the road, plus an echo of the red brick DIMCO buildings on the other side of Wood Lane, which were themselves nominated in 2021.

The use of materials is interesting, and although there is some fakery to the brickwork (common these days), the patterns are original, and the floor to ceiling windows and detailing lift the facades above the ordinary allowing it to not shout ‘social housing’.  Care has been used in the design, and as the RIBA journal notes, it has tenant-friendly touches such as heat-regulating shutters.  The shutters are said to have been designed to reduce overheating, eliminating the need for air conditioning and opening windows onto a potentially noisy Wood Lane, and the Hammersmith & City railway line immediately adjacent. There’s some interesting detailing internally too.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram

Nomination for an Environment Award, 2025.

Hidden away down a tiny lane known as Dimes Place just off King Street, is a new commercial development known as The New Timber Yard, because it was formerly the home of Moss Timber Merchants (by Royal Appointment, specialist Timber Merchant).  Having been established for over a hundred years, they moved out to Greenford around 2016, and for a couple of years Dimes Place appeared regularly on our agenda for various reasons, including a change of developer, changes and densification of design, according to the Chairman’s annual report. The site has a lot of adjacency with neighbours all around as the photos show, and the site is somewhat Tardis-like, in that what you see from the street is very much less than the whole.

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Argyle Place

The New Timber Yard

The New Timber Yard – shared courtyard with external kitchen

The New Timber Yard

The New Timber Yard – logo

The New Timber Yard – reception

New Timber Yard – Cambridge grove

However, the end result it’s a world away from the hustle and noise of King Street, with attractive planting down the former roadway, taking you to a not insubstantial 200sqm office development, built to BREEAM ‘excellent’ standards, with a welcoming reception area.  Tucked away past the shared courtyard with pizza oven and BBQ are further offices, which were – according to the planning portal – originally intended as mews houses, where the former woodsheds were located between the backs of the houses in Cambridge Grove and Argyle Place.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram

This is what the site used to look like (click for larger images):

Moss Hammersmith
[Photo: Moss & co]

Moss Hammersmith
[Photo: Moss & co]

Dimes Place (planning)

Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2025.

The Hammersmith Belle

The former Hampshire Hog / Hampshire has struggled in recent years, changing hands, names and formats several times, including in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. It used to have a restrained image commensurate with its elegant 1883 Victorian architecture – see below.

In its most recent incarnation it has joined the Belle pubs and restaurants group as the Hammersmith Belle, and taken on their standard sports bar brand appearance with fake LED-lit mini-trees outside, described in the nomination as having the appearance of a ‘Bulgarian Black Sea beach resort’ (who knew? – Ed).

This fits with an increasing trend for pandemic-inspired pavement encroachments, in a way that can erode the character of a city – building by building – and in the same way that the Uxbridge Road petitioners have mentioned. These do actually require planning consent, and should be the subject of enforcement. In this case, as many, no consent exists.

While it’s good to see this large longstanding establishment being reinvigorated – and in its original function – despite the 4.6 Google review ratings, the unsympathetic paint scheme, the brand’s generic plastic trees, loud signage, and pavement encroachments don’t seem to do the streetscape or building justice. Rather than help make the case for a vibrant sports bar, the additions seem to detract from an otherwise valiant effort to improve the frontage with its many thriving window boxes, and planting in the garish containers next to the trees, which unlike them, is actually real.

For reference, the appearance is shown below – from 2016:

The Hampshire Hog, 2016 [photo: Edward Hands / Wikipedia]

Royal Masonic Hospital Block A – showing originally proposed glass pavilions, now removed

This project finally received permission by unanimous vote after a long planning meeting on 30th July, but with some remaining concerns expressed by neighbours. A member of your committee attended to observe and note the proceedings. We’ve written about this project four times and have been working to help improve the scheme since the site sale over three years ago.

