Louisa

wooooow a tv-am fan site!! That's amazing.. Nero, I know Mad Lizzie when I see her, and unless she has a twin sister then surely she must be visiting someone locally because i've seen this woman twice now!

Someone talking bullsh*t and boll*x on the ED forum, Never!! :)

Exactly Doodles.

That makes a change, i've had nothing but rudeness everytime I have gone into Smiths or Primark, and this is despite me making an effort. For the very old and frail it can be a frightening experience. I was driving my car down down past the White Horse heading towards the Lane the other day in my car, and a lady of at least 80+ was crossing the road with her bag a few cars in front of me, and the person in the car was reving his engine and moving slowly forward to try and rush this poor lady on. I saw the situation and shouted in a very angry voice at the driver (who probably couldnt hear me anyway) and I stopped my car in the traffic to ask if the lady was ok, and cars behind me were hooting me on! This is not the Peckham I grew up in where people were friendly and helpful. My experiences and those of my friends are not in our imaginations.

pk you must be one of the lucky ones then. Peckham has a high concentration of criminal activity which has sadly made the headlines more than once in recent years. I am not proud of the way the area has gained this reputation, and I would like to see a stop it. I have had my handbag snatched twice now along Rye Lane, and I now very rarely venture down there. I now take a longer route to Denmark Hill or sometimes ED station just so I can avoid Peckham, and this is coming from a true local who has been shopping in Peckham since I was a child with my parents. The area has changed, and I am not the only person afraid to shop down there. You are often literally putting your life at risk, and this is not an exaggeration. Older people can be particuarly frightened.

That was not the point I was making pk, all of the above names you mention are small examples of what used to be on The Lane. LL does not have the retail space to attract large High Street shops, but Rye Lane most certainly does. The fact that stretch only has just a handful of the names it used to have and still has the capacity for many more, says an awful lot about the area. The likes of M&S and Bhs pulled out of Peckham because of complex reasons associated with the recession. Lewisham has a very similar population to Peckham, and yet all the big names have survived there. The role of the big names is to attract new shopping malls (the Aylesham Centre for example), and provide a clean and pleasant environment in which to shop. It also attracts people from far and wide to the local area to shop, which is good for the local economy. ED has become very different to Peckham, so large names are not the answer to success in areas like ED. In Peckham, the definitely are a good contributor.

and Nero I completely agree... Peckham never used to be so tawrdy back in the 70's and 80's, and I think the death of the big names locally has definitely contributed to the lawless atmosphere and/or appearance of The Lane in the last 15 to 20 years or so.

PowerCorruptionLies, I come from a long line of people who have lived in the ED/Peckham borders for many many years, and I am most certainly not a snob at any stretch of the imagination. My problem with Peckham is that the old larger retail names have all gone (Bhs, M&S, Sainsbury's eg) and th area has suffered as a result. I do not under any circumstances want to see The Lane strewn with fancy deli's and coffee bars, but I would like to see some famous High Street brand name return so that some of the older folk locally do not have to travel to Lewisham or Bromley to go shopping!

What year were these pictures taken from?

I am still waiting on a response from Southwark Council which was sent nearly two months ago now. I hope PP still has this group of volunteers willing to help rebuild and smartern up the memorial area.

hooley I completely agree, the whole place has gone down the drain. The amount of retail space is quite astonishing, and it is so close to so many up and coming areas and yet nothing seems to rub off on Rye Lane. The millions spent by the EU on the area was a waste of time, it's made no difference to anyone.

I dont understand why this thread was not lounged long ago, it's gone off onto around 4 or 5 big topic areas.

That's a good point *bob*, it's fine taxing the super rich, but many people are sat on a fortune but still live very basic lives. This country is great at taxing ordinary people to the hilt and offering nothing in return. I know many people who have been forced to sell up their homes because of Inheritance Tax, and it's not nice.

AJ Farmers is not a "Pound Shop" and if I were the family who had invested in that business locally for the last 65 years (yes it is that old) i'd be a bit miffed by people calling it that. I guess to newcomers that shop is cheap compared to what they usually buy. I recommend Le Moulin for a good evening meal CSM Dry Cleaners Udens Funeral Services (just incase) The Co-operative chemist (very friendly staff)

-- moved topic --

I recognise relatives or long lost friends in the street, but I rarely if ever say hello, I just mention it to people at a later date. Does that make them celebrities? I've also appeared on London Tonight 12 years ago at a bus stop in Stanmore, I am shocked no one ever recognises me anymore! The London Boys both traigically died in a Switzerland bus crash about 14 years ago, was very sad. Bur I do remember the Mad Lizzie YouTube thing.

I've not played 'legs' with a man in a restaurant for years, sounds like fun.

How on earth can you consider Mad Lizzie to be a celebrity/and or famous face you silly man.

God is it just me showing my age? She was the fitness face of breakfast television in the 1980's. She often did mad whacky exercises mixed with dance routines and z lister celebs sometimes joined her to help out.

I've been told Boots the chemist is planning on closing one of its oldest stores on Rye Lane. Does this mean that we are about to gain a new Boots along LL? I think it would be a shame for all the small independent chemists along with the co-op all of which offer a great service to the community.

haha (spits tea across keyboard).. There is no way on god's earth I would spend that sort of money on a meal.. But i'd quite happily let someone else spend it on me, so any offers to visit GR's will be warmly received Bob (hint hint) ;-)

I saw Mad Lizzie (for the second time I hasten to add), and she was coming out of a house near the surgery in the Gardens over by the Rye. She looked a little older than the time I had previously seen her, so maybe she has a twin. Oh how I miss TV:AM.

Gordon Ramsay is a man after my own heart, absolutely great chef, and he does traditional as well as fancy pants modern muck.

CWALD I think that social housing creates poverty and a feeling of being left outside the mainstream. I think what makes it worse are these tower blocks and estates which have little or no foresight into town planning. Low-rise or victorian conversions by the council are the way to go with social housing, and it should be spread evenly across many areas rather than limited to one area, say Peckham or Camberwell for example. ED has more than enough social housing as it is, I dont think building on any green spaces will help, all it will do is make our area a dump.

Lokks like i've missed out on a juicy thread or two yet again!