Bumper news bag
Published by Peter | Filed under Development, Events, Transport
Lots of Camberwell stuff in my Google News Alert this morning;
The news (reported in the comments, below) that Mayor Johnson has raised that old chestnut of extending the Bakerloo line, which may or may not pass through here. I’d like to see it, but I really can’t plan that far ahead.
A (very) little more background on Burgess Park, winner of a parks development pot.
19 pubs have closed down in Camberwell & Peckham since June 2007. The Bickleigh and Pharoahs are two is one; who can think of more?
And Page 3 lovely Zoe (link NSFW) is a Camberwellian. Never saw her name on the Wikipedia list. OK, that isn’t really news.
Speaking of news, I’ve set up a way for interested parties to receive latest blog posts by email, so you never have to miss out on exciting content like this again. Just fill in your email address on this form, and you’ll be sent new posts on the day they’re published. You can, of course, unsubscribe whenever you wish.
Peter: sorry for misleading you in my tweet — Pharoahs has been closed for a good long time as the building was damaged by fire when I moved to the area in 2006 and has just been further damaged by fire … I don’t think it counts as one of the 19!
Yeah, actually you’re right; all the years tend to blur into one for me.…
**** More News (nearly) ****
Someone is setting up a vegetarian/vegan/wholefood café on Bellenden Road, Peckham.
To be called Grass Roots Whole Food, says a notice in the window.
Yay!
There’s a whole-foods deli there already; wonder if this’ll be run by the same people.
If only we could get a road like Bellenden Road in SE5…
The health food shop has closed already.
Tough crowd in Peckham for that kind of pitch — too pricey and not whole-earth enough to get wannabe hippies like me through the door regularly.
The whole food cafe could easily go the same way. Not sure rents are aligned with succesful business and vibrant local shopping.
While I’m all “conscious” on ya:
G20 Demo, London, March 28.
http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/
It’s all legit people behind it — not so much the anarchy squad.
@Gabe — yes, it’s not so much the grant spend on Bellenden Road I envy as the conscious effort to make it a place worth visiting, and pleasant to remain in.
A similar place could not happen in the centre of Camberwell (due to false footfall), but could somewhere on the outskirts. However, Southwark Council’s sinister phrases,
“Camberwell Green will continue to be a lively centre that services the local and wider community”, and
“Camberwell town centre is a place of opportunity for small businesses”,
in its description of Camberwell’s business community, reveal why formerly bustling traditional outer Camberwell shopping parades such as on Denmark Road, Wyndham Road, Southampton Way and Camberwell New Road, have all fallen into decline as residential conversions were rubber-stamped.
Grove Lane parade is not unlike Bellenden. A bit shorter but the statues dick the bollards..
Totally off topic, but can anyone recommend any of the local bike shops as places to buy a second-hand bike? I’ve always got new in the past from big shops (On your Bike at London Bridge is great!)however after having my second bike pinched in two years I want to get a cheap run-around bike instead. I was thinking of visiting Edwardes and Pedal-It (up at Elephant). Has anyone bought a bike from either shop and would you recommend their fayre?
YOu can buy nicked mountain bikes for £15 on Brick Lane.
You might find exactly what you’re missing.
Wilson’s, Peckham High Street near Persepolis, is excellent. Bob’s Bikes, 9 John Ruskin Street SE5 0NS, is legendary for value and effort. Edwardes second-hand selection on the pavement is always good, though they have a British Leyland attitude towards the customer. Always have repairs done at Wilson’s or Bob’s.
Dagmar — excellent recommendations. More on Bob’s here.
Alan ? — Get past Seymours of old, and Grove Lane is full of converted and boarded up shops blocked off by residents’ cars, in an uncanny display of cause and effect, with a bricked up former corner bookshop as a final phuk U to small business, even near Camberwell Green and within Society striking distance.
Bellenden appears to be dying on its backside to me. There’s little of interest there, apart from Review, the chocolate place and the mysterious Cave of Spirits!
Edwardes has the best selection of second hand bikes in the area. Wilsons is good for repairs, but not for second hand bikes. Bob’s ditto, but didn’t seem to have many good bikes when I was there the other day (other than a thief magnet of a Gary Fisher). The Elephant place is ridiculously overpriced. Camben Bikes is the best in London for second hand bikes, but a bit of a trek.
I bought my bike at Edwardes, and always have my repairs & service done there; never had a problem. They’ve repaired punctures for me for free, and never minded on the few occasions I’ve asked to go out to the workroom to watch them do something so that I can learn it myself. I unhesitatingly recommend them.
Reg — keep going… Grove Lane continues from the intersection with Champion Park to the start of Dog Kennel Hill.
That’s where Odie and Amanda, Buddha Jazz and the Canning are.
The statues was the clue. ‘Run’ by Leigh Dyer..
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. I’ll have fun looking around some of the shops tomorrow!
I agree re: Wilson’s in Peckham for repairs and services. I think that the’re the best in the business.
Alan — There be dragons.
@florian, sort of know what you mean about Bellenden Road. Sort of disagree.
There’s a car stereo shop, a hardware store, Review, a Caribbean bakery, Fenton Walsh, a chocolate shop, a dog accessories shop, a hairdressers, an OK cafe.
So quite bit of diversity in among the pubs, fast-food places, and convenience stores.
True. I sort of disagree with me too. What I really miss is a decent place to eat or drink though. I had great hopes of the Montpleier, but …
I’m with Peter in recommending Edwardes. Cheap too, if you buy last year’s models and do a deal (eg part chop your old bike).
I bought my bike from Edwardes, following many enthusiastic recommendations, and I was very impressed with service and selection. I’ve since been back in to ask stupid questions and they have been lovely and helpful.
Don’t get it Reg.
Florian, I agree re Elephant bikes. They have fab antique bikes, but at boutique prices.
Peter, unhesitatingly, I am sure at the top end Edwardes are very good, I have heard this before. You spend £500, they look after you. But if you need a repair for an old but Flann-O’Brien-part-of-you bike, they often let you down about when it’s done. You go back again and again to serially, exponentialy agreed times and they just laugh in your face with nasty contempt. Their service in that way is shit, British Leyland style.
