Good-bye Woolworths Peckham

Excerpt from “Wild Tyme: A Blog about Film, Music, Literature and all the finer things in life” Monday, 29 December 2008 :
“I walked past the Woolworths Peckham branch on Rye Lane today. It only has two days left until it closes on the 30th. Decided to check it out, and take some photos of the carnage. For those who aren’t UK-based, Woolworths is a long-standing high-street shop that first opened in Liverpool in 1909. Originally a spin-off of the American F. W. Woolworth company (now Foot Locker), Woolworths UK became its own entity and enjoyed a familiarity until it collapsed under the recent, harsh economic climate. ” Read more…

“… the original fairy glade” in the middle of Peckham

A blogs-eye view of the little bits of London that Nature left behind, from The Londonist:

Londonist Takes A Walk On The Wilder Side

What is it? The London Wildlife Gardening Centre seedling plantation. (We didn’t actually know this: we had to ring the council, who put us in touch with their ecology officer, who was extraordinarily helpful. How cool is that, to have an ecology officer just waiting to answer inane blogger questions?! Of course he does lots of good ecological stuff as well.)

Where is it? Bellenden Road, in Peckham SE15. Opposite Highshore Road School. And snuggled behind Peckham Job Centre, and behind Peckham High Street, right in the midst of Peckham Town Centre.

Why has it tickled our fancy? Well, it could be the original fairy glade. A little pocket of (apparently) random greenery, dappled with sunshine, dotted with wild flowers, and always mysteriously locked. Tended by a gardener that no-one ever sees. Its existence makes Londonist happy. Read more…

There’s definitely something about Peckham.

From Telegraph blogs: “The other week I travelled to Peckham in South London for the first time. I hadn’t avoided it for any particular reason, apart from the usual problem, natural to North Londoners and cab drivers alike, with goin’sarf of the river.
It was my friend Richard’s birthday and I was to meet him at the Ivy House pub for an open mic there. On my way I walked through Peckham Rye Common, the place where Blake saw visions of angels. It was a beautiful dusk. The air was warm. My imagination unlocked itself from the constraints of city life. I fell into a waking dream, of Blake, of life, of music, and of an evening that lay out in front of me…” Read more…

Telegraph Blog 27th May 2008

Peckham Pram Factories

From South East London blogzine: ‘A friend has lent me a copy of the 1952 Official Guide to ‘The Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell’ from the days before Southwark Council when Camberwell had its own Council covering Peckham, Nunhead and of course Camberwell itself. .. The Guide says: “… the area seems to have been a centre of pram making. .. some of the finest perambulators in the world. Two well-known firms that specialise in these products pay particular attention to taste in colour and decoration, and the finished articles speak highly for the craftsmanship and regard given, not only to strength and durability, but also to individual character and beauty of line, the sine qua non of British Industry. …The firms in question were Royale Prams at the Besfoldas Works, 70a Nunhead Grove, SE15; and Deanes Limited at Denette Works, 163 Peckham Rye…”

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Drawing Kids

From Letters from Schwarzville: ‘Hooray! I went for a walk looking for a nice place to do some drawing, and went to my favourite tree on Peckham Rye – and found that they put a lovely busy family cafe in the park! So I ordered a cappuchino and drew many children…
Here’s my favourite. Such a good hairdo.’
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Eat in Peckham

A “food desert”? Peckham? Don’t make Conrad Heine laugh. Stroll down Rye Lane for an exotic array of okra, cassava, sheep stomachs and goat heads. Though an assertive, don’t-meet-eyes stride is usually called for …

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On the Tiger trail

From Economist.com Correspondet’s Diary: ‘WALKING home from Peckham town centre, I often detour down the tree-lined walkway along the old Grand Surrey Canal. Completed in 1811, it was intended to link the Thames at Rotherhithe with Surrey. It only made it as far as Peckham. Industry, notably timberyards and lime kilns, grew along its banks.

In the early 1970s, the canal, by then derelict and filthy, was filled in. Although I never saw it, I mourn for it…’

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