Dark clouds gathering
Published by Peter | Filed under Crime, General
Last night I wanted to watch the Arsenal game. As I don’t have Sky at home, I decided to go to my local, the Cadeleigh Arms, to watch it. Unfortunately, they were showing the Man Utd-Celtic game; so I decided to walk to the Bickleigh Arms. It started to rain. By the time I got to the Bickleigh I was quite wet already, and they weren’t showing the game because their subscription had lapsed.
As I was already wet, I decided to chance it and push on to the BRB/Grove, hoping that they had changed their policy about showing football. Nope. On I went to the Hermit’s Cave (passing the no-football Dark Horse on the way); they were showing Man Utd. Pissed off but now determined, I walked to the Silver Buckle — no game. My jacket was soaked through and my t-shirt following, but stubbornness took a hold and on I walked. Old Dispensary: no football. Jack Beard’s: no football. Up Station Road to Coldharbour Lane and the other Jack Beard’s: no signal on their Sky box, although they would be showing Arsenal if it was working.
Sun & Doves: no football. Joiner’s Arms: Man Utd. Funky Munky? No football. The rain hadn’t stopped for a moment, and by now I looked as if I’d been swimming fully clothed. A kindly barmaid in The Castle said they weren’t showing any games, but they couldn’t show the Arsenal game anyway as it wasn’t on the standard channels. 45 minutes and a thunderstorm after leaving home, I admitted defeat and went back to listen to the game on the radio.
The moral of this story: I’m not sure there is one. Don’t be so obsessive about football that you walk for 45 minutes in the pouring rain? London pubs should show London games? Buy Sky?
One thing I did notice on my walk is that the grubby Marbella hotel has closed, presumably to enter the chrysalis phase and emerge in weeks as the Butterfly which will be the Church Street Hotel. Fingers crossed.
In the news: even Camberwell isn’t safe from Terrism, as a local youth was arrested in recent raids. Two more locals were arrested in connection with a murder in Kent. Camberwell is still the second-least affordable area for housing in London.
What a gloomy post.
A Bloke’s Tale, indeed. Our resident aristo-nihilist couldn’t trudge the existentialism beat better than that.
Interesting that the “least affordable” quotient is based on local property prices against the income of the locals. The locals in Kensington & Chelsea can easily afford their local “house” prices.
Valuations we’ve just had suggest Camberwell prices are upping more than the average in Greater London. Denmark Hill station is mentioned as a factor, plus the regeneration of Peckham. Anyway, the haves and have nots quotient must be going through the roof.
Just as well that all is not as it seems, nor is it otherwise.
You’re welcome to come and watch the match at our place next time, Peter — as long as you’re supporting the Gunners!! ;-D
Well we all know how great Camberwell is and also how better it can be but it seems that Southwark Council are putting all their eggs into the Bankside/Elephant basket and the fact that a fair part of Camberwell is Lambeth means that no-one communicates or co-ordinates their plans in tandem — which is a great pity — maybe the Denmark Hill ELL Extension will slightly gentrify things but I suspect that it’s effect will be largely minimal — if they extended the Bakerloo Line from Elephant to Peckham then that would be a different matter or The Cross River Tram — It took me 1 hr 10 minutes to get home on the bus yesterday from London Bridge!!! It only used to take 40 minutes…that Walworth Road slow trudge is getting tiresome and depressing — My Dad came to visit me a few weeks ago and the bus was so overcrowded and unbearably hot that when he got to my house he almost passed out because he felt so hot and unwell on the bus…I’ve almost been there before — public transport is too slow to Camberwell — Lots of Buses but very narrow,overcrowded roads…
Poor you — I have been in a similar situation trying to watch cycling while out in town [understandable] and rugby too [intolerable].
isn’t the problem that pubs get charged an extortionate amount — just the pubs i hear you ask?
anyway cheer up — you could be skint london bookseller.
drew
http://mishmashbookshop.blogspot.com/
Drew Mishmash — I may well pay a visit soon — I don’t know if you can help but would you know if you could get your hands on a copy of Nairn’s London (Penguin 1966) for me? It’s a very old book but I lost my copy and was extremely upset because it’s one of my favorites — It’s about London landscape changing in the 1960’s and the author Ian Nairn’s spookily accurate predictions of what were to become future kitchen sink estates…
I only managed the Hermits and Grove before finally settling on the Canning for Man U v Celtic. Incidentally, the Arsenal game was on the Sky Channel that you have to pay even more money for and not all pubs, even ones that show football, have it.
