I want to be a model
Published by Peter | Filed under Art
A quick plea for help from local photographer Steven Williams:
I am a local based photographer and digital artist who is putting together a photographic installation at the end of June in conjunction with the Camberwell Arts Festival. I am currently looking for people who work, study and live in the area who would consider sitting for a photographic portrait and spend a few minutes talking to me about the experiences and thoughts of the area.
Contact Steven via his website, or Email me if you’re interested, and I’ll pass your details on.
April 15th, 2009
Just to let you know, to enjoy the nicer weather, our weekly gay Sunday films upstairs at The Castle have been moved to 5pm. Tomorrow is Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Entrance free. Do come along.
Erm… doesn’t that mean people will miss the nice weather, as they will be sat inside watching a film?
Priscilla Queen of the Desert Entrance Free sounds very tempting in a turquoise-painted way.
The regular Sunday films are usually at 4, but have now moved to 5, so that people can go out during the day, then come and see the film. Priscilla was very well attended. Next week is Beautiful Thing (gay boys falling in love on a Thamesmead housing estate).
Ah… you’ve moved the time back, not forwards… makes sense now.
Can anyone help trace a vase that was stolen from the Sun & Doves?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdodds/3441813610/
Depressing about that vase. People are just arseholes aren’t they.
If I ever see it in a front room, I’ll have something to say…
Guess you could go to watch the film, but end up hanging around outside being cool. That’s what great about summer.
Has anyone been to Tadim’s yet?
Are the gay boys from Thamesmead in the film “Beautiful Things” skinny skinheads with hairless chests? Of course they are.
Someone on Lyndhurst Grove has left a desktop-printed note taped onto the step at the end of their path, which says something like, “To whoever let their dog do, this, you are a C***T!” The pile sits before the caption like an installation from the early 1930s ludicrism movement. No wonder Mussolini stamped it all out.
I’ve been to Thamesmead. Makes Camberwell look like Paris.
@ Gabe: Thanks; that’s a real stretch of the imagination. I have the impression that fewer people in Paris LIMP with drug induced catatonia than do in Camberwell.
ON the other hand maybe it’s best my kids grow up here than in Thamesmead. At least they know where they are here: Going nowhere.
And Michael Jackson’s making a comeback.
I saw that sign, Dagmar. Made me shake with laughter like a sh1tting dog.
Yes, I wonder about my kids getting a secondary school education. Local options don’t seem that competitve academically. They’re at primary school at the moment and that seems fine.
Outside the old town Paris is like Elephant & Castle. The movie La Haine is not that far off reality.
But they speak French in Paris and are French. The French are ever so French. They shrug, pout and are very French. They may hate — la haine — being French and may prefer to be American, but they are French in France, very French indeed, just as soon as they are born into the fragrant French air, with the tang of the maquis souffling up from the south.
If the French were intelligent they’d speak English.
By George, an adroit apercu from the bric-a-brac of bons mots and cliches!
Went to Crystal Palace the other day and had a drink in The Alma — which is a solid, unpretentious pub that shows the footie and has a garden centre attached to it…very nice
The White Hart across the road has had a lick of paint and some spit and polish…it’s looking good, ordered some fish and chips and it was one of the best I’ve had in many years — absolutely superb
Domali Cafe is delicious as is the St.Germain French Bistro…I must check out Westow House that looks like a mighty fine place to take a lady on a date…if their food is as impressive as The White Hart then they can’t go wrong
I like Crystal Palace, it’s a vibrant place the triangle and somehow works considering it’s where 5 (five!) London Councils share a boundary — but like Camberwell there’s a lot of severely faded glamour which isn’t being attended too
Bromley,Croydon,Lambeth,Lewisham and Southwark
Bromley Council lets the area down — A local authority so flakey that it makes Southwark look like Venice at the height of it’s majestic pomp…
J’adore la langue française. On entend parler souvent a Londres et même a Camberwell.
Et surtout j’aime les Français et les francophones. Ils sont comme nous. Ils mangent les sandwiches. Leurs voitures se garent dans le parking. Les trolls énervent les blogueurs.
Possibly the grammar in that last post is incorrect. Liked Dagmar’s “By George” line. lolz.
Is anybody going on the plinth in Traff Square?
…and who would you like to go on?
I suggest a sculpture of Norman Wisdom hanging off the back of that Milkfloat for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square…
He’s a bigger hero than any of the other knobends in that square
Nelson Mandela doesn’t count…there seem to be statues of him everywhere these days…
Quand il pleut je joue au ping pong.
Il pleure dan mon coeur comme il pleut sur la ville.
Quelle est ce langueur que penetre mon coeur?
Goods trains passing through the parish are few and far between now and for the forseeable future i.e till the planet whimpers out. There can be no more solid signifier about the state of commerce. The nameless Class 66, number 66075, goes up and down, up and down, pulling most of the stuff solo, puffing and plodding, overworked and anonymous, like the unknown solider.
