dan b

London doesn’t have a lot of Argentinian places specialising in empanadas, which suggests demand isn’t that great. There are many neighbourhoods with none at all or even nearby. So for a mini-chain like Chango (several branches in SW London) to open here where there’s already a well established family run place doing the same feels a bit off. I’ll be giving Chacarero my ongoing custom.

Same here. Have attended Gala for a few years, went on Sunday. Decent crowd and one that’s very unlikely to be stabby as suggested by another poster. A load of young people having fun and that’s part of the service that London parks should provide from time to time. I do agree though that one long weekend a year is enough and is a fair compromise for all though. Two weekends of events would be unfair to those living nearby. Fair to say that many attendees are not from the direct local area but plenty of them are from south London and made their way into Nunhead and east Dulwich afterwards. As for noise we couldn’t hear anything from north west of Peckham Rye but I can imagine it was loud for those east of it. One of Gala’s outdoor stages was particularly loud but the main stage and the tents seemed to have noise limits on to the point of the main stage not being loud enough. Anyone in Dulwich / Herne Hill hearing music over the weekend would have been hearing XtheTracks and the other events in Brockwell park (could hear it from Dulwich park yesterday), not Gala.

Steve and Nicola of Back to Wood have just done some work on our floors in our new house, after we used them a few years ago at our old place. Another excellent job done by them on original floorboards, superb finish and attention to detail in every aspect. They also left the house very clean. Would highly recommend them. Steve’s number is 07949 411650.

Spartacus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's a real shame that the cross river partnership > failed in their bid to bring trams back to Peckham > town centre and up to north of the river via > Holborn ten plus years ago. > > My impression at the time was that local vocals > both at this end of the route (mainly objecting to > the depot being in the town centre) and at various > points along the route caused it to lose support. > > > Cross river were considering extending it to meet > up with the Croydon tram if it was implemented > > How short sighted were people in objecting to it > as it would have been a clean green transport > method helping to reduce our reliance on cars. I have lived in cities with great tram networks, but the proposed cross river tram was never going to work well. It would necessarily be routed along roads and be held up in congestion like buses, and would replicate the route served by the 343 and 136. Also the plans as they evolved meant that only the Peckham to Waterloo section would be built first, and then they hoped to get Camden and other boroughs to agree to having trams and following suit. Notably the planned southern route to Peckham would go down Heygate St and Thurlow St and miss out Walworth Road and Camberwell completely so query how useful it would be for many areas. As for vocal locals objecting, well the plan was to demolish the entire Bussey Building/Copeland Park site to build a giant tram depot which would have had disastrous effects on Peckham town centre. Some of the buildings around Peckham High St would also have had to go. It took a lot of lobbying and petitioning to persuade councillors and TFL to look for other sites.

Spartacus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's a real shame that the cross river partnership > failed in their bid to bring trams back to Peckham > town centre and up to north of the river via > Holborn ten plus years ago. > > My impression at the time was that local vocals > both at this end of the route (mainly objecting to > the depot being in the town centre) and at various > points along the route caused it to lose support. > > > Cross river were considering extending it to meet > up with the Croydon tram if it was implemented > > How short sighted were people in objecting to it > as it would have been a clean green transport > method helping to reduce our reliance on cars. I have lived in cities with great tram networks, but the proposed cross river tram was never going to work well. It would necessarily be routed along roads and be held up in congestion like buses, and would replicate the route served by the 343 and 136. Also the plans as they evolved meant that only the Peckham to Waterloo section would be built first, and then they hoped to get Camden and other boroughs to agree to having trams and following suit. Notably the planned southern route to Peckham would go down Heygate St and Thurlow St and miss out Walworth Road and Camberwell completely so query how useful it would be for many areas. As for vocal locals objecting, well the plan was to demolish the entire Bussey Building/Copeland Park site to build a giant tram depot which would have had disastrous effects on Peckham town centre. Some of the buildings around Peckham High St would also have had to go. It took a lot of lobbying and petitioning to persuade councillors and TFL to look for other sites.