I personally blame everyone who pays for Sky Sports (sorry Amanda). You’re basically funding people like Robbie Savage to spend vast salaries on diamond earings, Ferraris and mock Jacobean houses while I get soaked looking for somewhere to watch a game. And don’t even mention Andy Gray’s commentating or for that matter that swooshing/sword being drawn sound that accompanies every graphic. *grimace*
I guess that by patronising pubs that show games It’s my fault too. Damn.
Has anyone noticed that you can hear the sound of players kicking/heading the ball? Why can’t you hear them telling the ref to fark off? Two theories:
1) There’s a microphone that only picks up the specific tone of ball being kicked/headed. If this is the case why has no player worked on the replicating this particular tone in their voice to send out subliminal messages? Or is that why everyone now likes Peter Crouch?
2) There’s someone whose job it is to press a button that makes the sound every time the ball is kicked/headed. If so how well paid is it and where do you apply?
Other theories welcome.
As for the Overground extension through Denmark Hill; my man at the Ministry of Transport says that this particular part of the line is dependent on the government agreeing to fund the line to the tune of £100 million. Somehow TfL have raised the rest of the £1.4 billion needed for the the new Overground system but not the £0.1 billion for the Surrey Quays — Clapham branch. The decision will be made next year.
camberwell pubs are going through a bit of a pants time at the mo
funky munkey — disastrous refit ruined the shabby charm of the place — and it now just looks and feels awful — locals have deserted them
Bar Room Bar at C Grove — As Mark commented it is no longer part of BRB and is being run by some total incompetents who are now using cheap and nasty dough for the Pizza, Incompetent,Surly Barstaff,Furnishings Falling Apart At The Seams,Football Coverage Banned — very poor
Redstar — A terrific site, a real potential goalmine, though they had cracked it initially but it went downhill pretty quickly, surprising considering that the owners have made a real sucess of The Dogstar in Brixton which was a much more difficult location to crack
Castle — Still reliable but tends to shift and change on a constant basis — they need to learn if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, it has atmosphere at least
Pheonix — Much better than the previous O’Neills but I’ve been there a couple of times and it has felt like a morgue, surprising that commuters don’t tend to stop off there much
I’ll stick to my trusty Cambria and Sun & Doves which are both superb
I totally forgot the Canning. Just as well, as they were showing the Man Utd game.
Mishmash! I can feel a copyright battle coming on!
And by the way, three of the five arrested were from Camberwell — the third (Giblin) is listed as Commercial Way, which is SE5.
“When the seagulls follow the trawler…” Shouldn’t we follow our local team? Millwall have had a rebrand and are now called Real Millwall. They offer “Real talent, real passion and real football.”
Ah Peter, my heart bleeds! Was in same dilemna on Wednesday looking for the United game but accepted defeat after trying just 3 places (BRB, Hermit, Castle).
I did notice the Miura bar on Church Street was showing the United game but they have a ‘members only‘ policy now
Once the rain started I followed it on teletext
You know what is even more annoying about Sky and Champions League? You cant even listen to it on Radio!! They ban radio coverage due to exclusivity. Grrrr, I hate Sky!
The Man Utd game was on in the Hermit’s. And the Joiner’s. The Arsenal game wasn’t on any-bloody-where.
On a worrying note it looks as if someone was shot in the street oppostite mine early Monday morning and i didn’t even notice — slightly worrying really!
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_objectid=17747926%26method=full%26siteid=50100%26headline=4%2dshootings%2din%2d5%2ddays-name_page.html
(sorry for the very long link!!)
“Last Friday night a cyclist was shot in the knee as he pedalled through the Myatt’s Field Estate, Brixton.” — Blimey… very worrying indeed and judging from the descriptions (er, men in hoodies) there isnt a lot of hope of catching them.
“Kevin Arthur Dunstable, also known as Lord Henry, and Leonard George Carstairs, you are charged with wearing hoodie tops in order to incriminate others, and totally bungling the theft of a pedal cycle…”
In the interests of full disclosure, Carstairs, Lady H and my bull mastiff, Dillinger, are still missing, but must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, shooting a blighter in the knee from cover and then scarpering is exactly the kind of irrelevant and yet dastardly act Carstairs was renowned for in the past.
