(Photo courtesy of Southwark Council flickr set)
Saturday saw the official reopening of Camberwell swimming pool with various events at the pool — it was reported on the BBC website and on Harriet Harman’s website and on the Southwark Council website flickr set but look out I guess for more pictures of the event in Thursday’s Southwark News or Friday’s South London Press. I’m pleased to say that the refurbished swimming pool is a great improvement on the previous pool. See the pool timetable for opening hours and other information.
In other Camberwell news the author of Camberwell through time will be talking about his book at a Peckham Society meeting on 17 April — more information on the Peckham Society website
As has been mentioned in the comments on a previous post the regimental football of the Royal Irish Rifles has been on display at their head quarters on Flodden Road — more about the football on the D Company (Irish Rifles) website
And finally Guardian journalist Dave Hill passed through Camberwell recently in his training for the London Marathon
Nice round-up, Peter, as ever. Your gentle, strong voice hovers over the blog like the Holy Ghost.
There is a great church on the Old Kent Road opposite ASDA’s. It is called HOLY GHOST ZONE. Brilliant.
The Irish Rifles football is a must to see — but how?. If there were to be a BBC Radio 4 programme, “Britain in 100 Objects”, that football would be No.1 way before the head of Prince Charles at No.13.
Dave Hill saw Linton Kwesi Johnson at Herne Hill, he says. Kwesi is serious and bitter. The real deal is Benjamin Zephaniah. His work for children is just great — Kwesi can’t say that. His work for adults is to the point. His Desert Island Discs was just fabulous. He is universal and therefore a man for the future.
Talking of which, the Hermits Cave tomorrow night is the place to be for St Patrick’s Night. It is always a total, unalloyed hoot there.
Very kind of you, Dagmar, but Mumu’s gentle, strong voice did the hovering on this post.
Have you looked at the consultation document? Go on, have a look then come back here and tell us all what you think of it…
Please? Pretty please?
HERMITS ST PATRICK’S POGUEFEST TONITE!
Looks very modern that library scheme in a 1950s science fiction way.
Sorry, Mumu, Peter. Does anyone else get everything wrong all the time, shambling and stuttering gravewards, committing error after error?
Hermits was quite good last night. Strange to hear music being played there. They could’ve changed the CD a bit more though. Twas better in the old Olde Dispensary, where there was live music, sure to be sure.
Is it me or are the kids taking over? OK so there were always lots of studes in the Hermits, but the Tiger is oft overwhelmed these days too. Maybe I’m getting old.
I’ve just scoured the internet in search of the new leisure centre’s pricing, but to no avail. I eventually had to use the telephone (I know — awful) but that was also only partly fruitful, with the admittedly very nice man on the other end telling me it would be best if I came in person to find out more. The refurbishment has been physical but not technological, it seems. More to the point, I got the impression I would be discrimated against financially by being a resident of Camberwell’s Lambeth third. But I will verify this before venting any irritation…
I hear that Le Petit Parisien has finally succumbed and will close shortly — possibly this weekend.
I guess that’s a shame, though the PP was more always more form than content in my experience. Nicish atmosphere but pretty bog-standard food for the price.
Incidentally, I’d like to go see this football, but can’t find any information about the regimental museum’s opening hours? Does anyone know anything?
That’s sad about Le PP. If they could hang on for the summer they seem to do a lot better then with the tables.
I’m sure if they turned the restaurant bit into more comfortable pub seating then it’d have a better chance.
That said, GU is a full pub and never seems full either and it’s only up the road.
The football was at the Irish Rifles Museum on Flodden Road only for last weekend — it has now gone to the Museum of London.
Excellent in the Cave last night. St Patrick’s Night is totally dotty. Viva!
Le Parisen was great, what a pity. If it weren’t for the credit crash and the tumbleweed effect on the St George’s development, it would have lived on.
I liked the steaks at LePP, but it never managed to build up an atmosphere. For a supposedly French bistro, it felt just like anywhere else — mostly, it must be said, because the beer selection was the same as 90% of the other pubs in Britain. A French bistro should be selling French beer.
But atmosphere aside, the most common complaints I heard were about the manager. Many people told me they found him rude or disinterested (or both). In the early days they had an excellent assistant manager, but he disappeared after a while.
Yeah, too much empty seating in Le PP restaurant bit I thought. Lovely waitress though.
South London Gallery cafe the other day. The kid next to me had Sunday roast chicken and it looked a good deal. I had roast beef on toast and felt it wasn’t very generous for £5.50. It was OK.
The exhibition was underwhelming, again. Video installations not really my thing though.
Someone go to Johanssons for dinner and tell us what it’s like.
