The morning after the night before

Brockley Kate reporting here ...
I've been up and about early this morning to check on the damage in Peckham, New Cross Gate and Lewisham. The general mood is of a strange normality, damage is very localised and most businesses are untouched. Particularly in Lewisham, you'd be forgiven for not even noticing. Clearly the overnight clean-up operation was a good one.
In Peckham the damage is far more extensive, but the independent shops are almost entirely untouched and shop-keepers were opening up for business as usual, and keen to greet passers-by cheerfully.

It's striking that in both locations, the vast majority of businesses with broken windows are chain stores, in particular bookies, electronic goods shops, money lenders and sportswear shops.

Here's a list of the damaged shops in each location, and some pics ...

New Cross Gate:
Curry's (looted)





Lewisham:
Game Station (broken window)
Superdrug (broken window)
Paddy Power (fully boarded up - not clear if that was a precautionary measure)
The Bridge House pub boarded up - again, probably a precautionary measure
Mothercare (looted)
Sports Direct (broken windows)




Peckham:
Payday Loans
Corals bookies
Western Union
a cashpoint was broken into
a chemist's
The Money Shop
Ladbrokes
Burger King
Poundland
Phones 4 U
Iceland
Primark
Clarks









The burned-out building on Rye Lane is now a crime scene, and the road is blocked off ...




There are a fair few police on foot patrol and guarding crime scenes in Peckham, very little police presence in Lewisham. The market traders are all on good form, full of beans and determined to make this just another ordinary day. The main thing which both of these areas need now is for people to get out there and spend some money, to give local retailers a boost and ensure that this doesn't negatively affect our area's economic future.