 |
| This blessed plot, this Brockley |
In 2016, thanks to
Brexit, Trump,
Corbyn coups,
floods and sink holes, a new strain of apocalypticism gripped the Brockley imagination. But however much we wished to live in interesting times, Brockley was not Mordor. It was Hobbiton.
A
broken window at Donde Tapas in Honor Oak provoked a flurry of fearful tweets by locals who worried that it represented the first shot in a xenophobic war, but war never came. Instead Brockley's shop fronts became canvasses that celebrated the area's
multi-ethnic character during this year's
street art festival. SE4 is now inked up, but our knuckles read
love, not hate.
While
peace picnickers braced themselves for a fascist tsunami, our kids opted to organise
street-tidying initiatives rather than join the Hitler Youth.
Local anti-gentrifiers leapt on any
available evidence of an impending yuppie holocaust but somehow missed
the incident in which a man called the police because a local cafe had served him lemon and ginger tea instead of lemongrass. Instead, they accidentally targeted an innovative
social housing project.
So the end of the world was
one of the things that did not happen this year - but here are some of the things that did:
Clustering
Several new developments were completed this year, each of which helped clusters of local businesses build critical mass.
PLACE Ladywell is a new incubator for local entrepreneurs, which now houses delis, cafes and shops.
Deptford Market Yard has injected twelve new independent businesses directly into the town centre, including bars, hairdressers, cheese-grillers and fashion labels. On a smaller scale, 180 Brockley Road and the accompanying improvements to Coulgate Street
helped to create a coherent town centre for Brockley town centre, adding another supermarket, an estate agent,
an architect and (soon)
a restaurant to the mix.
Rebirth
Although these large developments have created more commercial space, there is still relatively little available space for new businesses, which means that the high street has become a zero sum game - for new places to open, old ones must make way. Thankfully, the market is buoyant and most places don't stay closed for long.
Departing businesses like Pat-a-cakes, Bohemia Hair and Degustation were rapidly replaced by
Fred's cafe,
House of Hair and
Salthouse Bottles while failing businesses gave way to thriving ones like
Waterintobeer and
Brickfields. Noak came and went and
came back again. Convenience store and local institution
Dukes finally closed and may prove to be the outlier - it's hard to imagine anything replacing it, but Brockley Cross has
proved me wrong before.
But the real story was the rebirth of our local pubs. No fewer than eight local pubs were refurbished this year: In St John's,
The Brookmill reopened as an outstanding gastro pub. In New Cross
the Five Bells and
the White Hart pulled out of their death spirals. On Tanners Hill
the Royal Standard was converted from a hostel bar to a public house. On Lewisham Way, The Old Haberdasher became
The Fat Walrus and
gained a marquee.
The Chandos, the
Ladywell Tavern and the
New Cross House all got impressive makeovers.
The resilience of the Brockley pub scene is why Lewisham Council should resist any attempt to convert
the Ravensbourne Arms or
Albertines into residential properties and why Enterprise Inns, the owners of the Wickham Arms, need to invest in that pub or sell it to someone who will.
Impossible Dreams
Greater Brockley found inventive ways to check several items off BCers wishlist in 2016.
Not only did Brockley get its first
real bar, which wouldn't look out of place in Dalston or Brixton, but Goldsmiths gave us
a cinema,
a book shop and
a Bestival spin-off, while in lieu of a Brockley gym, we got a Brockley Cross
Fitology Hub.
Lewisham surprised everyone by birthing
a gallery and cafe inside an old water tank before Goldsmiths does something similar on
a much grander scale next year. And a local entrepreneur brought the London Design Festival to South East London
for the first time.
Railroading
London Bridge Station's
fancy new concourse opened just in time for Southern to give up completely on the idea of running a train service. You can now connect to Charing Cross, but only if the trains haven't been sabotaged by
the wrong sort of sunlight or
boiling water.
If you can overlook the angry crowds at London Bridge, it's been a great year for Brockley trains. TfL
improved the East London Line's late night service and
revealed a plan to take our trains out of the
incompetent hands of Southern and Southeastern, and reopen the higher-level platform to serve a new orbital train route. Crofton Park campaigners also
successfully fought for more frequent morning services.
High rise
In 2016, the scale of Lewisham town centre's planned transformation became clear. Not only did three new towers join the Lewisham cluster, but a raft of planned new high rise buildings were unveiled. Matalan will be replaced
by seven new towers, while hundreds of new homes will be
built on the land next to Tesco.
This news was replicated in Deptford, where work has finally begun
at Convoys Wharf and two major new Deptford Creek projects were
announced.
With the borough experiencing
the fastest house price rises in London, this pattern of development is likely to continue for years to come, whether you
like it or not.
