Muttley

With high winds expected this weekend, I'm reminded of the Great Storm of 1987. I seem to remember East Dulwich got off relatively lightly. Trees were down along Champion Hill next to Denmark Hill station, but not one of the huge trees on Goose Green was toppled - though if you look at them, they all lean noticably to the east, and I think that lean is partly due to the hurricane. Anyone have any other recollections of how the hurricane affected this area?

Think about all those houses that have been advertised for ?600-?700k in SE22 since the summer. Now look at prices of houses sold between September and October on the houseprices website. Not many are ?500k+, and I only see one that sold in the 600-700 range (159 Friern for 607k in early September). Evidence surely that the high prices that we see in estate agents' windows are largely wishful thinking. Anyone who uses those figures to estimate their property wealth should probably knock 10% off the figure they have in mind.

Not sure if this is 100% accurate, but worth reflecting on: ESTATE AGENTS ON LORDSHIP LANE 1993: Halifax, Winkworth, White Dent (now Huntwood), Wates, (Raymond) Bushell - that's five. Have I missed any? ESTATE AGENTS WHO HAVE ARRIVED SINCE 1993: Acorn, DVR, Property In, Haart, Ludlow Thomson (x2), Osborne Stewart, Foxtons - that's another seven, and typically their offices are bigger than their predecessors. (Another agent, Rogers & White or something, came and went in the interim). The number of properties available have not doubled, but commission per property has probably quadrupled. Nonetheless, the figures suggest there may be trouble ahead for somebody.

> I think what happened is that she named > the Teddy Bear Mohammed after one of the boys in > her class. Simple mistake to make. Excuse my ignorance, but who was that boy Mohammed named after? I'm sure there's a "logical" reason why a boy can be called Mohammed without his parents being flogged, but a bear can't, somebody please explain. (I'm going to guess that the rule is that the teddy bear isn't a living creature. So if it had been the class hamster would that have been OK? I need to know the rules so I don't put my foot in it next time I'm in Sudan.)

As others have commented, what happens to actual price of houses in SE22 is not particularly important to estate agents, what is important is that flats and houses sell. It's quite possible that the number of transactions in 2008 might be half what they were in previous years because people are feeling cautious about the market/finding it harder to get a mortgage/hassle and cost of doing HIPs putting people off selling/deciding to "improve" rather than move etc. Back in the early 1990s I remember there being a huge slump in the ED market: people wanted to buy, but nobody was prepared to sell (because of negative equity). Estate agents told me at the time how bad things were. But I don't recall any actually going out of business. Mind you, there weren't as many on LL then...

Mark Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think it's to do with the settings in My control > panel: > > Edit My Privacy Options > Allow other users to see when I am logged in > > If it's unticked then you can't see when they were > last active, I've unticked mine, can you now see > when I was last active? > Yes, I think that's it - I can no longer see when you were last active. My box has always been unticked, so presumably people can't see when I was last active either. Thanks for clearing that one up! I like the "View all posts by..." link, by the way, thanks for restoring it.

> It failed to do so and Southwark Council told them > it had to apply. They applied. Southwark refused > to grant it on the basis that LL has a 50/50 > limitation on the number of retail vs cafe, bars, > restaurants etc... > Hey, Foxton's operates a cafe too, any chance they could get nailed under this 50/50 legislation? :)

I've always said that the best outcome would be for Caffe Nero to be turfed out (for riding roughshod over the rules), on the condition that they are replaced by a NON-CHAIN coffee shop. That way the folk of ED get to keep the large, buggy-friendly coffee shop that is clearly a popular local amenity, while the chains are taught an important lesson. Maybe Southwark can next turn their attention to environmental issues. Any shops that gratuitously use excess electricity (eg lighting) when closed should be shut down immediately. Now let me think, any candidates...?

Taking a random sample, most show Last Activity, but Declan doesn't: Email: [email protected] Real Name: Declan Higgins Posts: 154 Date Registered: 02/08/2007 19:18

Mark, I 'looked here' and saw this: Email: Hidden (but registered users can send me a message) Real Name: Polly Posts: 310 Date Registered: 09/10/2006 11:44 There was no "Last activity" entry, unlike for you say where I found this: Email: Hidden (but registered users can send me a message) Real Name: Mark Collins Posts: 1,282 Date Registered: 22/07/2006 17:10 Last Activity: 26/11/2007 23:01

Idea is funny, some in-jokes for us locals, but am I the only person who listened to the song and thought the lyrics, I dunno, sound like they need a few more days work. "Some working to pay the bills, others appearing in The Bill". Hmm.

