3 minute read
Meanwhile in Brentford
Image credit: Gwen Shabka
MEANWHILE INBrentford
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It might look like a building site, but there’s a lot happening
Brentford has looked dreadful for years. Locals have become inured to the boarded up buildings and huge hoardings everywhere but unless you knew Brentford well, you’d think that’s all there was. The Brentford Project is now under way, with phase one of the new town centre being built, as witnessed by the towering cranes overshadowing the hoardings. Phase two, the old soap factory in Catherine Wheel Rd (aka the Blue Road, since it has been painted blue) is full of ‘meanwhile’ businesses – a cluster of cool, arty places which have sprung up in the old industrial landscape, happy to take a short-term lease in scruffy accommodation until the time comes to demolish the lot.
The McCormacks
The McCormack family are at the centre of operations in Catherine Wheel Rd. Merlin McCormack, 27, started his Vintage car business in 2014 with car show rooms in Lionel Rd before the Brentford Community Stadium was built. As the diggers moved in they shifted the vintage cars to the old soap factory in Brentford and the business has expanded quickly. He works with his brother Algy, a talented metal worker, and his father Lance, a Classic car restorer, who each have their own businesses on the site. There’s a huge appetite for Vintage cars, Merlin says, which is currently under served in west London. He’s created a classic car hub, a destination for owners to come and socialise, eat pizza, hang out and talk about cars. The Porsche owners club meets once a month, buying a £10 ticket to raise money for charity. Merlin bought his first car at the age of 11, a Peugot 205 that had failed its MOT, which he bought for £31. His mother Annie had to go and pick it up for him. He got it done up and sold it on for £500 and acquired a taste for the car trade. Annie used to run an estate agents in Ealing, but now runs The Brewery Tap, a Fuller’s pub a couple of hundred yards away from the car showrooms, which she took over in November 2019, bringing it to life with an eclectic mix of live music and good food – Santa Maria pizzas.
The Santa Maria pizza restaurant is above the car showroom and serves authentic Neapolitan pizza. Twice voted best in London by Time Out, with restaurants also in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Ealing, you can sit in the restaurant or order from the pub. They also do takeaway. “Their first pizza shop was in South Ealing Rd. I took the boys there when they were little. They opened here last summer” Annie says. There are some 40 businesses in the old soap factory building now. It’s a huge space, with the Duke of London showrooms at the front, a coffee shop, a wine bar selling naturally aspirated wines and the Santa Maria pizza restaurant above. Tucked away in the back there are also fashion brands, a Burlesque costumier, a seamstress and a tailor about to open. There’s also a cobbler, a bicycle repair shop and an e-bike shop. The shiny silver caravan out front belongs to Timothy David, the hair stylist who has actress Gillian Anderson amongst his clients. That was supposed to be hush hush, says Merlin, but then she very generously tweeted about it. In September Catherine Wheel Rd was the focus of the ‘Creative Mile’ – more than 60 artists showing their work in several different venues in Brentford over one weekend.
Johnson’s Island
Catherine Wheel Rd leads to Johnson’s Island, accessed by a footbridge, where there’s a permanent artists’ collective who regularly open their studios to show their work. Among them is collage artist Sam Dodson, a former band member of Loop Guru and the Transmitters; his work has appeared on album sleeves and has been featured in books and magazines on Dada and Surrealism.
