ghostlymaiden

I spoke to the cashier at Barclays today and he told me that the vast majority of former Woolwich branches would remain and be re-branded as Barclays, the only ones going would be those situated close to a current branch of Barclays which would not be needed any longer. When I asked him about the retail space he looked across to a colleague who I recognised as a former Woolwich employee, and she said that a number of ideas had been kicking around for well over a year, and that speculation was that a shoe shop called 'Blue Velvet' had been discussing the lease on the unit. Anyone know anything about them? Are they an indepedent shoe shop? Not a duplicate post, my mistake.

hmmm I will not start again about social housing. But I believe that is the route cause to all the problems in Peckham.

I endorse all of the above.

You cannot blame the ordinary people of Britain for the horrors of slavery. The people who were at fault eg the monarchy and the aristocracy ultimately, are now still living in absolute luxury whilst the ordinary working classes are the ones who are forced to change and adapt their lives to the mass immigration which occured from the 1950's onwards. I am one of the very first people to say that people from the former commonwealth and asylum seekers from war torn nation states deserve a home in Britain, but the way the ruling classes have so blatantly disregarded certain inner city predominantly working class and white neighbourhoods to supply the demand for the newcomers and the social housing needed is a travesty. In Peckham, a whole generation of people have literally abandoned the area because they no longer feel as though they are able to live in a place which no longer feels like home. You cannot blame them for that or accuse them of racism when all of this stems directly back to the greed and oppurtunism which the exploitative ruling classes put on other nations as well their own people. People who live in other areas cannot judge in my opinion either. It's great looking down from the ivory tower and making presumtious claims about whether a whole group of people are racists or not. You cannot pass blame onto people who have on the whole been loyal citizens and hard workers, indeed the backbone to this country over many centuries. It's about time the blame for all of this were passed onto the people who started it, or at least their descendents. I think if dispersal of social housing into wealthier areas is not carried out over the years to come, we are sitting on a time bomb in areas such as Peckham. Social housing should be in every part of London and not just in certain poorer areas.

No offence James but the working class white community which has now flooded out of Peckham in vast numbers over recent years, would not agree with your sentiments on the multicultural mix of Peckham. There was no referendum on whether the local community wanted the vast changes brought about by immigration, and I notice a poorer part of town was picked to supply the social housing for the new communities wishing to settle in London. The slightly wealthier folk living in the more affluent parts of the country do not have vast areas of social housing near them and therefore do not experience the dramatic changes we have to experience in poorer areas, which in turn leads to working class white people being accused of Racism. Downham may well be a boring place, but at least it does not have major issues with guns drugs and knives, and equally isnt flooded with Chrstian extremism in the form of evangelical African churches. I know where i'd rather be if I had a choice!

"Peckham high street was on its *rse with so many empty shops and market stalls." My family have lived in Peckham for generations and I resent people making such off the cuff comments. The market was flourishing right up until it was closed for no reason really, and then reopened with loads of ethnic butchers and fishmongers, if there were not enough of those already on Rye Lane. The major chains were not the only aspect of shopping in Peckham, it had a lot of smaller local businesses which had been around for many years and spread into other parts of London. Kennedys sausages had three shops along Rye Lane, Pollards the upholsterers had two, and Jones and Higgins had been in Peckham for nearly 150 years. "20 years on we have a vibrant Peckham, it has big social problems, but there are few empty shops. The African, Vietnamese and Asian shops and market stalls are fascinating - if you take time to wander around them. It is ironic that some feel that the big high street chains NOT being Peckham is a problem. In Peckam we have a place packed full of small shops run by Entrepreneurs that would go out of business if the big chains arrivd." Why would people who have lived all their lives in Peckham want to go into some of these smelly and often dirty shops? I have walked past some of these outlets and I have seen rats running from under the shutters. It is absolutely disgusting, and the only reason the health inspection authorities have not taken action is because they would probably end up being accused of picking on the minority community. Its a shambles, and the reason the white population of Peckham has disappeared is because they have nowhere to shop anymore, and are sick and tired of the way the place has become lawless. the whole area is becoming a ghetto and no one has the guts politically or socially to admit this. "God knows (quite literally) how many churches there are in Peckham and these bind and support significant chunks of the population." Significant chunks of the population? So I guess once again we are talking about Black African churches aimed at Black Africans. "The Africans have now come in and they have been the stimulus for eonomic regeneration in Peckham. It all looks very different and it has that "edge" that is apparently attractive to some." This edge you talk of, was brought about by gun/knife and drug crimes. The whole reason this area became so notorious was because the local authorities decided it would be a great idea to pick a poor area like Peckham and play around with a few ideas they have about social housing. The result was a sink estate which attracted the worst of the worst. Most of the people who lived there 20 years ago have now gone, so I hope it's good for everyone sat on their ivory tower in East Dulwich thinking how wonderfully edgy Peckham is. Let me assure you, it has become a horrible place.