July 2018 - Business Improvement District

New Parking Signage for Wimbledon town centre

31 July 2018

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed there have been some changes made to the parking signage in Wimbledon. Love Wimbledon audited all the street signs and then requested permission from Merton Council to update the key signs with local partner Design JD. This led to a tidying and consolidation of the signage removing clutter such as the signpost in the middle of the pavement outside Waterstones. We also replaced 6 gateway signs on major roads entering the town centre area all clearly identify the car parks which can be found in the town centre, with the amount of spaces for each. All orange stickers on the old signs, have now been eradicated.

Love Wimbledon led on this project with a financial contribution from Centre Court Shopping Centre to continue our efforts to make the town centre a better place for everyone.

Before

After

High Court Ruling: Wimbledon Police Station Closure is Unlawful

26 July 2018

Two judges said the decision to close the police station in Wimbledon, was unlawful and should be reconsidered on the grounds that residents were not properly consulted. Local Councillor and resident Paul Kohler has led the successful campaign through the High Court to challenge the original decision. The proposed sale of the station would realise £6.75 million and save £444,000 a year in running costs.

The Mayors Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) have responded to say that they will reconsider the closure of Wimbledon station in line with the judges’ ruling. We therefore expect there will be a fresh consultation about the potential police station closure.

Love Wimbledon has been lobbying against the planned closure and has written to Sophie Linden the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime raising significant concerns about the impact on policing in the town centre whilst also lobbying for a permanent police presence to remain in Wimbledon Town Centre from a business perspective. We will keep you updated with any developments.

Charity donations for unused food in Wimbledon

23 July 2018

Faith in Action Merton Homelessness Project teams up with Morrisons Wimbledon to help local homeless people AND reduce food waste.

The Faith in Action Homeless Drop-in in South Wimbledon, which has been helping homeless local people for more than 12 years, is delighted to have begun a partnership with Morrisons supermarket in Wimbledon. Drop-in volunteers are now collecting food that the store is unable, for various reasons, to sell to its customers, but which are still perfectly edible and nutritious.

The weekly collection began in June, and the Drop-in team is already putting the Morrisons donations to good use. Fresh products like bread, biscuits and cakes go straight onto that day’s menu, while non-perishables and tins go into storage ready to be given to needy local people visiting the Drop-in.

Drop-in manager, Andy Fairbairn, said “Our new partnership with Morrisons will make a positive difference to us by reducing our food expenditure, and if we can reduce food waste at the same time, then everybody wins. We’re really grateful to both Justin Hall, Morrisons Wimbledon store manager, who came up with the idea, and Love Wimbledon, who put Justin in touch with us.”

Morrisons General Manager, Justin Hall, said “As soon as I was appointed I approached Love Wimbledon to ask if they knew of any charities in the local area who would be interested in taking our food waste which is still edible. Kevin Gallagher, Love Wimbledon, put me in contact with Faith in Action who works with homeless and vulnerable people in the area. I went down to see the great work that they do and it was a pleasure to meet all the amazing volunteers. We have agreed that on a Wednesday they will take produce, such as; fruit, bread, tins and anything else that they need. I really look forward to building a strong partnership with this local charity and have offered my support to them throughout the year”.

The South Wimbledon-based Drop-in welcomes around 60-70 homeless and vulnerably-housed people in, and around, Merton each Wednesday and Friday. Homelessness is sadly on the increase in London, and our work is becoming even more important.

To find out more about Faith in Action, please visit www.mertonfaithinaction.org

Faith in Action Merton Homelessness Project

Contact: David Reeves, Communications & Fundraising Chair
Email: mertondropin@gmail.com
Mobile: 07702 638968

2018 Finalists in Time & Leisure’s Food and Culture Awards

20 July 2018

Wimbledon is the place for food & culture!

Congratulations to so many of our Wimbledon Town Centre businesses who have been shortlisted across the categories. Thank you to all who voted and see you at the Hurlingham Club where the winners will be announced.

