Concern about Grove Gardens

Grove Gardens Bowling Green

Richmond Council are planning to stop locking the park at night as from 1st September, to allow users/visitors the benefit of longer hours of use such as exercise, and dog walking.

Grove Gardens Park has two 1930s built pavilions, a bowling green and a statue plus open space. The Friends of Grove Gardens are concerned about the park being misused at night, with potential damage to the bowling green, and the risk of theft or damage to the contents on the 2 pavilions (which belong to the bowling club). There has been some damage to the park previously - the statue and the green - and the statue now has a thick hedge around it. As a precedent Udney Park Pavilion has suffered some vandalism.

There are no lights in the park and it is substantially surrounded by trees, so cannot see how it could be extensively used for dog walking or exercise at night.

An assessment of all feedback will be carried out in December 2024 after a trial period of 3 months, to assess the full impact of this operational change.

25 Aug 2024