The 10th Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival.

The photos above were taken by Maggot Sandwich reader and prolific local musician, Ian "The rEV" Doherty. We met at the 10th annual Bexley Beer Festival, held at the Old Darfordians sports club in Bexley Village. The event also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Bexley branch of CAMRA, which was formed on the 21st July 1975 at the (then) Blue Anchor pub in Bridgen Road. Many of the founders are still members all these years along. I have been fortunate to attend every Bexley Beer Festival since it started back in 2005 at the Sidcup Sports Club; the Sidcup venue was lovely – a really classy location. The only problems were that it was a very long way from the centre of Sidcup, and very poorly supported by public transport. It was a very long walk from the bus stop to the venue, and cabs in the area were not very reliable in my experience. Added to this, after the first few festivals, the operators of the Sidcup club decided that they did not want festival visitors using the excellent club toilets, and instead Bexley CAMRA had to spend money hiring a load of Portaloos – which if you have every tried using one in a pitch black car park, is absolutely no cause for joy, and a very easy way to end up with wet feet. A couple of years ago the committee made the decision to relocate to a venue that was more central to the Borough, and which also had excellent public transport links. The new venue at the Old Dartfordians club is outstanding – inside loos, a large club house and a giant marquee at the rear, where the beer festival actually takes place. The weather this year was better than expected, and the rain held off, but once the sun went down the temperature outside plummeted and the wind rose. Most festival goers headed inside, either to the marquee or the club house itself. I think last year we were spoiled with stunning, tropical weather, but this year we were back to bog standard British fare instead. Still, it is not that many years since we had almost hurricane force winds and rain that was almost horizontal because of it, so I suppose we cannot complain too much. Erith’s own Bexley Brewery featured strongly in the event, which saw all of their casks run dry very early on the Friday; in fact by the end of the Friday session, there were only a handful of casks with any beer remaining at all – the Saturday session looked like it was going to be pretty short indeed. The event was very well attended as always, though I did not manage to see Cliff Murphy of the Bexley Brewery in person. The festival is a well-managed and run event that is a credit to those behind it. Now the countdown begins to the 2016 festival!

Wednesday evening saw a large delegation from the Save Belvedere Splash Park group visit Bexley Council Offices in an attempt to persuade the majority Conservative councillors to preserve what has become an invaluable community asset, not just to Upper Belvedere, but to the whole area. Many families with small children relay on it in the summer months. You can read a very detailed and insightful report of the events that took place on Wednesday by Malcolm Knight of the Bexley is Bonkers Blog. 

The photo above shows the block of flats and retail units that is located opposite Erith Health Centre. I have heard very good things about the quality of the flats - in fact some time back I visited one of them and found it to be lovely, with a great view out over the River Thames. Not so good things can be said about the retail units at the ground floor level of the block, unfortunately - they have stood empty ever since the block was built. My understanding is that a couple of businesses have shown interest in moving into the units, but various impediments have stopped them. Originally one of the units closest to Morrison's was under consideration by a company wanting to set up a children's soft play facility with a ball pit and climbing frame. I am sure that this would have gone down well with the many local families with small children. The cost of the lease proved to be too much, and the people pulled out - although on a happier note, I understand that the same company is moving into the site of the old Blockbuster video store diagonally opposite soon. The other two large retail units were under serious consideration by a Nando's franchise, which would have created a number of full - time and part time jobs. The problem was that the retail units have not got fume extraction or electrical power at present, and fitting this essential equipment would have cost small fortune. The Nando's franchise company negotiated with Bexley Council to get a council tax holiday to put towards the cost of the work, but the council rejected it (as with anything they do, the bottom line of the spreadsheet overrules any and every other consideration). Consequently we don't have a Nando's in Erith, and several people don't have a much needed job. Hopefully as the local economy slowly recovers, some organisation with deeper pockets will be able to turn the empty retail units into a productive business. There is a rumour going around Erith that a Subway franchise owner is interested in taking the White Hart / Potion bar and converting what was the ground floor bar into a Subway fast food outlet. I can find no evidence to support this, and there has been nothing to indicate a food use for the former pub and wine bar that has come to my notice. The two planning applications that have been submitted have been far more concerned with the potential for a residential conversion of the upper floors of the locally listed building. If a Subway outlet was to take over the former bar area of the building, it would be a very expensive concern, as not only would a replica of the original Victorian frontage have to be installed, as I demonstrated last week, along with a copy of the architect’s drawings, but a brand new kitchen and restaurant interior would need to be installed, along with proper fume extraction and ventilation equipment. Conservatively any investor would be looking to spend something in the region of a quarter of a million pounds before the doors on the outlet would even be ready to open, and to be honest, I just don’t see this going to happen. The chance of making back the investment, and getting the operation into a decent profit is just too small – any canny business person would realise that less risky investment opportunities exist elsewhere. I feel that the Subway rumour is probably little more than wishful thinking, and it is unlikely to amount to anything – as much as I would like it to be true. I would be happy to be proved wrong. if you have any information on this, or any other stories you feel would be of local interest, please feel free to drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com in complete confidence.

I took the photo above the Thursday before last, whilst I stood talking to Dr. Julian Hilton of the Aleff Group on the rear patio of the Cross Keys Centre. The view out over the River Thames from the former pub, and now business and community centre is stunning. Whilst we were chatting, I saw the ship in the photo above slowing cruising down river - it is the M.V Bert Prior, which has been trading on the Thames since she was built back in 1961; she's a small (175 ton) bulk carrier specialising in the transportation of sand and gravel for use in construction. She looks pretty much unchanged over the decades, although I do suspect that her radar was probably added quite some time after she was originally commissioned. People tend to forget that Erith is a maritime town with a long and (mostly) proud history of marine trade and exploration. It is certainly the only place in the London Borough of Bexley where you can gain access to the River Thames via both Erith Pier and the jealously defended Erith Riverside Gardens, which certain developers would dearly love to build on, which won't happen if many concerned locals have anything to do with it.

