Welcome back.
October starts warm, and it's the first Sunday of the month, so the markets stack up: flowers on the High Road, crafts at Chiswick House, the car boot at Chiswick School and the food market at Dukes Meadows.
Also inside: Marie Antoinette's music at Chiswick House on Saturday, the dog who won Best in Show, and something new. Once a month, a planning corner: what's been decided, what's on the council's desk, and where you can still have your say.
Glad to have you with us.
🍕 You voted: Napoli on the Road
In last week's pizza poll, Napoli on the Road took 54% of the vote and Doctor Dough 19%, with 8% going somewhere else in W4. The other 19% haven't tried either yet, which is the most fixable result on the list.
Yard Sale Pizza, new at 88 Chiswick High Road, joins the rematch later this month, once it's had time to bake. It's delivery and collection only for now, and its free pizza for a whole street closes at midnight on Sunday. Nominate your street.
👑 Antonia: Marie Antoinette, in her own music
Chiswick House & Gardens | Sat 3 October | 3pm
Photo: Mike Goldwater
Before the revolution, Marie Antoinette was a bored young queen stuck at Versailles. She threw herself into music, and into making stars of her friends at the opera and at court. Antonia tells that story through the music she loved, in costume and wigs, and the fun lasts about as long as history suggests.
Olivia Doutney plays the queen, with Petra Hajduchová on harpsichord. The production has been touring and now comes back to Chiswick House, where it premiered earlier this year. A Palladian villa is about the right room for it.
It runs about 70 minutes, and tickets are £25.
This week
🎷 ReBeL Yell Jazz Orchestra | Fri 2 Oct | 7.30pm | St Nicholas Church, Church Street
A full jazz orchestra in the parish church by the river. £15 on the door. Details
🎭 Girl Out of the Blue | Until Sat 10 Oct | 7.30pm, Saturdays 6pm | Tabard Theatre, 2 Bath Road
Giles Cole's new play about a teenager who tracks down the man she believes is her father. Tickets are £25.50 until 3 October, then £27.50 for the final week. Book
🧺 Four markets, one Sunday | Sun 4 Oct
💐 Chiswick Flower Market, 9.30am to 3.30pm, Old Market Place. Winter hours start this month.
🦆 Duck Pond Market, 10am to 4pm, Chiswick House forecourt. Free.
🚗 Chiswick Car Boot Sale, 6.30am to 12.30pm, Chiswick School, Staveley Road, W4 3UN.
🥖 The Food Market at Dukes Meadows, 10am to 2pm, The Pavilion, Market Drive.
Start early at the car boot and finish with lunch by the river. Flower Market · Duck Pond · Car Boot · Food Market
🧘 W4 Gong Bath | Tue 6, 13 & 20 Oct | 7pm to 8pm
Sound meditation: you lie on a mat and let the gong do the work. The 6th is at Hammersmith Quakers, and the 13th and 20th are at the new Learning Hub at Chiswick House & Gardens. Book
📚 The WB Yeats Bedford Park Lecture | Tue 6 Oct | 7.30pm | St Michael & All Angels, Bath Road
Yeats lived in Bedford Park as a young poet, and each year a lecture marks it. This year Fintan O'Toole speaks on Yeats, art and patriotism. Tickets are £15 and worth booking ahead. Tickets
Further ahead
✨ Divine Light | Thu 8 Oct | 7pm | St Nicholas Church, Church Street
Janet Gough OBE on the church's stained glass. £10 on the door. Details
🏺 Chiswick Antiques & Vintage Market | Sun 11 Oct | 9am to 3pm | Old Market Place
Second Sunday of the month, along the High Road.
🧀 Chiswick Cheese Market | Sun 18 Oct | 9.30am to 3pm | Old Market Place, W4 2DR
Third Sunday of the month, opposite M&S. Details
The local wins, openings and milestones worth knowing about this week.
🐕 Best in Show goes to Pia
The 22nd Chiswick House Dog Show crowned its winner on 20 September. Best in Show went to Pia, a Petit Bleu de Gascogne owned by Alex Usher.
The judges were James Bennett from Wolfe Vets, Adam Gibbins from Dog Town, and Xanthe Arvanitakis, director of the Chiswick House & Gardens Trust. Volunteers run the show, and the money it raises goes back into the gardens.
Source: Chiswick Calendar
🌿 Fern Girl arrives on the Terrace
There's a new face on the railway wall at Turnham Green Terrace. Fern Girl by Cristina Schek went up on the W4th Plinth on 19 September. It measures four metres by four and is built from photography and digital montage.
The Plinth is Abundance London's rotating outdoor gallery. A new work goes up roughly every six months, picked by public vote from a shortlist. Schek has had the wall before: her Ceiling in the Sky held it in 2023.
Worth a proper look next time you're heading for the tube.
Sources: Cristina Schek, Abundance London
These are the volunteers behind the W4th Plinth, the Chiswick Timeline mural under the railway bridge, and pocket gardens all over W4. Their bio sums it up: tree planting, guerrilla gardening, fruit gluts and nature in the middle of a city.
If your apple tree is giving you more than you can eat this autumn, they're the people to tell.
New, once a month: what's been decided, what's on the council's desk, and where you can have your say. It's built from the documents, and it doesn't take sides.
🏗️ Hogarth Roundabout scheme: permission quashed
The High Court has quashed planning permission for 1 Burlington Lane, the vacant office block beside the Hogarth Roundabout. The approved scheme was a part six, part ten-storey building with 132 homes.
The Old Chiswick Protection Society brought the challenge. On 14 September the court found that councillors had been materially misled when they approved it in August 2025. The officer report had called an earlier, smaller scheme poor design and poor-quality housing. It did not explain that a Planning Inspector had reached the opposite view.
What happens next: that earlier 104-flat scheme, allowed on appeal in 2024, still has permission. Whether the larger one comes back is now a matter for the developer and the council.
Sources: Landmark Chambers, Planning Geek
🚆 Have your say: the West London Orbital
TfL is consulting on a new London Overground line from Hounslow to Hendon. It would run partly on freight track that carries no passengers today. The nearest new station to us would be at Lionel Road in Brentford. Brentford, South Acton and Acton Central stations would also get upgrades.
This is the first consultation, so it's the stage where comments can still shape the route and the stations.
Deadline: Wednesday 18 November. Read the plans and respond
Source: Transport for London
📋 On the council's desk
In mid-September, two Chiswick applications were on Hounslow's list of pending decisions, recommended for approval despite objections.
32-34 Devonshire Road (P/2026/2004). The proposal is a new glazed shopfront with a serving hatch, fold-back windows and seating under the front, plus kitchen extraction at the rear. There were five objections and a 39-name petition about noise, cooking smells and late opening. Officers say conditions, including limits on operating hours, deal with those concerns.
Gunnersbury Sports and Social Ground (P/2026/0124). This asks for retrospective permission for the northern car park. The eight objections were mostly about traffic on Park Place and the loss of open space. Officers say the number of spaces has been cut and TfL doesn't object.
To check the outcome, search either reference on the council's planning portal.
🏠 Something going up on your street?
If there's an application you'd like explained, hit reply with the address. We'll pick the most useful ones for next month.
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