GALA 2025

[Rockets]

33 minutes ago, malumbu said:

As far as I am aware you have shown no interest in the Gala thread but anything you find to knock a local authority, and no doubt hope that it applies to Southwark LTNs, then off you go. I'd love to hear what you enjoy. 

I think the point you're missing is that our local authorities are happy to siphon off the amenities we pay for for commercial gain at the cost of local residents. Both Peckham Rye (and Brockwell Park more so) become partly unusable because of said events and it seems both are ignoring the input of locals who have to live with the disruption/post event damage. And it is not clear where any revenue generated from these events is going to or if they are actually generating any revenue for the council at all.

As someone who uses Brockwell Park a lot I can tell you the disruption to that park was awful last year so much of it is closed off.

And as Fishboy points out you lament the old free festivals but these are supposed to be being funded by this type of event - but where are they? Dulwich Park festival was massively curtailed this year so how come it's fine for the council to roll over for commercial festivals but community run events are suffering? Do the councils not have their priorities a bit mixed up?

Anyway, I have always hated inner-city "festivals". Give me a proper in the wilds of the countryside miles from anywhere festival any day of the week....

[first mate]

58 minutes ago, malumbu said:

There are some people round my way who used to complain about the music at the Horniman on a summer Sunday afternoon.  This is not comparable to the disruption due to the Gala, I hasten to add.  But I was stunned at the time thinking how could they have issues with some soul/jazz/afro beat/samba/Latino etc 

I loved those Horniman events. But the musicians turned up, people listened, they had a good time and then went home, it was a short-lived event. The difference with Gala is the level of disruption for weeks beforehand and after; it is not about the music but everything else. I hate seeing a huge section of park barricaded off, turned into a giant building site, with large vehicles and fencing everywhere, and security standing or sitting at all the entrances- it feels weird and it affects the vibe of the park.

 

[tedfudge]

1 hour ago, first mate said:

I loved those Horniman events. But the musicians turned up, people listened, they had a good time and then went home, it was a short-lived event. The difference with Gala is the level of disruption for weeks beforehand and after; it is not about the music but everything else. I hate seeing a huge section of park barricaded off, turned into a giant building site, with large vehicles and fencing everywhere, and security standing or sitting at all the entrances- it feels weird and it affects the vibe of the park.

 

Your right but also the amount of crime this may cause through robbery of phones and money , people urinating in the street up against people's walls and houses when they leave , the possible vandalism to people's cars the drugs ( users and dealers ) that may show up , the possible violence through fighting or stabbings and god forbid any sort of sexual assaults ... this is another concern for people in the area... 

[fishboy]

4 hours ago, ConzernedResident said:

Do none of you people want anyone to experience joy anywhere near your houses? I've been a local resident for nearly 10 years, and I love that London feels vibrant and alive in the summer and there are festivals and young people enjoying themselves. 

 

Think everyone here needs to take a chill pill 

So to enable people to experience 3 days of 'joy', our family has to endure two weeks of 7 days a week, 12 hours a day construction noise around 50m from our front window. That's HGVs driving up & down the road, constant reversing beeps from fork lifts & tractors, scaffolding poles crashing, pneumatic wrenches rattling, shouting etc etc. from 8am to 8pm. Every day. Even Sundays.

Do you have all that near your house?

Then there's the anti social behaviour during the festival, right outside our home - minicabs arriving, punters jumping out, chucking bottles and cans on the floor, having a quick p*ss against the wall, then off to the festival to have their 'joy'. Again & again, all afternoon & evening. For the whole bank holiday weekend. Guys having nitrous oxide parties in their cars, right outside our home at midnight, 1am. 

Do you have all that near your house? 

And then there's the strike afterwards, more construction noise for another week - 8am to 8pm, every day - then they disappear, leaving the park covered in fag butts, bottle tops, ring pulls, cable ties, cellophane filter tip tubes, disposable vapes, all usually trampled into the ground so that they are virtually impossible to remove. And then several months for the grass to almost recover enough for people to use again, except by then the summer is long gone. 

Do you really think a "chill pill" is going to miraculously resolve all this? Please, have some empathy for people who are really impacted by this event. I've nothing against festivals, but they need to be located in a suitable space, and a small public park close to residential homes isn't it.

[jazzer]

3 hours ago, malumbu said:

 

There are some people round my way who used to complain about the music at the Horniman on a summer Sunday afternoon.  This is not comparable to the disruption due to the Gala, I hasten to add.  But I was stunned at the time thinking how could they have issues with some soul/jazz/afro beat/samba/Latino etc 

Shane they don't have the same number of free events any more.  I digress....

It was the Jerk Off festival, nothing wrong with that, the issue was with some of those who attended who's behaviour on the surrounding roads was unacceptable to residents. 

[malumbu]

Nope that concern predates the Jerk festival.  But I am talking about when I first moved to SE London and some locals complained that the nice music was too loud.

Separately some people are still moaning about the Jerk festival,  Felt some comments were (casual) racist, but that is a different subject matter. That day was great,  A victim of its own success. Akin to Fatboy Slim playing a free festival on Brighton beach, quarter if a million went but it took a long long time to clean up. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Beach_Boutique_II

Edited 11 hours ago by malumbu

[first mate]

9 hours ago, fishboy said:

Do you really think a "chill pill" is going to miraculously resolve all this? Please, have some empathy for people who are really impacted by this event. I've nothing against festivals, but they need to be located in a suitable space, and a small public park close to residential homes isn't it.

This is the point, this is an increasingly large scale event in the wrong location. 

[Angelina]

the insult and frustration is that we have no recourse given the council turn a blind eye.