Let’s cheer up. Salome at Somerfield is staying on with the new Morrisons. She says the smaller Somerfield will be a Co-op. Maybe on the last day — next Wednesday — they will flood the shop with unsold cider and hand out straws. If the warm weather persists, it would be a jolly affair. I would wear my Agent Provocateur and Doc Martens.
Local fashion designer Lu Firth has her first catwalk show at the Alternative Fashion Show in Spitalfields Market 1.15pm. if you work or may be in the area do go and support her.
Looks like we are losing most of our Denmark Hill — Victoria train service as a consequence of the East London Line go-ahead. Only the limited SouthEastern service that doesn’t run evenings or Sundays will remain.…
http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2009/04/price-of-ell-phase-2-victoria.html
@SteveK — more on that story at SE5 Forum, latest news item on front page.
@Gnomee re designer Lu Firth — it’s great to hear these kinds of success stories, home-grown locally in SE5. If you can get any pictures, links or further details, these could be posted on the SE5 Forum site’s business/entrepreneurs section (email the relevant Board member). Hope the show went well.
Re Lu Firth fashion show is 24th April tomorrow at 1.15pm.
Thanks for the heads up regarding the Denmark Hill — Victoria train service SteveK.
Though how I read it is that the service to be scrapped hasn’t started running yet. Am I missing something? Wouldn’t be the first time. Losing the toy train (London Bridge to Victoria via SE5) is a real shame. A very, very useful 7 days a week service. And the only UK train I’ve ever seen pull out of the station without me because it was so full, like the tube on a bad day. No doubt after extensive consultations the powers that be came to the conclusion that nobody used it.
Despite the best efforts of many, that battle’s been lost. But the ELL will be a big boost for Camberwell, even though it doesn’t directly serve our downtown area. Can’t grumble, however tempting.
We need to keep an eye on how they’re shuffling our pack to make sure it’s not one step forward and two back. Thankfully the SRUG is doing a great job of this.
Good luck Lu.
Cool thing is the Blackfriars train now runs right through to Kings Cross every half an hour.
However, it used to do that anyway back in the day, so this is getting back what was lost, rather than a new upgrade.
I knew losing the Victoria-London Bridge loop thru Denmark Hill was a condition of getting the East London Line…Which ain’t a bad trade off to be fair
We should still heavily lobby toget the Bakerloo Line extended to Camberwell Green…this is realistic and would relieve the appaling congestion in our town centre
Note how that recent report from the council in the last thread totally failed to make the connection between the number of off licenses and street drinkers in Camberwell town centre…
No, it’s because all the alcohol recovery projects are concentrated in Camberwell due to the excellent Alcohol Dependancy unit at Kings College Hospital
Of course, It can’t be totally unregulated free market economics can it? Never!
Short notice but for those who don’t know there’s another meeting re: the Camberwell Leisure Centre/Baths this Thursday (30th April) at 7pm at the United Reform Church on Grove Lane. Lewis Robinson and Harriet Harman attending to discuss the latest news.
Some info here:
http://www.camberwell-baths.blogspot.com/
According to the Southwark Labour Group newsletter that arrived this morning there’s another firm of architects (Watkins Gray International) who’ll be presenting development plans and timescales
I’ve just cycled past the Dark Horse (as was). It’s got new signage up “La Petite Parisienne”. A new cafe?
@Simon
With a title like that it could either be:-
A) Totally sublime and a genuinely authentic surprise delivered by people with a bit of nous
or
B) Pretentious Tosh executed by a shower of rank amateurs
I wonder what Camberwell will attract on this occasion…
Hmmmmmmmm…
Lets roll the 12 sided dice and see
GOOD NEWS, PETE. We are fish, after all, we are mentally and fundamentally fish. Even Harriet, Tony, Gordon and Dave are slippery.
A BOIRE. The Dark Horse’s new sign has gone up, “Le Petit Parisien”, the Little Parisan Chap.
BIG NEWS. Jeanette is in Camberwell. Calm down girls! Not Jeanette Winterson, but the locomotive 73205 along with her sister “Alison” or 73209. Interestingly, “Jeanette” used to be called “The London Chamber of Commerce”.
Both girsl are of the now unique Class 73s built in the 1960s at the Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, and more recently refurbished by Fragonset of Derby. Vitally for our iron-road arteries, they can run on a third rail electric supply or their own diesel engines. They can therefore operate in difficult conditions and are used as “Thunderbirds” to retrieve broken down trains.
They are currently parked up just beneath the rotting iron bridge under Camberwell Grove, but alas are not helping to repair the it, but are on track work. There are floodlights, so work will continue throughout the night. Clubbers and pubbers, the nocturnal, turquoise-painted creatures of Camberwell, could go there at dawn and join the throng of already assembled, hyperventilating gricers, complete with their anoraks, bobble hats, cameras, dreadful complexions, eczema, fart gas, ghastly body odour, hair like straw, illnesses like anaemia, jelly babies, kupcakes, lollies, moaning, neuroses, offensive breath, purple acne rashes, quizzical expressions, rambling stories of “clocking” diesel shunters at Crewe, stench, teeth, underpants beyond repair, virginity, wank stains, eximious attitudes towards girls even their own sister Sandra, yaws and Zippo lighters that give off the whiff of hydrocarbons which are ever so slightly carcinogenous “did you know, actually, I think you’ll find”.
