WTF is happening on teh bellened road ?

[El Pibe]

I sincerely doubt vicanna is a new arrival.

[Chillaxed]

"You live here, you are local.

No one has dibs on an area because they've lived there longer than someone else."

I agree with you (hence the use of speech marks for 'locals'; a cop out I know).

But a quick scan of this forum proves that many don't, and resent the 'newbies' (more copping out).

And I have sympathy for them where all they see as the net result of govt spending is, to quote woodrot, nazi grocers. And penis-shaped bollards.

[El Pibe]

I've been here 12 years and I'm still a newbie even though I've been here almost as long as i was in the town I grew up in.

Luckily I don't give a monkey's wabsnasm about folk saying "I remember when all this was fields....covered in shit", especially when they're trolls with a whiff of the lupine about them.

[DulwichFox]

El Pibe Wrote:

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> I've been here 12 years and I'm still a newbie

> even though I've been here almost as long as i was

> in the town I grew up in.

>

> Luckily I don't give a monkey's wabsnasm about

> folk saying "I remember when all this was

> fields....covered in shit", especially when

> they're trolls with a whiff of the lupine about

> them.

Nothing much has changed then.. 'cept it's the pavements that are now covered in s**t..

Still need a decent pair of Weelies to venture out. Available at various outlets in ED.

Fox

[numbers]

cheer up fox, I'm sure there'll be a designer wellie shop opening soon on Bellenden Rd.

[david_carnell]

Chillaxed Wrote:

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> And I have sympathy for them where all they see as

> the net result of govt spending is, to quote

> woodrot, nazi grocers. And penis-shaped bollards.

Chillaxed - this isn't aimed at you....*deep breath*

Ok - I'm coming out the closet. I like those bollards. There I said it. They're much bloody nicer than the standard municipal-catalogue street furniture you get everywhere else. And it was a local artist.

And nazi-grocers? Seriously? The poor chaps at the General Store are open a week and get this flack? They're young, independent and investing their money in a business they think the local community will like. If you don't, fine. Shop somewhere else. They took over an empty unit, they didn't displace some sacred cow. There are plenty of shops nearby selling mouldy veg for a ?1 a bowl and not many selling a nice bit of cheese so no one is losing out here and a lot more people are winning.

You'd think in a recession some people would be pleased to see such developments but seemingly the same old misanthropes are out in force.

Put up or shut up.

[RosieH]

I bloody love those bollards. And what's more, they made Ma RosieH make a smutty joke - and I've never seen that happen before.

Big up the Gormley.

[Huggers]

I love Bellenden Road, I love the new shops and I loved the old shops. There was a junk shop where the hairdressers is 14 years ago, so having a couple more is following tradition. When I first started visiting ED as a comedian regularly booked at the old East Dulwich Tavern twenty years ago, I would park my car up the little road opposite the pub and obsessively peek out the dressing room window to make sure it hadn't been nicked. I thought East Dulwich grubby and terrifying! The comedy crowd who ran the nights at the EDT all lived round here and reassured me it was a great place to live, so we bought our house eventually here- but the SE15 side which was seen as no different.

[Chillaxed]

Note to self - quoting woodrot can get you into trouble.

I like the bollards, and the curvy streetlamps, and the new grocers, but then being a lucky b*stard these are the kind of services/improvements that I use/appreciate. Someone who depends on the govt for shelter, food, etc may feel differently.

I also like the disco lights at ED station.

[DulwichFox]

numbers Wrote:

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> cheer up fox, I'm sure there'll be a designer

> wellie shop opening soon on Bellenden Rd.

Don't live in Bellenden rd area.

Have a perfectly good wellie shop in ED.

Bit girlie though. Pink Bunnies not really me..

Fox

[camberwell70]

Its time to play the music

Its time to light the lights

Its time to meet the muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

Its time put on makeup

Its time to dress up right

Its time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight

Why do we always come here?

I guess we'll never know

Its like a kind of torture

To have to watch the show

But now its getting started

Why don't you get things started?

Its time to get things started

On the most sensantional

Inspirational

Celebrational

Muppet-ational

This is what we call The Muppet Show!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I like the new butcher's shop; I've bought clothes in Threads; I have been known to munch on the odd kebab from Sam's; BUT I miss The Wishing Well. Where am I going to watch Millwall's FA Cup run this time?

PS: the bollards are downright lewd*

*this means they are too near the kerb and my car has kissed them.

[????]

Wishing Well was my quiz night and football watching venue* in 90s and certainly not a shitehole then...

Engalnd's exit to Germany 1996 being one I especially remember

[Huggers]

my car has a lot of bollard related scratches on it where they pounced out when I was going round corners.

[jimmyraj]

Agree with David on this. The guys in the new General Store are nice people. They're not forcing anyone to buy their stuff - and there's a bloody great payless next door with equally friendly shopkeepers, for those who want to mix and match what they buy. I buy my milk, frozen peas and newspapers in Payless. I like a fresh loaf of bread and I'm happy to pay a little more for it, so it's nice to have somewhere else as well as Andersons who'll sell it to me. At four quid, their olive oil isn't that much more than a bottle of Sainsbury's equivalent and tasted a bit nicer to me. I'll be back to try the cured meats I think.

