Save SILO SE8 Studio

Silo SE8 music collective have been operating out of a railway arch in Deptford for many years, but like many other arch users are facing increasing rents following the transfer of railway arches from National Rail to private landlord the Arch Company. Facing a big bill for a backdated rent increase they have launched a crowdfunder to raise funds. They say:

'Silo SE8 Musicians Collective is a non profit organisation that morphed out of the South East London Musicians Collective (SELMC) in the 1980s. Founding members Rabbit and The Balloons are still actively involved in the collective whilst other members have come and gone.

Over the years there has been a fairly consistent membership of about 25 musicians. The collective is run by the members on a voluntary basis and no one is paid a salary. Silo SE8 Musicians Collective offers local musicians a shared studio space in which to practice our instruments, rehearse material and store equipment.

We are active in the local community putting on concerts, reviving the centuries old May Day Jack in the Green Deptford procession and running Skronk, an improvisation night open to all at The Endeavour in Deptford. We have worked with artist Sue Lawes running the “Give us back our Bloomin’ Anchor” campaign and were successful in securing the return of our Deptford High Street landmark.

Silo SE8 members were involved in the organisation of the Fordham Park festivals, as well as performing at them. We have also been involved in Lewisham People’s Day, Deptford X, Deptford Festival, Party in the Park and Lewisham: London Borough of Culture 2022. We have organised benefit shows for Survivors Poetry, ALD Life and MAD Pride. We supported the visit of the MS Stubnitz from Hamburg, Germany where it is now a permanently moored arts venue. Silo SE8 members have performed in all of these.

In 2019 the management of leases of all railway arches in London were transferred from National Rail to a private company. In 2020 that company invoked a rent review as per the lease, for all tenants. They increased the rent “in line with market rates”, which was about double what we had been paying previously. Silo SE8 entered into dialogue with our new landlord requesting a concessionary discount as we are not a commercial entity. These conversations were protracted, partially due to the COVID pandemic. In February 2024 both Silo SE8 and the landlord agreed a new rent at just under a 70% increase. All members are now paying an increased monthly rent. What we did not expect was that this increase would be backdated to the 2020 rent review date, landing us with a £12,200 bill'

You can donate to their crowdfunder here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/silose8

You can also support them by buying compilation albums from their bandcamp: https://silo-se8.bandcamp.com

Last month David Aylward from Silo SE8 presented a special edition of the Bad Punk show on Resonance FM. He talks about its origins in the South East London Musicians Collective (SELMC) operating out of TUC unemployed centre in Catford in the 1980s/early 1990s with gigs at the Lewisham Labour Club and elsewhere. Then on to Music City in New Cross, Mumford Mills and Seagar Distillery in Deptford, and the Merryweather fire engine factory in Greenwich. Most of these places have been lost to successive waves of development, but the railway arch in Resolution Way remains as long as they can pay the rent...

Some South London Beverages

Some South London themed drinks for the festive period. Good to see Hilly Fields getting its own beer courtesy of Brockley Brewery

Then there's Myatt's Fields Cocktails whose bottles will immortalise this part of SE5 for future archaeologists.

 

Last days of Catford Homebase

The Homebase store in Catford is closing down after the company went into administration. Bad news for the staff working there and also a pain for those who will have to travel further afield in search of DIY and gardening materials. I also the think the building on corner of Bromley Road and Beckenham Hill Road SE6 is quite iconic, not sure what the plans are for its future use. I think it would be suitable for a botanic garden!

The shop sits aside a pond fed by the River Ravensbourne that once served a nearby mill. Known as Southend Pond it was also known for a period as Peter Pan's Pool, a popular post World War 2 boating lake and amusement park for children. Today its island is home to a resident heron and a statue of two lovers.

 

Deptford evictions

Renters living in Childers Street SE8 are continuing their campaign against being evicted from their homes after been issued with 'Section 21' notices. These allow landlords to kick people out without having to give a reason and are due to be abolished next year.  Thousands of people have already signed a petition against the evictions  which states:

'We, the tenants of Vive Living, Childers Street, a total of 83 homes and around 150 people, are being evicted en masse ahead of Section 21 becoming illegal in 2025.

The government are abolishing Section 21 evictions for a reason - they are inhumane and cruel - and it is clear that the landlord are using this window of time while it is still technically legal to unjustly displace a huge group of people all at once.

We have received these notices, written in intimidating legalese, less than 3 weeks before Christmas with the earliest eviction date as early as 11 February. It has left us scrambling to understand our rights and in fear of becoming homeless.

The actions of Aitch Group - run by property mogul Henry Smith - have been condemned by local Lewisham North MP Vicky Foxcroft and several local councillors.

Our local community, wider London, and all of the UK are suffering from a housing and cost of living crisis. It is virtually impossible to find suitable, affordable housing in an already flooded, overpriced market 2. The local housing market cannot accommodate over 100 more of us needing immediate rehoming.

We will not be unique in our situation. Predatory landlords can, and surely will, utilise this time before S21 is banned next summer to take away people’s homes for their own financial benefit.

This behaviour is repugnant, and we are standing together to fight it. We fight not only for our own homes and situations, but for those who will be attacked in the same way who are far more vulnerable than us'.

The Aitch group are also involved in other developments locally including the Glassworks at Deptford Bridge.  Business activities previously linked to founder Henry Smith have been the subject of some less than flattering media coverage in the past including:

'The East End payday loan tycoon and his VERY glamorous girls: Lavish lifestyle of the jet-set family behind a 'parasitic' lending company' (Daily Mail 25 Sept 2016)

'Luxury jet-set lifestyle of dodgy loan clan forced to pay out £34m for its ‘parasitic abuse’ of 97,000 customers' (The Sun, 24 Sept 2016)

'Lender threatened victims while family lived high life' (The Times, 20 Sept 2016)

'Payday loan sharks who partied in Vegas and took private jets while victims suffered' (This is Money, December 2022)

Vive Living in Childers Street

A timely poster in Deptford for recent London Renters Union demonstration

London Renters Union stickers spotted in Brockley

Cat & Cucumber & Sham 69

Lunch recently at the Cat and Cucumber Cafe on Tower Bridge Road (corner of Druid Street SE1), Neil Controlled Weirdness mentioned that the very table we were sitting at features in a 1979 film focused on punk band Sham 69.

Yes indeed 'Tell us the Truth', a BBC Arena programme, does indeed include a scene filmed there. Sorry for quality of images, screenshot from grainy youtube, but you can see Cafe had the same name then and no doubt the menu of classic fry up breakfast fare hasn't changed too much either.

Check out the film, there's a few other London locations in it so let us know if you recognise any.