"Brockley: understated gem"

The Evening Standard has discovered South East London.

Yesterday's Homes & Property section included a double page spread, examining the areas located along the East London Line extension.

Brockley was described as "an understated gem," with "a strong sense of community" and "a number of new coffee shops and restaurants."

Apparently, when the line opens, places like Brockley "will be no more difficult to commute to than Clapham, Wimbledon and Richmond."

Brockley Central always thought that Brockley was considerably easier to reach from the centre of town than any of those locations, which are further out and served by overcrowded tube lines which make the peak-time overland service to London Bridge look spacious, but overland-prejudice is a burden we have always carried as a South East Londoner.

An interview with Hilly Fields resident Oliver White helps to put the record straight (he claims to be able to get to Cannon Street in 12 minutes, so presumably sprints between platforms at London Bridge), but the whole feature prompts the question - do Brockley residents want the area to be "discovered"?

What do you think?

Brockley Max preview

With the third annual Brockley Max festival almost upon us, guest writer and enthusiastic local Jon Godsell takes a look at some of the forthcoming live music events that will be ringing throughout Brockley during festival week.

The opening night on Friday 1st June is an outdoor event at the Bob Marley Memorial by the station, from 4pm until 10. This will be a street party of the highest calibre, with plenty of up-and-coming local talent.

Acts in the line-up include emerging indie band Don't We Look Smart, talented and hotly-tipped singer/songwriter The Spotlight Kid and 7-piece funk outfit The Groove Diggerz. Keep your fingers crossed for the weather, but fear not, they have a gazebo!

Saturday 2nd, blues singer Earl Green takes to the floor in Moonbow Jake's with his band, The Right Time. This looks set to be a great performance from a man with many years of experience, and the intimate Moonbows lends itself well to this sort of music.

Sunday 3rd is a local showcase, also at Moonbows. Tuesday Heartbreak together with Alice Renouf and Honey Cube should all provide some very catchy indie tunes, whilst XFM's latest find Harold Fergus should turn the lights down low and take the crowd all acoustic.


On Tuesday 5th, regulars on the Shoreditch scene Masters Of Disguise play Moonbows (do you notice a theme here?), with their genre-hopping mix of indie, jazz, rock 'n' roll, and funk. Call it what you like, last year it was a fantastic show.

The Wickham Arms presents the unmistakable Cosmic Sausages on Wednesday 6th. One of the most popular bands at the festival, I won't attempt to pigeon-hole them but imagine Right Said Fred meets Harry Hill, with accordions (see below).

Expect sing-along tunes for all the family, great gags, and their Cornetto-ad style cover of Creep by Radiohead is an unforgettable experience. Recommended.



Back at Moonbow Jakes on Friday 8th, net-label Audio Aubergine bring an electronic edge to the Max. Difficult to tell what the live sound will be like, but the artists featured online seem to share an intelligent sample-based sound, with an emphasis on minimal house and electronica. Nowt wrong with that. Expect mucho beard stroking and possibly some head nodding!

Saturday 9th brings a fitting end to the festival with Moonbow Jakes hosting their own marquee by the stone circle in Hilly Fields park, from noon til late, with an open air stage run by FHI promotions.

The line up at the 'Marquis of Moonbows', like the cafe, is eclectic, with acoustic artists, comedians and dance on the bill. Too many acts to list here, but young skate-rockers Diesel Sky will be back, and the brilliantly named Bacardiac Arrest look set to end the week with a blues-rock bang.

Things quieten down at 10pm, but make a Brockley friend or two, and, if past years are anything to go by, the hottest ticket of the whole festival will be an invite a very special after party.

These are just some of the many bands playing Brockley Max! The line-up for all events are subject to change at short notice. More info on the Brockley Max website.

The Brockley Max Festival: June 1st – 9th

The Brockley Central Interview – Moira Tait
As you may have noticed from the flyers and banners that keep popping up around Brockley, this year’s Brockley Max Festival is nearly upon us.

For the uninitiated, the Festival is a week long celebration of Brockley’s creative life, consisting of a programme of music, theatre and arts events that will be staged across all of Brockley’s main public spaces and venues, including Hilly Fields, Moonbow Jakes, The Brockley Jack, Toads Mouth Too, Café Neu, and more.

There is a full calendar of events on the Brockley Max website but this year kicks off with an open-air concert, between 4pm and 10pm on Friday night, featuring a range of Brockley musicians playing in front of the mural, by Brockley Station. Elsewhere on Friday, there will be performance art and an art exhibition at Café Orange, near Telegraph Hill.

In the six years since it was first established, the Max has become an institution and provides a focus for the artistic spirit which helps to make Brockley unique.

We recently met up with Moira Tait, founder and organiser of Brockley Max, at Moonbow Jakes, the spiritual home of Brockley Max and a key supporter of this years’ festival.

Before the interview really got going, a whole host of people turned up for a meeting to put the finishing touches to the programme. It was an eclectic and inspiring bunch: firework and outdoor event organisers, artists and musicians and Moira herself is an ex-TV producer who can “turn my hand to anything.” The Festival runs on their passion.

While we talked, a guy at the next table (who modestly declined to be named but whose anonymity was undermined by the fact that Brockley probably has relatively few natives of Detroit living in its midst), was enjoying a coffee, caught a few of our questions and was moved to interject:

“I’d like to say that what I love about the Brockley Max is what I love about the area – it feels like a community, coming together. It’s like a village.”

This community spirit was something referred to time and again by the team of organisers. There was an overwhelming desire that the Brockley Max should be inclusive and give an opportunity for local talent to shine.

