9 thoughts on “Award Winners 2025”

1. Carolyn Gilder says:

   27th August 2025 at 16:50

   The Hammersmith Belle must be the clear winner for the wooden spoon it is so out of keeping with the Hammersmith we all want to live in. If the trees at the front do not have consent, what about the complete over-development of the garden with numerous beach huts, huge darts inside shed area, outside pergola with massive screen, removal of trees and mass of paving covering what was a grassed area. This is no pub garden but an extended event space for, according to their website, 300 people. LBHF need to urgently review whether planning controls have been breached, local noise control is in place and safety. I wholeheartedly support the Society’s nomination.

2. Christopher Johnson says:

   27th August 2025 at 17:02

   I can’t think of a more worthy nominee for the Wooden Spoon. The former Hampshire Hog building stood proudly on this stretch of King Street. Sadly the development of the Hammersmith Belle is gaudy, excessive, out of character and lowers the tone of the area. Hoarding and artificial trees with lights on the pavement and the massive over development of the back garden might suit Las Vegas but they detract from Ravenscourt. Frankly, it is amazing that LBHF’s planners have not tackled this development.

   I vote wholeheartedly for the Hammersmith Belle to be awarded the Wooden Spoon and encourage everyone else to do the same.

3. Victoria Eccles says:

   1st February 2026 at 20:17

   The Uxbridge Rd deserves to be the clear winner for the Wooden Spoon award. Over 3,000 people signed the petition to Fix the Uxbridge Rd, and to reverse the neglect it has suffered for years, at the expense of other part of the borough. So many issues need to be addressed eg shops being carved up into two or more units, poor quality shopfronts with hand painted signs or plastic banners, illegal parking, crime and ASB, a proliferation of unregulated A boards and fruit and veg or plastic goods on the pavement. Uxbridge Rd has a lot of great architecture and a huge amount of potential to serve residents, and its time this was realised, as a matter of urgency.

4. Alessio Tomasino says:

   1st February 2026 at 20:48

   The nomination for a Wooden Spoon is as well-deserved as it is disheartening. While Uxbridge Road should be a vibrant gateway to Shepherd’s Bush, it has instead become a textbook example of urban entropy and planning inertia.
   ​Here is a summary of why this nomination stands as a necessary “wake-up call” for the borough:
   ​1. The Erosion of Character (Retail Frontages)
   ​The “race to the bottom” regarding shopfronts is perhaps the most visible failure. The replacement of traditional, high-quality architectural features with inappropriate, low-grade retail frontages doesn’t just violate the Local Plan; it actively degrades the street’s identity. When enforcement falls by the wayside, the entire aesthetic fabric of the neighborhood unspools.
   ​2. Infrastructure as an Eyesore
   ​The railway bridge serves as a grim greeting to visitors. Its current state—caked in graffiti and general neglect—symbolizes a lack of basic civic pride. While TfL’s recent promise to repaint is a start, it’s a reactive measure for a problem that has been festering in plain sight for years.
   ​3. Systematic Neglect: Waste and Safety
   ​The “Wooden Spoon” is earned not just by looks, but by functionality. The persistent issues with waste management—specifically the mountains of uncollected commercial refuse—and the accompanying anti-social behavior suggest a breakdown in basic municipal maintenance.
   ​4. A Community at its Limit
   ​The fact that residents felt compelled to launch a “Fix the Uxbridge Road” petition proves that the status quo is no longer acceptable. This nomination isn’t just a critique; it’s an act of solidarity with a community that is tired of seeing its main thoroughfare treated as an afterthought.

5. Noor A says:

   2nd February 2026 at 15:43

   Uxbridge Road is the most worthy of the “wooden spoon” award. It has, unfortunately, been left to rot over the years until, having been tired of being ignored, I launched a “Fix Uxbridge Road: No More Neglect, No More Crime” petition which saw public support skyrocket for the petition and became one of the highest signed petitions the borough has ever seen. The issues include:

   (i) lack of enforcement on visual standards on the road allowing, for example, most shops on the road with spilling out goods making the road virtually inaccessible. This has garnered public support from the Royal National Institute for Blind People, stating “At best, the street feels like an obstacle course; at worst, it’s completely impassable…”

