Council plans reorganisation of town halls — opportunity for Camberwell?
Written by mumu | Filed under Places, Politics
According to the latest issue of the consistently excellent weekly Southwark News the leader of Southwark Council Peter Johns has confirmed that the Council is set to sell off the three town halls it owns — in Walworth, Bermondsey and of course the main one which is still used for its originally built purpose in Camberwell.
The situation of having three town halls arose in 1965 when the current London Borough of Southwark was created bringing together the former metropolitan boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark. The Council is now considering selling the town halls off as none are fit for purpose, all requiring substantial investment which, in the current spending squeeze, the resources for which the council does not have.
According to the News the Council will publish its decision on 23 November when it has been finalised by the Cabinet. The story seemed to suggest that the Camberwell town hall could be retained for some council functions such as the main council meetings dependent upon uses being found for the other accommodation on the site.
So what does this mean for Camberwell?
I see a threat to camberwell as well as an opportunity.
This could be bad for Camberwell — the loss of Council employees and their spending will be detrimental to local Camberwell shops, bars and restaurants. Worse thing would be conversion to flats or other private use.
Or it could be beneficial for Camberwell — a real opportunity. If the town hall building could be given over for community/ arts use it could really improve the area bringing something of benefit to local people. Retaining the council assembly function in Camberwell is also to my mind essential for Camberwell.
So what can we do?
I suggest that readers of this blog in Southwark engage their councillors (list of email addresses on Southwark site) to ask what they as individuals think of the proposals and suggest that the impact of any proposal for the future of the town hall on Camberwell must be looked at and community / arts use prioritised.
Conversion to flats would not be a bad thing as it would provide much needed homes and tenants would still be spending monsy locally.
Most of the staff have already moved out of Camberwell anyway; there aren’t many people left in the building. I would prefer that the Council keep a presence there, as I feel they’re moving to the north of the borough at the expense of the rest of it; realistically, however, I’d like to see it offered to community groups before private sales, or perhaps a mixture of the two.
a few years back, before they moved to tooley street, council held a meeting for 3rd sector groups (community groups in english) to say they were moving to tooley street & there were a number of properties they were getting rid of so 3rd sector groups could have a first go of bidding for them. not a single local community group, unlike some faith ‘charities’, could afford to buy anything as they were all not-for-profit, unlike some faith ‘charities’. council was not going to even consider renting them out as they wanted cash fast.
the one thing we keep forgetting (including me) is that those buildings actually belong to residents of southwark and are, in a way, lent to our elected representatives and unelected administration to manage/etc on our behalf. they have made an effort to ‘consult’ but i doubt any of it will make any difference to be honest, because the council again needs cash. fast.
what would be a real leap and a real turning things around would be them giving us the townhalls back, at peppercorn rent, to create those community-owned and community-run spaces.
and it is all possible.
regardless of who’s in governments, or what the markets are ‘saying’ etc.
Could someone tell the Royal Ballet?
More flats, that’s what’ll happen.
More poky, spotlit, beech floored, white walled, overpriced one or two bed flats with bad soundproofing and daft management charges, where the UK’s ever growing mountain of lonely isolated people in pointless office jobs will live.
Could mean more customers in the pubs and more restaurants. Thus good for Camberwell.
@Peter
Or perhaps it just may herald an early realization in my long-held belief that there are many boroughs in London (and nationally too) who may one day in the future may well revert to becoming 2 seperate entitys again rather than one big,hulking inefficient one where lots of money is squandered through poor management…this is often put down to corruption (and it DOES happen) but more likely it is usually a case of simply trying to plug too many leaking holes in the hull of the ship all at the same time, thus causing confusion and panic which exacerbates the modest nature of the original problem!
Surely it makes sense that a small to medium sized council would be far easier to run than a large one?
Or are more compact, managable organizations only applicable to the wealthier pockets of a city?
Just a thought
breaking news: gala bingo hall application for change of use has been withdrawn
http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1157:galabingo-withdrawn&Itemid=3
Is that a victory on the bingo then? Good work if so.