“THE IT” are the best band in Camberwell. Three cheers for Le Petit Parisien, showing some nous for us. Maybe the Girsl Flyers will play there. Laissez les bon temps rouler! We have nothing to lose but our chains.
Please let it be a restaurant.
Interesting poetry in the Doves last night. Not really funny enough but a good try.
Loved the i-pod dj work. The organiser was very enthudiastic. Good one. Might even get an i-pod for next time..
Alan Dale I was the one in the booth on the laptop. I wanted to meet you you swine.
From the Morning Advertiser 21/04/2009:
“Dark Horse Gallops into Gallic Spotlight.
The Dark Horse pub in Southwark, London, is set to become the capital’s first dedicated French gastropub. Situated close to Denmark Hill station, the leasehold has been acquired by David Fall, who was involved in creating the Le Pot Lyonnaise restaurant in Battersea in the mid-1990s. Fall is currently refurbishing the site and plans to reopen this summer under the name Le Petit Parisien, a French-themed gastropub with a Gallic influenced menu.”
So there you have it. Punch Taverns have managed to con yet another lessee into taking on the Kerfield. I hope it goes well for David Fall but if the rent’s anything like it was for Blakes and Dark Horse he will fail unless he manages to get out of the tie for beer, or not to sell beer at all. Don’t know how your Camberwell online collective memories are but I predicted the failure of Dark Horse on similar grounds. Good luck David Fall. We certainly could do with your input into the area I just fear for you in that site under those onerous terms.
Speaking of restaurants there was an item in the South London Press about our friend Noodels City — it was in the Eye section (a diary type column):
“Heres one to enrage anyone who feels passionately about preserving the English language.
Owners of a Chinese restaurant in Camberwell Green have been told to take down their shop sign — but not because of the horrendous spelling on display.
A Council Officer revealed planner can only reject such applications if they are too large or contain offensive language. If theres not someone out there who finds spelling “Noodels City” offensive The Eye will eet its hat.” (sic)
So it looks like they will be taking down the sign…
You’re the man Mark. Another time..
Are they your photos in the back? Really good.
Thanks Alan but no the photos are by Yusuf Ozkizil (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesunanddoves/2510443441/sizes/o/) He’s a really nice chap of Turkish descent, got a bit of press for the show and some big Turkish TV channel is coming to film him at the Doves in front of his show.
As for my photographs I’m having a show in July and, if I can get my act together (I’m under a LOT of pressure from the freeholder now), will have a book for sale to go with the exhibition. It’s called ‘Never Stop Taking Pictures’ and it’s about a third ready now but I’m finding less and less time to work on it as I have to spend more and more time fighting Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises over the kind of things that have happened to Dark Horse et al).
By the way, and sorry if I’ve already posted this here, this week’s Apprentice features a scene in The Sun and Doves — one team selling a skeleton to a member of the public.
Could those scaremongering regarding Lucas Gardens give it a rest? It is not ‘under threat’. The same public area of Lucas Gardens that’s there now isn’t going anywhere. Making outlandish, untrue claims doesn’t help the positive work we’ve accomplished with Council help of late. This is the back garden of a former home turned Council office now being sold because the Council is moving to far more affordable offices. It is not part of Lucas Gardens. There is no threat the Council is going to take away private property at will to sell it off. These sorts of misguided, unfounded claims are irresponsible. There are true battles to be fought and most are best addressed working with the Council.
Le Petit Parisien — ah, the Paris-Camberwell link again. Vive la difference.
Had lunch in Tadim at the weekend. It was okay. Very much like Carravagio in that it’s a reasonable deal for reasonable food. The stark decor makes it feel noisy but it might work better with a few more people in to create some atmosphere. I’d go back.
I see the covers have come off that refurbed development on Camberwell Grove. Did that happen ages ago?
With those pillars it looks like the kind of thing you’d get in an expensive suburb in pre-crunch Atlanta. Although I’d guess the Camberwell frontage is original.
I enjoyed spending a few hundred, mostly on dinner, in The Dark Horse and I was sad to see it fall and get made into dog food. But it was lacking in atmosphere somewhat as a pub. I hope the new restaurant will get the balance right between quality and affordability and really pull the punters in. Given its hidden location, it needs to be a destination restaurant. One would also hope that in the present conditions Punch Taverns don’t act like a plantation owner. Surely it’s in their interests to have a sustainable business there paying rent?
Lots of hungry people with fat pockets arriving in the Datchelor flats will help a little. Mind you, I think The Grove has no redeeming features and that’s still open. So what do I know?
@ Lucas.