BEST FAMILY FRIENDLY RESTAURANT

Al Forno, Kingston

Al Forno, New Malden

Maison St Cassien, Wimbledon

Mora Meza, Raynes Park

Roz Ana, Kingston

San Lorenzo, Wimbledon

Shambles Italian Restaurant, Teddington

The Fallow Deer, Teddington

The King’s Head, Teddington

Waterhouse Café, Kingswood

BEST COFFEE/TEA HOUSE

Bliss Coffee, Wimbledon

Bourbons Coffee Shop, Sutton

Coffee in the Wood, Colliers Wood

Elys Restaurant 3rd Floor, Wimbledon

Hallys, Parsons Green

Local Hero, Kingston

Pickled Pantry, Surbiton

Rosie Q’s, West Wimbledon

Saucer & Cup, Wimbledon Park

Wags n Tales, Surbiton

BEST SERVICE

Interview: Two Wimbledon Aces

20 July 2018

Jane Dancaster and Fiona Dunlop of Wimbledon School of English explain how they became the first school in the UK to achieve a perfect score in two British Council inspections in a row

Take one family-owned school in a leafy historic village just 20 minutes from central London, add a team of super-qualified teachers and a reputation for throwing great parties and you have the recipe for a great language school. Is it that simple? Not according to Jane Dancaster and Fiona Dunlop of Wimbledon School of English, and they should know.

Wimbledon was the first school in the UK to get a perfect score in its British Council inspection and now they have just become the first school to do it twice in a row. What is the secret? Train. Keep on training.

And plan down to the last tiny detail.

At Wimbledon School of English they prepare for an inspection with military precision, like the Household Cavalry preparing for a royal parade. I meet the two Wimbledon commanders for lunch. Jane, managing director of the school, combines a penchant for colourful clothes and an infectious sense of humour with one of the best business brains in EFL.

Principal Fiona is an educationalist to her Scottish finger tips and the very definition of doughty: ‘determined, brave and unwilling ever to stop trying to achieve something’.

A lunch with these two ladies is filled with laughter, but when it comes to inspections they are very serious indeed.

They do it by the book, the British Council handbook, the document that outlines in detail the hundred or so criteria that must be met at inspection.

The secret to getting a perfect score, Jane tells me, is to make sure you meet every single one. But in their most recent inspection, the book was slow in coming. A revision to the criteria was released in September but the updated handbook didn’t appear until December, barely two months before Wimbledon’s inspection.

“What I think is really good about the inspection process is that it gets the whole school working together as a team, all working to the same goal ”

‘We were only the second school to be inspected under the new criteria,’ says Jane. The detailed work began, the two pored over the handbook checking every single detail.

Then Jane produced her ‘list’. ‘I write down every single thing we need to do and who needs to do it. For example, Gvidas (the facilities co-ordinator) has to fix the bathroom mirror. Then I check that Gvidas has fixed the mirror.’ Fiona marshals the paperwork, aided by the invaluable Duncan, one of the academic managers and working with the admin staff on every policy, every record, every file. ‘I think inspections may be even tougher on the administrators than the teachers. They have to start on the process much earlier. They are working on it for longer.’

‘At this point in the process,’ admits Jane, ‘nobody likes us very much.’ ‘We irritate everyone,’ agrees Fiona. Which is where the training kicks in.

Continuous professional development (CPD) is the watchword at Wimbledon. Jane has championed it for years, campaigning to make it an essential element of the inspection.

And training is not just for teachers. Take accommodation manager Julie Ransley, previously a host parent for the school.

Now, she runs training seminars for other host families,’ says Jane.

With inspection looming, the admin team sprang into action under the aegis of director of operations Sandro Saviolo, who arrived as a student in 1983, ably assisted by registrar Barbara Goodson.

‘An inspector said to me,’ says Jane with a grin, ‘every school needs a Barbara’.

Director of studies Shanel Summers rallied the teachers. Formerly the school’s learning technologies manager, she also had to prepare to spend hours closeted with the inspectors.

‘You have to show them what you are doing,’ says Jane, ‘and then tell them why you are doing it.’ And then do it well. To get a perfect score, everybody has to do everything well.

‘What I think is really good about the inspection process,’ says Fiona, ‘is that it gets the whole school working together as a team, all working to the same goal. ’

‘I also think the British Council inspection is the best scheme in the industry,’ says Jane. ‘It really keeps you on your toes.’

But even the mighty Wimbledon team admit they cannot do it without support. Being a member of TEN, the association of top non-chain schools, is very helpful, says Jane.

But the most important ingredient is the support of the school’s owners.

‘We really couldn’t do this without the Housdon family,’ Jane says.

