Green Guide to London: vegetarian food & bikes in 1990

 Being vegetarian/vegan back in 1990 wasn't quite as easy as it us today. Supermarkets had restricted  options, and many cafes and restaurants were similarly limited. Enter 'The Green Guide to London' written by Bill Breckon and published in association with Friends of the Earth. The 'comprehensive handbook for all environmentally aware Londoners' included, among other things, vegetarian and wholefood friendly shops and eating out places.  

Here's a few extracts from the Inner South West and Inner South East sections of the book.

Few of these places are still there with Brixton Wholefoods and Fareshares Food Co-op in Crampton Street SE17 among the survivors. Many more are fondly remembered.  The Brockley Bean has been mentioned here before, but who recalls Bean Thinking in Greenwich, Well Bean in Blackheath,  Nosebag Wholefoods SE18 or  The Veggy Table/Veganomics in Lewisham? What about Cross Currants in New Cross Road, Nunhead Deli and Wholefoods in Evelina Road or Full of Beans in Rushey Green?  Seemingly there were a lot of beans to be had! I was very fond of the vegetable patties at the Jacaranda Garden by Brixton Rec.

Bike shops were also listed:

South West London bike shops 1990

South East London bike shops 1990

Cyclist deaths, 1914 and 2015

Cyclists lay down in the road and blocked traffic on Monday night in Camberwell, to mark the death on 29 May of Esther Hartsilver. Esther , a physiotherapist at Kings College Hosptial, was killed when hit by a lorry while cycling close to the hospital in Denmark Hill. She was the sixth cyclist killed on London's roads this year.

photo from report in Independent

Sadly, the death of cyclists on our roads is not new. I recently came across a similar tragedy from a hundred years ago, with a Lewisham cyclist being killed by a hit and run driver  in Baring Road, Lee. The Daiily Mirror reported:

'Search for Owner of Car That Was Driven Off After Fatal Collision.

 '...the police were still without a definite clue to the motor-car which was involved in a fatal collision with two cyclists at Lewisham on Saturday night and failed to stop after the accident. The cyclists were Mr. Harry Tyrell, of Lewisham, and Miss Caroline Wells, who lives in the same road. Mr. Tyrell was fatally injured and Miss Wells badly hurt. Shortly before the collision a policeman saw a man and woman cycling from the direction of Bromley towards Baring road, Lewisham. A little later he saw a dark-coloured low, open car, with two men in it, proceeding in the same direction. The car had a powerful head light'. (Daily Mirror,Tuesday 14 April 1914).

Lets hope we don't have to wait another hundred years for the roads to be safe for cyclists.

Undercurrents - 1970s radical snippets

Undercurrents, 'the magazine of alternative science and technology', was published in England between 1972 and 1984. Christopher Squire was one of the editors and he has performed a great service to historians of radical movements by creating an online archive of the journal. I have had a preliminary look through for SE London content but I am sure if you have the time you could find lots more of interest there.

As explained in an article, 'How it All Got Started', early issues of the magazine were printed at the house of Ann Ward: 'Ann was a Labour councillor in Southwark who, with the aid of some money she’d inherited, had installed in the basement of her house a litho printing press, complete with plate­making and typesetting facilities, which she made available virtually free to non-profit groups. So the first Undercurrents (subtitled "the magazine of alternative science and technology”) was produced for little more than the cost of paper, with the aid of Ann Ward and of one Pat Coyne who came along to print the local community newspaper and was cajoled into helping us print Under­currents. He stayed'.

So here's a few local bits and pieces...

Albany Fire

In July 1978 there was a fire at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, then based in Creek Road. As Undercurrents reported, it 'was the focus of local opposition to the National Front and a regular venue for Rock Against Racism', and it was generally supposed that the fire was caused by a fascist arson attack.

Undercurrents, Oct-Nov 1978

Lewisham World Shop

This shop opened at 1 Sydenham Road SE26 in 1978, 'concentrating on world development issues' and selling 'wholefoods such as brown rice, peanuts, kidney beans' etc. It seems to have been a trailblazer in promoting 'fair trade'-  people involved with it also set up the 'Campaign Co-op' to import coffee direct from farmers co-operatives in East Africa (the address of the Co-op, in 1978, was 72 Rosendale Road, SE21).

