treehugger

My husband and i moved here in 1991 with a 6 month old baby as this was the only place we could afford after selling our flat in Kennington. To begin with I was quite depressed as our house needed a lot of work and LL was really run down (it was just as Sainsbury's was opening and all the shops were shutting down). Lack of public transport was a pain and felt so far out of town and boringly suburban. It seemed like a step down.BUT... obut over the years I have really come to love living here and it has been a GREAT place for our kids to grow up. They went to local schools so could walk and cycle to school. Because their friends live locally their social life has been great and they love coming back here during holidays from Uni. I made loads of friends with other like minded mothers and now our kids are leaving home, these are the closest people in my life. Peckham Rye Park is beautiful (hope it stays that way with the cuts coming), the shops are fab and I love the way the local community is so mixed with young and old, professional people, musicians and artists etc. I was brought up and went to school in North London and would never go back. To me, ED is the best place to live in London.

With all this filming going on, it's almost like living in Hollywood...

Don't always agree with Huguenot, but do on this one.

I'm not that clever, but all seems very simple to me and a great idea. Well done Southwark.

Elderflower what does this mean? "I've never lived somewhere where before where people hark on about being middle class as much as here. In central london you are either from there or you can afford to live there. Its not I'm middle class and I like the fact that I have a local WI because it supports and re asserts the view to myself that I live in a middle class area. Well done you."

I have lived in E Dulwich since 1991 and have never been mugged, or seen a mugging. My kids also have never been mugged. A friend's son was hassled quite seriously on the No 12 last at night and there has been one fatal shooting on Barry Road - v near us - and one mock shooting in the last five (?) years. Nevertheless I feel very safe in this area, and can't imagine anywhere where one could guarantee complete safety. Small country towns seem to suffer from more drug abuse and alcohol-fuelled violence than we see here in ED - and are rarely the idyllic "safe havens" of our imaginations...

Wonderful husband has taken his secateurs and clipped back the overhanging branches. Hopefully this will have solved the problem. Perhaps a lesson for us all?

Heard from vaguely authoritve source that banned driver had raced through red lights and thus caused pile up of four cars. |Too many serious accidents at this cross roads...

Great post - makes ED forum worth reading (have saved in my favourites) - thanks everyone.

Sounds like he is living the life - don't worry about him!

I completely agree with claire11. Last year the beautiful trees in Barry Road, which used to form a fabulous canopy all the way up the road, were hacked apart and now look - to my eyes - pretty pathetic in comparison . FGS just push your way past and be pleased you can almost imagine yourself in the country.

Don't know if this is useful, but there was a triangular metal "man at work" sign just up from Turners on Thursday morning - to hold a parking space. At 7.30 the space was filled with a flat bed lorry with a guy in the driving seat. I thought it might have been a work man doing something to the tree. No sign of your car however. I was up from between 4am and 5am (don't ask) and there was no traffic on Barry Road. Get in touch if you need more info.

This thread is making me laugh.....

Or through Rotherhithe tunnel, Limehouse Link and then onto A12 - easy peasy. I usually leave an hour if not in the rush hour, and it's usually plenty. Easiest airport to get to in my opinion (apart from City).

Well done Shine, you seem to have sorted out what the Council has taken months not to sort out....

I really recommend streetcar. With lots of children doing different activities all in different places with different kit, using streetcar has meant we didn't have to buy a second car which for financial and eco reasons I really didn't want to do. Yes you do have to be a bit organised, but it suits us. Using one tomorrow and another point to take into consideration in the financial case is not having to pay congestion charge if you are going into town. PS the cars are all new (ish) and much nicer than our car!

Just to add: SOund and vision to took over from Darrah arts which was a picture framing business run by an Irish guy and his wife who did a roaring trade - not sure why they sold out. The lady's dress shop don LL, south of SMBS was called PARTY and was fantastic with cheapish clothes (probably all made in China/India) that fitted everyone and looked fantastic and didn't cost very much. Quite a different sort of thing from the (great) women's clothes shops we have now. Glad to hear that someone remembered Hilary (Hey Diddle Diddle's) name. Hope you are well and thriving.

We moved into E Dulwich from kennington in 1991 because of the property crash and couldn't sell our flat which should have netted us a fortune. We arrived with a new 6 month baby and were a bit stunned because Lordship Lane was fairly grotty. You could say, with reason, that we were the forerunners of the bugaboo tribe and we did feel we were conquering a real sunburban outpost. It was six months before DKH Sainsburys opened and a lot of the shops in LL were closing. There were, I think 4 - 6 butchers in LL and Northcross Road at that time and they eventually all shut. Thank goodness, as they were horrible - nasty meat that you would go veggie rather than avoid. It was a shame however that the green grocers down the bottom of LL shut - I think wehere the ED deli is now. Fab, market-style shop with everything on the pavement so people could hardly get past, although no one complained. Re the list of shops above:Hey Diddle Diddle was run by a fantastic woman, who did maternity bras and had an amazing 2nd hand clothes line with very expensive stuff (where did it come from? it seemed like Chelsea and Kensington. She moved to the Soup Dragon and started the altenative health care centre in the rooms above. Not sure what happened to her, but she was a great support to mums in the early 90's. Nicolas was the site of the early Chandelier which then expanded/moved up the road to become LeChandelier. It was rune by a great guy who really knew his french furniture and sold us some lovely pieces at reasonable prices over the years. He then, I think sold out to the cafe - which has retained his style. Mre Robinson was, in an early incarnation "The Family Tree", which was up and running when we moved in with two tinies in 1991/2. I bought some gorgeous handmade dresses etc for my baby daughter, the like of which I have not see since (matching gingham bloomers and mob caps for little beach babies - sweet). This store and Free range was one of the first signs of gentrifcation in the early nineties...and look where it has led... Long live the Bugaboo tribe, they turn in to the 40/50 stalwart generation (and whose children) support and love ED for everything it has provided us with and all the fun it has given. Good thread!

Vince, that was very impressive. Made me laugh hugely...