Chinwag

Latest new cafe on the local scene is Chinwag, which opened a few weeks ago in New Cross - it's in the row of eateries on the London-bound side of the one-way system, right opposite to Goldsmith's college and just up the hill from the Marquis of Granby.

I went there last week to sample breakfast - all in the name of research of course. We got off to a somewhat shaky start when we found the cafe was only just opening up, more than an hour after the advertised time. But it was right in the middle of the snowy time, so we cut them a bit of slack and went for a coffee in the London Particular to kill 15 minutes or so. 

Given the fantastic breakfast offerings at the London Particular, it was tough work tearing ourselves away to go back to Chinwag, but we made the break.

The interior is quite homely and quirky, with old pages of the South London Press under glass on the table tops (with job advertisements pre-dating sex discrimination laws) and wall lights made of taps with droplet-shaped light bulbs. 

The menus are handwritten and stuck into the first few pages of old hardback books, another quirky idea - so you can read the book if you have forgotten your paper or iphone - but unfortunately not very legible, given that whoever wrote it doesn't have the best handwriting.

The breakfast menu was not huge, but as well as offering full meaty and veggie breakfasts (£6.99 each), you can have eggs benedict or eggs florentine for £4.99, omelette with choice of filling, or something a bit more healthy like granola or porridge.

I went for the full meaty breakfast as shown below; toast is included too. First comment, the sausages were very good - I am notoriously fussy about my bangers and have pretty high standards. These were proper sausages, not those bland sawdusty cheapo things. Bacon is not really my bag, it seemed ok but I did give the second slice away due to lack of interest. Roasted cherry tomatoes were excellent, as was the mushroom, and even the standard hash brown was hot, crunchy and fresh.

The only thing that let it down somewhat was the toast - regular white sliced, nothing special. A couple of pieces sliced thickly off a loaf would improve it, and offering the choice of white or brown would help. In all, though, a very tasty and filling breakfast - not cheap, but certainly not overpriced, and one of the best local options for a good quality full English.

Coffee got good marks too - perhaps a little below Waiting Room standard, but since they do the best coffee in the whole of London, nothing to be ashamed of. Very friendly and welcoming, we were even asked if everything was ok - not something that happens often when you are eating breakfast!

Chinwag also does lunches (wraps, soup, etc) and a range of burgers. There's an interview with the owners on Brockley Central.

21 Lewisham Way
Opening hours: 9am-9pm

Lewisham Hospital campaign gets national coverage

When the Question Time bandwagon announced it was rolling in to Goldsmith's College for the first show of the year, there was a flurry of excitement about the prospect of proposals for Lewisham Hospital finally getting national recognition. 

And despite audience members not being allowed to ask direct questions about the subject (apparently it's 'too local' - even though if it is approved, it will have national implications), the presence of a protest outside, campaigners in the audience, and of course panellists from all three parties wanting to jump on the bandwagon, the subject got a considerable amount of coverage.

If you didn't see it, you can watch it on iplayer (the debate about Lewisham starts about halfway through if you want to save yourself the bother of watching the rest of it).

In the meantime there is another march organised for Saturday 26th January, which will be your last chance to protest before health secretary Jeremy Hunt makes his decision about whether to implement the recommendations of the 'special administrator' to close Lewisham's A&E.

The march starts from the roundabout by Lewisham Station at 12 noon on 26 January and ends with a rally at Mountsfield Park. 

For more about the campaign. and to find out how you can help, visit http://www.savelewishamhospital.com/ 

Faircharm redevelopment plans threaten Deptford businesses

Long-standing successful businesses could be driven out of Lewisham borough if plans to redevelop the Faircharm Trading Estate in Creekside are given the go-ahead. Owner Workspace wants to change the classification of the business units on the estate to eliminate general industrial use, in order to build nearly 150 residential units on the land, and tenants are warning that they will have nowhere else to go.

An application for full planning permission to redevelop the Faircharm Trading Estate on Creekside was submitted to Lewisham Council at the beginning of December last year. Although the date for responses is nominally 7 January it is worth remembering that the planners will accept any responses submitted up to the date that the application is considered by the planning committee, currently scheduled for March.

However if you have strong objections to make, it is worth getting your comments in as soon as you can so that the planners have time to investigate and consider any specific points you want to make.