Congratulations on getting all the section 106 money earmarked for parks within the Brunswick Park Ward, as part of the Mary Datchelor Estate dev. (I think!).
Can you share your plans with us about how the money will be used?
@Butterball — the Grove is owned and run by Youngs, although Youngs no longer strictly speaking are a brewer. It’s a managed pub and has the freeholder behind it.
The Kerfield/Blakes/Dark Horse/Le Petit Parisien will be let out by Punch on a fully repairing fully insuring lease to an individual. Such as David Fall. Such leases most often come with a legally binding supply agreement — a tie — whereby the leaseholder has to buy some, or all depending on the extent of the tied agreement, of their supplies through the freeholder. Goods available through the tie are invariably MUCH more expensive than open market and normally no discounts are negotiable. A larger company can take on a lease under the same circumstances but larger companies tend to go for freeholds of free of tie leases. This is not to say that David Fall has not negotiated a free of tie agreement. Times are hard and Punch, like the other pub companies, are desperate not to have even more pubs boarded up than they have already.
off topic, but are people aware of this website and has anyone used the service?
It allows you to arrange for parcels to be dropped off at a local collection point for evening or weekend collection at your convenience. Costs £1 per parcel. Great for when you can’t be home to receive a parcel.
http://www.parcelpark.com/
Camberwell is quite well served compared to other areas.
The Grove has about as much soul as Max Clifford…
I say we start a campaign to persuade Fuller’s to take over the site now that Young’s is no longer a genuine brewery since it sold out to the shareholder blood sucking scum…
Such a shame another architectural gem in central Camberwell being run by clueless paltroons
The Grove and The Fox on the Hill…and I can’t enjoy a pint in either
Tut..Tut
Good luck to Mr.Fall, I look forward to some Moules Marinare when he is up and running at The Dark Horse
@ lucas: if this is the ‘scaremongering’ you were referring to http://www.se5forum.org/camberwell-news/single-news.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=14&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=9&cHash=bc51534358
you might want to express your sentiment on the forum itself.
if, however, you are referring to the article on people’s republic of southwark http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:lucas-gardens-under-threat&catid=2:the-news&Itemid=3, you could easily comment on it there, as any registered users can do this.
I had not seen either but the first skates around the truth and the second is the most ill informed, unhelpful accounting of the facts I´ve seen or heard to date. I don´t care to comment on either site, as neither provide a responsible forum on the topic. The person responsible for scribing the second clearly does not have Camberwell´s best interest at heart.
Denials, tellings-off, doubt… The paved veranda behind the council office in Lucas Gardens must surely be up for grabs — but how much more land, too? The paved veranda has long been part of the magic of this wonderful park. The dark shades of doubt gather. Who are these creeping around in the council chamber? They are the dark shades of doubt.
What about the nuclear shelter opposite? The buddleia are welcome to it, but it is a very tatty corner of Camberwell. Surely someone can be housed in the bunker instead of being given the run of the veranda in Lucas Gardens where children currently run?
@ lucas: you’re very funny
and fair enough, you’ve got every right to sulk here rather than engage in a discussion with others
@ dagmar: (sssshhhh we’ve been on the bunker waiting list for a while now. as well as for the ‘reclaimed/shared’ grove lane mansions)
@Lucas.
According to the Council, Lucas Gardens has been awarded a large amount of s106 funding for various improvements. (All Mary Datchelor funding, I think, that was put aside for parks and leisure.)
Preumably this funding is for a different part of Lucas Gardens to the bit which may or may not be being sold off?
If you are part of the group that pitched for this s106 money, can you tell us what you will be using it for?
SG a large portion goes to maintaining the Butterfly Tennis Club for continued public use. The rest will be in consultation via the Community Council for general improvements.
The point is there is an issue here re: South House. But we’ve learned the ‘us v them’ approach seldom works. After all, the ‘Them’ are really ‘Us’. Many who work for the Council are elected by us and many live among us. And time and time again the Council has showed willing in providing resources and expertise in finding a solution. The Baths are the most recent example.
Suggesting that Southwark Council are hellbent on turning green space into private flats may sound good and fit your political aims, but it just isn’t true. We do have to find housing solutions. And that must be balanced. But Lucas Gardens is not ‘under threat’. And as for ‘lack of consultation’, the truth is there is far too much consultation. Those who say otherwise simply a) fail to turn up and participate or b) just don’t like the outcome so they claim we need more consultation. It’s like saying E&C has been a backroom deal worked out in the dark. Please. It’s been dragging on for more than a decade with more public opportunities for consultation than I care to count.
I believe there is an issue to work through on South House. There are great opportunities in fact on how we could use the space. But shouting at the Council isn’t a good place to start. After all there are limited funds and we can’t on the one hand demand more and more and on the other not provide workable solutions to pay for it. It isn’t popular, but I believe Southwark Council has gone out of its way to work with people in Camberwell who are willing to sit down and have a sensible conversation. Examples provided via links to other websites just are ill-informed and unhelpful. Time and time again they get us no-where fast. Why would you engage in debate on websites where the ground rules are full of mis-statements and half-truths? If you care about Camberwell, and yes where the children run and play, then participate in the open processes already in place and working well.