Moira, who has lived in Brockley for twenty years, explained:

“The festival has grown enormously over the years and we now have a database of more than 400 people on our mailing list for planning the festival. That means we’re in a situation where people come to us, asking to get involved – last year we even had two musicians from New York who came to play at the Festival. However, while it’s a really fortunate position to be in, the focus is always on promoting local artists.”

In fact, Moira explained that this was the initial inspiration behind Brockley Max:

“One of the things that makes Brockley special – one of the things that many people enjoy about this area – is that is home to such a large artistic community. But before Brockley Max, there was no opportunity for local people to enjoy and celebrate their work in Brockley.

“I went to a meeting of the Brockley Cross Action Group some years back. Everyone was saying that they’d love the chance to celebrate Brockley creativity – so the Max was born.”

So what events is Moira looking forward to most this year?

“Last year, opening night was the biggest night. This year, I expect closing night to be a real highlight. I will start off with events for children during the day, including arts, crafts and songs and then morph in to an event for grown-ups, ending with some beautiful pyrotechnics.

“But my personal favourite will be a show called “Looking Behind” at the Brockley Jack Theatre on June 8th. It’s a celebration of a woman called Sara Baartman, the ‘Hottentot Venus’ who played an important role in the abolition of slavery. There will be spoken word, song and dance. It should be great!

“Last year, the Festival attracted more than 2,500 people, many from outside Brockley. This year, we’ve been supported by a fantastic PR woman, who’s helped us to get wider coverage in advance of this year’s festival. I’m expecting it to be the biggest Max ever."

The first Max consisted of 12 events, centred around Moonbows. Now, it has spilled out in to the streets and parks and is supported by Lewisham Council, in recognition of its status as a jewel in the Borough’s cultural landscape.

So how big does Moira think it can get?

“I believe it will continue to grow. There are more venues in Brockley now than when we started and more people involved, producing a more diverse range of events. In five years’ time, I hope that someone else will be running it! I love doing it of course, but it needs to take on a life of its own. Long-term, it will need fresh ideas and energy.”

For now though, the team behind Brockley Max have ideas and energy by the bucket load.

For more details, visit http://www.brockleymax.co.uk/

Brockley Central will be covering the Max over the coming days.

Tesco comes to Brockley

Be careful what you wish for...

In the early days of Brockley Central, motivated by disdain for Costcutter and inspired by the example of Forest Hill's Sainsbury, we wrote that one of the things Brockley could do with was a proper supermarket.

Well now, Brockley Central's intrepid investigator, John Morgan, reports that Tesco have acquired a site on Lewisham Way.

He says:

"213-223 Lewisham Way is one block on from the Albertine pub (on the left). It's a corner property and used to be a furniture store styled "Mondital". It's been empty for quite a while, and there have been attempts to site a restaurant there, but with some oposition from tenants above. Tesco is to take 80% of the site, leaving the remainder to a worthy entrepeneur. "

On the plus side, this will provide a welcome alternative for many in Brockley to the hapless Costcutter and the pedestrian-unfriendly Sainsbury at New Cross.

It's also far-enough away from Brockley Station that it's unlikely to kill-off the renaissance that the more optimistic amongst us believe is heralded by the development of new local retail units (eg: The Tea Factory).

On the down-side it's Tesco, which for many represents the march of rampant commercialism in to Brockley, which has remained largely untouched (if you don't count Costcutter and Whetherspoons) until now.

It is believed that work will begin on site shortly.

Thanks to John, who now writes a blog of his own:

"Duke of Edinburgh" being redeveloped as apartments

The Duke of Edinburgh pub on Malpas Road is being redeveloped as apartments, primarily aimed at the first-time buyer.

The development is due to be completed later this year - we will bring you the full story in a few weeks' time.

In the mean time, if any readers recollect it being a functioning pub, we'd be interested to hear what it was like.

New community news blog for Deptford

The Seager Distillery, currently being redeveloped

Sometime poster on this site, Knit Nurse, has started a new blog for Deptford, which is handy, because there's a lot going on in Deptford at the moment that will benefit Brockley both directly and indirectly.

For example, Wavelengths Swimming Pool (equidistant with Ladywell for many in Brockley) is being expanded to incorporate a new pool. The Seager Distillery is also being redeveloped as a new set of apartments, which, while doing little for the local community (and is being developed by Galliard, whose name sends a shiver of fear down many architecture-lovers' spines) should improve the walk between Brockley and Greenwich.



Longer-term, Deptford will also be the home to Lewisham's biggest regeneration project, Convoys Wharf, a 16-hectare masterplan by Richard Rogers, which will create approximately 3,500 new homes (while controversially sacrificing some of the working dock).

Hopefully, The Deptford Dame will chronicle these developments for us.

Shopping - nominate the best of Brockley

This is probably a more ambitious challenge than finding the best places to eat in the area.

The high street is still Brockley's achilles heel and the local options are primarily confined to corner shops, places that never appear to be open and others that seem to exist on 'secondary' sources of income.

However, our recent discovery of The Cycle Team - a great bike repair shop in Brockley Cross Business Centre - convinced us that there must be others worth mentioning.

Here's two to start with:

Magi (Gifts) - Coulgate Street

Would deserve a nomination if only for the number of times that it has bailed out a forgetful Brockley Central when we need a card or present for some baby or other at the last minute.

The Cycle Team (Bikes) - Brockley Cross Business Centre

Hidden away behind security gates, once you get inside, the guys who run this place are incredibly helpful (one rode out on a mini-BMX to buzz me out) and knowledgable. Their main source of business is maintaining fleets of bikes for gyms and the police, but, with a day or two's notice, they can fix any bike problem. Please note, they don't actually sell bikes - only bike bits.

There must be others, so please feel free to suggest other recommendations...