The Phoenix Garden — Attraction in London

Hurrah !! Well done Team Phoenix Garden...Summer 2019 ...visiting hours have been extended... a wonderful 10am-6pm. I have managed to get in for those magic little 10 minute visits again...changes the day. Below is my original 2 star review from a year ago about this wonderful little garden and problems it faces and how such a precious thing can be lost to the locals...and then in this happy case returned in 2019.

.....Before they poshed-up this garden it truly was a garden for people and a garden for wildlife...and very delightful it was as well but now is minus 3 of its 5 stars in this review for not being reliably open to the public and the locals any more. All we can do is peer in through the bars.

I've just returned from having attempted to visit ...between 12 and 3pm as informed... to find it CLOSED AGAIN AND ON A SUNDAY. Poor locals... so much the poorer for the loss of this city oasis of all things natural and wonderful. Did you think we would not notice or do not care??

I do realize the drug pushing in the area is a huge problem so the garden must be protected and that a limited opening requiring supervision is the result of such unsavoury activity but one cannot help feeling resentment when a valued resource is withdrawn from the area but also goes into an events market as an exclusive venue for hire by the wealthy...many of whom might not be from this area.

If this is the only way such a precious thing can survive, and I suspect it is, then all I can say is...how sad but needs must...keep the garden safe. I would prefer it if I were still welcome to drop in for 10 minutes here and there and at all sorts of times of the day. I do hope hours can be...

The east side of Stacey Street, near Covent Garden, was bombed in the Second World War. After being used as a car park, negotiations began in 1981 to convert the land into a community garden. It is managed by residents of the surrounding flats, working as volunteers. It has survived under difficult circumstances and is a pleasure to visit. The manner of its creation has given it a fresh and light-hearted character, not at all like that of a 'typical London park'. In 1985, the gardens won a Shell Better Britain Campaign Award. The garden was officially opened in 1986 by the local MP at the time, Frank Dobson. It is interesting to remember that Covent Garden was the garden of Westminster Abbey. The garden has been planted with a focus on ecology and habitat creation and has won the Best Environmental Garden in Camden in Bloom every...

A small oasis of calm. So its not perfectly trimmed and uniform and that's the beauty of it, that's how plants grow. It is worth the trip as we diverted to go via the garden on our way up past Tottenham Court Road. We loved it for what it was a community project that had turned a scruffy small piece of London into a positive place to visit and be quiet and not in hurry. Some lovely places to sit just a shame it was so cold when we visited. Not many of these places left in central London and they should be encouraged and appreciated for what they are. Do not come here expecting everything to look perfect. Will...