You may recall that last week after my article on Clickbait websites, I wrote that I would be revisiting the subject with some more details. Clickbait websites are those which you find featured on the web page footers of some reputable websites. They tend to have titles such as “Tiny trick kills erectile dysfunction” or “Steroid alternative putting gyms out of business” – you know the kind of thing – a strap line featuring some kind of statement, often linked to “miraculous” weight loss or some other far – fetched health benefit that encourages the reader to click on the link to read more on the subject. As I said last week, these invariably link to websites chock full of flash adverts for unlicensed, illegal and potentially harmful diet supplements, slimming pills and all sorts of nastiness. One other tactic the Clickbait producers rely on is pandering for people looking for a way to make a quick buck, unaware that “if it looks too good to be true, it usually is”.  As you will see from the screen capture above, the site promises great financial wealth if the reader follows certain steps – the graphic even encourages this; it shows a wild – haired man standing by some shelves holding gold bars – with the inference that he obviously knows how to make money. You may well have seen the graphic yourself. All however, is not what it seems. The man in the photo is not actually some financial wizard. In reality his name is Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff CBE CChem FRS FRSC FIChemE, who is the Research Professor in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham. The photo with the gold is actually a screen capture from a YouTube video the professor made on the element Gold, as part of his online video series on the Periodic Table of Elements – a very easy to understand and entertaining series of educational videos he has presented, which are widely watched on YouTube. I somehow doubt the professor is even aware that his likeness is being used to promote a Clickbait site and dodgy financial advice. It happens that the professor has a unique look, and I follow his educational videos on YouTube, and recognised him straight away. The best way to discourage clickbait websites is to not click on them. They are parasites and offer nothing for the user except stress and loss of cash –  and possibly also your identity. The problem of people being fooled into buying unregulated and often fake medicines online – often via Clickbait websites has been unfortunately thrown into sharp relief this week;  a young lady named Eloise Aimee Parry aged 21, from Shrewsbury, took the “Miracle Fat Burner” diet tablets which are believed to contain the highly toxic industrial chemical dinitrophenol, also known as DNP. Shortly after taking the tablets, Eloise started to feel unwell.  She drove herself to Royal Shrewsbury hospital, where she explained to doctors what she had taken. At this point she was still fully conscious, and she still seemed to be OK. All that changed when doctors carried out a toxicology report that revealed how dire her situation was.  “The drug was in her system, there was no antidote, two tablets was a lethal dose – and she had taken eight",  Her mother Fiona Parry said in a tribute. “As Eloise deteriorated, the staff in Accident and Emergency did all they could to stabilise her.  As the drug kicked in and started to make her metabolism soar, they attempted to cool her down, but they were fighting an uphill battle. She was literally burning up from within. When she stopped breathing, they put her on a ventilator and carried on fighting to save her. When her hearted stopped they could not revive her. She had crashed. She had taken so much DNP that the consequences were inevitable. Eloise Parry died the same day. West Mercia Police are currently investigating the source of the lethal, so called “diet” pills. It is highly likely that they will have come  from somewhere with little or no regulation, such as the Philippines, where many of the shady criminal outfits tend to base themselves. Needless to say one should never under any circumstances buy any form of medication online – the risks are just too great; you don’t know if what you receive (if anything) will actually contain the active ingredient of the medicine – or indeed what the other components of the medication actually are. On top of this, you lack the safety of a consultation with a Pharmacist to ensure you are getting what is safe and effective for your medical condition.  In extreme cases like the one above, buying online medication can prove fatal.

I have written before as to how back in 2012 I purchased a Samsung ES 8000 smart television, and how unimpressed I was with the whole smart TV experience – the interface is slow and clunky, and the applications less than inspiring. I must admit that I don't use any of the smart TV functionality at all – it might as well be just a dumb screen (albeit with stunningly good picture quality). It turns out that owners of anything other than the very latest technology may well be in for a bit of a surprise. Google are shutting down an older version of the YouTube app built in to Smart televisions and other multimedia devices. According to a revised product support page, the YouTube apps built into certain devices manufactured in 2012 or earlier will soon stop functioning, beginning this week. The cut off will apparently happen regardless of whether the manufacturers advertised their devices as supporting YouTube at the time customers bought them. Google, characteristically, has tried to cast the end of service in a positive light, describing it as an "upgrade." "As we upgrade the YouTube Data API to bring more features, we'll begin shutting down the old version on April 20, 2015," Google's post explains. "We will continue to focus our efforts on improving our official YouTube app for TV which is available on most 2013 and newer Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, game consoles and streaming devices." The devices that will be locked out of the streaming service include pre-2013 TVs and Blu-Ray players by Panasonic and Sony. But a surprising number of other, even "smarter" devices will no longer work, either, including many from Apple. Any device not running iOS 7 or above won't support the new API (Application Programming Interface) – meaning the iPhone 3GS and earlier, the fourth-generation iPod Touch and earlier, the first-generation iPad, and the second-generation Apple TV are all shut out. People also have to realise that their fancy sets, however expensive, may actually have a shorter working life than their picture elements suggest, and that the services that make them "smart" may disappear long before the screens themselves burn out, as vendors stop supporting the installed applications whilst the hardware still has life in it.

The News Shopper have featured the story that the long – awaited new Micro Pub The Broken Drum has now opened in Blackfen. I have featured the ale house a while back; I understand that there have been a number of legal and building related issues which needed to be overcome, which led to much of the delay in the place opening . South East London and Kent have been very much at the forefront of the micro pub phenomenon. The Broken Drum is the third micro pub in the London Borough of Bexley – the first two were the Door Hinge in Welling, followed by the Penny Farthing in Crayford. The name of the broken Drum comes from the phenomenally successful “Discworld” novels by the late and much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. It was the name of a popular pub in the city of Ankh Morpork. There is a rather cunning twist to this; the Broken Drum is to be visited by a jolly nice chap by the name of Richard Reeve, who aims to cycle around Britain, visiting all one hundred micropubs to raise money for research into a cure for  Alzheimer’s Disease. Here is how Richard describes his aims:- “My quest for 2015 is to cycle to all 100 micro pubs in Great Britain! I'll be raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society. To make a donation to Alzheimer’s Society, please visit my fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardReeveCycling. What is a Micropub? The Micropub Association website describes a micropub as "a small freehouse which listens to its customers, mainly serves cask ales, promotes conversation, shuns all forms of electronic entertainment and dabbles in traditional pub snacks". Notably micro pubs do not serve any form of lager.  As of 1/1/2015 there were exactly 100 micropubs on the association's website. From Kent to Devon to Swansea to Berwick-upon-Tweed. My task is to visit them all!" The poignant side to this excellent venture is that Sir Terry Pratchett suffered from Early Onset Alzheimer’s for the last years of his life, so it will be doubly fitting that Richard should plan to visit. What is also interesting is what congenial and friendly places micro pubs are; at the time of writing , I understand that there has never been a recorded incident where Police have been called to a micro pub – which I think says something about both the clientele and the kind of places that micro pubs are. No lager = no louts.

