Dulwich Hamlet - Pay What You Like

Unless you fancy watching Cray Valley Paper Mills FC, Dulwich Hamlet is our local Non-League team (get there on the 484 bus). They are celebrating national Non League football day with a 'pay what you like' entrance fee. Attendances rose 36% last season and they seem to have half the South East London blogosphere in their back pocket, so it's a good time to give them a go.

The Peckham Experiment

Space Station Sixty-Five
65 North Cross Road
East Dulwich
If you, as we like art to be prawn cocktail flavour, then you will like this.
Space Station Sixty-Five is a small gallery in East Dulwich, that's currently playing host to an exhibition inspired by 'The Peckham Experiment'.
Although it sounds like a Quatermass sequel about psychological torture, The Peckham Experiment was, according to the exhibitors "a groundbreaking health centre focussing on wellness rather than the later NHS disease model. It existed from 1926 -1950, founded by George Scott Williamson and Innes Hope Pierce. Central to their philosophy was a belief that if left to themselves people would spontaneously begin to organise in a creative way."
A number of artists have been invited to produce work in response to those ideas and Space Station Sixty-Five is showing work by Ellie Harrison and Nick Cobb.
One of Ellie's works is a vending machine, wired to the internet, programmed to release crisps whenever a key word relating to the economy appears on the BBC News website. We forgot to find out why - we were too excited to find a free packet of crisps in the draw - but we like to imagine that it's some sort of satirical point about Robert Peston's undue influence on the markets, or something.
Nick Cobb whittles plastic bottles in to anthropomorphic figures and places them in cardboard streetscapes. Normally, his work only appears in photographs but seen in 3D, you can appreciate how clever and minimalistic it is.
The Peckham Experiment is showing until November 7th, 2009.

Franklins, East Dulwich

157 Lordship Lane London, SE22 8HX
020 8299 9598

We tried this restaurant for Mother's Day. However patriotic we may be about Brockley, there is nowhere local that really fits the bill.

Parisien brasserie-meets-farm shop decor and hearty menu. The waiters were helpful and efficient despite the fact that every table was full and the bar area was heaving.

We had the roast beef and the sweet potato and courgette bake, followed by chocolate nemesis and the rhubarb pavlova. All were yummy, although the Yorkshire pudding was a little crispy for our taste. They could do with some form of children's menu too.

Epilogue:

The arrival of spring has prompted us to visit the East Dulwich garden centre several times in the last few weeks. Lovely though it is, every pound we spend there is a pound we wish we could spend in Brockley - a place with so many keen gardeners and without a major garden centre anywhere nearby.

Them and us: East Dulwich

For the second in our "Them and Us" series, we thought we'd better get the inside track on East Dulwich - an area that has gained totemic status in Brockley's great 'gentrification debate'. So we asked Jane - who lives there - and this is what she told us:

What are the best things about living in East Dulwich?

The range of shops and services in East Dulwich, many of which are still independently owned; the mix of people - hasn't (yet) been completely repopulated by families moving out from Clapham along 37 bus route; Lordship Lane is still fairly quiet in the evenings - the ratio of shops to bars and restaurants is far better than in places like Northcote Road; the parks nearby; easy access to Victoria and in fact Kings Road if you take the stopping train from Denmark Hill; nice victorian houses on quiet roads; interesting fringe areas to visit such as Bellenden Road/Peckham, Horniman, Dulwich Village, Sydenham Woods. It does have a very good community feel to it and there is lots to do, such as pub quizzes, film nights, local WI (very popular), various fetes and fairs throughout the year. Also there are no major roads running through ED whereas Forest Hill up the road is basically built around the south circular, and there's a market on Friday and Saturday on Northcross Road.

What has been the biggest change since you moved to East Dulwich?

We moved here in December 2003 - the biggest change must be that then it was still very good value for money compared to areas such as Clapham and Herne Hill. The other main developments have been the increase in destination shops and cafes on Lordship Lane and the ensuing increase in traffic and visitors - also now much harder to park.

Some people in Brockley hold East Dulwich up as an example of an area where "gentrification" has gone too far and the area has lost something as a result. Do you think that's fair?

There's an element of truth to this - as I mentioned the mix of people living here which gives it a fairly safe community feel is changing and becoming more homogenous and therefore less interesting. With gentrification come rent rises and you lose some of the more surprising and interesting shops and businesses which give an area its character. These are being replaced with lots of mainstream shops catering entirely to the incomers who do seem to be mainly young parents. This process of Claphamisation does seem to be inevitable.

What do you think prompted East Dulwich's gentrification?

House price rises meant that ED became the next obvious place for people to move to. I think transport links improved, and the myth that it is really difficult to get to was debunked.


How does the area build a sense of community?

Aside from the groups I mentioned earlier, the East Dulwich Forum is hugely popular and most people I know spend a lot of time there, lurking if not posting. The Dulwich Festival is always a draw, as are the events and courses run by Dulwich Picture Gallery - not in ED but within easy reach.

What would you recommend for the casual visitor to do in E Dulwich?

Assuming the visitor was casual, they might like to drop into Le Chandelier and try some of their freshly baked breads or pastries, then stop at Jacks on Pellatt Road for their coffee or flapjack. Later on they could pick up some fishcakes from Moxons or some meatballs from William Rose butcher, then have a Sunday Roast in Franklins, and a drink afterwards at Green and Blue or Liquorish, followed by a cheeky kebab down the Yilmaz. Yummy Mummies can hang out in Blue Mountain Café and indulge their loved ones in Jo Jo Maman Bebe or the many other overpriced kids clothing shops. I would also recommend a walk in the park or down to Bellenden Road where Le Petitou does an excellent quiche. This has become culinary...So for something other than food there's Northcote Road market - or one of the small art galleries on the same road.

What (if anything) can Brockley learn from E Dulwich's experiences?

Brockley can learn that if you build it they will come. But is that what you want? Eh?


Coming soon: Hither Green, although the locals have been rather less forthcoming so far...

Brockley Bites

Q Magazine pays tribute to Brockley legend

Not Kate Bush, Athlete or Aqualung, but Erin, from the Launderette on Brockley Road. Apparently, someone from Q is a regular customer and interviewed her about her favourite song to work to. She plumped for Rod Stewart's Maggie May. Apparently, in her youth, "she was more like Rod than Rod."

Sounds Around remains defiant

The scaffolding up on Sounds Around had prompted some speculation that it was finally submitting to modernity and getting a face lift. But rest assured, it's going to stay as lovably anachronistic as ever - they're just fixing a leaky roof.

Brockley "the new East Dulwich" say East Dulwichers

In an echo of the debate we're currently having on Brockley Central, The East Dulwich forum is fretting over whether their area has lost its charm and are casting around for the "New East Dulwich", with Brockley one of the leading contenders, noted for its local pride and proximity to "edgy" areas like New Cross.