My waters tell me this is NOT good. It is a fall back manoeuvre on the part of the applicant, Redeemed Christian Church of God (who he?). RCCG’s application for change of use was UTTERLY CRAP. Southwark’s planning department sat on it for a long time without making any form of public comment or recommendation to committee. Silence is not rational when a four week ‘black and white’ process should be what is happening.
Meantime RCCG have been doing (they have done it) work to the building. One might think, innocently, that something was happening in the church. SORRY. Something was happening in the BINGO HALL already. Something like religious services…
we’re still to find out whether the planning department acted completely on its own accord or were they doing what they were told to?
the one ‘good’ thing is that regardless of what some politicians seem to think, the owner of a listed building is legally obliged to maintain the same listed building as failure to do so would be in breach of planning legislation.
i can’t see how any reinvented planning application by the same owners for change of use can be justified, but we’ll see.
I found it.
http://app.southwark.gov.uk/licensing/LicGamblingAppliedDetails.asp?systemkey=833425
I don’t know how to object in the most constructive and beneficial way.
Can anyone help?
Had to break for dinner. Nam pla chicken noodle soup with shredded bok choi and other things. Very nice.
Back to the evangelical church and Southwark’s… sorry, I mean back to the the bingo hall and Southwark’s planning department.
As we know, because it is true, planning officers, the length and breadth of Britain, are always above the influence of external forces or influence. They are always objective. Their work involves applying, dry, clear and unambiguous guidance unemotionally to the various and myriad planning applications that come before them. Like a quality controller in a factory sorting items on a conveyor belt into categories. The applications either pass muster or need attention to get to pass muster point or they just don’t.
It is impossible to imagine how the planning application for the church, I mean the bingo hall, wasn’t recommended for rejection by planning committee (frankly I do not know the nuances of the subject). The application said that a lot of consultation had been done with local people in Westminster… yes that’s right — Westminster. The last time I walked by the church, I mean the bingo hall, it was in Camberwell. Maybe it was a vision. Maybe I was tripping. Maybe I’ll go back to the church, I mean the bingo hall, and see if I can’t get a visitation from the planning officer in the sky.
I BET there’s a thing, a law, a glitch, a legal fall back, a loophole so to speak which means a lower level of scrutiny applies to a second application if a first planning application for a particular building has been in front of officers and up for consultation and is then withdrawn having not been to its first stage of approval. Some weird mediaeval nonsense like that applies here. I BET.
I BET the church was told ‘withdraw it or it will get rejected’.
@Mark Dodds
I wasn’t celebrating when I heard the news…there is a long way to go yet, that’s for sure.
If it’s medieval then the chances are it applies here…it always has done
Unless of course, the new Labour administration in charge of Southwark really is serious regarding genuine progressive change — as their new leader Ed Milliband outlined at the annual party conference a couple of months back…
Shall we all hold our breath?
Just a reminder while I notice: the Peckham literary festival starts on the 17th November: http://www.reviewbookshop.co.uk/peckham-literary-festival.html
Interesting fact. Justin Webb, presenter with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, lives in Camberwell. I’m guessing not on the Lettsom Estate.
Had two SE5 disappointments recently.
Sunday Lunch at The Tiger. Not bad, just not good enough. These things are best done at home of course, but given that their evening fare is often quite good we thought we’d try The Tiger.
The group tried chicken and pork. Nobody went for the beef. The dishes arrived covered in thin parsnip crisps which looked like wood shavings and were acrid. There were too many of them. Once we’d piled them up at the side of the plates some forgettable veg, a grim but moreish ball of Paxo stuffing and a few roast tatties were revealed. My lump of pork belly wasn’t bad quantity-wise, but it was dry and had to be slathered in gravy / apple sauce. The chicken was a bit better. At £9+ I’d hoped for more.
South London Gallery. Been to both shows since it’s reopened. Q liked elements of the last one, especially the Black Hawk Down piece. But I found the current Michal Budny exhibition in that funny upstairs bit utterly pointless. Almost insultingly so. An empty room with a box on the floor and some dodgy shelves. Some might say that I didn’t ‘get it’ or that the fact I am writing about it here means it’s ‘art’. Well maybe. Was it a statement challenging our assumptions that all Poles are good at DIY? Was it about our urge to fill empty spaces? Who knows.