Golly, I am chuntering on like some Hermit Crab! Talking of which, Harriet has evidently been told by “Gordon-said-so” Brown to say that she was wrong about her throw-em-to-the-dogs retrospective law “idea” on pensions. It would seem she will not now be the Labour leader we are looking for. Maybe Mandelson will be, she is good on the greasy pole of politics. Why not? Up Disraeli!
So whilst it is important not to boil in one’s own piss like some Nova Scotia lobster, it is essential to realise that the oleaginous “apologise/unacceptable/going foward/you know/Tony Branson/Richard Blair/hard choices” way of “leadership” talking down may have had its day.
Barack Obama now has the chance to rule with the new talkability.
Has anyone else gone a little crazy, as Seal would say, after drinking Wray & Nephew Red Label Wine in pokey public spaces at night in Penge?
@Dagmar: Your experience differs to mine, then, because my bike is a generic runaround, far from top-end and about 75% less than £500, yet their service has never been less than very good.
RE-Cycle in Elephant is good. I got my bike there at a very reasonable price.
No broadband so on phone; apols if repeated. Cube/teamwork has a buyer so hopefully at least one business saved from nailKebab hell.
Shut Pubs. The ones I can think of now: There was:
The Orange Tree on Havil Street, now a block of flats
The British Legion on Benhill Road now a block of flats
The Denman on Denman Road now a private residence
The Enterprise on Coldharbour Lane now Eastern Tree, a Thai restaurant
The Mucky Duck on Coldharbour Lane now boarded up but sold for redevelopment
The Harriers on Wanless Road now demolished
The Plough on Coldharbour Lane, now Amaryllis
The Rose and Thistle on Warner Road now a Christian evangelical training college
The Denmark on Denmark Road now housing association
The Wickwood on Flaxman Road now private housing
There’s another one whose name I don’t know on the far corner of Addington Square just before Southampton Way
The Athenaeum corner of Warner Road and Camberwell Road now a failed Apollo Video
Father Red Cap on Camberwell Green but who knows what on earth’s happening there?
The George IV on Camberwell New Road now a film studio location
The George IV on Burgess Park boarded up
There’s bound to be more tucked away in the recesses
There’s one in Peckham that was called Mantis for a while.
That whole post is probably best regarded as a red herring. I now realise I didn’t note the bit about ‘since 2007′. 19 pubs have not closed since then I think. 19 will have changed hands though.
Ah yes, was in Teamwork today and was delighted to find that they have a buyer and will be remaining open. Got my hair done to celebrate.
Wonder what happened in Camberwell Green portaloo today: it was surrounded by police (who were hiding the scene from public view using red towels, randomly)…
Pubs: The Paulet Arms on Paulet Road (conversion to flats)
On another note there is talk on the Brixton website Urban75 that Crusons might be shutting — http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=282255
“A grotty shared flat in Camberwell, South London” is where Jake Myerson lives, the lad in the current Julie Myerson, parents-eat-their-children scandal. Parents do try and eat their children, but he escaped — to here at the moment. If we see Jake round here we should grant him his privacy, but we’re also pleased to have him here. I’d say. He is a music student and will probably go far. He can earn £20 an hour busking, so he must be good. The interview he talks in today — in the Daily Mail, good on ‘em — is extremely good and can found by punching in Daily Mail Jake Myerson. He is a son of a gun!
Ari has been talking of retiring next year and going back to Cyprus…so yes Cruson’s may be up for sale…
Mark, it was the Anchor & Hope in Addington Square, a legendary large local. Those who went there have many tales to tell, but they lie mainly under the sod of old Ireland, in the cold London Clay or in the structural concrete of motorway bridges.
QI question — I know why there are so many pubs called Marquis of Granby; but why so many called Anchor and Hope? Retired Jolly Jack Tars?
@Drew … pubs with Anchor in the name are often connected with the water; not only landlords hoping to attract sailors to their establishment but also pubs alongside canals where bargees would be welcome. There is a second association with the use of the word anchor and its religious, Hebrews 6:19, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope …”
John Manners, general, Marquis of Granby, helped retired NCOs (Corporal, Sar’nt, Staff Sar’nt) especially those wounded, to run pubs.
Morning. Not pleasant news for a Monday but keep yourselves safe my flatmate had her bag snatched in broad day light on the way to work this weekend — Plod say this is becomming an increasing problem (not just in camberwell i’d add)
Great to have Jake M rolling Camberwell Carrots on location.
His Mum seems to be an ignorant self promoting see you next Tuesday.
Re: Cruson
I really hope that someone takes it over as an ongoing concern, but tries modernising it a little and introducing a broader range of fresh foods.
Thanks John, despite a pretty fair knowledge of the KJB I didn’t know that Hebrews provided the chorus of one of my favourite hymns, Will Your Anchor Hold?
Stat for the day (via goog news). Kids like school!
In Camberwell and Peckham, South London there has been a rise of 183% — with 525 teenagers going on to university in 2007/08, compared to 185 in 1997/98
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i06LGj0TnjPlTbWTwTlOU4IBW1pw
Pixie Geldof has been turned down by Camberwell art College, according to the Daily Mail in its most purel Christian form, the “Mail on Sunday”. We should lobby the Daily Beast to get the decision reversed and Camberwell ever more revered.
Dagmar — don’t believe everything you read in the paper
OT as usual, but can someone recomend a good NHS dentist. Pref one that is open on saturday.
Dentist-wise I go to the one on Camberwell New Road near to the Co-Op — tel 020 7582 2562. I think there are two dentists operating there and they were fine for the root canal work I had done last year. I’m not sure that they are open on Saturdays though
I use Camberwell Dental Care: http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1847/64352.php
Very good, take NHS patients, AFAIK are open on Saturdays.
My dentist is Dr Pavlov; he hasn’t yet trained me to salivate when he rings a bell.
703 0301, Patel, 6 Camberwell Church Street, just by the Green Hermits side, best dentist ever invented.
There are a few Nissan Bluebirds around Camberwell still in excellent condition, built by ex-shipwrights in Sunderland. There’s a message there in these dire times. One on McNeill Road, in a beige, is from DAN DAN THE NISSAN MAN (Ruislip, Slough and Wycombe).
