peckham rye caf? fire

[iamyamyam]

Just arrived at the caf? to find the remnants of a fire. Apparently somone broke in and tried to torch it. Caf? is still up and running. What's wrong with some people?

[The Nappy Lady]

As my 5 year old said this morning when hubby came back from the dog walk and told us about it;

"some people are just naughty and mean"

Molly.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Is the arson more than just hearsay?

[DonGee]

where is this cafe exactly?

[GregI]

It's in Peckham Rye Common where the Common meets Peckham Rye Park (on Strakers Road). It's a very friendly, nice little cafe with good quality food in my experience

[Manda]

Not another case of arson in the park? Any chance of CCTV or a 24 hour webcam being installed? The Cafe is too valuable to the park and the community to be left vulnerable.

[p_in_ed]

That's terrible news. How bad was the damage?

I love going to the Cafe on the Rye - it's a lovely cafe. Good food, relaxed atmosphere and a great place to meet friends. A real asset to the neighbourhood.

[boosboss]

Luckily the fire was restricted to the office accom at the rear. The fire doors prevented the spread of the fire and the alarm system alerted the fire brigade.

[brum]

Good to see that effective fire precautions, well maintained, actually work. Fire doors are there for a reason and so if you're in a building and see one wedged open, close it.

[monica]

What a shame, the Pavillion cafe in Dulwich park are always targeted, they fought to get CCTV and the last I heard it was installed but not working. Parks need 24 hour security, what happened to the good old park keeper.

[thebestnameshavegone]

monica Wrote:

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

> Parks need 24 hour security, what happened to the

> good old park keeper.

They still have them?

Those damn beauracrats in Brussels won't allow them to work 24-hr shifts unfortunately, so they down tools at a respectable time, the lazy Bolsheviks.

[kford]

monica Wrote:

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

> What a shame, the Pavillion cafe in Dulwich park

> are always targeted, they fought to get CCTV and

> the last I heard it was installed but not working.

> Parks need 24 hour security, what happened to the

> good old park keeper.

Agreed. All CCTV does is record rather than prevent crime. What use is some grainy footage of youths in hoods anyway? It's probably not even admissible in court, as Westminster CC found out recently after installing their multi-million pound system.

[fuzzyboots]

Coo kford ... rather controversial "youths in hoods"...?! (spoken as the mother of former hoody wearing teenager who didn't commit offences and who is now (as then) a charming young man studying languages at University!) I agree that "youths in hoods" can be threatening and can commit criminal acts, but still...

And if anyone was responsible for attacking the Cafe in the Park, then bloody shame on them and I hope they/he/she get caught and made to face up to their actions and pay the consequences. Including a face to face apology to the business owners who provide, imo, a very lovely service.

T

x

[thebestnameshavegone]

fuzzyboots Wrote:

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

> Coo kford ... rather controversial "youths in

> hoods"...?! (spoken as the mother of former hoody

> wearing teenager who didn't commit offences and

> who is now (as then) a charming young man studying

> languages at University!) I agree that "youths

> in hoods" can be threatening and can commit

> criminal acts, but still...

>

> And if anyone was responsible for attacking the

> Cafe in the Park, then bloody shame on them and I

> hope they/he/she get caught and made to face up to

> their actions and pay the consequences. Including

> a face to face apology to the business owners who

> provide, imo, a very lovely service.

>

> T

> x

what about insurance fraud / a genuine accidental fire?

Has that been ruled out?

Or are we already questioning all 'youths in hoods' within a 5-mile radius?

[fuzzyboots]

Quite so thebestnameshavegone! That was my sentiment entirely, although it seems I may not have made that clear!

I would doubt that there's an insurance fraud element in operation here, though.

The fire service, having unfortunately personally experienced a pretty serious housefire this year, are pretty damned good at initial assessment of the cause of fires, so I'm sure they'll have it all sorted. (Ours was an electrical fire caused by a random fault in an under the counter freezer and apparently, (we know now) they're not that uncommon!)

Whilst it may be tempting to mentally allocate this fire at the Cafe to "youths in hoods", let us not condemn "them" before they are found to be actually culpable, or indeed, anything to do with it!

[brum]

Controversial? Not sure about that. I think the point of the post was to highlight he failings of a CCTV system in general, in that the criminals can easily conceal their identity by wearing hoods. It depends on how you read it whether the comment was controversial or not

[HAL9000]

A cafe is likely to have various items of electrical (and maybe gas) equipment switched on overnight - fridges, freezers, chilled display counters, water heaters, whatever - so, therefore, an electrical fire seems (to me) to be the first cause to be eliminated before malicious third parties are invoked.

[brum]

Fire investigation is a skilled business and you're right Hal that electrical faults are the cause of a large number of fires. In the first instance the fire investigator will be looking for this, as well as all other possible causes until evidence is discovered that points towards a probable cause. For example. any sign of break-in, evidence of accelerants, multiple seats of fire all point towards a suspicious cause.

[karter]

Sorry to hear about what's happened. This cafe' does not fry food though right? Establishments that use fryers and that have extractor fans filling up with grease are much more likely to have a fire though, just like what happened to the chicken shop near the Bish. Could be electrical though, as Hal has pointed out.

[PeckhamRose]

The first post says "Apparently someone broke in and tried to torch it."

I look forward to hearing some more facts. I can practically see it from my flat but have not had the opportunity to go visit yet. It is so sad. The first meeting the Friends of Peckham Rye Park had with the architects of the first design was of a bigger cafe but with a lot of designing in of security and safety. Sadly the funds weren'tthere for the bigger cafe (although clearly it would have been worth it since the one we have is so very popular). I do hope we hear some facts soon about what happened.

[citizenED]

I was there on Saturday, enjoying a coffee as I watched a the footie players training, the proud mums and dads promenading and the doggie walkers, er, dogging (?).

Hope the damage is not grate and good to hear the little gem is still open.

[curlykaren]

I live on the rye, probably about as close as it is possible to live to the cafe and on the night in question saw, 'youths in hoods' trying to set each other on fire for 'a laugh', in the carpark outside my house, shortly after the rubbish bin directly next to my flat mysteriously caught fire, then later the cafe...I am quite happy to make the not too massive assumption that it was the same youths. Yes of course I told the police. This type of behaviour is not a 'youthful prank' but deadly, who knows what would have happened to me and baby if the bin fire had not been spotted?

[PeckhamRose]

I am sure the police are on to this, and thanks curlykaren for telling us. We're glad you and baby are ok. At the next police ward panel I shall ask the police and SPCOs to tell us the latest. The next panel is in December and I will list it here nearer the time.

[thebestnameshavegone]

Quite a sspeculative post there - indeed, who knows.

Maybe nothing?

[iamyamyam]

Hiya, I was told by the guy behind the counter at the cafe that someone had broken in and tried to set fire to the place. The police were there and what I took to be a foresnics person ( police or fire brigade i know not which) was photgraphing smoky hand prints which were visible from the seating area.