Brockley Central Zeitgeist 2009

We’re back from wi-fi-free Cornwall, itching to get started on 2009 retrospectives. Here is the first – the 2009 Brockley Central Zeitgeist.

In 2009, 132,589 visitors trawled the pages of Brockley Central, reading 535,435 pages and spending an average of 4 minutes 8 seconds each time. The perennial favourite destinations are the reviews, photos, map and suggest a topic tabs, but the individual articles that proved most popular this year, were this piece about the demise of the Rotherhithe – Canary Wharf bridge that got picked up by quite a few other London websites and this one about the reopening of the Brockley Mess, which generated delight and praise from many, before descending in to a ‘lively’ discussion about whether the Victorians had the right idea about the place of children in society. The Geddes thread occupies third spot.

The busiest day on the site was November 16th, when Southwark’s alleged Nightstalker was arrested and everyone, including us, frantically googled Brockley Mews.

But what were you all looking for from Brockley Central? Here is the list of search terms that brought you here in 2009, courtesy of Google Analytics. We’ve removed the obvious terms Brockley, Brockley Central, Brockley Blog and so on – what’s left is a more coherent list than last year’s, although god knows why Gil Scott Heron features so prominently:

1. brockley mess
2. betting shop
3. moonbow jakes
4. talbot
5. le querce brockley
6. "god help us" brockley
7. jam circus brockley
8. travel agent
9. browns of brockley
10. lap dancing
11. fred
12. twitter
13. gil scott heron
14. martins yard
15. nick woolley brockley
16. reclad
17. mclarens
18. toads mouth too
19. cafe creme
20. catford
21. royal albert new cross
22. yoga st andrews brockley
23. getliffe
24. little stars nursery lewisham way
25. footpath brockley pavement
26. stencils
27. doctor
28. tea leaf arts opening hours
29. the telegraph pub dennetts road
30. geddes ladywell

Perhaps the most telling stat of all is that there were 31,027 different search terms which took people to Brockley Central in 2009 - underlining the eclectic range of topics people are interested in, in relation to the area.

If we sometimes seem hung up on food and drink and the shock of the new, we apologise, we strive to reflect life in Brockley in all its glory and we hope 2010 will see us broaden our coverage even more.