Middlesex Women's Cricket Centre Coming to Brentford

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert

November 28, 2025

Thursday was a good day with a bit of good news. Well, it wasn't exactly news, but the arrival of Middlesex Cricket Club at the former Beecham sports ground in Swyncombe Avenue has moved on a stage.

I remember when I was canvassing in 2022 I talked to a couple on The Ride (the other side of the sports ground). They asked me what was happening to the old sports ground. Now I have to make a confession. I had never noticed it was there. I knew there was a sports field, but I thought it was all related to the private school in Ealing which has its own sports field there, where I had a load of casework about spaces for their students' bus going back a few years. Must be getting old.

Anyway, I told the couple that we had plans to build a 34-storey block of flats there. They looked a bit alarmed until I confessed I didn’t have a clue. Eventually I learned Middlesex had bought it (hooray) and that it is a protected sports field (double hooray).

Last year Middlesex invited me and Salman Shaheen to visit and they told us of their plans to make it their centre for women's cricket. Former Hounslow Head of planning and Brentford resident (and always worryingly sporty) Marilyn Smith was present though former England cricket hero Angus Fraser didn't show - dammit, no autograph - presumably avoiding the crowd of adoring fans who would have attended.

So their plans are progressing. The dodgy old field has been replaced by a pristine cricket square (and the round bit around it) and they are in pre-planning for the new pavilion etc that they need to build.

They will also have some cricket nets in a 'dome' and this week's fashion, Padel courts. I'm delighted that Middlesex is coming to Brentford to build the Queen Elizabeth II ground in lovely Brentford. Not Lords of course. Yet. Perhaps they'll rename it Ladys. I hadn't realised that women cricket is nearly always played on Sundays because blokes hog the Saturdays. This gives women a ground where they don't have to compromise, and I think it is the first such centre in the country.

When I got home, I had an online session with planners and Katherine Dunne about the proposed conversion of Concord House (the small block of flats at the end of Pump alley where my own mini-palace flat is sited) The owner has plans to convert it into student accommodation. I asked Katherine to call it in for review because planners were planning to approve it without any councillor engagement. Actually, I am not against the change (it used to be an office, then flats) but I thought we needed some reassurance that it was financially viable and the amenity space was adequate. I think we were both reassured and it avoided wasting time referring it to a committee that approves everything anyway!

On Saturday I spent some time with Katherine and Dan Bowring (I had ordered a warm day but it was not delivered and I am asking for a discount) talking with various trustees of the Brentford Boat Club. This is a holy mess. The rowing (etc) facility developed over several years - with a bit of support from council, councillors (mainly me) volunteers, and various funders - by Paul and Miranda Keane is under threat after a fall out between Paul's charities and the newer Brentford Boat Club, who accuse Paul of various dastardly deeds. It is not for me to judge these allegations so I will just say (probably again!) that I give all the credit to bringing water sports to Brentford to Paul and Miranda. Very sadly, their spirit (and their bank account and their reputation) are badly damaged by this dispute. For now, the game is nearly over, as the contract to rent the area next to Ferry Quays is being terminated this week. I will say no more, but repeat an extract of a heart-rending message from a local teacher who wrote to me

I’m writing to you as both a parent of a child in Team Keane and a teacher at a local primary school that Team Keane worked with last year. You may have read and heard about what’s happened recently. While I don’t know all the details, I’m writing to ask for help. 

For almost two months, Team Keane gave free kayaking lessons to a large group of children from our school who had never been near fresh water let alone in it. The confidence, resilience, adaptability and communication skills they developed were extraordinary. A number of them went on to continue kayaking. The staff at Team Keane were professional, motivational and knowledgeable at all times. We, as staff, felt confident in them. 

As a parent, my son has been kayaking for six months now with Team Keane. He is now feeling part of a community. Kayaking three times a week has helped him grow mentally stronger during his transition from Y6 to Y7. He feels useful, he feels special. He has competed in national kayaking events with Team Keane in Nottingham. He has competed more locally in Guildford. The opportunities that the team have given him are invaluable. 

It is with great sadness that I have heard of the current troubles. While I don’t know the details (apart from the news and a short chat with Paul Keane), I do know that Team Keane have helped our community hugely. I really hope that my son’s journey with kayaking won’t end now, and I hope that Team Keane can continue to support the children in my school and schools around the local boroughs.

I have rarely seen such a powerful and heartfelt tribute to a tiny local service, and I must move whatever I can to get this back on track.

It was a sad, depleted sight at Ferry Point on Saturday.

Most of the boats had gone - mostly taken away by the Keanes together with much equipment and the rest will go this week.

This is not, I hope, the end of the story, though it will largely be gone at least temporarily. The Keanes want to find a way of carrying on, from somewhere nearby as do the Kayak school and the Brentford Boat Club trustees. I will be working with them and other river related people to try and find a way forward.