   (ii) lack of enforcement on the rules a conservation area has to abide by including the examples shown in the nomination by some of the retailers shown. For example, the use of solid black paint on the frontage is visually dominant and uncharacteristic of the surrounding historic streetscape, conflicting with LBHF guidance that discourages inappropriate modern colour schemes and materials. Goods obstruct the pavement, reducing pedestrian clearance and negatively affecting public amenity. In conservation areas, such obstructions are subject to stricter scrutiny due to their impact on setting and character, yet these remain in place. LBHF is legally required to pay special attention to preserving or enhancing conservation areas. The cumulative impact of the black frontage treatment and persistent pavement obstructions detracts from the character and appearance of the area, contrary to this statutory duty. Several residents flagged this and were ignored by the Council. It has also unfortunately encouraged neighbouring shops to also use similar visually dominant and uncharacteristic storefronts, presumably knowing LBHF are unlikely to enforce their own guidelines on them.

   It would mean a lot to me for Uxbridge Road to win this award and I encourage every person to nominate them – there are truly no worthier winners.
   (minor edits)

6. Natalie says:

   2nd February 2026 at 16:00

   I strongly support the nomination of the Uxbridge Road for the Wooden Spoon award. Not only is the street littered (pun intended) with aesthetic eye sores from gaudy and unprofessional signage, to scruffy A-boards and unlicensed street trading; the current set up presents health and safety and accessibility risks. Residents are organising to bring about changes to bring back pride to the locality, including the thousands who signed last year’s petition, and this award is not only deserved but could help draw the attention needed to drive this much-needed change.

7. Jaime Beauclerc says:

   2nd February 2026 at 17:08

   Out of the two, it’s the Uxbridge Road that should win the Wooden Spoon. At least the Hampshire Hog is trying, it has good intentions, even if they jar and seem out of place: it comes from a perspective of hope and ambition.

   The Uxbridge Road, by contract, looks like decay and desperation. There’s shop signs made of electrical insulating tape marking out the letters, or painted in an unsteady hand; tatty signs printed on cloth and nailed up, and now flapping about, sometimes several completely separate signs outside each shop. One place with a painted sign saying it’s a “Home Textile” shop sells nothing of the sort.

   Many of the cloth awnings are literally decaying – black mould streaks the torn fabric, stretched so water pools on the worn canvas.

   The road suffers greatly from the recent phenomenon where a standard retail shop is cut into a little warren of mini-marts, selling murky services that are either not advertised on the street at all, or with a proliferation of confusing temporary signs nailed up outside and a handful of ‘A’ boards cluttering up the pavement.

   When was the last time a new shop opened on the Uxbridge Road and it contributed positively to the street?

8. Kat Kost says:

   2nd February 2026 at 17:35

   I nominate Fix Uxbridge Road. Rather than functioning as a welcoming and vibrant gateway to Shepherd’s Bush, Uxbridge Road has come to embody a wider pattern of decline shaped by weak enforcement and prolonged planning inertia.

   This nomination should be regarded as a necessary wake-up call for the council. The gradual erosion of the street’s character, the poor condition of key infrastructure, and persistent shortcomings in basic maintenance have collectively undermined both its appearance and its role as a main thoroughfare. What should be a cohesive and distinctive urban environment has instead become fragmented and visually diminished.

   The consequences extend beyond appearance to everyday safety and livability. Ongoing problems with cleanliness, waste management, and ASB point to systemic neglect rather than isolated failings, contributing to a growing sense that the area has been allowed to deteriorate unchecked.

   Above all, the nomination reflects a community that has reached its limit. Residents have made clear that the status quo is no longer acceptable, and this initiative should be understood not simply as criticism, but as a collective demand for sustained attention and meaningful action.

9. Nigel Singh says:

   3rd February 2026 at 09:35

   Uxbridge Road is the perfect nomination for the Wooden Spoon. Thirty years of neglect by the LBHF council has allowed Uxbridge Road to decline to the point where there are no amenities for the local residents just row after row of fried chicken shops, betting shops, mobile phone repair shops and money exchange shops. Uxbridge Road now attracts crime and any social behaviour and residents have to leave the area to socialise.

Comments are closed.