Amika

I know this ship has passed but I prefer the arcade. I like the Art Deco building, which matches a lot of buildings of a similar age and style all along Rye Lane. The big problem is that it's filthy. The TSB along one side has blank windows so that shop, although occupied is a dead zone and it's dirty and scruffy. Meanwhile the units on the other side are closed. If all the units had shops trading in them and everything was kept clean and shiny then the arcade would be nice.

I live directly across the road from the Gala site just up from Harris Boys, can see it from my front window, and the festival stopped before 11 pm and everything was quiet. I haven't enjoyed the last few days, it's been unbearable in my flat and I went over the hill to Honor Oak last night and could still hear it there, but it certainly didn't go on until 3. It's actually not as bad today because it sounds like they only have one stage and I've just got one reggae song playing in the distance and it's quite nice. The thing that has made it most like torture is the cacophony of all the stages mixed together for three days. If it was just one stage at the sound level it is right now I'd probably be ok with it.

If you want a small prickly evergreen for shade I would recommend Ruscus aculeatus. Unlike Pyracantha, which grows big and is unpleasant to prune, Ruscus only grows to a metre and it will grow in very dark dry shade where almost nothing else does. It is viciously spiny and has very good red berries in winter. Berberis darwinii and Berberis julianae are two good evergreen Berberis that will grow in partial shade. I usually order from Burncoose but I have always had a good service from Crocus.