Forum Topic

Arson in Gunnersbury Park

There was a fire at the café overnight. Things are never so bad that some moron doesn't see a way to make them worse.Reports are that the park is closed while police & fire investigations continue.

Susan Kelly ● 2349d38 Comments

Gunnersbury Park & Museum@Gunnersbury1Gunnersbury Park will closed today - Friday 29 May- due to a fire at Gunnersbury Park Cafe. We will update our visitors when we are able to safely reopen the park. Are you sure its arson at this moment in time ?

Julian Pavey ● 2349d

Report on front page says suspected Arson

Rebecca Hobson ● 2349d

It's still under investigation but new buildings don't spontaneously combust in the middle of the night.There's form. Remember how the sports hall burned down a few years ago?

Susan Kelly ● 2349d

Any security cameras ?

Janice Evans ● 2349d

This is so very sad, we don’t use the Park but I am sure many locals do, if it is arson and they catch the culprits which is doubtful what do you think the punishment would be?

Jayne Thorburn ● 2349d

RH > "Report on front page says suspected Arson"I went for a walk round Gunnersbury Park last Saturday. There were notices up regarding several fires that had been started on Monday 18/Tuesday 19 May around the Potomac lake.They are also being treated by the police as suspected arson.

John Whitworth ● 2349d

What a terrible thing to happen. The park has been a godsend under the lockdown rules. Lots of open space and easy to socially distance.  I hope it opens again soon. And the cafe was great before it closed. What rotters.

Stewart Jones ● 2349d

I think the police would send them back to their place of isolation and provide advice about the danger of starting fires.

Robert Fish ● 2349d

Really sad news about the fires. I only discovered the beauty of this park thanks to lockdown, despite living in Chiswick for 13 years! The team has done a great job with all the planting and upkeep of these beautiful grounds. Had hoped lockdown would have reignited a sense of community and pride amongst the masses. I guess there will always be the minority who won't ever change!

Shamini Saxena ● 2349d

'Any security cameras ?'One of my neighbours has CCTV of a couple of young blokes legging it which he has passed on to the police. I've seen it and it will be very hard to identify them from it.Hounslow council are Tweeting that the café has been 'destroyed', not merely damaged.They're saying 48-hour closure so it might be open on Sunday, with luck.

Susan Kelly ● 2349d

The park remains closed while a protective hoarding is built round the wreckage of the café. A group of people broke into the park last night and had to be removed by the police.I wish people would stop being d*cks. (clue: it isn't ducks).

Susan Kelly ● 2348d

Such a shame, hope they rebuild it with air conditioning.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

7am Monday. Don't all go at once.

Susan Kelly ● 2348d

There’s a huge outside area. Air conditioning  unnecessary  and wasteful imo.

Stewart Jones ● 2348d

Some of us have to keep out of the sun.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

Stop falling for it Stewart!

Paul Campbell ● 2348d

Presumably you have to walk in the sun to get to the cafe. There is shade.

Stewart Jones ● 2348d

Paul, genuine reply.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

There was plenty of outside space at the café and most of it was in the shade.

Susan Kelly ● 2348d

I remember the room facing the green being open as a cafe think it was the smaller building, the lady said no it's never been open as a cafe, but I remember it, does anyone else remember.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

Blast. I fell for it again!!

Stewart Jones ● 2348d

It's OK. We'll all be testing our eyesight.

Stewart Jones ● 2348d

You been drinking again.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

I think it’s because you are a good and earnest person Stewart. Beware social media!

Paul Campbell ● 2348d

Paul, please don't become boring, I thought better of you.

Janice Evans ● 2348d

My son has purchased a licence to go fishing at Gunnersbury, and has only managed to go once so far, there had already been some trouble with people breaking in and fishing illegally a couple of weeks ago. It's really sad that it seems to have escalated to this level. Arson is a very serious offence if someone had died it could be a life sentence, under these circumstances - if they manage to catch anyone for this that is - possibly a fine and a community order. Really doesn't seem enough does it?

Vanessa Smith ● 2347d

There is past form here - the temporary cafe was burned out at least twice and an ice cream van was destroyed. I thought that that might be some kind of vendetta but different people ran the new cafe. It cost a fortune to build and took 3 years. It seems unlikely now that it will be re-built anytime soon and it was luck that saved the carriage collection that had been moved there.So much money has been taken away from parks that there is simply not enough resources to police the park effectively. Holes are frequently cut in the fencing on Lionel Road too.

Charlotte Kasner ● 2347d

People have been breaking into the park along Lionel Road this afternoon. The fencing is in very poor condition there.

Susan Kelly ● 2347d

Thar she blows!

Stewart Jones ● 2347d

It turns out that the Charitable Trust that runs the Park gets (or rather got) 10% of the café sales to help towards the upkeep of the Park. They've now lost that along with all their other income from weddings and such like.If you use the Park and can afford to help the link is:https://www.visitgunnersbury.org/support-us/donate-today/

Susan Kelly ● 2344d

Surely the cafe was insured?

Rob Reynolds ● 2344d

'Surely the cafe was insured?'What does that have to do with anything? The Trust will still be losing the income from it while it's rebuilt and God knows how long that will take.

Susan Kelly ● 2344d

I think it is very relevant. Firstly the £250k shortfall, mentioned in the story on the front page, seems more like an amount of money needed to rebuild the cafe, than the lost profits from being closed for 3 or 4 months. If they were making £1mn per year previously, then i'm going to open a cafe in a park. If it was uninsured then that's a pretty big mistake. Secondly, if they are insured, then you'd hope/assume/be normal that they would have business continuity insurance as part of their cover. While insurers are wriggling on paying this insurance for closures due to covid, loss of earnings due to a fire is exactly what this type of insurance is there for. So i think it does have an awful lot to do with anything.

Rob Reynolds ● 2344d

Rob, you are no doubt aware the cafe at Gunnersbury was run by Benugo.  So, any insurance payout due to loss of income would presumably go to Benugo and not Gunnersbury CIC.  Of course there would be building insurance.  I doubt very much both Ealing and Hounslow Council would allow a building on their estate to be standing without it. As for the shortfall, Lovebox, Secret Cinema and a host of other events have had to be cancelled because of Covid-19, leaving a large shortfall in this year's income, hence the need to ask for public donations.

John Roberts ● 2344d

Thanks John, that's a good explanation and makes sense. I had forgotten about Benugo subcontracting, but you would hope the CIC would be due at least a portion of any continuity payment, in line with the commission Benugo were paying per pizza/coffee etc as mentioned in the article.Anyway it's not what the front page story implies, rather that the shortfall of 250k is directly attributable to the fire, hence my query re insurance. I hope you're right that they had it.Front page headline:"Gunnersbury Park Launches Fundraising Appeal After Fire.Destruction of café leaves estate short of a quarter of a million pounds."

Rob Reynolds ● 2344d

The amount the Trust gets from the café each year is about 70k.

Susan Kelly ● 2343d

Thanks,Maybe the editor is just rolling all of the shortfall from other areas of lost revenue into the fire story. I'm interested, as I'd be willing to make a donation if that is the case, however I wouldn't be if errors like no insurance etc had been made without some change of governance.

Rob Reynolds ● 2343d

I don't know who owns the café. Unlikely that it would be Benugo, I'd have thought. If the Council owns it then acting as their own insurer would be a normal thing to do and is what central government also does. If the Trust owns it ... then who knows?

Susan Kelly ● 2343d