Forum Topic

Chiswick Mall floods

I hope this message finds you in good health.I am an A-level student and local resident, undertaking an investigation on the impact on local residents of flooding in Chiswick Mall. If you are a resident of Chiswick Mall, I would be very grateful if you could share your experience and opinions on the following:Hypothesis 1: Older local residents are more likely to be affected by floods in Chiswick MallHypothesis 2: Flooding in Chiswick Mall impacted property values negatively.Hypothesis 3: Flooding in Chiswick Mall street has negative impacts on the residents living conditions.All data that I collect will be kept anonymous and processed solely for private academic purposes.Thank you for your collaboration.Yours faithfully,

Jerome Smith ● 2029d7 Comments

I live nearby the Mall. I would say that the the first hypothesis is correct (reflects property prices and the fact that houses on the Mall are rarely put up for sale. Hypothesis 2 is irrelevant - there must be dozens of potential buyers for a Mall property (ask Riverside Homes). Hypothesis 3 also is irrelevant given flood defences created over many decades.

Robin Knight ● 2029d

1.  I think  older residents do have more  to worry about2.Flooding is part of the charm of Chiswick Mall  Prices are not  affected3 residents are all used to high tides  and they do not harm living conditions

george nissen ● 2025d

Hi Jerome,I have a rather more historical perspective for you here - I grew-up in south-east London (but now live in Chiswick) and back in the 1970's when I was a kid used to periodically come-up by car to visit my grandparents who lived in a flat in Eyot Gardens (so right off Chiswick Mall).I can well remember my father (who grew-up in the flat) calling my grandfather to check the status of the tides before we left, as a very high tide would necessitate him having to get to their flat via a slightly different route.However, both my sister and I absolutely loved visiting our grandparents there - we thought that the area was simply brilliant and actually saw the flooding as part of its charm - after-all, those floods had been a fact of life around there since well before even the oldest house on Chiswick Mall was ever built.Back in the day, the house prices in the area (excepting the very large houses on Chiswick Mall, presumably) were not super high, but that all changed back in the 1960's and 1970's when they got simply crazy - my grandparents, who relied entirely on their state pensions, could only afford to continue renting their flat in Eyot Gardens as they had a 'protected rent', set by Hammersmith and Fulham council.To summarise, everybody who lives in the vicinity of Chiswick Mall is well aware of the flooding, it was never seen as an issue by my grandparents (and presumably not for the older generation these days), no it doesn't impact on living conditions (pretty much the opposite, I would say) and it certainly doesn't seem to have much of a negative effect on house prices - I believe that one of the big houses on Chiswick Mall affected directly by this flooding once held the record for the highest house price achieved in Chiswick (and isn't that record currently held by another flood-affected house in Strand-on-the-Green)?Hope this helps - PM me if you need to know more.

David Noades ● 2024d

I am sure this could be explained better, but Chiswick Mall doesn't flood. Chiswick Mall is a flood plain that is designed for excess water at high tides. I am sure someone that knows the river better would know if since the Thames barrier it is just exceptional tides rather than every high tide when this area fills with water. Because tides are predictable it doesn’t really affect locals. Before the Thames Barrier some of the houses had to put screens in front of their doors to stop them from flooding at high tide, I am not sure if they still need to. Even when there is a high enough tide to make the road and footpath impassable it is only a short journey to get round it. It is normally non locals that get caught out by the rising tide. The houses on Chiswick Mall are the oldest and most sought after in Chiswick. The values are higher because they are next to the river, being next to the flood plain probably increases their value rather than decreases them. At a guess it is the insurers not the river that effects the value. If the houses cannot be insured the banks will not lend the money, if people cannot borrow the money the estate agents cannot sell the houses and so the prices fall. That is not something that is likely to happen to the houses on Chiswick Mall. If you want to look at somewhere local, Staines was badly affected by flooding a few years ago.

Colin Potter ● 2024d

Colin,You are right - this is mostly a matter of especially high tides - not flooding. It is a regular event and always has been.Since the Thames Barrier has been active, I don't believe that there has ever been a genuine 'flooding' event along Chiswick Mall - however, before that time, there must have been a few (although I can't remember any causing serious problems back in the 1970's, even before the barrier was working).

David Noades ● 2024d

Talking with someone from the PLA a few years back I was surprised to hear that the barrier is rarely closed to protect against flooding from the sea. Mostly it is (was?) closed at low tide to keep the tidal stretch above the barrier 'empty'. This is done in periods after prolonged or heavy rain upstream to let the tidal stretch absorb the excess upstream run-off without meeting seawater coming up on the rising tide - which would otherwise likely cause flooding upstream.

Ken Munn ● 2024d

"Chiswick Mall is a flood plain" Yes, that's true, and the flood wall consists of the houses and the connecting walls between them.  The screens and gates to protect the interiors of the houses are still there and in use, maintained by the Environment Agency (EA) as part of the flood defences.  The Thames Barrier is closed only when there is a risk of property flooding, so there are still many occasions when the road will be flooded.  Out of 706 high tides this year, 99 are predicted to cover the Chiswick Mall roadway by the brewery (4.1 metres AOD - Above Ordnance Datum).  The highest tides will cover the road with half a metre of water.The nearest we've come to a genuine property flood recently was on 10 May 2020, when EA thought it wasn't necessary to close the Barrier against a surge from the North Sea, but got their forecast slightly wrong.  I estimate that the resulting tide at Chiswick Mall and Strand on the Green reached 4.9 mAOD.  But EA claim there was no property flooding.Today's tides at Chiswick Mall:  thamestides.org.uk/todayc

Richard Jennings ● 2024d