Chris writes:
Last year's call for local 5-a-side footballers on Brockley Central met with huge success. However, due to the popularity of fatherhood we're falling low in numbers again.
Anybody out there interested in 60 minutes of 5-a-side football with a group of ageing has-beens should get in touch.
We play on the pitches at Catford bridge, kicking off on Wednesdays at 19:30, the cost is £5.
Please email me if you'd like to play.
Jeremy [voiceover]: Shit. Can't ask how much. Restaurant, you have to pretend you're infinitely wealthy for some reason.
[He starts looking through the wine list]. OK, flicking, looking. If only I knew the name of any other wine. What's a wine? Is the one Hannibal Lecter drinks real or a joke?
- Peep Show
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| Lewisham Council launches its war on gentrification in Brockley |
From tomorrow, weekly Travelcards will no longer be available from Overground ticket offices. Instead, passengers will need to use Oyster. Thanks to Endwell Andy (who hates Oyster) for the reminder.
Jayne writes:
We are three neighbours trying to get to know more people locally. We have already arranged two social events.
Tuesday 8th Oct we are meeting at The Talbot pub, 2 Tyrwhitt Road for their quiz night. We are going to get there at 7pm for a meal. You can join us at 7pm for food, or come nearer 8pm for drinks. The quiz starts around 8:30pm. There may be a maximum number for quiz teams so if there's quite a few of us we may need to split into two groups.
We'll have a pink umbrella on our table so you can find us. It will be folded up as I dont think the venue will appreciate us having it open!
Brockley has many nice places to eat and drink and we plan to arrange some more meetings in the future.
You can email jaynehelenhon@yahoo.co.uk or just turn up and join us.
The Ladywell Ward Assembly will take place on October 3rd, 2013. As Chris Wheal says, this is:
A chance for residents to kick up a fuss about the village roadworks. Also the replacement lamppost contractor Skanska will be there to explain why holes have been left on the pavement for months on end all over the ward. There's a budget of £15,000 to spend too.
7-9pm at Prendergast Hilly Fields College new school building on Adelaide Avenue.
Super Hans: I've been down enough bloody City Boy chain pubs with their logos in the foam and disinfectant in the lager, air freshener in the mayo. Nah, I wanna run a place that makes a difference.
Jeremy: Well, I'm sure we can sort that out somehow. Let's start by getting rid of this.
Super Hans: That stays. That's the reason I fell in love with this place.
Jeremy: You want a washing machine in the pub?
Super Hans: It'll freak 'em out! What the fuck's a washing machine doing in a pub? Jesus, I need a drink. Yeah? And boom, they'll have to have one of our organic scrumpies.
- Peep Show
The sorry saga of the Honor Oak pub continues. Having allowed a much-loved pub to be run down and eventually to close, Punch Taverns now find themselves with squatters on their hands. Thanks to @sarcasticfringe for the photo:
George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it.
- Harrison Ford on the Star Wars script
Nearest local branch? Greenwich. Still, corporate Britain's not welcome around these parts anyway.
TURN IT UP - A fundraiser for Make a Difference Trust and Telegraph Hill Centre
Saturday 28th September at 7pm (Entrance £5/£4)
St Catherine's Church, Pepys Road, SE14
St Catherine's Church plays host to TURN IT UP 2013, a fundraiser for The Make A Difference Trust (http://www.madtrust.org.uk/the-hardship-fund.php) and Telegraph Hill Centre (http://thcentre.com) on Saturday 28th Sept from 7pm. Entrance is just £5 (£4 concessions).
A host of young performers from Brockley, New Cross, Nunhead and Telegraph Hill are collaborating to provide an evening of entertainment. Rock, choirs, opera, jazz, folk ... an impressive musical medley and a showcase for local talent. Performers live locally, or attend local schools and colleges and are bringing together their diverse talents in what promises to be an impressive show. Families are very welcome, come one, come all.
This is the third such TURN IT UP event organised by the talented local composer and performer Fenella Lawrence.
With thanks to Sanjit.
Ilona writes:
We live on Tyrwhitt Road and rescued a blue budgie at the weekend. We'd like to trace its owners. If you're missing a blue budgie, please email me.