Those personalised number plates are funny. I saw MAN-I-B on a Range Rover getting a ticket on Grove Lane today Nearby is TH PRY. That’s T.H. Pry, presumably. I would Google him but I wouldn’t like to be so nosey.
Definitely recommend Patel’s on Camberwell church street.
Very good, and very friendly. Not your average depressing dentist surgery.
I was East Dulwich today and in the space of about 90 minutes I (well, my more observant girlfriend) spotted Timothy Spall and Anna Massey. Not together, I should add, for fear of sparking gossip.
In four years in SE5 my celeb count amounts to Erin O’Connor (admittedly on a near-weekly basis) and Jenny Eclair. Oh yes, and that bloke who writes a gardening column for the Observer.
Should we be worried?
That bloke is Dan Pearson. We used to work together when in a previous life as a garden designer and builder. There’s a lot more of them well known types around here, they just don’t come out to graze… in Camberwell.
But… but… bung “Dan Pearson Camberwell” into Goggle, the Prying Person’s Website, and you get a list of people who live or have dwelt in Camberwell, which includes Dan Dan the Watering Can Man, a list appended on this very website by the very absolute Mark Dodds, who notices that Camberwell is simply blossoming with, burgeoning with, people of name and note, notoriety and complete propriety. The entry on Goggle from Knowhere under the heading “The Cringing Cult of Celebrity” repeats itself and is written by someone who has been smoking. The article in the Guardian about Dan’s Camberwell garden is really interesting — he first lived in Vauxhall three floors up in a flat within the sound of the chimes of Big Ben.
taking the conversation back to the bike shops that were mentioned up above — whilst out (slowly) jogging at 11am this morning I noticed that Wilson’s, the bikeshop on Peckham Road, hadn’t opened up for the day’s trading and that there was a “Shop for rent” sign above the doorway.…
My father in-law still rides a Gillot frame. Good gear.
He had it made up in the 80s, I think. Gillot was based on Southampton Way.
Back story here: http://old_school_cycles.tripod.com/id14.html
I believe there’s still someone making proper bikes down in Deptford, or is it New Cross.
Very nice. It’s Witcomb bikes in Deptford. Cost a fortune they do. But very nice.
A little snippet appears in the FT under Sue Cameron’s byline — though the original author is undoubtedly a Brown henchman.
Harriet Harman (now there’s a woman who knows how to frighten the horses) will be introducing her equalities bill next month. Word is that she has asked her officials to ensure that there are some disabled people in the Commons gallery when the bill is launched, adding: “And it would help if some of them were black.”
This snippet may go down well in most of the cuntry but we in Camberwell are cooler that THAT.
THAN that. God, my boiling piss is corroding my spelling.
Going back to the petty celeb count, can we claim skunk casualty (alleged) Jake Myerson or is he in Peckham? I’ve read both. Ad do we want to?
He is according to the media resident in Camberwell whilst his parents are residents in Liverpool Grove just off the Walworth Road so on their way to Camberwell.
On another note I see that Prince William is to tour the headquarters of the St Giles Trust on Camberwell Church Street tomorrow (Friday) so expect even more Police action that normal
Let us give William a warm Camberwell welcome, wave our children at ‘im — “Gawd bless yer!” — all that, for he will be king following the riots, oh yes, fear ye not, that will ensue, as night follows day, after Elizabeth’s passing, and he will ensure a new a new era of bicycling royals, just as his mother Diana brought to the royal family what the Danish Alexandra and Dagmar did before, they who dished the Germans and their rigid ways.
Besides, the St Giles Trust is an excellent outfit and one of The Times’ “Best 100 Companies to Work For”. Their website shows what they do — and therefore why William wendeth sarf of ver rivah and not just to see the cricket. He may be a toff to say the least, but he has done army basic training and is modern, not a neo-fascist likely to bring down the constitution altogether.
Dagmar wrote “This snippet may go down well in most of the cuntry but we in Camberwell are cooler that THAT.”
Come on Dags there should be a comma after cuntry! Get a grip.
No there shouldn’t.
You don’t normally put a comma before or after conjunctions.
In your considered opinion.
I’ve cracked it!
Dagmar is Jack Dromey.
Your wife is so proud of you that she didn’t want to take your name.
Sad really.
By the way, haven’t seen the Thai restaurant open at Seymour’s / Johannsen’s (note apostrophe) recently.
Has it already disappeared? Does that mean we now have a wine bar?
I’m Jack.
It definitely wasn’t open last night when I tried to go (ended up eating in the Dark Horse — their food is really quite good) but I’ve seen it looking open (and empty) a few times. Have Camberwellians boycotted it since it got new chairs and tried to look all fancy?
Who is Dromey?
Husband of (Camberwell MP) Harriet Harman, Deputy General Secretary (or something similar) of TGWU, Labour Party Treasurer and (allegedly) potential Labour MP. And of course local Herne Hill resident
@florian — ah yes, Witcomb Cycles. Thanks. I get bike lust from time to time.
Getting a frame made to measure is, apparently, not so expensive (not cheap either). It’s the groupset that can push the price way up.
@chutners — what is your problem with an equality law? Seems like a good thing, no?
I see you are still having no luck catching me.
There were people in Johansson’s this morning. Maybe Johansson is related to the great Ingemar Johansson who beat Patterson but lost to Liston.
Gristwood & Toms chopped down a decaying holly tree in Lucas Gardens this morning. The chap stopped chopping to let me pass, then seconds later the thing came crashing down. A gardener was planting bushes by the fountain near the main road. “Are they robust bushes?” I asked. “Nothing’s robust around here,” he said. “If they’re still here on Monday morning I’ll be surprised.”
The teachers at Lyndhurst school looked extra alert in their Red Nose Day pyjamas this morning. The children cheered. Camberwell-trained Jo Brand is taking no prisoners on her continuity announcing on Radio 4 this morning. Prince William is heading for the St Giles Centre. All’s well with the world, as Browning said, in Camberwell.
Ingemar Johansson died a few weeks ago. I don’t think he fought Liston. He knocked out Henry Cooper though.
Does anyone know the date and details of the big Camberwell meeting advertised here recently?
I looked at this Forum website too and there is some meeting tonight but no details. Is this the same meeting? If it is can someone provide the time and location for tonight? Thank you.
