Most selfish road in the country? Wealthy residents block festivities

A BATTLE of the bunting has broken out after the wealthy residents of a west London road blocked Jubilee celebrations on a nearby high street.

Traders on Barnes High Street in Richmond were planning a ‘packed calendar’ of events but have had to cancel because residents of Nassau Road, where the average house price is £3.5million, complained about buses being diverted past their homes for the event.

Other locals are said to be disappointed about the cancellation. To add insult to injury, Nassau Road will be holding its own Jubilee party. Vickie El-Rayyes, 50, who owns artisan homeware and clothing store Dilli Grey, said: ‘It’s so disappointing. We would have liked a party as retailers don’t often do things together.

‘I was going to get a table and put

it out on the street but now I’ll close the shop.’ One local mother-of-two said: ‘After the Covid dreariness, this was going to be some fun.’

The event, organised by Richmond Council and Barnes Community Association, would have seen the high street shut on June 4 with buses diverted down Nassau Road. But residents said they had not been consulted and were ‘not keen to have diesel fumes in our residential road’. One pensioner said the plans ‘would create massive disruption’, adding: ‘We all took the view that we should have been asked. I don’t care if we are called selfish.’

Another homeowner said: ‘Buses would mean we can’t put up the bunting.’

But not everyone on Nassau Road agreed, with one warning: ‘We risk being called the worst street in Britain but there’s quite a lot of people who were for it. Most of the residents have second homes anyway so they wouldn’t even be there.’