A few more shows like that and I’m not going to bother walking ten minutes to visit the place. Thankfully, the SLG cafe is popular. Though the big-tabled room at the back on my visits was dominated by young parents creating a sort of weekend baby creche. Not a bad thing, just not somewhere I want to be.
@Phil G: Agree re: the Michael Budny exhibition; I found it ridiculous. Liked the main work by Tatiana Trouve, though.
Re Justin Webb thats old news — there was an interview with him in the June edition of Southwark Life http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/4614/southwark_life_june_2010_edition
Some excitement and innovation would help at the SLG.
There have been some good exhibitions: The Lagos Photo Log a couple years ago, the LA Lamp Posts before that, even some of the video stuff has been okay. The Art Bin was fun(ish), I suppose.
But often it’s quite conservative; also the artists seem depressed at the human condition, or something.
Good morning to ride up to London. Wind at your back.
I like Justin Webb. Lots of hacks live near him. Jeremy Bowen for one.
@Phil G South London Gallery also has an array of performance type events. In November alone, Massimo Bartolini has a light sculpture inspired by choreography, which involves a dance performance at the following Sunday sunset times: 14th 3:45–4:45, 21st 3:30–4:30, 28th 3:30–4:30. Last night Jimmy Robert presented Consensus Rouge Noir, ‘a new performance featuring text read over filmed imagery’. On Wed 17th November (£5/3) they have Philip Warnell in Outlandish: Strange Foreign Bodies. This is a film screening about the history and integrity of bodies and has a discussion afterwards. Finally on 26th November 7pm (free) there is a screening of Nollywood, Losing the Plot, about the phenomenon of Nigerian Cinema. So South London Gallery, to be fair to them, is making an effort with some interesting things going on…
I know there’s lots going on there. I just thought the Budny thing was shit.
Thanks for the pointers anyway, very useful reminders.
Yes, I’m always very enthusiastic about the idea of going to see art…
today’s southwark news states the house of praise are likely to resubmit the planning application for the gala bingo hall change of use in two weeks.
Liliana
We expected no less!
Second lot of banding tests today for our eldest entry to se4condary school. He’s not happy and who could blame him?
LAst night at the Crytp JAzz Club Allison Neale’s laid back West Coast vibe went down well. Food sold out and everyone happy… http://bit.ly/a47xMS
Jazzwise, the UK’s most most jazz magazine had us on the front cover: http://bit.ly/brGY4m
Second lot of banding tests today for our eldest entry to se4condary school. He’s not happy and who could blame him?
Last night at the Crypt Jazz Club Allison Neale’s laid back West Coast vibe went down well. Food sold out and everyone happy… http://bit.ly/aJjw96
And yesterday Jazzwise, the UK’s most most jazz magazine had us on the front cover: http://bit.ly/brGY4m
OOPs apologies was in a dreadful hurry to get to London Nautical.
I still need help please.
Any advice in appealing in the correct way?
http://app.southwark.gov.uk/licensing/LicGamblingAppliedDetails.asp?systemkey=833425
Last time I appealed against Paddy Power my reasons given did not qualify.
Thanks
@london patsy: thanks for posting the link, i’ll have a read & a think — i know nothing about licenses etc but will read up as much as i can — best email me to info@peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk and send me what you sent the first time round?
Apparently you can only object on the following grounds:
http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200063/licences_and_street_trading/856/object_to_an_application
Liliana, I didn’t keep a copy of my last rantings when I objected. Sorry.
So, a precis for the various grounds for objecting to gambling license applications.
errr… ZERO. Don’t bother because your neighbourhood being systematically ruined by useless planning law is none of your business.
Sweet jesus: I just saw Justin in Sainsbury’s.
What? Who? Bieber?
Smooth talking Justin aims to turn into an attack wolf, just like Wolfman Humphreys … shame, he seemed such a nice guy. For what it’s worth, when he finishes work on the Today programme he returns to deepest Camberwell .… on the 148 bus (which conveniently runs from White City to C’well). Class.
