I find that, apart from the occasion beep or shout of “Tossers!” that everyone gets on just fine, and cyclist, motorist, bus driver, pedestrian actually move around each other in their various ways with an almost poetic fluidity and ease.

It’s just how it works.

(And Caravaggio is an excellent addition to Camberwell. I went their in the first week of opening and tested the chef by ordering a spaghetti alla pescatera (that’s not correct italain) — seafood spag and it was lovely. I’ve had about three excellent evening meals there and would struggle to find anywhere else so local that offered the same great service, and good qualty food at reasonable prices. — that is what we were talking about right??)
Ps. Some cider at Hermits is lethal. Gives you a comedown rather than hangover.Watchout!)

The Camberwell we know is the result.

Depending on how you look at it, Camberwell cuts many ways (most of them grim as far as my jaded eyes are concerned). It’s only a logical outcome of historical accident. This kind of cluster thing happens everywhere. Silicon Valley, Hatton Garden, there are banking districts, red light areas, posh shopping arcades, chichi food centres in every city. It’s the natural thing and leads to the relatively modern manifestation of Business Parks being set up all over the country deliberately to attract complementary commercial units. India has become the world’s Call Centre and IT manufacturer, China the Toy, Umbrella and Inflatable Beach Item Factory of the planet.

One way of regarding Camberwell is to see it as a centre of Basket Case Excellence. It got its preponderance of sexual, drug, alcohol, needle, mental health and general human tragedy Clinics because Maudsley and Kings were here already and needed associated auxiliary support facilities close by.

Once a couple of the above places had opened without much furore, the Health Authorities saw an opportunity to cram the area full of complementary units – where services and resources could be conveniently concentrated — and gradually the area specialised as an important hub of outpatient clinical care.

The problem here is that none of this has happened in a planned way. It’s all been deregulated rampant free market stuff. The community who live and work here have never had an influence in what happens. There’s been planning corruption, dodgy side deals, behind closed door agreements; whatever. In the end commercial organisations have got what they needed for their convenience in an area where there is no organised local voice.

It’s been going on for decades. It will only end when the people who live and work here get together and properly stake their claim on what is THEIR territory.

How many of you know that Denmark Hill is going to be repaved? How many of you knew that and have had an opportunity to have input into what kind of paving it will be? How many of us know about what’s happening to Burgess Park and Myatt’s Fields? How many of us know about what the likely future of Camberwell Baths, the Library, the police station, Butterfly Walk, will/could be?

How many of us REALLY care?

We had an Arts Festival. Now we’ve got Bonkers Fest. It’s only logical.

Or thats how it seems at least — professionally I move in similar circles but at the policy and campaigns end rather than in treatment and direct services. Whenever I’m making smalltalk at conferences and the like they alway know all about Camberwell usually having worked here or being responsible for the projects here.

My understanding is that wet services essentially are ones which offer accommodation and other services such as counselling but allow the person to continue drinking whilst they receive the service.

I thought the St. Giles Trust next to House Gallery was a wet centre.. did that cease to be be then?

It does seem that we in Camberwell experience more than our ‘fair’ share of problem drinkers/ people with mental health problems/ homeless people. many of the services seem to be located here not dispersed around the borough/ other parts of South London.

Maybe this is because the residents are not eloquent enough in campaigning against the location or maybe its because buildings and land are cheaper here (or more probably a combination of the two) — you would be very unlikely to see such services in Dulwich. Its a chicken and egg situation I guess — do the street drinkers etc come to Camberwell to use services here or are the services here because that is where people in need are located? Would it be possible to disperse the services around the borough or would the cost of finding new premises etc mean that its impossible?