Cyclemonkey

I think people are beginning to overextend as well due to low interest rates. For personal reasons we have deliberatly kept the amount we are borrowing fairly low but i was absolutely shocked when i was told how much lenders were prepared to lend us and then the implications for our household finances when i stress tested potential monthly repayments against a set of interest rate rise scenarios.

I agree Louisa (see my post above) house prices and house price speculation will kill many decent areas in London. whilst nothing wrong with either group, communities comprised of the rich and poor are not particularly sustainable. I have had an alert on Rightmove that last month for 2 bed properties within a three mile radius of SE15 for up ?350,000 - it is rarely anything in SE15/SE22 comes up.

PohSuan - Good post. I moved here from New Cross just about the time Damiloa Taylor was killed and I remember the media were falling over themselves to brand Peckham representative of everything that was wrong with inner city life. People used to sneer at me for living in Peckham and no one i know would dream of comming here for a night out (althougth we were happy with the pubs in Peckham and Nunhead and started goign to the newer venues such as Bar Story and the Bussey building as they opened) The area has changed a lot over the last ten years i have lived here - businesses and locals have developed real offers often in the face of adversity. Most of the business people like Micky at the CLF cafe and the guys behind Bar Story are locals and care deeply about the area. There is obviously tensions as more expensive places move in and particularly as more and more people crowd in in the Summer for Franks and they need to be sorted, whilst it still has its issues generally Peckham is a very exciting place to be right now. However the big issue is not expensive cushion shops in Bellenden Road, ?12 burgers or the hordes of middle class tourists flocking to Franks of a evening. What may kill Peckhams vibrancy is house prices. I moved here because i liked the area but mainly because it was cheaper than many other areas (i certainly couldn't have afforded Brixton let alone North London) It is them with a heavy heart that we have to seriously consider leaving the area soon. We are lucky enough to be in a position to buy a place soon but cannot afford to stay in SE15 let alone SE22. To be honest i don't think we could afford to stay if we carried on renting as our landlord has recently advertised one of the flats in our block at a good few hundred a month more than we are paying. I don't think we are unique and a lot of young couples and families who are committed to the area and often involved in the creative scene will be leaving this area over the next year or so because we simply cannot afford to stay.

Mark, great news paper, readable and relevant to the whole community. Well done to all involved. It would be great to see some more items on Peckham history including the background to some of the more recent communities, we know a lot about the Brixton story but less about Peckhams.

You need to speak to your distributor not your supplier. There will be a number for UK Power networks on your energy bill.

Fox - those rules are for "credit " meters. If you have pre payment there are certasin rules the energy suppliers have to abide by in terms of responding to faults and replacing lost top up keys and cards. However if you fail to top up you have disconnected yourself and so the rules you quote do not apply. It is a bit rough as pre payment emters are often used by poorer people and are fitted by energy suppliers as an alternative to disconnection for those in debt so you could say, if you were cynical, energy suppliers are giving people the means to disconnect themselves.

Hi Vik - gas ones do indeed disconnect overnight. The majority, but not all, of electric ones now have "no disconnect periods" at night.

There was a woman doing that in Camberwell when i lived there a few years back. Her story was more elaborate involving a daughter who was on kidney dialysis. I offered to walk her to Kings Colleage hospital to get help for her daughter, she abruptly disappeared. For those that are unsure is this is a scam- a few facts about Pre payment meters: 1. There is ?5 of emergency credit on pre payment meters after the money has run out 2. electric meters will not disconnect over night , even if the money has run out 3. Energy companies will not fit a pre payment meter if someone is dependent on electricity for health reasons - for example if they need oxygen overnight. 4. If they have lost their card/key and need to top up they can ring their energy compnay and they will do what is known as "an ememrgency wind on" to give them enough enenrgy until a repalcement card/key arrives.

The problem is Londonmix that home ownership is beginning to fail on that one - the way London house pices are soaring people can only afford a one bedroom flat so are forced to move out of the area if their families expand (or are even started) There was a good article in the Guardian about just that at the weekend. I'm not saying that anyone has the right to a house they can afford anywhere but communities that are full of the very rich and very poor or just an aging popualtion that managed to buy cheap 20 - 30 years ago are no good. There are some rural villages now in high house price, low job areas that are increasingly aging as young people cannot afford to stay there.

Agreed but the problem with that it that communities suffer if people have to move on everytime the market changes. I moved to London because house prices are high and job opportunties are low in the small Kent village i grew up in. I moved to Nunhead/Peckham as it was affordable and now it is becomming rapidly less so, when out rental contract is up i will have to move on as i cannot afford soem of the rents i am seeing round here. Fair enough you say but i will leave an area i have put down roots in over the last ten years. Communities need a stable population for all sorts of thing, community involvement, helping out older and more vulnerable residents, volunteering - increasingly the transience of youth is beginnng to apply to people in the 30s and 40s and soaring rents and house prices force people to move on regularly in search of cheaper housing. This does not do communities any good and if it continues many areas such as East Dulwich will suffer very soon. People will always have to make choices and sacrifices but communities suffer if people are constantly on the move. My Dads small village is now a vilalge of old people as young families cannot afford to live there. Even expensive areas need people to do the lower paid jobs. Whislt those us us with salaried central london 9-5 jobs can afford to move out further and commute, that's often not an option for the lower paid or those on shift work. For example if you work in East Dulwich/Peckham earning ?8 an hour (as many catering, cleaning and bar jobs do) and maybe you start at 4am or finish at 3am the cost and time implicatiosn of travelling any distance automatically make that job unviable.

