Edward Said visits C.L.R. James in Brixton

Just been reading Timothy Brennan's 'Places of mind: a life of Edward Said'  in which he mentions the great Palestinian/American intellectual visiting Brixton in 1987, 'Paying his respects to an ailing C.L.R. James in Railton Road... Said had made the pilgrimage, in fact, to honor James's contributions to art and to black liberation. But even though, like Said, James had lived for a long time in the United States and praised autodidacts (and was himself one), his political experiences were starkly different. James had spent much of his life in Trotskyist parties organizing labor or battling with Caribbean nationalist leaders in a bid to create a West Indian federation. His tastes as a critic went much more in the direction of popular culture (especially Hollywood film) than Said's. More than anything, though, by the time of his visit, James's familiarity with Said's stature was limited. Only a few weeks earlier, the great civil rights activist and former Black Panther Stokely Carmichael had visited, and it was not clear James (who was not one to stand on ceremony) knew exactly who he was. Only when Said mentioned that he played piano did the two men settle in. In the hour and a half they spent together, they talked almost exclusively about Beethoven's sonatas and their dislike of Verdi and Puccini. Later, Said sent James a cassette of Gould's performance of The Goldberg Variations, to which James warmly replied 

A copy of James' letter to Said was posted on twitter by uptownberber last year 

As I've mentioned here before, James had many visitors upstairs at 165 Railton Road where he lived out the last years of his life. This visit was in the year I moved to Brixton where I spent much time in Railton Road. Nice thinking about whose paths I may have crossed in the streets

Sydenham Garden

I stumbled across Sydenham Garden  (Wynell Road SE23) last month for the first time, a community well being space with various mental health, dementia and other projects .

The day I went it was participating in the Sydenham Artists Trail, including displaying some of the banners made at the garden for their participation in the 2024 Pride parade.

I liked this banner mapping Lewisham Urban Oasis green spaces:

 

20 Years of Transpontine!

So Transpontine blog is 20 years old! On October 9th 2004 the blog was launched with a couple of posts about local bands and a notice of a talk on witch trials.  That pretty much reflects the initial impetus for the blog  - there was a sense that there was a lot of interesting stuff going on around us that was not really being documented anywhere. Specifically myself and Scott (who co-founded it with me and contributed for first few years) were involved in the South East London Folklore Society, going to lots of gigs that became known as part of the New Cross scene and also participating in the South London Radical History Group who had recently lost their base after the eviction of the Use Your Loaf social centre squat in Deptford High Street. The focus at the start was particularly on New Cross, Deptford and Brockley but over the years Transpontine has roamed over South London.

For me at the start blogging was just a free, convenient and accessible way of publishing stuff online. During the early days of the Internet, I had a couple of websites on GeoCities. It was quite clunky to use and eventually vanished – the first of many lessons in the contingent and temporary nature of online content.

With Blogger and then Wordpress it was much easier to create posts, and I really liked the equality of access. Everybody's content looked reasonably professional and clear to read, unlike say with printed publishing where it was very difficult for do it yourself producers to compete with the quality of glossy colour magazines.

Basically, anybody with anything to say, could now get it out there to a global audience though in many cases it wasn't a mass readership people were looking for, but to connect with others sharing their niche interests. There were communities of bloggers responding in quick time to each others posts and sometimes meeting up in the 'real world'. Locally there were meet ups in the pub of Lewisham based bloggers, and some of those people have been friends ever since. I missed the night that one Lewisham blogger of a Conservative bent turned up - yes future Conservative Party leadership hopeful James Cleverly! I liked blogging so much that I've also been doing another music/politics one for quite a few years, History is Made at Night.

Music writer Simon Reynolds is one who has stuck to blogging even if it is not the social media cutting edge it once was. Writing for The Guardian last year he argued:  'Blogging, for me, is the perfect format. No restrictions when it comes to length or brevity: a post can be a considered and meticulously composed 3,000-word essay, or a spurted splat of speculation or whimsy. No rules about structure or consistency of tone. A blogpost can be half-baked and barely proved: I feel zero responsibility to “do my research” before pontificating. Purely for my own pleasure, I do often go deep. But it’s nearer the truth to say that some posts are outcomes of rambles across the archives of the internet, byproducts of the odd information trawled up and the lateral connections created'.