There are times when the News Shopper leads in highlighting important local issues, and other times when they unfortunately lag well behind events; this week that have shown the latter behaviour. You may recall that back on the 11th January I wrote a blog post describing a group of criminals illegally riding a variety of motor bikes and scooters around parts of Lower Belvedere. They knew what they were doing was illegal, as they had uploaded a series of videos onto YouTube, and had made a crude attempt to digitally obscure the number plates of a couple of the bikes that actually had registration plates. I subsequently passed the information onto the local Police. Now the News Shopper is reporting the same kind of thing that is happening in Lower Belvedere is also widespread in Thamesmead – to the extent that crooks are coming from other parts of the country specifically to carry out traffic offences in the area. You can read their report on the worrying matter here. It seems that the local area is, of the report is to be believed, becoming the recipient of “yob tourism” – with undesirables apparently travelling from as far away as Manchester and Scotland to illegally ride off – road bikes with no registration plates, insurance or MOT. There are a number of groups engaging in this activity, and a large number of riders. The new Thamesmead anti – gang Police team are aware of the problem, and I understand that work is being done, though I don't know of the specifics (and for obvious reasons would not publish here – as it is just possible that one or two of the thugs can read). We have a similar, but thankfully smaller problem in and around Erith, with a number of illegal bikes being ridden along the pavements of Manor Road and onto the Slade Green Marshes, where they have caused damage to the unique, protected local ecosystem, ripping up the foot – traveller only pathways and causing erosion and damage to the bulrushes. It would seem that some kind of compromise needs to be achieved;  I cannot believe that all of the bikers who currently ride in an irresponsible and illegal manner are hardened crooks – perhaps if a legal off – road bike course was set up on a piece of waste land, a club could be established to permit riders to have a good time in a controlled and safe manner? What do you think? The news that thefts of motorbikes and scooters have doubled in the London Borough of Bexley over the last year may quite possibly be linked to the previously mentioned problems with illegal bikers in general; one of my local contacts who is in a position to know about such things told me recently that Police are investigating a gang who are stealing motorbikes from Barnehurst and Northumberland Heath and then take them to Erith and Slade Green to be broken up and sold as parts, or cobbled together to form bikes with a new identity. I suspect that at least some of the illegal, unlicensed and uninsured bikes that the criminal bike gangs use may well come from this source – in fact they may be one and the same – something for the authorities to determine. Whatever the specifics, it is clear that there is a rising problem with bike related crime in the area; it must be very difficult for the vast majority of law abiding motorbike owners – they must be constantly worried that their pride and joy may be threatened by organised thieves. Some years ago a friend of mine, who at the time was living in a quiet road on the Crayford / Dartford borders; he owned an immaculate Harley – Davidson motorbike, which was stored in his garage when not in use. Not only was the garage securely locked, but the bike was additionally chained to bolts cemented into the garage floor. Despite these precautions, thieves broke in and used bolt cutters to free the bike in order to steal it; he never saw it again. Not long ago I, along with many others saw a couple of kids aged not more than fourteen or fifteen who were racing a very high powered sports / racing bike around Erith Town Centre, along the High Street, and eventually into Manor Road, where they headed at very high speed towards Slade Green. Needless to say not only were they a danger to members of the public, but they were in great danger themselves – neither wore a helmet or protective leathers, and  hoodie, facial bandanna and sweat pants don't exactly provide much protection if you come off at sixty miles per hour. Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Much has been written in the popular press about the end of Top Gear - the most popular factual television programme in the world. I am not intending to add to that body of work, as I feel that enough has been said already; instead I am featuring a video presented by a thoroughly nice chap called Harry Metcalfe, a wealthy former magazine publisher and car enthusiast who now works as a consultant for Jaguar Landrover. He has started a YouTube channel reviewing all sorts of classic and modern cars of interest, some of which come from his extensive personal collection. Harry's Garage is one of my favourite YouTube channels; Harry is quietly spoken and thoughtful, and it is obvious that he has both a deep love and insight into the cars he features. A sample video is below. 

Erith Fun Day.

Yesterday was the first Erith Fun Day; the event was held at Erith Riverside Gardens, and it was a great success. There were stalls from charitable groups like Thames 21, the Alzheimers Society, St. John Ambulance and other not for profit groups like FORGE (Friends Of Riverside Gardens Erith), Erith Town Forum, Bexley Afro Caribbean Community Association, the Rotary Club of Erith, Bexley College, and the Port of London Authority. Also present were commercial organisations such as the Nemesis Gym, and various stalls selling novelties and other items. There was also face painting, a mobile sweet shop, a fortune teller and an ice cream van. 

The photo above shows the Mayor of Bexley, Councillor Howard Marriner, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, Dianne Marriner, and Councillor Edward Boateng. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Mayor is a regular Maggot Sandwich reader!

The photo above shows MP for Erith and Thamesmead, Teresa Pearce, along with "Alexander Selkirk" (who was looking remarkably fit and healthy for a chap who has not long celebrated his 338th birthday!) along with a representative from the Rotary Club of Erith. The centre piece for the Fun Day was the unveiling of a signpost, commemorating the coming ashore at Erith of Alexander Selkirk in 1711 after having been cast away on a desert island for eight years; Selkirk was the factual inspiration for the fictional character of Robinson Crusoe - one of the most popular characters in literary history.

The photo above (click for a larger view) shows Teresa Pearce MP unveiling the new signpost in Erith Riverside Gardens; the post can clearly be seen from the road. She was accompanied by a piper, whose playing was certainly enthusiastic. There are even further local connections; the sign was constructed by Erith based sign company WDS Signs, whose works are located less than one hundred metres from the Riverside Gardens.

Over the recent months there have been a steady stream of people throwing themselves into the River Thames at both Lower Belvedere and Erith. As I have previously mentioned, the rip tides and undercurrents on this stretch of the river make it the most dangerous sections of open waterway in the United Kingdom. Even in good weather the average survival time for anyone entering the river is something like eleven minutes. The River Police and the RNLI do an excellent job of keeping people safe on the River Thames, but bearing in mind that the nearest RNLI bases are at London Bridge and Gravesend, that still leaves a very long stretch of the river to be patrolled; it would seem to me that an extra base somewhere in the middle would be a very good idea. The former Erith River Police station building has been converted to office use, and is shared between marine engineering company Kort Propulsion, and the Erith Rowing Club. One alternative would be for the RNLI to renovate and occupy the former Port Of London Authority hut at the top of the jetty on the Riverside Gardens. I understand that the building has electricity and water and is fully plumbed in. The building is not very large, but I think it would be sufficient for a small team of three or four volunteers, and it would have the added advantage of being as physically close to the river as is possible to enable the quick launch of their rescue boat. What do you think? Does the Erith and Belvedere stretch of the River Thames need a lifeboat sub – station, or is the existing service good enough? You can leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

