Bovine Juice

Penge will never be like ED but in five years time it may be like West Norwood (but with the extra bonus of the ginger line)

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I liked Lewisham LA to. Wish the border could be > shifted just slightly to include Penge East. Me too. Not a major fan of our local MP though. Even instinctive Labour supporters like me are critical of his work rate. Any Facebook users who haven't already climbed aboard the Penge Tourist Board bus might want to do so and attend the Social down the Goldsmiths from 7.30 on Friday night.

Penge will never be an East Dulwich. It has a nasty council that will continue to starve it of money and dump difficult families from elsewhere.

MrsMcC Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was at the Nurseries last Thursday with my > husband for a few drinks and a great burger, don't > normally like ale but I did the Late Knights one > :) After strolled to the Goldsmith's for opening > night which was busy with a buzzy atmosphere, very > shabby sh*te decor though which reminded me a bit > too much of our house, after living with building > works, but got used to it over a few lagers and > ended up quite liking the 'hardcoreness' of it! > Will defo be back to both and am excited about the > Alexandra. I did the same route as you MrsMcC last Thursday. The shabbyness was down to rushing to be open for the xmas lights switch on in the High Street so some frills and basic stuff was left undone. Downside was a leaky roof that saw them having to stay shut on Sunday. Loving Penge at the moment, I have to say though. After nearly two decades of dullness it really seems to be changing for the better while retaining some of its down to earthness.

Mighty fine read it is too.

> And I THINK the Late Knights chaps actually live > in Penge, so "blow ins" would be harsh. > Yep, Steve, the owner of Late Knights, lives in Maple Road. He'd said all along he wanted to open in Penge and with the brewery also in Penge, it's a logical step. The Nurseries often have special LK days and nights with a couple of barrels, loads of bottles and the burger bbq rolled around the corner. Next one is this Thursday (same night as the re-opening of the new Antic run Goldsmiths at last). Oh and LK are also currently opening their brewery as a bar/shop on Saturdays, with prospects of a more permanent venture should it be successful.

Late Knights (who own Beer Rebellion) are definitely opening in Penge - February next year, in the Alexandra pub.

Bonsai - If you're a Facebook user I recommend you join the Penge Tourist Board group and ask on there as there are nearly 1000 members, many of them parents of young children/toddlers.

Yes

Really looking forward to this.

Emmableu - whereabouts did you live in Penge? Bad neighbours exist everywhere, you're either lucky or you're not, but if genuine I'm sorry that was what happened to you. Parkdrive - You're still coming across as an attention seeking buffoon. You came out with some wild accusations about personal knowledge of weapons and crime in Penge that have since been proven to be utter nonsense. Wind your neck in.

Sorry I haven't been the same since I took shrapnel in Maple Road. Somebody fired a mortar at us while we were drinking skinny latte in the Blue Mountain. Standard hazard on a Sunday afternoon in Penge, I'm afraid, as Parkside has witnessed many times.

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Beck or Syd? Eh?

TillieTrotter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Beckenham beat Penge's violent crimes 80 to 30 in > August. I'm not sure if the nylon curtain crimes > come under that bracket, I think they need a > section of their own. Parkside won't have detected all that crime on his/her doorstep as they've been too busy wandering the grimey streets of Penge in his/her night vision goggles seeking out 'funny looks' and 'suspicious haircuts'.

TillieTrotter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just don't wander into Beckenham is all I say. Heck no, I could get cut by a rabidly twitched nylon curtain...

Cheers for the stats link, TT. Eleven reported crimes involving weapons in 12 months for Penge and Cator, up to August 2014. With crime stats like that I shall never leave my house without being tooled up with a potato peeler again...

No, Parklife, you don't know Penge at all. I've lived in Penge 18 years and have no experience of attacks, knifings, robbings, etc. 18 years of avoiding the daily life you seem to think exists in an area you don't live. Where is it in Penge you keep visiting? Penge is large - I live on the Sydenham/Beckenham side and there are pockets elsewhere I wouldn't go to and wouldn't need to, but then I'm sure there are even parts of East Dulwich that don't have quaint delis or gastropubs...

Some of the people dismissing Penge on here clearly haven't been there for a very long time. References to the market (which has long gone) display a view established well before the recent changes. I've lived in Penge 18 years. When I moved there it was a tatty, down at heel place with very little going for it apart from cheap good Vistorian housing stock and a variety of train lines providing very quick routes into town (Penge East to Vic 17 mins). It's improved a hell of a lot in the last three or four years but it's definitely not the new East Dulwich. It's the new Penge.

It's not the new East Dulwich but it's changed a heck of a lot over the last 3 or 4 years. In that time it's gained a very successful theatre and gastropub Blue Mountain cafe a plants and coffee spot (Alex Nurseries) a vintage shop a cycle shop a micro brewery (Late Knights) the Overground tube and is about to gain an Antic pub and a Late Knights one Add repeated features on Location Location Location and Homes under the Hammer and you'd not be surprised to hear that a) there's been an increase in house prices and b) an influx of new people from Shoreditch/Dulwich/CP, etc. It's still rough round the edges and the High street, though it has plenty of great practical shops (Homebase, Wilkos, Boots, Superdrug, Sainsburys, Lidl, PEnge Food Centre, etc), still looks scrappy and dead after 6pm. Best of all though it has a very friendly community vibe and having been there 18 years I'm loving how it's finally blossoming.

The one from last June was repeated tonight. Couple are now in Penge, in a lovely big house.

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yep, all of Penge is like that, honest guv. Shush, Otta, or we'll have to re-programme you.

vgrant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I fell asleep on the night bus and woke up in > Penge once.It was like arriving in a real life > planet of the apes world, a vision of a distopian > future. Well if this is the future, the apes are welcome: http://media.rightmove.co.uk/12k/11883/23069151/11883_632037A_6320379501_IMG_01_0001.JPG (the Waterman's Square, Penge High Street)

I'm a public sector worker and was on strike on Thursday. I currently take home ?100 a month less per month than I did 4 years ago, through years of pay freezes and increased pension contributions. The price of most staples in the shops have increased markedly during that time so I'm in effect even worse off than just ?100 per month. The Government have told us we now face years ahead of just 1% pay increases and more increased pension contributions. We are the soft targets, paying for the cock-ups of current and past Governments and the greed of bankers.

Newboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There's a great family run independent garden > centre called Alexander Nurseries in Sydenham. > Great plants and you can have a coffee too! Close > to Penge East station It's great but definitely in Penge, though on the borders with Sydenham. #PostcodeWars ;)

Salsaboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > All part of the Cator Estate I think. The Cators > used to own most of Beckenham and some parts of > Penge. > ^^^ correct ^^^ It's a handful of roads Norwood side of Kent House station (the one the other side has now been tarmaced). Barnmead Road, which is the main one, has houses worth around a million and yet the road is this dusty gravel affair. The pub in Penge that is being Antic'd is the Goldsmiths. Fair sized pub with big garden and kitchen so expect it to be very popular. Still hopes that Late Knights will be taking over Alexandra too by the Conservation area (negotiations continue) so soon Penge will have an actual decent pub crawl to enjoy.