This same week, the long-running saga of the marina at Watermans Park has finally crumbled to dust. I have been engaged with this for nearly a decade, and for more than half a decade urging the council to terminate this ill-advised contract. Finally, it was out of the council's hands because the developer went into liquidation and the contract is now history. I am not consulted myself on what happens next as I am not part of the ruling clique, but glad to hear that my local allies are engaged with the Cabinet member in creating a new solution.

Personally, I think the council should buy the small parcel of land where the Keanes have been operating and combine that with the new marina that will emerge from the ashes and make Brentford river -focussed with a variety of uses between Ferry Quays and the Eastern end of Watermans Park. Am I dreaming? Yes, but dreams are what Brentford needs, not broken ones.

I have written a longer piece on the Marina on Watermans in a comment on Facebook and I may make a separate blog on this. It has taken a chunk out of my life.

Talking of which, there has been a development (of sorts) at the 'marina'. The luxury abandoned lifeboat revered by Printmakers Yard has disappeared but has been replaced by a new prestige craft.

This luxury cruiser has appeared, together with a Transit van (taxed but lacking a MoT) parked nearby, having mildly chewed up some of the grass. I do not know if these innovations are connected to each other.

On Sunday Katherine, Dan and I had our - these days depleted - joint surgery at Digital Dock. Not many 'customers' as usual but I think it's worth keeping up with local colleagues. We largely share similar ambitions and I'm proud to have them as colleagues and friends, even if we are now in two political parties.

Nothing much on Monday, but on Tuesday I had a coffee with a resident near Kew Bridge in an area of Brentford that was kidnapped by the Boundaries Commission and awarded to Chiswick. He has been a friend for 8 or 9 years having met on council matters. We talked about the town and the continued neglect of the Chamber of Commerce where we were both enthusiastic members and which was once important in Brentford. I have tried to revive it but have failed thus far. New year, I will have another go, because we would benefit greatly from having a Chamber or similar business forum.

In the evening we had the Area Forum. I was a bit upset because Marina, who I rate highly, was unhappy about me suggesting she should be replaced as chair of the Forum, as she (like Emma) will be standing miles away from Brentford in May elections. Certainly not personal and I wish her well. Of course, the Leader did not bother to respond to my email in any way.

The first main topic in the Forum was Hounslow's work in discouraging smoking. This was once very interesting for me because I was a heavy smoker from about 17 to about 60, with an interlude of maybe 15 years when my daughter was young. I was rather a pro-smoking enthusiast, against restrictions. I have been tobacco-free for 13 or 14 years now but I still have periodic lung cancer screening and I know my lungs and my cardio-vascular system are both damaged. What a fool I was when I was younger (and distinctly middle-aged). Glad to see it is now a minority sport. It was practically compulsory among cool young men (or square ones trying to be cool) in the 1960s and 1970s.

The other matter was development. As people read this blog regularly will know, this is a matter that engages me strongly. Actually, it was development which led to my falling out with the Labour Party (very mutual I should add!) when my first 'sin' against the council was mentioning that keeping perfectly complete new lovely council houses unoccupied whilst people in the condemned Charlton House were confined to their living room because the bedrooms were uninhabitable. It took far too long, too, for the flats in what is now known as Tintern House (relevance to Brentford??) staying unoccupied.

Before that I moaned about it being known by the Ballymore name 'Block D'. Hardly romantic and what comes in my mind is a soap opera in an Australian prison - Prisoner: Cell Block H. It was probably rubbish, but I really liked it at the time and am alarmed that it was 30 or 40 years ago. Any other fans around?

Anyway, talking of rubbish, that's what I think of the development efforts of the council recently. Already covered the marina that isn't but the shops have been an exercise in towering failure, I'm afraid. Mismanaged, half-heartedly marketed, and still 80% empty after well over a year. My poor hairdresser is still not in and I'm worried how many will survive whilst a lot of the Ballymore development is - shall we say - sparsely occupied. Loss of income to the council from the marina and the shops (and the former housing office, and the Watermans centre, and the becalmed Charlton House replacement) is staggering. Not that I can tot it all up, though I have pointed out to the Leader and others from time to time with numbers attached. They are always ignored. Poor officer Sam Tilby has to defend all this, which I suspect is nowhere nearly in her control.

Today, Thursday, I had a session with Paul Keane to investigate the accusations made against him. As I said, I make no judgments, but I now better understand his angle and his decisions. Whatever the reality of all that, it is depressing to see the toll this has taken on this energetic and determined man, and his wife. I am sure he will bounce back and again make a positive impact in Brentford.

Oh – nearly forgot. Me and my council election partner Rashid Wahab will be at the Globe Public House in Windmill Road on Saturday from 11. It is my next very experimental coffee (other beverages are available but it’s on you) morning which is my attempt to meet residents and understand is pleasing or bugging them. Do come, or I’ll be lonely and believe me, you don’t want to see me crying.

Councillor Guy Lambert