Forum Topic

Riverside behind watermans

Hi does anyone know the story behind that awful stretch of river behind the watermans. Huge rotting hulls of boats and barges. Even the section of wooden walkway is cordoned off and rotting. It really is an eyesore, and i'm wondering how it was allowed to happen.

Stephen Gould ● 1520d22 Comments

Agree with every word, Raymond. Spot on.

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 1499d

Agree with you completely Raymond. The Acton Lodge development of which Guy is so proud looks like a large public lavatory. Good to have social housing but good design costs no more than bad design.

Chris Dakers ● 1500d

If this area was in Hoxton or Hackneys Canalside, or even Birminghams Canal side - all very similar,  it would by now be world renowned as the benchmark with scope for reinvention, rejuvenation. restoration and regeneration.These are words and methods completely lost on this Borough. In fact this Borough has never understood or valued what it had, could do or achieve.Terrible architecture, design and poor quality permeates through it's existence, with no more than a few blips.  The money wasted extraordinary, the decisions taken poorly understood and executed.Even Regeneration is interpreted as redevelopment and amenities messed with to suit developers, associates, and trendy marketing and not actual local people and future local people.Small industry, low volume employers and artisan business have been all but forced out of Brentford, Chiswick and Ealing and nothing but hot air has been done to reverse that.  Making it harder to get to and travel to work is becoming a factor to up sticks now for larger employers as well as the small.Huge increases in the wrong kind of housing, poor infrastructure from Transport to amenities and health and education way overstretched, coupled with no proper income career jobs or a range of occupations and skilled jobs.When the achievements of a director of Regeneration are rewarded with a golden goodbye and a top salary job with a developer and the net regeneration results in a negative for quality employment, there's something really wrong.Yet this ilk of 'Directors' continue to be feted by local authorities without question.Dave Wetzel touched on the emphasis always been on land value and playing into the hands of developers. Thats been encouraged rather than resisted.Much of this neglect, disintegration has been engineered and allowed to happen.Far too much secrecy and back door deals - Cannes and what goes on there is a classic example. The clear 'We know best' and ignoring of local opinion on Gunnersburys Bowls Club another. So it's big and small but the scheming remains the same.Brentford - and other bits of this borough will remain sacrificial lambs and continue to be destroyed as long as this oversized and polarised borough and it's insane political gaming exists.It's not unique to LBH Ealing is no better but it does not make it OK.

Raymond Havelock ● 1500d

I agree Philippa. The whole of the high street and surrounding area was left to slowly decompose,ditto the Commerce Rd workshops and units, so that when a developer came along anything offered up would be an improvement,rather than having an on going refurbishment and development plan that tries to keep more of the area's character.As regards development and investment,Brentford is a prime example of the 'famine or feast' school of thought.

Keith Iddon ● 1501d

Calling it an eyesore is a matter of opinion and not one that everyone agrees with. Me for one ... to many it is the thing a painted picture is made of and we are lucky to have it in real life, it has a beauty and a spirit and is brimming with wildlife. Please God these quirky and picturesque things which bring character and spirit to an area that is fast becoming soulless and baron are not removed for yet more ugly, impersonal constructions or bare spaces that have already destroyed most of the natural beauty and individuality of an area. It may not be shiny but it is beautiful ... the only negative thing about those boats is that they are a painful reminder of those who have lost their homes along the river where there was once a happy thriving community. We have some in our midst intent on wiping out the last vestige of tradition, spirit and beauty that remains in this area. There are other places in London that provide that for anyone who wants to live there - leave the beauty of Brentford alone.

Philippa Egan ● 1501d

There is an article about all of this by Jim Storrar of this parish in this year's Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal. It's with the printers right now.

Mike Paterson ● 1512d

Get the feeling that some people thought that boat dwelling would be a cheap way of living, but of course it's not.Keeping all that water and weather out can be like throwing money down a hole.

Stephen Gould ● 1512d

Thanks for that information Guy..very interesting. May that's why it's within the Surrey Boundary. Lot's Ait must have a history too.In recent times. .during one of the Thames 21 clear up sessions (of the muddy forshore)..Sarah Felstead's son and I explored that Ait. ..stepping through the most digusting mud ever! and we found on that Ait evidence of a den for stripping down stolen bicycles. Some scalleywags were seemingly stealing bikes...and taking them to the Ait at low tide.Selling the broken down parts on to other scalleywags!We passed to the Police some 20 frame numbers..but they said they had no time to match the frame numbers with reports of stolen bikes.The only Lots on that Ait ...was a lots of nicking!

