Chiswick's traders are clear: they need plentiful parking for their customers including free 30-minute stop-and-shop parking spaces, for quick top-up shops, and longer parking, an hour and two hours, for people who want to combine shopping with meeting a friend for coffee and cake, brunch or lunch or visiting a hairdresser, for example. It is also true that many of Chiswick's retail, hospitality and leisure businesses have customers who drove through Chiswick, liked what they saw, came back and turned into regular customers. For a town like Chiswick, which has been both a through-route and a destination since Roman times, it is crucial to make it easy for people to visit and spend their money in our economy.
Surveys
Two impromptu surveys, conducted by Cllr Joanna Biddolph, showed that people who shop in Chiswick come from all over London and well beyond it. Chiswick relies on them, and on local residents, to support the 300 plus independent shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, and the flagship chains, that makes Chiswick so desirable and special.
Media coverage 2026
Kent, Isle of Sheppey: Pubs in seaside town ban climate change councillors for 'killing' their business after they voted to end free parking: Isabella Machin, Daily Mail, 24th April 2026
Gorleston, Norfolk: Cyclists mount pavements to avoid council’s £500k bike path: Retailers say the loss of parking spaces has harmed trade: Reporters, The Telegraph, 13th April 2026
Media coverage 2024
Britain: £500 per day? Britain’s biggest car park rip-offs: Chris Moss, The Telegraph, 26th July 2024