I apologise, Florian, you’re absolutely right, I confused Liston with Patterson. Peter Blake was given the Tussaud waxwork of Liston in lieu of paymentStill no sign of Prince William at St Giles Centre. The Daily Mail today now says about Camberwell that Sir Michael Caine once lived here. How snooty, just because he’s got a cockney accent, he has to come from down-at-heel Camberwell. First Pixie Geldof gets turned down from our art college, now this fib from the Daily Beast.
Never mind. There is a fabulous, blueish Renault 4 GTL on Talfourd Road on a C plate in very good condition and with surfing stickers on the back window. The Beige Bluebird is now on the Grove.
Went back through Lucas Gardens hoping to find some wood from the chopped-down holly tree, to make an art deco coffee table to posh up the Dagmar residence. “Love your art deco table.” “Yeah, it’s pure holly wood.”
on a different topic — is anyone currently living in a CPZ zone within southwark?
Wondering if you’ve had much success with getting any answers from the council to questions about it ???
Apparently, it seems that residents can only get one permit per person, which for me means having to create a concrete area in front of my house (ripping out a tree) simply to be able to park my scooter (yes, I also have a car).
All for the sake of an hour each day when my bike will be parked at home during the CPZ hours of operation (8.30 to 6.30).
Does anyone else have this problem and if you do / did, how did you resolve it?
And no, I don’t want to sell my car.
We were in Thai at Seymour Brothers (Johanssons) on closing night a couple of weeks ago… Apparently the new owner wants to do his own thing in the evening so got rid of them …shame it’s now doing nothing…
The Thai lady who did the cooking has gone back to Thailand for 2 months but is coming back and will be looking for new premises with her team — she will be emailing out the new venue. It’s a real shame it’s gone — we loved the place!
We had the cod from Flying Fish last night, which was excellent, so was the shoal of chips.
Yes Michael Caine did come from Camberwell. He went to school here. John Major’s famous gnome factory was also somewhere in Camberwell or Walworth boarders…
Big it up for Camberwell…
Why are you reading the Daily Mail?
It really is a shame it’s gone — it was probably one of the most popular restaurants in Camberwell… apart from maybe Nando’s, if we judge by my assessment of how many people seem to be inside when I walk past (Caravaggio’s loses as it’s so hard to see into their back dining room)! It was definitely my favourite. Sigh. On the plus side, at least I discovered La Luna…
Prince Wills was at the St Geezy Trust on Camberwell Church Street this Avo… lots of photographers popping off flash bulbs, police, bodyguards etc. Quite surreal.
Gabe wrote “@chutners — what is your problem with an equality law? Seems like a good thing, no?”
I have no problem with equality laws, in fact I agree with most of them.
What annoys me about my post is the way YOUR MP puts it, I’ll type it again…
‘Word is that she has asked her officials to ensure that there are some disabled people in the Commons gallery when the bill is launched, adding: “And it would help if some of them were black.”’
It wasn’t me who thought, typed or would even agree with these words, it is YOUR MP who it is alleged to have said those words.
I will bring to you all the words written and statements made by our MP because this is The Camberwell Blog and as she is Camberwells MP this is where I think her words and statements should be aired.
“Chunter, chunter, diesel shunter” — Old playground rhyme.
“Inlaws here, bring Daily Mail fear” — Popular saying.
I have a hardback copy of Michael Caine’s autobiography, “What’s It All About”? It is sparely told and really interesting — you can hear him reading it. Just the first para is great. He was born in St Olave’s Hospital, Rotherhithe, and grew up in a flat in Urlwin Street on the edge of Walworth. “I was a very pretty little boy with blond curly hair,” he says. He was born with an eye disease that gave him hooded lids which were later to give him considerable allure. In some of the pics he looks a bit like Jarvis Cocker. He worked really hard in provincial rep to learn his trade. He’s now 75 and has been filming “Harry Brown”, about violence on housing estates, around the Heygate. The Camberwell of his childhood was well worth escaping. We would not have liked it. We are lucky now.
@loveburgesspark — thanks for bringing this up again, we have not set the date/venue for the big camberwell meeting yet, but are working on it & we’ll make sure that it is publicised well, here, on our website, se5 forum, press etc.
@gaycamberwell — we were in Caravaggio’s on Monday — it was packed. It’s showing some signs of age: the menus were a bit scruffy and our table was scratched. The food was delicious, however.
Well well well
We have just come back from a walk around Camberwell town centre and I noted that now we have a date for the closure of Somerfield (the big one at least) — it is due to shut up on 29 April.
And according to various press reports the about the Co-Op takeover other Somerfields will be gradually turned into Co-Ops over the next 18 months so by the end of 2010 Camberwell (and the rest of the country) will be Somerfield free!
@ Dagmar –
“The Camberwell of his childhood was well worth escaping. We would not have liked it. We are lucky now.”
Sir Michael doesn’t agree with you, Dagmar.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23661240-details/Michael+Caine:+We%27ve+left+children+to+rot,+now+they+are+animals/article.do
Yes, he says his family were good, his friends were good, but the general society was extremely oppressive dog-eat-dog stuff. His book is good about that. He makes it clear he was always an actor not a doler out of violence. The first para is great.
@ Carole, and everyone else, where is your favourite place to eat dinner in Camberwell?
(1) Back room of the Bolu. (2) Back room of The Flying Fish.
I see Denman came second in the Gold Cup. Lord Denman gave a brilliant speech in support of Caroline of Brunswick. He was a big Whig lawyer. Viva! Denman, Talfourd, Lyndurst, the lawyers.
Tenpin Bowling at Bexleyheath is something else. Fortunately it is adjacent to a graveyard that is part of a war memorial peace park of remembrance. Me and Dagmar youngest dined on the marble tombstone of two old dears who died in the year 1869. “In the midst of life we are in death.” Or, as Clint said in “The Outlaw Josies Wales”, “In the midst of life we are in debt.”
@gay camberwell — best pub food = sun and doves
best restaurant = Hoa Veit
@gaycamberwell — We don’t eat out much, but when we do we go to Caravaggio’s or Hoa Viet.