I considered Johansson’s for dinner recently, but it’s about £15 for a main which puts it out of ‘speculative punt’ and into ‘an occasion’.
Tight wad.
Put some adverts on here if you’re skint.
I made £4.84 from Amazon through referrals for the Camberwell Through Time book, which puts my life earnings from this blog at £4.84.
They should be throwing free meals at you Peter for your reviews, etc, on this ‘ere website. And Phil G — he reviews places too.
+ ADVERTISEMENT + Come to Camberwell tomorrow 19 March 2011 for the full moon at its perigee, the closest the moon has been to the earth for 14 years. + Sit in the churchyard with a can of Scrumpy Jack + Watch dead people in the Hermits still trying to recover from St Patrick’s Night +
So, what was the Kerfield pub (Le PP) has been closed FIVE times since I opened the Sun and Doves. The George Canning has now had FOUR different people running it since my mate Steve packed it in two and a bit years ago. The Black Swan in Belford Northumberland has had EIGHT landlords since it was brought under the wing of a pubco over a decade ago.
Etc. etc. etc.
That’s the wonder of the tied pub system.
Rumour has it there’s a lot of FLASH MOBS happening around the manor this weekend. Camberwell Green last night, Butterfly Walk this morning, Ruskin Park errrr — NOW, right at this moment I am informed by Barbara who rang and told me to get on up to the bandstand there and well, tomorrow I’m going to the Sun and Doves for lunch at 1.30pm.
Went to Pasha Hotel last night for belly dancing, live Russian pop music and dinner. More on the food later, I feel there is room for improvement, but it was busy and noisy. We were five and we were mesmerized by the throng of antics and activities going on all around us. One of my fellow diners described it as the ambience, style and taste of a Moscow suburbs knocking shop circa 1973.
We then tripped along the road to the Nags Head where the regulars all STOPPED and STARED as we walked in, then went back to their drinks and things as we approached the bar. Busy, brightly lit, a good selection on the juke box and a round of three pints and two halves was £11.77 — it seemed we’d moved along a decade by walking up towards the Green.
After that to the Crypt for some marvellous jazz and a good long chat with the staff — the Church has given a long lease to Tracy Allen of Art’s Bar fame and next week is our last managing the little club under the church. That’ll be a relief. Good luck Tracy.
Ah yes. Went to 67 the other day too — the South London Gallery cafe. It’s Very Good
I went to Johansons for dinner with my other half the night before i left london for christmas, the food was really good as was the service. Now its not the cheapest but the chef came to speak to us and made us feel very welcome (and as it was the last night open before xmas he gave us the rest of the bottles of wine each to drink on the house) to wish us merry xmas.
I hope they give it a lick of paint and make it feel a little cleaner, but i agree i think its more of an ‘occasion’ than an any night out dinner, but when the fire is roaring, good food, candles and friendly service, its worth it!
Blast from the past. Anyone remember PULLIT? The art collective who occupied the CoolTan building in Brixton and made unconstitutional free waves in the eighties? Having almost started a revolution south of the river they moved to Camden and eventually, as the long arm of the law, financial reality and approaching maturity fell upon the founders, dispersed to various corners of the creative universe.
This Friday sees a return to some of the heydey with a group exhibition of work by PULLIT founders at Bond House, one of ASC Studios sites, in New Cross Gate. Turn left over the rail bridge out of New Cross Gate train station, heading toward the Venue, take the first left Goodwin Street. A 100 metre skip down the hill. Don’t miss — it will be fun.
Where are all the parents whose kids did not get a place or who were offered somewhere abominable? Are they ALL in east Dulwich? Please post here or email mark@se5forum.org to exchange experience and anecdotes about the richness of life in inner city London.
Came across this looking for something else: The RECREATION GROUND circa January 1997
Did we know that John Galliano was bullied at Wilson’s Grammar School? Excellent preparation for what’s happening to him now. The primping poodles of Paris presumably never lose their marbles or have a hair out of place.
Roy Porter, that excellent historian of madness and loony bins, also attended Wilson’s. Caine, too.
A shame that Wilson’s is no longer. Anyone interested in setting up a secondary school for a Camberwell catchment? Or would that be too much of an effort.
Hello all. I’m not sure the etiquette here. I’ve been in Camberwell 5 years and been a silent observer of the blog.
Sorry if I’m really behind the curve here — but I saw mention of something on this blog a while back and have failed to find any information anywhere else, and it’s really been bugging me…
What’s happened to the Funky Munky, asides from the obvious non-refurbishment? I’ve only got a 50% ‘getting past the doorman’ record at Couture Club 😉
I know there are plenty of pubs and bars, but the Munky had been there a while (I knew it well before I moved here) and filled a specific need (not particularly of mine so much these days I should add). It just seems strange walking past it in its current state of limbo.
