Looking to the future

Published by Peter | Filed under Development.

2010. Wow. Hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Christmas & New Year’s period; the wife and I decided to have a South London holiday, trying out lots of places we hadn’t been to before. The highlights were the pizza at Franco Manca in Brixton, which is without doubt among the best I’ve ever eaten, and the Horniman Museum, which has some great cultural galleries.

So, what’s this year going to bring for Camberwell?

It could be the year of great change; the completion of the Mary Datchelor development will be bringing a lot of moneyed new residents into the area, and if the local shops don’t meet their demands they will be spending out of the area, which will be terrible.

There’s the new development at the former Snooker Hall to come as well, which could likewise bring new purchasing power. The trade-off, of course, is the extra strain on the transport infrastructure from the increase in residents.

In the North, Burgess Park is set for a major makeover (and the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate must kick off soon), while in the South the Maudsley & King’s are investing heavily in their real estate.

On top of all that, Time Out say that we finally have our own destination eatery in Angels & Gypsies — although they also say that we’re London’s gay-bar capital, and the new Shoreditch.

A year that’s full of promise and potential.

As for me, I need to take a break from this blog. I’ve got a huge work commitment over the next four months and I won’t have any spare time. I need volunteers to take over until the Summer (and possibly beyond); please email me (peter@​camberwellonline.​co.​uk) and let me know if you’re interested. If no-one can get involved, I’ll have to close the comments and you’ll all have to go to the SE5 Forum message boards; that’s not meant to sound like a threat, it’s just the reality.

Merry Christmas

Published by Peter | Filed under General.

… and a happy New Year.

Angels & Gypsies

Published by Peter | Filed under Eating & Drinking.

So after a three-year wait, Angels & Gypsies tapas y cerveccaria has opened. Being a fan of tapas, and of the place in it’s previous incarnation (Viva Espana) I was really looking forward to trying it out. So I did.

At first I couldn’t see any big changes to how it was before; the big U-shaped bar is still there, and the table layout is the same. But the more I looked, the more changes I saw: the Spanish tiles around the bar, the new wooden floor, the wider front windows.

We got a table easily (next to the Gay Camberwell ladies, if I’m not mistaken); there were two or three other tables already taken, and it got steadily busier throughout the night. There were still probably too many staff, though.

So, the food: we ordered some bread, serrano ham, calamari, chorizo in cider, croquettes, chicken in apricot sauce, and chips with a bravas sauce. It was uniformly very good; ingredients were obviously great quality, and it was all cooked to perfection.

My one quibble: portion sizes. The dishes were priced around £5, and while most of the portions were fine, I thought a few were too small — especially the serrano ham, which gave five small pieces. With all the nice cured legs of ham hanging around the restaurant, it seemed pretty stingey to not give us more.

After dinner I had an almond and pistachio tart with vanilla & cardamom ice cream, while the wife had a chocolate… thing. Both were excellent.

Without wine, the whole meal came to about £33, which was pretty good, I think. We had a nice rioja from the excellent wine list to complement.

Over all, a really nice experience. It’s probably a little bit of a luxury to eat there too frequently, but for a special occasion or a treat it would be great. I could justify it because it’s my birthday.

In summary: a very welcome addition to the Camberwell culinary scene. Recommended.

Stringer ‘well

Published by Peter | Filed under Art, Events.

I have nothing to say; so here instead are some pictures of a new BBC drama, Luther, starring Idris Elba, filming on Camberwell Grove. Many thanks to Gareth for the pictures.

Openings and reopenings

Published by Peter | Filed under Development, Eating & Drinking, History.

Despite the recession, Camberwell’s playing host to a spate of pub/restaurant (re-)openings. Here’s a quick round-up of what’s happening, and what’s coming up.

The Grand Union opened last week to generally favourable reviews. I went along on Friday and the place was the busiest I’ve seen it for years; here’s hoping that continues. The refit has been positive; it’s a little fussy for my tastes, but it feels cosy.

Small quibble: food is pretty much burgers or nothing, and while there’s lots of variety of burger, you’d think for somewhere gambling on a single food item that it’d have to be perfect; unfortunately, while the meat itself was tasty and well-cooked, my blue-cheese sauce tasted more like mayonnaise.

Still; teething problems, I hope. I’ll certainly be going back to try them again. I still wish they’d kept the Grove name, though.

Names brings me on to George Canning; did you know he was the last British Prime Minister to take part in a duel? And with the Secretary of State (for War and The Colonies!) no less. His namesake pub has been refitted and reopens this weekend; the bar on Friday 13^th, the kitchen on Saturday 14^th.

No major changes inside (although I hope they’ve replaced the toilets, which were among the worst around); the bar and kitchen are in the same locations. The George Canning used to be a fine little bistro a couple of years back, so I hope they aim to get back to that.

The Silver Buckle has been taken over by Antic, owners of the East Dulwich Tavern (and others), and is to reopen as The Oberon. To remain a traditional pub, from what I hear.

And finally: the Angels & Gypsies Tapas y Cervecceria, long believed to be a myth, is advertising for staff and so likely to open soon. It’s been, what — three years since the hotel opened? They’re going to have to live up to high expectations, at least from me. But I really can’t wait; Camberwell needs something like this.

Fingers crossed that all the new arrivals thrive here.

Graphic design, parks, pubs, post office

Published by Peter | Filed under Art, Crime, Development, Eating & Drinking, Transport.

Hello everyone. Quite a mixed bag of stuff to get through with this one, so I’ll crack on.

How would you visually represent SE5? One of the students at the College of Arts has had a go.

As reported in comments on the previous post, part of Lucas Gardens has been saved from being sold off to developers, as the College is said to have bought South House. I went to a Halloween party in East House on Saturday night; apologies to the neighbours.

Here’s something topical: Camberwell post office (“grungey and dispiriting”) used as an illustration of why bonuses are not always deserved.

Also topical: the murderer of a man who was stabbed to death near his home, on Coldharbour Lane, was sentenced to a minimum 30 years in prison last week. He sounds like a proper nasty bastard, so: good.

Has everyone taken a look at NickW’s proposal to split traffic around Camberwell Green and pedestrianise the end of Church Street? There doesn’t seem to be much there to argue about, IMHO, and it’s good enough to at least serve as the start of a conversation.

Finally, I have a special offer for everyone; my first ever, I believe. The Grand Union are set to open in the former Grove this week, and are having a launch party on Thursday 5^th (there will be some free drinks, I believe).

They’re keen to get the hyper-critical readers of this blog on their side, so have offered me the following deal: anyone who presents a print-out of this blog post to the manager gets 2-for-1 on main meals — and this deal is valid for the whole of November. That’s pretty good, right? I’m sure there should be some terms and conditions to this deal, but there don’t seem to be, so knock yourselves out.

I wish they’d kept the Grove name, though; a pub’s name is its heritage.