Franks Cafe and Campari Bar returns
Franks Cafe and Campari Bar is back. The super-cool, rooftop Peckham pop-up had its opening night last night and these guys have a report, complete with photos.
A new nursery for Ladywell
As reported by Sue on the Ladywell forum, Slagrove Training Centre is being converted in to a large new nursery, having been sold at auction by the Council.
The nursery will be operated by Cherubins, who already run centres in Croydon and Lambeth. It will have 8 classrooms in total, and a separate sleeping area and a children's kitchen. You can see a bit more detail about their plans on their website.
This does of course ruin the opportunity to run the headline "The Flat Slags." Where's a speculative buy-to-let property deal when you want it?
The Likes of Us
We’re not so different, you and I.
- Dr Evil
‘To say that Muslims carried out 7/7 - those three guys from Leeds and one from Aylesbury - to say they did it is racist, Jon. It's racist. You're being racist against Muslims.’
There was a short silence.
‘Oh, fuck off,’ I said.
- Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test
Class tensions have been an ever-present in the life of this site. The fear of gentrification is not a new subject for BC debate, but it reached absurd new heights yesterday when our autobiographical reference to eating big macs on buses was interpreted as ‘casual class contempt.’
This thread is an attempt to focus the class debate, so we may be permitted to discuss issues like a new local pizza restaurant in peace.
We are something of a middle class stereotype ourselves – the son of two leftish London academics, we grew up reading the Guardian and going on camping holidays in France.
But perhaps because – unlike some of the class-warriors who frequent this site – we actually went to a local comprehensive and grew up among the south east London working classes, we haven’t developed middle-class man’s burden and we don’t regard working class people as an alien species. Love see no colour.
They, like we, eat Big Macs from time to time. Like BC, they sometimes use the bus. Our understanding of their culture is that they quite like clean streets, green spaces and to be able to cross the road safely. These are not the quaint concerns of the effete middle classes, they are universal aspirations and challenges that we all share. We have not yet become the Morlocks and Eloi.
In fact, it is the better off among us (who can afford to travel more and choose the area in which they live) who are least reliant on our local environment. The rich of Brockley can hide themselves away from van-choked pavements in their large houses and gardens and jump in the car to escape the squalor of the high street. It’s the less well-off who depend most on the social services paid for with the business rates and Council Tax of new shops and residential developments.
Making Brockley nicer – not more deli-laden, just nicer – is not a class issue.
If you disagree, please make your case here. But please, argue with what is said, not with the secret dog-whistle code you think is hidden between the lines.
Special Offer: Secrets from the Long Grass and Bodies Unfinished
Secrets from the Long Grass by Dean Stalham
Secrets from the Long Grass is the latest production at the Brockley Jack Theatre, playing until July 9th, Tues to Sat at 8pm. Book Online and use the code 'secrets' for £7.50 tickets (normally £12).
The ceiling of Father Michael's chapel is crumbling into decay. Summoned from Rome, artist Vincenzo Cardosi has the job of saving the precious ceiling and the old priest's legacy.
But Vincenzo and his wife Angelina share a hidden past with the priest's young colleague, the ambitious Father Paulo. As work on the ceiling begins childhood secrets are uncovered and dangerous passions reignite.
Bodies unfinished by Lewis Hetherington
Tues 12th to Sat 16th July at 8pm
Book Online and use the code 'facebodies' for £9 tickets (normally £12)
This production contains full nudity (suitable for over 16s)
Alan's going to sort this mess out – this huge, horrific mess that is his life. He's got a plan. He is going to stop playing the husband, the father, the son and find himself. He's going to sort it out once and for all.
Lewis Hetherington's exciting and raw new play explores the moment when you decide to stop doing what you know, and step out of your comfort zone.
Bill of rights
The discussion about Coulgate Street's van problem prompted Foxberry Mike to send us this photo of a van which he says has been parked in a prominent spot next to the petrol station end of Foxberry Road for five weeks.
He says:
AA Bill seems to be the company. There's the one on Canonbie as mentioned, one on Sydenham Hill, and one outside the Livesey hall near the Savacentre.
I see it as anti-social business practice, same as the D&M Van approach to taking from the community. Others who post seem to think it is a fine part of Olde Brockley heritage!! Or part of a glorious class struggle?
Worse still - their overuse of apostrophes is presumably responsible for the missing one in Brockleys Rock.
Martin's Yard construction update
Demolition work at Martin's Yard took reader Giovanni by surprise when he returned home to find that the removal of a wall gave him a perfect view of construction from his back garden. So he sent us some pictures, for your viewing pleasure. It seems to be motoring along at a fair lick.
Big Red, Deptford
30 Deptford Church St, SE8 4RZ
Big Red is a new double decker bus-shaped pizza restaurant in Deptford that has already collected glowing reviews from the Deptford Dame and Crosswhatfields. It's housed within a bus parked next to the Bird's Nest Pub, Deptford Church Street.
Big Red is a new double decker bus-shaped pizza restaurant in Deptford that has already collected glowing reviews from the Deptford Dame and Crosswhatfields. It's housed within a bus parked next to the Bird's Nest Pub, Deptford Church Street.
They've done a nice job of keeping the bus' features, while making the experience quite different to shovelling a Big Mac meal down your throat on the N171.
Despite the fact that pizza is apparently a food that the kids are all in to these days, this area's restaurant industry has been a little slow to catch on to consumer demand and good local pizza options are pretty thin-crust on the ground, so this is a very exciting addition to Deptford's growing collection of transport-themed eateries.
Please post your comments and reviews here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
