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Fighting 24hr gambling in our streets

On Thursday 17^th Sept 2026 an extremely successful public event was held in St Cuthbert’s Church about fighting gambling 24H in our streets and more specifically about the proposed expansion of Silvertime on Earl’s Court Road. Thanks for all those that attended.

The event, organised by Joe Powell MP jointly with the Earl’s Court Society, with the support of all the Residents’ Associations in the area, attracted a huge turnout of more than 150 people. This demonstrated the strength of community opposition to the proposal and reflected the broad local consensus built through a campaign that has brought together people across political and community lines, with strong cross-party support.

We had exceptional speakers at the event. Joe Powell spoke about the forthcoming changes to gambling legislation, which will introduce new gambling impact assessments, strengthen planning rules governing Adult Gaming Centres, and remove the so-called “Aim to Permit” principle that has frequently influenced Councils when considering controversial gambling applications. He explained that these reforms are intended to give local authorities greater ability to take account of the cumulative impact of gambling premises, the characteristics and needs of local communities, and potential risks to vulnerable people. He also emphasised the importance of giving Councils and residents a stronger voice in determining where gambling premises are appropriate, rather than treating each application in isolation.

Bianca Jagger, in her very inspiring speech, expressed her concerns about the potential impact of Silvertime application on children, given its proximity to schools, student accommodation and support services, as well as to vulnerable people and older residents. She stressed that residents and elected representatives should have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting the safety, wellbeing and character of their community. The central principle, she argued, should be that where foreseeable harm exists, protecting people and communities must take precedence over further commercial expansion.

Linda Wade highlighted the worrying trend towards an Earl’s Court High Street with increasingly little to offer local residents, given the overcrowding of fast-food outlets, vape shops and delivery services, alongside two betting shops and two Adult Gaming Centres. This, she said, is limiting opportunities for the types of retail businesses residents actually want. She stressed that the Silvertime application is not simply a relocation, but an expansion into a prominent High Street position, and called for a genuine Council strategy to improve the area and attract businesses that local people would use.

Tom Bennett spoke about the Council’s current position about the Silvertime application. He reiterated that the Council had refused the planning application on the basis of six strong grounds, and confirmed that it would robustly defend this position at the forthcoming appeal. He also outlined the Council’s wider efforts to address the issues affecting the area and to ensure that the interests and concerns of local residents are properly taken into account.

Will Prochaska, Director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA) and an expert in the gambling sector, spoke about the need to reduce or ultimately end gambling advertising and promotion. In his view, gambling harm should be treated as a public-health issue rather than simply as a matter of individual responsibility. He also shared some personal experiences of checking whether gambling premises were complying with their licensing conditions, and described instances where he had found that licensing conditions at some premises were not being properly observed.

The objective of the event was also to support the request for the Silvertime appeal to be determined by a hearing rather than by written representations. A hearing would provide an opportunity for residents to attend, make their views known and, where permitted, speak directly during the proceedings. We also hoped that, if a hearing were held, it could take place locally in RBKC rather than in Bristol, making it easier for local residents to attend.

A big thank you to everyone who helped organise the event, and to all the local Resident Associations for helping to spread the word, in particular ECSRA. It was great to see so many people attending and demonstrating interest, and to listen to such inspiring speeches by our guests.

Fighting off casinos in our high street

April 2026 saw our demonstration against casinos in Earl’s Court outside the former Lloyds Bank where Silvertime have applied for change of use into a gaming parlour. Their application was rejected by the RBKC planning committee on 16 April (the meeting attended by more than 70 people from Earl’s Court) but we have to be ready to fight again if Silvertime appeal.

2025

The Annual General Meeting took place on 15 May 2025, St Cuthbert’s Church, 50 Philbeach Gardens. Joe Powell, our MP, and all Earl’s Court councillors participated in a valuable discussion about the local challenges such as the Earl’s Court Road and ECDC development site. Our secretary Carola Hickling will send out the minutes shortly.

VE Day 80th anniversary – view the photos of the ECS Hogarth Road Street Party, from Bank Holiday Monday, 5th May 2025.