For Lovers Everywhere

Happy Valentine's Day all you lovers and want-to-be lovers. On this day in 1661, Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he celebrated Valentine's Day and visited Deptford and Woolwich:

'Up early and to Sir W. Batten’s, but would not go in till I asked whether they that opened the door was a man or a woman, and Mingo, who was there, answered a woman, which, with his tone, made me laugh; so up I went and took Mrs. Martha for my Valentine (which I do only for complacency), and Sir W. Batten he go in the same manner to my wife, and so we were very merry. About 10 o’clock we, with a great deal of company, went down by our barge to Deptford, and there only went to see how forward Mr. Pett’s yacht is; and so all into the barge again, and so to Woolwich, on board the Rose-bush, Captain Brown’s ship, that is brother-in-law to Sir W. Batten, where we had a very fine dinner, dressed on shore, and great mirth and all things successfull; the first time I ever carried my wife a-ship-board, as also my boy Wayneman, who hath all this day been called young Pepys, as Sir W. Pen’s boy young Pen. So home by barge again; good weather, but pretty cold'.

Not sure exactly what he was getting up to with Mrs Martha - who I believe was Sir Batten's wife. But seemingly at that time the custom was to choose a friend of the opposite sex to be a Valentine for the day and give them gifts - there wasn't necessarily a romantic/sexual element.

Anyway here's a Valentine's Day treat for 21st century lovers, a 'South London Bass Valentines Disco Special with DJ Controlled Weirdness' , a selection of 'sensual disco, throbbing funk and sexual grooving' first broadcast live on ILL FM on 12th February 2010. A couple of classic 'cockney love songs' alongside the sexy New York grooves.

'Lovers Rock'
 - the legendary reggae label started out in Upper Brockley Road

Save Lewisham Hospital say: 'Send your message of love to Lewisham Hospital! If you were born or have been treated there, or just want to save our hospital, tie a balloon outside the railings of the hospital between Valentines Day and Sat 16th. Take a picture and post on our page and send it into your local paper or South London press. We want to show our hospital is HERE TO STAY. Lets make a spectacular visual no one can ignore!!'. There's also a Save Lewisham Hospital campaign Lunchtime Rally at the war memorial opposite Lewisham Hospital tomorrow (Friday 15th February) at 1PM! For more information go to www.savelewishamhospital.com or phone Lewisham Pensioners Forum on 020 85907869

In Brixton this evening, 'as part of the global One Billion Rising campaign, a range of events will be taking place all over the world in a call to end violence against women and girls. At 4.30pm Brixton’s Ritzy cinema will screen a short film about the issues surrounding domestic violence, Lambeth Rising, made by local film makers, community groups and students. The film screening will be followed by a flash mob dance takeover of Windrush Square at 5.30pm, led by around 25 children from the Wippersnappers After School Club' (more on Brixton Blog)

There are other One Billion Rising events happening locally today at Greenwich Study Centre (1 pm) and at Goose Green Roundabout in East Dulwich where also at 1 pm there will be a ten minute zumba dance flash mob (get there at 12:30 to learn the moves!)

Folk Festival Film

Last October the Amersham Arms in New Cross hosted the London Folk and Roots Festival. While most of the action happened downstairs, Acordes Urbansos filmed some of the participating artists singing upstairs and have now put out the film '16th Folk Room'.

Michele Stodart upstairs in the Amersham Arms

It features the Kilkawley Family, James Burton, Hankdogs, The Galleons, Lucy Kitt, The Bara Bara Band, Josienne Clark, Lorraine Wood, Troubador Rose, Michele Stodart (from The Magic Numbers), Pete Greenwood, Maggie Jane Rose, Indigo Earth, Winston Skerritt, Jack Day and Joe Wilkes.

Pete Greenwood singing with the lights of New Cross station through the window

Hankdogs

South London Pub News: Good and Bad

More bad news on the pub front with the closure of Lewisham's only gay bar, a threat to close a good pub in Catford, and Greenwich Council refusing permission to open a decent new pub in Woolwich, among other things. Good news is that all of these have resulted in people campaigning, with a possibility of making some real progress in some case.

