Finding an Angel on Wallis House and the Gillette Building's Cherubs
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert
June 12, 2025
Moseyed down to the Steam Museum as planned for the history lecture from Rob Casey.
Always a pleasure to visit our local museums and Water and Steam is my personal favourite. I'm not going to go into the details because I forgot a lot of them (!) but I remember that the Brentford water works had a strong connection to the water works in Chelsea.
This was a nice coincidence, because on Friday I had a serendipity day. I had picked up the booklet about the London Festival of Architecture and decided the second nearest and most interesting entry apart from the Great West Road was Fitzrovia. A part of London I had heard of and vaguely knew about it but had not explored so I ventured onto the Northern line to Warren Street.
To be brutally honest, I found Fitzrovia rather underwhelming, though Fitzroy Square is imposing though full of blue plaques celebrating people from several hundred years ago I had never heard of. Makes me think the Blue Plaque society (whomever they really are) are a bit too elitist and ancient in flavour.
I wandered around for some time and ended up in Euston. I used to know it well but it has got a lot more horrible apart from a wildflowers bit near the Euston Road. After a short rest I decided to go home but as it happened the first Northern line train was heading for Battersea Power Station. I had not clocked that there was any such station and I realised I had never been there so I followed serendipity and there I was.
Didn't do much for me though a sight of the river balms my soul. Guess what, across the river there was a tall chimney I had not really noticed
The cogs of my mind began turning (slowly as ever) and I thought "I wonder if that's the Chelsea water works I was hearing about yesterday?" Well, shiver my timbers, it is, though it looks rather neglected - not sure what it does now, if anything, and nothing on the World Wide Web I can find helps me. But it actually looks an interesting place with what's left of the Grosvenor Canal (those Grosvenors get everywhere) still there. On my Teacup List. Blimey, I had a look at Grosvenors. They were big where I grew up and it turned out that Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, went to Mostyn House School. When I was slightly younger (and about 25 years before the Duke was born) I used to play rugby, cricket and football against our local rival, Mostyn House School aka as The Mozzies. I knew I am really an aristocrat.
On Saturday I was back on the Great West Road for a meeting at JC Decaux's wonderful office, once the site of Curry's head office. I have been there a few times over the years and I wish every building had been restored in such a way. This was a meeting as part of the Golden Mile and GWR centenary celebration and was run mainly by people (most of whom were new to me) from the redevelopment team at the council. I was the only councillor who turned out for this but there were many residents from the local area, including some from Chiswick and Osterley. We were talking about the GWR and the ambitions we have for it, and its current shortcomings. The GWR, especially where the M4 is overhead, is a hideous barrier between Brentford N and S of it. The M4 means that the efforts I and others make to improve the environment are frustrated by the general filth, constant road works and the fact that nothing apart from weeds can grow in much of the area. One of the questions was about what we would like the GWR to look like in 100 years. My answer was that it should be underground. We can dream, but those who pay attention may remember there was a proposal to bury the M4 between Junction 3 and Junction 2. But that was the beloved Department for Transport who had the wheeze of making the elevated M4 being made one way westbound, and a 4 lane tunnel to take the Eastbound. Pretty bonkers, especially when it came to where these 4 lanes would emerge: Carville Park North, so they could then filter into the single lane up the ramp to the elevated area. Of course, that bit was not DfT's problem, because from there on it was TfL's problem! Would have been fun in the tunnel with 5 mile long queues fuming out the tunnel!
On Sunday morning it was our 'all Brentford' surgery. Brentford East have decided to make different arrangements and just as last month only Katherine Dunne and I turned up. But no residents so we could discuss how to put the world to rights, helped by a couple of Brentford Voice directors who were busy preparing stuff for the Canal Festival (make sure it is in your diaries for 21st June - it will be massive and great fun all round!)
In the afternoon I was off to Kew Bridge to join James Marshall's Golden Mile ride. I had helped (or not!) him on the rehearsal so a lot of it was familiar. There were a couple of things I had never noticed: This angel up high on what I think of as Beechams but is I think Wallis House .
And these cherubs outside Gillette.