A few 'famous' names from the forum have disappeared - people move on I guess. But if you search for Polly D (as an example) it tells you when she registered, but it doesn't say when she last visited. Does the system disable the 'last visit' information if somebody doesn't visit for X weeks?

In my view in terms of safety there's not too much difference between the station area and the library end of LL. Once you go under the railway bridge towards Dog Kennel Hill it can begin to feel less safe, but I can honestly say that although I've heard of many incidents, I have never personally encountered any trouble walking around the area during all my years in East Dulwich - touch wood.

What's the former church with the spire (next to Christ Church) used for these days? Used to be an old people's home, but might have changed use in recent years.

I find it bizarre that there's all this discussion of bakeries in East Dulwich without mentioning the one old-fashioned high street bakery that is right in the prime area of LL - Hirst & Sons. Almost as if it's invisible. What's wrong with it? Doesn't anyone shop there? By the way, there used to be 3 or 4 bakeries - Place Bakeries - up the Lane, and one by one they shut, largely the Sainsbury's factor I think.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Foxtons make the area look nice, great shop front, > yes slightly agressive but for god sakes your > getting 0% atm on a sale so be bloody thankful! Two small inaccuracies here: Foxtons don't make the area look nice, they make it look like Las Vegas. And people aren't getting 0% for a sale (there ARE no sales), they are getting 0% for having a Foxtons advertisement (in the form of a for sale sign) outside the front of their house. Apart from that, spot on Louisa.

Depressing news at Denmark Hill station this morning. Overnight, thieves removed all of the lead roofing. As a consequence, a whole section of the decorative cornice in the ticket hall has crashed to the floor. It might take months to put it right. Unfortunately with metal prices sky high, this sort of crime is on the increase - even manhole covers are being pinched. Any other reports of local metal thefts? String 'em up, it's the only language these scumbags understand.

> I'm definitely with the "Dulwich DIY guys are > friendly brigade" and am surprised so many have > had bad service - we are definitely talking about > the one near Green and Blue right? Not the one up > by the Plough Let's not overplay this, have "so many people had bad service", or is it just two people - Andyng and Frisco - and even then their description sounds more like Plough DIY not Dulwich DIY. I agree with the earlier poster that negative comments about individuals who can be identified should be strongly discouraged on this forum, especially since posters have the benefit of anonymity. And criticisms can be unfair. Remember the slagging off that Le Moulin once got from somebody, only for them to realise that they'd mixed it up with Le Chardon.

Very fair point, have deleted an earlier comment, it's sometimes easy to forget that this is a public forum.

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> No, faux is just what a posh git calls a fox You'll find faux all around the streets of East Dulwich, they leave signs of their cr*p everywhere and generally cause a nuisance. Oh hang on, sorry, that's fauxtons.

I assume lots of people have, like us, received the thoughtful brochure entitled "Welcome to your area" today. Who is it from? Our friends Foxtons of course. How kind of these arrogant impostors to welcome me to my own area. And how unfortunate that I feel unable to reciprocate. The opening page of the Welcome glossy is headlined "Fantastic Sales for Dulwich". So you'd think this might mean that they have had, er, fantastic sales in Dulwich. But the evidence is the complete opposite - they are unable to quote a single sale in Dulwich in the waffle that follows (the nearest is Manor Mount Rd in Forest Hill). I fear that the conspiracy theorists who reckon that Foxtons don't actually want to sell any houses until their free offer expires are probably right. If you haven't read Alan Dale's suggestion earlier in this thread, then do so. And if you have a neighbour with a Foxtons board outside, make sure they know about the small print in their contract.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I do feel for the residents a bit here. They're > basically getting no support because everyone is > so excited about this new warehouse (me included I > must admit). Just can't help thinking things would > be different if it was something like... say... > Foxtons. Keef, I'm with you on this.

Saw a SOLD sign for a Foxtons house on Landcroft the other day. So it does happen! But while going around the area doing deliveries, must have seen 50+ other Foxton signs as well that just had 'Sale' - I reckon about half of all houses with advertising boards are with Foxtons at the moment. Also, did a spot check on the roads around Frogley lunchtime today. There were TWENTY estate agent cars parked between Frogley and Northcross, of which 14 were Foxtons. As has been said elsewhere, it's within their rights to park there, but frankly 14 cars is just selfish selfish selfish, entirely in keeping with the Foxton image. By the way, each of the cars has a number on it, would be fun to name and shame the cars that behave in a particularly antisocial fashion. Come in number 325, your time is up...

The new traffic scheme in the car park is a joke