Jesus shops in Marks & Spencer.
So.
Local Bermondsey boy Haye? Or Harrison from Harlesden? Haye gives Harrison over 3 stone but is almost as tall, which says Haye is fitter.
Ohhhh. Not Justin Budny… Justin Webb.
I watched the boxing through the window of EDT standing among the comfort of a busy Saturday evening throng of footfall on Lordship Lane. I found the spectacle rather depressing and the crowd cheering with every heavy punch even more so.
It seems schizophrenic to me that a society which essentially regards gambling and violence as vices at the same time finds them so acceptable that they can be broadcast and celebrated on every high street and living room in the land.
hello moderation is on again?!
there is indeed a schism — institutionalised violence (war) good/unquestionable;
individual violence (all other) despicable;
institutionalised gambling (canary wharf) good/unquestionable;
individual gambling (benefitscroungers) very very bad
Moderation is always on; it’s automatic and I have no idea of the criteria for what gets moderated. If your comment does get held, be patient; I’ll get to it sooner rather than later.
you must’ve said this a thousand times and i keep forgetting :S
x
and, in case you missed it, the house of praise have withdrawn the planning application on 8th november and resubmitted the planning application for change of use on 8th november. that’s fast by any means
I received a 2 letters last week from Southwark Council saying the change of use had been withdrawn for GALA bingo. This was because as many of us had done I had objected to the change of use officially.
My instincts tell me this is just the start of a long battle.
Can anyone tell me what is the best way to move forward do we have to object every time RCCG re submit their application under a slightly different criteria?
The Gala Bingo already looks like it’s going to have the finest reception area in Camberwell, all bright lights and glass, a more celestial meeting & greeting area for sure than that of the workerist Town Hall with its earnest slogan, “DO TODAY’S WORK TODAY 1934.”
Maybe we should embrace the show of strength — the Mercs, the Maybachs, the Cayennes and even the Chrysler “Crossfire” coupes (Crossfire! What were Chrysler thinking!) — that will enter Camberwell. We can stand on the pavements and wave.
In many religions, display of wealth is a matter of rejoicing, of joy and awe, proof of God’s bounty. The money-lenders may have been cast out of the temple of our society, but we may yet kneel to the wheels, sing the praises of the tin and the bling.
@gnomee: very much looks like it. we’ll post our objections up on the website over the next week or so which might be helpful.
House of Praise seem to have adopted the slogan “Do Tomorrow’s Work Before Planning is Granted”.
on a much more positive (and totally unrelated to them who don’t really deserve to be mentioned anywhere), embrace corporation (brilliant bunch of people doing brilliant nature/green stuff) are hoping to do some community projects in ruskin park. have a look at the info on project dirt here http://www.projectdirt.com/forum/topics/survey-to-show-find-if-there
The best way to oppose the house of praise is to follow Dagmar. I walked by and mine ! What an impressive work compared to what former Bingo left behind. We have a choice to make use of the place or fight to the end and pick more enemies. I am not comfortable when my enemies are not talking. Maybe the church knows something we don’t. It is certain they will get the permit just a matter of time as they said somewhere. The planners told me that they are operating on the D2 permit for functions already in response to my query. Can someone please help to throw more light on this? I am planning a nude march against the Townhalls being sold soon. Let me know if you are joining me and by the way House of Praise has shown interest in buying two of them!
the divine necessity for any house of worship is the book and knack-knack stall, en-suite coffee shop with the occasional performance thrown in — i’m led to believe the performances are called services technically.
having the money lenders in could be a positive step for the high church/catholic tradition, melt down the bling and provide interest free loans to the needy.
i is reminded of the closing chapters of Clochemerle and Justin Putet’s (sp?) run through the village
Huh? Woof woof.
you are all individuals
No Brian, WE are a congregation of secular sheep.
With intimations of inheritance of responsibility beyond your wildest imaginations…
What a life eh? Brian?
sheep and cats?
Anything much happening around the area this weekend? (that’s not jazz)
Anyone got links to funny pictures on the Internet? Even cat pictures with captions?