The application (reference DC/12/82000/X which you should use to search on this page for full details of the plans) is for:

The remodelling, repair, restoration and conversion of two existing buildings (A and C) to provide new commercial uses (4031 sqm of Use Class B1) with associated plant, servicing and storage. Demolition of Building B and the construction of four new buildings ranging from 6 to 12 storeys to provide 148 residential units (62 x one-bed, 69 x two bed and 17 x 3 bed), and new commercial uses (703 sqm of Use Class B1) together with new open space, landscaping, car and cycle parking at Faircharm Trading Estate.

The attempt to redevelop the estate already has quite a history, with the previous plans failing to impress anyone. I did not write about them in detail but Crosswhatfields blog did and pointed out the fact that the proposed new buildings on the Creekside frontage would overlook and overshadow the housing on Crossfields estate, and highlighted various other aspects of the proposals that did not endear them to residents or business tenants.

Lewisham Council took a decision in May 2012 to designate the Creekside area as a conservation zone, presumably to try and protect its character, despite the fact that planning restrictions in Deptford's other existing conservation zone, the high street, continue to be poorly enforced.

The new plans - which have now been submitted to the planning department - propose to retain and remodel some of the buildings facing Creekside for continued business use, with new buildings on the rear of the site - one up to 12 storeys high - for residential use.

If I were judging these new plans purely on their aesthetic, architectural or public realm aspects, I would probably comment that aside from the height of the residential block on the edge of the Creek, the architect had done a pretty good job of adapting the site to be more friendly to its Creekside neighbours.

However the main issue with this application, as I see it, is the proposal to make fundamental changes to the permitted use of the site.

With the proposal to build residential units on the site, the future for many of Faircharm's existing businesses is bleak. People living on the site will not want - and should not be expected - to live next to businesses that are noisy and dirty and have deliveries outside normal working hours.

To accommodate this, Workspace wants to make all its commercial units class B1, which is basically office-based businesses, eliminating any general industrial use of the site and driving out many of the businesses that have been there for years. As a result, the 'creative hub' which is at the heart of Deptford, and which so many developers capitalise on to convince people to move to trendy SE8, will be severely depleted.

Throughout the 'consultation' process, say remaining tenants, Workspace has promised to offer them units in the new development. But the proposal to reclassify the business space was never mentioned, and tenants believe that they will not fit the criteria for B1 occupation. With so many industrial sites in this part of the borough being redeveloped for housing, alternative space will be hard, if not impossible, to find.

The application documents make some interesting claims for how Workspace expects the redevelopment to increase jobs on the site - after all, this site is designated for employment use so they need to come up with some statistics to convince the council that they are not going to reduce employment in an area which already suffers high levels of unemployment.

With the redevelopment, the amount of non-residential floor space will be reduced from 12,749sqm to just 4,734sqm, a loss of more than 8,000sqm. And yet Workspace claims the 139 people that the site currently employs will mushroom to 339, despite there being considerably less space for them to work in. Since they will mostly be sitting at computers rather than operating machinery to make things, I guess we can cram them in like sardines, but even so this sounds like a very generous estimate.

If you want to read the details of the statistics that back up this bold claim, you need to download the Environmental Statement Main Text from the planning application website, and read chapter seven. Feel free to add any insights in the comments box below.

As you might expect, Crosswhatfields blog has gone into much greater detail about the proposals, you can read the posts here and here, which may be useful for any comments or objections you may wish to submit.

As always, send your responses (they MUST include your name and address) to the planning department, quoting the planning application reference DC/12/82000/X, either by email or letter.

Antic to open pub in former Deptford job centre

Pub company Antic - which runs the Royal Albert, Ravensbourne Arms, Catford Tavern and many other fine establishments across London - is planning to open a new pub in the former job centre on Deptford High Street. An application for an alcohol licence has been submitted and from the look of the company's new website it seems they intend to call a spade a spade by naming it in honour of its former use.

The fairly substantial shop unit is currently occupied by arts collective Utrophia, which has been running lunchtime music events and arts stuff along with a whole load of evening events during the last year or more, and the Extra Bones shop in the front. The temporary gallery licence that was granted in May 2011 was for a period of 18 months only, with the intention of using the vacant unit until redevelopment of the building began.

Although Utrophia has announced that it will be relocating at the end of February, so far there has been no application for a change of use of the building (which was changed last year from gallery space to retail space) which I believe will be necessary to allow Antic to open a pub here.

Personally I am hugely excited at the prospect of having a new pub on the High Street, especially in this high-profile location directly across from the station (and next to that classy retail establishment Poundland). Although as yet I haven't had formal confirmation of their plans from Antic*, I don't believe they would put such a thing on their website if they weren't ready to share this information publicly.

