Merry Christmas
Published by Peter | Filed under General
… and a happy New Year.
December 25th, 2009
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Welcome to the Camberwell Online blog, a place for free and spirited exchange on anything with even a tangential connection to the South-East London district.
http://starturl.com/mlqfx
Ditto
http://www.sunanddoves.co.uk/photos/?img=4208253409
And a happier New Year:
http://www.sunanddoves.co.uk/photos/?img=4209417404
It’s time to move on from Angels and Gypsies. Another new year beckons, may it not be as vile as the last several.
Having found my lost avatar, I feel much more secure about the future.
Happy New Year!
I love the old green and orange tiles and sign of The Tiger where The Silver Buckle was…
They look a bit too damaged to be fully restored but it would be lovely if they did make an effort to match the tiles and mend and repair…Isn’t it fashionable and more environmentally friendly to do so?
It seems to me there was a lot more attention to aesthetic and detail back in the day — It looks effortlessly elegant — I hope the refurbishment puts it’s neighbours (Noodels City) amongst others to even greater shame
A landmark pub on the junction of the Green is one of the best things presents Camberwell can have for the new year…
Happy new year to one et al! I am unfortunately not in Camberwell to see the ’ Tiger’ tiles it would be great to see a photo… Hope 2010 brings you all lots of good stuff.
Hooray! It looks like Antic Ltd actually have a bit of decorum are the refurbishment is going to take slightly longer than anticipated because…
(Drum Roll Please) Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
They want to keep the original facade and restore it!
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/63/6324/Oberon/Denmark_Hill
Top Banana! I greatly approve
The full, blue moon on New Year’s Eve augurs well for 2010. We are back safe from the glassy roads in the Bongo Friendee. On the motorway, Hills Waste Management’s tankers boast the world’s best strapline: “Hills: Delivering Waste Solutions”. Some adjacent villages’ names in Somerset spell out a familiar old poem:
Beercrocombe
Curry Mallet
Fivehead
Swell
Oathe
The Tiger would be great as “The Tiger”. The fact that a pub went back to its one-before-last name instead of being called a silly kiddie bar name would be a great launch story in the papers.
Has anyone used the Oyster Pay-As-You-Go at Denmark Hill?
Johnnies’ cafe on Coldharbour Lane is having a really good makeover — smart tiled and excellent veneer interior. The bins outside are ‘Dirty Harry’ waste collectors. We are going stateside. Off to the Tiger for a photo opportunity.
Had Sunday lunch at The Sun and Doves yesterday — Duck for the goose and Lamb for the gander — was really EXCELLENT.
@Julian — according to tfl it’s ‘yes’
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/5823.aspx#section-1
Guess they must have a portable swiper or something until the main station is finished? I’ll let you know tomorrow (and may be a few quid down if it’s not accepted).
Just checked fares — looks like Oyster is more expensive — £3.20 on pay as you go compared with £2.40 when buying a ticket (blackfriars denmark hill).
wtf?
Single fare to London terminals (Blackfriars, Victoria, London Bridge) is £2.10, which is 20p down from last year. However, there are no return fares available on PAYG, so a return will cost £4.20, which is up from last year, I believe.
PAYG Oyster single fare finder
@Peter — doh! Was putting in blackfriars tube, not overland.
*blush*
thanks for the info.
The fares are beyond my limited grasp but the fare at S&N is not:
Duck Breast: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2712/4244078213_a7770258f0.jpg
Lamb Rump: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4244857460_2528387b3d.jpg
Had the coq au vin today. Really, as good as, ahem, my own.
Dear God I actually typed in ‘S&N’ instead of S&D. Sickening.
or single is £1.70 off peak. That’s pretty good.
Here’s Dagmar’s full, blue moon on New Year’s Eve. I just found it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdodds/4246628324/
£1.70 seems good. Bring back Ken I say.
Good news about Denmark Hill station accepting Oyster PAYG, however less good news for those of us in Camberwell Green the bus fares have gone up enormously — a monthly bus pass has gone up from £53 to £63.90!
Changing the subject completely, has Camberwell enough backgammon players to create some kind of event?
I’m fed up with always playing with myself (ooer) onscreen and I met another couple in Angels and Thingies (new years’ greetings P & C) who would be up for some partner swapping (snarf snarf). I know another couple of players who drink regularly in the Hermit.
Are there enough of us to create an evening of backgammon? Has anyone ever played in a tournament? I know of a pub in Stoke Newington that used to have a weekly tournament, but I have no idea how it all works.
If there are enough of us I’m sure Mark could find space in the S&D in between the popcorn nights and 7 inch singles events.