On the Bingo Hall, probably they will just submit a retrospective planning application. The hall is being used, so basically the deed is done. Prob pretty easy to play the system if you know how it works.
@Gabe if you are in a theatrical mood, you could go see a Zimbabwe version of Hamlet, Kupenga Kwa Hamlet, at the Oval House Theatre. Or if Jacobean tragedy is more up your street, The White Devil is on at Blue Elephant Theatre.
PS Anyone want to buy a couple of red leather sofas?
Moo.
Baaa.
Oink.
Miouaaaaouw.
@ J Mark Dodds
Have you been watching the Parlimentary Channel on Sky again?
I am in a theatrical mood. Both shows sound interesting. Thanks!
I’ve seen Hamlet before. Long play. That’s the one with the Prince of Denmark, right?
@eusebiovic: Happy birthday.
Funnily enough, I’ve not been to the zoo recently. My father used to say, when Thatcher was in, that if the House of Commons had six hundred buckets of cat shit lined up in the seats it could produce no worse an outcome for governing the country than the serried ranks of MPs who collectively were steering the country to… well, to where it is now.
@Gabe: My ‘wireless’ network is called ‘Prince of Denmark’. Weird that eh? It’s not in a play though, I think not anyhow.
Ari has his finger on the pulse. This is Clochemerle with knobs on, or maybe gold taps.
At the end of the day, though, God looks down — he is an old Jewish bloke — and goes “Oi oi oi, I told them they should be embracing each other naked or nude at the very least, to say the least, in the street, but what do they do, what do they do? They bicker about religion and fuss about details. Oi oi oi! OK, please, I am a dirty old man, but only when my wife is out shopping at Brent Cross.”
As the early Popes said — not the band, the early Christian leaders — don’t worry about the cults. We can handle it.
Meanwhile, if you have any further worries, please take note:
LADY PROFESSSOR DAGMAR
Ancient international, natural healer and intuitive wheeler-dealer, I can solve your DVLA, matrimonial, diswanted partner, dishwasher broke down, kill your boss, not step on do-do or ju-ju problems. Also! Job promotion, council tax, landlord, licensed trade, fancy someone even though you is plain plug ugly, or on the run, do not like your neighbours from the Islamic north of the country — yes, you lot! — football team not doing well, working class cockney syndrome, you name it, I do it. Cash down, go away happy! Above all, go away! Mobile 01313 1313131313. Home visit with cash is good. Stone’s throw from Peckham Job Centre.
Prince of Denmark is a fine name for a network.
Lady Dagmar, help with the DVLA you say?
Feeling in a less theatrical mood today. Watching tragedy unfold (even made-up, artistic, waspish, tragedy) is probably not worth finding someone to sit the kids.
@Gabe: It’s unfurling all around you, kind of for free, just look out the window. But the true costs of immersion are hidden, like in higher insurance premiums, and more than living somewhere else where it’s not available.
ou est tout le monde?
(i have been frowning and shouting at and arguing with pieces of paper for hours now & demand distraction)
Someone in a room writing, a bare lightbulb above, trying to hit the mark, aiming crumpled balls of paper at a wastepaper basket.
Nous sommes tous somnolent at this time of year. L’ennui… l’ anomie… winter draws on.
A couple of days ago, 66111 came through Camberwell. There is fab video of it in Wales on Youtube. Just put in 66111. These Canadian-made locos remind us that the Boris bikes are also made in Canada. What happened to the great days of Raleigh, English Electric and Brush?
There is a bouncy castle provided by the council every Saturday in Lucas Gardens till 3.30pm. Over in Olympia, Erotica 2010 is taking place. An exhibitor there used to make bouncy castles, but was undercut by Chinese manufacturers, so turned to making bondage products.
merci bien, dagmar
Dagmar
Raleigh Bikes started out in a workshop on Kennington Lane…
Another great piece of lost Sarf London history…
Really? Blimey. Not Nottingham?
Interestinkly enough, D.H. Lawrence lived for four years in Addiscombe, near Croydon, where Kate Moss is from.
Our Jenny Eclair is on that Celebrity programme on Saturday nights in the Australian bush where people have to eat insects, like in a Japanese telly show where contestants lie in baths of worms. Two tits from Newcastle called Ant and Dick sort of present it.