Dagmar — my real name is Spangler Arlington Brugh. Carstairs’ is Leonard HOWARD Carstairs, so you were close there.
I’m still stunned by the idea that Miuro has a “members only” policy. Are you not allowed in unless your probation officer provides you with a reference? Methinks they didn’t like the cut of your jib, Mark B.
Dagmar — I could never follow The Millwall as I’m a West Ham Fan but I do make the effort to go and watch Dulwich Hamlet now and again usually on a cold,wet,winter tuesday night…you can’t support more local than that!!!
My friend Mihaly Morath was once the only hooligan element at Dulwich Hamlet. Does anyone know this fellow? I haven’t spoken to him since he was expelled from our grammar school.
Peter, or anyone else fancy meeting up for the United/Arsenal game in Camberwell today provided suitable place can be found? Short notice i know…
Sorry, Mark, got this too late. I was in the Cadeleigh Arms, by the way.
What a lot’s been going on! Peter it’s not a gloomy post. It’s a Camberwell post.
Least affordable I did find confusing. And do, despite Dagmar’s eloquent explanation, it soesn’t really make sense. Presumably it’s easily affordable to others?
Sky’s far too expensive for pubs. Ludicrous. That’s main reason why footies not so obvious as it might have been.
Buses – most of my experience (infrequent) of buses (infrequent) is that once a bus has arrived I get where I want quite quickly. But they don’t arrive. Often.
Players’ head noise – I reckon it’s a special effect person. I once met a woman at a party. What do you do then? “I’m a ‘Footstepper’”. Guess, dear contributors, what a Footstepper is.
eusebiovic – Red Star / Dog Star. Dog Star and S&D (and Bug Bar too actually) opened within a fortnight of each other in December 1995. One of the owners of DStar went on to do various other ventures. Including RStar. Original DStar went bust about 4 / 5 years ago (following a rent review by the way) and it has been under other ownership since, I don’t know how many different owners.
Phoenix = Mitchell & Butler = The Commercial, Herne Hill, = Gipsy Moth, Greenwich, and several hundred others around the country. You get to recognise their deliberately non chain, chain feel after a while. Re commuters at Phoenix – if you look around it you’ll see that NO thought whatsoever has been put into attracting commuters in. Nothing. You can go in and out of the station and not really notice the pub. I really find that really weird. And encouraging for me.
Thanks for the glowing comment as well. *grateful*.
Millwall – the only football match I’ve ever seen live was Millwall v Gillingham about three years ago. I thought I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and a good friend took me to the Den on his season ticket to cheer me up. The game was civil, polite and boring. We were expecting curses at least, if not blood. It worked. I was cheered.
Miura. Perhaps we should all join. Any one know the criteria for membership? And by the way does any one know any one who’s been to FU’S? – Or any one who’s eaten a Subway?
Shootings – definitely opposite, Hannah. A man got hit and run on a motorbike outside a couple of years ago. About 2am. I heard a bang, looked out of the window, saw a man making a call on a mobile phone craned my neck around to see what had happened. I couldn’t see anything, everything was I couldn’t see anything silent apart from this guy on a phone and went back to bed. 2 hours later knocking on our front door – police looking for witnesses to a hit and run (motorcyclist died). I cursed myself for days afterwards for not being nosier and, well, you know. Doing something more than I did.
I wish I followed football.
Please understand that together we can make Camberwell fantastic.
I’m assuming a “footstepper” is a foley artist.
I have actually played on the Millwall pitch in a 5-a-side competition. We got beat in the semi-final. I still cry myself to sleep some nights thinking about how close I was to some form of glory.
On Tuesday 19th September (tomorrow) between 11am and 7pm SUBWAY’s Grand Opening Offer.
Two feet for the price of one(60cms for 30cms).
Get a free offer flyer from the counter in Etc in Butterfly walk (see I do shop local) they probably have them flyers out all over the shoppe and indulge yourself; ‘eat fresh’.
The flyer doesn’t elaborate on fresh what though.
Flies like to eat fresh don’t they.
Re. FUS
I was in the Castle on Friday night. Headed home at around 11.30, leaving two friends in there and stopping off at Silver Lake on the way home for some noodles.
One of said friends left to go home about an hour later. The other friend has limited memories of the following five and a half hours.
