Trees.

The photos above – click on either for a larger view – show the former public park located in West Street, Erith. As you can see, the trees which were growing on the site have now been cut down and public access prevented by the tall wooden hoardings which have been erected. The site is due to be the location of another housing development. Bexley Council benefit twice over from this construction; firstly from the sale of the former public park land to the property developer, and secondly from the council tax which they will be able to levy on the occupants of the development once it is constructed. I do find it quite interesting that the majority of the areas being slated for development by the council tend to be in the less affluent North of the London Borough of Bexley, rather than in the Southern wards of the borough, which tend to be populated by people more likely to vote for the incumbent Conservative administration. Further eastwards from this new development are Erith Riverside Gardens – famously the only place in the whole of the London Borough of Bexley where residents and visitors can gain access to the River Thames. The confusingly named Erith High Street, which runs adjacent to the Riverside Gardens, has had road works on it for some considerable time now, they started in November and are due to be completed in mid March. The works are to remove some car parking spaces and make the gardens more accessible. This was meant to be the first phase of a programme of works to revitalise and improve the Riverside Gardens. I have heard that the additional works to the Riverside Gardens are currently in doubt; apparently the builders’ quotations have been far higher than the council were expecting. What will happen next is currently unknown, as the works were originally scheduled to begin in late Spring / early Summer 2023.

Many readers will be acutely aware of the drastic reduction in the number of high street banks over the last few years. Banks in Erith, Belvedere, Northumberland Heath and Bexleyheath (the former HSBC in Bexleyheath Broadway is shown above) have all closed their doors for good. The banks claim that most people now do their banking online, and that they cannot justify maintaining a large network of physical bank branches. If this was not challenging enough, there is a new type of bank which is starting to spread around the country – a bank that does not handle cash. It has been known for many years in the wider business community that banks don’t like cash, but this has now been expanded. there are now at least three banks in the UK where the Queen’s (or soon the King’s) face is nowhere to be seen. Barclays – which operates two of the branches in King’s Cross and Hanover Square, both in London – said they are designed for customer meetings with bank staff, while Santander said its cashless branch in Leeds is primarily a co-working hub. Both banks pointed out that the branches are within easy reach of others which do facilitate cash deposits, and Barclays said it has no current plans to expand them elsewhere. For many, paying with notes and coins has become a forgotten habit – leaving us at a loss when we need a pound for the trolley at the supermarket or the locker at the gym.  As many as 23 million people in the UK used cash only once or not at all in 2021, according to the banking trade body UK Finance, an increase of 10 million in just one year. Cash has gone from accounting for more than 17 billion payments – 45 percent of the total number of transactions in 2015 – to just six billion in 2021. The figures for 2022 are as yet unavailable. The number of bank branches has fallen by 5,000, a reduction of more than a third since 2012.

The historic photo above shows Erith railway station in the Spring of 1970, with a train waiting at the Dartford bound platform. What strikes me about the historic photo is how much more industrialised Erith was back then. A photograph taken from the same location now would show a far more residential environment in the background. A fascinating glimpse of the not so distant past. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Over the last couple of weeks, a number of readers have complained to me about the horrible smell which intermittently emanates from the Erith branch of Morrisons supermarket. Last Wednesday a drainage lorry was parked outside the store to unblock the drains. This problem has been very long lasting; I first wrote about the ongoing issues with Morrison's drains back in January 2012 - eleven years ago. Here is what I wrote back then:- "For the last couple of weeks, any shopper unfortunate to walk past the exterior of Erith Morrison's on the side of the building that has the windows into the restaurant area, and that contains the cash machines facing the car park cannot have missed one thing - the awesomely terrible pong. It was hard to describe in mere words; in the way that garlic is a highly concentrated onion, the stench was like that of an unflushed loo the morning after a night supping pints of Guinness, followed by an extra hot Brussels Sprout and Stilton Vindaloo. My nose hairs shrivelled at the overpowering smell. Anyway, the facilities team at Morrison's got a specialist drain company onto the problem. After sending remote controlled mobile "mole" cameras down the drains, they soon realised the problems were extensive. On Monday evening I saw the drainage engineers lowering a mole camera down a manhole in Wheatley Terrace Road; they spent several hours hunched over the monitors in their van, watching the small device inching its' way along, back towards the supermarket. The next day they were back, with a small fleet of vehicles parked adjacent to the cash machines in Morrison's car park. I asked one of the workers what was going on, and he said that the drainage pipe was blocked pretty much for its' entire length - which stretched from the main supermarket building all of the way to Wheatley Terrace Road - that's around a hundred yards of poo. No wonder it stank! All seems fine now, so the drainage engineers have obviously conquered the aromatic problem. Not a career I would choose, but as the old adage goes - where there's muck, there's brass". Unfortunately my hopes that the drainage blockages and terrible smells would be a thing of the past were very short lived.