We tend to do it once a week or so (eat out that is) — regulars at Safa, Caravaggios, Cambria, Sun and Doves, The Vineyard and Italian place in Peckham (good for after cinema) and formerly at Mozarella e Pomodores and Seymour (and sometime ago to BRB 2for1 pizzas on Tuesdays).
We eat less regularly at Tadim, Dark Horse, Su Thai, George Canning, The Grove and the Castle.
Have been once to Buddha Jazz, Hoa Viet, Indiaah, Nandos, Eastern Tree and Gallo — not been particularly inspired to go back to any of them for a variety of reasons.
@resturants
Not Camberwell, but Ganapati is the best food around. About twice the price as JJ Caterers, but more refined and inventive.
Used to like Thai at Seymour’s — more for the atmosphere than the food.
Off topic but very topical. ACORN estate agents at corner of Coldharbour Lane opposite Nando’s has a planning application to become a Paddy Power betting shop.
I can’t find the application on Lambeth’s website. OH. That’ll be because it’s in Southwark won’t it. OOOps. Just realised.
Any how I think it’s not a good move. We’re already drowning in hair, nail, takeaways, 99p stores and cheapest of the cheap bookie shops.
Just been down to Acorn and can’t see a planning reference number on the A4 form displayed in the window.
Just been on on Southwark Planning site to look for a reference to the Paddy Power application but can’t find anything more recent than 2004 there. But them I’m dreadful at searching sites like that. Too impatient.
The address is Ground Floor 2 Coldharbour Lane SE5 9PR.
Closing date for observations is 30 March 2009
Yes I noticed that when I walked past recently — is this a relocation or is it a new shop opening? (i’m not very observant when it comes to betting shops). Either way its not good for the community
It wasnt in last weeks or the week befores edition of Southwark News and having had a brief look at the Southwark website I cant find the application, maybe its a job for an email to the councillors: Dora Dixon-Fyle dora.dixon-fyle@southwark.gov.uk, 020 8693 3755 or 07939 537 642
John Friary john.friary@southwark.gov.uk http://www.johnfriary.blogspot.com 020 7564 8766 or 07960 255 330
Christopher Page chris.page@southwark.gov.uk http://www.chris-page.org.uk 020 7708 0897 or 07903964015
It’s a new shop, bright and shiny and much bigger than the two Coral and William Hill within spitting distance either side.
its not just you mark, that particular section of the website is clearly not about sharing the information!
I implore everyone who would rather not see another betting shop in Camberwell town centre to write to their councillors objecting to the application.
I find the website quite user friendly.
http://licensing.southwarksites.com/LicGamblingAppliedDetails.asp?systemkey=829333
Thought this might be helpful:
There are 4 licensed gaming premises within 200 metres of 2 Coldharbour Lane. William Hill at 48 Denmark Hill 85m
Quicksilver 38 Denmark Hill 118m
Corals 14 Denmark Hill 172m
Tote 23 Camberwell Green 200m
another William Hill is 280 metres to the South
There’s a Coral on Coldharbour Lane just on the corner of Valmar Road
And another William Hill next door to Amaryllis opposite The Sun and Doves. Dear dear this seems like quite a lot of betting shoppes in a small area.
Objections can be made here:
London Borough of Southwark
Licensing Services
C/o Environmental Health & Trading Standards
The Chaplin Centre
Thurlow Street
SE17 2DG
About:
Paddy Power Gaming Licence Application
Re 2 Coldharbour Lane SE5 9PR
The Tote betting shop pens are off-yellow and quite nice. The William Hill ones are blue and very soothing. Coral’s are red and a bit mad. But the Paddy Power ones are green and bring luck. Everything written with them is magic and comes true. We should therefore think seriously before opposing a local Paddy Power.
I’m going to get in touch with Ladbrokes, Fred Done and find some others I’ve never heard of and recommend that they set up a lot more shops in Camberwell centre. Then we can apply for Camberwell to become a BID (Business Impovement District) and call it a ‘Centre of Betting Opportunity and Excellence’.
‘Camberwell, the Betting District of London’. Roll soff the tongue doesn’t it Dagmar.
http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=1083651
Councils are powerless to prevent a plague of betting shops appearing in deprived areas, local leaders are warning.
Under the Gambling Act 2005, which came into force just over a year ago, councils have no power to reject applications for new betting shops based on the number of bookmakers already open in an area.
It means poorer areas with low rents are becoming a magnet for high-street bookmakers, several of whom are implementing large-scale expansion plans.
In some areas, as many as six betting shops are now operating within yards of each other – a problem the LGA believes will become more widespread unless action is taken.
“It’s very worrying that we’re seeing this growth in betting shops in poorer areas,” said Cllr Chris White, chair of the LGA’s culture, tourism and sport board.
“With money a big concern for most people at the moment, it increases the danger that those who can least afford to spend will be tempted further into debt.
“Betting shops have always been a traditional part of the high street, but in large numbers they can prove detrimental both to the character of an area and to the spending habits of residents,” Cllr White said.
During consultation on the Gambling Act, councils called for the power to restrict the number of bookies on the high street (pictured). The LGA now wants the government to implement this power and has written to sport and tourism minister Gerry Sutcliffe to request a meeting on the issue.
presumably this will be good for pubs though?
… in a “place a bet, drown your sorrows” kind of way.…..
You bet, Mark. “Camberwell, the last chance saloon. The Los Vegas of the South. Come to Camberwell for one more throw of the dice. Downtrodden, down-at-heel, downwardly mobile Camberwell, crutches capital of the Capital, hobbling towards extinction, goes by the name of Lucky.”
@sg; When I saw Acorn had concentrated their efforts into one office in Peckham I called to find out what was happening with 2 Coldharbour Lane; asked whether there was any likelihood of it being let as a bar restaurant (would be interested if it were) and they reassured me it wouldn’t be competition for The Sun and Doves, in fact “it’s something that I think you might be pleased about it could be a good fit for you”… *imagines large office full of legal, accounting and sophisticated expert secretaries all needing client lunches and oops there’s a film crew waiting for an interview at S&D must dash.
A betting shop is NOT good for business by the way. The LAST thing we need around here for business.