Deptford High Street desperately needs an injection of night-life beyond the fried chicken and betting shops, if it is to become something more than the ghost town it currently morphs into after 7pm. If/when the Job Centre opens, it may even give other investors the confidence to follow - with a couple of restaurants and perhaps another bar or two, the high street could become a safer and more attractive place after dark.

*Updated: they have now confirmed that this is the case and they are planning to open the Job Centre, although can't give a date as yet.

Deptford station woes

Just weeks after our shiny new station was handed over by the contractors, it is looking distinctly shabby; without rapid action by Southeastern it risks becoming a shameful representation of our community.

Quite aside from the appalling level of grime that stems directly from the lack of any meaningful cleaning regime, the station now sports THREE broken glass panels; one at platform level, one on the stairs to the London-bound platform, and a third on the external cladding of the stairwell.

In fact the first shattered panel, the one on the London-bound platform, appeared some months ago. Contrary to the conclusion that many people immediately jumped to, the fracture was not caused by vandalism. Toughened glass is prone to a recognised phenomena of spontaneous fracture due to impurities that can be introduced during the manufacturing process. These tiny inclusions of nickel sulphide expand, causing the glass to fracture dramatically, and this can occur up to a decade after the panel was made. The first panel shows the distinctive 'butterfly wings' shape at the centre of the fracture that is said to indicate this method of failure (see the details in the link).

My brief inspection today indicated that vandals have indeed now been at the panel, perhaps trying to make the shattered glass fall apart completely, and it now sports several impact marks.

The panel in the photo below, which is halfway up the stairs to this platform, seems to have been fractured by impact, with a noticeable dent on the upper edge of the glass. Today was the first time I noticed it, although I am not a frequent user of the station so perhaps it has been there for longer.

On the outer cladding, the damage to one of the huge panels is very noticeable, but the jury is still out on the cause of damage here, and I believe a stepladder will be necessary to investigate further. 

I understand that a group of local residents has been pursuing Southeastern for a couple of months already, asking for a meeting with the person responsible for managing Deptford station. (Whether any progress has been made on this is unclear, perhaps if anyone knows they can add it in the comments.)

But it's clear that action is required as a matter of urgency. There is an immediate need to repair the damage (whatever the cause); Southeastern must investigate the matter further, and implement any changes necessary to prevent further incidences; and the issue of future cleaning and maintenance of our station also needs to be taken seriously.

With all the money, time and effort that has gone into giving the station a facelift, it would be criminal if it was allowed to deteriorate into the same scruffy state its predecessor was famous for. Surely Lewisham Council, which contributed the lion's share of the funding for this work, can put some pressure on Southeastern to address this matter?

Three sheets to the wind?

Q: What's brown and sticky?
A: A stick

Apologies for the Brockley-Central-esque intro, I won't be making a habit of it. I just happen to like that particular joke and it seemed appropriate in these circumstances.

My Christmas Day walk along the river took me past Aragon Gardens on the Pepys estate, one of the area's parks that was recently refurbished. As I walked by I noticed that the 'sculpture' (I use the term advisedly) had finally been installed on the raised area next to the grassy knoll.

Lewisham Council's website explains (in rather appalling grammar) the thinking behind the 'design' of this sculpture:

"..a new sculpture has been commissioned which will be visible – including at night – to highlight Deptford’s river frontage. The sculpture’s design has been inspired by The Golden Hind, the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world before finally mooring at Deptford. It will be constructed from Gleam timber and galvanised steel, with durable canvas ‘sails’. Local residents helped select the sails’ colours."

(Apologies for the rather dark photos, you may remember that it rained most of the morning on Christmas Day and this was about the brightest the day got).

The sculpture looks pretty miserable and pointless if you ask me; any expectation that its visibility from the river will 'highlight Deptford's river frontage' is optimistic in the extreme. It's right next to the massive Aragon Tower, and if/when the redevelopment of Convoys Wharf goes ahead it will have tower blocks on all sides.

And 'inspired by the Golden Hind'?

Nope, can't see it myself, even in the bad light.

I really wish they'd spent the money on something a bit more useful or beautiful; what's more why did it take more than 18 months to install?

Deptford pubs added to local listing

As part of its ongoing strategy to protect pubs in the borough (better late than never) and categorise its heritage assets, the council has proposed half a dozen pubs in Deptford and New Cross to be 'locally listed', part of a total of 26 buildings in the borough picked out to be added to the existing list. The existing list can be downloaded from the council's website.