Undercurrents, April-May 1978

Free-wheel Cycle Club

In 1977 the Free-Wheel Cycle Club was heading off to Shoreham (presumably typo in magazine) on a bike ride from Clifton Rise in New Cross. 'All anarchists/socialists' were welcome.

Undercurrent, December 1977-January 1978

History Corner: Leslie Large of Lewisham & The Vegetarian Cyclists (1880s)

Some notes on the SE London origins of the still existing Vegetarian Cycling & Athletic Club:

'The Vegetarian Cycling & Athletic Club can trace its origins back to 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. In September of that year, Leslie Large of Lewisham, an enthusiastic worker in the Vegetarian movement and a keen cyclist, placed notices in a number of periodicals inviting other Vegetarian cyclists to contact him with a view to forming a Vegetarian Cyclist's Club.

Their objective was to provide a means of contact between Vegetarian cycling enthusiasts and to seek to prove, by the yardstick of athletic competition that Vegetarians could easily hold their own against their meat eating counterparts.Through the Spring and Summer of 1888 a series of Club runs and social events were held and the membership built up steadily until over 100 names were on the roll.

The first formal meeting was held on October 9th, 1888 at the Central Vegetarian Restaurant, St. Bride Street, London and this was followed by a meeting on February 9th, 1889 at the Appletree Vegetarian Restaurant, 34 London Wall, when Leslie Large was elected as the first Secretary and Arnold F. Hills, a wealthy industrialist became the first President. The name of the Club was confirmed as the Vegetarian Cycling Club. Reports from those early days are few but it is evident that VCC racing cyclists performed competently if not outstandingly.

Henry Light, a founder member who was elected Captain in 1890 soon became the main driving force behind the Club and under his direction standards of performance of the VCC men improved steadily. 1896 saw the VCC achieve its first outstanding success when Jim Parsley of Peckham won the prestigious Catford Hill Climb, the country's top event, in record time. The VCC were cock-a-hoop at this major breakthrough and held a dinner in Parsley's honour... In 1896 the green and gold triangular badge was introduced. Sadly, the same year, Leslie Large while on a visit to Edinburgh died of diptheria just as his dreams were becoming a reality'.

More at the VCAC website. The Catford Hill Climb is an event that Catford Cycling Club have been organising since the 1880s (see their history). It is held at Yorks Hill in Kent.

(image reproduced from Classic Lightweights)

Leslie Large placed an advert in the Vegetarian Messenger, August 1888 which provides some details, including his address in Hither Green:

'Cycling. - It is proposed to from a London Vegetarian Cyclist's Club. Qualifications: Abstinence from flesh-food and riding a machine. Objects: To collect (and diffuse) information concerning the number and doings of akreophagist cyclists in all parts of the country, and to arrange runs in congenial society for local members (London. S.E.). Badge: Small silver letters, "V.C.C." It will be ready shortly; device, cost about 3d. per set. No subscription will be necessary if the editor of V.M. and other kindred journals will kindly insert notices as required. Any necessary trifling expenses are to be borne by the hon. sec. or any who voluntarily help. It is suggested to hold runs monthly on Saturday afternoons, alternately with shorter trips by moonlight on some other evening monthly. Picnicing in suitable places is recommended, with, if necessary, a tea party at some inn. The hon. sec. intends to forward on Saturday a parcel of meal bread and biscuits to some convenient station, in readiness. Fruit, &c., to be obtained in the neighbourhood as wanted. To facilitate the formation of the lists, which, if all join, will prove most valuable, all who are qualified (ladies as well as gentlemen) are requested to send without delay their addresses and any useful particulars of the kind of machine they use, the favourite distances, achievements, &c., to Leslie Large, 1 Cambridge Terrace, Hither Green, Lewisham' (this and other adverts reproduced at International Vegetarian Union website).

I love the idea of sending a parcel of vegetarian snacks ahead to make sure the cyclists can eat! Also note the word 'akreophagist' as an alternative to vegetarian - that never caught on, not sure it's even in the dictionary.

Summer Solstice

It's the summer solstice on Tuesday, and in New Cross there will be a Telegraph Hill Solstice Parade 'to celebrate light and fecundity'. It will start at The Telegraph pub in Dennetts Road, from where the parade will set off at 6 pm around local streets, stopping off at Common Growth - the new community garden project on Sandbourne Road. It will end up in Telegraph Hill top park with a picnic etc.