Jenny Eclair is a proper act and intelligent — the telly watchers who phone in for 99p a millisecond to vote for the contestants to eat grubs will not take to our Jenny.
Talking of tits, did anyone hear Bea Campbell talking about Page 3 on Radio 4?
@Dagmar
You’re right, I got my wires crossed…but I know a famous bicycle manufacturer started out in Kennington…
I just can’t remember the correct name…
Ahhh! It was Evans Cycles who used to hand build them before becoming the retailer we know today
http://www.evanscycles.com/help/about-evans-cycles
It’s rare that I find myself forced toward the internet to buy things when I can get them in a real shop but that Edwardes bike shop really irritates the hell out of me.
Each time I go I find myself leaving feeling as though I’m being fleeced. I explained clearly I didn’t want to leave with bicycles yesterday and wanted to know was how much I would end up spending on two new BMX bikes with two bikes to part exchange — I’m too bored to bother detailing the barrage of bullshit trying to convince me I was getting a good deal but it was like haggling in a bloody Indian bazaar. Closing the deal, irrespective of my having no money on the day, seemed the blind objective of the sales person.
The bikes which were the focus of our attention were ‘on special offer reduced from £189 RRP to £139′ with all sorts of juggling around with the p-ex and £30 for two sets of ‘pegs’ (those things that stick out of the hubs for doing tricks) the final price for the two was £239 or, if I paid a deposit then and there to secure the deal, £209.
I said we don’t need ‘pegs’ because we can take them off the bikes we brought in for p-ex: ‘you don’t want to use those, they’re no good’. ‘I bought them here’. ‘Oh, well they were OK when you bought them, they’re no good now’. I left feeling irritated and annoyed — almost my default state admittedly — and determined to find out more.
At home, a two minute search found exactly the same bikes, new, for £89.99 reduced from RRP of £129 with £4.50 delivery charge.
That is £50 less than the Edwardes normal quote and £20 less than the extra special pay deposit now collect for Christmas quote, without the £70 part exchange deal. If the guy hadn’t been so pushy, and had listened a little, I would have done the deposit then and there and been fine about paying extra for being in the shop, even though I can’t really afford it.
Pah. Shop local.
Eusebiovic
I worked at Raleigh in the 80s. Gets its name from Raleigh Street in Nottingham, where the first bike workshop was located. It employed around 20000 people at one stage; employs around 10 now importing crap bikes from Taiwan.
Alan Sillitoe had Arthur Seaton working there in SNSM. You see Albert Finney in the film working on the shop floor. My dad was an apprentice at the time and was paid to work all Saturday so they could get the shot. Sillitoe’s mum worked there for years, making wheels i think. Wheel making is seen as a rare art now, but at Raleigh it was sweary women from Hyson Green, Players fags dripping from their mouths, who knocked them out.
Pashley bid for the Boris bikes but he gave the job to Serco who gave it to the makers of Montreal’s Bixi bike scheme, maybe rightly. But Pashley said at the time it could have employed 20 more people if they’d got the contract.
There were several sports bike makers in this area, making track bikes, racers and the like in small workshops. Will try and trace ‘em.
Edwardes can be very scornful and jobsworthish, but it depends on who you get and their mood.They give a lot of attention to people spending at the top end, understandably. There is not great riches in running bike shops.
You often see institutionally posh people who spend thousands on their cars nitpicking at the bike shop over a few quid.
To hold such contradictions and knotty paradoxes in the mind is the true ambition of the situationist!
Writing this set me thinking about Sillitoe. A truly great writer. Nottingham (my home city) seems to attract brilliant chroniclers of working class life. Shane Meadows, although not from the Goose fair city, is very much of it and has inherited the mantle. To his huge credit, he is an avid fan of the city’s only football team, which (to complete the circle) inspired Sillitoe to write a very good short story (The Match). Come on you Pies.
Ken was going to give the bike scheme to J.C Decaux. It was the cheapest option and they’d already got their teething done in Paris. That sort of thing doesn’t make sense to some people though; no, spend a lot more money on research and start out from scratch. Much more rational. Give someone else a chance.