In recent years my blogging here has become quite sporadic; Transpontine functions for me now something like a  public diary as well as a notepad for interesting historical and other fragments I have come across. But over 20 years it has accumulated into quite a record of parts of SE London life that interest me. Ironically considering the often announced death of blogging some of the things featured 20 years ago now have barely a trace left online as the online forums, email lists and myspace sites where they once thrived have come and gone. The blog remains as a historical record and I am glad that the site is now one of those that is regularly backed up by the British Library. There's a reasonable chance that the blog will outlast Twitter and Facebook. Start your own blog it's not too late!

I am particularly proud that some of the historical posts have resurrected often undocumented places and scenes and in the process acted as strange attractors to people looking for evidence of past experiences and leaving amazing comments that enrich the original content. Also proud to have helped revive the use of the word Transpontine! In a small way I hope that blogs like this have helped redress the previous balance in London writing away from a bias towards central and north London. 

So what next? Well I often think that the time spent on blogging could have generated several books, though arguably the blog has had a much greater reach than any book I would have produced.  But I am close to finishing a book covering the social and cultural history of New Cross so watch this space for news of this shortly!

Some favourite posts....

There have been 3,111 posts on Transpontine over the last 20 years. At first these were mainly short listings, and even adding photos was tricky. Later things occasionally got more substantial. Here's a selection of some of my favourite posts.

Music has always been a big part of the blog, lots of local up and coming artists have been featured in the Music Monday slot and some more well known ones - who can forget finding out about the A-ha Sydenham connection or Marvin Gaye in Deptford? My personal favourite music post though was the one about Katy B, Ikonica and Nunhead bakers. Also important to me were Little Earthquakes.... Independent Record Labels in SE London (2017) and  No Frills Band and 20 years of South London folk sessions. I have enjoyed documenting countless musical, TV and film connections to the Rivoli Ballroom in Crofton Park.

Looking back on older scenes my speculative post on where the South London mods might have hung out in the 1960s has got some great comments over the years, as have others on the  History of the New Cross House/Goldsmiths Tavern and Last Orders at the Montague Arms.

Some times I have been able to document contemporary movements and events as they happened, like the great Save Lewisham Hospital demos in 2012,  Covid 19 Street Art (2020) and Black Lives Matter in South London (2021).

Anti-racism and anti-fascism has been a strong thread throughout including the The New Cross Fire 1981: the Bleakest Moment  and the 'Battle of Lewisham'  (see Lewisham 77: Myth and Anti-fascist history). For links to many articles on these themes see Lewisham Stands Against Racism, Again (2024). 

The history threads have led me down some interesting byways, loved discovering more about Peckham nightclubs, Catford syndicalists,  a SE London trans marriage in 1954 and occult connections at the Horniman museum.

Neil, Transpontine, October 2024

Vox Populi party in Brockley 1993

1993 and a party in Brockley put on by Vox Populi sound system to raise funds to replace their rig which had been stolen from the Deptford Urban Free Festival in Fordham Park shortly before ('local people built the rig for free parties and festivals'). Venue was a furniture warehouse on Mantle Road.

flyer from 56a Info Shop archive

Krumpo on twitter recalls going to another party at the warehouse, possibly put on by people from Spiral Tribe after most of them had moved to the continent. SE London based Vox Populi also roamed Europe in 1994 helping to spread the free party vibe in France and at early Teknivals in the Czech Republic. They also apparently did a party on a boat at Deptford Creek.

Didn't go to any of these Brockley parties, though I went to plenty of free parties elsewhere in town round then and also to the Fordham Park festival itself. 

Any memories of these events or other South London free party/sound system tales? I known Hekate sound system were based at a squat in Brockley's Foxberry Road in the 1990s.

