Rye Lane

[sarz]

The redevelopment of Peckham Rye Station is great, but I haven't seen anything about Rye Lane.

Does anyone no if Rye Lane is part off this?

Rye Lane is a horrid place to shop, it's a shame because it could be made to be such a lovely shopping high street.

How can Southwark allow dirty butchers and a stupid amount of nail bars and hair shops to keep opening there?

[????]

*grabs chair and bag of popcorn*

[ratty]

OMG!

Having said that I once saw a woman do a poo in Iceland in Rye lane! Or was it Kwik Save? Long time ago now. 94 I think.

Not sure if the council did anything about it.

[northlondoner]

???? Wrote:

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> *grabs chair and bag of popcorn*

What's your thinking quids? How many pages ? I'm thinking five ...

[Louisa]

As pointed out in an enormous number of exhausted threads, Rye Lane was allowed to deteriote beyond recognition due to the Threat of the Rail link in the 1980s. Big retails moved out yadda yadda and whole shops were sold at knock down prices to small predominantly ethnic businesses who aimed their wares at an increasingly diverse population, which obviously didn't and hasn't appealed to the people who used to shop their (generalisation but predominantly true) etc etc... Anyway, (running around in a circle yet again). I grew up in Peckham, it isn't the same place in terms of major retailers it once was, all the big names and high end brands have long gone. My gripe is- no one cared about Peckham for years until some artists moved in and the rents gradually rose putting the place back on the map again. Followed hotly on the heels by cash rich families doing up old houses (aka gentrifiers) which all coincided with the opening of Overground and now the redevelopment of the station area. When it suits these people to be "concerned" about somewhere, it's a big major campaign, when no one really gave a toss about the place back in the dark days of the 80s and 90s with high rises, crime and gangs- Peckham was just forgotten about. I find all the recent interest patronising and a bit late for those who have suffered in the area for many years. Seems ironic everyone cares now the middle Englanders are moving in looking for a bargain.

Louisa.

[ED - NAGAIUTB]

Louisa Wrote:

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> families doing up old houses (aka gentrifiers)

EFA - surely that would be re-gentifiers?

[Louisa]

ED - NAGAIUTB Wrote:

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> Louisa Wrote:

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

> -----

> > families doing up old houses (aka gentrifiers)

>

> EFA - surely that would be re-gentifiers?

Depends how wealthy the area was in its previous heyday. Many of the Victorian terraces were built for lower middle class families, I'm pretty sure the people moving in buying the deteriorated properties are going to be fairly wealthy seeing as these homes are selling for 500k plus in the Bellenden renewal area (and that's a fairly conservative estimate).

Louisa.

[sarz]

Hi Louisa

I didn't grow up here but I have lived around this area for over 10 years and Rye Lane was never really that great.

I wish I had seen it the way you and others had. I have always felt this way about this street. And it's getting worse!!

I had not seen your posts before but I agree with what your saying.

[spider69]

Please dont forget when you mention the Bellenden Renewal area the Council ploughed a great deal of money in to bring this enclave up to speck. So in terms of housing stock it was already good.

Although in doing so they forgot roads like Chadwick from Bellenden road upwards in which they have many houses to slowly fall in to disrepair.

This was the course of action they decided when the raillink was proposed as mentioned above.

Perehaps the plan was/is to let these council places go and just sell them off as the Council certainly wont spend the money to bring them up to spec.

Louisa is spot on

[Lynne]

I sometimes go to a Macdonalds (it's not actually illegal) in Kent and it's a great place. Bright, clean, friendly. Whereas the Macs in Peckham which we visited after the cinema! Lost for words

I used to shop regularly in Peckham. Now I can't think of any reason to go there, apart from the watch battery place in the market

Lynne

[KidKruger]

Rye Lane is fine how it is - if it was a carbon copy of LL I wouldn't go there.

Leave it alone. There's plenty other high streets which are already poncified, so go to them (if that's your expectation of a high st).

[ponderwoman]

Everyone seems to be missing the basic point here, that Rye Lane is a fabulously dynamic and successful retail road. As an ED resident it is also happens to be my shopping destination of choice. (apart from the crowds) There are no unoccupied outlets and only one charity shop.

7 days a week tens of thousands of shoppers use Rye Lane. Are you suggesting they are all ignorant to the fact that there are ?nicer? places to shop?

They buy astonishing amounts of fish and meat from retailers whose shops never smell of ?off? produce.. I don?t eat either so I don?t like the smell but it is fresh.

The ?stupid number of nail bars? are employing loads of staff and have a roaring trade. It seems incredibly bizarre to suggest that the Council should step in and ignore market forces. Should they also prohibit anymore independent coffee shops in ED in favour of something ?more useful??

Rye Lane is a long road with many shops I have no use for. The ones I do use, have friendly helpful staff and sell a vastly more diverse range of products than you could ever buy in ED. Many of the shops have been there for decades.

I enjoy all ED and Rye Lane have to offer, both very different, but long may they continue.

[Nigello]

If you argue for diversity in general, then surely diversity of retail should be your concern as well, by which I mean i would like to see more types of business there.