The issues were primarily around proposed design and building heights for the new 5-storey blocks E and F (given the conservation area/listed building location), adjacency issues for neighbours at both ends of the site, transport access, affordable housing provision, historic gardens, and importantly in this case, proposed additions to the Grade II* listed  buildings, particularly glass pavilions originally proposed on block A (pictured above), and the liner-style balconies on blocks B and C which have adjacency issues with Ravenscourt Gardens neighbours. 

Recent Changes

There have been two significant revisions since the original planning application in April 2024, which sought conversion to 140 flats, 65 care home places (discharging a medical covenant), 21 affordable, plus community use of block A (the main entrance).

In the first, last November, the glass pavilions were ushered off after our concerns, those of Historic England (really notable harm), the Historic Buildings Group, and the 20th Century Society were acknowledged, and an improved solution was found to the privacy / adjacency issues on the balconies, after the proposed heavy concrete planters were similarly dispatched. The screening issue has been addressed by glass inner balustrades, and a pleached tree boundary treatment, with separation distances discussed at some length by the planning committee, and shown to be greater than 18m in all but one case.

RMH Blocks E & F  – from May 2023 revision

In the second earlier this year, replacement block E/F maximum heights were lowered, and made more uniform by removal of the roof plant, moving it below ground in the place formerly allocated for car parking, this now being a car-free development, satisfying LBHF planning policy and some traffic concerns mentioned by existing neighbours. Part of this change was brought about by welcome adoption of a Ground Source Heat Pump heating system, and solar PV on the roof.  There were also refinements to the landscaping and planting, including relocation of a copper beech tree at the end of block C.

A review of comments made in our earlier articles shows that many of the issues raised by us, and others, have been addressed positively in the final design.

The planning committee accepted the officers’ assessment that the substantial public and heritage benefits of restoring the vacant listed building and opening it to the public outweighed the identified less than substantial harm, and that the impacts on neighbour’s amenity were acceptable. Support from Historic England was a significant factor in this decision, the hospital having been on the Buildings at Risk register.

Rivercourt LTN council information

In the six months since the temporary Rivercourt Road LTN was put in place, we’ve received messages nearly every week – vanishingly few positive – and it’s still regularly our most read article on the website.  Messages fall into the following categories, with more than one correspondent questioning legality:

• Implementation problems:
  • I’ve received a fine, I don’t know why.
  • The signage / wording is poor – I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to go down there.
  • I paid for a visitor by RingGo who still got fined.
  • I witnessed someone reversing into the A4 – the ‘turning circle’ is dangerous – or – I witnessed an accident caused by someone slowing down/stopping to read the signs and being hit from behind, creating a multi-vehicle shunt – example images below.
• The LTN is damaging my business, I’m leaving the borough.

Rivercourt crash front

Rivercourt crash rear-end

The “local access only” wording and cacophony of messy signage is considered deceptive by many correspondents – this and many of the other are points were raised in our original article.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that when challenged on a PCN fine, the council may back down, rather than attend a tribunal, however there’s rather more to this story, when considered in the light of the recent High Court case.

JULY 2025 UPDATE Based on the council’s publicity, residents may have believed that they could allow visitors, quote: “Local residents can also easily get access for the visitors by using the RingGo app, which has proved widely successful in residential areas throughout the borough…” The words throughout the borough are misleading and only part of the story. In fact only residents in certain streets extremely close to Rivercourt Road can provide access for their visitors. LBHF now says (but doesn’t yet publicise the details): Cromwell Avenue, Weltje Road, Beavor Lane, Vencourt Place, Ravenscourt Park, (only some properties: from junction of King Street to the train bridge) and Ravenscourt Road (only part from junction of King Street to the train bridge).  A number of residents have written to us, detailing problems they’ve had with the Ringo system which was supposed to have been upgraded five years ago to properly support LTN access, but still has senior moments.  Caveat emptor.

The West Dulwich case

Last month, the legality of the way in which an LTN was implemented by Lambeth Council in West Dulwich was tested in the High Court, and found to be unlawful.  It wasn’t the legalities of the LTN itself, but the poor way in which consultation was carried out, and the way in which the council failed to take due consideration of well researched and detailed evidence provided by local people in a 53-page submission.