Erith Lighthouse closes.

The photo above shows a rather unusual view of the ADM Oils Thames - side edible oil refinery, along with a moored bulk freighter, which was offloading a cargo of oilseed rape seed for processing into vegetable oil and soft spread. ADM Oils is the largest producer of edible oils and vegetable fats in Europe, and one of the largest in the World.  The ADM Oils facility is located at the end of Church Manor Way, as you can see by clicking here. Answers on a postcard please - where was the photo above taken from? Prize is an air guitar last played at the 1988 Donnington Monsters of Rock festival, and has not been played since, so it is probably a bit out of tune by now. 

Fellow local Blogger, Darryl Chamberlain of the 853 Blog has done something very ambitious and quite daring; he's crowd funding the 853 Blog so that, with enough funding, he will be able to make his online journalism a full time career. Unlike myself, an amateur who writes the Maggot Sandwich as an unpaid hobby, albeit one that takes up a large amount of my free time, Darryl is a "proper" trained journalist who has worked for The Guardian and the BBC News website. Darryl has set up a Patreon account that you can see here. He's hoping to be able to earn enough money through donations and sponsorship to pay for him to work on the 853 news and current affairs blog full time. he writes:- "I started looking more closely at issues involving Greenwich Council because they weren't receiving much coverage in the local press. Now the situation's even worse. The Mercury, traditionally the Greenwich borough's campaigning paper, is a pale shadow of its former self while the News Shopper is in tatters thanks to its owners squeezing it for every last penny of profit. And a new entrant, Greenwich Weekender, has stopped covering news after being threatened by Greenwich Council with the loss of an advertising contract for the crime of publishing some dissenting views on what councillors are up to. I'd like to be able to keep producing 853, to keep telling stories that aren't being told and to dig deeper into issues that affect the area. Over 700 people subscribe to the site - if every one of those paid £3 per month, it'd become a full-time wage. I'm not expecting anything near that, but the more people are able to pay, the more I can do. Hopefully I can live up to the generosity of those who have already donated - all contributions are gratefully accepted, and let's help keep public interest journalism alive in south-east London". Darryl plans on covering the stories that the local papers can't, or won't cover in the Charlton, Greenwich and Lewisham areas - the area covered by the old British Telecom 853 dialling code, hence the name of Darryl's Blog. I am proud to say that I am one of Darryl's sponsors, and if you would like to become one as well, you can click here for more information. 

I know that many readers will be pleased by the news that as of last Monday, trains on the Bexleyheath, Greenwich and Sidcup rail lines will have their number of carriages increased. Those that previously have had six cars will be increased to eight, and those that have had eight cars will be increased to ten. Southeastern expects to create 5,000 additional seat for morning-peak commuters to London by adding the carriages. Ten is the maximum length of train that can be used on the Greenwich line; although most stations on the line were extended to accommodate twelve carriage trains, shortly before the 2012 Olympics, two factors prevented trains regularly employing twelve carriages. The first of these is insufficient traction current to run very many long trains, but the most significant factor is the restricted length of the platform at Woolwich Dockyard Station. It is the only station on the Greenwich line which is constrained by a tunnel at each end of the platform. The maximum length of train that can stop there is ten cars; unlike on the Docklands Light Railway, where certain stations can be shorter than the trains that visit them - Island Gardens being an example - the overland trains are not able to lock out the doors of the carriages still in the tunnel - this is known as Selective Door Operation. The only time twelve carriage trains operated on the Greenwich Line was during the 2012 Olympics and 2012 Paralympics; the work - around was that trains in either direction did not stop at Woolwich Dockyard Station  - thus avoiding the problems of the doors of the front and rear coaches potentially opening whilst still being in the tunnel. Some wags also suggested the motivation was that the Olympic organisers did not want visitors to the UK accidentally getting off the train at Woolwich Dockyard, and then finding out what a dump the area then was! There have been substantial improvements since 2012. In any case the issue is moot; the trains on the Greenwich line will be longer, but the limit will still be ten car trains. 