Update:

Have been sent confirmation that Bridge House was the Mantle Road furniture warehouse (as it was in the 1990s) and it was on the site of what is currently the Costcutter store behind Brockley Station. Compare Google pics from 2008 and now (2024). There's more at the planning application from 2007. So next time you are walking the aisles of that shop you may hear the ghosts of free parties past.

Mantle Road 2024

Mantle Road 2008, furniture warehouse on left, vacant site from demolished Maypole pub on right.

New Cross Skyline

'No One at All' by 'New Cross' was released on New Cross Skyline records, 133 New Cross Road SE14 c1981. Written and produced by Tony Messenger. Anybody know any more?

Update:

Tony Messenger was seemingly producer of South London troubador Billy Jenkins. Here's a picture of Tony from the Billy Jenkins Listening Club site

 

The World to the Eel is a Net

'England was once a great marsh sloppy and empty of landlords. In this watery realm the serpent was sovereign'. So begins an imagined prophecy in Molly Lester's quilt based work 'The World to the Eel is a Net' by Molly Lester exhibited in the chapel of Nunhead Cemetery.

Free entry during cemetery opening hours until Sunday 8th September 2024.

 

New Beer at Planet Wax, New Cross

Planet Wax, the record shop/bar at 318 New Cross Road has teamed up with brewers Deya to create their very own pale ale: 'Very Good Plus'. They had a launch event for it on Saturday 17th August.

They have the beer on tap as well as in cans and I can report that it is very refreshing pint that goes down well with the traditional Planet Wax diet of drum & bass and electro

Lewisham Olympic Medals at Paris 2024

I don't think there is an Olympic league table for London boroughs, but think we can claim at least four medals from Paris 2024 for Lewisham, which is more than many participating countries have managed. At least three medalists previously represented Lewisham in the London Youth Games.

Alex Yee won gold in the men's Triathlon with one of the most exciting finishes of the games, and also picked up a bronze medal in the Triathlon mixed relay. Alex grew up in Brockley Road and joined Kent Athletic Club, based at Ladywell Arena, as well as Crystal Palace Triathletes Club. He went to Stillness Primary School and Kingsdale secondary school. After previous success at Tokyo Olympics, his gold medal was painted on to the  Brockley train station mural by artist Lionel Stanhope. Now the mural has been repainted as Brockyee.

Alex Yee in 2021

photo from JanecandoSE4

Alex Yee flies ahead of the field, me included, at Hilly Fields parkrun in 2015

Daryll Neita was the fastest British woman at the Games, running 100m in 10.92 seconds and making top five in the 100m and 200m finals before bringing home a silver medal running a great last leg in the women's 4 x 100m relay. Daryll grew up in Ladywell and now lives in Lee. She went to Gordonbrock Primary School and Prendergast Hilly Fields secondary school. Neita's running careeer started out with SE London's Cambridge Harriers, training at Sutcliffe Park in Eltham as well as at Ladywell Arena.

Daryll recently bigged up Lee in the Standard, with her foodie highlights including  Luciano's on Burnt Ash Road, and a full English breakfast at the Lee Cafe.

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix won a bronze medal in the synchronised 10 meter platform diving. Andrea went to John Stainer Primary School in Brockley and Harris Academy Bermondsey secondary.

Were there any other Lewisham competitors? Certainly some other South Londoners, including Kye Whyte from Peckham BMX who had a crash in Paris and Ethan Hayter who won a cycling silver in the the men’s team pursuit. Hayter hails from West Norwood, and like Fred Wright who took part in Olympics road race, trained as a youngster at Herne Hill Velodrome (as has Alex Yee).

Well done all. Once again this shows the importance of local community sports facilities like Ladywell and Sutcliffe Park running tracks and Herne Hill Velodrome, as well as the volunteer run sports clubs that use them

Lewisham Stands Against Racism, again

A great turn out at Lewisham clock tower last night for anti-racist rally, part of a big movement of similar actions across the country in response to threats of more far right attacks on mosques and asylum seeker accommodation. After a week of seeing racist mobs on the rampage, including fires starting at a couple of hotels, it it was a great relief to see such large numbers on the streets to oppose them.

