woolwich turning into a betting shop? (Lounged)

[EDmummy]

Louisa, I also hope you are not generalising when you make comments about "working classes". I just like good quality Italian food. I work hard for my money and have no desire to lose it down the drain on a gee gee. My views about betting are not ones I care to share with a forum, everyone to their own I say....mine is Italian food!!

[????]

mmmm.......nice middleclasspeople spending ?100 on an overpriced meal in a Lordship Lane eaterie is fine but working class people in a bookies Tssk, Tssk

[fish]

Yeah, too right. At least the "middle class people" have a choice where they wish to spend their money. Some kids and their mothers do not. When the bullying father/partner is so addicted to betting and gambling that his family go hungry and without basic necessaties, living in constant fear of his abuse and violence, it doesn't matter what class they are.

[????]

You been reading Dickens again?

[Zebedee Tring]

Why is this issue turned into a middle-class versus working class one? Shades of Student Union 1972 but surely a bit dated now, since we're all consumers of one kind or another, and not divided by wearers of bowler hats and cloth caps.

[????]

swap "betting and gambling" with "alcohol" and let's get rid of all the pubs and bars too eh Fish

[fish]

???? Wrote:

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> You been reading Dickens again

This is no story, my friend. It, really did happen. These are real people, in the real world. As for this issue becoming a class war, it isn't. Addiction knows no class.

[Frisco]

"Why is this issue turned into a middle-class versus working class one?"

Because Zebedee, the issue of betting shops, as opposed to the opportunities for betting, until recently only available to the wealthy, has always been a class issue. The area I was brought up in had a restrictive covenant that prohibited betting shops and fish as chip shops, but the council estate a mile away had plenty of both.

What we may have in ED are tensions between indigenous residents and newcomers, with a clash of expectations and/or nostalgia for ED as it was before gentrification took hold. We may not be divided by virtue of wearing bowler hats and flat caps anymore, they have, arguably, been replaced by baseball caps, trackies, certain clothing labels, hoodies (the people who wouldn't have experienced student union politics, and certainly not in 1972 when only a tiny percentage of people did) as opposed to whatever modern city (and Foxton's) workers are wearing these days.

I do think that social grouping (what classless America tends to refer to as white and blue collar) has an affect on the general perception of betting shops, and while I don't object to them, I'm am wary of establishments that are only run with the only purpose of encouraging a potentially addictive past-time for a lot of people. I'm aware that the same argument can be used against pubs, but they do not tend to run exclusively for the purpose of selling alcoholic drink these days .

What's your view on the issue of more betting shops in ED? You didn't enter into discussion about the subject, and tell us.

[Keef]

???? Wrote:

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> swap "betting and gambling" with "alcohol" and

> let's get rid of all the pubs and bars too eh Fish

What ???? said.

[Zebedee Tring]

Personally I don't feel that there is a need for another betting shop. However, in order to dispel any suggestion that I am thoroughly bourgeois, arguably there are too many restaurants and yummy mummy shops for the 4 by 4 brigade as well. This is why I have already suggested a new type of unit for the area - a brothel. This would be class-neutral since there would be 'escorts' in all price groups. And to avoid accusations of sex and sexual orientation bias, there would 'escorts' from both, if not all, sexes.

[fish]

Zebedee Tring Wrote:

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> Personally I don't feel that there is a need for

> another betting shop. However, in order to dispel

> any suggestion that I am thoroughly bourgeois,

> arguably there are too many restaurants and yummy

> mummy shops for the 4 by 4 brigade as well. This

> is why I have already suggested a new type of unit

> for the area - a brothel. This would be

> class-neutral since there would be 'escorts' in

> all price groups. And to avoid accusations of sex

> and sexual orientation bias, there would 'escorts'

> from both, if not all, sexes.