Mo Pho gets to keep its name. The cafe had been threatened with legal action by another restaurant chain called Pho, who claimed trademark infringement. But after a Twitter storm today, Pho has wisely called off its legal dogs and now says:
Whilst all we want 2 do is protect our brand/business, we fully understand the sentiment, & will not pursue action against MoPho-sorry guysThis is good.
— Pho (@PhoRestaurant) September 24, 2013
Lucy writes:
I go to a really brilliant adult/teenager swimming lesson down at St Dunstan's school pool on Mondays at 8.15-9.15pm.
The coach is an ex Olympic guy and he's amazing. The class is quiet as they have changed venue and lost some swimmers. I just wanted to help them try and get more people as they are really lovely as well as being good!
If people like the sound of that, their website is www.tigersharkssc.co.uk for more information.
Coulgate Street Vietnamese café Mo Pho has fallen phoul of Big Pho. The Pho café chain seems to think they own the word Pho and have served Mo Pho notice that they think they are infringing their trademark. The Mo Pho team write:
It is with sadness that we would like to inform our customers that we will be reluctantly taking down our shop sign this week and trading as "mopho" instead of mo pho until we have establish a new name for ourselves.
Please note, WE WILL BE OPEN for business as usual and welcome your continued support!!
Some background on our decision... we have been put on notice by Pho Holdings Ltd (Pho cafe) that they have registered and trade marked the word PHO, as they feel that the use of our name Mo Pho is confusingly similar to their trade mark, constituting an infringement and passing off.
We feel this unfair as we ensured the look and feel of our brand was different to any established restaurants when designing our brand and logo. Our biggest surprise was that trademarking the word PHO was possible especially as it's our national dish which is used widely in our trade as a Vietnamese cafe/restaurant.
As a small family business, taking on a successful chain such as Pho will be a big risk to us, therefore we opted to take down our signages until we are fully rebranded.
If you have any suggestions for our new name, please let us know!! You could see your name in lights and a free meal on us!
It’s a little incongruous for a cutesy, Innocentesque brand like Pho to act so aggressively and a little odd that they think their customers might confuse them with a café whose title is a play on “motherfucker”. It’s not who they are underneath, but what they do that defines them.
Mayor Boris Johnson has confirmed that he is giving serious consideration to a Bakerloo Line extension through South East London. In today's #askboris Q&A, he responded to a question about tube provision in south London:
yes, seriously looking at Bakerloo line extension #askboris @opearmanThis is the second bit of positive noise Boris has made about the idea this year. And while we understand that these utterances need to be taken with a huge dollop of salt, we've argued for a while that although the Bakerloo line is nominally lower down the priority list than the likes of Crossrail 2, it's also a relatively cheap and easy way of expanding London's transport capacity, in a way that might become appealing to our opportunistic Mayor.
— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) September 23, 2013
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| It will start like any other day. |
Earlier this month, a group of Ladywell businesses demanded a quick resolution of the town centre roadworks, which are running behind schedule and damaging their trade. El, from El's Kitchen writes, following her meeting with the Deputy Mayor of Lewisham, the Head of Transport and Tom Connell from Conway, the contractor carrying out the work:
- Conway have a three year, rolling retainer contract with Lewisham Council to carry out new highways work and any maintenance required under a certain job value (approx £1m). They were awarded this job without needing to tender for it and there are no penalties for delays or poor quality work (they just have to re-do the work at their expense). The budget for the work was £700,000 and they have been paid approx £600,000 to date. They are paid in stages by the size of the area they complete so there is effectively no incentive at all for them to meet any timescale given to them.
- The Deputy Mayor expressed his concern with the level of mis-management and poor decision-making by Conway and had witnessed some of the lack of urgency for himself. It was ironic that he was 10 minutes late for the meeting, blaming traffic congestion in Catford due to the diversions away from Ladywell Road.
- The Deputy Mayor was shocked by the level of negative impact that the delays are having on local businesses and urged Conway to meet the new date for Ladywell Road to be re-opened of mid-October.