The photo above was sent to me by a very long - term reader some years ago. He found the individual photos online, and digitally stitched them together to produce the panorama image that you can see above - click on the photo in order to see a larger version. It shows Erith High Street at some point during World War 2; going from left to right, you can see the old Erith Police Station - which is still in existence, but it is now converted into apartments. Next there is a hut on stilts over the river - I cannot determine what it was used for - if any reader knows, please drop me a line with the details. The next structure would appear to be an air raid shelter. The next area would appear to be a piece of land probably cleared for growing vegetables in the "Dig for Victory!" campaign. The road with the two women with the baby carriage crossing it is now known as Saltford Close - I am unsure of what it was called back then. The Running Horses pub can be seen on the right of the compound photograph; it was opened in 1938, but seriously damaged in an air raid in 1940. A contemporary account of the incident from  a local resident called Graham Jansen reads:- "My Grandfather, Thomas Arthur House (b. 12/11/1896, Westminster) was killed at The Running Horses at 1930 hrs on 29/11/1940 during a bombing raid. He was an ARP Ambulance Driver, aged 44 yrs. He was killed with a Henry George Frederick Parry, aged 19 yrs, an ARP Stretcher Bearer and an Albert Sydney Humphreys, aged 50 yrs, a Fireman, AFS. They are commemorated in perpetuity by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The licensee of the pub, William Zachariah Coles, aged 49 yrs, was also killed in the blast. I have been told that The Crown public House, which stood on the opposite corner to The Running Horses, was so severely damaged it was never used again and was later demolished. The landlord's wife, Mary Louisa Witherdon, aged 73 yrs was also killed along with a Joseph Lancelot Addison, aged 76 yrs. A local researcher remembers his father telling him "the Crown had got it" when he returned home from fire watching. Mr. Coles had been standing at the front door of the newly completed Running Horses and was killed instantly. Apart from the deaths of my Grandfather and his colleagues there were no less than twenty people injured. One of the wardens, a Henry Sims was slightly injured and reported that the victims in the pub were still seated at the table and had no visible injuries, they were typical blast victims. The landlord's wife, Annie Elizabeth Coles is understood to have continued to serve drinks out of the back of the pub after her husband was killed. My Grandfather's widow, Flora McAlister Campbell House (McGregor) went on to marry Leslie James Holloway (16/05/1916 Erith d. Jul 1989 Dartford) Dec 1942. He became the landlord of the Kings Head public house in Erith and lived there for 42 years having moved there at the age of two. The pub used to belong to his uncle, Arthur Hewett, who lived next door. He had a club foot and used a crutch to get around the bar. Because of his uncle's disability, the pub was run by his parents, James William Holloway (b. Dec 1885 Dartford) and Emma Matilda Holloway (Hewett). Les remembered beer being 4d a pint and tobacco fourpence ha'penny a packet. He was a popular figure in Erith having run the Kings Head for over 10 yrs. He was once described as Erith's answer to Fanny Waldren - the famous Tottenham Hotspurs winger of the 1920's".

