Come and see Revitalise Camberwell at

The Farmers’ market on the Green Sat 3 December 10am-2pm

A walking tour and workshop starting at St Giles Centre on Sat 3 December 9:30am-1:30pm and on Thu 8 December 6-9pm

Exhibition at the St Giles Centre on 8 December from 5pm and in Butterfly Walk on Saturday 17 December from 11am.

For further information contact the Revitalise Camberwell team on 020 7525 5317 or email transport@southwark.gov.uk

Let’s start with the good news. Today I had a day off and the chance to walk around Camberwell and see some of the good side of it. Breakfast at Johanssons followed by a swim at the Baths, and what a marvellous job they’ve done of restoring it; a really beautiful, first class job. The pool looks brilliant and enticing, the changing rooms are modern and clean. Well done to everyone involved. In the reception they’ve a cartoon from 1907 of the Camberwell Ladies fighting to keep the Baths open. Thanks to them, we can enjoy the pool 100 years later.

Later I had a patty from Patty Island, which I probably don’t mention enough even though they make tasty snacks.

Last weekend I went to The Crooked Well, and they’ve done a great job there too; a proper, full redevelopment, not just a lick of paint. The place was busy but we got a table, and the food was delicious. It’s not cheap — about £15 for a main — so it’s a place you’d go to for an occasion, not an off-the-cuff bite to eat (at least, that’s the case for me; richer readers may find that exceptional value). One gripe: the beer’s exactly the same as every other pubco pub. Would be nice to have some more tasty craft beers, but them’s the breaks, I guess.

There’s work going on at (the former?) Funky Munky. I asked in The Hermit’s what was going to happen there, and they said a pub with food, nothing different or more elaborate. All will be revealed.

The bad news? Well, not so much bad, as uncertain. Camberwell’s going through a change at the moment; the old Cypriot Camberwell is disappearing. Paul’s Continental seems to be over, Tadim show no signs of reopening, Cruson’s days are shortening fast… pretty soon only Sophocles (Edit: and The Vineyard) will remain. What will we become when Little Cyprus is forgotten?

More certainly, from 2012 Denmark Hill loses it’s direct connection to London Bridge. It means a change at Peckham Rye, an inconvenience for many people. Also, it could mean the loss of service to London Victoria, which is possibly more serious.

Those aren’t all the changes at Denmark Hill; the row of houses along Windsor Walk is finally being restored — seems they’re to be part of the Hospital, although would have been better if they were private residences, to make that walk seem a little safer at night. Also, work has begun on the new station entrance; a temporary footbridge will be introduced as a first step.

And talking of changes, Burgess Park is to be mostly closed off while the regeneration begins. There’s a map showing the areas that will be out of bounds for a while.

So, lots going on, more even than I’ve mentioned here. The Sun & Doves has had a stay of execution, the Mary Datchelor development looks lovely, work has begun on the old Town Hall buildings… as the Funky Munky used to say (paraphrasing Winston Churchill): Never Give Up.

The two transport strategies contain interesting information on transport locally and the challenges faced.

The Southwark strategy acknowledges that transport facilities in Camberwell could be improved and pledges the council’s continuing support for bringing the Bakerloo line to Camberwell as well as the role of sustainable transport such as cycling and walking in the borough.

The Lambeth strategy covers similar transport issues with several mentions of the decline in services on the Denmark Hill train line as well as the aspiration of creating better neighbourhoods less dominated by motor transport.

Both strategies acknowledge the similarlity of the two boroughs where there is low levels of car ownership, high levels of deprivation, comparatively high levels of cycling and walking. They also acknowledge the problems faced by local town centres such as Camberwell which must fulfill a conflicting role as both local shopping areas and as major routes into London.

Whilst they provide very interesting reading on the local transport situation and issues in themselves their main purpose is as consultation documents. If you would like to take part in shaping the future of transport locally please send back a consultation response saying how you feel transport should be improved locally.

