Sort out Camberwell and win £100

Camberwell Renewal are asking for opinions on shopping in Camberwell; fill in this survey to give yours. If the chance to give your opinion isn’t rewarding enough, you could also enter a draw to win £100 to spend in your favourite (participating) shop.

Imagine that: £100 worth of fried chicken or booze!

Author: Peter

Long-time resident of Camberwell, author of this blog since July 2004.

123 thoughts on “Sort out Camberwell and win £100”

  1. Why not the only reason I can participate is because I have given my children a mix of calpol and whisky. but the don’t get the good malt!

  2. Sorry but it’s a scam this survey.

    The Council keeps throwing out ‘research’ as a scam to bide their time on actually doing anything to improve Camberwell. How many reports are floating around out there now? All say the same thing. One more survey means they are buying more time.

  3. Shirley has a point. There is one Billion surveys / consultations/ reports about Camberwell already.

    One survey proved that so many surveys had been done in and about the SE5 area that 68% of people resident in the Camberwell area have developed ‘survey blindness’ ‘consultation despair’ ‘report aversion’ and they are so jaded that their answers / opinions cannot be used for consultation purposes.

    The remaining 32% are middle class and therefore statistically insignificant in any kind of surveys that have relevance to SE5.

  4. there really aren’t many shops in camberwell I would want to spend £100 in. maybe that’s one of the problems they should look at.

  5. The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,
    our MP, Harriet Harman, has been talking about the loss of two discs containing the child benefit details of millions of people. She was asked on the Daily Politics if the Chancellor knew — when he addressed MPs this week — that a senior person in Revenue and Customs knew about the decision to send the discs through the post. She replied…

    As far as what the allegation that’s been made by ..by Edward Leigh, the
    chair of the Public Accounts Committee, about the level of seniority of.…..
    the decision making in terms of sending out those cds .….that is.….one of
    the things when sudden problem arises.… that you have to do is.….you have to
    find out what actually did go on and there’s a number of suggestions of what did
    and didn’t go on.… and who said what to whom and when… and… .. Alistair
    Darling the Chancellor has appointed Keiron Pointer, the head of PWC to look
    into that, he’ll do a quick investigation and report back to the House.

    Glad that’s clear, then.

  6. I thought Maigret’s post made absolute sense, in that the sense it made neither sense nor that sensimilia means what its says or not.

    We should move on.

    The elephant in the room is the tooth fairy, Ruth Kelly, ruthless to the last, lash, cor! The lash! Rustless to the lash her to the mast, arr, har, arrgh! Master her, me hearties!

    Your posts are always good, Marge. JohnnyM is also jolly good, blah good if you ask me, what? Their Lordships need the talcum poofed from their wigs every now and then.

    The 99p shop is great. The charity shop next door — is it cancer? — is the best bookshop for miles under the random law of rambling hangover drowsy book browsing — what the hell is this I bought yesterday or what is today?

    If you really need shops, you go to London or Bluewater. Bluewater is near Thong, Stone, Green Street Green and Gravesend, Northfleet and Ebbsfleet.

    Stone church is amazing — the tower is massive and covered from top to toe in flint. You can see for miles fom there.

    But Bluewater is not for everyone.

    If you want to mingle, instead, with effete new fathers who dote on their children by weekend — indeed are triumphalist about them, just as their spawn exude alpha and boss the locals around from day one — but who wind up, manipulate, con and sack people the rest of the time, you go down Lordship Lane.

    Ebbsfleet beat Stafford yesterday, I see — goals by Purcell and Stacy Long. Well played Purcell! Stace — you scored again! This is good stuff in the age of stuffed England, a country englanded with stuff, swollen with pride.

    Myself, I am a big fan of north Kent, though I have little knowledge of the Gillingham area. Grain and Sheppey are special. As the containers on trains rumble past Warwick Gardens, I envy their trip to Thamesport.

    Gravesend was always a bit of a dour brand name, even as Gravesend and Northfleet — “That winger, ‘e’s got two norf feet.”