Ah gambling is good for the soul so no big whoop. How can you afford another restaurant anyway Mark? I thought you were on the verge of financial collapse? Sounds like you gave em hell and won a bundle.
Ned here been here in these parts for nearly 20 years now. Work out east and Camberwell’s an easy drive at 5am and 2pm always loved it. Seen a lot come and a lot go and it pretty much stays the same and we like it.
Known Mark for some time me and the missus head to Sun Doves every three or four weeks or so. Good place for a evening out. Miss the old anituqe auction on Havil Street and Italian on the Green.
I don’t get to involved in the community drives to change but I do visit the Council meetings a few times a year when I can. Used to be only the big Council then they started community a few years back and always good for entertainment.
Last time the leader of the council came and got an earful. She was good and said Camberwell will get improvement after the Elephant & Castle is sorted so about five years I guess. Truth is as I told her after that if people don’t like it here I tell them there is a test. If you spend a Saturday morning down Lordship Lane and wish Camberwell were like it then you need to move. It ain’t gonna happen. But if you visit Walworth High Street and want to see Camberwell like that, then wait about 5 years and they will do something like that here.
Its simple really. Good luck on the battle. The old Camberwell Forum used to be quite good at these things. Used to get ol’ Ken and Harriet and that whole crew down to face us on a regular basis. We had some tough talk back in the day. Better get back to work.
Ned
It’s deeply depressing. It really doesn’t look great for a neighbourhood when the estate agents close down and are replaced by bookies.
I accept people have a right to squander their resources as they see fit, but I can’t help seeing bookmakers, in the main, as making profits from the vulnerable, foolish or even addicted.
Maybe I’m being too judgemental. But it worries me.
Let’s make Denmark Hill and Coldharbour Lane to Betting Shops what Threadneedle Street and Poultry are to Banking.
The link Mark posted says “It means poorer areas with low rents are becoming a magnet for high-street bookmakers, several of whom are implementing large-scale expansion plans.”
I thought one of the main reasons we didn’t have more/better high street variety was that rents were so high? Confused.
This is depressing news. All the more so as there seems no point in objecting. That bit of Camberwell is slowly but surely reaching the tipping point, the critical mass of kak.
Change of subject for a mo’… I’m well into Spotify at the moment. Just listened to Basement Jaxx “I live in Camberwell, she lives in Brixton” per Peter’s tip on here a while back. Heavy tune. Not like them so much.
Mark, would be so cool if you could open somewhere hip that’s not a pub in Camberwell.
Back on topic… Betting shops suck. Unbelievable that local people have no say. What next? Strip Clubs? Seriously, that wouldn’t suprise me at all. Puke.
I like having a bet every now and again. Made some money on Kauto Star in the Gold Cup. Grand National soon, loved it ever since I was a kid.
I suppose the fundamental point is that surely the betting shops wouldn’t open here if they didn’t think they could make money.
The sadness is that one way or another, there are enough people who live in or pass through Camberwell who are willing to spend money in the betting shops — making them viable businesses.
It’s not great news for many of us who visit this blog and wish that instead of betting shops making the money it was pubs / bars / restaurants etc etc but that’s unfortunately the way it is.
Hopefully it won’t encourage even more people to start betting, though.
@norman maine. fair point.
Some sad news…the Dark Horse has shut, saw the sign oustide today– it said the Black Sheep (sister pub) is still around, but that’s practically in Oval. Big shame, really enjoyed the food there.
That is a shame; the food was nice (if a little overpriced). I really hope another restaurant opens there, and it isn’t converted to flats.
Unfortunately I imagine it’s likely to be turned into flats, as it’s opposite the St George/Camberwell Grove development. A restaurant would be great though.
How about a Ladbrokes? Didn’t see one on Mark’s list!
This is a real shame. Personally stopped eating there though after being served the most spectacularly rotten prawns.
Disagree with Peter that it was overpriced, given what was attempted in terms of quality/originality by the previous incumbent (something DH tried to maintain). I did miss the upstairs bit when DH closed it on taking over. It was the best space/place to have a meal, not just in Camberwell but for many miles around.
Not a happy blog today. Thank our various prophets for the sunshine.
The two bits of bad news aren’t in themselves a big deal for Camberwell as a whole, but we need some good ones to maintain our buoyancy.
there will be an easter egg hunt on 13th April in Brunswick Park — a glimmer of good news perhaps?
open to all kids under 12 who live in / around the areas bordering brunswick park
So, the Dark Horse goes. Had been looking empty awhile. I drank there now and then. This is a REAL shame. Another half-good Camberwell venue goes down the bog, eh? Hey ho.
I’d make some remark about how demand stacks against such ventures, and that we’re well outnumbered. But Bar Miura shut too, and so did Fus.
A 97p shop to take Dark Horse’s place perhaps?
The Grove looks empty too…
Bah.
Sorry to see the Dark Horse close, I walked past Sunday afternoon around 4.30 and couldn’t see anyone inside. Shame!
That is a pity. Food there was rather good. And the beer too. Duff position though.
Here’s hoping that the grove does close and someone who isn’t a pen pushing accountant takes over. Overpriced drinks, overpriced and crap food, dull atmosphere.
Pretty much thought the same for the Dark Horse too. A wannabe Cambria, even if Cambria came after.
must check the cambria out some day — is the food good??
In my opinion their food is the best in Camberwell.
We don’t shop here anymore…
On a positive note the Chinese two doors up from the Castle (Welcome Garden) has now entered into a kind of fast food arms race with Noodels City by installing a competing all-you-can eat buffet.
So not all bad news.
Welcome Garden has always had a buffet as long as i’ve seen it.
It’s nice to try and be upbeat about it all, but calling a depressing buffet in the grim, grimy Welcome Garden a positive is really, really scraping the barrel. Come on people.
Have you seen that “buffet”? A metal trolley stands forlornly in the middle of the room, holding a few buckets of dreck.
On a positive note, the bloke in front of me at Lidl last night lent the crackhead in front of him a few pence to buy some dogfood as she had no money and, this being Lidl, we’d all queued for about an hour at one of two aisles.
Now that’s community spirit and it’s alive and well in SE15! Course, if she’d asked me, I’d have told her to f–k off, or at least give me a b— j– in the carpark.
Just kidding, folks! Trying to cheer us up.