This weekend has marked the successful conclusion of the Pier Commission and the Erith Lighthouse Project, which I have covered in detail over the past weeks. The pioneering art installation, community interactivity events and the pop - up restaurant which took place initially in Erith Riverside Gardens, and subsequently on Erith Pier have attracted much attention, and not only from local residents - people from farther afield have been attracted to Erith, in many cases for the first time. Sarah Batten, one of the Directors of arts commissioning group The Exchange writes:- " Back in March 2017, we approached Orbit and Wates Residential with an outline idea of sponsoring a contemporary arts project based on Erith Pier, with a view to drawing attention to it, and redefining or enhancing its purpose as a public space. With the sponsors the idea for ‘The Pier Commission’ – an annual arts project that would support emerging artists and contribute to community life in Erith – developed. An open call out resulted in over 70 proposals from all over the world, each reimagining the space in different ways – some bonkers, some magical, some impressive. The judging panel – consisting of The Exchange, Orbit, Wates Residential, local artists Gary Drostle and Guy Tarrant, Totally Thames and The Decorators (the group responsible for the Erith Lighthouse project) – had a difficult challenge to whittle this long list down to a shortlist of four, which were then presented to the public for the final vote. Julia Snowdin’s proposal was by far the most popular with local and wider audiences. Snowdin’s artwork, which has hung on Erith Pier for the last few weeks, has had overwhelming support from the public. From the fishermen who shelter under the sails, to the people who live in the flats opposite who watch them lit up in the evening, to the 65 people who contributed to the designing of the work (the youngest was 4 months old, the oldest 92!), to the children from local schools who made paper boats and helped us to imagine a new creative future for the town. In total over 3,000 people visited the pier over the course of the installation. We would like to thank the Port of London Authority, Morrisons and in particular Orbit, Wates Residential and Bexley Council - without their support this project would not have happened. There were of course challenges, and things that we would do differently in the future. The principal thing would be to allow ourselves more time to develop the project, and give the artist more time and resource to develop their work in close collaboration with the Erith community. We want also to explore how the programme could be extended, to other sites in Erith, and by reaching out to different groups developing close and meaningful partnerships. Probably the best thing about The Pier Commission, and the Erith Lighthouse project, has been the conversations we have been able to have with Erith residents of all ages, groups and persuasions. There is some sadness about what has happened in Erith in the past, but this is coupled with incredible positivity about the future of the town. It is this positivity, and the community spirit that we have witnessed, that will make the success of any future projects – we look forward to being a part of it." 

  

Recently I wrote at some length about the problems with Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) in betting shops on our high streets. Whilst I highlighted the problems these present to people on low incomes, and to those who have problems with gambling, one area that I neglected is that surrounding organised crime, and how crooks use FOBT’s as part of their own business model, astonishing as that might seem. The Gambling Commission - the industry regulator also publicly admitted what has long been privately acknowledged: FOBTs present a "high inherent money-laundering risk". In a letter to the industry trade association, the commission warned about "a retail betting model that includes high volumes of cash transactions, particularly where this includes low individual spend and a high level of anonymity, especially where that model also offers (FOBTs). What the machines provide is the chance for criminals to quickly and easily convert large sums of money from the real world into virtual cash that can later be converted back into the real thing. There is little official research into the scale and extent of such operations. The 2005 Gambling Act, which regulates the terminals, says one of its primary objectives is "preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime". It has long been obvious to the public that criminals can convert their loot into a clean win on an electronic roulette table. Surveys for the commission show that 40 percent of the public regularly identify gambling with criminal activity. The industry regulator found one in 14 respondents associated money laundering with gambling. Dealers feed their drug money through the machines, losing a little and then cashing out with the vast majority of their stake. They can then collect a printed ticket from the bookmaker showing they have gambled that day – meaning that if stopped by police, they can answer questions about why an apparently unemployed young man carries hundreds of pounds in rolled-up cash. The Fixed Odds Betting Terminals arrived in Britain back in 2001, and were lightly regulated from the outset. Gamblers in bookmakers found that they could bet £100 every 20 seconds on roulette. The temptation of high-speed, high-stake casino games in the high street proved irresistible: there are now over 33,345 FOBTs in the UK. The drug dealer who wants to launder his pile if ill – gotten cash has a very straightforward strategy, which is embarrassingly simple – they bet : £20 on black, £20 on red and £2 on zero. A press of a button and the wheel spins before the ball lands on red. That's a loss of £2. The money placed on the zero is the only risk the drug dealer is taking with his cash. If the ball does land on zero, he wins £72. With no horses to run or dealer to shuffle and just the 20 second spin of an electronic roulette wheel to wait for, it takes a little over a minute for the drug dealer to cash out. Many experienced money launderers know that unless they gamble at least 40 percent of the float money they have put in the machine, an alert will pop up on the staff computer warning them of suspicious activity. So they methodically place the same bet to make sure that they have been seen to have wagered enough. The economics of drug dealing make it cost-effective to pay 5 percent to 10 percent to betting shops to launder the illicit profits. I have it on good authority that it not just proceeds of illegal  drug sales that are being laundered through the FOBT machines, but that of robberies as well; Did you know that security dyed bank notes from bank robberies can be submitted to The Bank of England and the book maker company gets reimbursed? This whole process seems to have been overlooked by the Police.