In Lewisham there were about 500 people, with banners from Lewisham Trades Council and Stand up to Racism, who called the event. Despite untrue rumours spreading earlier in the day of riots in Lewisham, it was pretty calm with no sign of any far right presence other than a couple of guys spotted wandering around earlier in the day.

Speeches in Lewisham including Stand Up to Racism, local trade unions, Lewisham Islamic Centre etc. One thing that struck me was how often people referred to the local history of racism and anti-racism. Mentions of Lewisham 1977, when the National Front were defeated in street battles, always get a cheer, but there were also references to the movements around the New Cross Fire and the Stephen Lawrence murder. There is a lot of memory and experience in SE London to mobilise, as well as the fresh outrage of a new generation of anti-fascists.

The far right haven't got away and there are challenges ahead, but perhaps a sense that momentum has switched away from them for now.

(I posted a clip of Harold Wilson of Stand Up to Racism speaking on twitter/insta, saying 'If you want to see a migrant go to Lewisham Hospital, we are the ones that are doing the graft'. It went semi-viral getting more than 50k views, which also meant it got some unwanted attention with racists from across the world having something to say about the state of Lewisham of which they know nothing). 

See also some other posts on racism, fascism and anti-fascism in South London:

Pro-fascist Tory MPs in 1930s Lewisham

Fighting Fascists in Deptford 1933

'Jews in Lewisham Fight': a 1936 punch up with Hitler fans

Fighting Fascists in Peckham 1937

Southwark Spain Shop, Walworth Road 1937

A racist riot in Deptford 1949

Deptford Colour Bar 1958

Forest Hill 'Colour Bar Pub' 1965

'No Nazis in South London' demo, Elephant & Castle 1977

Lewisham '77: Myth and Anti-Fascist History

Battle of Lewisham Chronology 1977

No nazis in East Street, 1979

Opposing the National Front in Camberwell/Peckham and Catford 1980

New Cross Fire 1981

Hither Green DHSS strike against BNP member 1988

Racist Murder in SE London early 1990s- Rolan Adams, Stephen Lawrence and anti-BNP demos in Welling

Fascist attack in Lewisham 2012

South London Anti-Fascists 2013

Black Lives Matter in South London 2020

Croydon Racist Protest Outnumbered 2021

Fascists seen off at Honor Oak pub, February 2023

Defending Drag - opposing the far right in Honor Oak, 2023

A racist riot in Deptford, 1949

 In July 1949, there was a racist riot in Deptford. A large crowd of white men attempted to storm Carrington House, a London County Council lodging house in Brookmill Road where a group of around 40 black men from Africa and the Caribbean were staying. What seems to have started out as a clash in the high street was followed by hundreds of white men attempting to force their way into the hostel.   Those under attack barricaded themselves in and defended themselves and when the police intervened some of them were arrested as well as their assailants. After two nights of clashes, a third night drew a crowd of 1500 outside the hostel but the night passed off peacefully. 

'Crowd of 800 tried to get at negroes'

The men from Africa and the Caribbean had faced racism including colour bars in local pubs, and there were later suggestions that one motive for the violence was that some of them 'had befriended white girls'.  As usual in such cases the attackers justified their violence on the grounds of defending women and children from an imaginary threat.  Many of the actual women seem to have had different ideas.  Mrs Lilian Carrigan of Kings Grove, Peckham wrote to the local paper that 'The coloured boys of Carrington House, Deptford, don't get a fair deal... There are quite a lot of snobbish people about here who still feel themselves above the level of coloured people, and the colour bar in Peckham is very strong'. Another woman living opposite Carrington House told the South London Observer: 'They're persecuted. You'll find plenty of sympathisers for them round here'.

As is often the case with such outbreaks of racist violence there were predictions of ongoing race war which did not materialise. The very language of 'race riot' is misleading as it can imply an equivalence - two groups fighting like two rival football firms, rather than people from a dominant group violently harrassing minorities. 