The London Borough of Bexley stands out in a number of ways; we have the cheapest housing in Greater London, as was illustrated in the last Maggot Sandwich update, when I highlighted a large, modern two bedroomed apartment right on the river front at Erith. Such a riverside property would sell for a million pounds or more if it was located in Greenwich or in Canary Wharf, let alone somewhere in West London like Putney. The Erith post code means that the flat is offered for £180,000, which seems a relative bargain. One reason that may factor into the low property prices is that average wages in the borough are commensurately low; around one third of Bexley residents earn less than £8.80 per hour – the current London Living Wage. Bearing in mind the high cost of public transportation and the spiralling cost of rent compared with outright property purchase, this means that a large number of local people are being incredibly financially squeezed at present. The level of unemployment may be relatively low, but many of the jobs that are available don't pay very much. Historically Bexley has been a dormitory area for people working in London. One possible positive factor in the current low wage environment is that an increasingly large number of people are going self employed. These people don't show up on the low wage statistics, and they may well be a very positive contributor to the local economy over the forthcoming years. Traditionally small start-up companies run by sole traders are operated from home, or out of the back of a van.  Meeting with clients in a business environment can be challenging for such individuals – one of the ways in which the Cross Keys Centre will benefit local traders. Amongst the services it will shortly be offering is the use of private meeting rooms, hot desking / touchdown space and areas for networking and other formal and informal meetings. It is anticipated that small businesses that don’t have / need a full time office will be able to rent space by the day or even the hour when they require it. This kind of flexibility is something that should be a real benefit to the increasing number of self employed traders in the local area.

Every day when I walk to Erith Station, I pass by the piece of overgrown wasteland behind the new Bexley College campus. Bexley Council have undertaken to clear the land once the final phase of construction of the college have been completed. This can only be a good thing, as the area is absolutely teeming with rats. They often come out of the undergrowth and run along the path, and they seem unafraid of people. I realise that destroying their habitat next to the college will only move the vermin elsewhere, but if they are not dealt with, I could see a situation with the new college getting rat infested within days of opening, which would be awful. I was reading an article on the BBC News website earlier in the week which got me thinking. People in Cambodia and Vietnam regularly catch rats to be eaten – indeed there is a thriving cottage industry to supply the demand for rat meat. You can read the story here.  Bearing in mind the profusion of rats locally, could an ecologically sound solution to the problem be to trap and kill the rats and then sell the meat on to the various fast food places in the area? It is most definitely organic and free range, after all? People already eat Grey Squirrel, which is also defined as vermin, yet they are treated as a minor delicacy – and what is a squirrel? A rat with better P.R. I reckon that once seasoned , battered and deep fried, most people would not realise what they were eating was anything other than poultry – Kentucky Fried Rat, anyone? Rat Vindaloo? Shish Rat kebab with chilli sauce, salad and a pitta bread? The options are endless. Bearing in mind that it is said that you are never more than four metres away from a rat when you are in Greater London, it does seem that we could be on the verge of both a culinary and pest control revolution. Do leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

The advert above dates back to 1901, so the "20th Century Cycle co." would have been an extremely futuristic brand at the time. I think it strange that it does not give an address for callers though. An eye catching design, nevertheless.

I don't think I have ever mentioned that I got a joke I wrote used on BBC Radio 4's excellent "The Now Show" some years ago. I was in the audience for the recording of an episode and I was asked to complete a questionnaire - and this is the result. Let me know what you think.

This week marks the twenty third birthday of the free and open source Linux operating system. I have been using Linux since back in 1997, when it was very much the purview of IT professionals; it was lacking features, incompatible with a lot of hardware (getting online with Linux back in the day was an exercise in frustration – even very common hardware such as the then ubiquitous U.S Robotics 56K modem could be an utter bugger to get working).  I recall the hours I spent trying to get my Red Hat 5.1 Linux installation to do what it should do. Back then Linux was far more stable than Windows 98SE or Windows ME (oh the horror!) but conversely you had to be a real guru to get things done. I think this is where the negative image of Linux being unsuitable for the desktop came from. Nowadays things are far better – device support is superb – in many cases better than Windows and Linux now “just works”.  Very few people ever install a computer operating system from scratch – they buy a machine with a preinstalled OS and it stays on the machine for its life. Tinkerers like me do OS installs on a regular basis. It really is straightforward whether you are talking Windows 7, Ubuntu or Apple OS X. You just follow the onscreen prompts and it pretty much does it for you. Personally I think that Linux has made far more of an impact in ways that few people realise – Google, FaceBook, Gmail and 497 out of the 500 most powerful computers in the world all run a version of Linux; it would be true to say that the Internet runs on Linux. If you have a smartphone that is not made by Apple, or a flat screen television, a set top box, whether it be a Sky satellite TV receiver, Virgin cable box or a Freeview receiver, they all run embedded Linux – it is the only operating system that powers devices from a toaster to a supercomputer with everything in between. Android, as used in smart phones and tablets is actually Linux with a whizzy interface suitable for touch operation. You can see from this that whilst Windows has for decades dominated the computer desktop, it has had little influence on the infrastructure and underlying technology of the modern world. As society moves away from large desktop PC’s, (and to a lesser extent away from the traditional laptop) and relies for online connectivity from smart phones and tablet devices, the underlying operating system has less significance than the applications that users wish to run – indeed, many applications are nowadays run online in a browser window – sites such as FaceBook, Instagram, Flickr and Twitter don't require a locally installed application, just a browser with connection to the web. Google grasped this early on with their excellent Google Docs application suite and its close integration with both Gmail and Google Drive storage. The Google Chromebook range of computers embraces this – they are cheap, relatively low powered laptops that just run a the Chrome web browser and enable cloud based storage. I have heard many arguments saying that web based storage is no good without a web connection. Chromebooks are clever in this respect. I can give a recent example. Last Saturday I was in my favourite corner of The Robin Hood and Little John pub in Lion Road, Bexleyheath (by far the best pub in the area by a very long chalk). I was sending a few Emails and writing some content for the Maggot Sandwich on my Samsung Chromebook. The pub had an electrical fault, and the power cut on four separate occasions in the space of an hour or so; this had the unfortunate result of resetting the pubs’ Wifi router. Each time the power died, I lost my web connection. In the end I gave up and powered the device down. When I got home I switched it back on; it detected the Pewty Acres Wifi and connected automatically. It had cached all of the content I had created and it automagically uploaded it all into the cloud as if there had been no interruption at all. I lost nothing whatsoever. All very clever stuff. Google Chrome OS is another iteration of Linux, by the way – you cannot get away from it.