Following my article last week concerning the MBNA Thames Clipper service running experimental ferry trips from Gravesend Town Pier to London, it would seem that Bexley Council are now putting out a somewhat different line to their original rather dismissive press statement that they had no knowledge of the trial ferry service expansion, or any reference to the ferry company having aspirations to run from Erith Pier; now they are back pedalling somewhat. In a follow up statement to the one I reported last week, a spokesperson for Bexley Council has since been quoted as saying:- "We would welcome a clipper type service if it offers another option for people travelling to and from the City and central London. We don’t own the pier and, while we understand it does not currently have the facilities to allow vessels to dock, we would hope they can be provided if the service is extended along the Thames. We support greater use of the river, particularly for leisure and tourism, and we await the results of this week’s trial with interest.” Sean Collins, CEO and co-founder, MBNA Thames Clippers said in a News Shopper interview that:- “Our Gravesend trial service was a complete success. Bookings completely sold out, and we have had incredibly positive feedback from passengers, many asking us when it will become a permanent extension to our current network. The purpose of the trial sailings was to provide us with the required information to enable us to evaluate the potential of such services for the future. The infrastructure and vessels required to operate such service would need to be built, as well as evaluating other potential stops for the route to support the routes viability.”  It was also announced last week that The company behind the long-promised theme park to be constructed in Swanscombe has reached an agreement to ferry tourists to the resort. London Resort Company Holdings hope the agreement with MBNA Thames Clippers will carry about ten per cent of visitors to the theme park from central London into Kent to visit the proposed resort. It is planned that the clippers will link the resort with Tilbury and Grays in Essex, and potentially Erith Pier, as well as to central London. Sean Collins also said:- “We want to transport as many visitors to the London Resort as possible to realise the huge benefits in terms of speed, comfort and frequency of travelling by river. Having recently agreed to run free test trials from Gravesend to offer journeys direct to central London in cooperation with Gravesham Council and seen overwhelming interest, we are delighted to play a crucial role in one of the biggest Global Entertainment Resort projects in the world, where the commuter and leisure market can be served by a first class ferry service.” It would seem that the momentum to get a ferry service running along an extended River Thames route is increasing; if the theme park does actually go ahead - it has been delayed several times - mainly due to the departure of Paramount and all of their intellectual property from the deal some time ago, then improved communications to the Swanscombe Peninsula site will be imperative. As mentioned last week, there are considerable barriers to setting up a MBNA ferry terminal on Erith Pier; the problems can be divided into two specific types. Firstly there are the engineering and physical challenges to enabling a ferry to dock at the pier. A free floating pontoon extension to the existing pier structure would be needed; this would project out into the deep water channel closer to the middle of the river. This would, however create problems of its own. Whilst the floating pontoon would enable ferries to dock at the the pier whatever the state of the tide was, it would also create a hazard to other shipping that uses the river. Commercial vessels, including cargo ships and bulk freighters, such as vessels like that featured in the photo above - click on it for a larger version - use the deep water channel, and if a jetty was protruding into the channel, this might create a hazard to navigation, especially at night and at times of reduced visibility. There are several ways to manage this, the most obvious one being to make the floating jetty movable - to swing it out into the deep water channel only when a ferry was approaching the pier. Unfortunately this would add complexity, and therefore cost to the design, and for safety reasons would almost certainly require a supervising operator to be located on site. The jetty, whether movable or fixed, would require hazard warning lights, a fog horn, and a radar reflector. The pier itself would also require some shelters for waiting commuters to occupy in inclement weather - the wind coming off the Thames at Erith in winter can be absolutely bitter, not to mention the freezing rain. Who would foot the bill for all of the alterations and upgrades is uncertain - at this point it has not been debated. The second barrier to using Erith Pier as a landing place for MBNA Clipper Ferries is actually by far the more difficult one - the bureaucracy and vested interests of the likes of The Port of London Authority, Morrison's Supermarket (who own the pier) and Bexley Council. I know from personal experience that dealing with these organisations, when any mention of Erith Pier is made, it tends to provoke the response of "The answer is no, now what is the question?" Long term readers may recall that I had a small involvement some years ago with an abortive project to bring the Ross Revenge - the Radio Caroline ship to Erith Pier to open it as a public attraction for the Summer season. The objections and bureaucratic barriers that were put up to block the temporary project were simply staggering, and even the involvement of Teresa Pearce, MP for Erith and Thamesmead was not enough to get the project the green light, and it ended up being abandoned. The transformation of Erith Pier into a ferry terminal is of a completely different scale, as it would require permanent changes to the pier structure and thus its functionality, which has since it was refurbished and repurposed in 1999 been exclusively for leisure use. If London Mayor Sadiq Khan does put his weight behind the project, I can see it getting enough momentum to actually come to fruition, but to be honest, I still am of the opinion that it is unlikely to happen. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

