Leigh St loss

Sad to see the closure of Milners barbers on Leigh St. Northern Soul shuffling and Crystal Palace fan, Paul Milner brought the business to our area in 2012 having been in Camden Town for many years. Big rent increases forcved him out of that location and the same has done the trouble here. Paul said “The reason I moved was a 40% increase in rent demand.” We wish him well and are glad he has found a new base at Giovanni’s on Upper St. We will see what type of business thinks it can afford the latest cost of doing business in Leigh St. The shop – owned by a lawyer in Australia the MA understands – has now been empty for three months.

Milner’s closure came to us alng with news that AJ stationers on the corner of Leigh and Judd is also to close up shop – but not the busnioess, which is instead looking for a new location.

Cartwright Update

With the demolition of the old halls now complete, the construction of the frame for the new building is rapidly proceeding. The noise levels are certainly less, but residents still have to put up with continuous hammering all day long on Monday to Friday and, more disturbing for many, Saturday mornings.

The northern town house adjacent to Hughes Parry Halls on Sandwich Street is at its top level, giving an idea of the scale of the eventual building (see photo). Between now and the end of the year cladding on the exterior of the building will be put in place. This arrives on big HGV lorries, that have to use Leigh Street rather than Bidborough St as they can’t turn round in Cartwright Gardens. At the busiest periods there will be 8 – 10 of these trucks every day.

The good news is that the project is currently on schedule and due for completion on 14th September 2016. Meanwhile, works to the Gardens begin from 14th September and will continue for a year. The gardens will be closed for the whole of this year including the tennis courts. The footpath through the gardens, though, will be maintained throughout.

One issue to watch is the plans for traffic flow on Cartwright Gardens after the completion of the scheme. This is a matter for Camden Council transport, rather than the University of London, but at the moment it seems unclear what Camden’s plans are. This could have important consequences that have yet to be thought through – on the arrival of coaches dropping off students during the summer for example. UPP is still insisting that the new building will not be used as a conference venue, and so it will not have a big impact on local traffic, aside from the arrival of students at the beginning of terms and for summer courses.

The Liaison group – including Marchmont Association members Gareth Maeer and Nigel Kemp – will come back to this over the autumn.

Additional Info:

http://www.cartwrightgardens-clg.com/

5B45

…. or five pounds before 5pm. That’s the deal bering offered by the Bertha Doc House at the Curzon Bllomsbury.

The Bertha Doc House is a centre for the exclusive screening of documentary films – the only one of its kind in London and is a creation of the Bertha Fopundation, which spent thirteen years championing documentaries in the form of a year-round documentary film festival and now has its first permanent home on our doorstep. It aims to promote the very best independent, international documentary at all levels – in the cinema, online, via social networks and in collaboration with international broadcasters,develop new audiences; and to encourage further impact for the films we showcase andsupport and nurture new generations of independent documentary film makers.

First posting

This is a new site, that we’ll use to give more regular updates on the work of the Marchmont Assoication and the news we discover through the work we do. You can reach it through the existing Marchmont Association web-page which is the place to go for details of our current projects, partners, events as well as info on local shops and services.