Belsize Village

More Belsizevillagemaxxing please.

Today is – which honours the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

London is set to bask in about two weeks of straight sunshine, according to forecasters at the BBC. This could be very promising for London as we leave April and enter into May, especially with the early May Bank Holiday weekend coming up.

The Met Office’s day-by-day forecast doesn’t stretch as far as the BBC’s, but its long range forecast sure looks promising. It reads ‘many places will be largely dry with some clear or sunny spells,’ before adding ‘temperatures will generally be near to or a little above normal.’

However just because the sun is out, it does not mean we ought to lose our cool. It’s important to stay out of the rays in the warmest hours of the day, to wear sun cream, and to drink plenty of water.

Happy Christmas Eve 2025!

Belsize Village is getting an uplift thanks to Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) grant funding arranged to the Belsize Village Business Association (BVBA) by then-Hampstead Town Cllr Oliver Cooper in 2021 (thank you!). The goal of the program is to restore some of the shopfront character Belsize Village had in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This means wood over plastic frontages and painted signs over plastic signs. The more beautiful Belsize Village is, the more uplifting and inviting it will be.

This would mark Phase 3 of Belsize Village’s revitalisation started by the BVBA in 2018 which follows Danish architect Jan Gehl’s community revitalisation rubric: “First life, then spaces, then buildings – the other way around never works.”

During Phase 1 of 2018-2020, we used social media to promote social cohesion and community pride to help halt our persistent shop closures by boosting local demand and attracting visitors from neighbouring communities. For Phase 2, we beautified our village square (notably we got rid of the recurring rubbish mound that sat on the village square for many years!) and sparked the UK’s “al fresco dining experiment” with the Belsize Village Streatery in 2020. Now onto our buildings for Phase 3!

Yesterday, December 23, 2025, our restoration of Holistic was completed.

Roni’s Belsize’s recent renovation has been fantastic but was fully funded by them. However it was undertaken in coordination with the BVBA to ensure it was consistent with our overall vision to restore Belsize Village’s historic character.

Our first restoration was Crescent Fruiterers in 2023.

Our next focus frontages are Village Pharmacy, Late Late, Pyramid and TETA’s.

Belsize Village keeps getting better and better!

Happy Christmas season in Belsize Village.

Photos from Angela King of Heywood’s and Helen Kovari of Admiral: thank you.

Testing out what AI knows about our lovely, little community. Cool!

Belsize Village’s revitalisation journey according to ChatGPT.

Happy Halloween night form the Belsize Village Business Association!