Apparently he ended up in FUS. From the limited memories he has I managed to glean the following:
1) Mainly West African clientele
2) African music/rubbish R&B
3) He fell asleep in there for some time and nothing happened to him
4) He was the only white face there
5) Despite obvious drunkenness people treated him kindly
Interpret any of those points in any way you like.
re :Subway — To quote the words of the great Bill Hicks
“They say that they are providing jobs with this stuff — Hmmm that’s right 20 ortodontists and another 20 dieticians right there — don’t eat it it’s shit”
FUs is Sierra Leonean, resident DJ collective is SL4U, “Sierra Leone For You”.
From reading this post I’m very glad I decided not to bother looking for a pub to watch the Hamburg-Arsenal game and resigned myself to listening to it on the radio.
Were you in the Cadeleigh yesterday for ManU Peter? Great atmosphere …
Good to know there are other online Camberwell Gooners around …
Update on SKY t.v. prices.
This morning I got a promotion from Sky: (delivered by TNT of course) ‘gunning for glory’ Uefa Champions League — Be A Part Of The Action — ‘free equipment and standard installation could cost you from £945 (ex vat) per month*’ terms and conditions apply. minumum contract 12 months etc etc…
There you are. £400K for 40 pubs as I reported a week or go or so.
There’s no way we could afford that. Well not unless we totally changed the Sun and Doves.
FU’s I’m impressed. All round. Did he have to pay to get in I wonder?
Subway. Still can’t wait for their special offer tomorrow. To prove something to myself.
Footstepper = a person who does the audible special effects of the noise of feet and hands on films — horses treading through snow, bare feet on sand/gravel/mud and so on.
I said what an amazing job. ‘I think it’s quite boring actually, not special at all’. How many other people in Britain do that kind of thing? ‘I’ve never thought of it like that, well now you ask, I think I’ve heard of one other person who does it’.
I’m confused about the Redstar!! I thought it was closed but on Saturday night my housemate and i came past Camberwell Green at about 11pm (after a visit to Dragon Castle on the Walworth road — hightly recommended!!) and it was open and rammed to the rafters with clubbers — has it been taken over or is it being squatted??
Declining to join them we then spent a very pleasant couple of hours taking advantage of the balmy weather sitting outside the Hermits Cave with our pints talking to a very friendly Bull dog (and his owner) that had apparently been barred from the pub (the Bulldog not the owner!!)
I think FUs cost a fiver. But we had to work this out from cash left in pocket the morning after.
I have a flyer for FUs at home for something called ‘The End Of Fast Month’
Is September fast?
So a “footstepper” is a foley artist, then, as I said.
Hoa Viet was packed on Saturday night. Very friendly in there, but I’d still put Buddha Jazz and Thai Cottage ahead of it, foodwise.
I tried Dragon Castle last week — it was lovely!
Lord H — you got the better of me there, I missed foley artist altogether *mild shame*.
Foley Artist
By Benjamin Craig , filmmaking.net
A Foley Artist is a person who creates sound effects for the post-production of the film. They beat drums, throw themselves on the floor, walk on gravel, break vegetables etc to record the right sound effect as required by the director and sound supervisor.
Although I think she drew the line at throwing herself on the floor for anyone.
The Red Star on Saturday night seemed to be packed full of PUNKS. With proper hair-do.
Well, at least there were lots of them standing outside of it… maybe it was just yuppies inside.
Did they migrate south after the closure of the Intrepid Fox I ask?
If Camberwell were badly dubbed, it would feel so much better, like a French film with subtitles, so much more apparent depth.
In Brunswick Park this afternoon, a young woman with short, black, gamine hair was roller-blading on the volleyball pitch, wearing headphones. It could have been Paris.
I therefore had the “this could be Paris” argument with the partner who thinks this is an inauthentic way to approach SE5. But in parts of south Camberwell there are so many French-speakers, you really could be in the banlieus.
So maybe we should lobby Southwark to get a foostepper or foley artist on the case. There’d be more tourists come to Camberwell than Portobello Road if, say, when you walked into the Buckle, your feet were going “Crunch! crunch! crunch!”
Red*
Open only when booked for private party or promotion by named DJ — so it’s never very quiet when open and it’s not losing money hand over fist when there’s no punters in — no staff — no outgoings. I presume the rent from the flats above covers the rent paid to the Freeholder. Their days are numbered I’ll warrant. Without guarantee of course.