Launch of the New Cross Food Group

Some of the people involved will be taking part on Tuesday in the launch of the Transition New Cross Food Group. They say: 'Food: New Cross Needs You! Do you grow your own food? Would you like to sell your surplus? Interested in a planned new Community Supermarket? Come along to the launch of the Transition New Cross Food Group and find out more! Explore ideas for how our community can make our food more sustainable, local, healthy and fair for all including promoting local food growing, food Co-ops and a Peoples Supermarket for New Cross. Join us and help make it happen! Everyone welcome'.

Date: June 21st; Place: The Hill Station cafe (Kitto Road by Telegraph Hill Park) SE14 5TY. Time:-7.15pm (7:30pm sharp start) until 9.00 pm - still time afterwards to catch the last of the solstice sunset in the park. Further information email: transitionnewcross@gmail.com; Web: transitionnewcross.org

Solstice Cycle Ride

Much earlier in the day, Southwark Cyclists will be having their Midsummer Madness night time ride. Starting at 2 am on Tuesday at Cutty Sark Gardens in Greenwich, or 2.30am at Southwark Needle (south end of London Bridge). In the words of the sadly missed Barry Mason: “Midsummer Madness. It's the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and there's magic about. Meet for a slow comfortable ride under the dawn chorus of Regents Park to the top of Primrose Hill in very good time for the 4.43am sunrise. Then back through the quietest West End streets you've ever seen to a north Southwark cafe for breakfast around 6am. Then work or whatever. Unmissable...”. Breakfast (optional) is 6am at Terry’s Café, 158 Great Suffolk Street, SE1.

Barry Mason RIP

I was going to do a post on Surrey Docks Farm, a nice Rotherhithe riverside oasis which I have long forgiven for having a donkey which once bit my son. I have been past there a couple of times recently and was reminded what a special place it is.

Sadly though I have to do a different post on the death of Barry Mason, manager of Surrey Docks Farm. Barry died last week on holiday in Spain, having been taken ill while swimming in the sea. Barry was well known as a cycling, environmental and community activist, co-ordinating Southwark Cyclists, taking part in Critical Mass rides, and enthusing about local history. He was a regular at South East London Folklore Society, as recalled in this nice SELFS tribute, and was also involved with Southwark Mysteries.

Barry worked for a while at Southwark Council on education capital projects. Negotiating local authority hierarchies and politics wasn't always his style, but he played a key role in the redevelopment of Eveline Lowe Primary School and the extension of Gumboots Community Nursery in East Dulwich (building nearing completion). He was in his element at Surrey Docks Farm, raising funds and securing its future at a time when many such facilities are struggling with cuts.

I was chatting to him at the Farm only a few weeks ago, him enthusing about SE16 agriculture and proudly showing off his fine and newly donated desk. He told a lovely story about how an elderly monk had come into the farm and told him that once a year he walked along the river from Westminster especially to visit the farm. The monastic house was closing down and he wanted to donate some furniture to the farm - hence the desk. I thought this typified Barry's ability to find allies for his enthusiasms in all sorts of places.

The SELFS tribute includes this wonderful quote from Barry: 'And every night in my tiny spare bedroom my bright red bike sleeps dreaming of tomorrow and me. Drifting round London together. Smiling.'

Herb garden at Surrey Docks Farm

See also: Report in Evening Standard; Report in Guardian; Francis Sedgemore

Another cyclist killed in Bermondsey

Flowers at the junction of Tooley Street and Tanner Street SE1 mark where a cyclist was killed earlier this week. The 20 year old cyclist was apparently hit by a lorry. As Road.cc reports:

'That accident took place just a few hundred yards from the locations where two cyclists – university professor David Vilaseca and medical student Haris Ahmed – were killed early last year [see previous Transpontine report]. It is the latest instance of a cyclist being killed by an HGV in Southwark, which for whatever reason seems to attract a large number of fatal accidents to bike riders, particularly in the Bermondsey area.

Two possible reasons for that might be the amount of construction works in the area for projects such as The Shard, and the presence of a massive waste incinerator sandwiched between the railway lines and Millwall FC’s New Den Stadium, with few routes in or out of the site. Roads running under the viaduct carrying railway lines away from London Bridge station are also used as short cuts by HGVs'.

Last month, Goldsmiths graduate Daniel Cox was killed while cycling in East London