    Now ‘e ‘as webbed feet.

    If the England ‘ad ‘ad webbed feet at Wembley then they wouldner been so trembly would they?

  7. I think it’s a shame Harriet Harman is M.P for Camberwell — She likes to portray herself as a champion of the ethnic minorities but ultimately Camberwell and Peckham are stuck in reverse or simply treading water due to unregulated free market economics — so ultimately she isn’t really helping the vast majority of that community who live here either — despite her posturing

    We need to give Labour a kick up the backside and vote in order of preference the Greens, Lib Dems or heaven forbid Conservatives — Anything to shake them out of their complacency

    My personal preference would be for an Independent Community Party for Camberwell and Peckham ward to contest the next general election — I seem to remember Charlton Athletic supporters forming a political party to restore the club back to The Valley — When Greenwich Council denied them the opportunity to return there despite the fact that it had been their home for over 80 years — They won 3 seats on the council and argued their case ensuring the club returned to it’s rightful home, then disbanded when the job was done — Perhaps we can do the same to address the issues we face here?

  8. @ eusebiovic
    Mmmm. Not sure about that one. Though not a Labour Party member, I have always voted Labour and the idea of single issue politics doesn’t really appeal to me, personally. Harriet Harman is not perfect, but believe me, there are many other constituency MP’s that are infinitely worse. She does work very hard and is accessible through her regular surgeries. All politicians are prone to bluster and prevarication and in some cases, lie through their teeth. I don’t pick that up from Harriet, though. Whilst she might keep her eye on the good of the Party, I can’t see her actually lying on an issue.
    I’m hoping I don’t live to regret that!

  9. Mushtimushta’s right about Harriet I think. What Harriet needs, I think, is some very straightforward approach from people in Camberwell who know what’s not right and have a vision of sorts for what should be happening here.

    I don’t thing she gets that at all from local people generally or the local party at all, who seem mostly deferential, polite and just very pleased to know such an elevated person.

  10. 18 & 19

    Perhaps I was a little harsh on Harriet then…

    From what you both say she’s probably a little like Simon Hughes M.P for Bermondsey and Southwark — I have met him a few times when I lived in North Southwark and he always struck me as a genuine chap who is responsible and takes his job seriously — I thought the media (particularly The Sun toiletpaper) treated him rather shabbily during the Lib Dem Leadership election — so what if he may or may not be gay? — There have been rumours amongst his constituency for years but that hasn’t stopped them voting him in for the last 25 Years! — Which is no mean feat for this part of London…

  11. Well i completed the survey!! My main issue was not with the local independent shops many of whom are great — i particualrly like Butterfly Pharmacy and Camberwell superstore (the men at the DIY counter have helped me out on many a light bulb or screwdriver query!) but the poor service we get from most of the chain stores many of which are understaffed, badly run and poorly stocked.

    Sadly i could quite happily spend £100 in Superdrug (yes really, that was my store of choice to spend the voucher in!)

  12. I chose Bob’s Cycles, perhaps perversely, knowing that John Ruskin Street isn’t considered part of Camberwell by many that speak of its needs.

    Harriet replies to correspondence. There isn’t much she can do beyond put visible moral pressure on local authorities, and perhaps influence the Labour TfL. But even central government might find that a task too far.

  13. I have done the survey too…

    I nominated Great Expectations because I have a rather fine poverty map of London (1890’s) which I got from the Museum of London which I would like to frame!

  14. Ahh — you see i am now shamed by my shallow greed for £100’s worth of Make up and perfume, however if i do win i may selflessly get £100’s worth of soap to give out to the random smelly people that frequently populate public transport in Camberwell thus benefiting many more people in Camberwell.

    I also have a lovely 1820’s map of London and five miles around that i would like to have framed.

  15. I did the survey and nominated Whole Food on Denmark Hill to spend £100 in. How very Guardian-readerish of me. I had to think for qute a while of where I would want / could spend £100 in Camberwell. Nominating Superdrug made me chuckle! I didn’t think of them.