Not many local people are aware that the Erith / Belvedere area was once subject to one of the largest non – nuclear explosions in history You can see a contemporary account above - click for a larger view. Back in 1864 there were two commercial gunpowder factories – that of John Hall and Son and the Elterwater and Lowood Gunpowder company situated on the marsh land that at that time existed parallel to the River Thames between Slade Green in the East and Plumstead in the West. Both factories were physically isolated from residential areas, and many precautions were taken to prevent any kind of fire; workers had to wear felt slippers, and all equipment was made of wood, or lined with copper to prevent sparks; understandably smoking was strictly prohibited. At about 6.40 am on Saturday the first of October 1864 all these precautions proved worthless, when there was a massive explosion which totally destroyed both gunpowder factories, their store magazines and a couple of barges that were being loaded with barrels of gunpowder at the time. No contemporary account exists of exactly what caused the accident, as the eyewitnesses were instantly vapourised. The explosion was heard as far away as Cambridge, and the shock wave was so intense that people in central London were convinced that there had been an earthquake. One report at the time said that as rescuers hurried to the site they found a massive crater and absolutely no signs of any buildings were left “it was if the place had been swept clean by a broom”. Surprisingly there were only around twenty casualties, as though the explosion was huge, the remote location prevented greater loss of life. Witnesses said that a huge pall of black smoke, shaped like a mushroom hung in the air for an hour afterwards. Five of the victims were classed as “missing” as nothing remained of them to bury. Others whose bodies remained intact to some degree or other were taken to the Belvedere Hotel in Picardy Road, which was converted into a temporary morgue. The injured were taken to Guy’s Hospital at London Bridge, where some then succumbed to their injuries. The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times (the story made world headlines) also curiously reported that a man escaped serious injury, but did have “his right whisker blown off, and he has not been seen since”. The unknown reporter then comments “The damage done to property extends to a radius of over twenty miles; the effect upon domestic animals is said to have been very remarkable. Thousands of pets succumbed with fright – the mortality to Canaries being particularly great”. The army was called from the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich to assist with emergency repairs to the river wall, which had been destroyed to a length of three hundred yards from the epicentre of the blast. Fortunately the tide was low at the time, and the Royal Engineers assisted by civilian navvies and some volunteers barely managed to temporarily block the gap before the tide rose. Had they not, much of Lower Belvedere would have been flooded as later happened in 1953. Considering the size of the explosion – it is estimated that something between 45 and 100 tons of gunpowder were detonated, the long term damage was pretty light, though the superintendent of Crossness Sewage Works did put in a grumpy claim for £150 for plate glass that had been damaged by the blast – this sounds like some very creative accounting on his part, as the works was still being constructed at the time, and did not actually go into operation until nearly a year later.

Have you noticed how movies seem to appear on video on demand services like Netflix and iTunes almost as soon as they are released at the cinema? Indeed there have been cases where films have actually been released to video on demand before they have had a theatrical release. The general marketing format of a Hollywood movie is to release to cinemas, then video on demand, then sold or rented on DVD or Blu – Ray, then to satellite or cable like Sky / Virgin, then finally sold to conventional broadcast television. Now that very few Hollywood movies are shot on 35mm cine film, nearly everything is made digitally. This saves a fortune on film stock and duplication, and also enables much easier compositing of special effects – and also means that the cinema projectionist can just download the movie from the film company website. You would have thought that this would mean the big studios would be raking in even more cash than ever, but quite the reverse is actually the case. In recent years the main studios have concentrated on what they term “tent pole” movies – mega budget films filled with special effects, and generally aimed at teenagers. The release of these films at certain times of the year, such as Christmas and the Summer holiday period drives the studios’ entire schedule. In 2013 the major Hollywood studios took a terrible drubbing – they lost a total of eleven billion dollars; the reason for this was a series of mega budget “tentpole” films that were meant to be blockbusters, but which turned out to be turkeys. White House Down, The Lone Ranger, After Earth and a handful of other movies tanked at the box office, virtually bankrupting their producers. Studio bosses got so cautious and conservative in relation to the films that they commissioned in the light of these financial disasters that even when Steven Spielberg, the most respected and commercially successful film director of modern times pitched “Lincoln” at the studios he initially got turned down; the reasons being that the protagonist dies at the end, and as such there is no possibility of a sequel (!) Hollywood seems to be shying away from adult, thought provoking movies in favour of noisy movies featuring superheroes and franchises that offer seemingly endless sequels – such as the Fast and Furious series, or the Expendables. In 2012 Nineteen were based on some other property, eight were sequels, four were comic-book franchises, two were remakes, two were prequels, and seven were originals. Films such as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” tend to be made by European studios such as Canal Plus with far smaller budgets, but arguably making far more interesting motion pictures. What is interesting is how conversely America is producing some excellent, very high quality shows, but they are for television rather than the big screen. The U.S remake of “The House of Cards” is a prime example – not only did stage and screen actor Kevin Spacey make the transition to the small screen, the entire run of the show was first broadcast via Netflix. This model seems to be becoming the norm – fewer adults want to sit in a cinema surrounded by noisy kids chatting with their mates during the film; with the advent of big screen televisions, HD and shortly 4K resolution there is no longer a compelling reason to get in the car or on the bus to go and see a movie, when nowadays you can actually get a superior experience in the comfort of your own home. Nowadays the content is the king, not the delivery method. I foresee that the studios will continue to make “blockbuster” type films – the type that tend to catch the headlines, but more attention will go to the creation of multi episode dramas with a high quality cast, script and production values – as the audience vote with their feet and stay watching paid for content on their own big screens. The art of cinema will not die – but the way it is delivered to their audience will change markedly.

Prospective new Blackfen micro publican Andy Wheeler of The Broken Drum dropped me a line this week; this is what he had to say:- Hi, my name is Andy Wheeler; I have submitted planning and licensing applications to open a micropub or a traditional ale house or micropub (as is more commonly known) in the Blackfen area, at 308 Westwood Lane, opposite the COOP entrance. There are many micropubs opening in and around the Kent area and the rest of the country, they mainly sell cask conditioned ale (real ale) and encourage conversation. A good definition of a micropub can be found by clicking here. I’m an active member of the Bexley CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale and I have found the best real ale being served is from micropubs, and I want to emulate that and the culture of micropubs. The London Borough of Bexley already has a micro pub called The Door Hinge in Welling run by Ray Hurley. He has been a great help and an inspiration to me. Another ale house has received planning approval in Crayford, and will be opening soon. My pub is to be called ‘The Broken Drum’. If you want to know why I chose that name then come and ask me when I opened, (someone people know or may have guessed). I propose to sell real ale, a small amount of wine and real cider, traditional locally resourced pub food (pork pies, scotch eggs, crisps and alike). I won’t be selling lager, alcohol pops or spirits. There will be no music, fruit machines or arcade games, and the use of mobile phones is discouraged. Excellent stuff; I will be covering The Broken Drum in the future - watch this space.