It’s a weird world. And yes this could be Paris. Ruskin Park = Tuileries. Burgess Park = Bois de Boulogne. Peckham Pulse = La Defense. St Giles = Notre Dame. Surrey Canal = Le Seine. Butterfly Walk = Galeries Lafayette. Denmark Hill = Gare Du Nord. Ho Hum.
On approaching SE5 with inauthenticity (what a lovely way of putting it Dagmar!)…
A friend who lived here for years and years before I came here (worked in phlobotomy at Kings) once told me:
“if any one ever arks you if you’ve ever suffered from stress just tell ‘em this:
‘Stress? Of course I’ve suffered stress mate, I’m always stressed because I live here, in Camberwell mate. Just living here’s enough to put you over the edge, I’m a severely deprived person, I should be getting compensation from the government mate, like everyone else does mate. I should be getting a rebate just for being here’ Me? I’d prefer St Juan-Les-Pins myself.” She said. The French dream lives forever.
Know what I mean?
I went past the Redstar the other day and there was a sign saying “now open Thursday, Friday and Saturday”. It didn’t mention punks though as far as I recall.
I thought that redstar was being semi-officially ran by some punky / anarcho types. it seems to be trying to do Sound System nights (dub, drum & bass, ska etc). from the posters / flyers etc i’ve seen it looks like good honest revolutionary stuff. i shall endeavour to check it out this week.
When it was redstar proper a couple of years back i vowed never to set foor in the place again after one too many mornings spent with a can of beer and some morley’s chicken on camberwell green after leaving there at 5am!! A time in my life that i now fondly refer to as the “Wasteland Years”!
— from se5 Forum for Camberwell — (?)
There is someone attached to the Forum site whose testimonial is that s/he is “56 and open”, is that right? I saw on the Forum site, which is really for serious localists not globally warmed-up Camberwell Beauties like me, someone touting the cheapest drugs online. There is a Forum meeting on Wednesday is there? I then went to the Civic Trust site but got lost on it, found myself on the h2G2 site which I wasn’t sure what was. And back here.
There’s an SE5 Forum meeting tomorrow night at The Maudsley Boardroom. I don’t know where that is exactly although roughly, clearly it’s not at Kings. So every one welcome.
I’ll be chairing this meeting (in a state of semi paralysis through massive and direct fear of public speaking) while not knowing where it’s going to go yet and trying to push the whole Camberwell thing further.
All welcome. Please do try and sorry for the lateness of the invitation.
Please push for a massive new school programme for Camberwell. The pubs and restaurants are a rainbow of lush consumption choices. The edgy art students, alehouse philosophers and louche aristocrats are the zaniest in London. However, have spent time today looking at Ofsted reports on primaries here. Same problems everywhere. Would be eased if there were more places and if half the schools weren’t “oversubscribed” in the 1984 language of the day. (“Key workers”. If they’re so key, why not pay ‘em better?) Schools is a boring subject, but not as boring as East Dullwich.
I’m growing a handlebar moustache at the moment, whilst simultaneously reading Patricia Highsmith. She was a citizen of the island of Lesbos, apparently, although I didn’t realise this when I bought the book.
Similarly, I was most impressed by Lionel Shriver’s WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, until I discovered that the ruddy author was, in fact, a personage of the non-penis variety. I demand a refund!
Lionel Shriver? In a previous post, Brugh, you mentioned Billie-Jean Shriver the tennis player, when you must have meant Billie-Jean King (there was a Pam Shriver, too) who as you know is a friend of Patricia Highsmith, so to speak, and an adopted one (as a reference in a song) of Michael Jackson, who is neither fish nore flesh nor good red herring…
I’ll follow any meandering thread rather than learn, as I have done today, that one’s infants virtually have to be born in the stationery cupboard at Dog Kennel Hill Primary to get in there. And that a dog kennel in the catchment area costs £750,000.
I stand corrected, and by a woman, blast it! I did mean the sapphic Billie-Jean King. For some reason I thought she had married a blighter called Shriver, but as you pointed out, I must have confused her with the gargantuan Pam Shriver.
More gin!
The heat today of 82 degrees centigrade that has addled all our brains was predicted by the Daily Express earlier this week in their front-page headline. I have been giddy in the heat, myself, but we have a saying in Denmark, the shorter the miniskirt, the higher the intellect.