Anyone following the recent saga of the Catford Tavern, which was locally listed in a hurry when the owner put in a planning application to turn the building into flats and retail space, will appreciate how even successful, well-run pubs can be put at risk if the building owner decides it's time to cash in. At the cabinet meeting where this proposal was considered, councillor Liam Curran even suggested that the council should consider listing all its Victorian pubs en masse, following the lead of a group of students from Kingston University who are aiming to get Unesco World Heritage status for the London boozer as a 'type' of building worth preserving.

However welcome this move is in terms of raising the profile of some of our less obvious assets, it's worth remembering that local listing does not give the building any statutory protection against being demolished or altered. English Heritage, which has published a 'good practice' guide to local listing available to download here, explains: 'Heritage assets not designated under statutory regimes, but recognised by the local planning authority as having heritage significance do merit consideration in planning matters; with the LPA taking a balanced judgement having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset.'

As you were, then.

Here's the pubs that have been put forward for local listing, and the detailed explanations of why. Full details of all 26 buildings to be listed are available here.

Albertines

An attractive Victorian corner pub built as the ‘Clarendon Arms’ in 1857 on the site of

the former Bricklayers’ Arms of 1803/04. It was renamed the ‘Malt and Hops’ in 1992

before its current sign of ‘Albertines’. Albertines is in a similar heavy classical style

as the Five Bells on New Cross Road (Grade II statutory listed) but without the finer

architectural detailing.

Albertines is built of red brick with deep eaves with decorative corbels and a shallow

pitched roof. There is a full height bay to the Lewisham Way elevation and the

original timber sash windows to the upper floors remain, including large venetian

windows.

This building makes a positive contribution to the townscape and contributes towards

the setting of the nearby listed buildings, 160 -186 Lewisham Way and 239

Lewisham Way.

The Haberdashers

The Haberdashers is a classically inspired pub built as the Rosemary Branch around

1854. It is a three storey building built from yellow stock brick with stuccoed detailing.

Below the parapet is an ornate frieze and two channel jointed rendered pilasters with

an urn resting on a small corbel. The windows to the first floor are grandly expressed

with a solid cornice and corbel detail. The original windows to the upper floors

remain and the first floor has particularly decorative arched sashes.

This pub reflects the architectural style of the surrounding residential area but has

enhanced the classical styling to create a beautifully ornate building. The

Haberdashers is an attractive building whose architectural merit make this a locally

important building.

The Black Horse

An traditional three storey Victorian working pub from the 1870/80s. It is built in stock

brick with deep decorative eaves. The original bull nosed timber sash windows

remain to the upper floor but the first floor windows have been replaced.

This pub has an impressive green and beige tiled frontage which makes a historic

contribution to the local streetscape which has been largely redeveloped in the

twentieth century. This pub was originally a corner pub although since

redevelopment this is no longer the case. The fascia is also tiled with the signage

incorporated into the tiling and the original windows and large gas entrance lamp

remains. The dentiled course separates the tiled frontage from the upper floors.

The Cranbrook

The Cranbrook is an unusual and beautiful bullnosed building on the junction of

Brookmill Road and Cranbrook Road. It was built in 1854 as part of the creation of

Deptford New Town in the mid – late 19th century. It reflects the building style of the

surrounding terraces in the Brookmill conservation area which are simply designed

with classical influences and unified with a rendered parapet. The Cranbrook is three

storeys tall and looks over the surrounding streets as the most prominent building

within the conservation area. It is made from yellow stock brick with a stucco ground

floor with Palladium inspired channel jointing and decorated window apertures to the

upper floors. Like the surrounding terraces the pub also has a thick stucco parapet

that wraps around the building. The windows of the building to the upper floors are

evenly and generously distributed.

The Harp

Built in 1897, this is a large and attractive pub that sits facing down Deptford High St

from Evelyn Street. It is astride the two junctions with New King Street and

Watergate Street and has been designed to address these streets as well. It makes

a handsome contribution to the streetscape.

The pub is in an ornate classical style with Baroque influences and is rendered to the

upper floors with an unusual pink marble pub frontage. The roof is a dummy

mansard which falls to a simple pitched roof to the rear. There are two ornate

dormers to the roof with a circular window to one and a tablet of a harp to the other.

