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31 Victoria Road
The outside has been painted bright pink and looks awful on this beautiful Victorian facade. Is this allowed, is the building listed ?
F P Turner Jewellers is now Bright Pink !
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Comments
looks terrible i hope it closes quickly shame on the people who painted over 100 years of history with a pot of cheap pink paint, i have no answer to the high street in 2014 but its not doing this to a the last Victorian shop front in Surbiton, very depressing
Well its open now, GET OVER IT PEOPLE!
Agreed. If people don't use it and it shuts down within a year then clearly they have mis-judged their target market.
I suspect that it will actually do ok. People seem to forget that as much as some would like it to be, Surbiton isn't all about Farmers Markets and posh coffee shops. There are a lot of students and unemployed people who will love this type of nail place.
Surbiton town centre has to cater for all of it's inhabitants, so it is never going to have a high street resembling that of a small market town.
I don't see it as a problem. If I don't like the high street, I just won't go there.
I don't think people will worry about it for too long. It is just another big step down for Surbiton high street and the next one will undoubtedly be along soon for us to complain about!
Agreed. It was far worse the day that the Horror that is "MacDonalds" forced its nasty red & yellow presence onto our (and virtually everyone else's) High Street in this country.
Barbie Nail Bars come and go, "MacDonalds" just keep on poisoning our young people forever.
rubbish , there is such a thing as self control
blaming Macdonalds for people making poor choices on food is avoiding self acceptance of blame for own diet.
next you will be blaming Cadbury's for people buying their easter eggs
...or blaming drug dealers for people suffering the effects of heroin and crystal meth?
Or blaming tobacco companies for cashing in on heart disease and lung cancer?
No-one has said this "blame" (that you were the first to mention) is a one-way street.
People like you who rush to defend the likes of the very disgusting MacDonalds need to understand that grown-ups don't just see the world just in black and white.
Just because some people are daft enough to eat their "food" doesn't mean they are a universally good thing.
For me the pink is not as hard on the eye as the 'Snappy Snaps' yellow and green. Looking at the two shops together you can get a feel of the ghettoish future.
Retailers have a tendency to go for the eye catching 'look at me' shop fronts which actually have the opposite effect on many shoppers. A notable case is the dreadful red shop opposite Bosco. It makes me not want to know what they sell.
They need saving from themselves by a shopfront planning code of uniformity. If Westminster council can make all the estate agents boards uniform (black and white) RBK should be able to come up with something to inject a bit of class into our high street.
Incidentally, I used Turners many times without problem and feel sorry for people who had issues. Alison certainly earned a Surbiton Blue Plaque 'character' award.
Snappy Snaps and Paddy Power are worse colours - why no complaints about that?
Sometimes I wonder why I live in such a snobbish town. Surely you should be happy its not yet another empty shop on the highstreet.
Happy for you to leave , if you have an issue with Surbiton people having higher standards than yourself
I've been here 40 years, I'm not leaving because of simple minded people like you books.
maybe its because those stores you mention were not there in the victorian times unlike the shop front that was just painted pink! i live in a victorian house in surbiton, i had to get planning permission to remove some nasty tiles that were added to the front of my house in the 80s because i live in a "conservation area", i just think the owners should have respected the shop fronts history and left it black and put a pink sign in the street
put bluntly when you fork out £800k for a 3 bed in surbiton ,you dont expect shopkeepers to pick colour schemes of rundown areas like feltham.
lowering the neighbourhood is the phrase that comes to mind about what the shopkeeper has done .
If having standards, rather than appreciating the purile pre pubescent colour scheme painted on this shop front ,is seen as snobbishness so be it.Homeowners have not paid a fortune on houses in this area to have money shaved off our house values by the high street ,and a smart shop front being degraded in such a fashion
ps I have been in the old shop turners , as a friend asked me to get a quote on a silver item,
turners said the silver gravy pourer was worth £25 .went to two other jewellers its real value was £110
Surbiton is an expensive place to buy property, and there are several good reasons for that, but the high street is not one of them.
People spend a lot of money to live here because of the fast trains to London, relatively low crime, nice housing stock, riverside and park walks and easy access to Kingston. The town centre has always been a bit of a disgrace to the area, at least for the 20 years that I have lived here. The council just let it get worse and worse.
If I had wanted to live somewhere with a picturesque, 'chi-chi' high street, I would have gone virtually anywhere else other than Surbiton.
I am pleased that these arguments have finally started, though. Just because the high street has been neglected for years does not mean it should be allowed to go any further downhill. Perhaps people-power will actually start to improve things. Apart from a few ugly buildings, Victoria and Brighton Roads have retained quite a bit of the original victorian charm and I think the centre could be quite attractive if the council and shopkeepers were brought into line.
