Brockley Central @ The Wickham Arms

Last night, the Hot Chip were the hot local ticket at the opening night of the new Amersham Arms. All of Brockley high-society was there. Probably. But Brockley Central was at the Wickham Arms.

We got together with some regular readers to take the conversation offline at the pub. Before the event, we worried whether some of the people who said they were coming might turn out to be people we'd cut in front of in the queue for Costcutters or squeezed ahead of on a morning train. As it turned out, we didn't recognise any of them, which just goes to show how rich and varied the world of SE4 actually is.

This was the line-up:

Brockley Nick
Brockley Jon and Brockley Sarah
Bob from Brockley
Sk8er Boi Joe
Fragrant Kate
Assistant to the Regional Manager at Coral, Elijah and the radiant Brianey
Dethroned King of Blackheath, Andrew

Every time a rakish gentleman walked through the door, or the sound of a Penny Farthing's bell tinkled outside, people wondered whether this was the arrival of Gentleman Hugh. But alas, that moment never came.

The Wickham lived up to its billing as the most idiosyncratic of Millwall pubs, with some great live jazz but its modernisation programme unfortunately hasn't got round to installing a card payment system, so we only bought two drinks the whole evening. Fortunately, the Brockley community once again demonstrated its generous nature and we are suffering a slight hangover as a result.

Thanks to everyone who came - we really enjoyed it and maybe we'll even try and organise another one in the not-too-distant future.