I like having my hair cut at Kuki's because they're nice and I think quite reasonable - but I also like the fact there's Chaz's there too with it's lovely hanging baskets. The Wishing Well, certainly when I went there, wasn't a particularly nice place. The Victoria Inn isn't to everyone's tastes (personally I like the Montpellier) but it's clean and welcoming for families (of which there are quite a few in the area) - and also attracts people to the area who spend money elsewhere and help stop it from being a parade of empty, sad looking shops, which a lot of it was a few years ago.

Begging Bowl is a bit pricey, but it's got a nice buzz about it and the food's a little different to elsewhere, and it's nice as a treat. I think Flock and Herd is a good butcher with nice meat - not the cheapest but not the most expensive either and nice people and service which I don't mind paying a little for. It's not like we're short of butchers at the cheaper end of the market on Rye Lane. Codfellas serves nice fish and chips, Petitou is nice for a cup of coffee, as is Andersons.

You can't turn back the clock and go how things were. At a time when there's a pretty stagnant economy it's just nice to see businesses thriving alongside each other.

[Catalyst]

Nah, I'd much rather have a load of chains and empty units.....like Lordship Lane.

[toffeese15]

Whoever said the Wishing Well was a shithole 7 years ago was right. It was dying on its arse. However, go back a few years before that and it was the vibrant heart of the local community, attracting a disparate but eclectic crowd. Especially before they made the decision to replace the leaking greenhouse roof with the naff saloon. I think what happened was that as young people got priced out of the area they were replaced by types who wanted a more upmarket place and avoided the Well. So, it being a shithole became a self fulfilling prophecy. It shows an annoying ignorance of the area, though, to dismiss the place based on very limited experience.

The General Store strikes me as a satire on the whole Bellenden Village process of gentrification.

[stingray]

Not trolling, but more devils advocating - honest..:

Do those that lament the demise of the wishing well like / still visit the prince?

Are incumbent locals not laughing all the way to the bank about the increase in their house prices?

[Fintan]

Wait a minute. I passed through Bellenden Road about twenty years ago. It was a Saturday afternoon. Went to get some beer at Payless before the FA Cup final. And I thought 'This place is nice'. So I don't the locals had made 'a shithole' of the place. That's a terrible thing to say about people. Equally, I'm not sure new businesses opening are the enemy. There were a lot of empty shops, they're not empty any more. Can't see the problem. And the place isn't choked by outsiders in 4x4s. What's an outsider? It's London, not the Bayou.

I think the enemy is chains. When you see a Tesco Local on Bellenden Road, that's when to worry.

[Louisa]

Didn't notice this little gem of a thread before.

Now without risking being shot down in flames I will try to be diplomatic.

The Peckham regeneration fund was a great thing, it smartened up streets and it removed the troubled estates of north Peckham and started the process of urban renewal. But as a consequence, this allowed gentrification to penetrate northwards and eastwards from ED. this seems to have accelerated in the last five years, and now we have IMO another indistinguishable middle class neighbourhood. The stark contrast between the Bellenden Road area and Rye Lane just a quarter of a mile away at most is a big shock for many coming into the area as visitors. Why can we not have a community that shares a larger space rather than have little areas or roads only attracting one socio-economic class?

Louisa.

[El Pibe]

free market?

[Louisa]

I agree El Pibe.

To quote our PM "we are all Thatcherites now"

But the free market shouldn't be allowed to be the only factor in this. Look what it did with the banking sector. We need some more cohesion of the community, otherwise we will just create a them and us culture.

Louisa.

[Jeremy]

Popped into that General Store place the other day. They have some nice looking stuff in there - the bread, meat, and cheese all looked really good. But most of the things are a bit too pricey for me, and the selection isn't huge. But I reckon there is a market for a nice deli in the area, so I'm sure they'll make it work.

[Jeremy]

Louisa Wrote:

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> We need some more cohesion of the

> community, otherwise we will just create a them

> and us culture.

Yep. The situation isn't helped by the smattering of residents (maybe newcomers attracted by Bellenden Rd?) who seem to regard the businesses (and therefore customers) along Rye Lane with utter contempt.

[Girl82]

I like some aspects of Rye Lane - Khan's, for example, is an amazing shop that seems to sell literally everything. It's like the tardis!

I do object to businesses that chuck their litter out onto the street though (namely, the hairdressers) and bring down the environment for others.

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Louisa Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > We need some more cohesion of the

> > community, otherwise we will just create a them

> > and us culture.

>

> Yep. The situation isn't helped by the smattering

> of residents (maybe newcomers attracted by

> Bellenden Rd?) who seem to regard the businesses

> (and therefore customers) along Rye Lane with

> utter contempt.