Important day for Camberwell tomorrow — Wednesday 29 April 2009
Le Petit Parisien is due to open — when I went past two men were painting over the brown paint of the Dark Horse in green.
And the big Somerfield is due to close tomorrow — its looking very very empty and even more depressing than normal
@Lucas — I assume that only your first para was directed at me, and to be honest its that bit that I am particularly interested in hearing more about.
My understanding is that a Lucas Gardens interest group put in a bid some time ago for s106 funding. This group / their bid was recently awarded all the money from the Mary Datchelor development that was designated for spending on parks and leisure in Brunswick Park Ward.
If my understanding (from a Council Officer) is correct, I’m simply interested in hearing about how the group plans to spend the money.
I wasn’t aware that improvements to the Butterfly Tennis Club were part of this bid, so that’s helpful to know. As is the bit about deciding the remainder of the spend through consultation via the Community Council.
We have also put in a bid for CCC funding, for Brunswick Park. Maybe in an around about way we will end up with some of this s106 money!
*dazed and confused*
On the Somerfield topic I was told it will take 12 weeks for the refurb and they were ripping EVERYTHING out of there to do it before opening as a Morrisons. Thank god we might get a supermarket that doesn’t belong in the 50s Soviet Union period.
Talking of supermarche’s — anyone know what happened to Tesco Metro on Southampton Way?
Yes sg just the first bit. I do apologise. I get upset when johnny-come-latelys to the party (not you) suddenly think they can undermine months of work by those who bother to turn up.
Maybe this will help. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/Uploads/FILE_41761.pdf
Don’t forget the Apprentice tomorrow night, or maybe you should.
@Lucas — it is a shame that you will not debate on a site dedicated to the development and well-being of Camberwell, given your knowledge of the Lucas Gardens grant bid and circumstances.
Re Housing, of course we need solutions. But over the decades Camberwell has had a continual net loss of amenities, combined with a significant increase in residential density. No policy is in place for preserving a minimum level of amenities. At what point this becomes “unsustainable” (on several levels) is a legitimate matter for debate.
The Southwark Executive would like nothing better than for local citizens to help construct a case to convince central Government to reduce the significant pressure applied each year to build minimum quotas of new housing.
It should be noted that Southwark Council is not a homogenous mass of harmonised policy direction and many, particularly the elected officials most in touch with the solutions that Camberwell needs, appreciate these subjects being aired for public discussion.
There are “green shoots in place” said some politico on the radio the other day, jabbing the language together like Lego. Well, the green shoots in place in Lucas Gardens need leaving alone. Lucas Gardens needs leaving alone. Lucas Gardens is unspoilt.
Morrisons, thank God for Morrisons. And a new French eatery. These are Camberwell’s green shoots. After heading downwards this past year or two it is bouncing back. Right?
Mark — I think the scene from The Apprentice shot in your lovely boozer is currently showing on the BBC home page!
@Phil G
Not only that, also…
The small Somerfield will be a new Co-Op which means cheaper prices and better quality fruit and veg…because the Co-Op have raised their game in recent years
East London/Overground Line Extension Thru Denmark Hill
Burgess Park re-generation (£6 Million!)
Camberwell Baths re-furbishment (At Last!)
Ruskin Park looking better day by day
A considerably large Affordable housing development on Camberwell Station Road behind the bus garage
As well as the consistent old faithfuls Hermits Cave & The Sun and Doves, some excellent alternatives in The Bear (New Road) and The Cambria (Cambria Road)
What’s not to like?
All we need now is to campaign for a reduction in traffic congestion and reduce the number of grocery shops which are permitted to sell cheap wife-beater lager, then it will almost be the perfect utopi
Passport to Camberwell, that’s what I say!
I might start a Facebook thread about extending the Bakerloo Line to Camberwell Green & Peckham
What does everyone think?
Yes lovely preview film featuring the S&D and featuring you Mark as the punter
( http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/episode-extras/video/item_200105.shtml )
A little update on the Bakerloo Line extension:
http://www.transportbriefing.co.uk/story.php?id=5839
Peter
When I clicked that link, all I got was info regarding the East London Line Extension not the Bakerloo…
Somerfield Camberwell till receipt timed at 12.54pm today, reads like a poem: one box of African wine £7.99, four pink plastic spoons 12p, five packets of shallots 28p each. And that’s shallot.
Just watched ‘The Prentice’. Eh, you got a bargain on the skellington there Mark.
I missed the beginning – are they real bones?
Just watched “The Apprentice”. Eh, Marks Dodds looked thin, like one of those heroine chicks. Still, ‘e were grinning.
@Eusebiovic : You didn’t read down, did you?
Watched the Prentice by coincidence. I’d have offered £50 tops for the skeleton. Good prop for the flat.
