AndyS

I have to say I have some sympathy for the van drivers! Sometimes, it's necessary for me to park my work van (large Luton) on the street outside my house and sometimes I do have to leave early in the morning, I don't like doing it but sometimes I don't have a choice, it's my job!! I once had a neighbour tell me I had no right to park on the street and I was actually making it look untidy! To keep him happy I tried parking the van around the corner, away from the front of peoples houses and I had spare wheels stolen, and graffiti sprayed onto the side of it! Outside my house it has never been touched! Take away the theft and criminal damage, it also contains the valuable contents of my work, in reality having it outside the house doesn't make it any more secure but it does give me some peace of mind! Just think how you feel when you can't park your car in view of your house, and then imagine that car being replaced by your work/livelihood! The situation with three vans doesn't sound ideal but where else are the poor guys supposed to park!? Trust me, finding somewhere secure to park 1 van in East Dulwich is hard, three would be impossible! Try having a word with them and you'll probably find them to be decent people, contrary to what the Daily Mail would have you believe, people who drive vans are human beings too!!

After an incident that happened last night, I feel the need to put up a post to highlight just how ridiculous some users of the forum can be. I appreciate that as an opening line that will put some people off and I will possibly be bombarded with all sorts of heckles for it but please take the take to read what I have to say. As a resident of East Dulwich, I am fully aware of the reputation that the forum has developed amongst the locals. Some people love it, some people hate it, some people turn to it for a laugh and others use it as a resource. Sadly however, some people use it as a threat to local businesses in order to try and get their own way. As a bartender, I have helped out behind a few bars in East Dulwich and sadly behind each and every one I have faced the 'I'm gonna post about you on the East Dulwich Forum' threat, usually when we have refused somebody service for being drunk/rude or aggressive. The worst example occurred last night when I refused service to 4 middle aged Dulwich Dad types. Before they had even ordered a drink I had asked them to tone down their language, (every other word was c##t, f##k, etc). Yes bad language is tolerated and expected when alcohol is involved but there are limits to what is deemed acceptable, especially when other customers leave the bar as a consequence. The bad language continued along with antagonizing of staff and other customers so the group were informed that they would no longer be served and were asked to move on. Their response was to launch into a torrent of abuse and follow it up with 'we're going to name and shame and personally ruin you on the East Dulwich Forum.' I appreciate that these four gentlemen are not representative of all Forum users but the threat of 'we'll say bad things about you on the forum' is something that is commonly thrown around in East Dulwich when people don't get their own way. I know from speaking to a lot of business owners around ED that a lot of people genuinely believe it is a threat that will make businesses bow down to their demands. If you are a forum user who has ever used this line, please consider how ridiculous it makes you sound. Common courtesy will get you much further than such childish threats.

I've gotta say that if the number of people calling for it to be kept the same all drank in the pub, the new owners wouldn't be changing it at all. You can count the customers on one hand on most nights which is a shame because its a really good pub. Only thing I would say is that it is a bit blokey. I live pretty close to the pub so it would be good if the new owners did announce what their plans were because keeping the neighbours in the dark wont help you getting them onside!

Hi, Please can you let us know how the Royal Mail are getting away with providing such an awful service in East Dulwich. So far purchases I've made online, magazines, bank statements and even letters I've sent myself to test the service have all failed to arrive. I've resorted to getting all my post sent elsewhere as it is beyond a joke. Will this situation ever be resolved and what are you doing to sort the problem out? Many Thanks Andy