I’m sure most of us would broadly agree on transport priorities for Camberwell: from the aspirational: reopening of the railway station, future Camberwell tube station and inclusion of Camberwell in any future tram scheme to the more mundane (but achievable): taming of the multi-lane roads that dominate the town centre, improvements to bus services and inclusion of Camberwell in the Mayor’s Cycle Hire scheme.

Both boroughs allow local residents to send in their responses online — fill in the Lambeth online form and/or the Southwark online survey — for both the deadline is approaching so do it soon!

If we start telling the policy makers what we want now the planning can start for future transport improvements and we can judge developments according to the aspirations set out in the strategies.

I’m still a bit discombobulated after a short break in Barcelona so I don’t have a lot to write about just yet, but one potentially huge piece of news happened late last month/year which needs to be reported.

TfL have announced a grant of £200,000 to pay for the design of improvements to Camberwell town centre. This will pay for a full consultation of local needs & wishes and designs to be drawn up based on the results of that. Mooted improvements include:

… improving the pedestrian crossing at Camberwell Green junction, widening pavements and improved pedestrian crossings at Denmark Hill, creating a “green walking link” from Wren Road to Butterfly Walk and decorating the blank walls of Orpheus Walk.

Now this does sound somewhat familiar (there seems to be a new consultation every other year), but Southwark council are hopeful it could lead to up to £7million of further investment from TfL and “other sources”. If that happens, it would be amazing — especially with the influx of new residents in the new Camberwell New Road development and the Peckham Road Student Village — so fingers crossed it comes to pass.

Congratulations to all of the local pressure groups — including many of the readers of this blog — who have campaigned to make this happen. Let’s hope for bigger things in 2011 and beyond.

I also have some other news which I’ve promised not to tell yet. It’s not on the same scale as this, but is quite a shock. Yes, I am a big tease.

Went with the wife to The Recreation Ground last Sunday; had planned to eat there but they were only serving roasts, so decided to just have a drink instead. The refurb isn’t immediately apparent; it’s obviously cleaner and the walls are bare, but the biggest difference is in the fantastic toilets, now down in the cellar. The area where they used to be has a DJ booth and dancefloor. It was a bit empty when we were there — not helped by the bare walls and big space at the back — but the staff were mega-friendly and the food looked good, so we’ll be going back soon.

On the Friday before we went to check out Wuli Wuli, the new Chinese on Church St. As has been mentioned before, they have a traditional ‘English’ menu, but also more typical real Chinese dishes (offal seems to feature strongly). I had a dish which was strips of beef and chilli and it was absolutely delicious; much spicier than I’m accustomed to. They still have a 15% opening discount, so you should get down there and give it a go.

Also, we went to the GX Gallery last week to see the exhibition by local artist Martin Grover. I loved his work, but the big revelation was the gallery itself; I’d never been down to the cellar before, and it’s astonishing. It’s a converted bakery which still has the old ovens in the wall, and the rest of the space is beautiful old brick with hidden nooks. If you haven’t been, go; I had no idea it was so lovely.

Okay, on to proper news. Lewisham Council recently commissioned a report on options to extend the Bakerloo line [PDF, 410kb]. Only one of the options involves passing through Camberwell, but interestingly that’s the second cheapest option (the cheapest goes through the Aylesbury Estate to Peckham) and they note that this line has been extensively planned in the past. If it does happen it won’t be for many years, but useful to know that it’s still being considered.

Activism: Carter Place Garden, the only green space on Walworth Road, is in danger of being developed on. This post on the SE5Forum explains the context, and what you can do to help.

Also, there’s a public meeting at St Giles Church on Nov 3rd to discuss the Camberwell Baths Campaign. Phase 1 of the work — including the pool, changing rooms, and cafe — has been completed and recently an extra £50,000 was granted for Phase 2, which is the gymnastics hall (and why the Baths remain closed until next year). But there’s apparently still £1.8m needed to complete all the works, and the Campaign needs your help to support their petition to the council. Full details here — please get along if you can.

