Felt sad and resigned in Deptford High Street at the weekend to see the former Deptford Arms now fully up and running as a Paddy Power bookies. If that wasn't bad enough I was sickened to read at Deptford Dame that yet another pub looks set to go the same way. The John Evelyn in Evelyn Street closed 'temporarily' a couple of weeks ago and is now displaying notice of an application for a gambling licence for... Paddy Power.
I've got nothing against gambling on principle, but when a whole area is dominated by betting shops and there is hardly anywhere left to sit, drink and chat, something is seriously wrong
Amidst all the rhetoric about the Big Society the reality in poorer areas is that financial crisis + austerity = social decay, intensified poverty and a golden age for loan sharks, pawnbrokers, addiction and desparate gambling in the search for a miracle way out. Never mind 'casino capitalism', how about 'bookie barbarism'? I've lived through the 1980s once already thanks.
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Yeah, I spotted that as well the other week. The Hope on Peckham Rye lane has gone the same way - not that I ever went there or ever wanted to, just an observation.
Yeah, I spotted that as well the other week. The Hope on Peckham Rye lane has gone the same way - not that I ever went there or ever wanted to, just an observation.
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