They support us in everything we do. ‘We are very lucky,’ says Fiona.

So how did Wimbledon School celebrate hard work and the luck that earned them their second perfect score? ‘We all partied the night away in the pub,’ Jane says. These two Wimbledon women may pride themselves in running a ‘serious, academic school with highly professional staff’… but they also really know how to throw a party.’

Image description — Wimbledon School of English team

As featured on http://digital.elgazette.com

Power Outages in Wimbledon Town Centre

17 July 2018

Over the last year a number of town centre businesses have suffered a number of power outages. They tend to be short in nature, (20 seconds – 2 minutes), but are, nevertheless, very disruptive and cause continuity issues and have affected quite a number of businesses in Wimbledon. We would like to thank you for providing this valuable information as it helped us to build a picture of what was happening.

Love Wimbledon raised these issues with UK Power Networks (UKPN) directly, when first notified by businesses and have since built a positive relationship with senior/area management at UKPN.

As a result UKPN have been very responsive and have worked with us to identify the problem and have now designed a solution to resolve these issues. The solution should be implemented by this Winter.

The work associated with implementing this solution has included; The demolition of a power substation in Pelham Road, and the building of a replacement, The laying of 1.4km of new cables from Lombard Road to the substation in Pelham Road.

Once this project is complete, Wimbledon businesses will see a significant reduction of these types of power outages, and improved power restoration if there is an outage within one minute, actioned remotely.

Please keep Love Wimbledon informed of any further power outages, so we can continue to liaise with UKPN on your behalf.

Love Wimbledon BID is here to lobby for your our businesses. Whilst you may consider these sorts of issues to be just an issue affecting you, they are often part of a larger issue which we can then lobby to resolve for the entire business community. This saves you time but also helps all business to be more effective and efficient. Give us the problem and we will work hard on your behalf for a resolution.

Wimbledon – one of the safest town centres in Greater London

16 July 2018

We are very pleased to announce that through a strong partnership approach, the World Cup and tennis have passed off with very few incidents in Wimbledon town centre.

With neighbouring towns reporting lots of issues, it is a testament to the pubs and clubs of Wimbledon that at a time when things could have got ‘out of hand’, they didn’t.

PC Russ Stevens – Merton Police Licensing Officer said, – ‘ The partnership of; Love Wimbledon, Licensed Premises, Merton Council CCTV, and the Police working together, has meant that the town centre has enjoyed a busy, but very safe past few weeks, particularly at a time when other town centres have seen a significant rise in crime and disorder related to the Football World Cup’

This follows on from a Christmas and New Year festive period, when recorded crimes registered an all time low in the town centre.

Wimbledon remains one of the safest town centres in London and we need to keep it that way. To assist in making this happen Love Wimbledon promotes the use of both Town Link Radio and Littoralis (anti-social behaviour secure information sharing system). Used together, these systems assist in reducing crime and facilitate joint working between the police, CCTV and the retail sector.

For more information on both systems, please visit our website, or contact Love Wimbledon at info@lovewimbledon.org or the Wimbledon police town centre team on wimbledontowncentre.SNT@met.police.uk

Wimbledon Leisure Centre & Spa Corporate Open Day 19-20 July

12 July 2018

Wimbledon Leisure Centre and Spa are inviting local businesses to use the centre for FREE on the Thursday 19th and Friday 20th of July.

The gym is open all day both days with the pool available from 6:30am both days – with women only sessions from 8 to 9am – and closing 10pm on Thursday and 9pm on Friday. There will be fitness challenges and prizes to be won throughout the day.

Enjoy access to the Thermal Spa for FREE during 11am – 2pm and 5pm – 8pm over both days, spaces must be booked in advance by telephone with the spa directly on 020 8540 9419 (limited spaces available so first come first serve).

To take up this offer all you need to do is turn up, Latimer Road SW19 1EW, quote how you’ve heard about the Love Wimbledon Corporate Open Day (either from Love Wimbledon, received a leaflet to your office, saw it on the website or on social media) and enjoy access to their facilities.

If you then wish to sign up, all you have to provide is proof of your local employment (a business card or your Privilege Card) to be eligible for a corporate discount membership. Show your Privilege Card and get a further £10 off your upfront cost.

Merton Best Business Announce 2018 Finalists

11 July 2018

We’re delighted to announce so many of our BID and town centre businesses are finalists in this years Merton Best Business Awards.