Jim Lawes ● 1513d

Brentford Ait back in the 18th Century apparently was inhabited, and had a pub called the Three Swans "famous for dressing pitchcooked eels and stewing the same fish." It then seems to have developed into something of a bawdy-house and in 1812 was bought by a burgher of Kew Green who bought the island, demolished the pub and filled in the fish pond. http://www.panoramaofthethames.com/1829/guide/site-of-the-three-swans

Guy Lambert ● 1514d

Sitting at the bus stop in the High Street opposite the Ballymore development. .. one could observe a "thousand acres of sky"The towering cranes suggest however that that panoramic view won't be there for long.

Jim Lawes ● 1514d

Maps show that the long Ait...the Brentford Ait is in fact located in Surrey.Lot's Ait on the other hand is located in "Middlesex".

Jim Lawes ● 1514d

Goes back to when the river was dredged daily to allow navigation to the docks

Raymond Havelock ● 1514d

Research reveals that the island is in fact an Ait but ,”Covered with willows, planted to obscure the Brentford gasworks from the view of Kew Gardens. “

David R Rowlands ● 1514d

Isn't that island a natural feature - an ait like any other?

Anne England ● 1514d

The gasworks quay wasn’t very beautiful either . Apparently this was why an island was created in the river  to shield the view from Kew Gardens .

David R Rowlands ● 1515d

It was two or three deep in places. I suppose some of the better ones were removed by their owners but most were pretty decrepit.

Guy Lambert ● 1517d

Thanks for the info. Surprised to hear what Guy said, 'most have gone now' Cant imagine what it must have looked like before. It's pretty disgusting isn't it.

Stephen Gould ● 1517d

The river was lines with Houseboats from Teddington/Kingston all along to Wandsworth. With a few gaps. There were dozens at Hammersmith, many at Brentford albeit not at Watermans which was a gasworks Quay. Te Houseboats were relocated by the PLA several times to suit real estate developments.The reduce the viability of Houseboats many service access points were deliberately removed, built over or restricted.  Seems odd but Houseboats could have offered a genuine housing alternative and a lot more living space than much of what is been passed off as affordable homes on land.

Raymond Havelock ● 1518d

Goodness knows how it was 'allowed' to happen. I do know that there were legal wrangles over getting the boats to leave over who owned the riverbed, I think. The trouble more than partly was that when boat dwellers did leave, they very much more often than not left their rotting hulks behind for somebody else to clean up. When I first arrived in Brentford near enough 40 years ago there were no boats along that stretch - my budget at the time stretched to going to Waterman's Park or to the canal on a Sunday to feed the ducks so I can attest to that. I thought the first few boats characterful and then it just turned into a total mess with the self-proclaimed 'responsible' boat owners taking over. Not only were the vast majority of boats unsightly, they were largely un-seaworthy. At one time there was a boat there which saw fit to have a generator chugging away near enough 24/7 which ruined any peace in the vicinity. I also on a few occasions saw that a car had been driven into the park to deliver whatever and on one occasion (I have photos) one of the boat dwellers was swinging an axe and chopping wood on the public pathway. I am glad the 'community' has gone and that the wrecks are being cleared. Whether or not I would choose for a marina to be there is perhaps another matter but it surely has to be better than the tip that part of the riverside had become, however it was 'allowed' to happen.

Anne England ● 1519d

thanks for the update Guy, and I look forward to seeing this part of the riverside coming back to life hurrah

Emma Renton ● 1519d

This doesn't quite answer the 'how was it allowed to happen' question.  How, over so many years, were the 'riverside' parts of Brentford allowed to became so derelict and abandoned, with nothing done or allowed to be done to change it until the huge redevelopment we have now. Did no one ever ask to build a nice home in one of the old factory buildings, or a marina in the docks, or was it never allowed? Was everyone happy to just sit on things as they were until a big developer came along with a big scheme and a big enough wallet? And even then, various interests tried to stop them, as if they preferred that part Brentford to stay as the historic tip it had become.

Peter Evans ● 1520d

It's a long story Stephen. The current situation is that the wrecks are gradually being dismantled or towed away and a marina will be created along the river edge of the park. Progress has been seriously delayed, firstly by interminable legal actions, then by the pandemic, now by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge (which inhibits removal of wrecks) but most have now gone and the contractors should start work on the river bed shortly.The boardwalk was planned to be removed  and replaced with a reed bed, but the Friends group (and councillors) have asked for it to be restored and retained. There is also a landscape architect engaged to improve the look of the park and the facilities in the childrens' playground, informed by consultation with the local primary schools. By the end of this year, backstop date end March 2022 we should have a restored and improved park with a residential marina adjoining

Guy Lambert ● 1520d