@Hannah M: A single bus fare has increased by 20% to £1.20 — it’s now only 60p less than the tube! Hitting the poorest, hardest.
And remember that it is £1.20 for each bus taken, whereas a tube fare allows as many changes of tube line as you like without paying again. With the Oyster card, it would be easy to introduce a system where a single payment would cover all subsequent bus journeys started within, for example, one hour. It would just require the political willpower.
Angels and Gypsies (sorry, Mark) is excellent. The food is fresh, very well cooked and delicious. And it’s definitely the classiest restaurant venue in Camberwell.
Given that the quality of food and surroundings can live with the more august tapas venues in town, I’d say the price is good value too.
Get there before Jay Rayner does a review and the prices go up.
butterball — thanks for the reference, I’ve no problem about angels and Gypsies being excellent — desperately needed I say. Had a very good time there, when I did not look at the food prices because the print was too small for me without straining even with reading glasses. The bill was over £30 a head. That was a lot for what we had but most of it will have been the rather good wine and the Manzanilla.
The 2010 quiz starts tomorrow night at 8pm http://snipurl.com/tz0yw
I thought the prices were mostly pretty fair, with a couple of notable exceptions. The ham was my biggest quibble.
To be fair, jamon, good jamon is eyewateringly expensive in Spain as well. And this seems to be very good jamon. Some from the north (Santander I believe) and some from near Huelva or Extramadura can´t remember exactly where, but which is is pata negra.
My problem is that to really enjoy the stuff you need regañas (which are a speciality of Seville) or picos which are much better and crunchier versions of breadsticks. The contrast is amazing in the mouth. Normal bread just doesn’t cut the mostaza as they say in Spain.
Re backgammon: would love to play a game or ten. Bring it on.
Happy new year to all, good to see the old silver buckle taking shap
Check out this link…
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/63/6324/Oberon/Denmark_Hill
Seems like they are going to restore the old frontage…I salute their good taste!
If only we could start a campaign to keep it as “The Tiger”
It’s far more fitting for Camberwell than “The Oberon”
There Has been am enormous fire in Camberwell. The entire development site between Warner road and Station Road — near 100 homes, a large site half way through completoon –appears to have burned down in a spectacular inferno.
Residents from all around the area were evacuated to local halls at around 3am this morning. As far as I can make out no one has been injured.
Some people are going home now at 6.30am. Not us though
This is pure speculation but it’s hard to imagine how such a conflagration could begin without nefarious assistance.
Could have been a security guard wanting to get warm.
Wonder if he’ll get the sack?
Shame about the fire…no doubt somebody left a heater near something flammable
I suppose I can consider myself Iberian (half Spanish half Portuguese) so I may well sample the fare at Angels and Gypsies at some point in the near future…I hope I’m not too dissapointed — my standards are high…hope I’m not too dissapointed
Looks like the old buckle that used to be silver will be getting a more than extensive refurb…(Hooray!)
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/63/6324/Oberon/Denmark_Hill
Let’s hope they keep it as “The Tiger” — it’s much more fitting for Camberwell than the lavender scented “The Oberon”
(All in jest of course!)
Shame about the fire…sounds like an electric heater was left near some flammable material…or those plaster drying lamps weren’t switched off!
Will be investigating Angels and Gypsies at some point in the near future — I suppose you could call me an Iberian (half Spanish half Portuguese) so my standards will be very high…hope I’m not too dissapointed…
Looks like the Buckle that used to be Silver will be getting a more extensive refurbishment than originally planned (Hooray! — Cigars and Brandy all around)
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/63/6324/Oberon/Denmark_Hill
I think “The Tiger” would be a much more fitting name for Camberwell…“The Oberon” has a slightly fey quality to it…maybe when open they can put a picture of Oscar Wilde on the wall to cheer us all up
Au Revoir!
BBC report http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8443147.stm
The fire was indeed massive. My housemates and i were among the evacuees (along with Mark and his family) We Denmark Road people were finally sent home at about 8.30am this morning.
I think everyone is ok — and the council and emergency services did a great job of getting us all out ok and giving us somewnere warm to stay — we particularly enjoyed the special 36 bus that was laid on at 4.30am to take us from Warner Road to the rest centre! Althoguh we are all ok it’s concerning how close all our houses were to such a large fire and even more concerning that it’s the second building site fire in a few months in Southwark.
There are photos taken from Coldharbour Lane in the discussion at Urban75: http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=313312
This will mess up the redevelopment of the area for a while
Jes — You’re talking about the Fox Reformed in Stokey i think.
