Peckham Rye Station (being revamped?)

[PowerCorruptionLies]

I'm new to this forum and a Peckham SE15 (rather than East Dulwich SE22) resident and am surprised how may of you SE22 folks seem so keen to turn Peckham and Rye Lane in to a clone of Lordship Lane. Variety is the spice of life and whilst I agree that the litter and run down nature of some of the premises on Rye Lane can be untiddy, I personally prefer the character that the area has (like Electric Avenue in Brixton or Whitechapel Road in Tower Hamlets) to yet another string of Deli's, Coffee Shops and Trendy Boutiques selling a 'Life Style'! SE15 is a working class area (and not ashamed of it!) and so the mixture of shopping reflects that fact. So whilst many residents of SE22 are desperate to see the Iceland on Lordship Lane become an M&S or Waitrose and so excited about the arrival of Foxtons, for those on more modest incomes the availability of value for money basics is what matters and that is why Rye Lane is so popular and busy most days of the week. Plus, of course SE15 is cool whereas SE22 is not ... ha ha! But seriously, vive la diff?rence!

[Nero]

Please don't turn this into a class thing. It's boring and there are plenty of others who are keen to do just that on this forum. The Lane is down at heel, somewhat lawless and unpleasant. I ain't got a posh little nose, and I'm not super-sensitive, I just know when something works and when something doesn't. Rye Lane need't be full of knick-knack shops and coffee bars to be a decent shopping place. It just needs to be less litter-strewn, be passable most of the time by buses full of fare-paying passengers, and not have people peeing on the street and smoking weed, singly or in gangs. It's not much to ask. You can have 'character' and not be tawdry, you know. Nero

[mockney piers]

Well said Nero. nobody wants to turn it knick-knack hell 2, I think people would just like a bit of a spruce.

Nothing wrong with a bit of pride in appearance regardless of supposed class differences. (and for one who's picked up quickly on the forum buzzwords, you should have seen that theirs a goodly cross section represented on the forum).

Plus the last two times I've alighted at that station there's been a fracas/punch up just outside the station entrance, so a touch of decorum wouldn't go amiss either.

For the record I actually quite like the lane, especially scotch bonnets heaven.

[Louisa]

PowerCorruptionLies, I come from a long line of people who have lived in the ED/Peckham borders for many many years, and I am most certainly not a snob at any stretch of the imagination. My problem with Peckham is that the old larger retail names have all gone (Bhs, M&S, Sainsbury's eg) and th area has suffered as a result. I do not under any circumstances want to see The Lane strewn with fancy deli's and coffee bars, but I would like to see some famous High Street brand name return so that some of the older folk locally do not have to travel to Lewisham or Bromley to go shopping!

[Louisa]

and Nero I completely agree... Peckham never used to be so tawrdy back in the 70's and 80's, and I think the death of the big names locally has definitely contributed to the lawless atmosphere and/or appearance of The Lane in the last 15 to 20 years or so.

[pk]

everyone's on about 'big names' but retail is a pretty simple game of supply and demand - retailers tend not to close thriving shops, so may be the market that you lot seem to want isn't actually what the rest of peckham punters want (and they, as I, might even live in Peckham)?

but aside from that there are surely many more 'big names' in peckham than ED anyway - a google search for outlets on Rye Lane (so i don't promise it's 100% current, but most of them are still def there) shows

e.g. Abbey, Argos, Barclays, Boots, Carphone Warehouse, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Dollond and Aitchison, Halifax, Holland & Barrett, HSBC, Iceland, JD Sports, KFC, Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, Lloyds TSB, McDonalds, Mothercare, Nationwide, Phones4u, Post Office, Primark, Specsavers, Superdrug, WH Smiths, Morrisons, Woolworths (from a list that came up when i googled for shops on RL, so apologies if any inaccuracies)

so surely if large names are the route to success then Rye Lane out does Lordship Lane?

[pk]

and as for all the talk of 'lawlessness' and the like

i've spent a lot of time in and around rye lane day and night, in civvies and in suits and in various states of intoxication and have not been the target of any lawlessness - so is this just perceived by people on this board, or have people actually fallen victim to criminals in the area? (i appreciate that if you have this may have been disturbing, so i am genuinely sorry)

[Louisa]

That was not the point I was making pk, all of the above names you mention are small examples of what used to be on The Lane. LL does not have the retail space to attract large High Street shops, but Rye Lane most certainly does. The fact that stretch only has just a handful of the names it used to have and still has the capacity for many more, says an awful lot about the area. The likes of M&S and Bhs pulled out of Peckham because of complex reasons associated with the recession. Lewisham has a very similar population to Peckham, and yet all the big names have survived there. The role of the big names is to attract new shopping malls (the Aylesham Centre for example), and provide a clean and pleasant environment in which to shop. It also attracts people from far and wide to the local area to shop, which is good for the local economy. ED has become very different to Peckham, so large names are not the answer to success in areas like ED. In Peckham, the definitely are a good contributor.