Meanwhile the big issue that escapes the Express is that citizens of this country are centrifuged in the maelstrom of the market economy and hung out to dry in the gusty wind of interest rates.
I saw a house for sale today, perched on a hill near here, that is about to move to another street, so dried out is the London Clay.
so the meeting went well — largely because none of you turned up.
Thanks
Were there any outcomes we should know about? Some of us are more Online than Forum. I have my hands full running an urban piglet farm here.
More advanced notice of teh meeting would have been helpful, although i would have been otherwise engaged regardless.. The reporting back from teh meetings via SE5 Forum site is very slow, and uninformative, though great for general discussion. Perhaps a more obviously posted and long-term timetabling of future meetings would be helpful?
Dagmar — I have always enjoyed another saying which I, for some reason or other, have always believed to be Danish, although can’t remember quite why. “the higher up the tree the monkey climbs, the more you can see of its arse.”
Is this a real saying (i hope so!). A reflection of the supposed Danish tall poppy syndrome i suspect..?
i stand corrected. the provisional dates are up on the se5 forum site, i must be getting senile. I blame the illegal Vladivar wodka (50% methenol by volume). knocks that cheap gin of Lord H’s into a cocked hat.
I love that monkey’s arse saying, whereber it came from. It’s just SOOOooo profound.
I was tired the other night and hoped it would have been taken in good hukour. Mostly was glad to say.
Minutes will be on the forum site soon. In meantime I can report it was mostly (all) putting admins and how we order / programme meetings and events, discussing means of better communication that don’t flood everyone on the committee with all the detail but don’t overburden a few and leave others twiddling text fingers.
We’re still figuring out what our paramaters should be, how to get messages across to others and how to behave properly and how to get others engaged.
Quite serious stuff altogether.
I am drunk, however, I have to say that I am loosing faith with Camberwell. It’s almost genius, but it dances the fine line between the aforementioned genius, and insanity. I think, on the whole, it’s leaning towards the latter. I wish some people around here would just relax. I know not everyone has it easy, but getting uptight and aggressive doesn’t really help anyone.
If one thing was to change camberwell for hte better, it would be the creation of some decent punlic transport. I know htere are a lot ofbuses, but on the whole they make the area less appealing. There is congestion the whole length of Cmaberwel road / Camberwell new Road. We nee d the tube, or else a good train line. Personally i cycle everywhere, but not evceyone can realistically do this so there should be a decent public transport alternative, and there isn;t. I’m going to bed to sleep off my drunkeness. this is chocaboy checking out. Good night.
Has anyone been in Funky Munky lately? The beer is appalling and they’ve got the most arsey twat serving behind the bar.
I fear the Dark Horse is not long for this world.
The Castle is still nice. Hermit’s Cave still has the best beer. Haven’t been up to the Sun & Doves in a while as the tag on my leg starts buzzing when I go that far.
Lord Henry — The Funkey Munkey had a very shabby,lived in,unpretentious feel to it and was popular with most of the Camberwell Community until a disastrous refit a couple of years ago — I have a friend who used to DJ for them on Sunday Nights playing Funk & Northern Soul and the owner asked him — “What do you think I should do with the decor” — my friend replied “It’s more or less perfect, all it needs is a sympathetic lick of paint and maybe it would be a good idea to refurbish the toilets” — The proprietor then embarked on a disastrous blond floorboards and pink decor scheme (trying too hard to be Upper Street) and it has never been the same since…everyone goes to Hermits Cave or Castle now…(I bet they are happy)
I used to really like Funky Munky but it’s so so bad now. I remember the northern soul dj — he used to play good stuff. I’ve only been in a few times since it was refurbished, last time I had a burger which took my filling out when I bit into it.
On the subject of food, anyone ate at that not so new cafe on Denmark Hill? I went in last Saturday lunch time and it was dead. One guy in there eating and the guy working there had one sandwich to sell. As I was with my partner, we wanted two so had to go elsewhere. Making the disastrous decision to eat at Seymour’s instead of Tadim’s. First time I’ve eaten there after passing it for years and wasn’t at all impressed. The food was rubbish and the staff unfriendly and pretentious. They are trying to charge £12.50 for an English breakfast! Tadim’s Tadim’s Tadim’s for me– if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Or get ripped off and eat badly.