- Conway promised to give us an on-site point of contact that any member of the public may speak to. This is Mick Malloney and he has now been introduced to the majority of business owners.
- Conway promised to give us a detailed program of site works with timelines that traders can share with their customers. The first of these was produced on Thursday last week and shows a daily schedule of where works are being carried out to the road and pavements for the next week. They will also post this somewhere on the site for the public to access. We hope Conway will continue to gives us a weekly update going forward.
Since our meeting, work appears to be progressing a quite a pace, with many more workers on site daily and activity continuing on Saturdays and Sundays, so this is a great result. The stretch of Ladywell Road from the junction with Algernon Road to Malyons Road has been re-opened for access to Malyons Road and many of the unsightly and confusing barriers have now been removed from this area. The workmen have also cleared away much of the rubbish and unnecessary materials from the site, making it much easier, safer and cleaner for pedestrians to circulate.
However, low footfall is still an issue for all the shopkeepers in Ladywell and we urge you to come down and visit the shops while the construction work is being completed, as it would be very sad to see any of us go out of business due to continued, unsustainable losses.
Katherine writes:
Yogatini is a local yoga practice dedicated to children and teenagers. Children's yoga is not just about a few poses and stretches! Yoga teaches us to look after our bodies and our minds. It can help your child relax, energise and reduce stress in a fun environment.
I'll be running the classes on Wednesdays from 10-11 for pre-school children (aged 2 1/2 - 4) and after school 3.30 - 4.15 (aged 5 - 9). If there's a lot of interest I can always add in additional classes. I'm hoping to run a class for teenagers too if there is interest. Classes are starting soon at Room 104, The Tea Factory, Endwell Road.
Contact me on 0771 262 3222, info@yogatini.co.uk or visit www.yogatini.co.uk for information
Brockley Park Cars are departing their old home at 180 Brockley Road and relocating to Blackfen. The move will allow the mixed-use redevelopment of the site. In a valedictory post here, they say:
A big thank you to all our customers for your loyalty over the years if you wish to continue using us we can offer a free collection and delivery service we are keeping our existing phone number 0208 691 7666.
ACE Vans, who also operated from the site, have opened a new office at The Tea Factory.
Brockley singer / songwriter Blue Rose Code has just been picked by Radio 2's Whispering Bob Harris to go to Nashville to perform in a new music showcase for the BBC.
He'll be blogging about it for the BBC here and you can follow him on Twitter here.
The Independent reports that engineering firms have been invited to develop plans to defend London from future floods, including upgrading the the Thames Barrier.
Britain's biggest engineers have been asked to develop plans to protect London and £200bn-worth of property from flooding until the end of the century. Launched at an industry event at the Thames Barrier today, the project is said to be the country's biggest ever flood management contract. The winning engineering team will work on the first 10 years of what is known as Thames Estuary 2100.
Chris Wheal (who kindly sent us the link) points out that Ladywell Fields might be part of any solution:
Ladywell Fields is used to store water to help keep the Thames lower. I have photos of it full, normal and empty on Flickr. They close a sluice gate to the Thames and store the water upstream until the tide goes out and then let it out. That was one of the main reasons for digging the river back into Ladywell Fields.
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| The Convoy's Wharf regeneration site |
Jam Circus owners Antic have confirmed that the Crofton Park bar has hit the comeback trail after being out of the game for nearly a year due to fire. They will reopen for one day only during upcoming Croftfest. Yesterday, they tweeted:
Hurrah\! @jamcircus back for a day at #Croftfest! 28th Sept complete with Sausage Rolls! 12pm - 6pm #BrockleyWhen asked if this heralds its full-time return, they added:
— Antic London (@Antic_London) September 17, 2013
@nancyp_rocks @jamcircus Delicate time in the talks, but it should be tied up soon. No scheduled date yet though.
— Antic London (@Antic_London) September 17, 2013
London Bridge - Brockley's most important direct connection - is emerging as one of London's leading media industry hubs. City AM reports:
Booming demand from the media industry is set to double take-up of office space along London’s Southbank this year, according to new research from estate agent Knight Frank.