Sometimes wonder if Sillitoe’s real subject, the disillusionment of postwar Britain, and the lack of opportunities for the working class, has changed
What smells a little suspicious about this, Mark, is that Decaux’s make the Tardis-style (like the one on the Green) steel public toilets and well as the bikes in Paris. On the other hand — and great situationists can think two things at the same time — thief-proof bike systems are a new area as every private bike owner knows.
Florian, the great D.H. Lawrence is the man, the true Nottingham man. Lots of his stuff is not good, but the best is incredibly good.
The current liberal illiberal intellectual establishment will have little of him, but he was a real freedom fighter for a new, emotionally less uptight Albion. Today’s brittle women feminist critics of him are beneficiaries of what he did. I mean, he was so intuitive, he was almost a girl.
Edwardes are always very sweet and accommodating to me, including emergency repairs and giving me free things. They may be a bit more expensive than online, but hey, that’s the case for all types of shops, especially local, non-chain shops. I’ve never been unlucky with the salespeople I get.
Edwardes seem to attract polar views. My experience was good buying a bike for me, less good trying to buy a bike for my daughter.
Dagmar — Lawrence was more of the county than the city (he referred to the latter as a “scab” in S&L). But incredibly good at his best, agreed.
@Mark — Not sure wear you got your info from regarding J.C Decaux and the Boris bikes? My understanding was that TFL put the contract to tender and J.C Decaux did not even apply; press reports suggest that this was because they had lost money on the Paris scheme (lots of vandalism & theft) and that the London scheme offered less advertising space.
The Marie de Paris and JCDecaux share the operating costs of the Paris bikes 50/50 this is the same for TFL and SERCO in London. Finally the success of the London scheme has surprised everyone – so much so that in 3 years it is expected that the bikes will become the first public transport system in the capital that will have ever made a profit under public ownership. No mean feat.
In the bike shop debate: My experiences of Edwards are poor, they appear to resent their clients walking through the door. The shop on East Dulwich Road SE22 9AX is a much better in my opinion.
@GayCamberwell. I’m glad not everyone gets the treatment I experienced at Edwardes. I have no problem with a shop being more expensive than online, a shop’s overheads are higher etc, but paying a huge premium for the benefit of being patronised in a shop setting by someone who doesn’t appear bothered one way or another just doesn’t float my boat. It has crossed my mind that it could be my demeanour that stimulates shopkeepers to treat me like I’m a rich idiot — but it only happens at Edwardes, it’s been with three different ‘assistants’, and this time the barrage of sales pitch began on my boys before I even got to the shop front. At least we weren’t ignored.
@Dagmar a Paris I heard that in the first year a number of bikes equal to the opening stock (16,000 I believe), were stolen from the leafy boulevards, deposited in canals and wasteland in the suburbs — a mere hiccough in UK expectation.
@Gala Bingo. WE, the concerned people of the leafy boulevards of Camberwell, must reapply ourselves to the matter of the Planning Application for change of use to the CINEMA etc facility into a PLACE OF WORKSHIP. Now, of course, the application is in part A RETROSPECTIVE APPLICATION because naturally the church started work in the building before its first approach to the planning department was recommended to be rejected because it was inadequate.
IF you haven’t already, appraise yourself and show support for the creation of a fabulous marvellous mixed use secular community venue which would welcome people of ALL FAITHS here:
Imagine there is a link here to a facebook ‘Cinema for Camberwell Green’ page. I can’t make the link work.
Here’s the website where you will find a link: http://camberwellcommunitycinema.webs.com/
I’ve been going to Edwardes for seven years; I’ve bought three bikes from them. They’ve always given me a good deal, free servicing, never tried to upsell other stuff, fixed punctures for free, and so on. They’ve been in Camberwell for 100 years and always give apprentice work to local kids. I think they’re a local treasure.
Edwardes are OK. I can’t enthuse about them, but they’re not bad, and have helped me out a few times. Shame they don’t do a better ‘Camberwell’ jersey a la Brixton Cycles. I’d buy one.