:))

[Administrator]

Lounged - no longer about "woolwich turning into a betting shop" it is now about class, yummy mummies etc etc

[PreferToRemainAnon]

Administrator Wrote:

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> Lounged - no longer about "woolwich turning into a

> betting shop" it is now about class, yummy mummies

> etc etc

Another quality hijack by Louisa, nice work. Is it just me or is this type of snobbery just as bad as every other you're-different-therefore-I-hate-you rubbish that people spout. In fact, I find this insipid sort of attitude far worse as it is dressed up as a 'goodie' fighting against the forces of 'evil'. It's just as bad as any other hatred, based on nothing but our differences - racism, homophobia, religious intolerence etc and those spouting it should be ashamed of themselves.

Is there anything wrong with buying a takeout coffee on the way to have a quick flutter? No. Maybe splurging the winnings (if you are lucky...) in the scruffy much loved book store on the Lane and maybe picking up a little cute t-shirt for one of the kids on the way home? No. The Lane quite nicely reflects the mix of people in the area and goes to show that most of us can get along without having to pick on our differences to start a ruck instead.

Do we need another bookie next door to a bookie who has another branch less than a block away (cnr Crystal Palace Rd & Northcote)..? Not really. I can think of a dozen things I'd rather see there but I won't use it as an excuse to launch a bigoted rant, unlike some on here.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I hate gambling more than I hate other addictions, probably because it wasn't one of mine!

My knee jerk reaction is to stop poor people being ripped off by the big business bookies by having all new applications (including super casinos) blocked, but I am willing to accept it may not be as simple as that.

I think my view of bookies, is the same as most Daily Mail reader's view of big drug barons, so maybe I need to try to be more open-minded on the issue.

Maybe small bookies, run by local people may be more acceptable than huge theiving chains of bookies and lets not forget Bingo. They are not friendly little games run by old fogies, they are serious businesses now and a lot of women end up in debt going to the big business bingo places.

[????]

LMFAO

Anti-gambling tosh, my nan went to Bingo once a week until she died and it was on of her major pleasures in later life. Plenty of people like a flutter and enjoy it (and mainly don't win) without getting into any 'problems'......big business rant LOL....shall we picket Sainbury's? - they make a far bigger profit than William Hill and do, genuinely, put small businesses out of business - see the Dulwich Society thread for the effects that Sainsbury's opening on Dog Kennel Hill had on local businesses - I sugest you look at your own prejudices and stop trying to spoil what mllions of poeple like just cos it's not your thing....DO GOODER

[zephyr]

PreferToRemainAnon Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> Is there anything wrong with buying a takeout

> coffee on the way to have a quick flutter? No.

> Maybe splurging the winnings (if you are lucky...)

> in the scruffy much loved book store on the Lane

> and maybe picking up a little cute t-shirt for one

> of the kids on the way home? No. The Lane quite

> nicely reflects the mix of people in the area and

> goes to show that most of us can get along without

> having to pick on our differences to start a ruck

> instead.

>

> Do we need another bookie next door to a bookie

> who has another branch less than a block away (cnr

> Crystal Palace Rd & Northcote)..? Not really. I

> can think of a dozen things I'd rather see there

> but I won't use it as an excuse to launch a

> bigoted rant, unlike some on here.

Your first post is great - just the sort of thing to get people hackles rising - or was that the intent? In no way bigotted, just a nice reasoned arguement. I suspect you have been on this forum posting as someone else as the language you use and what you say belies your 2 week registration.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

"I sugest you look at your own prejudices and stop trying to spoil what mllions of poeple like just cos it's not your thing....DO GOODER" - isn't that what I said in my post?

And as for Bingo, it may have been more of a harmless bit of fun in the past, but the big chains go for the hard sell and I personally know 2 women who have nearly lost their homes to their bingo addiction.

[telboy]

alba Wrote:

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> There is a planning application up on the window

> for a betting shop on the old Woolwich building

> society site. Right next to the massive William

> Hill. I seem to remember there was a campaign

> against William Hill before it opened. Does anyone

> know why that failed and if there's any hope of

> stopping this new betting shop not getting in?(I

> forget what the name of this new betting shop is,

> not one I'd heard of before)

Alba started all this back in December with a simple question. There has been a lot of talk since both for against and, dare I say, unrelated to the original question. How about a simple response i.e YES for I want it and NO for I don't want it.