This week’s incident reports from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association; firstly from Belvedere ward:- “This week, we have managed to identify further children / youths that have been involved in anti-social behaviour both in and around the car park in Nuxley Road. We will be making efforts to visit those we are aware of in order to speak with the subjects and their parents, to advise against the type of behaviour that has been taking place. We are hopeful that this action will have the desired effect. PC Holmes has been busy dealing with various CCTV enquiries on the ward, most of which originate from shoplifting offences taking place in both Upper and Lower Belvedere. Images of those believed to be involved are being circulated on social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook, in the hope that they can be identified. The team have very recently dealt with a female shoplifter from B and Q in Lower Belvedere who is being interviewed in relation to the offence in the very near future.” Brampton ward:- “There have been 6 crimes over the past week. 1 x computer risk to human welfare in Cyril Road 1 x Criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Birchington Close, victim has seen a puncture mark in their tyre that has gone flat , NHW coordinator spoken to regarding the incident which is an ongoing problem in the road. 1 x Attempted theft of a cycle outside The Bakery Pickford Lane, the victim was riding home on the pavement when the suspect attempted to stop the victim who then fell off the bike, members of the public attempted to stop the suspect leaving the scene, it is unknown if the offence was an attempted theft or something else. 1 x Theft shoplifting in Long Lane, suspect stole washing powder 1 x Possession of cannabis in Albury Avenue, suspect stopped whilst walking along smoking 1 x Burglary Shakespeare Avenue , suspect smashed rear kitchen window and gained access.” Colyers ward:- “There are no reported burglaries on Colyers Ward between 13/09/17 to 19/09/17. There was one reported theft of motor vehicle and one criminal damage to motor vehicle during the same period. On 16th September 2017 the victim parked his vehicle outside his house address in Elmstead Road Erith at 7pm. The vehicle was locked and secured. At about 9pm when the victim came out, he discovered that his vehicle was gone. No suspect was seen but there is possible CCTV. On Monday 12th September 2017 in Larner Road the victim had her vehicle damaged by a male on a motor bike, VRM R251XBW(?) in Larner Road, Erith. The victim indicated that the male riding the motor bike came close to her on the driver’s side and punched her wing mirror and damaged it. She had no clue why it happened and she was very shaken by the experience. The victim managed to get a picture of the VRM of the motorbike on her phone.” Crayford ward:- “Two mobile phones were stolen, one from McDonalds and one from Sainsbury's. Each victim recalls having their phones at these locations. Counterfeit notes have also been reported as being used in a Crayford shop. There have been three bicycles stolen and two mopeds stolen in this last week. The mopeds have both been located nearby. With the assistance of officers from Christchurch and Barnehurst SNT, our team completed a successful Section 23 Drugs warrant at an address close to Crayford Way. Several items were seized and enquiries will be ongoing that should lead to prosecution of offenders.” North End ward:- “2 motor vehicle crimes in the last week, 1 vehicle damaged by 3 guys on mopeds kicking the wing mirror as they rode past in Bridge Road. Please let us know any descriptions or number plates if you see any groups of motorbikes and mopeds riding around. All information we get is being used to build an intelligence plan in to trying to identify anyone involved so a red coat, orange bike etc, any of this information could prove useful in future. The other vehicle crime was a theft of number plates in Frobisher Road, no trace of the plates as yet.” Northumberland Heath ward:- “This week we have had no residential burglaries reported on the ward however an attempted burglary took place on Monday September 18th at the Natwest bank which closed earlier this year. Entry to the premises was not gained but a window was smashed and the entry door was damaged. The suspect has been arrested. Theft of a Lefan motorbike in Streamway on Thursday September 14th between 0800 – 1530 hours. The bike was stolen from the front of the property. Criminal damage to a white transit van parked in Eastry Road this week. An attempt was made to access the vehicle and tool marks and scratches were discovered around the lock. Also a theft of a box containing personal effects from a vehicle parked in Bexley Road Between Saturday September 16th 0800 and Monday 18th at 08:00. The box contained receipts, bills and other paperwork. Please be vigilant and make sure all personal belongings are out of sight where possible. An apple iPhone was stolen from a male walking in Brook Street on Wednesday September 13th at 12:45pm. The suspects made off in a Black Vauxhall Corsa. A handbag containing cash, credit cards and other belongings was stolen from an elderly lady in Bexley Road on Thursday September 14th at 10:30am. The suspects made off on a moped. The lady was unharmed but sustained wrist pain following the incident.” Thamesmead East ward:- “Good news, no Burglary / vehicle crime reported on the ward during the past week. The team attended the Southmere Park summer fete over the weekend, good fun was had by all. A spectacular firework display over the lake ended the day’s events on Saturday evening. Four youths were stopped by PCSO Buckley and Hobbs on Saturday evening after reports of Anti-Social Behaviour around the Staplehurst Court car park, Southmere Drive. Good Intelligence gained. It’s Operation Sceptre this week. The team have / will be conducting weapon sweeps on the ward and making residents aware in an attempt to reduce knife crime across the whole of the MPS.”

