Walking Thames to Thames in 2030
Why improving The Terrace is so important to all of Barnes - story 79
I believe The Terrace is the worst stretch of bike-riding road in Barnes or Mortlake. Surely it can be improved.
The more I thought about, the more I came to realise The Terrace is key to making Barnes whole again.
Not for cyclists - as important as we are - but for pedestrians.
Of all the key streets that thread through this corner of southwest London, The Terrace offers the most potential for improvement. Despite the setting, it is as though people think it is a place to get through as soon as possible. I don’t agree.
Get it right and The Terrace would amplify the best of communal Barnes. The renewed Terrace is the thread that connects pedestrian Barnes:
Wetland Centre
Church Road
Barnes Green
High Street
The Terrace
Footbridge
White Hart Lane
Imagine, walking Thames to Thames in May 2030.
Spring is probably my favourite time of the year. I am looking across the Thames at the Riverside Stand at my football club, Fulham. It opened five years ago which seems such a long time ago.
I turn and head east past the Wetland Centre and into Barnes. This is a regular walk for me now in the morning - trying to keep active in my late 60s while it is a little cooler. I walk past my ‘home from home’ in Barnes, the Olympic, and onto the sanctuary of the Green. The Pond is cooling on these hot summer days. They are more frequent now. I stop for my first break. There are so many benches around one is always free. I bump into someone who I occasionally see in my coffee shop.
Then to the ‘new zebra’. It’s not new but everyone calls it that. It was one of the first big changes to this area but was so welcome. I feel like a swan. I walk up the pavement edge and cars just stop for me.
Then down the High Street. And there she is again. The Thames is always a thrill. Especially when you have time to take it in, just ambling on the riverside path . Of course it’s so much better now.
It’s an amazing setting. Those houses. The river. The view, both ways with planes landing at Heathrow to the left bringing the world to our city and small yachts to my right, which I think are being sailed by kids this morning.
I cross to the new Terrace walkway. I was skeptical when they first mentioned the changes but they kept reassuring is - look at what we’ve done with the Dukes Meadow Footbridge. Imagine that on Barnes Bridge to create The View and along the Terrace riverside. It is difficult to remember what it looked like then - horrible concrete, rusty piping, crusty road signs, over-flowing bins not to mention the sense a huge wagon storming down the road might blow you off your feet at any moment.
Now, well, it’s lovely. Wide welcoming path. And it fits together - Terrace, View and Footbridge. It another new face for Barnes. In fact this new river stretch makes Barnes whole again: from the Wetland Centre to the White Hart Lane.
I need to stop again. I like this view. Turner painted something down the way. Towards Mortlake, I can see the mid-rise flats they’re building on the Stag brewery. That is the new Mortlake, a new neighbourhood. I hope it works. But this is my neighbourhood. Renewed. The bench is shady beneath the trees. They've grown so quickly these trees, thankfully.
I can see the notices are going up about road sign closure. They close The Terrace and the High Road to celebrate Midsummer. Is this a Swedish thing like the school and the High Street Shop? Probably those BCA party-animals again. They wanted to close the roads for a whole weekend. Never going to happen. Saturday afternoon and early evening is good enough. There’s a real buzz.
Sometimes I head over The View then either go left and loop back taking my rest at the Ship. Sometimes I head right and do a longer loop. I like these loop walks, I swear they are sponsored by a brewery.
I walk this way sometimes in the early evening. They have these clever lights which gently illuminate the path at dusk. It means there’s always lots of people walking down here. I feel safe. I’m told that is why they eventually persuaded the cyclists to avoid this bit of the path. Well that and the fancy new link they put between the path and the Terrace by the White Hart Pub (WHP). Mind you if I do that, I miss the Barnes Illuminations. They’ve clearly never been to Blackpool, but you know what Barnes is like. A few Scandi-subtle lights beneath Barnes Bridge look amazing. BCA party animals, I told you.
I tell you one thing that didn’t happen. They were talking about putting some fancy digital screens on The Terrace. Not a chance. One of the corporate sponsors pulled out, apparently. Some things are more important than money.
I am nearly there now. Time to eat. I am meeting some friends at the White Hart. Not my favourite pub but one I take guests to regularly because of the view. Actually, we have our meal here and then a cup of tea at Orange Pekoe across the road and a slice of cake. Even the ‘tea and fancies’ seem closer with the other new zebra.
One of my friends has biked down from Hammersmith. (Why does he live there?) There are so many of these bikes now - more than cars sometimes. White, green, yellow, pale blue. They come in all sorts of colours. They sorted out the e-bike parking - finally, what took them so long? There’s a few bike parks. There’s one on The Terrace. They converted one car parking bay: one car or ten bikes? Not much of a choice now although I do remember that community meeting. There’s a few e-bikes at the station. Actually there’s a lot there now. And a cluster here by the White Hart.
Barnes has started popping up social media and online. It started with an article in the Sunday Times which had a quote from a government planner about Hammersmith Bridge, ‘ .. you might not know if this if you only get around by car, but this corner of London is now doing all sorts of interesting things. Some don’t work but quite a few do. We’re keeping our eye on it. It’s an interesting little corner’. And the Bridge being re-opened? ‘Never say never but .. you know’.
Anyway there’s hops and grapes fuelling the conversation in the White Hart this afternoon. We met in a WhatsApp group. We were interested in the next big thing. A new one way road system which includes banning cars heading north on The Terrace? Rebuilding Barnes Pier to allow regular boat services again? Everything seems a little more probable after a pint or glass of wine.
I have written more about The Terrace. You can find why I think it must change, the specific improvements I would make and the ideas I rejected.