Nii Parkes on Blythe Hill

Interviewed in The FT today for its My London series, poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes pays tribute to Blythe Hill Fields:

"Blythe Hill Fields is about more than peace and the view. It has delightful quirks; a tight huddle of hills, it evokes a moment of gossip. For me, it is also about the communities that radiate out around it; the incredible network of green spaces, the food that is accessible to the global gastronome.

"On the Catford side, you will find ingredients for Bengali, South American, Chinese, Caribbean, Polish, Thai and west African cuisine. On the Brockley side, you’ll find restaurants – the kind that have clientele spilling into the streets – serving Cuban, Italian, Spanish, Cantonese and good old fish and chips. And there is culture here too: my kids saw Chris and Pui from Show Me, Show Me at Catford’s Broadway Theatre, there are salsa spots and there is ballroom dancing at the old Rivoli Ballroom on Brockley Road.

"One of my favourite places, opposite a Chinese takeaway (yes, we end as we began – with food) is the Brockley Jack, a fabulous pub and theatre."