@NickW: My information is anecdotal; Ken Livingstone told me. I do not know any of the detail.
My experience of Edwardes is uniformly poor. What is reported on this blog reflects a wider experience — patchy. From what cycle groups report about them they have a bumpy reputation generally… which is a shame. I’d really like to report as Peter does above.
Brixton cycles though, I’ve been to as many times as Edwardes, and been very pleased with the way I and my kids have been treated. Barnaby there is a star in my eyes. And it’s a cooperative.
I’ve always found Edwardes to be very helpful. Been going to them for a number of years.
Did the rounds last night:
The Bear — good atmosphere, bit of a post-roast lull as there always is on a Sunday evening.
Funky Munky — empty.
The Recreation Ground — cavernously empty.
Le Petit Parisien — my former bete noire delivered the goods! Still serving food after 9 o’clock, Leffe on tap, and a very good jazz band to boot! Well done!
and let the bingoisms begin
(bingoism being a word to describe planning applications what do not operate in facts)
http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1182:gala-bingo-hall-objectionpart1-november2010&Itemid=3
Yeah, the Rec isn’t looking too clever is it. How long will it last?
Also tired of the curry joints round here being totally empty 90% of the time. Sometimes we want a curry, don’t want Safa, and don’t want to sit in some empty place.
Good to see Wuli Wuli doing well. Silk Rd was nice last time I went, and good value, but also sticking to its formula. Nothing new there in 3 years. I have them every time but the skewers ain’t that nice, really. Far too wet. Cash only still. They must be raking it in. Seriously raking it. Taxman on our cases over sod all, why doesn’t he have a look at Silk Rd?
Maybe this is old news but there’s a new pizza restaurant on Bellenden Rd on the site of the former Bellenden Project, or whatever it was called. Haven’t tried the pizzas yet.
Cinnamon and what’s it called in the New Dome Hotel are both very good despite being unfairly empty.
Whatever happened to the pizza place on Camberwell Station Road. It is never open on a sunday when I can’t be bothered to cook.…apart from being in an odd place of course.
The Funky Munky on a Saturday night is good fun. It’s like being on holiday or at the bar at the end of the universe on the last Saturday night of all time.
Lyndhurst Winter Fair at the junior school is always a lark, too — it’s happening next Saturday between 3 and 6pm. The weather will be bright, sunny and chilled.
There will be a full barbecue, mulled wine and huskies. There will a snow machine. The bookstall is always of astounding quality and value. The DJ is always brilliant — not just Xmassie music but all sorts.
All kinds of people go there, not just yummies, cool dads and kiddikins.
Grove Lane, it’s on, near the top. Then after mulled wine and open-aired cooked meats in the fresh, refrigerated air, it’s a downhill stroll to the Hermits Cave, followed by a good old retro disco rave at the Munky.
The pizza place on Station Road closed — not enough custom. BAD location. Stefano, the rather good man who opened it is back at the Half Moon doing pizza and pasta there, as he was before Topo Gigio. Good news is that since Pizza Express opened in the Three Monkeys site food sales at Half Moon have gone up.
The pizza place in Bellenden Road is good. Paul Seymour — he of the remaining ‘Seymour Brother’s’ fame is the owner. I can’t remember what he’s called it. It’s a number I think. it’s on the corner where The Peckham Experiment didn’t work.
That’s a lot of pizza update.
On a more local uplifting note, this THURSDAY evening come to the private view of EFFRA FC photography exhibition at The Sun and Doves. It will be a good Camberwell night.
Snow is forecast by the way. How seasonal is that?
The pizza place on Bellenden Road is called 168SLA. The 168 is the street number and the SLA part of the name apparently refers to Sophia Loren’s Ass, of which they have a large poster on one wall!
Haven’t been there yet myself but from what I’ve heard, the pizzas are very good.
Sounds scrumptious.
Sc-rump-tious.
Paddy Power. Not seeing much of that at the moment are we.
SLA ahHa. I can hear his voice now. That really sounds like Paul. We were waiters together at Joe Allen in the early eighties.
HERE’s a picture of SLA’s spotless kitchen in action.