The ending video this week is courtesy of Reverend Simon Archer of Christ Church Erith. He's appealing for more donations to Erith Food Bank, as you can see from the short video below. Do donate what you can; it is an extremely worthy cause. 

Erith - then and now.

I have written in the past about the traveller pony that lives on the small patch of land between the end of James Watt Way, and the riverside walk adjacent to Erith Morrison’s supermarket. That particular animal gets spoiled by the parents who take small children around there to see it – they usually ply it with carrots and apples, and in summer it can end up getting pretty fat. This is most definitely not the case with most horses and ponies that are left to “fly graze” on both public and private land without the landowners permission. This is a problem all over the country, but seems to be particularly bad in South East London and North Kent – possibly because of the high population concentration making the issue appear more visible than elsewhere. I have seen signs posted on trees and other structures located near pieces of open grassland in Abbey Wood and Thamesmead with messages such as “do not leave your pony here” and “no fly grazing” – which periodically get ignored. I saw an interview on Sky News earlier in the week, in which RSPCA Superintendent John Grant said “The equine market has dropped. When there used to be a bit of a meat trade, people could move them on, but at the moment people are giving colts to each other. It means there's nowhere for them to go so they just dump them on whatever grazing's available”. Vicky Alford, from the Blue Cross animal charity, said that many fly grazing horses are severely neglected, and some have to be put down."We see them in pretty poor conditions, in some cases, really quite emaciated. We see worm burdens on these horses, lice, and if horses are quite skinny then the rain can pool and puddle on their backs which can lead to some really nasty sores." Much of this can be attributed to the British people  having an aversion to eating horsemeat. If there was a local market for the excess horses, then the overgrazing and illegal use of open land would cease. Many of the animals involved currently have no intrinsic value whatsoever, and instead potentially cost the owners for upkeep. Some, like the family that own the pony on the land adjacent to the riverfront at Erith are responsible and ensure that the beast is always kept with a large amount of feed and plenty of fresh water. Many are less careful, and the horses they own suffer accordingly. I think we should be encouraging the consumption of horsemeat in the UK. I have eaten roast horse, and very good it was too – quite similar to venison. It is unfortunate that the recent horse meat scandal (which involved horsemeat being substituted for other meat, mainly in chilled or frozen ready meals) was mainly about the fact that the horsemeat was of unknown provenance, and the health of the animal prior to slaughter could not be determined, rather than there being a problem with eating horse meat at all. This does not seem to have registered with the general public, who thanks to some lazy press reporting, associate any horse meat as somehow suspect. If this attitude could be changed, it could actually make the overall welfare of British horses and ponies better, as once they had a status where they had monetary value, it would be in the owners interest to look after the animal. This is on a far larger scale than my recent story on the value of rat meat (the infamous, slightly tongue in cheek “Kentucky Fried Rat” story from a few weeks ago) but the message is broadly the same. