Moonbow Jakes - shock news

A couple of years ago, when we started looking for a new place to live, we didn't give Brockley a second thought. We only knew it as "those two roundabouts" on the way to other places. However, in desperation, we went to visit a place on Upper Brockley Road, and discovered a whole new world hidden away. Then, we found Moonbow Jakes and decided that Brockley was more than just some nice houses, it was a place to live.

So, it came as a shock when we started hearing rumours that it was up for sale. Today, however, we received this confirmation from John, the current owner:

Nick, in answer to the rumours of my imminent departure from Moonbow Jakes, I can confirm I am in the final throws of passing on the business to four musicians who, I believe, plan to keep the fundamentals the same while making some minor improvements. As with all sales, there is a possibility that something outside our control may scupper the deal, although this appears unlikely.

Taking that things all go to plan, we are holding a series of events over December including a poetry evening, which kicks off with Brockley resident and one of the UK's most prominent pianist, Julian Jacobson, trying out some new material on Monday evening (3rd December). I would like to thank everyone who have loyally supported Moonbow Jakes in Brockley, New Cross and Catford over the last ten years and invite them to write any comments in a special book in Brockley, on our blog at www.moonbowjakes.co.uk or they can record a message of how Moonbow Jakes has impacted on their life or community by visiting the shop. People wishing to take a photographic record are also asked to share their pictures by posting copies to our site.

Thanks to Brockley Central for your unstinting support and I wish you all well for the future.

John and Moonbow Jakes Coffee Bar x

John added that the new owners plan to preserve the character of the bar, although of course, they're bound to want to stamp their ideas on the place in some ways. He also said that they've enjoyed a record year this year and that it had always been his plan to move on at some point - so it's reassuring to hear that Brockley is capable of sustaining places like Moonbows - his account certainly tallies with the fact that it seems to be full whatever time of night or day we pass.

John will be a loss to the area and, before he goes, we hope to persuade him to share his unique perspective on Brockley.

The Talbot: Still on track

We recently received a post from one reader, who'd heard that the plans to overhaul the Talbot might be somewhat delayed. However, we're pleased to report that we spoke this week to the prospective landlords who confirmed that, although the refurbishment was going to be more complicated than originally thought, due to the poor-quality of some of the infrastructure of the building, their plans are still on track.

The Talbot's transformation should be complete by late spring 2008.

More details of the refurbishment, here.

We attended last night's meeting to discuss the fate of the Localities Fund and will report on it soon...

Normal service will resume shortly

Phew, the vote's over and we can go back to talking about things like pubs and what famous people live in Brockley...

Although the Brockley Central troll was a late entry for this year's Brockzilla, we have found some of the debate genuinely enlightening and we are pleased to say we have had our opinion changed on one or two of the ideas (and reinforced in one other).

Thanks to everyone who cast their vote and spoke their mind, we will be summarising the results and sending them to the Councillors who, and we must stress this will take them on board, but not base their final decisions solelely on them.

Today, has been so busy from a personal and Brockley Central point of view, that we haven't had time to update you on the news about The Talbot, but we'll hopefully get round to that very shortly...

We'd like to end with a quick word on this blog.

1. This blog is not aligned to any organisation or political party - it is run by two blokes, for fun and to improve the quality of local information and debate. It is not, nor has it ever been, "official". If it was, it would probably look something like this and no-one would use it (although we stress, that's not official either!).

2. Although this blog does occasionally take an editorial stance on issues, we always try to respect those with whom we disagree. They also reflect our personal opinions, rather than any vested interests, and as you may have noticed, Nick and Jon don't agree on everything anyway. As someone has already said, we should all recognise that we essentially want the same thing: Brockley to be a better place.

3. We always try to get our facts right. In the last 9 months that this site has been running, we struggle to recall a single complaint that someone has made about the factual accuracy of our articles, even if they regularly complain about the opinions expressed!

Brockley Bites - Festive Special

The Brockley Christmas Market, 2pm-7pm Saturday, December 1st

Brockley's Christmas Market will take place on Coulgate Street, by the station, this saturday. As well as the stalls, local businesses will be supporting the activities and, thanks to Magi, the Broca and Dandelion Blue, Brockley finally has a commercial street worthy of Christmas festivities. In addition to the market, Brockley Community Church will be organising a lantern workshop and procession from St Peter's Church, Wickham Road from 4pm - 5.30pm. The Christmas lights will be switched on by the cast of Broadway Theatre's Aladdin at 5.30pm.

Dandelion Blue official opening tonight

After a soft-launch yesterday, Dandelion Blue is officially opening its doors tonight. We've not had a chance to try it out, but the feedback so far has been very positive and the place itself looked stunning as we ran for the train this morning...

Jam Circus live music Sundays

Jam Circus, Brockley's liveliest local venue, has begun regular live music sessions on Sunday nights and have a new website, if you've never been to the venue before. Click here for more. We will carry more on their music programme in the coming weeks.

