Month: June 2005

Dead and dying

The Curse of the CamberwellOnline Blog strikes again.

July 2004: I discuss Blake House restaurant.
January 2005: Blake House closes down.
October 2004: I talk about Rock‑8 Tapas Bar.
March 2005: Rock‑8 closes down.
April 2005: I wonder about Grosevnor Steak House.
June 2005: Grosvenor Steak House closes down.

It’s been there as long as I can remember with no customers, doing just fine, then as soon as I open my mouth (or, rather, move my hands) it ups and closes down. I’m going to watch what I say from now on.

On a more serious note, there’s a lot of shop and bar space that’s just not being picked up. Grosevnor, Bees, Blake House, 4 Sure We’re D Best… high street locations sitting empty. Is Camberwell dying? Where are people going?

On the subject of closing down, the Texaco petrol station on Camberwell New Road disappeared really quickly; like, overnight. Went past it on the bus one day: right as rain. Next day: stripped bare. Pumps gone. The works. Is there going to be more housing development there? Anyone heard?

Denmark Hill tube station

Somehow the comments in the last post managed to turn to Camberwell’s transport options (or lack thereof), which reminded me of a post I was going to make last year based on the proposed London transport map of 2016 (PDF).

The East London line would be extended out on the current London Bridge — Victoria train line, and Denmark Hill would be one stop away from the Northern line and five from the Jubilee, would finally have direct access to Clapham Junction (why it currently doesn’t is a source of great annoyance to me) and would be just one stop from the new transport hub of Peckham Rye, which with it’s Tube, Train and Tram connections would suddenly become one of the most desired addresses in South London.

We can’t wait until 2016! Build it NOW, TfL!

Beer, art and history

My apologies for the lack of writing in the last 10 days, and also for my piss-poor coverage of Camberwell Arts Festival. That wasn’t my intention, but I’m afraid I’ve been a little under the weather myself lately. I’ve barely left the house since Saturday, which means I’ve missed all this fantastic sunshine. Still, I’m better now (more or less). On a related note, if anyone knows of a decent dentist in Camberwell who doesn’t make you wait two weeks for an appointment, please do leave a comment.

So, the fantastically sunny weather necessitated a trip to the fantastically sunny beer garden of the Sun & Doves on Saturday, for a seabreeze and some excellent fish cakes. The Sun & Doves has the only decent beer garden in SE5 (anyone care to dispute that) and it’s special glory is that it attracts a crowd of local students and so, in Summer when they have all gone home, isn’t always massively busy.

It also has it’s art, of course; at the moment they have the Blue Plaques exhibition which mimics the commemorative plaques seen across London, only with the subject of artists in Camberwell. That will run until the end of the Arts Festival (Saturday 25 June) so hurry along if you want to see it.

Still on the subject of the Arts Festival, I dropped into Wordsworth Books at the weekend and bought a copy of The Camberwell Tales, a CD with stories of the area as told by local pensioners and long-time residents. The idea is you listen to it on a walkman or mp3 player while walking around; I’ve yet to do so, but if the weather holds I’ll do so soon.

From reading the sleeve notes I’ve already learned that Camberwell was mentioned in the Domesday Book:

There is land enough for 5 ploughs, there are 22 villagers and 7 small-holders with land for 6 ploughs. There is a church, 63 acres of meadow, and woodland providing 60 pigs.

And that the name comes from a well which was reputed to have powers to heal the sick; ‘camber’ is an Old English word meaning ‘crooked’. Further evidence for this is provided by the church of St Giles, patron saint of cripples.

Under the bad weather

I fully intended to write a post over the weekend about the launch of Camberwell Arts Festival, with pictures and a report from the Parade and Live! concert in Lucas Gardens. Unfortunately, my wife was taken ill on Saturday and I wasn’t able to leave the house to attend. If anyone did go, how about leaving a brief report in the comments?

On a related note, if you ever need to see a doctor outside of Practice hours, you should first contact NHS Direct (0845 4647) and then, if necessary, SELDOC (call your local practice and get the number from their answering service). Hopefully you won’t have to make the trip down to Dulwich Hospital, as we did, with a moody cab driver who charges you extra for stopping at a cashpoint.

I did manage to get out on Sunday morning (before the weather turned bad) and take some new pictures of the area which I’ve added to the Camberwell SE5 pool. Again, if you have a Flickr.com account please feel free to add more.

In other news, Southwark Council is still in trouble with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) over the closure of the Imperial Gardens nightclub in 2003. I confess that this story had passed me by; I’d seen a few leaflets pasted to bus stops, but didn’t really know what it was about. The linked story (from the South London Press) gives a good rundown of the whole affair. But was Imperial Gardens really known as the Motown of South London?

One in the eyesore

Camberwell Green

Back in April I wrote about the huge advertising hoarding that had appeared on the corner of Camberwell Green, and I wrote an email to Southwark Council regarding it. Stuart, a regular visitor, did likewise, and today he received a reply:

I can confirm that the hoarding is unauthorised and as such constitutes a breach of planning control. It is considered to be totally unacceptable in visual amenity terms given its size and position on this prominently located building in Camberwell Green. It is therefore the subject of formal enforcement action to secure its removal. Accordingly, a report has been drafted recommending the service of formal notices (served under section 11 of the London Local Authorities Act 1995)l. The instructions for the Legal department to issue these notices will be dispatched this week. Importantly, there is no right of appeal against such notices, unlike standard planning enforcement notices and the Council is empowered to take direct action to remove unlawful hoardings unless the advertiser removes them as required by the notice. Planning Enforcement is committed to using these robust powers and we are using them to secure the removal of the advertisement hoarding on the flank wall of 76 Denmark Hill.

I haven’t had any reply yet, so maybe I wrote to the wrong department.