Vote for our Best Local Newcomer 2017

Time again to vote for the prestigious Brockley Central Best Newcomer Award. Last year, Crofton Park bakery Cat Food won the vote in a crowded field and joined a legendary group of local businesses in our hall of fame.

The competition is open to any high street business that has opened in Brockley / Crofton Park, Ladywell or Telegraph Hill in 2017.

This year, we have a field of eight new local businesses vying for your love and support. And although the quantity of new entrants may have dipped, the quality is as strong and varied as ever.

Here are your choices:

Bella Nova - a new midtown cafe, blending tradition and experimentation
Bite Mi - a Vietnamese cafe in Brockley Cross, next door to previous winner Masala Wala
Gently - sister shop to previous winner Gently Elephant, bringing a grown-up mix to Crofton Park
Number 50 Friendly Street - a new cafe helping the St John's street live up to its name
Parlez - a family-friendly restaurant that completes the Coulgate Street reimagining
Pizza Verde (originally Pizza Man) - a gluten-free specialist takeaway on Lewisham Way
Rad Bikes - bike maintenance and accessories on Lewisham Way
Saka Maka - a fresh take on Indian food on Brockley Road

Please cast your votes using the options on the side bar. You have until the end of the day on January 1st 2018.

The previous winners are:

Best Newcomer 2016 - Cat Food
Best Newcomer 2015 - Masala Wala Cafe
Best Newcomer 2014 - The Brockley Deli
Best Newcomer 2013 - The Malaysian Deli
Best Newcomer 2012 - Gently Elephant
Best Newcomer 2011 - Brockley Market
Best Newcomer 2010 - El's Kitchen
Best Newcomer 2009 - The Orchard

Bella Nova, 304 Brockley Road

It's time to right a wrong and ensure that a new(ish) Brockley establishment gets a mention before the Newcomer of the Year vote.

Bella Nova opened in Midtown in the autumn and is one part Central Perk, one part greasy spoon, serving everything from lattes and ciabatta to full English breakfasts.

Please share your reviews here.

Lewisham Councillors call on Labour to change Pro-Brexit stance

Seventy Labour councillors from Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark, unhappy at Labour's pro-Brexit policies, have written a joint letter to the party's leadership, asking them to change course.

Labour has struggled to spell out its specific position on Brexit and this letter is similarly vague, falling just short of calling for Labour to stop the Brexit process or push for a second referendum. Nor does it say anything about the single market or customs union. All they know is that they are not happy with the direction of travel.

Politics.co.uk quotes signatory James Coldwell of Southwark council as saying:

"Leavers and Remainers alike now see that the reality of Brexit bears almost no resemblance to what voters were sold last year. In changed circumstances, Labour must have the courage to offer voters the chance to say whether they wish to go ahead with Britain’s exit from the EU. Staying silent up to now has damaged the Tories enormously. But if Labour continues to treat Brexit as an exercise in political point-scoring, future generations won’t forgive us."

Midtown elves transform Brockley Road tree

The elves have got to another tree, @BrockleyCentral! Thank you to Layla and team in ‘midtown’ Brockley. #community #lovebrockley #LoveLondon pic.twitter.com/8vTD0s5LSc

— Jo R (@JoRatcliff1) December 22, 2017

Another Brockley Christmas tree has been given a festive transformation. Its cheerless safety barriers are now beautiful. Thank you to the people who did this.

Ashmead School expansion plans revealed

A visualisation of the Lewisham Way elevation

The application for the expansion of Ashmead School is now available on the Lewisham Council website. The proposal is for:

"Construction of a three storey school building (use class D1) at Lewisham Way frontage of Ashmead Primary School, Ashmead Road SE8, to facilitate an increase from 1 to 2 forms of entry, together with removal of existing front boundary wall, creation of new entrance from Lewisham Way and associated landscaping and fencing and alterations to external play space."

The proposed building is big (doubling the school's capacity to help address the area's desperate need for more places) and the Lewisham Way access will mean the loss of the small area of green space on Lewisham Way. As a consequence of this incursion, The St John's Society is opposing the scheme in its current form. They say:

"As part of the plans to double the size of Ashmead School, the small public park on Lewisham Way shall be absorbed into the main school site and form part of the school’s new Main Entrance on Lewisham Way.

"Concerns about child safety aside, given Lewisham Way is one of the busiest and most polluted red routes in the Borough, should Ashmead become an academy then this land would be privatised and lost from public ownership forever (academy schools can become limited companies, and the Governing Body would then be free to sell this valuable land for any price it wished)."

Local residents have until January 3rd to comment on the plans. Click here to review the application.

Crofton Park Christmas Tree Transformed

Every year the #CroftonPark tree is an embarrassment - so well done locals who took matters into their own hands and guerilla decorated it last night! @BrockleyCentral pic.twitter.com/TocQSV17St

— Jenny Wood (@WoodyJen) December 20, 2017

Finally, the big society steps up!

After years of suffering under the dead hand of Lewisham Council, which each December provides the good burghers of Crofton Park with a dismal Christmas tree surrounded by Stalinist safety barriers, the citizens have taken matters into their own hands and transformed their tree into something to be proud of.

Joy to the world. Here it is. Well done people. Happy Christmas.

Crofton Park train campaigners aim high

Michael from the Cinderella Line campaign group, which campaigns for better train services through Crofton Park, writes:

Thameslink have proposed to run four trains to Crofton Park every hour at the weekend, which is great, but they are suggesting we'll have to wait until December 2018. Bah! Humbug! We think that's way too long to wait.

In the last round of their consultation, Crofton Park had the highest number of responses, closely followed by Nunhead in third place, and Catford in fifth. Brighton came in sixth and given how much trouble they have had over the last year it just goes to show what a sweet sound our community makes when it comes to singing from the same carol sheet.

But we need to raise our voices one more time while the weekend services are within our grasp.

We have to respond by 20th December so please get your vote in now.

But they want even more! They continue:

A little while ago now, the Cinderella Line campaign and the local community successfully pushed for services into Victoria during morning peak times on a weekday. ​

That's helped curtail a lot of commutes but imagine if Southeastern trains on the Cinderella Line went to Victoria on a weekend too?

You can sign our petition for this change here.