Balham and Tooting Carnival 

Balham Festival has now changed into Balham and Tooting Carnival.  The Balham Town Centre Partnership and Balham Town Centre Manager are not involved in organising this event because it is now mostly taking place outside of Balham Town Centre.  For futher information visit www.balhamtootingcarnival.com  or phone 07932 031 146. 

Help Design Balham Respite Garden in St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church want to hear your views and ideas for a new Balham Respite Garden, to be located within the Church grounds.  There will be 3 tea parties on Sun 10th, 17th and 24th June from 4 to 5.30pm, where you can sample homemade cakes and decide what furniture, plants & layout you would like. 

St Mary’s Church is just south of Balham Station. 

On Wednesday 30th May at 6.30pm GLE oneLondon in partnership with the new Balham Town Centre Manager, Balham Partnership, Wandsworth Council and Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce are holding an exclusive FREE evening for Balham businesses.  A variety of experts have been brought together and will be explaining in plain English how to access local sources of finance and business support.  The evening is being held in Raviolo, 1 Balham Station Road, SW12 9SG, the lovely new Italian restaurant that has opened opposite Balham Station.  Refreshments and food will be served during the evening.  Places are limited to 30. 

To reserve your FREE place please contact Lavinia Black, Administrator, GLE oneLondon on (020) 8772 0500/ lavinia.b@gle.co.uk

A quality children’s shoe shop has opened at 73 Bedford Hill.  ‘Happy Toes’ provides a professional fitting service by experienced staff and is open 7 days a week.

For Further information contact 020 8772 0013

Rumplestiltskin are now stocking the ‘Heavy Couture’ collection by new Finish designer Lynda Silpa as part of their unisex Spring/ Summer range.  The fashion store in Hildreth Stret (formally known as Thingamajig) has been recently refurbished with interesting artwork. 

The owners of Rumplestiltskin will give a prize to the first person that can correctly identify what is unusual about the paparazzi figure (opposite and below).  For further information call (020) 8675 1007

Following on from the success of the spiritual and devotional online shop, the husband and wife team, Carolyn Cowan and Jean Baptiste Hugo have opened a retail store in Hildreth Street. 

The store provides direct and easy access for people to shop at their leisure, meet with the founders and seek guidance on wide ranging subjects like how to create a spiritual space, the ideal yoga accessories, try out yoga clothing for real women and everything else relating to a spiritually healthy life.

For further information visit www.devotion.co.uk or call (020) 8765 7069

New restaurant opened at 1 Balham Station Road, directly opposite the train station. Specialising in ravioli with a variety of fillings and sauces to choose.

http://www.raviolo.co.uk/

Bunka is a fabulously eclectic lifestyle boutique stocking a delicious mix of cutting edge clothing, shoes, jewellery and accessories from top global brands, as well as funky homeware and fun gifts blending seasonal trends with unrivalled originality. From casual knitwear and picture frames to hats and bath confetti, Bunka is a veritable Aladdin's den of delights for men, women and children.

Recently opened on Bedford Hill.

Academy award nominee Roger Goldby has just finished shooting his feature length debut - a brief encounter in Balham. The Waiting Room is an intelligent and distinctive drama about love, fate and being ready to meet the right person. The film stars include Anne-Marie Duff, Ralf Little, and Rupert Graves.

For more information visit www.thewaitingroomfilm.com

On Thursday 30th November, Balham’s festive light switch on was a great success. Carols were led by Balham Community Church with individual pieces sung by pupils from Alderbrook and Trinity St Mary Primary Schools.Afterwards everyone enjoyed mince pies and Christmas biscuits in Bertie & Boo café, 162 Balham High Road.

Independent mindbodysoul, an Aveda concept salon and day spa offering hair and beauty treatments, which opened in April 2005, won the best new business category. The criteria is that business has been trading for under two years and must prove how they stay ahead of the competition. Independent mindbodysoul has certainly surpassed the expectations of a young business. All eleven-category winners are then eligible for the overall award Wandsworth ,

Business of the Year 2006, which is awarded to the business which has made the biggest overall impact on the judges. Independent mindbodysoul also won this award. Congratulations to the team at Independent mindbodysoul. If you feel like some pampering in the run up to the festive period or need some relaxation after the Christmas celebrations then visit Independent mindbodysoul,

87 Balham High Road, www.independentmindbodysoul.co.uk.

The art of eating tapas may have been born in Spain, but today it's a cultural phenomenon that has just hit Balham.

