Redevelopment Of Shepherd's Bush Market Unlikely To Go Ahead

By Londonist Staff Last edited 91 months ago
Redevelopment Of Shepherd's Bush Market Unlikely To Go Ahead
How the market might have looked.

Traders at Shepherd's Bush Market are celebrating after overturning long-fought redevelopment plans.  

In 2009, Hammersmith & Fulham council decided that the market needed updating — even with Westfield opening just a few hundred metres away. Developers Orion Land and Leisure took on the job, and were granted compulsory purchase orders to upgrade facilities and build 213 new homes (most deemed unaffordable).

Many traders opposed the plans, fearing that the redevelopment would drastically alter the character of the market, which is over 100 years old (and, incidentally, the only one to be name-checked on the tube map). The scheme would have seen a smartened, glossier affair, along the lines of regeneration seen at Brixton and Camden markets.

Image by Shilpa Bhatnagar in the Londonist Flickr pool.

A complicated legal battle ensued, with former Community Secretary Eric Pickles endorsing the redevelopment. Then, in 2014, a shift in the local council from Conservative to Labour control brought renewed opposition to the compulsory purchase. Finally, in March this year, the High Court upheld an appeal by the Shepherd's Bush Market Tenants Association, effectively blocking the redevelopment. According to a press release from Leigh Day solicitors, the developer has now withdrawn an application to appeal that judgment.

The market traders will now work with the council and freeholder to 'deliver the sympathetic regeneration of the Market which will improve the facilities for the market traders and customers, while maintaining the Market’s unique identity which is so well loved by Londoners'.

Last Updated 03 August 2016