East London Line closure due to safety fears

The lack of ELL service this morning is due to problems with the trains. The BBC reports:

"Services on the London Overground network have been disrupted after engineers were forced to take trains off the tracks amid "safety" fears.

"Part of the braking system is understood to have fallen off from one of its trains "within the last week".

"As a result the network's branches to Croydon, Crystal Palace, New Cross Gate and Highbury and Islington have all been forced to close.

"TfL say the "extra safety checks" has resulted in a "shortage of trains".

"The problems have caused severe delays on other parts of the network at Richmond, Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction."

The London Overground twitter feed says:

"Customers for the North & East London Lines are strongly advised to use alternatives routes. There is no estimated time when this issue will be resolved. Updates will be posted on the feed."

Mamma Dough Ladywell Begins

Hey Prezzo! Work has started on the new Mamma Dough restaurant in Ladywell Village.

Ladywell's pizza Pilgrims teased us with a glimpse of their new oven before Christmas, which arrived Express delivery.

We have awoken to a early Christmas present at Ladywell ....#ladywell #mammadough #pizza #SE13 #comingsoon #everythingFresh pic.twitter.com/RefJVQYNba

— Mamma Dough (@mamma_dough) December 15, 2017

Ladywell residents must be hoping for a Domino effect, as a new restaurant will add critical mass to the high street. Let's be Franco, there are still too few places to eat to serve the hungry denizens of SE13 - there is no chance this Hut will Fold.

Bite Mi - Best Newcomer 2017

Congratulations to Vietnamese cafe Bite Mi, winner of Brockley Central's Best Newcomer Award for the best new local high street business of 2017.

In the first re-ballot in the award's history, the top three were:

Bite Mi - 34%
Saka Maka - 27%
Parlez - 18%

Bite Mi is a fast, friendly cafe with a simple and authentic menu that has consistently drawn the crowds since it opened in February. With the recent departure of Coulgate Street's Mo Pho, it filled a hole in Brockley's culinary landscape and its stomachs.

This is the third time in four years that a Brockley Cross business has collected the Award, a remarkable turnaround for an undeniably ugly patch of SE4, which was once best known for gang violence and bad parking.

It's also worth noting that this is yet another independent winner, drawn from an all-independent field. The closest we came in 2017 to seeing a chain open in Brockley was the arrival of Gently, the sister store of previous winner Gently Elephant.

When Tesco opened on Lewisham Way a decade ago, many predicted it would herald the end of independent Brockley. Instead, the last ten years have been a golden age for local startups. While the supermarkets have moved in with a vengeance, they are surrounded by high-quality, adventurous and successful local businesses.

With the exception of Ladywell's El's Kitchen, which changed ownership but continues to flourish as The Larder, all of the previous eight winners continue to thrive to this day, while The Orchard, Brockley Market, Gently Elephant, The Brockley Deli and Masala Wala have all gone on to open more businesses in Brockley and beyond. That is an extraordinary record, of which they and we can be proud.

The Brockley Central Hall of Fame now looks like this:

Best Newcomer 2017 - Bite Mi
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

Re-vote - Newcomer of the Year

Due to some extremely unusual voting behaviour and web traffic patterns during the recent poll for the Newcomer of the Year Award, I am re-running the vote to ensure the integrity of the result.

I prefer to keep everything on an open platform like this website, but in order to ensure that the result is not manipulated, I am instead going to run the vote on Facebook.

Sorry for the delay. Those of you who want to show your support for a local business, please head over to the Brockley Central Facebook Group to vote now. Voting will close on Friday night.

The 2018 Telegraph Hill Book Sale for Crisis

Fewer 484s

Due to unpopular demand, from January 6th, the 484 bus from Camberwell Green to Lewisham Station will run less frequently. TfL has announced a raft of cuts, and notes:

To match demand, we’re changing the frequency: Monday to Saturday day times buses will run  every 12 minutes (previously every 10 minutes).

Thanks to 853 for the heads up.

New London Bridge reopens on schedule

The new concourse (Photo: Network Rail)

The huge new London Bridge Station concourse opened as planned this morning, enabling passengers to switch platforms with ease.

It won't stop Southern arbitrarily cancelling evening trains to Brockley on a nightly basis, but you'll have somewhere epic to wait for the next one, with 70 new shops and restaurants due to open this year.

The new Tooley Street entrance (Photo: Team London Bridge)

The new concourse will also allow Cannon Street services to resume calling at London Bridge and provide much quicker access to Tooley Street.