Brentford. Famous mostly for Brentford Nylons, even though that company hasn't existed in the town (or anywhere, come to think of it) for aeons. Also notable as the location of Heidelberg and Agfa's UK HQs, and somewhat less notably, of Francis Towers.

The other noteworthy thing about this small corner of Middlesex is that it's apparently the largest urban regeneration site in the country since the huge Canary Wharf development. Basically the property developers have run out of river in posh places like Docklands and Chiswick, and are turning their attention upstream.

As a resident the downside to all this is that for the past decade or so ever-larger parts of the area have become home to derelict and boarded up buildings as the aforementioned developers buy up great chunks of real estate as part of a grand plan to create some sort of hellish Toytown-on-Thames full of buy-to-let flats.

Unsurprisingly, right now things aren't going quite according to plan, although the hiatus predates the credit crunch. Walking past perfectly good buildings lying empty, their windows increasingly smashed, and being woken at 3am by illegal rave parties taking place in the abandoned warehouse over the road can become somewhat depressing after a while, so I'd like to say a heartfelt thank-you to Allsigns Group, which has supported a local community project that has done something to brighten a few of those boarded up windows.

Kids from local schools have designed some really rather funky graphic panels featuring images of (what remains of) the charm of the area. Birds and boats, that sort of stuff. So thanks Allsigns, for providing a much-needed dose of community spirit in these blighted times. I see it says on your homepage that your take Corporate Social Responsibility seriously, and I'm happy to be on the receiving end of a bit of that in action.