Two8Six

Two8Six, Lewisham's only gay pub, is boarded up. More than a hundred people attended a public meeting to oppose the closure last month  (26 Oct) at Lewisham Town Hall, organised by Lewisham LGBTQ+ Community Involvement Group. According to Pink News (1 Nov. 2012):

'Hundreds of residents in the London Borough of Lewisham are fighting to restore a popular gay pub. The Two8Six venue, on Lewisham High Street, was recently shut after the offshore property firm, Mendoza Limited and their management company Golfrate Limited, forced the closure of the pub by sending in bailiffs and changing the locks. At an LGBT community meeting last week, Stephen Thompson, the former licensee of Two8Six, said: “[Golfrate] are claiming that they took this action because I owed them rent when in reality it was because I refused to surrender the upper floors of the building and evict my staff from their homes... This pub has been closed, not because it isn’t profitable, but because an offshore property developer with no connection or concern for Lewisham, wants to make money out of the land value of the pub and placed unreasonable demands on my business including raising the rent from £38k to £60k.”'

photo by Ewan-M at Flickr

Catford Bridge Tavern

Hundreds of people have filed objections to planning permission for a plan to close the popular Catford Bridge Tavern, SE6 (formerly the Copperfield) and replace it with a supermarket. The plan highlights the complexity of who makes decisions about the future of pubs. The pub is run by Antic, who have a Tenancy at Will  from Punch Taverns, who lease it from DVS Property Ltd. The latter have submitted the planning application to Lewisham Council.

A Lewisham Council report earlier this year reported that the number of pubs in Lewisham fell to 92 in 2011 from 145 in 2001.

The Woolwich

Meanwhile in Woolwich, local blogs such as 853 have been campaigning against the decision of Greenwich Council to refuse planning permission for Antic (who run Royal Albert in New Cross as well as Catford Bridge Tavern) to open a new pub, The Woolwich, in the town centre.  A revised planning application has been submitted and early signs are that it may have more success.

Brixton: George IV and Hootenanny

In Brixton campaigns are being waged in relation to two of my old locals from when I lived over there. Over 100 people attended a public meeting about plans to replace the George IV pub on Brixton Hill with a Tesco Express. The once popular music pub played host to early Basement Jaxx nights, not to mention me dancing to Northern Soul, but has been empty for a while. A couple of weeks ago the building was squatted by opponents of the plan.

A petition has also been launched (signed by 2500 people so far) against restrictive licensing conditions at Hootenanny on Effra Road. The music and drinking venue opens until 3 am, but are being told they cannot admit anybody until after 11 pm.  The owners say that they may have to close unless these restrictions are lifted. The venue has been a late night place for decades, in its previous incarnations as the Hobgoblin and George Canning.

Ivy House

Some good news in relation to another pub and music venue, the Ivy House in Nunhead. The pub closed earlier this year and had been put up for auction last month by the property developer who bought the building from its previous owners, Enterprise Inns. However, campaigners have successfully lobbied Southwark Council to have the building listed as an  'asset of community value' under the new Localism Act. This doesn't mean the pub has definitely been saved, but it will make it harder for the building to be used for other purposes as 'The fact that it is on the list will be treated as a 'material consideration' for planning purposes. This means that it should be taken into account by the Council in deciding a planning application (including for change of use) or an appeal against a planning decision' (see article by campaigner Tessa Blunden in The Guardian). If nothing else the decision buys time for campaigners to come up with alternative plans to get the place up and running again.

New Cross Inn

The New Cross Inn (SE14) is up for sale. Christie + Co  state that it 'has been instructed to obtain bids for a substantial freehold investment in London. The New Cross Inn is a distinctive building with Victorian features including a domed turret and arched windows. It is in a prominent position between New Cross and New Cross Gate stations.The investment is split into two distinct businesses and has recently undergone an overhaul with capital expenditure of £80,000. There is a ground floor and basement live music bar with a 10-year free-of-tie lease and a current rental income of £36,000. The upper floors are presently operated as a hostel with 80 beds, a 10-year lease and a rental income of £60,000. Christie + Co is inviting bids for the freehold investment with a guide of £1,200,000'.   There doesn't appear to any immediate any direct threat to the pub's future, but longer term that may depend on the interests and intentions of whoever ends up buying the building.

