Pssstttt. Have you seen how St John’s Wood High Street has been transformed recently? It is the talk of Westminster. We caught up with a local healthy streets campaigner, Suami Rocha, who kindly showed us around the area with one of his three children. We met at this spot below, just off the high street, next to these delightful Dr Who-esque telephone boxes, and Suami explained that this extra crescent of pavement wasn’t even here a few years ago. If we had just been spun out of a time machine we’d have certainly enjoyed the changes. In fact, Suami told us how much he and his son appreciate the extra couple of metres whenever they visit. (Incidentally these phone boxes are listed so are not going anywhere, which is good to see!)
The changes to St John’s Wood High Street have been huge and sweeping in the last few years. Traffic has been reduced from two lanes to one lane in one direction (with a lot of parking reduced too), pavements have been widened, often quite substantially by a meter or so, and al-fresco dining has been encouraged, with a lot of extra public seating too. We visited on a Sunday morning, and discovered that the pavements were a feast of wideness- with enough room for people with double buggies, children on scooters, and others too.
By 10 o’clock, the streets were extremely busy- they were literally thronging with people, and we saw a number of people enjoying the public seating, particularly older folks, chatting and having a rest between visiting coffee shops.
The al-fresco dining places weren’t open yet, but we could only imagine what a pleasant place they’d be to visit of an evening. St John’s Wood High Street has become a real destination- a place to visit for shopping, eating, catching up with friends, and enjoying life. We saw people walking dogs, chatting, sitting, with their families and more.
And the real big change to the street, is the traffic. As mentioned, it is now one-way, being reduced from two lanes to one, with much less parking, and the street was quiet and calm. There were in fact so few cars that people crossed the street with ease, at their own pace, when they liked. It is interesting to note that even when the pavements were crowded with people chatting it didn’t feel noisy, it felt pleasant- the noise, we realised, comes from the motor traffic.
It was clear how popular the changes are, and that local businesses had a good footfall (incidentally- charcoal croissants were on the menu at one establishment!) … So how did these changes happen? Suami explained that in the first lockdown, emergency plans were put in place by Westminster Council to reduce the road space and increase the size of the pavements, with lots of seating and al fresco dining, to encourage social distancing, to keep people safe.
Suami explained to us that at the time, there was a lot of noise about these plans, but they have proved so popular that they have now been made permanent.
Suami’s 8- year old son welcomed the changes.
“How many cars should there be in London?” We asked.
“Zero” he said.
Us: “Do you mean in this whole town?”
Him: “In this whole galaxy”. He certainly is a child who knows his own mind- he answered immediately.
“What should the street have?” We asked.
Him: “Pizza restaurants all the way along, space for me to ride my BMX, other children to ride on bikes or scooters, wear wheelie shoes, or play tag”.
Well you’ve heard it from an 8-year old. Who can argue with that?