Missed the big clear out at Somerfields. The queue put me off. Looked like the cupboards were bare. And maybe someone bought that scrap of dried bloodied meat that had been under one of the freezer shelves for weeks. Won’t miss that place.
It’s a disgrace. Dodds in bed with the Beeb. I thought they’d cleaned up their act. I have registered my disgust on the ED forum in the hope that the South London Paper will call the BBC to task..
http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,266060,266060#msg-266060
Great work Mark..
Hope you got a bargain Mark!
Peter
Interesting Stuff…Much food for thought there…
Thank you, you’re right, I didn’t read down — Sorry!
I’ll blame it on the fact that I was wearing my contact lenses instead of glasses in front of the PC
I don’t know if there is evidence to suggest Contact Lenses lower your concentration but I certainly seem to miss a lot of the small details wearing them, as opposed to when I have my glasses on…
Hmmmmmmmmmm.…
Have made my own pandemic flu mask out of some plain white paper and two rubber bands! Clever use of staples to affix the bands.
The office destroys us, I find.
Very pleasant opening night at Le Petit Parisien — much like the Dark Horse but decor lightened up considerably, good range of wine and good bar snack menu — French touches like Croque Monseiur as well as staples such as steak sandwich, burger etc (cheaper than the S&D I notice as it includes chips).
Slightly chaotic serving — new staff problems and not doing full table service yet but I’m sure it will bed down. They are starting full restaurant service this weekend I think — looks like good menu with quality ingredients, slightly (but only a pound or two) more expensive than Carravagio: steak&chips £13.50 type thing. Seem to have a good breakfast menu as well so will try it then. Much better than the Grove anyway!
AS for The Apprentice and the skeleton — it was all spontaneous. Although of course I did take slight advantage of the situation but, as Margaret said outside as they were leaving, — it really was lucky that they made a sale at all, as it was just chance they found someone who’s always wanted a skeleton.
It’s been in my sons’ bedroom since, they like it a lot.
Looking forward to trying The Little Parisian.
I tried to log in to EDForum to refute Alan’s allegations against the BBC and me but it’s so long since I posted there my registration appears to have expired.
I’ll link them in to your defence here..
Did anyone go to the Camberwell pool meeting last night?
Couldn’t make it.
What news?
Good question. Most Camberwellophiles are probably currently in the Cotswolds or Dordogne, but the photoshoot at Denmark Hill Station tomorrow at 11am will be a laugh for us dregs, dreck, desperados, residue.
The Petit Parisien is serving snails, according to some of the children at Lyndhurst Primary, whose not-to-be-underestimated understanding of French, grub and everything oral is instinctive.
The Parisien also serves “Souris d’agneau”, or Smile of Lamb, Mice of Lamb or Mouse of Lamb, according to whichever region of France you own a house in. Southwark is famous for its mice. Nice.
Soon they may be serving pigeon. The lead content of London pigeon is nowhere near as high as it used to be in the Routemaster and carburettor days. Better go now, think I have diarrhoea.
Dagmar, that was bleedin brilliant.
I went into Le Petit Parisien on Friday at 9pm to eat, only to be told they’d run out of food. I had a pint and sat outside, which was fine, but there seems to be very little difference at all from when it was the Dark Horse. Any other reviews?
I then went on to The Bear and had a delicious meal.
The little Parisien can’t sell French beer of course — because it’s freeholder is Punch Taverns, this in itself means they are starting from a difficult point.
Someone mentioned that their burger is cheaper than The Sun and Doves’ which, upon inspection is true when you add out ships to the burger I think we’re about 15p more. However what was not mentioned is that a 175ml glass of their sauvignon blanc is £5.25 whereas a £175ml glass of ours is £3.90 and a more typical French style than theirs I’d say — grassier, more gooseberrier and tangy…
Still I hope they do well.
We’ve just published a review. See here: http://www.gaycamberwell.com/restaurants.html
I have meant to say before but always forget, I think one of the problems with the ‘Kerfield’, now Le P’tit P is its layout relative to the entrance and a very high ceiling which makes a not huge area feel cavernous — you feel very exposed in the space until it fills up with other people. My feeling is that if the the emphasis of the layout were switched as you enter so informal is to the right and and dining to the left, it would offer a more comfortable arrival. As it is the expanse of tables and chairs laid out formally on the right dominates the atmosphere and challenges one’s ability to be relaxed in bar surroundings.
Like the reviews on your site GayC and I’m going to try La Luna as Camberwell’s pizza dearth is noticeable!
Comment piece on Brixton:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/sathnam_sanghera/article6220731.ece
Interested to read your review, Gay C. Although you’re trying to be upbeat and optimistic about it, your description of the food and service makes me inclined to give the place a miss.
I loved Le Petit Parisien in Camberwell. Went there with friends over the weekend. The staff were friendly, place was comfortable, the food was lovely and very reasonable. It is perfect for a relaxing lunch.
