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East Dulwich one of London's "most heterosexual neighbourhoods"

rorsome

By rorsome
in General ED Issues / Gossip

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DuncanW

DuncanW

Posted
Posted
Maybe... or maybe articles like this are generally written by people who aren't from London, live in Zone 2 and have never spent much time in Croydon, Enfield or Bromley. I expect this 'hot-take' might read quite differently if that were so.
Dogkennelhillbilly

Dogkennelhillbilly

Posted
Posted

DuncanW Wrote:

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> articles like this are generally

> written by people who aren't from London,


Yes - the way he describes Peckham as a black neighbourhood being gentrified by white people shows he doesn't know anything about Peckham. But otherwise his catty thumbnail sketches are pretty on the button IMHO (in my heterosexual opinion).

first mate

first mate

Posted
Posted

Long ago ED was quite working class and then became the faintest of faintly bohemian (Tony Blair just voted in, Grace and Favour and Blue Mountain opened, lots of independent shops, bric a brac places etc..) but swifly morphed into nappy valley as new property hungry mummies and daddies swept in from Putney, Battersea etc.. Now it is totally MOR and as the chains continue to move in I think it could end up utterly suburban and boring and soooo heterosexual.


Bellenden now is a bit what ED used to be like, back in the day.

Spartacus

Spartacus

Posted
Posted

There was a time when the Grasshopper pub and nightclub at Westerham was cited by a tabloid as the place to go for swingers. Did wonders for their takings as hordes of single lads descended on it for a while.


That's as outer London as you could get.


Guess with all the young wealthy families here, as first mate pointed out, we will have to wait a few more years till their kids are old enough for their parents to go wild and explore their chained up sexuality to make ED swing again 😉

Rockets

Rockets

Posted
Posted
Dulwich is definitely going through another change with an influx of folks who can afford the ludicrous house prices. To be honest definitely losing the bohemian vibe of 15 years ago as the creatives, media types and artists are gradually being replaced by bankers and other loaded types. And I fear Lordship Lane is starting to reflect this.
Jenijenjen

Jenijenjen

Posted
Posted

There have been layers of gentrification similar to an archaeological dig. In the mid to late 1990s, those with more imagination than money discovered the pleasures of East Dulwich and took the plunge to move south of the river introducing a ?bohemian? vibe. More interesting shops moved into shop premises left empty by the exodus of butchers and greengrocers in the wake of the arrival of Sainsburys.


Ten years or so later, gentrification of the area had become established and some of the early trailblazers cashed in their chips to move to pastures new, East Dulwich became ED and the area had become more vibrant but less quirky (for want of a better word). This era saw the founding of the East Dulwich Forum and later the opening of the Picturehouse. Little jewellery shops began to open and more estate agents. One thread on this forum that comes to mind from this time complained about the ?chavs? that had begun to appear around the EDT.


Then a few years ago, the current era described by Rockets started. Shop landlords became greedy, more and more loft extensions were/are being built and wealth has become the dominant factor rather than imagination. But East Dulwich is still a pleasant place to live, with its parks and lively high street. The changes that have taken place here have taken place elsewhere and are not separate from the wider political/social climate. East Dulwich still has a good vibe but then it always did - it really wasn?t as down at heel and rough as some newcomers seem to believe prior to gentrification!

Rockets

Rockets

Posted
Posted

You can probably track the gentrification of the area via the Famous People Spotted in Sainsbrys thread.


Started with the likes of Jo Brand, Micky Flanagan and Timothy Spall, moved to some of the McGann brothers, James Nesbitt and Iain Glenn, then Kate Thornton and now Olivia Coleman, Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley!

Angelina

Angelina

Posted
Posted

what does that mean? started with? Are you suggesting a gradual improvement in the quality of our 'celebrities'?

That's very rude.


Some of the names above have lived here for a long time.

I very much doubt Jason Statham has thought "ooh, east dulwich is on the up, I must move there"....

There are many other reasons people live in an area.


Who would be the ultimate celeb to watch out for in Sainsbury Dog Kennel Hill - so we know when ED has "arrived"?

Spartacus

Spartacus

Posted
Posted

Angelina Wrote:

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

>

> Who would be the ultimate celeb to watch out for

> in Sainsbury Dog Kennel Hill - so we know when ED

> has "arrived"?


Has to be her Majesty and a pack of corgies

Rockets

Rockets

Posted
Posted

Jenijenjen Wrote:

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> Olivia Colman moved to this area in 2011 and has

> now left us for Norfolk.

>

> ETA and Jason Statham and Rosie

> Huntington-Whiteley live in Chelsea


Angelina - it was a joke, playing on the fact that we have had everyone from comedians through Oscar winners and one of Hollywood's leading earners.


Jason Statham and Rosie H-W do live in Dulwich (maybe their place in Dulwich is their second house in the country!! ;-)).


Probably the most famous/infamous was The Iron Lady herself but I doubt any of us would have welcomed her, or seen her, in Sainsbury's during her time as a Dulwich resident - I did, whilst working a Saturday job as a teenager deliver some pine furniture to Maggie's neighbours house - the security to get onto the gated houses was, understandably, ludicrous!

JohnL

JohnL

Posted
Posted

Lets go for mine; Crouch End (scary in its way but a mate liked it), Canary Wharf (Macho), Barnet (Some nice pubs but its not the south).


The worst Gentrification has to be Elephant Park - rather than a gradual gentrification that was a big bang.

Sue

Sue

Posted
Posted

Jenijenjen Wrote:

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> East Dulwich still has a good vibe but then it

> always did - it really wasn?t as down at heel and

> rough as some newcomers seem to believe prior to

> gentrification!



I've always liked East Dulwich through all its incarnations, but I think it WAS pretty down at heel and rough, certainly around 1990.


There were no decent pubs (and some had frequent fights), there were shops with things like old prams outside (for sale, not customers' prams!), there were no nice places to have a cup of coffee until Blue Mountain opened, and then Grace and Favour opposite which used to include a sort of tea shop, if memory serves.


It's always been a great place to live though, because of the woods and the parks nearby.

KidKruger

KidKruger

Posted
Posted

Yeah, 1990 ED was not the flashiest of neighbourhoods, by a country mile !

There was easy aggro in the pubs around here, Foresters, Palmerston.

None of my mates would come down here for the weekend, let alone a night, felt safer up Northside.

Loved it though, and as Sue says, all the versions of ED have had their plus-sides.


Sue Wrote:

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

> Jenijenjen Wrote:

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

> -----

> > East Dulwich still has a good vibe but then it

> > always did - it really wasn?t as down at heel

> and

> > rough as some newcomers seem to believe prior

> to

> > gentrification!

>

>

> I've always liked East Dulwich through all its

> incarnations, but I think it WAS pretty down at

> heel and rough, certainly around 1990.

>

> There were no decent pubs (and some had frequent

> fights), there were shops with things like old

> prams outside (for sale, not customers' prams!),

> there were no nice places to have a cup of coffee

> until Blue Mountain opened, and then Grace and

> Favour opposite which used to include a sort of

> tea shop, if memory serves.

>

> It's always been a great place to live though,

> because of the woods and the parks nearby.

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