@mark — interested in theory, but dang, that’d be a lot of effort. Too much I fear. In the round, the amount of effort it would take would detract from family life so much that it wouldn’t benefit your kids after all.
@Mark get Toby Young to move here he will do it for you
@Gabe my life revolves around my family and that revolves around my work and my work revolves around Camberwell anyway so there’s no downside there. I figure that if we change the school thing which is, I assert, a SCANDAL that’s been going on for decades and affects Camberwell (and, sadly for them, E Dulwich too) more than most other neighbourhoods just because of the geographical distance we are from all the schools. I see it as a civic duty to generations that come after us to put this situation right. And, besides, if we get it going now, in three years time it could be ready for my sons anyway.
@Gnomee No point in reinventing the wheel is there? I’ll be in touch with Toby Young — it’s already on SE5 Forum’s Vision for Camebrwell which will be published very soon. I’m meeting Peter John and Camila B (separately) early in April so I’ll bring it up with them. Seems topical.
@PerNiente re Funky Munky is closed, as Funky Munky forever. It was run really badly, it’s in a terrible state, it needs to be totally gutted and started again. Would you — or anyone else here consider buying into your own pub? I have a plan… The People’s Pub Foundation. putting the pub back at the heart of Communities; it’s a Big Society thing.
mark@sunanddoves.co.uk
The Munky was great fun. The Parisien was class. What on earth is going on?
Upset / dissatisfied parents and eleven year-olds see this thread on e dulwich forum
http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,640809,page=1
@dagmar — cocaine on the one hand and the beer tie on the other.
@J Mark Dodds
I also found out the hard way regarding the East Dulwich Forum…
I remember posting an item regarding the CVH Campaign and although I had a few good, hardy souls offering their encouragement and support…a lot of the replies were pretty sneering and snobbish (the usual kind of thing).
I seem to remember one thread entitled “Is Camberwell Allowed?”
I found it all quite funny really…very parochial — I want Camberwell to improve but that doesn’t close me off to the reality that all our neighbourhoods are inter-connected. I like a drink in the ED Tavern and some Fish and Chips in The Sea Cow and have watched the mighty Dulwich Hamlet F.C on many occasions. A few chops from William Rose butcher is always a treat too!
Like I’ve said many times before…The clock is being put back over 150 years. When villager mis-trusted fellow villager who was just a 5 minute walk up hill or down dale.
YEAH
No-one likes us, but we don’t care.
Come on, Team Camberwell. Are we not cosmopolitan and big enough, generally speaking?
@Dagmar
Of course, that was my point right? 🙂
Yes, Eusebiochap, your feet are planted in the good earth of Camberwell. Yes, this is well documented here in the scrolls of parchment on this blogge.
What a nice sunny day today here in Camber-ah-well, though. Was it the same in the business & financial areas of London? Or was it drizzling? We housewifes were listening to the budget on our husbands’ football transistors, in the park with the toddlers, hoping to hear of reduction in tax on Tampax and the like, Blue Nun, chocolates.
It would seem that petrol is now cheaper than ever thanx 2 the Chance-ellor and that the taxes on booze and drink have been forgotten. That the tax on fags for the dead smokers is up raises a cheer in St Giles’ churchyard. They are such a larf there! Also at St Giles project next door.
It is good that we have foreign wars to take our minds off the foreign wars abroad.
Still, let us visit the London Irish Rifles’ football in the Museum of London to remind ourselves of what it is to be British, Palestinian, just football-playin’ folks, everyone, that is.
Everyone that is.
There is a GREAT Bangladeshi takeaway http://www.2sisterstandoori serving our area with excellent fresh pukka Bangla ingredients.
Yes, Eusebiochap, your feet are planted in the good earth of Camberwell. This is well documented here in the scrolls of parchment of this blogge.
What a nice sunny day today here in Camber, Ah, well. Was it the same in the business & financial districts of London? Or was it drizzling? We housewifes were listening to the budget on our husbands’ football transistors, in the park with the sprogs, hoping to hear of reduction in tax on Tampax and the like, Blue Nun, chocolates.
It would seem that petrol is now cheaper than ever thanx 2 the Chancellor who puts the chance in Chancellor or the cancel in councillor.
Taxes on booze and drink have been forgotten entirely it seems. That the tax on fags for the dead smokers is up raises a cheer in St Giles’ churchyard. They are such a larf there! Also at St Giles project next door.
It is good that we have foreign wars to take our minds off the foreign wars abroad.
Let us visit the London Irish Rifles’ football in the Museum of London to remind ourselves of what it is to be British, Palestinian — just football-playin’ folks, everyone, that is.