Back in June of 2021 I wrote the following article regarding the then soon to open bar / nightclub Elegance Lounge, located in Bexleyheath Broadway:- "It would appear that Bexleyheath is shortly to get a new nightclub. As you can see in the photo above (click on it to see a larger view), the former - and very troubled - Chinese restaurant site at 167 Broadway, which has in the past been the location for a bar, prior to that it was a supermarket, and much before that it was a cinema. The Elegance Lounge seems to be pitching itelf very much as an upmarket, aspirational venue; it describes itself thus:- "Elegance Lounge is the newly refurbished lounge bar located in Bexleyheath Broadway, with its elegant ambience and comfortable surroundings Elegance Lounge provides a stylish yet current place to enjoy with friends". The venue is aimed at over 25 year olds, and will have a smart dress policy. In its desire to appeal to an upmarket (that is, wealthy) clientele, The Elegance Lounge states that it will be operating a series of VIP booths, which can be booked in advance. The price to hire these booths is pretty eye watering - costs range from £450 to £1000 a booth for one evening. You can see details of these booths and how they can be booked by clicking here. To be honest I am struggling to understand the market the new venue is trying to capture. The prices that they are pitching at are the kind you would find in the West End of London, where there are a large number of high net worth individuals - footballers, Russian oligarchs, Arab oil magnates and the like. Bexleyheath is not exactly Knightsbridge or Mayfair; I think the owners may well be pitching the Elegance Lounge somewhat at an audience that does not really exist locally. I am keen to promote and support local businesses, but I do wonder if the Elegance Lounge may be overreaching itself. The venue is due to open for the first time on Friday the 25th of June - I would imagine that this will be dependent on whether Covid-19 lock down is suspended on the 21st of June - something that currently is looking very unlikely. The Elegance Lounge has announced that:- "Friday 25th June and Saturday  26th June - Over 25's. We have secured a selection of London’s top DJ’s to play on constant rotation every weekend! Joining our resident Jesse James we have Rob Crouch, Vinny P, Tommy Sanwell and Glenn Lee. Music policy will be the very finest funky and soulful house,  garage anthems and club classics". What do you think? Is this just what you have been looking for? Do you feel that there is a need for the new venue?" The answer is no; the Elegance Lounge has gone out of business, and is now closed. I cannot say that I am at all surprised. Comments and feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It would seem that plans are being made by councils on the opposite side of the River Thames which, if the plans come to pass (and there is no confidence that they will) will have a profound impact on residents of the London Borough of Bexley, Dartford Borough Council and Gravesham Borough Council. Bankrupt Thurrock Council in Essex is not letting its financial problems get in the way of its ambition to regenerate its local area, which borders East London, through massive improvements of its transport infrastructure. In documents released ahead of a planning, transport and regeneration committee meeting taking place on February 28, it lays out plans for a gigantic expansion of the rail network through its borough, which would have a huge impact on East and South East London. The proposal, which is part of its Vision 2050 local transport plan, would see the current Elizabeth line service from Romford take over the Overground branch to Emerson Park and Upminster, then join c2c services continuing via Chafford Hundred Lakeside to Tilbury. It would then head under a new tunnel beneath the Thames to Gravesend, connecting with the reintroduced Eurostar at Ebbsfleet International / Northfleet. Finally, it would follow Thameslink services for a stretch through Bluewater, Dartford, Slade Green, Erith and Belvedere to the current Elizabeth line terminus at Abbey Wood. This amounts to an extension of around 27 to 30 miles depending on the final position of the additional Thames crossing. This giant loop would also stop at a new station in the Thurrock area, and the new Thames rail crossing which it is proposed to use would also facilitate High Speed services to London via the Southeastern High Speed route according to the documents. This would mean 140 mph Javelin trains running from St Pancras International and Stratford International to Southend / Shoeburyness, using the current route to Gravesend, crossing the Thames to East Tilbury and following c2c rail services. The plans are just an indicative 'framework' for now, but the council says: "[This would be] a transformation of Thurrock’s railways to support the delivery of new homes and jobs, improve public transport accessibility and realise the borough’s full potential as an important economic hub at the heart of the Thames Estuary." It adds "our vision is to realise the full potential of the existing lines in the short and medium-term through double-tracking, new and improved stations, longer trains, new junctions and signalling - and to add capacity through new rail lines in the long term," by "increasing / releasing capacity on commuter routes through a southern Crossrail extension via Gravesend-Tilbury, a northern Crossrail/London Overground extension via Upminster / Romford and an Overground extension via Dagenham Dock." All of these would require the support of City Hall, TfL and the Westminster government to get off the ground. Also in the plan is a new bus rapid transit system, similar to the 'Fastrack' group of routes which use special bus ways in Kent, which would run from Dagenham Dock station in East London, through Havering to Thurrock. This bus rapid transit scheme is favoured over the Kenex tram plan which proposes to introduce cross-river trams to Thurrock, although the council accepts that most popular routes could be converted. Conservative-run Thurrock Council currently has a debt of £1.5 billion, rendering it effectively bankrupt. It has asked the Treasury for a loan of £182.5 million to help it through this financial year, with plans to hike council tax for residents there by over nine per cent. Councillors there recently expressed their disapproval over the Lower Thames Crossing scheme to build a new road to de-congest the Dartford Crossing.

The end video this week is a historic montage of drawings, photos and videos showing Woolwich Royal Arsenal then and now. It is well worth a look. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.