Ref. here —
http://www.fox-reformed.co.uk/backgammon.html
It works well for the Fox — was always full on a Monday night when i frequented it a few years ago. Key i think is to have a league. I reckon if you chose a venue between Camberwell and East Dulwich, and put something on the East dulwich forum, you’d get enough interest.
Here are my efforts at recording the conflagration http://snipurl.com/tzc06
Amazing spectacle and I second Hannah’s observation about how the emergency services get kicking in on a situation like this. They are nothing short of brilliant.
Yeah they were great — however i see form the press statements we were given tea and food — we saw not food! — i may go and demand my Southwark council biscuit ration
!
Also on a more serious note i think we Camberwell and Peckham residents need to start asking some serious questions of the authorities about fire safety etc.. If it had been a windier night or if the fire hadn’t been detected so soon us residents may have lost more than a nights sleep.
Florian, Thank you.
I might have to go up to see how it all works
hope you’re all ok & get to go home soon!
@hannah: serious question time indeed — i don’t think it’s just the question of fire safety, but rather of the madness/unsafety of wanting to squeeze another few hundred flats into any one available square inch of space. none of the ‘housing boom’ is happening anywhere near dulwich village or east dulwich.
There’s talk of gangs of foxes roaming the estates tearing at the packed binliners searching for scraps. Most shops in East Dulwich have boarded up against looters, though the organic butcher’s is selling fox, funnily enough, and has ‘em hanging up outside. The pigeons are looking nervous. Some of the customers in the Hermits are eyeing each other even more than normal. Cats have been spotted jumping the freight trains heading for the channel ports…
We’re all ok this morning — still suffering somewhat from a lack of sleep!
Two interesting knock on efffects — Warner Road is currently like an ice rink as all the excess fire fighting water has frozen solid and we currently have a police guard at the bottom of Camberwell Station Road (i assume it’s to stop looters and the like going near the fire site) i felt very sorry for the frozen police people who had to stadn there all night.
a quick reminder for those of you who are around next thursday, come along to ‘camberwell can be…’ http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/events/details/45-camberwell-forum
Well i’m not suggesting anything like, but i’ve just heard that the Camberwell fire site was owned by the same company as the one that caught fire in Peckahm a couple of months back.
http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3155748&origin=bldgbreakingnewsletter
The story about it is here — it looks a little suspicious to have two major fires on your sites six weeks apart and only down the road from each other — i hope Southwark Council are going to be asking some serious questions of this company.
I was unable to sleep and went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. It was about 1.30am I believe but whatever time it was, it was the dead of night. I looked through our kitchen window (which happens to overlook Sacred Heart School) and I saw that the sky appeared to be bright orange in colour — it seemed like the sky was on fire. I thought this might be due to the weather or something but then I could see and hear Fire Brigade sirens and Police Cars with their sirens flashing (as I can also see part of Camberwell New Road from my kitchen window). I guessed something was up but didn’t see any news coverage about the fire. Thanks Hannah M for providing the link above. I guess when things like this happen in Camberwell or Peckham it’s not worth reporting! If it was Kensington or St. John’s Wood or we lived in the Borough of Westminster…
Mumu — just scrolled up to see the link you added from the BBC — many thanks.
Has there been enough gritting on the roads during this snowfall? Found a thought provoking link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8443745.stm
Oy! Peter!
This damned thing doesn’t register my posts…despite verifying on t’gadget options…
Oh great it’s working now! I wrote the same message 4 (four) times yesterday…
Anyway…looks like the Buckle that was once Silver is going to get a more extensive makeover than originally planned…Antic are planning to restore the beautiful glazed tiled that have been uncovered by the removal of that clumsy oversized plasterboard…
Check the link:
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/63/6324/Oberon/Denmark_Hill
I would like it to remain “The Tiger” though…Far more apt for Camberwell…Maybe Grand Union was far better off being called “The Oberon”?
Hmmmmm…Still they have to really pull their finger out to top reliable old faithfuls Hermits Cave or Sun and Doves…
The Cambria are doing their best though…special mention to them…
Apologies, Eusebiovic, you were getting flagged as spam. If it happens again, don’t bother reposting, just email peter@camberwellonline.co.uk.
WHY CAN’T WE COPE? It’s been snowing grit, we have won the Olympics, we have nearly won the World Cup, we have thrashed the South Africans at crickit, but we still can’t cope. This is broken Britain. What we need is that executive from Carlton TV to run the show. He can bring in Jonathan Ross as Minister of Snow Business, now that he is freed from the shackles of his BBC contract. Stephen Fry could be his butler. These are the men of the minute.
Thank goodness Harriet Harman’s friend Patricia Hewitt has unseated Gordon Brown. Now we will live wild and free.
