telboy

macroban Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > that camberwell man is a real blast from the > past in every sense. I lived on church street v > close to him > > I think this was Dennis Noble who ran the > photographic studio at least into the early 1960s. It definitely was Dennis Noble I knew Dennis quite well in the 1970's. Despite his great eccentricities, when he was being sensible he was a very intelligent man to talk to. Sadly most of the time you couldn't get any sense out of him at all. He did indeed run the photographic studios and was still involved in photography into the early 1970's. I have seen some of his work. In his day he was very good. I don't know about his famous ancestors. He was definitely a character in Camberwell Church Street. Everybody knew him. A lot of the time his dogs smelt better than he did and spoke more sense.

I agree with Muttley,the current monstrosity needs to be levelled but I don't hold out hopes of a police office in a shop premises providing the same level of service or covering as many hours as a fully functional police station. Probably only be open 9 - 5 when most of us are at work and not open at weekends when most of us are at home. If the Met have decided to close they will close end of story. They did it in Camberwell in the 1970's despite strong local opposition and opposition from local councillors. The office facility that remained for a number of years was finally closed as well. Police Station closures are happening all over the country driven by Home Office pressure on the police to save money. I drive round SouthLondon a lot and am saddened to see Shooters Hill Police Station boarded up, Chislehurst now a restaurant and Biggin Hill closed. What cahnce East Dulwich.

On the subject of statistics, for what they are worth, why not try and get some stats for accidents at the junction over say the last two years. You might be able to get these from the local police, Southwark Council or TFL. Its one thing going to these public forums with anecdotal evidence. Much better if you can throw some figures at them.

Got a nice pint of Guinness in The Bishop the other night. The atmosphere was good but didn't think much of the rest of the selections on Tap. Never tried The Uplands. By the sound of it don't want to.

Jimbo You could always try getting in a different carriageway and let someone else have the aggro.

Keef I agree with you that betting offices today are not the seedy underbelly of society anymore. The vast majority are now run by good legitimate businesses. The issue of a new betting ofice for LL was originally raised by Alba back in December with the question, "How can we stop it". Reading the postings there are mixed views and it would be interesting to see how strong the feeling is one way or the other. How about a quick simple poll. YES for I want it, NO for I don't want it or DC for don't care. I don't have strong views either way.

alba Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There is a planning application up on the window > for a betting shop on the old Woolwich building > society site. Right next to the massive William > Hill. I seem to remember there was a campaign > against William Hill before it opened. Does anyone > know why that failed and if there's any hope of > stopping this new betting shop not getting in?(I > forget what the name of this new betting shop is, > not one I'd heard of before) Alba started all this back in December with a simple question. There has been a lot of talk since both for against and, dare I say, unrelated to the original question. How about a simple response i.e YES for I want it and NO for I don't want it.

Sean I totally agree. We have always had a culture of excess in this country. You can trace it back to the gin palaces of the 19th century and beyond. We will never be a cafe culture nation like the French or Italians. I concur that bars and restaurants are far more family friendly now and provide for convivial surroundings. The same cannot be said for betting shops which are mainly male dominated, though some women do use them. Children are banned. It's not that many years ago that gambling was run by illegal street bookmakers, I can certainly remember them. Funny how things evolve. The illegal street bookmakers then became the legitimate face of the industry when betting shops were first licenced. What a way to run a country. You can't control the crime so legalise it, give the criminals a licence and let them run it. 45 years on they are big business.

Louisa Just drawing parallels. The evils of drink are just as bad when abused.

Comes back to what I said before. Will we have all sorts of special offers to lure people in and part them from their money just like the liquor industry does. The more offices you get the more they have got to fight to retain market share. Don't know much about hypnotic roulette but I do know a lot of people lose a lot of money on the tables both real and virtual. LL was quite busy tonight but not in the bookies. No special offers advertised. Some of the bars were quitey though. Enough of them already.

1/2 for starters but don't start a price war

1/2 for starters

I agre on the drink and drugs. So far as drink is concerned blame central government. They allowed the free for all on liquor licensed premises and made the situation worse by bringing in 24 hour drinking. Hence we have so many problems in our town centres. Now they are allowing the same free for all with gambling and betting shops. Drugs - other than prescription and over the counter - are a bit different in that they are illegal per se, drinking and gambling are not. Are we going to see the same discounted type offers in betting shops as we regularly see in pubs, off licenses and supermarkets. I don't know but wouldn't mind betting we do.

Keef Betting shops are now allowed to have clear windows that you can see through and many of the new ones are providing this facility with limited advertising features in the windows. Seeing into a betting office is now a lot easier. The fact some punters don't know when to quit is a problem often impacting on their familes. Big losers cause big problems for those who have to live with them. The average gambler is probably sensible playing to a budget but there are many that don't as you will probably remember from your days in a betting office.

Ant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There are already loads of betting shops in ED, > and they always seem to be empty apart from one or > two forlorn-looking punters. Ant, if you are opposed to it you have the opportunity to make your views heard by the LOcal Authority but the clock is ticking. Same goes for anybody else who is against it or for it.