FN Newsletter 04-07-2023
BID ballot delayed, wine shop and bar approved, Crabtree Fields questions, lots of licensing applications...

In the last newsletter I reported that the largest businesses in Fitzrovia West will be voting this summer on whether to create a business improvement district. However, it turned out the information we had — taken from their website — was incorrect. It soon came to light that The Fitzrovia Partnership had abandoned its plans weeks earlier but kept it quiet, apart from telling Westminster Council and the businesses who would be voting. I contacted them by email and by telephone several times before I managed to extract up-to-date information from them. They offered me some lame excuse about why they had chosen to postpone the ballot until the autumn. They didn’t even update their own website to reflect the latest ballot timetable until well after I had published a follow up article. Make of that what you will…
Westminster Council has delayed its public consultation on its revised Oxford Street Programme until 17 July.
The Soho Society publish a regular email newsletter. The June edition has some interesting news and comment. Elsewhere is this very thoughtful article by Joel Taylor about a changing Soho.
Be aware that Covid remains a public health concern, and Post-covid-19 condition (long Covid) remains a global public health crisis. Please follow NHS advice to avoid catching and spreading the virus. Vaccination information is on Camden’s website and Westminster’s website.
Our next printed newspaper will be available from outside Fitzrovia community Centre, 2 Foley Street, in September.
We’re still taking a bit of a break over the summer. Our next email newsletter will be in early August. If you want to get in touch with us to tell us what you think of our reporting, have a question, or would like to contribute to Fitzrovia News please email us at news@fitzrovianews.com
Enjoy the summer!
— Linus Rees, editor
The latest on our website
West Fitzrovia BID ballot put on hold until autumn
Camden approves wine shop, tasting school and bar on Warren Street
A new wine merchant, tasting school and wine bar can open in a former bakers’ shop in an eighteenth century residential building in Warren Street, despite concerns it could disturb families in social housing nearby, writes Julia Gregory, Local Democracy Reporter.
Why is the children’s playground at Crabtree Fields still closed? I’ll tell you why…
Public consultations
Westminster Council is doubling the number of secure cycle parking spaces for residents in Fitzrovia West
Licensing application: Halifax Bank, 118-132 New Oxford Street
Licensing application: Hugs and Bites, 23 Warren Street
Licensing application: Plain Jane, 34 Bloomsbury Street
Plain Jane Limited has applied to Camden Council for a new premises licence at 34 Bloomsbury Street.
Licensing application: 1905 Cellar, 42 Mortimer Street
Licensing application: 7 Percy Street
Planning applications in Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia East, June 2023
Planning applications in Fitzrovia West, June 2023
Westminster Council validated 22 planning applications during June 2023 in Fitzrovia West.
Printed newspapers
Our printed newspaper is available from outside Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, along with the weekly Camden New Journal and the Westminster Extra, in early June. The following printed edition of Fitzrovia News will be published in September, and subsequent issues every three months, with the occasional special issues. See the newspaper archive for back issues.