Stuart — I hope that today, Camberwell doesn’t look as bad as it did when you wrote your last posting. There is too much aggression out there, I’ll admit, but as far as public transport goes, we’ve really not got it too bad. Sometimes the roads do get clogged, particularly Camberwell New Road in the rush hour, but I make it into town in 35 minutes by bus all the way, most days. That’s not bad.
Lucas is still a tropical gardens today. Two police officers asked me and my 3-year-old girl what we were doing playing by the far wall. “We are playing,” I said, expecting to be arrested for disrespect. “We do not want your daughter picking up the syringes,” they said. “There are none here,” I said. “No, that’s because they are cleared up on a daily basis,” they said. I bought some diced beef for 40p at the petrol station. We went to see the impeccably restored 1920s Los Angeles cast-iron lamp posts erected in the South London Gallery, unusal, elegant. Then we played on the steps outside making “mosh” with leaves and twigs in a Perfect Chicken container. “Let’s stay here and talk to each other,” said my girl. All manner of people passed on the Peckham Road, on foot, bicycle, bus or car. It was a great afternoon and a far cry from the uniform grid of affluent East Dullwich.
Was there some incident that upset you, Stuart? It can’t have been the punlic transport, was it some drink-related thing? My sister lived in Maida Vale and saw a gang of kids chase another across the road — the kid was knocked down by a black cab and killed, looked like a “bundle of rags” in the gutter. The local primary headmaster was stabbed to death. She moved to Ealing.
“Diced beef for 40p”? What is this, London during the Blitz? I actually lived through the Blitz. Myself and Carstairs got up to all sorts of sexual shenanigans, some of which are illegal in ceratin states of the US.
Eusebiovic — was your DJ friend called Darren? There was a great DJ in the Funky Munky called Darren who played terrific stuff on Sunday nights. After he left, and after the beer got worse and worse, I stopped going. Just on the basis of the supercilious berk behind the bar, I hope they close down quick sharpish.
Can I get a vote in for the Dispensary? The owner, Ross, gave me a bag full of ice for my vodka the other week when none of the local shops were selling any. They also have all the papers on a Saturday and Sunday, and the chicken roast is delicious. Plus, as I’ve noted before, they have the best coke toilets I have ever seen.
Lord Henry — Yes, I did know Darren but my friend was Dan who used to share duties with Darren on most Sunday Nights too…I know what you mean about the supercilious berk behind the bar…and to think they also used to employ some really attractive looking female barstaff…
Ross at Diepensary is one of the most open and forthright, decent and generous spirited people I’ve met running a bar. Ever. Apart from me of course. I wish we’d met and had a chat before he opened Dispensary though.
What Camberwell needs is a long look at what makes people leave the area — why the population changes so much — and then some answers and action to lay in some long term population stability.
It starts with Nursery and early years childcare provision, Sure Start level upwards, moves to Primary and Junior schooling. Get a thoroughly good spread of parent and child support across SE5 would be a strong beginning for a stable footing that would encourage people — of all walks — to stay at least as long as children are getting past the HARD stage. And it’s doable and it fits in with all government aspirations. Get round to senior schooling in a couple of years. Mary Datchelor anyone?
Must dash.
Off to S&D (with my latent ‘flu) to see a great line up of musicians. ta ta.
Here, here Mark.
Ross is a great chap who has worked wonders with a tricky location. Thanks to his flair for design he’s created a fab, original venue (many of whose features have already been ripped off) for us thirsty Camberwellians. And with the best staff of any bar round here. And he’s Welsh.
As for schooling. I am wholly unqualified to comment, but have to say that I would not be at all happy sending my kids (if I had any) to our local schools. Therefore, given my preference for state schooling, I’d be one of those who feel compelled to leave the area.
Schools are the big issue here, it’s true. Not just here, either. The Labour conference starts today with its strings of upbeat cliches. What Blair, Brown and the Babes have done is grade people according to their financial worth in every aspect of their lives. Their slogan “Education, education, education” was based on the estate agent’s “Location, location, location,” significantly.
Schools should reflect their catchment areas and they do in SE5. So schools have high staff turnover, a larger than average number of very young children who don’t speak English at home and older children who are dominantly unruly — a new elite. Their parents’ idea of bring them up is to shout at them.