Outbreaks of collective racist violence - what some have termed 'whiteness riots' - have periodically occurred in South London as elsewhere reflecting a deep current of racist hostility to 'others' within British popular culture. But there are other counterveiling tendencies at work including the presence of decent people who develop friendships and other social relations with people different from them and don't go along with the racist mood. Organised opposition to racism and fascism has also been important. In this instance Les Stannard of Deptford Communist Party was quick off the mark to argue that 'Incidents of this kind are the result of official policy and the Fascist mentality of some undesirable elements in the borough'.

 Following the events a conference to discuss the situation was held at Goldsmiths College with the involvement of Deptford Trades Council, Deptford Council of Christian Churches and the National Council of Civil Liberties. The 'colour bar' was denounced and there were speeches from Carrington House residents including Alghali Sillah, a lorry driver from Freetown, Sierra Leone who asked 'why he and his friends were shunned by white people living in Deptford. In particular he criticised the local police and said "They arrest the coloured boy and let the white man go"'.

Another Carrington House resident mentioned in the reports was a 'young West Indian Clinton Pius' who is credited with halting 'race war' by encouraging people to stay inside. As the 40 residents were outnumbered by 1500 people outside plus a hostile police force it seems extraordinary that they should be seen as the threat to peace.

'Coloured man asks: why am I shunned?'

(note on sources - most of these are from the local press,  I found copies of some in Lewisham archives a few years ago where they were in a file on racism. In some cases the date was written on the cuttings but not the source - I assume they would be from South London Press/Kentish Mercury/South London Observer)

Music Monday: Marysia Osa - dreaming of the sea in Lewisham

Marysia Osa is a harpist (among other things) who plays with Levitation Orchestra and Transpontine favourite Laura Misch. Moving from Poland to London as a child, she started playing harp at Trinity Laban in Greenwich. Now signed to Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, she has an album coming out on October 18th 2024 - 'harps, beats and dreams'.

The opening track 'seatime' has been released and was played on BBC R6 Music this week, with Mary Ann Hobbs saying that it was  'written in a bedroom in Lewisham dreaming of the ocean'.

London Land Justice Fair in Myatt's Fields

Enjoyed the London Land Justice Fair in Myatt's Fields Park in Camberwell last month (21st July 2024), lots of stalls and chats plus a meeting marquee where I went to an interesting session on 'who owns London?'. Before I went I wasn't too sure about the concept of 'land justice' but I came away thinking that it's quite a neat way of framing the connections between housing, environmental, food and other issues which ultimately come down who owns and controls land and buildings, and who determines what uses they are put to.

As explained in 'Towards a Manifesto for Land Justice' (2024):

'‘Land’ is all the earth’s resources: the physical surface of the earth, both land and water, urban and rural, what lies beneath, and the atmosphere above. Land is also more than its physical attributes. Land is home to people and other species. It contains history, memories, stories, dreams and aspirations. It is a ‘place’ that people are rooted in, the context in which their lives are played out. 

However, for centuries land has been an economic asset for a small minority, its value determined by how it is used and priced by the market, displacing the majority - physically, economically, socially, politically and culturally'.

'Let's make London a Commons!'

Anyway People's Land Policy have put together a nice short film of the event which captures its conversational feel -

Music Monday: Martin Howard - The Ornithologists Arms

Martin Howard has been putting on the well regarded Acoustic Anarchy nights at Water into Beer in Brockley since 2017, and he often sings a couple of his own songs at the start of the evening. More recently he has also helped launch Deptford Folk nights at the Endeavour bar on Deptford Broadway, and is a familiar face at local open mic nights.  Now he's released an album of his songs, The Ornithologists  Arms, available on digital or CD at bandcamp.

Many years ago Talking Heads released their great 'More Songs about Buildings and Food' album, which The Undertones responded to with 'More Songs about Chocolate and Girls'. Martin's album could be subtitled 'More songs about birds and revolution', particularly the title track where the world is put to right over a pint or two: 'we'll talk of birds on the wing, and the songs of freedom that they sing, and the flight of the peregrines... you can't save the birds without saving the planet, and you can't save the planet under Capital'.

