Update – August 2022: The Street Team is now on duty Monday-Thursday from 8am-10pm and Friday-Saturday from 8am-midnight.
The Marble Arch Street Team works with the BID area’s building and security managers, shop and restaurant staff, front of house teams and concierges to discourage anti-social behaviour and report problems to the police and Westminster City Council. They also provide information and assistance for visitors to the area.
Launched in 2016, the Marble Arch Street Team looks after the whole of the BID area – from the top of Park Lane in the south to the Marylebone Flyover in the north stretching to Old Quebec Street to the east and Connaught Village to the west. They also protect the area around Marble Arch itself, to prevent concentrations of rough sleepers either in the park or in the subway network below Park Lane.
As of November 2019, the Street Team patrols Monday to Saturday from 8am to midnight all year round.
The Street Team consists of Ali, Lotfi, Ben and Hamdan. Each member of the Street Team is fluent in English and Arabic, allowing them to engage and check in with shop and restaurant owners, building and security managers, front of house staff and concierges to discuss the current safety situations in the area and understand how they can support the various businesses.
The Street Team has received extensive training from the Metropolitan Police, Westminster City Council, Transport for London and homeless agencies in order to offer a range of valuable services for Marble Arch BID members and visitors to the area, including:
- Tackling anti-social behaviour
- Reporting and removing environmental risks
- Referring vulnerable people to agencies
- Recovering lost property
- Dealing with pedicabs
- Moving on organised beggars
- Responding to business requests for assistance
- Helping visitors to the area
If you encounter persistent begging, experience dumped waste outside your premises, are concerned about rickshaws, disturbed by noise, are affected by shop-lifting or want to report a vulnerable rough sleeper the team will be able to assist you. They also make sure the road and pavements are safe, and will alert Transport for London to any problems on Edgware Road and around Marble Arch.
The Street Team’s presence is recognisable within the community, and sends a powerful message – Marble Arch and Edgware Road are safer spaces within the Westminster community. In fact, the Team’s efforts were acknowledged by Westminster City Council in receiving the Highly Commended Neighbourhood Project Award in the 2017 Westminster Community Awards. They work closely with our neighbours PaddingtonNow BID, Baker Street Quarter Partnership and New West End Company, to ensure that we don’t simply displace problems.
If you’d like to book an appointment with the team, please email our Head of Operations, Mike Fairmaner at mikefairmaner@marble-arch.london to arrange, or simply look out for them in the area. To call them for immediate help please dial 07825 750777.
Remember, in an emergency, or if a crime is in progress, please dial 999.
For more information about the work of Marble Arch London email us getinvolved@marble-arch.london or call us on 020 3145 1210.