Yes, I'll update if and when the police update me. In the meantime, to assuage the concerns of those generously offering the benefit of doubt above - the van pulled up, the driver stayed inside while the passenger opened the back up and then loaded a new-ish and reasonably expensive-looking bike into it which had been fixed to a lamp-post. The man pictured was wearing a cap and face mask and covered his face from me when he saw me filming. I could not see whether he cut the lock or had a key, so I can't confirm definitively that it was stolen as requested above. But the fact pattern strongly suggests so. Not clear why the possibility of them being scrap metal dealers and/or whether the van is stolen (unsure how you checked this?) would have any bearing on this.

Hi, yes, I have PM'd you

just seen two men in a white LDV/Luton van taking a bicycle at the top end of Bellenden Rd, Reg number RX08 EPC. The van is covered in graffiti as per photos attached. Reported to police, do keep an eye out for them. (Title changed to be accurate - Admin)

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bsand Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I only went there once in 2013 and that was once > enough - I wrote a review on a blog at the time - > I hope it has improved since then - if you want a > farang authentic Thai experience try Som Saa in > Commercial Street - Andy's food there really hits > the mark. Or Eysarn Kheaow in Sheperd's Bush for > authentic Thai cuisine. Most Thai food in the UK > is bland rubbish cooked by substandard chefs > press-ganged chefs who have few other choices to > earn a living and they despice the food to appeal > to a western palate destroying the delicate > balance of flavours in the process.You'll get a > better tHai meal from M&S ready meals than most > Thai restaurants in the UK. The best chefs never > leave the country as they can earn a fortune there > if they are half business minded and cook 'aroy' > (tasty). > > > I have been a long term resident of Thailand and > am a frequent visitor and seeker out of authentic > Thai food and so was very interested to seek out > the hyped claims of the Begging Bowl as it is > pretty local to my wife and I. Basically don't > believe the hype - all of our dishes failed to hit > the mark and the best I can say is that the > ingredients were fresh and well presented and the > staff are friendly and efficient in a cool space. > The Thai fish cakes seemed liked canned tuna > dressed up as deep fried barbequed chicken > nuggets. Wet and rather pointless. The duck curry > was too hot and lacked coconut milk and any sort > of delicate flavours to have balance and was too > effete in those that it had to be regarded as > anywhere near 'street authentic'. The pork belly > which replaced the menu pork belly option was like > eating soggy cardboard - it's hard to make pork > boring and tasteless but they did. By the time the > last course came I wasn't expecting much and they > didn't disappoint - it was steamed sea bream with > a jug of some sort of watery sauce. No flavours at > all to speak of and so we asked for chilli sauce > and got some sweet bottled variety to try and > spice it up a bit. In the end we came away rather > sad - because if this is a restaurant from an > acolyte of David Thompson then he should > dissociate himself forthwith. I have tasted a > couple of dishes of his at London's Taste Festival > and they were amongst the very best food of any > cuisine that I have ever tasted. Here it was a > confused, bland attempt at Thai food that missed > the mark by miles. The place on Friday night was > heaving and folk were having to queue for up to > and over an hour so they were busy as they will > ever be and most folk seemed to be enjoying > themselves so what the heck. The staff were > friendly and efficient and the place had a > welcoming buzz but sadly if it's delicious food > with Thai heritage you are after then try > somewhere else because the Begging Bowl is > definitely not it. Odd view and comparison given that the chef you acclaim, Andy from Som Saa, used to work at the Begging Bowl, at around the time you went in 2013 (he did his pop up van at the back of Bar Story at that time too). The head chef at Farang is another who used to work at the Begging Bowl. Thai chefs of their pedigree obviously think that Jane is a good chef. Maybe you had an off night that one time you went five years ago, and you should give it another go?