Rye Lane is a dump, in parts, but pretty good in others. I dislike immensely the fact that parking illegally seems to be tolerated, even though it snarls up traffic badly and makes the place appear an effortful place to shop.

It doesn't take a committee or bags of cash to make decent improvements quickly. Stop the illegal parking, get the business es to tidy up after themselves, prohibit the playing of music at ear-splitting decibel levels, and clean up the tagging that is left to attract more of the same on shop fronts and already the place would be more pleasant. That could all be done in a day or two, but - and this is the distressing bit - it is very unlikely to happen because councils and even self-help based bodies tend to the sclerotic.

[The Minkey]

Like Ponderwoman, I enjoy both areas.

Peckham for practical shopping: Morrisons, Lidl, Supersavers, Boots, Persepolis, the chinese supermarket, occasionally the irish butcher. The stores specialising in asian/african goods are great for dried goods, spices, and some fruit and veg.

I like ED for its charity shops, gift and card shops, food treats, hardware stores, coffee, cake, and dining.

[Annasfield]

I like Rye lane too. It could do with being kept a bit cleaner (hair in the road, etc) but otherwise it's great.

[Supernanny*]

Spot on Kk.

KidKruger Wrote:

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> Rye Lane is fine how it is - if it was a carbon

> copy of LL I wouldn't go there.

> Leave it alone. There's plenty other high streets

> which are already poncified, so go to them (if

> that's your expectation of a high st).

[mancity68]

I'm with KK and ponder woman. How brilliant to have a street where every shop is thriving, serving its local community and selling stuff people want, need and can afford. If you want something different, that's fine, you can get to it in 10 mins on a bus.

[Ruffler]

I agree with all the 'pro' Rye Laners. I like it as it is, though having said that I also like what's happened to the Brixton village area even though it's been the target of similar anti-gentrification protest.

[alice]

Ponderwoman I agree with everything

Its a thriving busy street with fabulous value fresh fruit and veg

[Jeremy]

People need to understand that peckham is NOT predominantly a white middle class area. All these shops have a customer base, they are busy, they are valuable to the residents of Peckham.

Do people really expect some sort of mass social/ethnic cleansing of rye lane, with 'appropriate' new businesses conjured out of thin air, just to suit their own preference?

[Nigello]

No, but neither should they expect that these business be patronised - in the pejorative sense of the word - by people who turn a blind eye to bad practice. Let's not pretend that the illegal parking, the littering, the loud music is OK to ignore lest those pointing these out be labelled "insensitive" or even worse. The Lane is a good place to shop but it's also - it seems - a bad place to manage.

[Louisa]

Well as a proud born and raised Peckhamite, not a recent Home Counties blow in who thinks it's cool and edgy to buy meat and fish from a smelly shop which has had the front ripped out, I can say I personally do not find anything in that road useful to me at all. Even the remaining chains are predominantly pointless. I appreciate the demographic has changed in Peckham, and the street is thriving and useful to the people who use it now, but for me it isn't and hasn't been for some years.

Louisa.

[PokerTime]

What do you mean by 'smelly' shops Louisa. If I go into a fish shop, I expect to smell fish. If I go into a shop selling herbs and spices, I expect to smell herbs and spice. Don't ever move to a coastal fishing Port Louisa....you'd be complaining every time you leave the house.

Personally I love Rye Lane, because I love to cook and can get all the asian, indian and carribean herbs and spices I desire there, at reasonable prices. People bemoan the loss of chains stores, but on the same hand complain if a chain stores comes within sniffing distance of LL. You can't have it both ways. Chains stores are just that...chains....boring and predictable and easily found in Lewisham!

I'm with Jeremy. Rye Lane is a reflection of it's consumer base, just as LL is a reflection of the gentrified area it serves. To compare the two is meaningless.

Re Parking. Rye Lane has CCTV all the way along it. Aren't PCNs issued that way?

[Louisa]

PokerTime, I'm not stupid, I do understand that fish and meat have a certain aroma. My gripe is with the manner in which whole shop fronts have been unsympathetically ripped out with unattractive shutters replacing them, with shop after shop all looking and smelling the same. It never feels clean down there, and yes I have seen rodents around because rubbish has not been appropriately stored for collection. In summer it can become unbearable down there in hot weather.

On the point of chains, Peckham was once famous for its large chains and independent department stores. Wishing them back isn't just some fantasy, it is something a lot of local people have been wanting for many years now because there is ample retail space down there for this to happen. There is no comparison between LL and Rye Lane in my book. Neither service me. One is overpriced tat, the other is underpriced tat. I want a return to a happy medium.

Louisa.

[PokerTime]

There are rodents everywhere in London. To say that because a shop front is open, that it doesn't feel clean is nonsense. Markets are like that, with crates piled up for refuse collection. By your definition, Billingsgate is a rodent filled unclean smelly place that should be shut down too!

The market style of Rye Lane might not be too your liking, but that doesn't mean it should go.

I'm aware of the history of Peckham and Rye Lane, and yes, Higgins and Jones in their day where a great success. But that was also a different time and the community was very different. There is nothing special about large chain stores. Those stores prefer now to be within large shopping malls, like Lewisham. You might want them on your doorstep but it makes no business sense for them to be there.

Things change. That's life.