SIMON COWELL should run this country. Simon Cowell & the Tescolettes. So now they’re serving burghers at the Sun & Doves. Has anyone else got cabin fever? “I am going outside, I may be some time.” That’s what Russell Brand said when he got engaged to Jonathan Ross and they eloped to LA.
Just a reminder for those of you who are stranded in Camberwell and are in the mood for a bit of camp: Pink Screen Sundays restarts tomorrow after its Christmas break. It’s upstairs at The Castle, every Sunday at 5pm. Tomorrow’s the Wizard of Oz, then next Sunday The Hours, then My Private Idaho, then To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Do come along.
Everyone snowed under? No posts since Sunday?
Stop press.
Angels and Gypsies gets 4 stars from Time Out’s restaurant review this week.
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/22419.html
Apparently we are in the gay-bar capital of Europe and the new Shoreditch. So says the review.
Gay Camberwell can you confirm the first fact? Dagmar, from what you say, are your annoying neighbours the vanguard sent over to recce Camberwell and report back. (probably via facebook and with lots of OMG and smileys).
Sorry for Europe read London.…
opps
Wow — check this out: http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/go-ahead-for-45-million-kings-college-london-neuroscience-institute/5212619.article
The most recent Camberwell Quarterly reports — in a characteristically understated way — that Damien Hirst has opened a workshop in Myatt’s Fields? Can this possibly be true?
@Merrick — Mark made reference to this recently.
Well he may have trouble now as i think the workshop is located next to the site of the great Camberwell New Road fire last week!
@ NickW & King’s Neuroscience — does anyone know what road this will be on?
@ Monkeycat — well, since some of our reasons for starting gaycamberwell.com were to raise the profile of SE5 as a good place to socialise, and to encourage gay people and their friends to take advantage of the fine venues and events available in Camberwell, we seem to have done alarmingly well…
Now I’m off to enjoy Camberwell’s very secret underground gay bar scene that puts Soho and Vauxhall (and Europe) to shame…
@ Julian — I think they are planning on knocking houses down on the west side of Cutcombe Rd.
NickW you are right — the staggered red brick terrace on the right of Cutcombe as you walk up toward the hospital from Coldharbour is going.
@NickW — looks like the Springfield Lodge application has been granted: http://cllrpeterjohn.blogspot.com/2010/01/camberwell-planning-meeting.html
@ Peter. Thanks for that. I know of several residents who wrote to object to this however not enough could be bothered and now we have this to blight the area well beyond our lifespan. It is very depressing. The council and developers should hang their heads in shame and I can not believe the Camberwell Society approved this. It is very very disappointing.
@NickW — did the Camberwell Society look at the application? Nothing the Society does anymore surprises me … last year they wrote on behalf of the membership (though the membership hadn’t been consulted) complaining that there were too many buses in Camberwell. Needless to say the recipient of the letter — the Mayor — made short of the letter. It’s a crying shame that a Conservation Society wants to take buses off the road leaving more space for cars. Beggars belief.
@ John. I think your comment may be a bit unfair. As I recall, the Society was not advocating the reduction of bus services. It was complaining about the fact that there are two large bus garages in Camberwell and that, as a result, there are many buses passing through Camberwell which are not carrying passengers. They were expressing the hope that one or other of the garages might be relocated, so that the Camberwell junction might be less congested — therefore allowing those buses which are carrying passengers to make better speed. You may think it was a bit pie-in-the-sky to ask Boris to move a bus garage. But they were certainly not asking for less public transport for the people of Camberwell.
The Society objected, as did everyone else who wrote — and there were many. The Councillors approved it. And there are too many buses not to have a better strategy and to allow driver changes.
I am not convinced that the bus stations and their buses really contribute that much to the general congestion. Those that are serving other areas: they come in, they go. However, a lot of buses seem to be on the street picking up and dropping off passengers.
Liliana. How was the meet?
Two different Johns posting again.
@Julian — the response, judging by the letters printed since the original article, was unanimous opposition to the Society’s position. So some buses that serve routes in other parts of London are based in Camberwell? He provided no figures on how many times they may or may not use the roads in Camberwell (almost certainly very early in the morning and very late at night). Far more lorries and cars pass through Camberwell without stopping — should we redirect them somewhere else? Much better to have more buses and fewer cars on our roads.
@monkeycat: meeting went well thank you m’dear — am going through notes at the moment so will be emailing you too actually — if anyone wants to be involved in email discussions about this, drop me a line (info@peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk)
I always think that a hospital is a perfect case study for students of architecture…
The whole history of great,average and appalingly bad practice can all be found in the concise environs of a medical estate…