And speaking of good news well by golly hasn’t Boris been good for SE5 so far, what?
Money for the park, Denmark Hill, and maybe even the Tube idea again.
So much for “Tory cuts” eh?
Almost wish I’d voted for him so I would really have the upper hand on all those insufferable, stupid prigs who a year ago were saying how Boris was a racist crazy who’d drag London to hell.
Hasn’t been that bad after all, and by God has it been better than Ken.
@Phil G, your experience of queueing at Lidl in Peckham is very different from mine. I always find that as soon as traffic at the tills is building up, another till is opened. One of the tings that makes it an altogether better shopping experience than Somerfield in Butterfly Walk.
It was worth the wait to see the junkie get her dogfood.
Lidl keeps costs down by having queues. Though it wasn’t too bad the other day.
Much as I hate Somerfield it is a stretch to say that Lidl is more pleasant, but it’s interesting nonetheless, with some fine motorbiking buys at present if anyone is interested.
What is going on with our pubs? Next you’ll be telling me Bar Miura’s closed. Oh.
Here’s an idea to reopen The Dark Horse and bring in more trade. Combine the appeal of fried chicken, gambling machines, cask conditioned Special Brew and hey presto… a new kind of pub experience for credit crunch Camberwell. My first act as a pub owner will be to study the business plan of Bar Nia, in rude health despite opening once a fortnight. My second is to replace the upstart chef who dared to cook fresh things with the cook from The Grove. And lastly, to give it a competitive advantage and distinctive brand presence, invite owners of violent dogs to make their pet curl down a mr whippy on to the snug carpet.
I bet Mark’s quaking in his boots.
Agree with PhilG re Boris.
Can’t remember a politician for a long time who has delivered on practical changes.
1 — allowing motorbikes to use bus lanes, even as a trial
2 — freezing council tax (or the bit that he has control over)
Much more than the MPs have done. All they’ve done is keep giving away our money to the *ankers.
Stalled work on Elephant & Castle and Heygate regeneration. Cancelled the tram. Great. Way to go Boris.
Didn’t Boris also ban drinking on the tube? Another good practical measure.
And was it his lot who gave the money to Burgess Park?
I hate the Torys but have to say, I think he’s doing a good job.
That’d be the tram that never had funding in the 1st place…
I liked drinking on the buses though. I was annoyed about that one.
@ Butterball… Never mind the boots I’ve been quaking in my pants for more than a decade about Camberwell. Now there’s so much pressure from within the industry (www.fairpint.org.uk for more detail about why pubs are closing left right and centre) I’m amazed I’m still in business and that any other pubs locally manage to survive at all. Although I know nothing of detail about it if I were landlord of the Dark Horse (Punch Taverns) I think it might still be open.
Glad I’m not a politician really.
I have left a message on the intranet at Kings College Hospital asking for staff to object to the Paddy Power betting office. I’m quite sure it won’t change a thing though.(sadly)
My work colleague had her leaving-do at the Dark Horse a week ago last Tuesday. Dispite spending almost £500 on buffet food and drink at 10.10pm the last of us, 4, were asked to drink up and leave, as they were closing early because we were the only ones left. I might add, we were still buying drinks. We finished our Champagne outside in the cold. This was dispite a sign saying they were open until 11pm.
I had already decided to boycott it before I heard it closed. No wonder it was always empty.
@ Phil G & sg
Oh, come off it — there are many things that you can accuse Ken Livingstone of, but not delivering change really takes the biscuit.
How about:
1. The Congestion Charge Scheme
2. Western extension of the CC area
3. The Jubilee Line extension
4. Half Price fares for those holding
New Deal cards (ie the unemployed).
5. The Oyster Card
6. The opening of new stations on the
West London Line (Kensington Olympia
and Shepherds Bush and soon, Imperial
Wharf).
7. The replacement of the routemaster
fleet and a huge expansion of the
frequencies of many bus routes
(anyone remember the old P3, now 343?).
8. Extending the Freedom Pass to men
aged 60–64, in line with qualifying
women.
9. Giving the go-ahead for the East
London Line extension.
10.Requiring property developers to
provide a proportion of social
housing in their plans. Generations
of people unable to afford to buy
will benefit from this.
I could go on.….. making more stations and buses disabled accessible, etc etc.
Yes, the GLA Council Tax precept did double and then double again, but it started at zero, remember that. And Boris has only frozen it this year — he didn’t reduce it. Oh yes and there are Local Government elections next year. Strange coincidence that!
Never said anything about Ken not delivering change .….…. we were discussing Boris (and I was thinking of politicans over the past 12 months or so.)
Oyster card was good, shame about removing the routemasters though.
Was walking past the wishing tree on Camberwell Grove today and it fell on my head and I was killed. Bah, moan, grump. From the French grumper = to chunter.
Those personalised number plates are getting ever more interesting. There’s one on a silver Mercedes on Camberwell Grove CIIASE. Presumably this is a robber’s car, like those security vans with a “Police follow this van” signage facility on the back. Or maybe it belongs to a girl.
Anyway what is good about the car is that it is silver. Mercs should always be silver.
ASP1C
KAT1E
COM1C
Doesn’t Lorraine “CIIASE” live on Camberwell Grove?
Yeah, I never said Ken didn’t deliver change. Christ knows with the cash that he wasted and his two terms the very least we should’ve seen was a bit of change.
And let’s not forget the Olympics!
Anyone else having fun with Google street view? Sadly, Camberwell looks pretty grim :-z
Still fun!
@loveburgesspark — wonder why Camberwell looks pretty grim.
The open spaces survey is now online at the following location:
http://www.pmpconsult.com/uploads/documents/southwark_open_spaces_survey.htm
have your say about our open spaces
pretty or grim, surely?
I once had an editor rip me for describing something as “pretty awesome”. Been over sensitive to that usage ever since.
I don’t think Camberwell looks too bad. Some parts are pretty. Others a little grim. At least the streetview images were taken on a sunny day.
I never understood the banning of alcohol on the buses and tube. I mean, you can be completely plastered and get on a bus, but you can’t be sober and have a beer on there. It’s like banning people stripping down to their underwear on the bus, but allowing them to get on already naked.