Why are people talking about Surbiton like its a little village? Its in London so needs to keep up with whats going on - And EVERYWHERE is expensive.
Surbiton is full of coffee and charity shops. Its boring. There's hardly any footfall so shops will close. It needs a total revap. If you people cared about the high street maybe you would have used it more before it got so bad instead of just moaning.
London is nothing more than a collection of little villages,some try to preserve their heritage,such as Dulwich,Blackheath and Wimbledon and have been quite successful.
Surbiton really only exists because Kingston denied the railways access,see they had stupid councillors even in those days.
I understand that the Maple Road area is referred to as Maple Village and thus has flourished with a farmers market good pubs and restaurants.
Personally I do not shop so have no ideas on how to improve things apart from probably converting as much shop frontage and upper storeys into housing.
Maple Village? Give over, the 'farmers market' is all from places no where near here. I went down to the last one and found the people at the stalls and helping very much 'oh we don't know you, we don't need to talk to you' attitude. I've lived here all my life and felt very uncomfortable by the way they looked you over and spoke to you.
Are you a child ? you get upset because busy people manning busy stalls don't give you enough time
Grow up and grow a pair
you are not in kindergarten now trying to get teachers attention
pathetic comment ,
most people in surbiton love the farmer's market and maple road , its is a vast improvement of the shabby high street with bright pink tacky nail bars and paddy power
I'm talking about those who were there to talk to people looking at the stalls, to encourage them to get involved. I asked for info about how to get involved in the event, the women turned her nose up and walked off. Sends a great image of Surbiton - thats worse than a pink shop.
I couldn't believe the rudeness, later the same person was giving out flyers asking people to help with the next one and being very selective about who they wanted to help. Anyone who 'didn't look right' were ignored. Great community spirit there. So you don't want help from someone who does a lot of charity work, runs an events company and has been living in the area since birth. Fine.
interesting reply from you ... i had a person a woman claim she wanted to get involved in a company i am involved with ,she claimed she worked for charities in surbiton and ran an events company, despite 4 bookings where i left early from my work in central london she was a no show each time ,with every excuse under the sun,health, last minute having to be somewhere else. non believable
sounds like you are the same unreliable person ,looks like the event organisers saw you coming
Also just noticed you say this person was a women. This is where it wouldn't be me - I happen to be male.
Please move on and stop making up stories for attention.
I suspect i have hit the nail on the head and you are the timewaster from last year
No, I have not made '4 bookings' with you - clearly this would be someone else, or someone you have created to make me look bad.
I know it is not me as this year is the first time I enquired about the Farmers Market, no other companies. I also don't 'work for charities' I have given my time through my events company, from sending extra staff to taking funds. I have never canceled a meeting in my life.
I'm sorry you claim you had a bad experience, but it wasn't with me. It may have been someone you created in your head after I have given negative feedback on an event you clearly love.
Please don't claim its me in an attempt to make me look bad. Maybe say this persons name or company - then you'll see its not me at all.
I stand by my claims , you are well known for this,your time wasting and for not being well,
this is not about the farmers market
I run a healthcare and toiletries business which was looking for a local rep last year in surbiton and advertised in local media
from the way you are writing and the texts I kept from this fraudulent person I am certain you are the same person
This "books" person is coming across as somewhat unhinged here.
I would recommend that if they genuinely have a grievance against someone who has let them down in the past, they should take it up with, and pursue, that person.
Having a go at some random person on (what is supposed to be) a friendly internet discussion forum is not the behaviour of a rational adult.
except, they are not a random person are they, they are well known in surbiton and on social media for messing a few of us about
I havent a grievance , I'm just exposing this person as a bored nut job whom messes people about in surbiton both online ,at the market and in a couple of charity shops, its time they got help
Are you still claiming I'm a women who wasted your time? books I am male and never dealt with your company - I deal with high end Media PR.
Fascinating stuff,of whom do you speak....is it the disciple of the the late Alice Lakwena who regularly used to walk in the middle of the road and joust with traffic as if coated in Alices wonder bullet proof and X5 proof paste?
Clearly you state you were meeting a women. I am a man. So go invent stories else where please.
Reading through this thread I have to commend Anonymous on not sinking to Books' level and turning it into a slanging match. Sadly, I lack such restrain. I would agree, trying to define an area of Surbiton as "Maple Village" would make even the local estate agents cringe at the pretentious pomposity of the notion. However, that Books tries to defend the suggestion by slagging of the neighbouring high street just goes to prove that every village has its idiot - even if its boundaries are confined to the small minded imagination of a self-aggrandising clique.