Everyone that is.
There is a GREAT Bangladeshi takeaway http://www.2sisterstandoori serving our area with excellent fresh pukka Bangla ingredients.
Meanwhile over on the SE5 Forum website (this is me posting in my FORUM Flat Cap rather than from under the brim my own Fredbare Fedora) there’s a lot of meaty stuff for Camberwellians to get their well worn molars around.
SE5 Forum is looking for feedback on its Vision for Camberwell — A most important document, something the Forum has been working towards for years.
Then there is the Council’s What Should Happen to the Library Consultation
As well as the usual, denser gossip that can be found over that way.
Take a Look. Your views count.
@mark re: self-build schools, I’m in for what that’s worth.
My concern is would our kids really want us jaw-boning on about schools all the time? I can see that sort of campaign takes over one’s life. Discussing it at dinner, etc. It could get extremely tedious and it puts pressure on kids once their parents are engaged to that level.
Seems like kids want to keep their heads down, do their time, and get in and out as stealth as they can.
I go to the school fair and even the parent’s quiz night once (we did terrible, way out of our league), but it’s not really my thing all that.
Edit: that all reads like a cop-out, which I suppose it is…
Just seen a sign saying the Farmers’ Market will be back at Camberwell Green on Saturday 2nd April which is good news. Hopefully it will become a regular event (possibly monthly??).
Farmer’s Market
IF YOU want to do something other than turn up and eat pasties and drink cider then see below for details:
Saturday 2nd April From 10am — 2pm
The Banners are up on the Green
We have also invited Southwarks Arts Forum to this market and are very keen to have local artisans involved with the market.
Look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Annette Cauneen
Director
Urban Farmers Market
Fine Foods for London
http://www.urbanfarmersmarket.co.uk
@Gabe. It’s worth a LOT. And it’s not a cop out to think about the downside of getting something incredibly time consuming and impossibly complex and possibly completely unrewarding taking over your life. Regarding the likelihood of being consumed by such self imposed demands is why most people instead watch television and read Ola as their world passes them by.
In my naive outlook I reckon the mechanisms must be in place to make these schools happen (I have not researched any of this) or else there would not be so much news about parents being able to set up schools where there is demand.
The wheel has been spoked elsewhere, I assume, and I intend to find out how it’s been done by meeting people who’ve made it happen already.
A secondary school, as Toby Young tells me, needs 40,000sq ft and land around for sports and recreation. Anyone think of some place that fits this description? The East Dulwich hospital site? Anywhere nearer to SE5?
Lettsome Gardens? No, really, what about that tract of land down the back of Dulwich Hamlet? Or the EDF site near Loughborough Junction? What’s happening to those demolished blocks on the Elmington estate near Burgess Park? What about a slice of Burgess Park? Too near Walworth Academy innit.
There’s bound to be space somewhere locally just someone has to point it out.
I love this Newport parody — would be very fun to do a Camberwell version. Any inspiration? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eijc2tGe-zM&feature=related
Turkish Food Centre opening in Camberwell soon — anyone know where?
http://www.tfcgroup-uk.com/branches.html
Dulwich Hamlet are playing Fleet in an important game tomorrow at 1.30. They will be well up for it — promotion beckons at this, the business end of the season.
DHFC supplies excellent young footballers to the industry, so this is a great chance to see the future, now. It will be a nice sunny day and the Hamlet is a great place to take football-interested children.
@GayCambo- The GLC were doing Newport City gags back in 2000. Even brought the show to Burgess Park (2004 or 2005 not sure).
Their song F*ck you Alicia keys went down very badly with the crowd.
Didn’t stop them though and they won some friends by the end of ‘Guns don’t kill people rappers do’.
@J Mark Dodds
Indeed, The East Dulwich Hospital site would make a tremendous school as would the largely unused listed hospital building itself…However it would probably be argued that the building doesn’t suit the needs of modern education.
Funny That — If this is true then the buildings at Oxford and Cambridge Universities should have been demolished long ago and replaced with some breeze block and balsa wood boxes with pvc windows 😉
@Dagmar
The mighty Hamlet deserve all the encouragement they can get…they do an excellent job of engaging the kids and community they just need a few more fans…old skool football in the community — Yeah
@Olly
There is an excellent Turkish Supermarket on Walworth Road — I am a big fan of these places…there is still an excellent appreciation of asthetic presentation in the old emporium style…which should always be encouraged.
Complete with arms crossed proprietor and his majestically coffered moustache standing in front of aforementioned emporium!
I met Katharine Birbalsingh this afternoon. She’s a long way along the way toward getting a Free School off the ground.
On a serious note — who else has noticed internet connections slowing in Camberwell in the last three months or so?