The very smart bicycle is nothing to do with Gillette and apparently the cherubs were a later addition, having been bought from an auction of the assets of a defunct gentlemen's club. The Heras fences are not original either.
Monday was health and recreation - dentist (nothing to report), cycle ride to Putney bridge (nice), doctor (I'll live for the time being). In the evening a very rapid-speaking lecture over Teams from a PC who advised us on how to keep safe. It might have been a bit ungracious of me to remark that when somebody threatened to shoot me and Katherine Dunne, the message that was given to the world that the perpetrator (who was really a blowhard) had apologised to us was untrue. He never carried out the threat, at least not yet and that was about 5 years ago. I rely on Brentford being a peaceful place, unless if the problem is about parking, obviously.
On Wednesday I had a message from someone's sister that her brother was traumatised. He came home from work to his flat in Windmill Road to find firemen everywhere and his flat totalled by a fire that started in the garden. He and sister had tried to get some sense out of his landlord Shepherds Bush Housing Association and could not get anyone to take the call. I alerted housing management in the council and the response was instant and I hear today that he has been temporarily rehoused. His flat is uninhabitable as you can see.
There will be plenty to do on this but at least we have a start and I was really grateful for the rapid work from the council. A nightmare slowly being recovered I hope.
I went up to the Potting Shed for a presentation by Hadley, the developers who are redeveloping the GSK site. It will have a number of buildings, some of them higher than people will like.
Meanwhile, Michael Milne who lives locally in Ealing and was present yesterday as well as at the Brentford Festival last year has a good story on the Hadley website.
Personally I am fairly content with what they are proposing, but there are a lot of ambitions I have which I am sharing with them. Mainly it is about access to/from their site when developed because the downside of GSK was that it was really a separate town within Brentford - impenetrable to locals and having no encouragement for people working there to enjoy or even visit Brentford with that A4 barrier in place. They are still working up proposals and are looking to go to planning in the summer. I doubt much will happen on site until next year at earliest, but I hear they have a major meanwhile tenant in the entertainment industry. Better not mention who, though no doubt someone in the council will spill the beans as is their wont (but usually not to ward councillors, obviously)
Thinking of this, the demolition at Charlton House (etc) has commenced with demolishers on site. Whilst I knew it was coming sometime, I assumed it would be delayed like everything else at that site, but one of the neighbours wrote to me yesterday saying they had started without warning anybody. The demolishers and the council claim that a lot of neighbours have been informed so I have asked a few in the immediate area had they seen anything. There is concern about asbestos, with the council saying there is only some in the shops and neighbours saying the demolishers are saying there is asbestos in most of the flats. Of course, there are strict rules about asbestos, but the different stories do not generate faith. At least I have had an apology (appreciated) for not telling ward councillors but this happens all the time I'm afraid, these days. Another one that will run and run because neighbours need to be reassured or different arrangements being made.
Another local piece of news is that Brentford Today and TV Facebook has been permanently suspended by Facebook. Or not, because they are not telling the editor, John Dale who says Facebook say "Cybersecurity” - That’s all. But they don’t say in what way or what I can do. Supposed to have given a decision in a day approx. Now two weeks. A speck of dust in the palm of a giant."
I have had my disagreements with John but he provided a valued and lively local news service and I am not the only one who is missing it. BrentfordTW8.com fill some of the space and is greatly valued but not having Brentford TV is a loss to democracy.
Oh, again: Lidl, my corner shop!
Having been tracking our new shop with the landlord before the new tenant was even allowed to be mentioned in public, I was not invited to (or informed of) the opening of the shop. Good job I subscribe to The Chiswick Calendar who carried the announcement in the absence of Brentford media! This was carried out by the mayor with two members of the cabinet (one of whom at least is a dedicated councillor in Brentford and a represents the neighbouring ward) and my rarely seen ward partner Emma in attendance. I was not invited, which I find pretty annoying. I have been in 5 times since to shop which is probably 5 times more than any other councillor. Anyway, delighted to have a choice in my town and they were doing a roaring trade after the opening. No doubt there will be hot competition from Morrisons and all the smaller shops in Brentford. They all deserve to prosper.
Councillor Guy Lambert
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