There's a Boots and a Superdrug in Rye Lane (the Superdrug is refitted and fairly well stocked - the Boots is a bit dismal) There are a also lot of places on Rye Lane that specialise in hair and make up products for black skin and afro hair. There is also a Superdrug in Camberwell. Clothes shops in Peckham are fairly limited (Primark, Peacocks and a few independent ones) I would look at the Clarks factory shop - they often have some good bargains. Brixton is good for chain clothes shops - it has H&M, New Look, Top shop, Dorothy Perkins, Warehouse, M+S, TK Maxx as well as a Superdrug and Boots. Other than that i reckon your best bet is to go in to town (Train to Victoria or get the number 12 to Oxford Circus) If you fancy a big shopping centre Westfield Stratford it is very quick - get the Overground from either Peckham Rye or Denmark Hill to Canada water and then the Jubilee line to Stratford - the journey will only take about 1/2 an hour.

Well, historically low interest rates, low levels of building and a government intent on inflating the market through poorly conceived policies like help to buy and you've got yourself a housing bubble right there.

Fox that was 6 years before i was born! Huggers- Kernal Table Beer is the 2.8% one, i like it a lot, perfect for a lunchtime pint.

Kingy, when i was there they had Fullers Redemption on for under ?3 a pint.

Not really, shareholders were invited to 2 preview nights before the bank holiday opening. The actual launch was soft, eg no fanfare or grand opening. I assume this is to allow them to get establised. I understand there are already some events booked for later this month.

Fox, it is indeed open. They had a soft launch over bank holiday weekend. I went last Sunday and had a couple of pints and a very nice plate of chilli and rice.

I didn't read it like that at all. As someone who cycles i feel strongly about the fact that cyclists should be respected as road users and given the space they need to cycle safely. However there is never an excuse for riding dangerously, especially on pavements.

Lowlander, whilst accidents are alway horrid for those involved cycling on the pavement is illegal and dangerous. I am a cyclist but being an adult i cycle on the road. I am increasingly irritated by cyclists who peddle at speed up the wide pavement at the Peckham Rye end of East Dulwich road. On Tuesday i was nearly hit by a cyclist as i walked down to the bus stop outside the Costcutter.

No bread makers here!! - I hand bake my bread - usually using Sainsburys own brand flour. Although i have been known to make sourdough which i presume is irredeamably middle class. i shall have to tell my old dad, a tenant farmer who left school with 1 O-level and has done manual work all his life that eating smoked salmon now marks him out as a middle class snob and he should desist immediately or be taken away to be re-educated by the Peoples Commisariat of East Dulwich.

I can't see what is wrong with smoked salmon and scambled eggs for beakfast - lovely. however i would imagine your average middle class person probably doesn't dine on this every day for breakfast. In a small survey of the middle class people of my household reveals that breakfast this morning for me was Sainsburys own brand branflakes and a blackcurrent yoghurt - Mr Cyclemonkey had some bread that i made the night before with a cup of tea. Not sure whether this meets with middle class breakfast approval - must try harder tomorrow.

James one of the issues i should think is that Lordship lane is very busy and tight for space - not helped by people parkign on both sides of the roads. You also witness some very bad driving and lane positioning = perhaps people unknowing enter the bus lane more than some of the large red routes where things are clearer or smaller roads that are elss busy. A clear long term objective would be to reduce the traffic on lordship lane and do something about all the cars parked there - often very badly.

Beef has never beena "cheap" food. If your burger is cheap then you are eating horse bum or floor sweepings reshaped into a burger. There are plently of wholesome, cheap cuts of meat but beef generally ain't one of them. Believe me, haivng grown up on a farm there is nothing snobby about wanting good quality food. Ehere i will conceed there is hilariousness in london where people do not really understand seasionality and costs of production so therefore do not really know anymore what a fair price for good quality food is and can get seduced by words such as locally sourced and artisan. Louisa has a point about some of the more stupid shops in ED/Peckham - the fact we have a "farm shop" is fairly laughable and the General Store in Bellenden road is outrageously priced. Good quality food should be accessible to everyone - you see people in towns in Italy and France buyign the best they can afford. We seem to have tuirned food either into an expensive hobby obsessed with provenance or as an exaggerated badge of working class pride to eat the cheapest shit imaginable. There is a middle way and that is often reconnecting with how food is grown and produced the real effort and costs involved. That is why i will happily pay good money for decent meat and cheese but laugh you in to next week if you try and charge me ?2.50 for a cupcake or ?3 for a tiny jar of fruit jam. (both of which hapepend recently at a Peckham food market)

That is an oddity but is the data on a postcode or ward level? Is there more bus lanes under council control in Ed than other areas of Southwark? (red routes are under TfL control)

Rules exist for a reason - we have to share limited space in London and fines are there to deter motorists from taking actions that are dangerous or cause inconvenience the majority. If you don't want a fine i suggest you don't drive in the bus lane. It is usally made pretty clear what motorists can do to avoid such fines. I have never known a group like motorists for special pleading and whinging. You live in a city with some of the cheapest and most extensive public transport in the country perhaps if motoring is so expensive and difficult try walking or getting the bus once in a while. Those of us without cars have to do this everyday - including carrying children, buggies, five bags of shopping etc.. it's cheaper and has the side bonus of keeping you fit.

Well that's good news the old pub site has been turned in to something good it hasn't been the Adam and Eve pub for a long time - it was empty for a while and before that was a series of venues known for poor behavior of certain customers (i believe there were rumours ocne that it was going to turn into a lap dancing venue) so given all that i'll take a developments of flats i can't afford and a bakery.