ArchieCarlos

I expect it will be faster once the works are done. Right now the lights cycle between each of the 4 directions before opening out to pedestrians. Once done, it should be a 2 way light, so the waiting time for pedestrians (and cars!) should hopefully be halved

Hi, I am looking for a builder who could install a garden pergola, ideally one of the bioclimatic ones with louvred roof. Would anyone have a good recommendation? Thanks!

I used Mason & Green a few times for the airport and would recommend. Cheaper than Addison Lee but equivalent standard. Very punctual. Professional drivers. Can request baby or child seat if needed

I am delighted to hear the development was approved. In my opinion, the UK is building far too little housing. And unless we build on green belts, the only solution is to increase the density of our cities, which is exactly what this scheme achieves. Where I'm from (France), planning is generally looser and in my home city it's common to see single dwellings being razed to make way for a 5-6 story block of flats, even in city centres. Does it change the character of the local area? For sure! But I don't see another way to provide the supply to meet demand and provide ample supply of housing for a growing population. My personal experience is that in the UK, there is a lot more time spent on consultations, on achieving a perfect outcome for everyone. This results in generally better and more harmonious building than in France, but it makes things slower and more costly, with the need to coordinate many consultants. It's interesting to compare France and the UK as they have similar populations and population growth, with an economy centred on a huge capital city. When you look at the number of houses/flats built in France and the UK over the past 10 years, the result is pretty striking. # France UK Difference 2023 298,100 150,370 -147,730 2022 392,100 182,070 -210,030 2021 410,000 177,160 -232,840 2020 368,800 129,440 -239,360 2019 387,700 153,000 -234,700 2018 401,200 168,610 -232,590 2017 434,700 164,110 -270,590 2016 370,000 155,150 -214,850 2015 341,000 148,150 -192,850 2014 336,900 140,760 -196,140 2013 357,900 124,790 -233,110 2012 382,300 101,020 -281,280 Total 4,480,700 1,794,630 -2,686,070 Average 373,392 149,553 -223,839 When HS1 was built, the French engineers (it was built with the French high-speed signalling) were surprised at how Brits wanted to "gold-plate" everything. The UK arguably has the best, most effective, more reliable, more well-equipped high-speed line in the world, but we've only got 68 miles of it and it cost 2.5 times what it cost the French to build a line extension at the same time. In my view, there's no magic wand: just deciding who will be the losers. In France, people in established neighbourhoods my lose out as they see them change dramatically, while the new entrants benefit from a much higher supply of housing (and thus cheaper housing). In the UK, we give greater priority to preserving the lifestyle and amenity of the established dwellers over the new entrants who lose out as the supply is choked and prices are higher. A final point of comparison would be the price per square foot of property in Greater Paris is £467 while in Greater London it's £667 - 30% cheaper!

A nice article has recently been published about the Grove here: https://pa-training.shorthandstories.com/dulwichs-grove-tavern/index.html "We will start looking for a pub operator shortly.” Karen Wood, Head of Communications at the Dulwich Estate

So disabled parking 20m away from the chemist is not okay, but parking right outside, i.e. 5m would be okay? I think a disabled bay 20m and another one 25m away seems fair enough. If it's really too far to walk, then I really think home deliveries should be the way to go. Plenty of pharmacies provide this service if the one in the village doesn't.

There is a disabled parking bay in front of Meghan's on DV as well as one on Gilkes Place on the side of Meghan's. There is also one round the corner on Gilkes Crescent where it meets Calton avenue. The overall number of parking bays (paid ones with 30min free) is the same as before. This was achieved by creating new parking bays on Gilkes Place. They're not obvious to spot for those used to parking on the parade but they're there. I'm also glad the council has retained the free 30min as they'd initially proposed getting rid of it.

I was there a few days ago and it was nice to see so many people using the new space. Now if only there were more decent places to eat in the village...

Overall there is a lot of good in this proposal, however the thing that I cannot understand is why the council uses two road signs and two different terminologies to represent the same concept: Bus gates, with the blue road sign, indicating that only buses, cycles, emergency vehicles and taxis can enter at certain times Road closures, with the red road sign, indicating that cars and motorcycles are prohibited at certain times These two essentially represent the same thing, but I find it very confusing to have two sets of signs. The red sign which points to a prohibition / warning seems much more appropriate in order to inform the behaviour of drivers of cars and motorcycles. That aside, I'm not sure the bus gate adds anything as the bit that currently gets very busy is the stretch of Peckham Rye close to Nigel road. It makes navigating the area harder without making much of a positive contribution (except fines). It also seems a shame that the cycle lanes at the top of Peckham Rye and on East Dulwich Rd are not connected. It would be good to see some more planting, especially the northern bit where they are removing two trees. This part of Peckham Rye is all concrete and pretty sad. And finally, I'd really like to see the council about the stretch of Peckham Rye in the town centre, which seems to be in much more urgent need of TLC than the one being addressed in this consultation.

We used Wooster & Stock to sell in the same area last year (after another agent didn't work out). I liked that their folks have all worked there for 10+ years and they are very focused on this area.

It's a bit pricy but it's very good and nice atmosphere. Lunch is better value.