You may well have heard about a scam that has been going on for seemingly years. It astonishes me that it still seems to work, as by now you would have thought that enough people would be aware of it to deter the fraudsters, but for whatever reason, it would appear not. The scam involves a phone call from a person purporting to be working either for Microsoft, or a Microsoft affiliate company. The person tells the victim that their PC has been infected by a number of viruses, and that they can talk them through fixing the problem. If the victim is unconvinced, the scammer talks the victim through opening a Windows command line prompt and inputting a series of text commands. The commands produce a series of error messages and a long code string which the scammer tells the victim are proof that their PC is infected; in reality this is not the case – the codes produced are generated by the Windows activity monitor, and actually show perfectly benign computer operations that are normally run in the background, unbeknownst to the average user. After this the scammer tells the victim that they can take remote assistance of their PC to remove the “viruses”. If the victim gives control, the scammer opens a web browser session and asks the victim to input their Pay Pal details to pay for the virus cleaning service. If the victim does this, their account details are stolen and their account is later hoovered clean of cash. If the victim refuses, perhaps after realising the whole operation is a con, the scammer will delete personal files and configuration folders if the remote connection is not terminated by the victim. Over the last six or so year, thousands of people have been targeted by gangs posing as legitimate companies – usually working out of India or South Africa in “boiler room” operations. I would advise anyone receiving a phone call of this nature to just put the phone down – arguing with them is pointless, and they will just move onto a new victim. I had such a call a few years ago; I realised pretty much straight away exactly what was going on, and thought I would play dumb and go along with things for a laugh – also, the longer I tied up the scammer, the less time he would have to hit another innocent victim. After the person asked me to log into my computer and open a command prompt and input a series of Windows specific commands. When I answered that I was not getting the responses he described, he got increasingly annoyed, asking “what version of Windows are you using?” to which I replied “I am using Solaris 9 Unix on a Sun Ultra 60 workstation” he then realised he was the one who had been had – Sun (now Oracle) kit is generally only used by those in the IT trade, as it is very powerful, but not very user friendly. Not much of a victory in the greater scheme of things, but it made me feel better. You can read about the scam in more detail by clicking here.

The end video is something I mentioned a couple of weeks ago; it is a new TV commercial for the Royal British Legion entitled "Every Man Remembered". It was shot recently in a number of locations in Erith, Thamesmead and Upper Belvedere - see how many places you can identify. A very worthwhile cause, and I think the area can be proud to have been part of it.

The Broken Drum.

Micro Pubs in Bexley seem like buses – nothing for ages, then two turn up almost at the same time. One of my regular anonymous informers tells me that an application has been submitted for a new micro pub to be set up in a former nail salon shop in Woodman Parade, Blackfen. The micro pub is to be called The Broken Drum – the prospective landlord / landlady is obviously a fan of Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” novels, as this is the name of the pub in the city of Ankh Morpork which features in many of the books. The proposed location of the micro pub is quite interesting; it is only a hundred metres or so  along Westwood Road from The George Staples pub (what used to be known as the Woodman).  I last visited The George Staples about three years ago, and it was not inspiring. It is basically a chain pub run by a pub company called The King’s Feast pub co. (where size matters) which I think tells you a lot before you go any further – never mind the quality, feel the width. The George Staples seems to concentrate on attracting families with small children and serving cheap food in vast quantities – it scrapes by with a three out of five star “Scores on the Doors” food hygiene rating. The News Shopper Pub Spy liked the pub overall, as it was child friendly (I cringe whenever I hear  that phrase in relation to a pub or restaurant) but the verdict on the food was a lot less favourable – limp and soggy scampi, served with bullet hard microwaved peas was not to the reviewers liking. The Broken Drum will no doubt cater for a somewhat different demographic, and I can see the two establishments co-existing without issue. The new micro pub will serve real ales, wines  and cider, along with snacks such as locally sourced pork pies and scotch eggs. As is the norm with micro pubs, there will be no TV, no music and no lager or alcopops. I would hope that the Broken Drum would serve at least one local ale such as the excellent BOB (Bexley’s Own Beer) by The Bexley Brewery, which will be in full production by the time the Broken Drum is ready to open shop. By Christmas, the borough will have three operating micro pubs – The Door Hinge in Welling (so good that it won Bexley CAMRA pub of the year in its first year of opening). There will also be the Penny Farthing in Crayford, which is currently still in the planning stage, as mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I suppose that it would be too much to ask for a micro pub in Erith; it is not as if the town is lacking in empty ground floor shop units ready for conversion. There are three units in the block opposite the Health centre in the High Street that have not been occupied since they were constructed around seven years ago - see the photo above, and click on it for a larger view; I am sure the owners would love a tenant in at least one of the shop spaces. Alternatively there are units available in Cross Street; the former law centre is unoccupied, after changes to the legal aid system  forced it to close earlier this year. The larger unit that for many years was home to Owens the DIY and engineering supplier is also free, though I wonder if it would be too large for a typical micro pub. Obviously the former White Hart / Potion building is empty, but that would require a large amount of investment and refurbishment to make it a viable proposition – all of which is counter to the basic Micro Pub philosophy of opening in cheap accommodation with only basic changes to the unit to turn it into a hostelry. Keeping the costs down, and keeping it simple are the most basic tenets of running a micro pub. This is to keep the bar as low as possible for others thinking of doing the same. Quite often people running micro pubs have never owned a pub, or even worked in one before. Ray Hurley, the landlord of The Door Hinge in Welling is a former black cab driver who has turned his love for real ale and convivial company into a thriving small business. It would seem that other local people aim to replicate this, which can only be a good thing.

A local information source who wishes to remain anonymous has forwarded me the following story:- "A company called Partizan was filming a commercial in Erith last week for the Royal British Legion. The venues were the Leisure Centre in Erith recreation ground, outside the Erith Yacht Club, outside Christchurch, inside a house in Avenue Road and inside the Royal Standard pub in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. I think the film is to be called "Who Will You Remember?"  So far as I know it will be shown during a few commercial breaks, possibly as early as 20th August, but I do not have all the details at present". Fascinating stuff; I will be looking out for the commercial being broadcast.