Keep Lewisham Hospital A&E Open

It's difficult to tell at this stage whether there is a real threat that the Accident & Emergency department at Lewisham could be closed or scaled back (see report in News Shopper). What is certain is that health services in South East London are in crisis following the South London Healthcare Trust being put into administration in July 2012.  It seems that the administrator,  Matthew Kershaw, will be making sweeping recommendations later this month with implications for health services right across the area  - not just the hospitals run by the trust - Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, Sidcup's Queen Mary's, Bromley's Princess Royal and Orpington Hospital. Lewisham A& E is just one of many services that could be affected, though we won't know the details until his report is published on October 29th.

I have had to use Lewisham A&E a number of times with my children, and have been enormously grateful that it's there. The thought that people in Lewisham needing urgent help for injuries would have to travel to often overstretched casualty departments at Woolwich or Camberwell (Kings) is horrific.

A Save Lewisham A&E campaign is already taking shape. They say:

'In July, Tory Health Minister Andrew Lansley MP hand-picked a ‘special administrator’ to take over South London Healthcare Trust. They had immense debts caused by political mismangement- unaffordable bank loans were taken out at the same time rules were introduced to ban the NHS distributing money from profitable areas to those that were in need. So, despite excellent rates of infection and low mortality, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Mary’s, Sidcup, Princess Royal, Farnborough and Orpington Hospital were deemed failures.


However, although the NHS is now structured so that individual trusts cannot receive surplus money from other areas, when it comes to savage cuts, the opposite applies. The Administrator will swing his axe throughout south London’s success stories to fund a trust’s losses- starting with Lewisham Hospital’s newly refurbished A&E.

Closing our A&E will mean only one Emergency Department in the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley, which have a combined population in excess of 750,000 people. Queen Mary’s in Bexley was recently closed to increase the numbers using Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The trick cannot be repeated ad infinitum, because there is a law of diminishing returns which will be expressed in mortality rates. But the Special Administrator wants to massively increase the number of people attending Queen Elizabeth Hospital, so that the services which he will recommend be auctioned off to private companies and neighbouring Foundation Trusts have a massive footfall.

And this is at the same time he is recommending £100 MILLION of cuts in 5 years to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. South-east London needs more than one A&E, no matter how good the ones we currently have are. Do not be fooled into thinking any of our A&Es have to close for the sake of patients, it is being done to cover up for past political failures'.

It might be a bit too early to take to the barricades, but if this proposal is seriously put forward a line will have been drawn in the sand and it will be up to people in SE London to show en masse that we will not accept such attacks on vital health services. 

Campaigners against an earlier threat to reduce hours at Lewisham A&E in 2009

Cuts Cafe opens in SE1

In the build up to the TUC-called 'A Future that Works' demonstration on October 20th, a building by the South end  of Blackfriars Bridge has been occupied as a temporary Cuts Cafe. The address was announced today as 1 Stamford Street, SE1. They say:

'The government tells us that cuts to public services and social security are needed to save an economy in crisis, but in reality the crisis is capitalism. For the two weeks leading up to the Trade Union Congress demonstration on October 20th, Cuts Café will provide a radical space in Central London to build resistance to these devastating cuts, and to explore the real alternatives to austerity.

It will be open for all of us who are affected, whether we are people with disabilities, women, migrants, workers, pensioners, students, unemployed… or anyone else not part of the privileged elite who are enriching themselves in this ‘crisis’. By sharing this reclaimed space, we hope people working in their community, local anti-cuts, student, or autonomous groups, as well as the trade unions, will be able to collectively and democratically build positive alternatives with which to challenge the ‘politics as usual’ forced upon us.

This will be an opportunity for connections to form outside of those groups that we may already be involved with, and to reinvigorate the anti-cuts movement at the grassroots level'.

Lots of events planned, including meetings, films (including a Q&A with Ken Loach) and even Cuts Against the Cuts free haircuts!

Music Monday: Smoke Fairies in a Peckham Alley

Folk/blues duo Smoke Fairies recently recorded a live version of their song 'The Three of Us' for ID magazine 'down our favourite alley in Peckham'. Not sure exactly where, no doubt someone will identify the location:




(thanks to Andrew for spotting this)