Many congratulations to all our amazing BID businesses, we wish you the very best of luck and we look forward to celebrating with you at the final awards ceremony at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The judges were absolutely delighted with the calibre of entries and the competition was certainly tough. It is a huge achievement to become a finalist and hope that many of you will be winners which will be announced at the Gala Dinner on Thursday 20 September at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Tickets are now available, to book please call Events & PR on 01908 542 720.

Best New Business

Fitness Space Wimbledon

Lewis & Co

Bear and Pine

CHARLOTTE LOVES

NYEAT

PE and C ltd

Swords Travel Ltd

The Hair Confidante

Best Service Excellence

ACCOTAX – Accountants & Tax Consultants

French Polishing And Finishing Ltd

KWSR & Co Chartered Accountants

Merton Centre for Independent Living

RyGas Ltd

SPS Joinery Ltd

Top Move Estate Agents

Wimbledon Babysitting Agency

Best Apprentice of The Year

Ibolya Gyero, Lu-Ma Café

Lukasz Sosgornik, The Alexandra

Jay Stonebridge, French Polishing And Finishing Ltd

Entrepreneur of the Year

Sahaj Kothari, Make In 3D

Sahaj Kothari, Ensere Digital

Leanna Barrett, Little Forest Folk

Karine Torr, Darling Magazine UK

Marjan Moosavi, Blue Wave Swim School

Ryan Osullivan, RyGas Ltd

Best Enterprising Business

Make In 3D

SANTORO Ltd.

Beyond the Barriers

Ensere Digital

Soora

Best in the Creative Sector

360 Ripple

SANTORO Ltd.

Baseless Fabric Theatre Ltd

Cherry Pie Music

Soora

Tony Murray Photography Ltd

The Extra Mile

The Alexandra

Inner Strength Consulting

Kew House Care Home

Kisiel Group

Pathway CTM

Sai Restaurant

Team Development

Eligo Recruitment

Best Business in Wimbledon Town Centre

Justin James Hotel / The Eveline Day Nursery School Ltd

The Alexandra

Employer of the Year

Finling Associates Ltd

Business Clan

White Light Ltd

Healthy Workplace

Harnham Group Ltd

Lu-Ma Cafe

Retail IT

Art Division Ltd

Blue Wave Swim School

Microbee Group Ltd

Best Business under 50 Employees

Art Division

Business Clan

David Benson Solicitors

Eligo Recruitment

Little Forest Folk

Best Business over 50 Employees

Harnham Group Ltd

Hallmark Care Homes

White Light Ltd

Best Customer Service

Quality Stitch

Alloway Timber

Bakou

Kew House Care Home

Merton ladies health & fitness

snapCleanSW19 t/a Sodaka Digital SEO Agency Limited

Willow Bough Tea Room

Wimbledon Babysitting Agency

Restaurant of the Year

Khanage Tandoori Kitchen

Lu-Ma Cafe

Polka Cafe

Latitude

Lime and Thyme

Sai Restaurant

The White Onion

Willow Bough Tea Room

Pub of the Year

Old Fields

The Leather Bottle Wimbledon

The Morden Brook

The Sultan

Merton Best Business Awards Finalists 2018

Creams British Luxury opens in Wimbledon

11 July 2018

A luxury tea room now in Wimbledon

Our latest business to open it’s doors is Creams British Luxury. Offering glamour and sophistication in the heart of our town centre you will find exquisitely smooth marble, crystal chandeliers and an ambience of nostalgia within their elegant and inviting interior. Indulge in French macarons, handmade chocolates, patisserie, traditional English cakes and afternoon teas, hot snacks, shakes, waffles, sundaes and ice-cream. They also offer an array of gift boxes and hampers, beautifully packages chocolates and macarons, teas and coffees, picnic baskets and gift vouchers.

Creams British Luxury invited local businesses to come along to a preview launch of the tea room, opened by the Mayor of Merton Councillor Mary Curtin which was a great opportunity to meet and greet fellow business owners and town centre employees. They enjoyed a glass of bubbly, fantastic selection of cakes, including a tower of macarons, and left with an exclusive goody bag.

Try for yourself the Creams experience and the art of afternoon tea. Creams British Luxury, 18 The Broadway, SW19 1RE. Telephone: 02089475320.