    In my answers on the survey I stressed the lack of decent food shopping and the need for some kind of ‘whole picture’ planning for Camberwell town centre, a Town Manager or something.

  16. I chose Duraty Electronics on Denmark Hill, because the guys in there are the most knowledgeable and helpful in SE5, and probably the rest of London. It’ll go towards a new telly.

  17. Oh i didn’t think about Duraty — i need a new hoover! Or even the dIY store just down the road from it as we desperately need a new step ladder so we can change the lightbulbs in the hallway.

    I stand by Superdrug as a choice thoguht — i am continually distressed at how much a spend in Superdrug!

  18. Eusebiovic, you will need that £100 voucher and more if you go into Great Expectations. They quote absurd prices for framing. I got a film poster framed at a professional film poster-framing shop in Soho for half of what Great Expectations quoted me.

    Duraty are great. Always have been.

  19. Norman Maine @28

    Thanks for the tip…Maybe subconsciously I’ve always thought that may be the case which is why I have never enquired and am still in possesion of a rather lovely but unframed map of London…

    In my map our local area is surrounded by lovely green fields…Peckham is known as Peckham “New Town”!

  20. Can I pipe up in support of Great Expectations? They are, admittedly, not a bargain frame shop but the things they’ve done for me they’ve done extremely well.

    Their frame recommendations were very good. Plus the staff are all very charmingly bonkers.

    Seeing as I’m being so positive, I’ll add my voice to those recommending Caravaggio. Their bruschetta is a work of genius. And all for under four quid.

  21. Another totally off-topic post from me, I know I make a habit of it but I hope you don’t mind on this occasion .…..

    OPEN PUBLIC MEETING AT SOUTHWARK TOWN HALL

    7PM TUESDAY 4TH DECEMBER

    If you live in the streets around Brunswick Park and would like to help us form a Residents Association, please come along to this meeting.

    We are hoping that by forming this Association, it will give our community a stronger voice on local issues that affect us all when working with the Council and various other groups.

    Issues such as parking, planning, the environment, safety, security and the park itself.

    The meeting is open to all who live in the streets surrounding the park, including:

    Vicarage Grove
    Samsom Street
    Benhill Road
    Elmington Road
    Brunswick Park
    Brunswick Villas
    St Giles Road
    Ada Road
    Havil Street (evens)
    Gables Close[/li]

    For more information, contact
    sg@​funnelweb.​net

  22. They are good streets in Brunswick area. I am myself very fond of Brunswick Park and the environs. Even the nearby blocks of flats are named after Racine and Voltaire — the francophone Africans, too, are well impressed. Mind you, I am a big fan of Wm Blake the anti-rationalist, even though his name rhymes with fake and he is well over 250 years old.

    Brunswick — the north-south divide we have in Camberwell is best demonstrated by the Lancia Flavia 1.8’s on Bushey Hill Road and Benhill Road. The one on Benhill is far tattier than that of Bushey Hill, but has those Corsica rally stickers on it that makes it worn and road-rough for those of us who like that gritty style.

    Mind you, the dark blue Bushey Hill Lancia, you’d prefer to be seen in that on the Corniche in Nice or on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, in preference even to a Rolls or Bentley named thereafter.

    Blah blah blah.

    Eusebio — you have a point about Harriet. Camberwell should have a Camberwell sort of MP. We should adopt Oona King. She is genuinely good. She is great. Who were those daft eastenders who voted last time for that moustachioed blah-blah, look-at-me Scotsman instead of her? She has the vision for Albion they all talk about, but don’t have.

    Harriet is a good sort and has always been consistently good (or god as Tony would say) in a good-sort sort of way, but does not reflect the Camberwell brand, more the E. Dulwich brand, funnily enough.

    At least such New Labour, look-up-to people have seen off the Tory hedge-your-money.

    But a simple thing like secondary schooling in the Camberwell area — oh, yes, we must raise this — if we can bomb Iraq and Afghanistan, we can chuck millions at Camberwell schools.