Nearly 700,000 square feet (sq ft) of office space has been acquired on the Southbank in 2013 so far. Major leasing deals this year include News Corp, which owns Dow Jones, Harper Collins and News UK (full disclosure, a client of Edelman), and broadcaster Al Jazeera (full disclosure: also a client), which rents premises in The Shard.
A further 439,000 sq ft of deals are in advanced negotiations, meaning that full-year take-up should exceed 1.1m sq ft.
With IPC and others up the road at the Blue Fin building and several media and marketing firms based in More London and Bermondsey Square, London Bridge is vying with Victoria, Kings Cross and Tottenham Court Road / Soho as the city's leading media cluster. Which is handy for the 50% of BC readers who work in the sector.
Earlier this week, Building also reported that:
Engineer WSP has been drafted in by the Shard developer Sellar to work with architect Renzo Piano on designs for two further, smaller towers in the London Bridge Quarter. The towers will house flats and be built on the site of Fielden House, by the Shard and the Place, which currently houses ground floor bars with offices above, including a Sellar office.
Sanjit writes:
Telegraph Hill Centre plays host to a Table Top Sale on Saturday 21st September from 1-4 pm.
In recent months Telegraph Hill Centre, an independent, self-funding community centre, has undergone a refurbishment, and work continues to develop new areas within the building. Come on down bag a bargain, quaff some coffee, cake and biscuits and have fun.
There are lots of nearly new and high quality goods, vintage pieces and one-offs at prices to gladden a weak wallet. Along with cake, a cafe and craft sessions, there will be lots to see and do.
BC Senior assuages his early-retirement-baby-boomer guilt by doing voluntary work for various good causes, the latest of which is a charity called Witness Confident, which aims to make reporting crime easier.
This week, the charity launched an app called Self Evident (full disclosure: BC provided a very small amount of help with the launch), which allows people to report crime quickly and reliably via their smartphone - including tagging the report with the date, time, location and even photos of the incident.
A new Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust will be formed on 1 October 2013. The Trust will be responsible for Lewisham Hospital and community services in Lewisham, and for Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Greenwich.
Lewisham Healthcare says:
Services are not changing following the merger, and patient appointments are unaffected. Lewisham Healthcare and Queen Elizabeth Hospital serve similar communities, and have much in common in terms of what we do. As a larger organisation, the Trust will be better placed to meet the challenges of the future. Our focus will be on learning from best practice in Lewisham and Greenwich to improve NHS services for local people.
Following the merger Lewisham Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital will continue to provide the same services. We will also continue to run community services in Lewisham, and to provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. If you receive treatment at Lewisham Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital or Queen Mary’s Hospital, it will not be affected by the organisational change.
All services at Lewisham Hospital – including for maternity and emergency care – are running as normal. In July 2013, Government plans to downgrade Lewisham’s emergency and maternity services in two to three years’ time were overturned by the High Court, following a legal challenge by Lewisham Council and the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign. The Department of Health is appealing this decision, and you will be able to find out more on this website as it happens. The judicial review and appeal do not affect the formation of the new Trust, as there is clear distinction between service change and organisational change.
With thanks to Joe for the news.
"It helps me remember... I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in."
- Ricky Fitts, American Beauty
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| The Deptford X 2013 Programme is now live |
El, from Ladywell deli El's Kitchen writes in response to the severe delays to roadworks currently affecting Ladywell town centre:
Myself and a small group of business owners in Ladywell are having a meeting with the Deputy Major (Cllr Allan Smith) and Ian Ransom (Head of Transport) tomorrow (Friday). We will be representing all businesses in Ladywell that have been directly or indirectly affected by the delays to the project.
In principle we are all in favour of the improvements to the streetscape improvements as the benefits it will bring to pedestrians, cyclists, car drivers who wish to park, as well as to the businesses, are great.
However, in the original document that was issued publically in March, the date for re-opening Ladywell Road was set at 7 June. Since then we have had no official communication about when that might be until this latest communication which states the road will re-open mid-October. Many of us cannot see how it will be possible for the contractors to meet this new deadline as they have still not finished the highway works on section 2, which has been closed for the best part of three months, and they have only just started digging up section 3.
