I was pleased to see the opening of “Parklet” outside the Brackenbury Deli in Brackenbury Road and so wrote to the Council to ask if more could be established.
The Council’s Cycling Officer has sent me the following reply:
“As you have seen, we have recently installed the first ‘Parklet’ in the Borough outside the Brackenbury Deli.
We were approached by the Brackenbury Residents Association last year to discuss how we could help them re-generate the centre of Brackenbury and make it more attractive to visitors and make residents use the local facilities and shops. At the same time we were looking for a possible location to try out a parklet in the Borough to demonstrate how parking spaces could be used in a different way to offer more community facilities and enable residents to meet up and rest locally.
We designed the unit and recently installed it outside the Deli, who were happy for it to be placed there. It is a temporary unit that can be re-located if we can see that it isn’t being used. In this case however the unit has been extremely well received and is now becoming a destination for visitors to go to. I know that two of the local cycle groups now arrange their weekly tours to finish at the parklet.
In our programme for 2017-18 we have allocated further TfL budget to look for new sites in the borough and we hope to have at least another two installed by the end of the year. It’s not however as easy as it sounds to find the right location as there are many factors to consider not least being the parking ‘stress’ of the area. In the Brackenbury case, we looked at the local parking stress throughout the week and found that it was very low. Because residents are pleased with the new parklet the loss of two parking spaces has not caused any known concerns.
The Brackenbury unit cost just under £25k to design and construct and install, the cost does depend upon the actual size of the unit so it is possible to create a parklet for less if the available space is less. I think this particular size is probably the least we’d consider, and of course we can re-locate it if we wish.
As I mentioned, when considering a location, we also considered all the issues of maintenance, and whilst we designed the actual structure for low maintenance, the daily cleaning and watering of the plants was also a consideration. In this case the Deli have agreed to clean it and maintain the planting.”
Hammersmith and Fulham Forum 
As a local Brackenbury resident I can confirm the attractiveness of the parklet – a designed, wood seating structure parked outside the deli café and much used. It also frees the adjoining pavement which tended to get clogged with chairs, tables and people. The parklet features raised plants, a pleasing feature.
I like the parklet. It creates an attractive seating area outside the cafe and is an enhancement of the streetscape.
But – the idea that a neighbourhood where a small family house costs over £1mio needs ‘regenerating’ is laughable. Can we think of a more nuanced and helpful analysis of what is going wrong? Four restaurants have closed on Hammersmith Grove in the period I have lived here, and the two newcomers currently in operation are barely half-full even on Friday and Saturday evenings. Not a healthy sign. Will more parklets help? Perhaps.
Just who is paying for this bit of trivia? The area hardly needs regenerating, to me it seems weird that you’d stick people in the kerb to drink a coffee, just wait for the first vehicular incursion, that should resolve where to keep it or have a £25,000 bonfire.