Now that it's been a few weeks, here are my impressions: The stones used appear well laid (unlike Lordship Lane's pavements) and the overall workmanship seems of good quality There is nice street furniture replacing the colourful ones which were starting to look badly worn down. It's a bit too 'mineral', but I think it's because we need to give time for the planting to grow and of course, we're in winter. The repainted road is easier to navigate than the temporary arrangements of before. Draining of rain seems to work well, something which in my experience is often an issue on these large paved areas. Perhaps the openings in the planted areas are helping with this. We could spend years debating whether or not this junction should have been closed to cars or whether it's good value for money, but that wouldn't change anything as what's done is done. I think it would be more interesting to discuss how to make the most out of what we have now since, whether we like it or not, it's clearly here to stay. Will the planting done be enough and should we have more? (e.g. in large pots) Will cyclists cut across the space and need some obstacles to help guide them? (haven't seen it so far but it could happen) How could businesses, charities and other organisations use the space to make it a bit more alive? Somewhere people spend time in rather than just go through. Anyone else has ideas?

Taylor’s Greengrocers to open at 43 Dulwich Village Popular Maltby Street greengrocer arrives in the New Year. Good news for the village which doesn't have much choice for groceries! https://www.thedulwichestate.org.uk/whats-happening/taylors-greengrocers-to-open-at-43-dulwich-village

I fully agree. I hope you had some khinkali (Georgian dumplings), they're fantastic! They used to have only meat ones but now they also have mushroom ones and they're great. I always try to fit in a honey cake at dessert. Overall I appreciate that their food and menu seems to only improve with time.

Yesterday on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy87rmx2k5yo

Hi, I think it's a bit unfair, I find the consultation website quite good. Takes a little while getting used to, but you can then zoom on every part of every street, click and see what is going on in great detail and precision. Overall I am not against the changes, but one thing bothers me: the car parking on Gilkes Crescent & Dulwich Village. It's nice that they keep 19 public car parking bays, however they've gone from being free to costing £5.10 per hour, which seems extremely expensive to me. It's more expensive than on-street parking in Chelsea or Westminster, but Southwark is far from being as rich a borough as those. That would be a big loss of amenity to the locals (and not so locals who like to visit the village). I would suggest they offer 30min free parking and then paid after this at a more reasonable rate, in keeping with what they charge on, say, Lordship Lane.

Hi, We are looking for a night nanny, 2-5 nights a week to help with our 1 month old. We live near Bellenden Road and we have a separate bedroom and bathroom for the nanny to stay in.

Looking for a nanny, private chef, receptionist, property manager and cleaner but willing to pay £14/h. Oh and you're supposed to do all this in 2-3h per day. And I'll be monitoring your performance and tracking your KPIs. And you'll have to be LOYAL. But think of the learning opportunities! Yikes!

I'm glad you mentioned it, it's unfathomably bad and patchy. I've tried switching from EE to Three to Vodafone to Giffgaff (O2's network) and they were all crap, I ended up going back to EE and I'm still 'delighted' when I can get 2 bars of reception out of 4. It also seems like mobile phone companies aren't really seeing the problem. While EE and Vodafone admit their 5G is a little patchy, they claim to have perfect 4G coverage in the area (screenshots below). I wonder if there's a good way to report this issue to network providers?

Hi Magda. My wife and I recently had our baby at St Thomas’s. The care we received was great, and I liked that as a teaching hospital we always had two midwives looking after us (a qualified one and a final year trainee midwife), which isn’t the case in all places. Almost everyone we dealt with was caring and pleasant and it feels like a generally well run place. I also like that all the delivery rooms and most of the postnatal rooms have massive windows with great views around London from their location on the upper floors. In that respect Kings feels more like a rabbit warren. Comparison wise, we have many friends who recently had babies at Kings and said it was fine. Our antenatal class leader (a senior midwife) told us she would definitely choose St Thomas or Lewisham over Kings. The CQC reports are also much more flattering for St Thomas and Lewisham. Yes it’s a bit further away for the regular midwives appointments but it’s not that bad. And for the big day, our midwives reassured us and said don’t worry, when you start to have contractions, it’s extremely unlikely you wouldn’t have plenty enough time for the 30min trip from ED to Tommys. Overall I think they’re all fine, but as a regular visitor to both Kings and St Thomas, I would prefer to spend 5 days in the latter than the former (as we recently did due to c-section) and St Thomas generally feels less understaffed/reliant on locum staff than Kings

As Malumbu says, it's nothing new. Below are some pictures of Choumert Street market in Peckham during the summer. As you can see the awnings cover the whole sidewalk. So Bora is not causing any impediment to anyone, giving some free shade to pedestrians and a nice spectacle of fruit display - case closed. If you guys are looking for something to argue about, why don't you join the LTN debate on the transport forum?

I wonder if you have been able to deal with Lidl's head office as a first port of call. I would imagine them not being happy at all to hear this happened, and they would likely launch an internal investigation where they can interview colleagues, access CCTV records, etc. If that didn't work and the police isn't being more helpful, perhaps the media might help - it seems like something the Guardian might report on

Here are some pictures which show that it's not obstructing anything or anyone. Seriously people, just live and let live. I can't believe you would want to bother the council, waste taxpayer money, waste your own time and seek to harm a local business because of a piece of white cloth. Of all the fights to be fought, I'm sure you can find a more worthy cause to defend with your time. btw their French black plums are really good right now, same for the French melons (cheaper than the Italian ones).

Absolutely disgusting! The council should be shutting them down at once and have their tomatoes thrown on the facade for good measure! Nothing less will satisfy my outrage. More seriously it's a strange thing to be complaining about. Yes, you need to walk under their drape/awning thing to cross the pavement - but is that really so bad?