The delays to this project are now starting to bite into many businesses budgets with some having already laid off staff to try and keep costs down while trying to ride out the loss of trade as long as they can. Footfall was down 16% in August and remains so for the beginning of September (I have been counting and documenting this, comparing it to the same time last year).
We are now taking legal advice and will determine,based on the outcome of the meeting tomorrow, if we have a claim against Lewisham Council for loss of business due to the delays. In order to make a claim we need to be in possession of the original schedule or works and the current schedule of works completed to date and the service level agreement with the contractor (Conway) detailing the penalty clauses. We can then make a claim against the Council for any money that has been and will be recovered by the Council from Conway as it should be used to compensate those who have lost out as a result of the delays (the local businesses, not the Council), as per the penalty clauses in the contract.
If the works continue past the end of October and the footfall remains as low as it is now it will be very difficult for many of the business to continue trading and those that rely on Christmas trade to survive the rest of the year will be teetering on the edge by January.
As business owners we all want to see a positive outcome from the works having taken place: the loss of trade being more than compensated for by increased footfall in Ladywell, on-street parking to enable passing motorists to stop and use the shops, a brighter and lighter landscape with more trees and benches that draws people in to the area and makes them want to stay here.
In the meantime we implore local people to continue to use Ladywell, visit the shops and spend the money you used to spend here. We understand that it is very noisy, dusty and dirty and highly inconvenient without public transport or parking (we have live with it day in, day out!), but without continued loyalty from our customers and a bit of risk-taking from potential customers in the wider area, the aims and objectives of the improvements to the streetscape to improve the economic viability of the retail area will have been in vain.
Many thanks for the loyalty you have shown us thus far.
El @ Els Kitchen, on behalf of the businesses in Ladywell.
Jigsaw is selling the Brockley Nubuck Ankle Boot, named after SE4 by a Brockley-loving employee, rather than because they are fashioned from badger-hide.
Like the place that inspired it, the boot is:
"Timeless and versatile [and] effortlessly cool."
Jigsaw also claims that it works best with a pair of skinny jeans, which can be no coincidence.
Thanks to Fabhat for the tip-off.
Chelwood Nursery, on St Norbert Road wants you to know that they have places available to start this month. The are providing 15 hours free early learning for 3 and 4 year-olds.
See their site for more details.
Police are calling for witnesses after a four-year-old girl was held at gunpoint by a gang of armed robbers who threatened to pull the trigger in front of her grandmother at a house in St Asaph Road.
The Standard reports:
Rosemary Campbell, 47, was looking after her granddaughter at her Lewisham home when up to five balaclava-clad men stormed in with guns and knives in a “terrifying” broad daylight break-in.
The raid, in which the home was ransacked while the gang searched the first-floor flat and demanded cash, happened just after 3pm on Monday.
Detective Inspector Ian Cameron described the raid as a “terrifying attack”, adding: “I’m convinced that someone in the local area has seen or heard something that could assist us with our investigation.”
Witnesses should call the incident room on 020 8284 8337 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Little Nan's Cocktail Bar in Deptford is at it again, with another music night. They say:
From the people who brought you 'Dip It', 'Rar! at the Albany' and 'That Weekend You'll Never Get Back Where You Did A Bad Thing' comes Deptford Does...
A series of one-off monthly nights celebrating various genres, places, and people, which always aims to bring the party.
First up is Deptford Does... Disco
We saw a bandwagon and we jumped on it! With the genre having something of a resurgence this year thanks to a certain robot-friendly Gallic duo, we thought it as good a time as any to enjoy all things D.I.S.C.O.
Come on down and party like twas NYC 1978 at Studio 54, minus the queueing and expensive drinks, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
Click here for full details.
The first ever Brockley Front Garden sale is tomorrow, 11am-4pm.
More than 50 houses are taking part. You can see the full list of gardens on the BrocSoc website and look out for bunting and balloons indicating participating houses (or children's birthday parties you might want to crash).