The News Shopper website has been getting some rather vexed feedback from readers in response to a story that they are currently running on complaints made by a local cyclist who commutes by bicycle from his home in Hartley on the outskirts of Dartford to the Darent Industrial Estate on the Slade Green Marshes. He is somewhat put out at the state of the cycle paths, especially in and around the marshes. I think that cycling provides a viable alternative to other methods of travel in certain circumstances, and is something to generally be encouraged. The trouble is, in the News Shopper story, the cyclist, a Mr. Neil Jobbins does himself few favours and does come across perhaps unintentionally as somewhat of an archetypal “cyclo – Nazi”. He cycles the ten mile route from Hartley to Slade Green and comments “Everyone should be cycling to work, whether they live in Dartford and work in Woolwich. They should be able to do that and this is the cycle route for it”. Quite. How the average person is meant to negotiate a pushbike up Bostall Hill from Woolwich after a hard day at work quite evades me – the buses have a difficult enough time, and they have stonking great turbo diesel engines. The main thrust of Neil Jobbins complaint is that the cycle paths on the Slade Green Marshes are uneven, potholed and overgrown with brambles and other vegetation.  I have some sympathy with this; I know that the cycle paths on the marshes get a lot of abuse, due principally to the illegal actions of off road bikers who tear up the pathways and generally cause a nuisance. The police periodically chase and arrest the offending bikers, and every so often one of their untaxed and uninsured motorbikes gets confiscated and crushed, which tends to discourage the others for a while; generally once the weather improves and the sun comes out, so do the illegal motor bikes. The counter argument to the situation with the cycle paths that seems to have annoyed many News Shopper readers runs along the lines of “what does he expect – it is wilderness marshland” and also “cyclists don’t pay any road tax and are uninsured, why should they have any rights at all?” Whatever your personal view on the situation, the fact remains that the cycle paths on Slade Green Marshes are nothing to do with either Bexley or Dartford Council and are instead  maintained by a charity called Sustrans, which maintains cycle paths all over the UK. Sustrans have little money, and cannot afford to restore or improve the paths on the marshes – which to be honest, don’t get very much use anyway. I think a better and more rounded solution would be for a concerted anti illegal motorbike campaign by the local police. When any offenders were subsequently prosecuted, any terms of community service that the crooks got sentenced to should be spent clearing up the cycle paths for the legitimate users. It would seem to be a logical course of action as far as I can see. The marshes are a wonderful place to visit on a sunny day. Fifteen minutes walk from Erith Town Centre and you are in an area of outstanding natural beauty that feels like it is hundreds of miles away from urbanisation. It is one of the best places to see the Erith “big sky” – where you can clearly see an unhindered view from horizon to horizon – something almost impossible in large parts of Greater London.

One of my occasional sources informs me that surveyors and environmental scientists have spent the last week carefully examining the site of Erith Quarry. On top of this, work is being carried out to identify and carefully remove the Japanese Knotweed that infests the site. Japanese Knotweed is a non – indigenous, invasive plant that grows prodigiously and can damage the foundations of buildings; it is very difficult to eradicate – the roots can go as far as ten feet deep, and if even a small portion of root is left in the ground, the entire plant will re – grow in short order. It is illegal in the UK to plant or spread Japanese Knotweed, and when it is pulled up it is legally classified as controlled waste that has to be disposed of by licensed landfill sites. Young shoots of Japanese knotweed are cooked and eaten in some countries – apparently it tastes like super sour rhubarb, but it contains a lot of Oxalic Acid, which is really not very good for you. When the weed is completely removed, work will commence to dig some trial pits to analyse the geology of the site – I suspect it may well also be to identify any chemicals that may have been dumped on the site in the past. Personally I suspect that when the Atlas chemical works that used to be in Fraser Road was closed down in the early 1980’s, many of the remaining drums of chemicals  on the site disappeared in very quick order. I would not be at all surprised if they were dumped on the quarry site. If the surveyors find evidence of this, a cleanup operation could prove costly. No actual building work will be undertaken for a while yet; the reason for this is that the Erith Quarry development has not yet been granted planning permission. The development is to my mind long overdue; the quarry site has been closed and abandoned for as long as I can remember – I recall as a child being warned not to play on the site as it was dangerous – something many local kids studiously ignored of course. With Erith Quarry soon to be joining Erith Park as a major local residential development, the population of Erith is set to increase still further. Overall this should be a good thing, but I do have concerns that the infrastructure may suffer as a consequence. Will there be enough water and electricity to go round? I know the developers of Erith Quarry intend to build a new primary school on the site, and Trinity secondary school is just around the corner, but other resources may be thin on the ground. I would imagine the owners of the mini market and the couple of takeaways at the Pom Pom must be rubbing their hands in anticipation of an increase in trade once the construction is complete and the new housing estate becomes occupied.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Bexley Council Environmental Health Team seem to have really upped their game in respect of hygiene inspections on local food outlets, and overall the results have been impressive. Many more places are getting acceptable or better ratings (anything 3 out of 5 stars or higher) and the overall situation in respect of woeful graded places is getting better. There are still a number of fast food outlets in West Street that are definitely letting the side down in regards to cleanliness; indeed one place that was checked on the 16th of July was Masala Reef – an Indian takeaway that actually managed to go from a woeful one star rating on its last inspection to a zero star this time. Bearing in mind the inspectors give constructive advice to the owners of food outlets during the inspection process, one would have expected that the rating would have reflected a greater understanding of food hygiene and an awareness of what is required to obtain a good star rating. It would appear that Masala Reef have gone the other way. The inspection rated their food hygiene and safety as bad, their structural compliance as very bad, and confidence in management as none. Just why the Environmental Health inspection team did not close the place down immediately is beyond me. I would strongly recommend that you avoid Masala Reef at all costs.