[Louisa]

pk you must be one of the lucky ones then. Peckham has a high concentration of criminal activity which has sadly made the headlines more than once in recent years. I am not proud of the way the area has gained this reputation, and I would like to see a stop it. I have had my handbag snatched twice now along Rye Lane, and I now very rarely venture down there. I now take a longer route to Denmark Hill or sometimes ED station just so I can avoid Peckham, and this is coming from a true local who has been shopping in Peckham since I was a child with my parents. The area has changed, and I am not the only person afraid to shop down there. You are often literally putting your life at risk, and this is not an exaggeration. Older people can be particuarly frightened.

[pk]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> pk you must be one of the lucky ones then. Peckham

> has a high concentration of criminal activity

> which has sadly made the headlines more than once

> in recent years. I am not proud of the way the

> area has gained this reputation, and I would like

> to see a stop it. I have had my handbag snatched

> twice now along Rye Lane, and I now very rarely

> venture down there. I now take a longer route to

> Denmark Hill or sometimes ED station just so I can

> avoid Peckham, and this is coming from a true

> local who has been shopping in Peckham since I was

> a child with my parents. The area has changed, and

> I am not the only person afraid to shop down

> there. You are often literally putting your life

> at risk, and this is not an exaggeration. Older

> people can be particuarly frightened.

i am sorry to here that you have been a victim of crime in peckham and am willing to accept that i may have been lucky to date(and realistic enough to realise that being a 30 something 6'3" 16 stone bloke may make my perspective different) - so i am geuninely interested in other peoples experiences

i think that are obvious high profile cases, but the ones which spring up first to my mind involve kids rather than people going shopping or whatever

[Ko]

I was in a shop on Rye Lane about 2 months ago and a lady tried to snatch a handbag from a frail woman who must have been about 80 years old. The security guard was able to help out. I don't know how often this sort of thing happens though. I think the elderly need to be considered - we don't want them to be afraid to use their local shops.

On a positive note, everyone was very helpful to the old woman, making sure she was alright and offering to walk her home.

[Nero]

PK, you don't have to fall victim of a crime to understand and experience lawlessness. Lawlessness doesn't mean it has to be like Basra or Helmand province. Littering, riding bikes on pavements, peeing in the street, openly drinking to excess and smoking weed, all constitute lawlessness. It all adds up and makes the whole experience of being there unpleasant. Nero

[Louisa]

That makes a change, i've had nothing but rudeness everytime I have gone into Smiths or Primark, and this is despite me making an effort. For the very old and frail it can be a frightening experience. I was driving my car down down past the White Horse heading towards the Lane the other day in my car, and a lady of at least 80+ was crossing the road with her bag a few cars in front of me, and the person in the car was reving his engine and moving slowly forward to try and rush this poor lady on. I saw the situation and shouted in a very angry voice at the driver (who probably couldnt hear me anyway) and I stopped my car in the traffic to ask if the lady was ok, and cars behind me were hooting me on! This is not the Peckham I grew up in where people were friendly and helpful. My experiences and those of my friends are not in our imaginations.

[Doodles]

If the good people of Hampstead, or even Dulwich village, were complaining about people peeing in the street, smoking weed etc there would soon be a visible police presence.

[Louisa]

Exactly Doodles.

[Nero]

I agree with you. I don't live in Peckham, so why don't the people that do live there at least spend as much time trying to do somethign about it as they do writing on EDF? Harsh? Yup, but that's the only way you will ever begin to make a difference. It's not easy, but nor is life. Nero

[pk]

Nero Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> so why don't the people that do live there at least spend

> as much time trying to do somethign about it as

> they do writing on EDF?

what like open up a branch of Marks and Spencers?

[Nero]

No, don't think that would do it, Pk, do you? I was thinking about talking to the councillors, writing to the press, lobbying an MP, starting a petition, talking to the shopkeepers whose staff are surly. It's not hard. It'd take 30 minutes to do anyone of those. Over to the SE15 residents. Nero

[Doodles]

Yup. Used to work with someone who, whenever someone moaned about something always replied with;

? and what you did about it was???

Very true.

[Nero]

I'm not asking for a medal, but I've done the MP=lobbying, councillor-writing-to, neighbour-chatting to get things done. It often works. When it doesn't, then at least I've tried. I really have very, very little time for whingers who don't do at least something. Give it a go! Nero

[ghostlymaiden]

hmmm I will not start again about social housing. But I believe that is the route cause to all the problems in Peckham.

[mockney piers]

> hmmm I will not start again about social housing. But...

I can't remember who said it but I loved

"everything before the 'but' in a sentence is basically bull****.

;-)

[Doodles]

Yup. And in this case everything after it is B*llox.

[Louisa]

Someone talking bullsh*t and boll*x on the ED forum, Never!! :)

[SeanMacGabhann]

pfffft - I hear more common sense on hear than I do in many other places (along with the excretia and appendages you mention Louisa ;-) )