I agree with you Jerry about the pompous pretension of the Maple Village invention. How ridiculous to think it can be hived off as some pretend village as if it's not part of Surbiton - central Surbiton at that. Even the WI has taken to calling itself the Village or something or other like that (which I can't recall exactly) and trying to pretend it's a cut above. Unless you were in the know or in the absurd clique, you wouldn't even know it is the WI.
Maple Village is known as Surbiton Village, why I do not know. For a start, where is the duck pond ??
Most people who use the term "Maple Village" are not being serious, you know.
There's no need for a duck pond when you have your tongue in your cheek.
Jerry ,dont you realise this is a thread for bored time wasters yet one of whom I know well and admits to posting on here ?
A "thread for bored time wasters" in which "Books" is easily the most prolific poster, eh?
HI Jerry , thats ok , you havent had to deal with them in real life,
This person is well known to me and others in surbiton ,both on this site and in person ,
they can lie like this on social media but this person gets a kick out of lying on social media and mucking local businesses around ,
this has been going on for 2 years so unlikely to stop
they are a time waster and unlikely to stop
Actually, the estate agents did seize upon the Maple Village moniker when it was first thought up, but now even they seem to think it is ridiculous.
I agree that this part of the thread has got very bizarre. The Maple Road area is a nice part of Surbiton, but it is so close to the rest of it that it can't be considered in isolation. There is even an empty shop there that has been disused for at least 5 years, so the occupancy % is no better overall.
The empty shop was used as a store by someone connected to Londis. It is having a new hardwood shop front installed as I write.
Will it be Pink? Will it house a re-born FP Turner? Alison could become The Witch of Maple Village!
On another point, amidst all the concern at the Saharan pollution earlier in the week I decided to de-stress with a coffee outside French Tarte. Not for long! To add to the pollutant level a RBK leaf blower man came along blasting copious amounts of dust into the air whilst blasting out engine noise to wake the dead.
Why can't the council set an example and ban these contraptions.
Next on the list should be Mamals (middle aged men in Lycra shorts). It's far easier to cycle in jeans and shirt and you go just as fast. They look so obscene trying to emulate Mitch, off Baywatch and as for the BO. If someone steals their bikes they won't be able to give chase in those daft clod hopper shoes.
Lastly, street smoking must be stopped. Walking along on a nice Spring morning and some lung cancer chaser is polluting the air in front of you. Yucko! and Boy do they stink when they walk into the bar or coffee shop.
Be careful I don't put a curse on you! I may pop up somewhere when you least expect it!
hilarious ,was this the curse you professed last year to me by phone too,how original
It certainly is hilarious that "Books" thinks everyone posting under "anonymous" is the same person!
Now, "Books": just to prove it, we'll all meet you by the Corte dei Signori olive oil stall at the next Farmers' Market at 11am.
Promise we'll all turn up ;-)
now that is worth doing ,I have an unpaid bill outstanding for you
This is getting good! The Farmers Market turns into The OK Corral, I can just imagine all the bottles of extra virgin olive oil flying through the air as 'Books', 'Jerry' and assorted 'anonymouses' slug it out.
Sadly I will be away but I would advise any other non-combatants to give this stall a wide berth too.
Perhaps someone can make a video and put it on the website next to the quote about 'friendly atmosphere'.
Great to see The Antelope so busy. Where have all these beer and cider drinkers been hiding? The big question is will the nearby watering holes moderate their prices to compete or increase them in the forlorn hope that they will make up the lost turnover?
The likely answer is they will cut the quality of the wine, which in the case of one is already dire and leave prices be at present.
Antelope needs to sort bad smell out. It's second only to Harts Boatyard 'odour de sewer'
Please be careful not to spill any of that lovely olive oil, or break any of their delicious orange blossom honey jars, as this is one of the best stalls on the market.
On second thoughts, why don't you all fight it out next to one of those rubbishy, overpriced cupcake stalls that nobody would miss..?
loving this you are so wound up
Clearly you think everyone who posts under anonymous is the same person. It's making you look like a fool.
And I can see from reading the posts the person you said is a time wasting women is a guy! You must not know how to read but then your is awful so I'm not surprised.
Is the Antelope that cheap? All of the ales seem comfortably under £4 a pint, but this is often the case with real ale anyway. Their keg craft lager seems just as expensive as anywhere else in Surbiton.
It would have no complaints from me if it was more expensive anyway. This place has turned from one of Surbiton's worst pubs into one of it's best virtually overnight and I just wish a few more like it would pop up!
Leaf blowers seem to me to be a most pointless affair,simply moving the muck and leaves about,why not a massive leaf vacuum cleaner,I am sure brother Dyson down in Wiltshire could come up with something.
So it is a proper village then.