How would you visually represent SE5? One of the students at the College of Arts has had a go.

As reported in comments on the previous post, part of Lucas Gardens has been saved from being sold off to developers, as the College is said to have bought South House. I went to a Halloween party in East House on Saturday night; apologies to the neighbours.

Here’s something topical: Camberwell post office (“grungey and dispiriting”) used as an illustration of why bonuses are not always deserved.

Also topical: the murderer of a man who was stabbed to death near his home, on Coldharbour Lane, was sentenced to a minimum 30 years in prison last week. He sounds like a proper nasty bastard, so: good.

Has everyone taken a look at NickW’s proposal to split traffic around Camberwell Green and pedestrianise the end of Church Street? There doesn’t seem to be much there to argue about, IMHO, and it’s good enough to at least serve as the start of a conversation.

Finally, I have a special offer for everyone; my first ever, I believe. The Grand Union are set to open in the former Grove this week, and are having a launch party on Thursday 5th (there will be some free drinks, I believe).

They’re keen to get the hyper-critical readers of this blog on their side, so have offered me the following deal: anyone who presents a print-out of this blog post to the manager gets 2-for-1 on main meals — and this deal is valid for the whole of November. That’s pretty good, right? I’m sure there should be some terms and conditions to this deal, but there don’t seem to be, so knock yourselves out.

I wish they’d kept the Grove name, though; a pub’s name is its heritage.

The news (reported in the comments, below) that Mayor Johnson has raised that old chestnut of extending the Bakerloo line, which may or may not pass through here. I’d like to see it, but I really can’t plan that far ahead.

A (very) little more background on Burgess Park, winner of a parks development pot.

19 pubs have closed down in Camberwell & Peckham since June 2007. The Bickleigh and Pharoahs are two is one; who can think of more?

And Page 3 lovely Zoe (link NSFW) is a Camberwellian. Never saw her name on the Wikipedia list. OK, that isn’t really news.

Speaking of news, I’ve set up a way for interested parties to receive latest blog posts by email, so you never have to miss out on exciting content like this again. Just fill in your email address on this form, and you’ll be sent new posts on the day they’re published. You can, of course, unsubscribe whenever you wish.

Seen on SE5Forum.org (and here!).

Update: More information from yesterday’s Metro (thanks to Robert Waller for the heads-up).

The ticket office at Loughborough Junction train station has recently been reviewed by First Capital Connect, who have decided to close the office after 12.45 noon and at the weekends. Their reason for this is reduced ticket sales in the afternoons. Unlike at other stations where the ticket offices are proposed for closure, Loughborough Junction will be left completely unmanned when the office is closed.

We are very concerned that this proposal will inevitably make the station attractive to criminal activity, affecting public safety and will lead to increased general vandalism. Users of the station including elderly and children should expect staff to be available to advise and provide support at all times the station is open. The station platform is also a very isolated place high above the streets below.

Please offer your support for the station and anyone that uses it by signing our petition.

http://www.petition.co.uk/staffing_at_loughborough_junction_train_station_sw9

As this affects so many locals, I would very grateful if you could inform your friends and neighbours too!

Thank you for your support

Nick and the Loughborough Junction Action Group

For more information please visit the Loughborough Junction Blog.

I had a pretty strong feeling this would happen, as soon as they began the ‘public consultation’ — a sop to regulators when a decision has already been made. Network Rail accepts that the proposals contain “significant passenger disbenefits”, but doesn’t care.

Second bit of bad news: A report on the radio says that a woman has been stabbed to death in County Grove. Can’t find any details, or indeed any confirmation, of that yet, so know idea what’s involved. It’s far too early to draw any conclusions yet, or to make any connections with any other crimes in the area, but at the very least it’s an unneccessary loss of life, and more ammunition for those who’d like to paint the area as a crime-ridden slum.

Update: Some more detail about this incident; seems to have been a domestic rather than street crime. Exactly why I was cautious about jumping to conclusions.

Anyway, do enjoy the rest of your day.