The BC style-guide frowns upon the use of newspaper-favourite words like "farce" and "fiasco", but in this case, we're happy to make an exception. The Ladywell town centre roadwork delays are reaching farcical proportions. Local resident Tony writes:
Ladywell businesses have written to Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock calling for an urgent meeting to discuss further delays to the completion of the street improvement works in the neighbourhood. Local business people, frustrated by the seemingly endless delays to the works that started in May, are worried that some businesses could go under because the disruption is causing a dramatic reduction in footfall.
Local businesses wrote to the Mayor in June when the the project first hit snags and was delayed. They were told the work would be completed by end- September. They are now being told it will be October, with workers on site saying it will be Christmas before the works are finished.
Shopowners say there is no sense of urgency in the work being carried out by the contractors Conway. Construction is progressing at a snails pace and activity is intermittent.
The businesses have called for an meeting with the Mayor to explain the serious impact the street works are now having on local businesses and to urge him to do all in his power to ensure Conway steps up the pace of the building work.
Jayne is organising another Brockley Social meet-up. She says:
We are three neighbours trying to get to know more people locally. A few weeks ago we organised a drinks night in the Talbot pub and 6 people joined us.
This Saturday 7th Sept we are meeting at 1:30pm in Pistachios cafe in Hillyfields for lunch, or coffee and cake, and maybe a stroll round the park after. We'll have a pink umbrella on our table so you can find us.
Brockley has many nice places to eat and drink and we plan to arrange some more meetings in the future.
You can email jaynehelenhon@yahoo.co.uk or just turn up and join us.
Two LeSoCo (formerly Lewisham College incorporating Southwark College and not to be confused with Lesotho) fashion students will be on show at London Fashion Week on 17th September.
Work by 18 year old Nhung Le Thi Hong and Gloria Iyare will be showcased at Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden. The students are competing in the 2013 FAD Junior Awards Final.
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| Gloria Iyare |
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| Nhung Le Thi Hong |
Following swiftly after Patchwork Present is another local digital startup business, EeBria.com. Technically, it's based in the further-flung parts of New Cross, but its founder is local and it's about booze, so... David explains:
Back in July, Unite's manipulation of the Labour Party's parliamentary selection process looked like it would become a much bigger political storm than eventually materialised and when Lewisham Deptford candidate Vicky Foxcroft got dragged into the story, we predicted it would be an issue which dragged on. However, we were wrong. East London Lines reports:
A Met Police investigation into the selection of a Unite official as the Labour candidate for the Lewisham Deptford seat in the 2015 election has found no evidence of malpractice.
Vicky Foxcroft was chosen by Labour in May as the replacement for veteran MP Joan Ruddock who is retiring at the end of this Parliamentary term. She is currently a councillor for Brockley.
The selection of Foxcroft, a Unite representative for high street bank workers, was referred to the police by the Conservative party following revelations of Unite’s influence on the selection process for the Falkirk seat.
Sanjit writes:
It's Panto time again on Telegraph Hill. We've been hard at it, polishing puns, winkling in innuendo, and generally working up a lather and we think we've finally got it just right. Now it's the turn of lots of lovely people to make it come alive, so we are holding auditions:
Telegraph Hill Centre – Craftroom, Thursday 12th September, 2013, 7.30pm
We are looking for a good mix of people and ages. You don’t need experience. Most past players hadn’t been on stage before. The point of the Panto is to have fun. We will rehearse for the next two months before putting on four shows in early December which will be fast, fun and funny.
Please spread the word far and wide - this year, the Panto is a fundraiser for Telegraph Hill Centre and Bold Vision.
Happy Mondays comedy nights return to the Amersham Arms in New Cross with a sell-out Stewart Lee gig next week. Tickets are stupidly good value and the pub is a great comedy venue. Organiser Jon says:
We have lots of good comedians coming up. Headliners include:
9th September - Stewart Lee (SOLD OUT)
23rd September - Rob Beckett
7th October - Robin Ince
21st October - Susan Calman
11th November - Arthur Smith
25th November - Pappys
9th December - Lucy Porter and Marcel Lucont
All gigs are MC'd by Brockley resident Holly Walsh!
Tickets are still just £5.
Full listings at www.happymondayscomedy.co.uk
