Forum Topic

Ealing, The Queen of the Suburbs

When i first moved in to Ealing in the early 1960s it was awesome, the old girl had a village atmosphere. On early closing day you could walk from one end to the other and you hardly saw a soul or vehicle. We had very little crime, no traffic problems, and it was the place to be. We had it allRoll the clock forwards fifty years and we have high crime, bad traffic problems, and the old Queen of the Suburbs title has been well and truly lost. Ealing is now fast becoming run down with a high level of inner city problems.What went wrong?

Dennis Bailey ● 2340d12 Comments

Below is a link to the Metropolitan Police web page that gives crime statistics for neighbourhoods. It makes worrying reading for some. It lists crime in your own back yard within a mile or so of your front door, and it's monthly figures that get updated every month. The map is scrollable. and the closer you get, the more it reveals. Put it in your favourites.https://www.police.uk/metropolitan/

Dennis Bailey ● 2316d

When i moved into Ealing 60 years ago there was almost a village feel to the community. Parking wasn't a problem, crime was ridiculously low, professional beggars were unknown, we had it all. As far as Ealing was concerned, 60 years ago we were the place to be.60 years down the road and crime has hit the roof. Within 5 minutes of my front door we have had 70 year olds being raped, brain damaged kids being stabbed to death, shopkeepers murdered, contract killers shooting people in cars, firebombings, and gangs running riot. The commercial heart of ealing has been ripped out and replaced with takeaways, traffic is now a major problem, as is parking. I don't live in another part of England, i live in Ealing. I don't give a damn about problems elsewhere, just within my own borough. If Ealing was a person it would be in intensive care at the moment.

Dennis Bailey ● 2319d

They also still have a traditional eat-in Wimpy Bar in Ruislip, on the other side of the road to the John Sanders, and there's not many of them left!

Dave Hawley ● 2319d

John Sanders was like a badly run jumble sale.

Susan Kelly ● 2320d

Am not quite sure of Dennis's point.I would say try visiting South and South East London and you'll come running back to Ealing, I promise you.Also, there are plenty of other places to live in the world, if you find Ealing so unappealing.

Simon Wycombe ● 2320d

Well obviously a start would be to ban all cars,and bring back early closing day.Plus make everybody 50 years younger than they are now. As possibly being 50 years older thanthey were then, might possibly affect some people's judgement.Other than that, access to the internet has unfortunately made most consumers price sensitiveto the extent that price can take precedenceover everything else, including service. While consumers may regard price comparison websites as the best thing since sliced bread for retailers many of whom have different levels of overheads they're quite simply a curse. As a result many traditional retailers, both large and small simply cannot compete, and its simply a race to the bottom.    michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2333d

There's still a John Sanders, in Ruislip, you mightbe surprised to hear. It's on the High Road, I justhappened to notice it the other day as I've not beento Ruislip for years.  I didn't go in and obviously its much smaller than was the Ealing store.Fortunately a member of staff or possibly a retired member of staff has an interest in historyand has compiled a web page with some interesting information about the history of the store,http://www.johnsanders.co.uk/our-history.htmlOn his retirement in 1925, John Sanders the founder sold the store to the Rowse Brothers who already owned the West Ealing Rowse's Store.It would be interesting to know what subsequentlyhappened to these families. The Sanders's, the Rowsesetc. Did they die off due to a lack of heirs or maybe move to the South of France ?michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2333d

Ealing has suffered because it had mainly chain shops and no individual character. west ealing had the practical shops and ealing the fashion. in a way for some areas they had one shopping area but we had 2 and so neither was attractive enough. west ealing had BHS and M&S but at least now has Wilko. Compared even with Hounslow and Uxbridge it is a poor relation. i used to do christmas shopping in hounslow and uxbridge because i knew i could get the variety of things i wanted. westfield has also damaged ealing. but also in ealing the parking is quite limited and in west ealing parking was eliminated to build flats. hounslow and uxbridge have choices for parking and also good public transport. ealing is perhaps too small to create the true energy as a shopping centre to attract the big crowds.

Peter Chadburn ● 2333d

Sadly John Sanders (and Daniels in West Ealing) never really dragged themselves into the 21st century!Bentalls became Beales of course, and I was very sorry when that shut, as the last shop of its type in the area.At the time I seem to remember, Beales didn't cite poor footfall as being the problem, in fact they said that the Ealing store did make a profit, albeit a small one.No, their reason for closing it was that we were apparently all going to go to Westfield in Shepherd's Bush instead when it opened, so they didn't think is was worth keeping their Ealing branch open!I don't think that was actually the case of course, but the decision was made, and the damage done.Well at least we've still got a reasonably large M&S!

Dave Hawley ● 2334d

You might miss them but next to nobody shopped in them so they had to shut down!

Paul James ● 2339d

Couldn't agree more. It was once a pleasure to shop in Ealing Broadway, now it's like anywhere else. I miss the old department stores Bentalls, John Sanders etc.

Pat Kingham ● 2339d

Re. What went wrong with Ealing?Sadly, Ealing is not alone.  The decline is everywhere. And nobody knows how to halt it. The main problem is a decline in morals which directly results in social disintegration, which is happening rapidly everywhere.

Tony Heath ● 2339d