    With good money, if the boys are naughty at school you just beat the hell out of ’em till they’re not. It’s called education.

    You go at it 1–2‑1 till it’s good. That takes money. It is possible.

    WE CAN BUILD JERUSALEM IN THIS GREED AND PLEASURE LAND.

    An MP, though, is not just a localist and Harriet has fought against a lot of bollocks in the New Labour Party under Tony and whatisname. Denmark have not qualified for Euro 2008 despite beating Iceland who are excellent, but I take my hat off to Harriet for being lofty, elevated and poshty.

    At home, though, it is futile to tell poor teenage boys who are horrible, not to kill, while you are dropping bombs willy-nilly abroad on the foreigner. It is the wrong message.

    I losing my drifty. The Polish beer from the Tigris Supermarket over the park for 5 pounds for 6 cans is formidable.

    No. 37 Bushey Hill Road has an amazing bush filled with white, starlike flowers at the moment. Well done to that house. It is an amazing sight at night, made even better the light-pollution streetlamps.

  23. If I win the 100 pounds I will donate it to Harriets campain fund.

    Under a different name of course!

  24. Who would have thought it that we would be discussing H‑Harriet h‑here the very day before she gets h‑hung out to dry by the elephant in the room, h‑himself.

  25. Odd survey. agree regeneration of the Green must unlock some of the problems around regeneration. Ground work southwark to take it over? 100 pounds would be nice, particularly as I think Rimworld is on the se5 bit of walworth road and must qualify. camberwell dog grooming parlour too. much of camberwell is effectively cut off if you rely on walworth road buses. Gridlock both ways yesterday afternoon. strangely peaceful if weaving through on a bike. But not if festering on a no. 12. Bendy buses have detracted from the quality of life in se5. the demise of routemasters a grim public policy mistake. Does anyone know when the works are due to finish?

  26. perhaps. I used the 38 and 73 routes this chap writes about (hackney/islington). routemasters were terrific and suited bus travel in inner london (both practically and aesthetically); their replacements grim and 20% slower into town. didn’t use the routemasters here.

  27. D‑MAN has a point — the delays to London buses and honest public transport commuters are costing the London economy billions each year. I just can’t work out what is slowing them down, though.

    My only consolation is that citizens retain the right to make that essential private motor car trip for a pint of milk at the hypermarket, just a 10 minute drive away and so considered local under the “London Plan”.

    Long live libertarianism!

  28. fewer stops would speed buses up and help ease congestion. most buses stop every 200m or so. unnecessary on commuter routes. And double-decker buses with conductors, as peter says. We could call them routemasters 2000.

  29. I’ve seen a few ‘X’ services recently; there should be more of those in addition to the regular services, which pick up from only key interchanges; an X12 could go from Camberwell Green to Elephant without any stops on the Walworth Rd, then direct to Waterloo, then straight to Trafalgar Sq, for example.

  30. I was on a 12X the other day. It seemed to stop at every stop the same as a regular 12. Is there meant to be a difference, because it wasn’t apparent to me?

  31. Plus, the X68 should stop at Camberwell.

    But there’s a danger that TfL would consider it had “done” Camberwell then, in terms of its social obligations. I’d rather explore whether they are getting control of the inner city rail stations including the former Camberwell Station.

    Remember, the only reason that our station wasn’t reopened, according to Network Rail, was that as a commuter line it would make Loughborough unviable *bu115hit*. It wasn’t too expensive or impractical.

    But what if the proposition was freight and off-peak travel, outside rush hour?

  32. I’ve never seen a 12X, I thought I’d made that up. According to the TFL website there was a 12X on just for the Notting Hill carnival; if you got it on another day, perhaps the driver changed the sign on the front by mistake.

    What would be great would be a bus that ran to all major tube and train stations nearby; a bus formed of many carriages, that ran on rails, underground.

  33. I’ve seen 12Xs about three times recently. I thought it was a new thing. How careless some drivers are with their signage. It didn’t take me anywhere near any sort of carnival, unless you consider Walworth Road to be a carnival of, erm, life.

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