Gizelle - from Lovers Rock to Acid House

Another great episode of DJ Controlled Weirdness' Tales from a Disappearing City podcast, this time featuring DJ Gizelle, aka Rebel Yelle. As I've said before what I like about this series is how it shows the ways people's lives connect together all these different scenes which people see as separate, and Gizelle has had quite a journey.  Growing up in Catford, she talks about buying records in Lewisham model market and the punk/reggae/ska crossover  including seeing The Clash at the Lyceum and seeing Desmond Dekker playing with Madness at Lewisham Odeon (actually the line up for that 1980 gig also included The Go-Go's with Belinda Carlisle).

As a teenager she joined lovers rock group Charisma, signed to Nevil King's King City Records. They rehearsed above the King City record shop at 494 New Cross Road, with the backing band One Blood. Maxi Priest also rehearsed there.

Later Gizelle worked in local pubs included the Mid Kent Tavern in Lewisham and then Winston's bar in Deptford (where exactly was that?), where she started out DJing in around 1987. Soon she was getting into the early acid house scene, and DJ'd at Asylum nights at the Harp Club in New Cross (soon to be renamed the Venue). I've heard of this before but had no idea that Colin Jerwood from anarcho punk band Conflict was involved in putting on these nights, or that Billy Nasty did a chill out/balearic room upstairs there  Later Gizelle was involved in a night at Thames Poly called Shaboo. Funnily enough I once saw Conflict play there, as well as at the Ambulance Station on Old Kent Road.

Looking forward to the next episode of this, no doubt some good stories of moving from playing at acid house clubs like Clink Street through to the London acid techno scene of the 1990s and beyond.

See previously Uncle G on Woolwich B-Boys and Acid House. I was also honoured to do a couple of episodes myself.

Vietnam Solidarity in Blackheath 1966

An interesting item from a July 1966 edition of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign bulletin, published to mark its founding conference that year. It includes an announcement that 'the South East London Centre for Socialist Education is organising a summer fair to buy arms for the National Liberation Army of Vietnam', an event to include an art exhibition, poetry reading, live jazz and Indian classical sitar. The venue address was 7 The Glebe, Blackheath, London SE3. 

Another local detail - the National Council of the VSC included Ted Knight, attending the conference as representative of Lewisham Trades Council and later Leader of Lambeth Council.

The Centre for Socialist Education was a national initiative associated with The Week newsletter, an attempt to develop a non-sectarian independent socialist project to the left of the Labour Party. Its founders included Ralph Miliband, Marxist academic and father of later Labour leading lights Ed and David.  There were various other local branches including in Croydon, the SE London Group  being set up at a meeting at same Blackheath address in January 1966.

The Week, 27 January 1966

The Week, 17 February 1966

Those named as involved included Inge Westergaard (secretary of the group), John Westergaard (sociologist and later co author of the classic 'Class in a Capitalist Society'), Tony Stone and Malcolm Caldwell (chair). The latter was a prominent figure on the left who was for a while chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In the 1970s he stood for Labour in Bexley Council elections but came to a tragic end as a result of his support for the brutal Cambodian regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Caldwell, like Noam Chomsky at the time, refused to believe reports coming out of Cambodia of atrocities and he went to visit in 1978. Shortly after a meeting with Pol Pot he was murdered by his henchmen, though the exact circumstances are unclear. A few days after his death Pol Pot was deposed by invading Vietnamese forces - successor to the very national liberation army of Vietnam fundraised for in Blackheath 12 years earlier.

(Not sure if 7 The Glebe in Blackheath was a private residence at the time or some kind of public venue, but wonder if it was where Caldwell lived as it is given as  his contact address here)

 

Pizzeria Castello and other Elephant Spectres

'Poor Fiery Blocks: four bent perspectives of the Elephant and Castle' is the latest pamphlet in Christopher Jones's remarkable ongoing explorations of the area that he has been conducting/living for more than 30 years. One day somebody needs to publish his various related writings in a big book.