There is an ornate frieze that wraps around the building at eaves levels. The first

floor windows have decorative pediments and the proportions reveal a generously

proportions rooms internally. To the ground floor the two original entrances have

been converted into windows but the pediments above the fascias revealing the

original locations. All the original timber windows remain to the upper floors.

The White Swan

An imposing corner property situated on Deptford High Street on the corner with

Edward Street. This was built as a pub and also a hotel in the early 1800s. It is stock

brick with classical detailing and retains the original pub frontage. There is a grand

separate entrance to the hotel on the Edward Street elevation and the pilasters,

fascia and decorative entrances of the pub frontage are all still intact. The pediment

detail to the first floor windows has been removed. The most impressive element of

this building, which can be seen along the street, is the deep parapet which

incorporates the signage ‘Swan’, ‘Hotel’ and ‘The White Swan’ and classical arched

detailing. At the corner rising above the parapet is a swan figurine sitting within a

stuccoed recessed background with a finial above.

Deptford Community Cookbook and live cooking demos

The Deptford Community Cookbook which I wrote about earlier this year is now on sale, and the organisers behind the project have been launching the book with a series of live cooking demonstrations on Saturdays. Unfortunately the post I scheduled to publish earlier this month did not appear, perhaps due to operator error, but you can still catch the last demo this weekend.

They will be showcasing recipes from the book this Saturday 22nd December from 11.30am to 2pm, in conjunction with Regenerate Deptford High Street (no I've never heard of it either).

Niaomh says: "We are located next to the Codfather fishmonger, there will be free tasters and the book will be for sale for only a tenner! The book is also available for purchase through our website http://www.deptfordcookbook.com and will be on sale in some local shops."

Cockpit Arts open studios and New Cross Learning AGM & Christmas fayre

News of two upcoming local events - the annual pre-christmas open studios at Cockpit Arts and the AGM and Christmas Fayre at New Cross Learning (formerly New Cross Library).

Cockpit Arts Open Studios

7-9 December 2012

£3 entry (free on Friday) 

Friday 11-9

Sat, Sun 11-6

I usually make an effort to get round Cockpit Arts at least once a year and usually find at least one or two great presents. It's well worth the effort, especially if you haven't been before, and even if you don't have any money to spend it's a fascinating opportunity to meet some very skilled crafters and admire their gorgeous creations.  

However I do have to take issue with the way Cockpit Arts is promoting the studios on the website as being 'a stone's throw from glorious Greenwich'. PLEASE! It's 'a stone's throw from glorious Deptford' and a bit further to Greenwich if you like that kind of thing. Anyone would think they were ashamed of being this side of the Creek!

New Cross Learning AGM & Christmas Fayre
Sunday 16 December
AGM 2pm-3pm
Christmas Fayre 3pm-6pm
Free entry.

All are welcome at the AGM as well as the fayre.

The community-run learning space and library in New Cross is celebrating its second Christmas with a festive book fayre. There will be:

• A Christmas tree made of books
• Mystery book bags for £5
• New and second hand books for sale from 20p
• Book consultant service for advice on those tricky Christmas book giving decisions
• Festive crafts
• Raffle
• Mulled wine and mince pies

According to the press release: “It’s going to be a fabulous festive afternoon” said the chair of New Cross Learning, Gillian Hart. “Book lovers should come to buy our books for friends and relatives. We’ve got a marvellous selection, and every penny we make goes towards our utility bills – and keeps our learning space and library open! So it’s not just a gift for your friends, it’s a gift for the whole community in New Cross.”

The Christmas Fair will follow New Cross Learning’s first Annual General Meeting, which will report back on the community-run learning space and library’s first year of work and accounts, and elect a new management team.

DIY home insulation workshop

Transition New Cross has organised a 'DIY home insulation workshop' which will take place at the old Tidemill School building on Sunday 2 December. 

The workshop is intended to help residents install DIY measures to reduce heat loss from their homes and learn how they can minimise their energy bills; it has been organised by Transition New Cross, a collective of locals promoting sustainability issues and engagement in the community.

The workshop provides participants with easy to make insulation adjustments for the house and will cover the following topics and techniques:

- temperature management

- curtain making

- DIY door and window sealing

- radiator reflector installation

As well as learning how to apply these to your own home, participants can get hands-on experience by helping to apply them in the venue. Materials will be provided by the organisers and no building skills are required.

The DIY home insulation workshop

Time: 11am to 5pm

Date: 2nd December 2012

Location: Old Tidemill school (Frankham street, SE8 4RN, Deptford)

Organisers: Transition New Cross and Assembly SE8