While Teddington has seen a few local businesses close in 2024, there's also been lots of exciting new openings.

Our town is expected to see more new openings in 2025 as well as the progression of various schemes in and around Teddington.

New boardgame cafe

Drinks and Dice will replace Ho Me on Teddington's Church Road (Credit: Nub News)

A new boardgame cafe, Drinks and Dice, is set to open on Church Road, replacing Ho Me after the owners decided to sell the restaurant's building upon their retirement.

The mastermind behind the new cafe, Robin Kerremans, bought the property off Ho Me's owners in early December.

In a previous interview with Teddington Nub, Kerremans said: "The new cafe will be called Drinks and Dice and will offer a wide selection of boardgames for customers to play, ranging from classics like Chess and Boggle to modern favourites like Azul and 7 Wonders.

"All in all, we have about 70 boardgames right now,

"The focus of the cafe will be mostly on serving drinks while customers play the games, so coffee and tea for during the day, soft drinks, ciders and IPAs for in the evening. I'm also looking into offering smoothies and bubble tea.

"In regard to food, I am starting with just pastries and paninis but may expand to proper use of the kitchen if we find a good chef for it."

Kerremans is hoping to open Drinks and Dice this month.

He has also applied for the sale of alcohol during Drink and Dice's operating hours as a boardgame café, being Wednesday to Friday, 1pm – 10pm and Saturday, 9am – 10pm.

Reopening of the Thames towpath between Richmond Lock and Kew Gardens car park

The hames towpath between Richmond Lock and Kew Gardens car park is set to prepared in the summer of 2025 (Credit: Ed Baker)

After  a section of the Thames towpath between Richmond Lock and Kew Gardens car park collapsed in October, permanent repair works are expected to start in early 2025 and the council hopes that the towpath will reopen in the summer.

Teddington Lock

Will repairs to Teddington Lock finally be completed in 2025? (Credit: Nub News)

There's been lots of closures to the footbridge at Teddington Lock over the past year, but Richmond Council has assured residents that it is nearing the end of Phase 3 of the repairs.

While there will be upcoming closures on the footbridge from 6 January to 10 January and on 13 and 14 January, with Phase 3 coming to an end, could the whole project be nearing completion?

Opening of dog grooming shop



Wild Bush will replace the former Ladbrokes on 140 High Street in Teddington (Credit: Google Maps)

 The former Ladbrokes betting shop on Teddington High Street is being converted into a dog grooming shop, Wild Bush. 

Wild Bush is a chain with shops in Putney, Richmond, Barnes, and Fulham, and Teddington will be its fifth.

The shop is a "human and dogs" grooming shop, selling "carefully sourced products which you can't get on Amazon," a Wild Bush spokesperson told Teddington Nub.

They said: "We hire the best dog groomers in London."

Construction on the site began on 6 November, but the opening has been delayed due to "the difficulty of restoring the site to its Edwardian glory after it had been a betting shop for 20 years," the spokesperson said.

Wild Bush is expected to open in mid-January.