Coming soon: The Rosemary

When New Cross' Cafe 178 closed in January, the management said they'd found someone to carry the fire for them. Now, the team behind the excellent Dig This nursery are reopening it as a Hungarian restaurant called The Rosemary. The New Cross Gate Trust says:

The Rosemary will be opening on Friday 27th March. Run by the same people who used have the Dig It Nursery and organic veg shop next to the Hobgoblin we can expect high quality healthy food at good prices. 

The Rosemary will continue to work with Toucan, the employment training charity that ran 178 Cafe by offering training opportunities for people with learning difficulties.

Great to see this place back in action so soon and to be able to add Hungarian to the list of local options. A restaurant probably stands a better chance of persuading more people to venture away from New Cross's main drag than the cafe did too. Taste the rainbow.

Thanks to Richard for the news.

Asda and Gym Group sign up for Thurston Central

A rendering of the scheme. Asda confirmed, generic coffee shop not included

Thurston Central, the mixed-use development (400 homes) nearing completion at the foot of Loampit Vale, has confirmed that their commercial tenants will include an Asda supermarket and a 24/7 gym, run by The Gym Group.

As a budget operator, The Gym Group will find itself in direct competition with Glassmill Leisure Centre on the opposite side of the road, but they clearly the recognise unmet local demand for gym space. Asda still has plans to open a supermarket in Lee. The original scheme did not include food retail space and also looked considerably better in the renders.

With the retail units at Renaissance still empty, it's encouraging to see the space go so quickly and while Lewisham is not short of supermarkets, this will make a pedestrian-friendly alternative to Tesco.

Pack mentality

Michael is calling for a culture change in the Hilly Fields dog-owner community since his dog has been bitten twice in recent months. He writes:

I’m a regular user of Hilly Fields and it’s a park I greatly love. It’s very sad then that the “sociable” dog owners of Hilly Fields don’t seem that responsible. There’s is never a single time that I see a dog owner put their dog on a lead when my dog and I walk past them.

It’s pretty much the first rule of dog owning: See a dog you don’t know? Then put your dog on a lead. Let them get to know one another while the owners are in complete control. I know that a lot of dog owners will argue that their dog is kind and gentle but you just don’t ever know how one dog will react to another.

My dog got seriously attacked last year in Ladywell Fields because of a thoughtless owner who couldn’t be bothered to simply put their dog on a lead for a moment.

Also, yes, these owners “socialise”. But they do it by simply standing there talking while their dogs run around. That’s not walking your dog. Fine, socialise, by all means. But walk with the dogs. Every time I see a large group of dogs off the lead, it means I can only stay at one part of the park.

And you know what? Maybe I’d like to socialise with them too but it’s impossible if they won’t just take a minute to put dogs on lead and get them to know one another first.

Lewisham Southwark College launches governor search

Lewisham Southwark College, which has buildings on Lewisham Way and Deptford Broadway and which is expanding into new premises in Waterloo in 2016, is looking for new governors. They explain:

The Board have great ambitions for the College. Under the leadership of its new Chair, Christopher Bilsland OBE, the Board is determined to drive a quality improvement strategy despite the challenging financial environment.

Over the next three years they are determined that Lewisham Southwark College will become the leading London College. Lewisham Southwark College will be known for getting its students into employment and enabling them to thrive at work, as well as for moving students on to higher education.

Full details on the South East London forum.

Dawn Chorus, March 31st

Tom writes:

Spring in Brockley would not be complete without the Dawn Chorus walk, organised by the Friends of Hilly Fields. This year's walk takes place on Tuesday 31 March. Meet outside the cafe on Hilly Fields at 6am for a walk around the park and the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries.

So far this year, the birds have been very vocal and active so we expect to hear all the usual songbirds, plus maybe a woodpecker drumming, a collared dove cooing and the birds that merely tweet.

More details here.

The Deptford and New Cross Easter Beer Hunt

We're going on a beer hunt. We're going to catch a big one. We're not scared. What a beautiful day!

The Royal Albert team have hidden 38 colourful eggs in businesses across Deptford and New Cross. Solve one of the six riddles and head to the venue in question to do your best impression of a chicken laying an egg to earn yourselves free drinks at the Albert.

Full rules and the six riddles here.

Bakerloo consultation produces massive yes vote

TfL has published the results of its recent consultation about the proposed southern extension of the Bakerloo Line via Lewisham. It found that:

- The vast majority of South East Londoners want it to happen (96% of respondents)

- There is an overwhelming consensus that South East London is relatively poorly served by public transport

- That the route proposed for the more populated, more middle-class area (Camberwell / Peckham Rye - 64%) received more public support than the route through a designated regeneration area, currently populated by warehouses and car lots (Old Kent Road - 49%)

A useful exercise, we can surely all agree.


In amongst the statements of the obvious, there are one or two interesting findings, including that there is marginally more support for the line to stop in Bromley than in Beckenham and Hayes and little appetite for it to end in Lewisham.

The most telling result was that this consultation produced one of the highest turnouts in TfL history, despite the project's modest scope, underlining how much of a no-brainer this is.

Next steps: Get on with it.

Thanks to everyone who sent this to us.