The Fat Delicatessen embraces the flexibility of eating tapas and adds a touch of sophistication. As well as a daily bar menu which consists of a variety of light and more robust options, there's also a specials board reeling off an upmarket melange of Spanish and Italian dishes.

Telephone: 020 8675 6174

www.fatdelicatessen.co.uk

Hop & Spice, a Sri lankan restaurant has opened at 53 Bedford Hill. The cuisine is rich and distinct Sri lankan traditional recipes cooked with an array of fresh and roasted spices. They offer a range of interesting beers and a selection of wines. They will be showing Bollywood films on a projector. It is very stylishly decorated which has obviously attracted the locals as has been fully booked for its first week of opening. To book a table call 020 8675 3121

The Balham store (where Iceland used to be) comes 18 months after the opening of the Ealing shop, which was voted Best Large Store at the Natural and Organic Annual Industry Awards in May 2006. 

Caroline Walker, managing director, believes that the formula of her 99 per cent organic supermarket works well. ‘We have a strong product base, coupled with enthusiastic suppliers who provide us with innovative new products. It is also a growing market, and our success at Chiswick and Ealing has convinced us that it is the right time to expand.’

The demographic profile in Balham and the surrounding areas matches the customer profile of As Nature Intended, with a lot of young professional and young families living in the catchment area.

Are you looking for a comfortable, creative environment locally to hold good meetings and training sessions? The Centre for Public Innovation has created a Space at Hillgate Place on Balham Hill where you can do just this.

This no ordinary venue. If you find a bare meeting room with a table and whiteboard is uninspiring, then you’ll like our Space. It has completely different feel - open, light, bright and airy. The BIG Space seats up to 30 people and can be arranged in many ways; the two little Spaces are suitable for either boardroom or small gatherings. There’s contemporary community art displayed on the walls and lots of options for catering if you need it.

For more information or to book The Space, please contact Egle Kaminskyte at the Centre for Public Innovation on 020 8675 577; by email:  thespace@publicinnovation.org.uk or visit

www.publicinnovation.org.uk to get full details.

Starbucks opened a store at 41 to 43 Bedford Hill at the end of August. It seems the locals welcomed it as it has been busy over the last 3 weeks.

Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Starbucks Coffee Company, the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 10,800 retail locations around the world. Committed to offering the highest quality coffee and Starbucks Experience to its customers, Starbucks strives to conduct its business in ways that help foster social, environmental and economic benefits for the communities in which it operates.

Starbucks entered the UK market in 1998 and now employs over 7,100 partners (employees) in over 500 wholly owned stores.

Balham's gourmet Farmers and local producers market

The market is every Sunday from 10.00 am until 2 pm. We have 20 farmers coming to sell their fresh produce including organic fruit & veg, fish, meats, cheese, eggs, bread, and cakes, ranging from tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, eggs from Lincolnshire, meat from Sussex, mushrooms from Kent and lots more............... Come and put together a feast for Sunday dinner or stock up for the rest of the week.

Co-ordinated by Balham Partnership, Trinity Stores and Wandsworth Council.

New child friendly cafe - Bertie and Boo

Following the success of Bertie and Boo's children's entertainment business they decided to open a child friendly cafe in the heart of Balham. It is beautifully decorated with a red and blue theme. They have colouring and toys to entertain the children, nice baby changing facilities and free nappies. They offer simple healthy freshly made salads, sandwiches, smoothies and unusual milkshakes. (I recommend the M&M's one) they have mini melts, fantastic fingers, little pots of goodness and fairy cakes for the little ones. It is on the corner of Ramsden Road and Balham High Road, number 162.

Balham was experiencing caribbean heat over the weekend for carnival. The streets were busy with people visiting the French market and waiting for the colourful floats to pass by. The circus workshop was very popular with the young & the old people of Balham!

Balham Community space became Latin American on Sunday afternoon with Bolivan dancers, Reggaeton DJ and finished with the world salsa champions from Columbia which were absolutely amazing.

The fashion show on Sunday evening organised by local business Thingimajig and Raw Platinum Entertainment showcased their young designers in great style.