'Poor Fiery Blocks' is an attempt to come to terms with the 'new Elephant' and the psychic dislocation of being in a place which is geographically in the same spot but which bears no relation, socially or physically, to what was there before. There are older people who have experienced two cycles of this here, with the old tenement blocks and terraced housing demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Heygate Estate and shopping centre, now in turn knocked down. We experience the loss of physical landmarks on which to hang our memories, leaving behind our 'melancholic reverie for a dead past that we cannot mourn and let go of even if it appears as a phantasy of longing and a somewhat presence real enough to taste'. Yet somehow the ghosts linger: 'A Spectre is haunting the Elephant and Castle - the Spectre of deep rumination and desire of what still remains in plain view. The Spectre that goes backwards in time and destroys the present'.

For instance the Strata tower at the top of the Walworth Road replaced the demolished Castle House of which Chris writes: 'Part and parcel of the late mid-60's GLC built Draper Estate, Castle House, all offices above, below though the famous Pizzeria Castello. Never forgotten all the good nights out there. We would look for the puffed up black sacks on a Sunday morning in Castello's dumpsters at Eagle Yard full of unused pizza dough and make good good bread from it. There was also Uptown Bar for a bit there in the shop units at Castle House and funny fish in Fin King Aquatics we'd go and see. Then up the other end from pizza and fishes it larged itself Latino with The Ministry of Salsa club that was a part of Los Arrieros restaurant that had taken over the old Riley's Snooker Club in the mid-90s. Here we have heard it said that by 2005 Reggaeton was first aired and popularised in London here as a these Puerto Rican bangers were gaining favour over Salsa. Again history is wild and others claim 'La Bomba' at Ministry of Sound from 2005 as London's first Reggaeton night'.

Castle House - Pizzeria Castello at left and Ministry of Salsa at right

Ah yes the famous Pizzeria Castello at 20 Walworth Road, the Pullens anarchists, students and other locals rubbing shoulders with all sorts...  Down the Walworth Road  at number 144 was the headquarters of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1997. Later Labour MP Tom Watson started working there in 1984 as a teenage library assistant and recalled that his colleagues  'regularly took me to the legendary Pizzeria Castello restaurant, which at the time, made the best pizzas in London. They also introduced me to Frascati wine, which was supposed to be sophisticated in those days. It’s gone now, but the Pizzeria Castello rivalled the Gay Hussar for political intrigue. I would often see John Prescott and other politicians caucusing in there' (30 years ago today I started working for the Labour Party, Labour List, 2014).

Conservative prime minister John Major also ate there sometimes, though seemingly not a fan: 'In 1992 Major was heard saying that the pizzas available at the Pizzeria Castello in Elephant and Castle, run by Antonio Proietti, were 'the worst in the western world'. Evidently the changing tastes of a smarter set had passed him by. 'Proietti's restaurant has served the best pizzas in London since the early 1980s,' wrote the restaurant critic Jonathan Meades, in a state of shocked disbelief. 'They are far more Italian than the mass-produced English imitations. Perhaps this was lost on Mr Major, with his love of Little Chefs and Happy Eaters.' (Alwyn W. Turner, A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s, 2013). I assume he spent time in the area when he was a minister, the Department of Health had several buildings nearby.

I went there a few times, also remember going into Riley's Snooker and American Pool Club at no.4. Back in the 1990s I was friends with a guy in Belfast (Turf Lodge) who had been an Irish Republican prisoner. His sister worked at Riley's and I went to her wedding party, a big Irish/Sierra Leonean booze up in tenants hall on Old Kent Road. Funnily enough around the same time I once saw Ulster Unionist MP David Trimble at a bus stop nearby. I mention this only as an example of the infinite subterranean connections linking this area to so many parts of the world. Truly all roads lead to the Elephant and its story isn't finished yet...

Anyway I found Castello's takeaway menu at flickr. It finally closed in 2006, though I think La Luna further down the Walworth Road  and still going was originally an offshoot from it.

t 

At one time (and certainly in the early 1970s) Castle House was the headquarters of Southwark Council Social Services. By the 1990s it was part of London South Bank University, as Brixton Hatter remembers on twitter :

You can buy 'Poor Fiery Blocks' and lots of other great stuff from the Past Tense shop on Etsy, as well as at the 56a Infoshop, 56 Crampton Street SE17 3AE