Fair enough Phil — but sg, you do actually say “Can’t remember a politician for a long time who has delivered on practical changes”. If “a long time” is 12 months, how old are you? 5?
The £2m for Burgess Park is great and I don’t have a problem with the drinking ban on buses and tubes (except it’s not enforced). I do have a problem with the scrapping of the western extension of the Congestion Charge area and the cross-river tram. And do you know that TfL are considering raising Annual Travelcard prices by up to 5% to fund the revenue shortfall from the extension scrapping and the Council Tax freeze effect on their budget? There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
I’ve given a lot of free lunches at S&D in my time with nothing expected back.
Here’s a view of the planning application notice on Paddy, Acorn, Power on the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Hill.
At least it’s more prominent here than on Southwark’s website.
mushti, 46, and still can’t remember a politician who has actually made a practical difference to my quality of life like Boris has, in a long long time. Doesn’t mean I will vote for him next time, but might do.
Don’t care about congestion charge as I don’t pay it anyway since I ride a scooter. And don’t care about travelcard increases either, for same reason.
Just like politicians who cut the crap and who actually DO something that benefits people. JFDI I say, less talk more action and so on.
False positive.
SG you should go to Lidl as there’s some cheap bike kit on there if you’re quick.
But if a smackhead with dogfood begs some cash off you in the queue for the till, then we’ll know it’s a ruse.
Don’t care was made to care, sg
I’ll cop to Boris not being a massive embarrassment so far, as I feared, but I think it’s enormously unfair to say Ken never changed anything!
See Mushti’s list above, and add to that the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square at the very least.
sg: banning drinking on the tube a ‘sound practical measure’ ??? sorry that is nonsense.
As well as being unenforceable the law addresses the wrong problem. The problem is not drinking on the tube, but being drunk on the tube.
If Mrs Dotcom and I choose to sip a sweet sherry on the tube we’re breaking the law. if Yob Beermonster gets on the tube having drunk 19 pints of jagermeister he’s not breaking the law: is that sound and practical?
And Peter I have to say you let Boris off too lightly. It’s the very lack of a vision for London or any over-arching philosophy which makes him such a failure. The only reason he hasn’t made any huge mistakes is because he hasn’t made any huge decisions, his decisions have nearly all been small, and they’ve mostly been wrong.
He’s made two medium-sized decisions: scrapping the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge: short-sighted, stupid and wrong. The bendy-bus jihad: fuelled by inept decision-making inspired by prejudice and lies, not facts: wrong every way you look at it.
And as someone who travels almost exclusively by either bicycle or motorbike I’m not at all convinced by allowing motorbikes in bus lanes — cyclists hate it. Haven’t heard Boris speaking out against Westminster council’s imposition of charges for parking motorbikes either.
Boris is as much of a disaster as I feared — just in a different way.
In Bliar’s Britain there are already plenty of ways to sort Beermonster on the tube. CCTV, public order offences, dispersal orders, you name it, and if all that fails just fill his head with automatic gunfire. Seems there’s no real comeback for doing so.
Dick you make an oft-made and not unfair comment about Borisvision, but after so much failed vision in the UK in the past decade, I’m relieved to have some safeish hands for a few years, taking smaller decisions, trimming back some of the stupid waste.
@sg — you confuse me and enlighten me simultaneously, but I like the tone of your last posting, so take this response in the way it’s intended — to foster debate on the issues you raised initially — it’s nothing personal, OK?
You don’t care about the Travelcard price rises, because you don’t use the tube, but you applaud banning alcohol consumption on buses and tubes, even if it’s unenforceable gesture politics? I have never eaten or drank on buses or the tube anyway, so have no particular axe to grind — just think it’s meaningless.
As you’re a scooter rider, I’m picking up that you like being able to use the bus lanes, so I am now a little wiser about your applause. You have an absolute right to vote for Boris when he’s next up for election in 2012, but I’d put money on Boris not being the Tory nomination by that stage — he’ll stand, because his ego is huge, but by then, the Tories will have disowned him for one of his notoriously huge gaffes.
Anyone know what’s closed the walworth rd tonight? Been diverted all round the houses. Blue lights aplenty
oh well.…
@Genfink
I came down the Walworth Rd at about 5.15 and at that stage, it was still open. The pavement between Somerfield and the Nat West on the corner of Carter Place was cordoned off and there were lots of police interviewing what appeared to be by-standers to whatever happened. One of these (a woman) was crying and it looked as though there had been a shooting or stabbing, but by then, I think the victim had been whisked off to hospital.
@Phil G I see where you’re coming from, but I would have thought that right now we need some politicians to step up to the plate and come up with some sensible suggestions about how we’re going to get out of this mess that they’ve allowed the bankers to create … !!
Ladbrokes have introduced some interesting triangular-shaped red pens. I wonder what effect this has — not a rounded biro or even a hexagonal one, but a red column with just three sides — on punters. Maybe it makes them more definite with their decisions.
I’ve just taken a tour of Camberwell on Google Street View and thankfully I wasn’t seen doing anything embarrassing.
The pic’s must have been taken last summer as many people are in shirt/blouse sleeves.
@ Streetview — with plenty of SE5 pavement parking, and few cyclist boxes bereft of motor vehicles at red lights, these pictures are unwelcome news to those who proclaim that project walkable Camberwell is proceeding afoot.
Great shot of the gentleman pavement parked outside Peckham Road former Post Office, painfully aware of the hi-res camera pointed in his direction.
Did you see any pavement cyclists, Chunters? I saw one, but we need to improve on this to spare Camberwell councillors’ blushes as they prepare for the next ‘crackdown’ on non-motorised vehicles.
Reg,
Didn’t see any pavement cyclists, I was rather lucky perhaps.
The Bear was a runner-up in The Observer Food Monthly’s Best Sunday Lunch –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/22/sunday-lunch-the-albion-food-awards
@Dagmar triangular red pens — it’s so they don’t roll away and can be seen easily when they’re dropped in a dark corner.
This is wonderful. No wonder they got a man on the moon. I found a brilliant CD in the dump today, Blazin’ Squad’s “In the Beginning” 2002 LP. It starts off low key then gets better + better. Dem good crew dem E17 cru dem premier cru dem.