Gormless Rishi and other famous faces on the New Cross Road

Dark clouds gather over the Sainsburys petrol station on New Cross Road - an omen for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as inflation rises and people struggle with the cost of living? For it was here that he recently staged that ill dated photo opportunity to demonstrate that he was a man of the people filling up his car, only to be widely mocked after it was broadcast (by Sky News on 23 March) as it was revealed that he had borrowed a Sainsburys worker's car for the shoot and appeared not to know how to pay in the petrol station.

This particular stretch of the New Cross Road has had its fair share of famous visitors, and the experience has not always been a good one. American actor Shia LaBeouf hit the tabloids not once but twice in 2012 and 2014 after getting into fights just across the road in The Rose pub (known at the time as the Hobgoblin). He was dating local actor Mia Goth, press reports this week say they have just had a baby together in Los Angeles, though he is also facing allegations of violence and abuse by ex-partner FKA Twigs.

On a lighter note there was that time in 2016 when Elton John parked his Bentley outside The Rose and popped in to use the loo.

I guess as a main road many notables good, bad and ugly have paused to sample its delights, some of them even able to work out how to pay for things. I remember that the long gone Sirius fish and chip shop near the Walpole, further along New Cross Road, used to boast that Paul McCartney had once stopped there for chips and a pickled onion. Am I imagining that they had a signed photo of him in the shop?

Hobgoblin to re-open as Rose Inn

The Hobgoblin pub opposite New Cross Gate station has been closed for refurbishment, and it looks like it will be reverting back to its former name of The Rose Inn. I believe the pub owners had to pay an annual fee to the owners of the Hobgoblin brand, Marston's, for the use of the name - and let's face it the Hobgoblin name is a bit 1990s isn't it?

Update 26 January 2015:

The Rose Pub & Kitchen (to give it its full name) opens on Thursday 29 January 2015 at 6 pm, complete with 'pizza from the wood burning oven'. They're also advertising for kitchen porters. It's under the new management of Urban Pubs and Bars, a company set up in 2013 by the founders of Realpubs, Malcolm Heap and Nick Pring.  They also run the Whippet Inn in Kensal Rise and the Old Ship Inn in Hackney.

New Cross in Time Out

If you haven't picked up this week's Time Out London, look out for its 'Great bits of London' feature on New Cross with its strapline of 'creativity, cheap thrills and chicken shops in the south-east student belt'. Written by Goldsmiths student Andy Hill it accurately characterises local pubs/bars New Cross House, New Cross Inn, Hobgoblin, LP Bar and Amersham Arms. Foodwise Cummin Up, London Particular and Chinwag get a mention, with a recommendation too of a walk to the top of Telegraph Hill to look over London. Other readers recommend Smokey Jerky, No 178, Little Nan's, Birdie Num Num's, the Royal Albert and the Venue - 'you're not a south-easterner if you haven't had the Big V experience'. 

Spotty Vinyl Records

I was intrigued by this sign outside the Hob in New Cross Road for 'Spotty Vinyl Records'.

In fact it's a few boxes of second hand vinyl inside Dig This Nursery & Garden Centre, next to the pub opposite New Cross Gate station. Worth a browse for passing crate diggers, and you can pick up a few plants too!

New Year in New Cross

Plenty to do in New Cross on New Year's Eve. The New Cross House and Amersham Arms are both having parties with late opening and free admission, the latter with Simon Obee of New Cross Bags fame DJing and promising - or threatening according to your taste - lots of Fleetwood Mac (oops they got the date wrong in flyer!). There's also a Deadly Rhythm party in the back room, but that's already sold out.

The New Cross Inn has lots of bands playing including  Soul Delirious, Valve Control, The Hotelles, Giant Burger, Omar, Pusca and The Only Sun 8:00pm to 8:30pm. £6 in advance, £8 on door with concessions for regulars. Further details here.

The Royal Albert is charging £5 in.

At the Bunker Club (46 Deptford Broadway), Breton and Deptford Army are putting on a party, £5 before midnight, £7 after, open until 4 am (facebook details here).

Of course there's a New Year's Eve party at the Venue in New Cross Road, with the spirit of Michael Jackson appearing - £15 in advance, £20 on door, cheap drinks and guaranteed hangover.

Or for a free all ages event you could just walk up to the top of Telegraph Hill where hundreds of people will gather as usual in the top park (Kitto Road SE14) to count in the New Year and watch the fireworks go off across London. Weather forecast is for rain earlier in the day, but dry by midnight - although no doubt muddy in the park.

(Brockley Central has a few other ideas from further afield)

Shia LaBeouf in The Hobgoblin SE14

I noticed on Twitter last week that people were saying that US actor Shia LaBeouf was drinking in the Hobgoblin in New Cross. Last Wednesday for instance,  Seun Ogunsakin ‏tweeted 'In the Hobgoblin with Shia Labeouf! #Surreal! New cross seems to be coming up haha'.

This morning the story made The Sun, so it must be true!

'Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf got into a scrap — while drinking in a student pub in a scruffy South London suburb.  Regulars at the Hobgoblin in New Cross were stunned when the Transformers actor walked in with Mia Goth, his co-star in new film Nymphomaniac.  Shia, 26, spent several hours drinking and happily posing for photos with fans. But the mood turned sour when a student prankster pinched the star’s baseball cap — a souvenir from Laos in Asia — and refused to give it back.  A scuffle broke out and drinkers had to separate the pair before Shia left in a taxi. Police were not called.

One witness said: “No one could believe that a well-known Hollywood star had rocked up at a bar in dingy SE14. Everyone was getting their photos taken with him. The scrap all started when this guy took his hat. I think he was just joking, but Shia didn’t like it.  The guy just took it off him and wouldn’t give it back. He tried to get it back and they ended up tussling. It was handbags really. But it shows that even Hollywood stars can’t avoid grief down this way.” Landlord Mark Harris confirmed Shia was in the pub with model and actress Mia, 19. Mark said: “Her mum lives just down the road. She came down to see her mum and he tagged along. He did get a bit frustrated and there was a bit of a scuffle.”

Shia and Mia (or shiamia as they may be known one day if their relationship develops further) are both in the new Lars Von Trier film Nymphomaniac along with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christian Slater, Willem Dafoe and Uma Thurman - if you spot any of them in the Hobgoblin, give me a call!

Shia after his brush with 'scruffy South London'
(OK it's him in Transformers)

Mia Goth - from the mean streets of SE London?