The Brockley Vote - don't forget to make your voice heard

The unofficial poll about how this year's £10,000 localities fund should be allocated has generated unprecedented interest in terms of number of votes cast, number of comments made and number of unique visitors reading the site in the last few days. That can only be a good thing for an initiative which is designed to encourage greater participation in local democracy in Brockley.

However, please keep the debate focused on the merits or flaws in the proposals, rather than personal abuse or allegations of skullduggery. It's perfectly legitimate for certain projects to try and mobilise their supporters to vote - that's campaigning, not conspiracy. It's also not fair to say that this site is biased towards the street trees on the basis that it is a "Brockley Cross Action Group project". It was not proposed by the BXAG, it was proposed by an individual resident from the north of the ward, who thought it would be a good way of improving the look and feel of the local area. And there is no reason why the trees could not be used to improve main streets in the north of the borough, they need not be confined to places like Brockley Road. There is no need for tribalism.

We have expressed a personal preference for the idea of street trees on the basis that we believe that it would be the most effective use of the money, but we encourage everybody to vote for their own personal favourite. This site tries to reflect life in all areas of the ward (and beyond) and the readership is diverse.

Finally, we would just like to reiterate that this is an unofficial poll, that merely forms part of the overall consultancy process by Brockley's councillors. The final decision will be taken by them, on the basis of a wide range of feedback and the poll only represents one part of that process. We urge anyone who passionately believes in one of the projects to attend the meeting tomorrow night:

Tuesday, 27th November, 8pm
George Lewis Room
St John’s Church
Lewisham Way
London
SE8 4EA

The cut-off point to register your vote on this site is 5pm tomorrow.

Brockley's £10,000 question

Tuesday, 27th November, 8pm
George Lewis Room
St John’s Church
Lewisham Way
London
SE8 4EA

Next Tuesday, Brockley councillors Dean Walton, Darren Johnson and Romayne Phoenix will hold a community meeting to discuss the allocation of the Brockley Locality Fund - £10,000 of public money, which can be allocated to good causes in the Brockley area.

A shortlist has been drawn up from ideas submitted by local residents, some of which had their merits hotly debated here.

Cllr Dean Walton has provided Brockley Central with an advanced look at the list of projects, which is below. We've also created a new poll so that readers unable to attend the meeting can register their views online. We must stress that this is an unofficial poll and while we will pass on the results of the vote to the councillors before the meeting, it is obviously an unscientific sampling of the Brockley population (highly skewed towards towards the bored and office based!). However, the councillors will take the results in to consideration as part of the wider consultation process.

Here's the list in full:

1. Digicams for young people to report graffiti etc to Love Lewisham, with monthly prize and end-of-year exhibition

2. Fixed sports equipment on Tanners Hill Estate for children

3. Youth worker for Tanners Hill one night per week for a year

4. Street trees with metal railing guards

5. Contribution to Brockley Common

6. Clean up and secure garages in Vulcan Terrace

7. Picnic benches where young people can socialise, Pitman House

8. Improvements to Lewisham Way memorial gardens

9. Improvements to Veronica House Gardens

10. Solar panels installed at another local primary school

11. Contribution to Myatt Gardens playground fund

12. Contribution to Brockley Fun Run

13. Contribution to Brockley weekend arts festival

14. Equipment / storage space for planned after-school club for 5-11s

15. Contribution to Healthy Brockley Community Awards


The poll is on the right-hand side of this site. Please register your votes before the closing deadline of 5pm on Tuesday, to make your voice heard.

Our own, personal, criteria for where the money should go would be that it should support a project which wouldn't happen without some public funding, that it should support projects which benefit the widest possible number of people and it should leave some sort of tangible, lasting legacy. On that basis, we'd plump for street trees in planters on Brockley Road over projects like the Fun Run (nice idea) or Healthy Brockley (conflates eating vegetables with 'spiritual health'), which could be delivered without the need for any public money.

And "digicams" for kids? Doesn't every child have a mobile phone before it gets its first tooth these days? And isn't the whole point of the Love Lewisham project is that it's made reporting graffiti and fly tipping really easy and quick for any one (yes, even adults) , without the need to spend council tax money on consumer electronics?

Anyway, to whomever came up with that idea, they will be pleased to know that (despite referring to ourselves in the plural) we only have one vote, same as everyone else.

Happy voting!

The Brockley Jack: The Astonishing Truth

When Brockley Central heard that the Brockley Jack was due for a refit, we wanted to know more. We wanted to get under the skin of this important story - to understand the fate of this historic building and the motivations of the men and women behind the plan. What were their hopes and fears? Where did they see the pub in ten years time? What epic challenges have they overcome to reach this point.

We went straight to the source to find answers - calling the landlord to get the real dirt. And, um, then we were referred to their PR agency, who gave us this bland response...

Claire Wood, manager at the Brockley Jack, said:

“We’re currently awaiting planning consent for a complete refurbishment of the pub interior and some minor alternations to the rear of the pub.”

So there it is - the full story we promised you yesterday. Sorry about that.