Rebuilding a mid-terrace house

I knew that the rebuilding of this modest property in Upper Ham Road was going to be a big job but I did not expect it to be this big. The old house has gone completely, even the front wall that I presumed would be kept.

Peering through the letter box shows that none of the former house remains. It also shows that a basement is being carved out at the back.

I do not understand the economics of doing so much to such a small sight and I am looking forward to seeing what sort of building rises to fill the space.

Update: I have been told that this property, which is in a Conservation Area and is listed as a building of Townscape Merit, has been demolished without permission. I've had a look at the LBRuT website and all I can see is an application to convert the property, nothing about demolishing it. If it has been demolished without permission then somebody should go to jail for it.

More a rebuild that a refresh

The conversion of the two properties at the start of Upper Ham Road back into cottages is clearly a massive job. There is nothing left of the ground floor of this section and the boarding across the rest of the ground floor and part of the upper floor suggests that there are substantial works on the rest of the building. It will be interesting to see what the finished result looks like.

Converting shops to cottages

The shops at the North-West end of Ham Parade have featured several times in the years that I have been recording changes in the area because the shops there have always struggled due to their being somewhat separated from the other shops and getting far fewer passers-by as a result.

Now the owner of the properties has conceded defeat that the two shops are becoming two cottages, which I presume is an euphemism for small houses.

Three empty shops on Ham Parade

One of the reasons that I started this blog in 2007 was to capture the changes being made locally that usually went unremarked. A shop on Ham Parade would change and quickly the new shop became part of the scene and the old one was quickly forgotten.

In that time we have lost many shops including Barclays, Giftbox, New Mandarin, Beauty by Honey, Expertravel, Chic O'Pick, R. Tucker, Carpet Library, HSBC, Wine Rack and Mia Wood.

The first empty shop is at the far end of the Parade, close to the Common. This has changed hands more often than any other on the Parade, probably because of its separation from the main shops and the board advertising it says that permission has been granted to turn it into cottages. That may be for the best.

The second shop was an antique, or bric-a-brac, shop and because of that I only ever went to it once and then I did not buy anything. It was never a shop that looked busy and I was surprised that it survived so long. That said, I had nothing against Glencorse and I would much rather have an unusual shop like that on the parade than, for example, another estate agents or betting shop.

The final shop to close, Ham Fruiterers, is the one that I already miss the most. I went there on average once a day and it was my most important shop on the Parade. I got on well with all the people there too.

Ham Parade has been through a lot of change in recent years with the promise of more to come. When the new shops come, and I hope they come quickly, I will be there to record them.

Back in Black

Last October I complimented Vintage Wedding Dresses on their unusual grey and pink colouring, now it has changed. Not only has the two-tone woodwork gone but the white brickwork on the ground floor has gone too.

The new colour scheme is less quirky than the old one and is probably more in keeping with the traditional nature of the shop.

Vintage Wedding Dresses has arrived

The lone shop at the top end of Ham Parade has now been taken over by Vintage Wedding Dresses. In an attempt to improve its visibility the shop has gone for an unusual split pink/grey colour scheme with the two colours clashing down the centre of the door. I like it and I hope that it works for them.

Vintage wedding dresses coming soon

This shop changes hands more often than any other on Ham Parade and while it is sad to see a shop go it is also heartening that another one is ready to take its place. Vintage wedding dresses looks like a good idea to me as they are high value, low turnover and so do not rely on passing trade to the same extent that a lot of shops do.

Chic O'Pick is closing down

This shop unit at the north-west end of Ham Parade has always struggled and it changes hands far more often than any of the others. Chic O'Pick has been there since October 2010 but now it too is going to close. It's a shame but I suspect that the location, lacking the regular footfall of the main part of the parade, will always be a problem.

Chic O'Pick

It has taken a while to refit the shop on Upper Ham Road but Chic O'Pick has now arrived. I was a little bemused just before it opened as all we had was the new name and the discrete windows which suggested, to my perverted mind, a house of ill repute.

But my suspicions were unfounded and Chic O'Pick in a delightfully upmarket shop selling ladies outfits and accessories thus filling the gap formed when a similar shop in the opposite corner of the parade closed a few years ago.

Changes in Upper Ham Road

I have mentioned before that these shops off Ham Common tend to change use fairly regularly and now some hefty refurbishment is being done. I was planning to wait for the work to complete before posting a picture but it has looked much like this for the last month or so and I've given up waiting. You will just have to guess what the finished result will look like and wait a little longer to see if you are right.

Little shops on Upper Ham Road

These two small shops on Upper Ham Road are a little way to the north of Ham Parade, just south of Ham Common on the west side of the road. Because they are away from the main shopping centre they are not that busy and tend to change hands more frequently than the other shops.