Nigello

Why can't business owners take the initiative anyway, without having to resort to handouts? Fair enough, if there is cash that is set aside for such things, do it, but its absence does not absolve an owner of a duty or responsibility to make things better. It makes me annoyed that some business owners (not many, but a few) let their properties be covered with tagging or have dodgy paving and do absolutely nothing about it.

It is good news, kristymac1: I like that there is mixed business and not too much food-and-drinkery. That strip is good because of its variety. I like having a DIY shop, a dentist, an old fashioned caff, a pub, a Co-Op (despite its eccentricities), a PO and a barber's shop etc., as well as restaurants and bistros. It could be made even better if the pavements were made even and perhaps a few trees - even in planters - were put in. Also, the bins are a bit stinky but at least they look nice and match the bollards.

The workman at the old launderette (near the Co-Op) said that it was due to open soon to serve "organic" but he didn't say as a shop or restaurant/cafe. There had been some flood damage from a flat upstairs so that was slowing things down but said it should be open "in a few weeks".

Let the synth meet the wave.....

Why not just ask, politely, that the "squatter" move to a more suitable table? It's easy and it works!

You could also use paper bags/carriers as long as your waste is not too wet, or is paper verboten in this particular bin?

New caff on FHR, nearer to the cemetery end: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1559065

I went past today and asked a man there - probably an owner/manager - when it was to open. He told me Thursday, from 0900 to about tea time. It'll be closed on Mondays and will serve hot and cold food. There is outside space at the back and it may open from 0730 in the future but it's not yet certain. It will be called Norris(s) and (K)night - no idea which way it will be spelt. Good luck to them!

"But if from the onset it looks like this is a thing for white middle classes, other groups (including white not middle classes) will just think it's not for them, and quite possibly resent the whole thing, maybe even opposing it." I think you'd have to be pretty churlish to oppose a public facility just because someone of your skin-tone does not appear in the preliminary funding-gambit video. Then again, such is (some) people's fragility and solipsism these days that I would not be surprised.

Tigres Pride is a voice of reason. My take is - as nearly always with these things - it is a class and not a race thing. Lots of this area's Caucasians are middle class; lots of this area's other races are working class and are much less likely to be involved in such undertakings, especially at their outset. I wish it weren't the case but it is (and I have no magic bullet).

Give it a pledge. A tenner or so won't be too much for most, if not, then a fiver. It'd be worth it if it were to happen.

If Barton Arcade was the upscale tube of shops/odd cafe between St A's Square and the Arndale, then yes, I think I did! (I could search for it and find my own answer, but in the spirit of the '80s, I shan't.) I also used to like the Armenian Cafe for post-club nosh and that bar diagonally opposite Napoleon's whose name escapes me (and my Google aversion).

There is a very big difference between commissioned art (even if it is not to your taste) and the scrawl of territorial tagging.

To tilt the compass northwards, my fave places in Manchester/Leeds from '84--'95 were No 1 Club (first place to play house in the UK, someone said, but I am not so sure, but the gilt and chrome and ?1 cans of icey Breakers lager were great); Hacienda (it was regularly empty during the week and even at weekends it was often quiet, except for certain band nights and, of course, post '88. Nude Night was not as kinky as it sounds - it was funk on a Friday night); Stuffed Olives (subterranean, glamorous, camp, northern but which took on a newer life once Acid House arrived); Cyprus Tavern (rowdy-ish, student-y - when there were hardly any students, compared to now); Rockshots; Corbieres (cellar wine bar with good Goth/indie/New Romo/townie mix and a good jukebox); Archway; New York, New York (Rovers' Return meets Joe Orton's parlour via Walk On The Wildside); Paradise Factory (all was getting a bit too ravy-Davy-gravy for me by then); Le Phonographique (shopping centre-based, downstairs broom cupboard with a novel approach to fire safety and emergency exitry but good al the same); Warehouse; London wise, Nag Nag Nag was a great night as was Sex in Leicester Square way back and Kinky Gerlinky too.

There were people in a mid-revamp property near to the Turkish shop at the upper end of FHR early evening. It looks like it's going to be a bar or caff. Hope it does well.

In my day (in England) they were power cuts....and would last about three days!

Another bank/building society would be good (Co-Op, Metro?) and a revamped Post Office would go down well. Less realistic would be a Byron/Tas/Wahaca/Strada.

Great news - thanks for organising it and thanks to the owners for allowing it to be repainted.

The first pair of seats behind the stairwell upstairs (on a standard double decker), with a window and extra legroom, is like premium economy. Shame that fellow passengers can be verminous: just got off one that was full of discarded newspapers and other litter.

It's a big size - about the size of a block of four sugar bags and is mounted in a small cubpoard so it reduces the depth of the space available. I will measure up and see whether a fridge and a freezer would fit side-by-side.

The manager at the Sylvester Rd office seems like a reasonable man and is approachable, so why not let him know about your concerns?

Louisa, the voice of reason! (No joke, this time)

I was thinking of a fridge and a freezer, separate, with enough space behind and in front to allow circulation. The area has a door and a light/leccy. The gas meter is there already: I suppose the "gas board" (ask your dad) would have to shift that, unless anyone else knows different.

Has anyone used the small space beneath the stairs for fridge/washing machine etc? If so, what were the costs and considerations that needed to be taken? Ta.

I want the developments to be bold but, more importantly, useful and practical. I don't want diluted-down, committee-designed naffness but I'm not sure I will get it. (Some of the hackneyed eyewash I saw in that PDF was lamentable.) Encourage all manner of businesses but make sure they know they have a (self) interest in keeping the place tidy and clean; clear the piazza in front of the station; offer seating (but strive not to attract congregations of piss-heads, like has happened in Brixton outside the Ritzy); plant trees and borders and *maintain* them well; keep the buses moving; penalise illegal parkers that cause annoying and pollution-enhancing jams (as is the case now, with nary an intervention) and just use common sense in the design and implementation. Here's hoping.......