Brockley Open Studios

June in Brockley comes to a close with the Brockley Open Studios weekend.

Brockley Open Studios was founded in 1992 by a group of local artists in conjunction with the biannual East London Open Studios event organised by the Whitechapel Gallery. The London wide publicity that came with the Whitechapel link in the early years helped to establish the Brockley event. In 1998, the Gallery withdrew, but Brockley carried on regardless.

Open Studios is unconnected to Brockley Max, but the two events share a common purpose - to showcase the wealth of local creative talent and provide a focus for the artistic community which flourishes here.

This year, more than 39 artists in 30 home studios scattered across the Conservation Area will throw open their doors to the public between Saturday and Monday. Neighbours, regulars and newcomers are all welcome to meet the artists and view their work. Admission is free and many of the works are for sale.

Among the highlights this year is an opportunity to see the mural at Prendegast School - not normally accessible to the public. Ruth de Monchaux has served as coordinator for the event since 1994 and is assisted by Biddy Bunzl.

For full details of the event, including a map of the studios and examples of the artists' work, please visit the website

Morris Dance Fever

Having added Christians to the list of minority groups we have provoked (together with Plumsteaders) we are not about to pass comment on this lot, other to let everyone know that they're on their way to Brockley...

The Blackheath Morris Men are touring Brockley tonight, with a whirlwind trip to The Talbot and the Wickham Arms. Intriguingly, they promise a night of "pork chops, cauliflower and mashed potato" - we're not sure if this is a metaphor for something.

Brown era could herald go-ahead for Thameslink

Gordon Brown's accession is strongly rumoured to mean that the long-awaited Thameslink project could finally be given the funding it needs for work to begin.

With London's over-worked transport infrastructure now threatening to limit economic growth in the city, it is believed that both Crossrail and Thameslink could get the go-ahead as part of a raft of "good news" announcements at the start of his premiership.

While most attention has been focused on the Crossrail project, Thameslink is arguably just as important and will lead to major benefits for Brockley commuters.

At a comparatively modest cost of £3 billion, the Thameslink extension would involve upgrading the current Thameslink route, reducing the bottlenecks that restrict the number of trains that can travel along the south-north route through London Bridge and Kings Cross.

For Brockley residents, this means that the crumbling London Bridge station would be rebuilt (see the image above) providing better facilities and pedestrian access. More importantly, 3 more platforms would be converted to allow a dramatic increase in "through" services to the north and a reduction in those infuriating occasions when trains hang around outside London Bridge during rush hour for no apparent reason. A new bus station will also replace the grotty overhang that currently serves as an interchange.

Planning permission was granted last year. The scheme was originally known as Thameslink 2000 - the year originally envisaged for completion.

New development planned for Mantle Road

The Bridge House at Number 4 Mantle Road is the subject of a planning application that would create 34 new apartments at Brockley Cross.

Brockley Cross Action Group news reports that:

"The scheme for London and Quadrant Housing Group and designed by architects, MDR Associates consists of commercial premises to the ground floor with 34 apartments, consisting of, 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms to the upper floors within a 5 storey building. The scheme has evolved through consultations with the London Borough of Lewisham over a two year period and has now reached the stage of a planning application. the current programme is for a start on site around the end of this year with a completion in 2009."

The development would neighbour the Tea Factory and this building, which despite our early optimism, currently looks like a badly assembled Airfix model of a battleship.

Lewisham Council have confirmed that Bridge House represents one of the largest development opportunities in the area (there are 14 key sites in Brockley, but they are mostly small-scale). The scale of the development means that the developers will have to commit to include affordable housing, while the Brockley Cross Action Group are hoping that a condition for planning approval will be a contribution towards the Brockley Common project, as part of a Section 106 agreement.

A contribution could make good make business sense too, as the Brockley Common project will hugely enhance Brockley Cross and could add value to the planned apartments.

Thinly disguised church recruitment exercise on Sunday!

This weekend will be a Brockley double-header, with the Hilly Fields Summer Fayre on Saturday followed by the the "Healthy Brockley" event on Sunday.

The leaflet to promote the day features a big picture of a juicy red pepper - no doubt locally sourced. Who could possibly object to any event that encourages people to eat more vegetables?

While the objective of helping people try to live healthier lives is laudable, the event is driven by the Brockley Community Church, which means that dance classes and dietary advice sit alongside "Healing Sessions" as the path to a healthier and happier life.

Brockley Central doesn't want to be a grumpy, atheist party pooper, but it wishes that Church and State (it's taking place at Brockley Primary School and Green Council members will be taking part) and science and faith could be kept a little more separate. It's also possible that the thought of being set-upon by recruiters for the church might put some people off attending.

There's still time for a Gherkin

This article about the Lewisham Gateway scheme generated quite a lot of reaction, most of it cautiously welcoming of the masterplan that's being developed.

One of the main reservations expressed, however, was that the architecture was bland and uninspiring and that this represented a missed opportunity to create something genuinely distinctive, such as Future Systems' Selfridges store, which has been so successful in the redevelopment of Birmingham's city centre.

Arguably, Lewisham lacks a distinctive public face - it boasts few icons or landmarks, particularly in comparison to neighbouring Greenwich and Southwark. The existing masterplan looked as though it would do little to change this.

However, following the article's publication, Brockley Central was contacted by the developers of the scheme to point out that:

"Our current application is in 'outline' and none of the buildings has been designed yet. All the images that we show are indicative and are just intended to give an impression. We will be commissioning a range of architects to design the individual buildings and, through their skills, our objective is for Lewisham Gateway to be architecturally fantastic!"

So there is still time for a design of genuine quality, that reflects the character of the local area and delivers the iconic status that many local people seem to want.

Buildings designed with the sole purpose of being icons usually fail, but the best designs, such as Foster's Gherkin or Future Systems' Selfridges, combine form and function to create something that enhances the urban landscape. Hopefully, the developers and the Council will remain true to this ambition and follow the precedent set in Lewisham by the Laban Centre. If we get another Lewisham Police Station, it will be a disaster.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the website for campaign against the scheme relies heavily on the existing images of the scheme, presumably in the belief that the images will shock some residents. Since these images are unrepresentative of the final scheme, we hope that the campaign will acknowledge that properly.

Brockley Central: LIVE

According to Google, there are 200 of you who have visited the site 1o times or more in the last week - a population that can't consist entirely of angry Plumsteaders, eager White Stripes fans and Brockley Central's family. In fact, we're pretty sure our family hears quite enough from us already and doesn't feel the need to bother with a website.

So that means it might be the right time to organise a Brockley Central get-together for a few regular readers, which was originally suggested, here

But, just to be doubly-sure, we have already roped-in four of Brockley Central's most prolific contributors, who've all promised to come along.

We've chosen a date of July 19th but there's no particular plan for the evening, other than to put some names to faces and have a drink and a chat. We will probably try and discuss the future of the site for at least five minutes.

This might be laughably optimistic, but, on the offchance that we get too many responses, we might have to limit numbers to the first people to reply.

If you'd be interested in coming along, please email us at the address on the side. We'll decide on a venue later on.