Camberwell is London’s second least affordable area to buy property, we remember. It’s OK for single people, generally speaking. Pre-school, there are some good schemes, but one way or another after that it’s a rat race. Blair has made it plain what to do for a long time — move a long way out and have the commuting “life”, or go private. So it is, graded citizens make finer market economy fodder.
Schooling:
Ditto preference for state education. At primary there is some very good provision locally, as well as some not so good, but there is hope at young age.
Nursery provision is very patchy and very under resourced and needs a lot of attention. Working parents here have a really ahrd time finding anything they can feel comfortable leaving their children with and appropriate private care can be VERY expensive. Cripplingly so.
Safe, viable higher education locally scandalously scarce here and in Lambeth. An outrage. But that is the way it is. It can be changed but only with a monumental amount of effort on the part of the communities that are not being provided for and not getting what is their RIGHT.
I heard in the school playground this morning that there’s been threats of a drive by shooting at Peckham Academy taking place today as retribution for a shooting last week — honest. Alarming isn’t it?
Dagmar you were posting as I was. You’re spot on. But if local education provision can be made good all round until age 11 then there would be a lot of reason for many people to stay put and not get out — even if getting out is into private sector. And setting that as a goal and making it happen is achievable. All the nurseries and primaries locally would welcome proper community support to abck them in making what they’re doing better — they all experience a different part of the pressure and struggle with raising standards…
What are the good primaries in SE5, Mark? You seem to have your ear to the pulse. I believe Lyndhurst OKish and everyone oversubscribes to Dog Kennel, best primary in Southwark, they say. I know that some people tell porkies about where they live to get nippers into Dog Kennel.
Yes, Dagmar, as you say, Lyndhurst and Dog Kenne. Good nurseries there’s a few, I think there’s another nursery just over the hill in the estate in SE22 that’s undersubscribed just because no one knows it’s there — will find out its name today if I can.
There’s a private nursery on Lyndhurst way — name escapes me as usual with private but is good.
Lilford Daycare on my side (in Lambeth) is good full time care but is underresourced and needs injection of funds, the Nest in Myatts fields is good but half day only. There’s Brunswick I think where they’ve begun inside catering fresh organic ingredients every day.
A few local schools do good quality nursery but only half day — so absolutely no use to full time working parents.
There’s no where near enough provision overall — not enough after school clubs or breakfast ckubs. It all needs a shake up.
What I like about the idea of making it all join up (this is my partner’s idea really) is that it’s a specific, containable project that can be needs assessed relatively easily and have provision made for relatively straight line — funds are out there — income is achievable for a business plan ergo it’s possible.
Must do some research here. At leat someone should.
pelas ecuxse ytpos
Um, don’t know anything about nurseries but the Funky Munky is wack. That DJ is pretty good (that said I never heard him play any Northern Soul bar Gloria Jones’s ‘Tainted Love’ once, I think)
Me and my friend Dunc were putting on a night there upstairs and the owner explicitly stated the reason he had refurbished the place was to try and get a ‘less studenty’ crowd in, so he could charge more for drinks. Proving I suppose, that students have taste.
Nowadays of course the Funky Munky charges more for everything, including getting in, and hiring the room upstairs, for which they charged my friend Julia £200 February gone, for a medium sized, unheated (read ‘frigid’) room with a duff soundsystem – then proceeded to charge guests to come in at the main door.
Haven’t been back since.
Let’s initiate a Camberwell blog boycott of the Funky Munky! As my man Chuck D once said, “Shut ‘em down! Shut ‘em, shut ‘em down!”
In Funky Munky’s favour they have been really cool and helpful to the people from Creative Routes (local mental health system survivors network who put on Bonkersfest on the green in june etc). Creative Routes use the place quite a lot in the daytime for meetings etc. A lot of places locally aren’t as welcoming considering the group members are all “mental”, most of them don’t drink booze and they have a wonderful knack of causing chaos wherever they go!
funky munky even let them store a LOAD of stuff in their cellar for a bit in a crisis…
…so, unattractive refit aside maybe they’re not ALL bad!
Gloria Jones’ tainted love is impossible to beat.
Unable to comment on chaos and Funky Munky really.
St John the Divine primary (just off Camberwell New Road towards Oval tube station, in Lambeth is also pretty good I think — certainly well thought of by OFSTED inspectors
I sent my kids to local schools.They are still alive and thriving. Daughter just completed degree and son at college. Have faith, my dears. Have faith.