@Lucas
Just to clear up some info on Butterfly Tennis Club– the club gets no funds at all from anyone other than the (very reasonable) membership fees. It certainly got no 106 money, or anything from the Council at all. It is run entirely by volunteers, which is how we manage to keep it as a community club. We got the courts refurbished by endlessly badgering St George’s and have to say they responded magnificently.
On the Camberwell Baths front the secured funding package is £4.45m, and is Southwark Council (£1.5m), Free Swimming (£1.45m– the biggest allocation in England), Youth Capital Fund (£0.5m) Heritage Lottery Fund (£0.5m) and S106 and other grants (£0.5m). The pool area is being completed first with work beginning in Oct 09 and opening again in June 10. After that its the dry side (gym, cafe etc). Waiting to hear if Artichoke Place will be awarded the Cleaner, Greener money for the improving the ‘street scene’ we applied for.
@ Gay C
Hmm, is your rating system out of 5 or 10?
Out of 10 obviously for the LPP, but by that logic the rest of Camberwell’s eateries score under 5. Eek!
Bumped into Pierre De Gasston au P’tit P at le Weekend
Haha well spotted. Yup, it’s usually out of 5, but I forgot! Must amend…
@ Helen: Lucas will probably be unavailable for a while now, as he/she may be eating their hat as we speak
Just back from the Community Council where all of the councillors collectively condemned the proposed sale of any of bits of Lucas Gardens or any existing green spaces for that matter and will be writing to both the Chief Exec and the Leader about this. (full report will be up on people’s republic of southwark tomorrow)
x
johnny-come-whenever
right, here we go, news just in etc
http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78:lucas-gardens-part-two&catid=2:the-news&Itemid=3
Scarcely surprising that Southwark features regularly in Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs. From closing a Children’s Museum to trying to prevent publication of a report by Lord Ouseley on the “culture of racism” at the council it’s no surprise that Southwark is trying to sell off public space. One wishes the Community Council good luck.
Is it just me, or does anyone else sense an air of desperation from the Council’s plans to sell off the Town Hall and associated properties in SE5, alongside John Smith House in Walworth Rd? It’s happening at a time that the properties are worth less than they have been for the last 4–5 years, and we’re told it’s to fund the move into rented accommodation in SE1.
I suspect that any money made on the sale of these properties will disappear into funding the Council Tax freeze for 2009 and, surprise, surprise, there are Council elections in 2010. Then from next year onwards, it will all be gone and the Council will be liable for rent on the new property in Tooley Street and we’ll all be paying for that.
You couldn’t make it up.
Anyone know when they’re making the move to Tooley Street?
some of them are already there apparently (not sure which actual departments, but tooley street is ‘live’)
Did they have to narrow Walworth Rd as much as they did? The situation is ridiculous and almost impossible for cyclists and motorcyclists. I saw a cyclist get wedged against the pavement today by a car.
FFS an extra foot would’ve made all the difference and their “uplifting” of that dump could still have gone ahead.
@Mushtimushta
Hard to say wether it’s conspiracy or incompetence, but I doubt that the money is intended to fund the council tax freeze. I’m more inclined to expect services to be cut. That does rather beg the question of where the money is to be spent. Perhaps Camberwell Grove is to become a gated community. Or we’ll get some more street furniture. Or an independent consultancy has decided that council executives need better remuneration in order to retain talent.
I’m still undecided wether the council’s departure from SE5 is a good thing or not. They’ve hardly done a good job for us whilst being situated here. But why stop at Tooley street? Let’s outsource it to Mumbai.
At least they’ll answer the phone politely.
With regard to Lucas Gardens and the sale of buildings in its frontage.
Can anybody here come up with actual facts or correct numbers as to profits made or lost?
All the assumptions and rumour are not facts.
Someone, who clearly wants to know should, instead of whinging on here go find out.
I type this as posters who do the same about our MP get the same treatment.
Maybe they could turn the Registry Office into affordable housing. That could be a nice place to live.
A friend suggested that the council buildings for sale opposite Lucas Gardens might be nice for English National Ballet, if they still haven’t found a home having not got the baths. Seems like a good idea to me… Anyone know that guy who looks like the lead from Rocky Horror Show who did the ENB presentation at Benfield Hall (I think that’s what it’s called)? For a gallon of blood I bet he’d persuade them to come back to the Camberwell fold.
The Magistrates’ courts should be commandeered for a culture crafts and arts centre and their current function be moved to the town hall when it’s vacated…
The Register Office. Well, what to do with that ABSOLUTE GEM? The South London Arts Club (SLAC)? Chelsea eat your heart out. It could be The Camberwell Arts Club then it would be the same CAC as north of the river.
Then there’s the police station — at the back of Morrisons.
This is a serious request.…yeh really.
Does anybody know of a pig farmer living in the South East?
30 pigs are needed to borrow.
Once again this is a serious request.
Contact oldhoborn@gmail.com
“Of course, everything that happens in the entire world nowadays is, somehow, bad news for Gordon Brown. All these face and hand transplants are going to play hell with ID cards.”