You may recall that two weeks ago I featured a screen capture from an old cine film taken in Erith in 1967; it showed a very distinctive orange lorry, photographed coming along Erith High Street. Well, a few days ago I received an email from a chap who is very much in the know about the story behind the lorry - here is his account in his own words:- "My name is Allan Bedford a former 'Erithian' but living in Devon since 2005. I am a bit of a transport historian and have been taking photos of road transport for over 50 years. I previously lived in Brook Street opposite the 'Duchess' I sometimes look at your postings and was 'gobsmacked' to see that frame from Mr Stevens cine film of Erith High Street in 1967 you posted on 03/08/14. The 'orange lorry' is none other than the last ex Erith Corporation Dustcart in their lovely 'Burnt Orange' delivered in August 1964, just nine months before the new London Borough of Bexley came into being. It was a most unusual purchase being a Ford Trader K series, the 'K' refers to the cab pressing as it was originally used by Ford of Cologne (Koln), although this was built in Dagenham. It carries the very obsolete, even in 1964, 'Chelsea Pattern ' sliding shutter style body. As it so happens I took a photo of this very vehicle outside the old Brook Street Primary School one evening in May 1970, due to it's unique status. It was then used to collect food waste from the school canteen,the two man crew were happy to let me snap this while I stood in the middle of the road, I doubt you could do this today. I used to belong to the 'Erith and Belvedere history group, and I know Ken and Benitta who of course worked at the school and taught both my kids back in the eighties. Until I found that 'still' I thought this was the only record of this 'one off' so it's great that another image survives. Feel free to use this image, a little bit of 'OLDE ERITH'!!" Brilliant stuff Allan - extremely interesting and many thanks for sending it through. It all adds to the sum of knowledge of the area. If anyone has old photos, memories or stories about the local area that they would like to see published, please send them through to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Microsoft are currently losing money hand over fist in respect of their Surface Pro range of not quite laptops, not quite tablet PC’s. The Surface is now in its’ third incarnation, and Microsoft are still heavily subsidising the devices, selling each one at a loss in order to try and buy market share. Historically Microsoft have been patient when launching new products; they got hit very hard for a long time when they launched the original X-Box games console – they subsidised it and gave great financial incentives to developers in order for them to create games for the console. This paid off in spades, and nowadays the Xbox One is a very credible platform, with many fans amongst gamers.  Whether the same can be said of the Surface range is doubtful – the whole tablet market is slowing down at present – and even market leaders Apple are struggling to shift significant numbers of new units. Since Steve Ballmer left Microsoft, it would appear that their business strategy is starting to evolve; the company has made 18,000 people redundant, and is streamlining itself to try and stay competitive in a changing market. I feel that under their new management, Microsoft may be less willing to support a “lame duck” product line – I would not be surprised if the Surface Pro range quietly disappears quite soon.

Proof if it was ever needed that Erith is indeed a maritime town can be seen in the photo above; it shows roll on – roll off HGV ferry the M.V Cymbaline passing Erith on Saturday afternoon. In the foreground you can see the MV Shetland Trader  moored on Erith Pier. It is used to transport earth and spoil from the Crossrail tunnelling works down river to the Essex coast to be used in land reclamation work.  It was not clear at the time, and it is not clear even now what exactly the tug in the photo was up to; it was travelling, apparently at full speed astern, right behind the Cymbaline. If any reader has a clue please enlighten me using the usual contact details. I have found the Port of London authority ship movement website  to be a very good source of information relating to shipping moves on the River Thames and beyond. As I have said on occasions before, we don’t make nearly enough use of the river. I understand that plans to try and get the Thames Clipper ferries to extend their coverage to Erith are pretty much dead in the water, due to a number of problems, not least of them being that the authorities don’t consider that the number of passengers heading to and from Erith would be sufficient to justify the cost and effort of extending the service. On top of this, Morrison’s were not keen on their car park being used by commuters – a parking space used by a commuter is one less space to be available for a shopper. On top of this, once again any project to improve public transportation in the North of the borough would be inevitably blocked by Bexley Council planning committee. Most of the members live in the more prosperous South of the borough, and don't want the unwashed oiks in the North to have anything that they can’t .

Following on from my announcement last week of the reasons for the building and restoration work being carried out on the former Cross Keys pub in Erith High Street, I have been asked to go into a little more detail. The building is owned and operated by Anglo – American management consultancy, the Aleff Group. When they purchased the pub a couple of years ago, they were looking for a place that was close to the M25 and A2 and had good overland rail links into central London. Many of their consultants spend much of their time on client sites, or travelling, and they felt that the Cross Keys could provide a good place to convert into offices, hot desking areas and touchdown space for their mostly mobile workforce. The Aleff Group already have offices in Canary Wharf and in Florida, USA, and were initially only thinking of using the Cross Keys for their private business. Once the restoration and conversion work began, they were pleasantly surprised by the level of local interest in what they were doing. They soon realised that there was far more space in the building than they would ever actually need for their own company, and the idea was formed to open up the building for locals to use in a variety of ways.  At this point they contacted a number of local individuals, including myself, in order to form a local steering committee. For commercial confidentiality reasons I was asked to remain tight – lipped as to what was going on, and I have stuck to this for quite some time now. The work to the building has now progressed to the point where the upper floors will be “soft launched” in the next few weeks, prior to an official launch sometime in October. The upper floors have been beautifully restored and updated with air conditioning, fibre optic lights, full Cat 6 wired networking and WiFi coverage. The original cast iron fireplaces have been professionally restored and the floor and ceiling voids fitted with sound deadening material. New windows and doors have been fitted – all custom made to the original drawing specifications. There are a number of meeting rooms and areas to hot desk, along with an informal lounge, small kitchen and really high class designer bathrooms / wet rooms lined with polished marble. The first floor function room has been converted into a climate controlled presentation suite with a digital projector and surround sound audio system which is suitable for meetings, training courses and lectures, and even suitable for use as a small cinema or concert venue. The ground floor bar and kitchen areas are the only parts of the building that have so far not been restored; depending on the results of the questionnaire that will be distributed to local people during the Erith Fun Day on Saturday the 30^th August, the ground floor will be converted into a coffee / tea shop and restaurant with a rear terrace for people to be able to sit outside and watch the river view on nice days. It is hoped that the bar area can be restored to its Edwardian splendour so that diners can experience what the Cross Keys was like a hundred years ago. Local small businesses will be able to use the meeting rooms and hot desking areas of the building to carry out client meetings; it is anticipated that local councillors and our local MP will also use the Cross Keys to hold constituency surgeries - at present there is very little choice of public enclosed space in Erith and community events can be difficult to organise for this reason. Organisations like the Rotary Club and Bexley Business Forum will be able to hold meetings in the large and sound proofed meeting rooms on the second floor. The Cross Keys is a very tall building with lots of steep stairs; this has been thought of as a problem for both people with mobility disabilities and parents with children in buggies. For this reason a glass lift is being installed on the rear of the building, adjacent to the patio garden. The lift will look very similar to those used on the Lloyd’s building in the City of London, and will allow disabled access. The rear of the building is plain brick, and not the reason the structure is listed – it is the frontage that legally has to be preserved. Even the employment of local staff has been given a priority. All of the contractors employed on the Cross Keys project come from less than twelve miles from Erith, unless nobody with the specific skills could be found nearby. All the conservation work has been undertaken with close reference to period photographs supplied from several sources, including local historian Ken Chamberlain and myself. I cannot emphasise what a stunning transformation has taken place inside the former pub. All of the work has been done to an incredibly high standard with very high quality materials. Unfortunately as building work is still taking place, the Aleff Group will not be able to offer guided tours on the 30^th August during Erith Fun Day – their insurers would not permit it. I would imagine the public will be able to take a look around in October, when the building officially opens. Take it from me, you are in for a real treat!

This week the end video is an excellent and very funny "Simon's Cat" cartoon - enjoy.