Chiswick Flower Market: Transforming a neglected car park

Chiswick Flower Market is a community-led initiative started during Covid-19 to help increase footfall and revitalise the town centre.

Held on the first Sunday of the month on an underused surface car park, it was set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) run by local residents without any public funding.

Four years on, it is thriving and is helping to transform the area, attracting shoppers and increasing spend on the high street.

Karen Liebreich, a director of Abundance London, has been involved with Chiswick Flower Market since the initial idea was proposed and is a CIC director. Our founder, Diane Cunningham, met Karen and other CIC directors on a buzzy market day and asked her what has changed in the last four years, some of the lessons learned and what’s next.

What’s been the most important thing you learned from setting up the market?
It was a very steep learning curve as none of us had ever run a market before, but we learnt it was important to have a good-humoured, reliable team, committed to the project and headed in the same broad direction.

We’ve also learnt many small but important practical improvements. For example, the importance of (advertising) banners, where not to waste money, ensuring efficient set-up and breakdown and, on a highly practical note, musicians need to be protected from the weather, wind or rain if we are to attract them.

What would you have done differently?
Given that we started from a position of complete ignorance, there were many small things we would have improved or not wasted our time/money on.

For example, talking strategy early on when we had marketeers proposing complex campaigns including a cinema advert we couldn’t afford to run.

But these are small learning blips. Overall, when we look at what we set out to do and what we have achieved, we are right on track.

Has your approach changed over time?
As a team, we’ve worked out internally who does what best, and individuals take responsibility for certain things. This makes the process much easier.

We found door dropping leaflets to specific postcodes didn’t work so we switched to targeted social media campaigns instead.

In terms of the profile, anecdotally, we’ve noticed a younger, more diverse crowd of visitors and hope to continue to grow this group.

We have learnt so much, from the intricacies of licensing law, parking regulations and the importance of weights on your gazebo to working with the local community and businesses and how to motivate a team of volunteer marshals.

While we initially tried extending the Flower Market further along the High Road, it didn’t feel completely successful, and we decided to focus the plants in Old Market Place and explore other options for the secondary part of the market. We remain the licence holder for the secondary area, with overall responsibility, but we work with partners who are responsible for curating the trader selection and ensuring the paperwork is correct.

Have you gained or lost any traders?
We aim for around 80% regulars and 20% new traders. This gives stability while still offering access to new traders, especially start-ups and seasonal offerings. Some come as a test, and it doesn’t work for them; for others, it does but we like as many traders as possible to have the opportunity to try trading and the 80/20% split allows us to do this.

One of our first graduates, an airline steward, did a pop-up during Covid-19, enjoyed it, and now has two flower shops, including one in Chiswick. Two of our newer traders won gold medals at major horticultural events, and one still has a stall in the market.

How are you measuring success?

• Footfall – The market looks very busy, and the local shops are generally very enthusiastic. The market traders love the market and want to come back, and the musicians, likewise, as they make good money by busking. The footfall is very good, even in the winter months.
• Attracting new markets – At the very first meeting, I said we would be the icebreaker, creating a channel for other markets and showing people what the car park at the centre of Chiswick could be like. Three other markets – antiques and vintage, specialist cheese, and street food – have now followed on the other Sundays of the month, using our layout and experience with the licensing department.
• Trader numbers – The number of traders has increased, and we now have a waitlist for each market.

What are the wider community benefits of Chiswick Flower Market?

We see the Chiswick Flower Market as an essential part of the community, the centre for all major community events. It provides a crucial space and a spark to rejuvenate the high street commercially and environmentally.

The aim is to improve the High Road. We have replanted flower beds and supported local residents’ associations to improve their green spaces.

The car park area is dilapidated and no longer well used for parking. Providing an attractive centre to the High Road that encourages shopping, meeting, and sitting with well-placed seating and well-maintained greenery.

• Community involvement – We work with all the resident groups, local schools, many of the churches and other community organisations. We offer at least one free stall per market to local community groups such as adult learners, local wildlife or wellbeing advice.
• Events – All the local schools come to sing at our Christmas markets, and this year, we are planning a community singalong Carol event. We also organised and part-funded the Christmas tree and lights switch-on with Sophie Ellis-Bextor. For the Platinum Jubilee and the King’s Coronation, we provided free entertainment and ice cream.

What’s next for the market and Chiswick High Road?
We would like to extend the geographical range of our customers. We periodically survey our customers to find out where they come from, how they get there and how they heard about the market. They are predominantly local and from the nearby areas.

Our main project is to refurbish the centre of Chiswick (Old Market Place), and we have commissioned landscape architects, parking surveys, co-design projects and structural research. We want this area to be greener with seating, rain gardens and not just on event days.

We would like to see the secondary space settle into a regular slot with other offers. We have had a vegan market and an art market but we are still settling on the best match.
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The market takes place on the first Sunday of every month. Find out more on their website

Hearing about the team’s experience took us right back to when we were part of the Chatsworth Road Market team in Hackney which is still trading today, nearly 15 years later