What’s Happening

The Streets Card

We met Nesse Cannon, Fulham resident and founder of Barrefly London, in the early days of Urban Village LDN because like us she’s a huge lover of the Fulham area after landing here from Miami nearly 20 years ago. Nesse got in touch to tell us that after setting up her boutique barre studio in 2021 “she’s at it again” and starting another venture. The Streets Card is a shop local, shop small, business programme created to keep our neighbourhood as diverse, lively, independent and as vibrant as possible. Of course we wanted to hear more.

Nesse told us “Parsons Green is my favourite place and I hope this scheme will encourage people who live, work, and play in Fulham, to also shop here, go to beauty salons, local fitness spaces etc. The subscription fee for residents is less than a tenner but the programme is 100% free for businesses to take part. We do all the promotion and all local, independent, small businesses (maximum three locations in London) have to do is offer some kind of special incentive to The Streets Card subscriber. This could be anything from a discount on products, to a special day of promotion, a free coffee, cocktail, literally any incentive the business fancies we will promote it!”.

First up is Parsons Green and after that Nesses has plans to take the scheme to Putney, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and beyond. Some of the Fulham businesses taking part include: Barrefly London (course!) who are offering 10% off their “25 sesh” class packs, Gifts on the Green (10% off when you spend over £10) and Le Wag (10% off all in store purchases) and more with others being added before the scheme officially launches on 1 October. Nesse is taking a stand at the Parsons Green Dog Show on Sat 9 (see our “What’s On” page) so you can talk to her more about the scheme then. If you’re a resident who’d like to sign up or a local business who’d like to join and offer an incentive to locals hit the button below! Good luck with your new venture Nesse you know we’re here throwing all sorts of cheer leading shapes from the UVL HQ!

Glassdoor Sleep Out

Glass Door based in Fulham, helps homeless people in Fulham and hopes to encourage some people who live in Fulham to take part in the Sleep Out in Duke of York Square or remotely. On Friday 6th October 2023, over 200 people are expected to join Glass Door Homeless Charity’s 11th annual Sleep Out.

The organisers told Urban Village LDN that Glass Door is hoping to raise £175,000 from the Sleep Out to fund the charity’s emergency winter shelters and year-round casework service helping people build a route out of homelessness. This winter, Glass Door will offer a women-only shelter for the first time, recognising the growing number of homeless women, who are generally under-represented in official counts. The shelters will be open for a longer duration this year, up to 22 weeks, with the number of spaces available up 40% from last year, and the number of spaces for women up more than 200%.

The latest statistics on homelessness in London are shocking, with the Greater London Authority’s CHAIN figures for 2022/23 showing that rough sleeping numbers are 21% higher than the previous year, and London Councils finding that 1 in 50 Londoners are now homeless. The cost-of-living crisis has compounded the housing crisis, making Glass Door’s work more necessary than ever before.

Jo Carter, Glass Door’s CEO, said: “Sleep Out is our largest fundraising event of the year, raising vital funds to support the work we do to end homelessness in London. Every year we see all kinds of people taking part, including those with personal experience of homelessness, local businesses, and schoolchildren who want to get involved in supporting their local community and many of our volunteers. Everyone taking part, will do so in the knowledge that the number of people experiencing homelessness in London, continues to grow. Through this event, we will raise both awareness and money to provide emergency shelter and advice to those experiencing homelessness.”

 
Bridge Baker wins award

So not only has Bridge Baker opened another branch (Fulham Road if you didn’t read our last issue or haven’t spotted it yourself) but they’ve only gone and received another Great Taste Award. Their seeded crackers were described by the panel as “a beautifully crafted artisan cracker, thinly baked, full of seeds and buttery notes. The cracker had crunch and texture from the seeds, yet melted in the mouth. The flavour was well seasoned and balanced. A rustic-looking cracker with an appealing homemade quality and a generous and interesting variety of seeds. We enjoyed how the flavour of each seed came through, and found the thinness and snap very pleasing”. I mean who doesn’t love a very pleasing snap in a cracker? Congratulations Bridge Baker!