Columbia Road Traders Sign Up For Chiswick Flower Market
Stalls all sold out a month ahead of launch
The team behing Chiswick Flower Market. Picture: Anna Kunst
The Chiswick Flower Market is already proving popular with stall holders who have snapped up the available slots for the first market on Sunday 6 September.
Some of well-established traders from Columbia Road and other markets are coming over, there will be specialist plant growers, florists, and innovative new businesses. A wide selection of flowers, plants, house plants, bedding, grasses, succulents, speciality offers and bouquets is promised.
Steve Burridge, a long-time Columbia Road trader, said, “Although it’s a gamble leaving my stall in Columbia Road on a Sunday, I have a lot of confidence about it. It’s the right area and I’m looking forward to a change of scene, a fresh start. It’s going to be a busy one!”
The market is being set up by a team of local residents, all working pro bono, who have set up a CIC (Community Interest Company). Any eventual profits will go back into the High Road. Their hope is that the market kick-starts a revival of Chiswick High Road. New businesses and start-ups will be able test their offering in an 'innovation area.'
The organisers say that this will be the first new flower market to be created in London for 150 years and their ambition is for it to rival Columbia Road. It will take place on Chiswick High Road, outside the police station, between Devonshire Road and Linden Gardens on the first Sunday of each month.
The idea was initially conceived by Ollie Saunders, a chartered surveyor who has spent a lot of time thinking about how to improve the High Road. Karen Liebreich, director of Abundance and one of the creators of the Chiswick Timeline mural and the piazza area on Turnham Green Terrace, has been working with Mr Saunders to make the proposal a reality. Bridget Osborne, editor of the Chiswick Calendar and Club Card scheme, is the third director of the CIC. Other members of the team include an experienced finance director, Kathleen Mitra, surveyor Steve Nutt who has worked with Abundance on the piazza and W4th Plinth projects, and Amanda Parker, whose family have owned shops in Chiswick for many years and who is a familiar sight helping with Abundance projects. Behind the scenes Mark Wardell provides the website, Michael Robinson offers IT support, Ekaterina Harwood is working on the look and feel of the market, Victoria Bailey-King is sorting out the admin, Darren Moore and Jeremy Day are responsible for the cargo bike delivery option, Hannah Winter-Levy is on instagram, Dawn Wilson and Angus Warren are on design, Jim Richards has just joined as legal adviser.
Numerous local businesses have been helping with the set up. Outstanding amongst many are Snappy Snaps who are providing pro bono print services, and Fastsigns for banners.
The team wants to see residents and visitors from all over London coming to check out the new market and then staying on to enjoy all the other things that Chiswick has to offer.
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August 9, 2020