- comedian Frank Skinner
Chunters try the NFU — or the rare breeds survival trust if you want some different looking pigs.
What do you want them for? As someone who grew up on a farm i’ll warn you one pig is difficult to control let alone 30!!!
@Hannah: Like herding tied publicans to freedom!
Fair Pint Lobby Day
Thanks for that Hannah.
The farmer would be invited along to look after his herd (?).
Transport would also be provided.
I can’t really say at the moment as to why I/we want them, but if this works all will be revealed sooner rather than later.
Re: Mark’s post…
Does anybody know what came of ENB’s interest in the area? Them moving in to Town Hall would be brilliant. A little bit further from the Green but better for them than the Baths. It would be great if they could still find a home here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01342/fame2_1342413c.jpg
Anybody in the loop?
@copeywolf: Could someone call Stan Dubeck or Katherine Pitt at Neighbourhood renewal and ask them about it?
I have had an email exchange with Craig Hassell, the CEO of the ENB, who has told me that they have looked at 29 Peckham Road and are interested in it and hoping that something will come of it.
Pigs may yet dance in Camberwell,
In fluffy tutus, they’ll look just swell.
They may trample some of the green shoots here,
But we can train ‘em to hunt for truffles, m’dear.
Mark you should move.
France has just cut booze and restaurant sales tax from 19.6% to to 5.5%. Booze taxes are already reasonable in France, this makes going out even more reasonable.
This move is to boost the economy, no danger from our lot as we have to finance digging out moats and fixing dry rot.
I am really annoyed that booze and ciggies are so heavily taxed in the UK. I blame the NHS. As long as people want free health care then the government is within their rights to discourage unhealthy behaviour through punative taxation. If we had private health care then people could do as much self inflicted harm as they fancied. Lets get rid of the state and let people make their own choices and be responsible for their own outcomes. Agreed?
That, or get to know someone who makes regular trips to Latvia.
Why stop there, Alan? Let’s privatise all essential services and infrastructure, then remove cumbersome regulation to help facilitate it. Our bankers have proved that a free market is the most efficient way to run things and in all of our best interests.
What’s more, the new companies can offshore billions in profit and pay double dividends to shareholders. And our politicians, who’ve been showing their integrity lately, can sit on the boards of these companies.
As for the private healthcare companies, one would ultimately hope that they will keep genetic profiles on a database so that anyone predisposed to illness — and costly treatment — can be excluded.
Walking past the ex-Somerfield soon to be Morrisons I see that it the new Morrisons is scheduled to open on 13 June
My point is that punative taxation aimed at influencing our behaviour is the price of the NHS. That is unfair but there is no fair alternative..
Sad news Fisher Athletic FC have been wound up — http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/8048100.stm — although originating in Bermondsey they have in recent years been playing in the Dulwich Hamlets stadium near Sainsburys
WAY off topic. The Business Enterprise Committee (pubcos) 2008 published its findings today — a thick report — on the state of the relationship between pub companies and their tenants.
This report, regular long standing readers of this blog may recall, was stimulated in large part by calls from The Fair Pint Campaign for a fairer contract between pub lessees and their freeholders. The campaign was conceived and set up by four people from Camberwell and a few friends in the trade
I am slightly pleased to say the report is a Massive Slap on the Face for all pubcos. It found them to be abusing their power over tenants and taking too much share of the profits from pub businesses. It recommends the competition commission forthwith and much more detailed scrutiny of the pubco business model.
This has enormous ramifications for the way the entire UK pub industry operates in future and has been reported in business media world wide and has stimulated a free fall in share prices of pubcos.
This was UNTHINKABLE even a year ago and it is WE WOT DID IT!
Well done Mark. A righteous cause, which came through strongly in the coverage. Peter Luff is a very good chap.
That is brilliant Mark.
You may yet liberate us from a life sentence in Wetherspoons.
Mark that is great news! Will try to stop by the S&D for a celebratory San Mig sometime,
regards
GF
Great news indeed Mark! I was guffawing into my cereal at the lame excuses of the Pub Co association (the name escapes me)on the radio yesterday. Hopefully the reference to the Competition Commission will now go ahead.
Well done Mark! I only hope that as their shares tumble, they don’t hike the prices even more to appease the shareholders
Well done Mark. We can’t hear enough about the factors involved in the decline of local pubs, some of which are also connected to the decline of the high street. Local publicans and postmasters do not automatically belong in the same category as Jeffrey Skilling, as a certain section of a certain political party believes.
With the Mayor weighing in to back small business as the cornerstone of economic recovery, there’s much to look forward to for Camberwell’s entrepreneurs from London-wide initiatives:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23691499-details/COMMENT%3A+Small+businesses+-+the+backbone+of+London/article.do?expand=true#StartComments
Local politicians, campaigners and commentators now have the perfect springboard to introduce new planning priorities to help small businesses. This will create instantaneous local employment in this
depressionrecession, to cut off the development of a new sink estate and welfare culture at its roots.