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Less than a day after I had written about Southeastern Trains getting an extension on their franchise to serve South East London and North Kent, despite having a service that was judged to be the second worst in the country, they excel themselves. On Monday morning I arrived at Erith Station at a couple of minutes before 7am as usual. The London – bound platform was already packed – a worrying sign. It turned out that there had been no trains for some time, and after waiting an additional twenty minutes or so, a much delayed train turned up, already very well occupied. I was just able to get a seat, but by the time the train arrived at Belvedere, it was standing room only.  Bearing in mind that the train normally continues to gain passengers at every station until it reaches Greenwich, where quite a number, myself included, exit the train to transfer to the DLR to Canary Wharf. This means that in such a situation, the Southeastern train carriages become uncomfortably full of irritated and tetchy commuters. As I am sure you can appreciate, Southeastern Trains are not exactly flavour of the moment with their regular customers, most of whom have no alternative method of travelling to and from London, and who are effectively held to ransom by the train company. Having sad that I have doubts as to whether any other of the train operators eligible could actually do any better – as mentioned last week, it may be a case of “better the devil you know”.

The photo above shows Erith Town Forum members and friends who organised a cakes tombola stall to support Riverside Shopping Centre raising funds for MacMillan Cancer Support Coffee Morning on Friday 26th September.

The News Shopper has reported two negative stories about the two local Wetherspoon’s owned pubs. The first story involves a young mother who had met with a small group of friends for a late breakfast in the Furze Wren in Bexleyheath. She was accompanied by her young son who needed breast feeding. A member of staff then approached her and asked her to cover up. Understandably she was upset by this, and complained. The story has caused quite a stir on the News Shopper site, with a huge number of comments being posted, and on Thursday there was a "Breast Feed - In". Whatever one’s personal opinion, the woman is covered by the 2010 Equality Act; what gets me is not so much that she was breast feeding, but that someone actually saw her doing it. From my own experience in the Furze Wren, it is so dimly lit and murky that one is hard pressed to see anything much at all! In the second incident, a chap tripped over a piece of loose trim on the bottom of a toilet door in a Wetherspoon’s pub in Deptford. He was seriously bruised and suffered from internal bleeding. To compound matters, the man was already suffering from brain and lung cancer. In both cases Wetherspoon’s are in negotiation with the injured parties. This contrasts with the opening of The Penny Farthing micro pub in Crayford, which looks to have been a resounding success. As I have previously written, Micro pubs differ from mainstream pubs in that they tend to have shorter opening hours, they don’t serve spirits and they don’t sell lager. They concentrate on high quality real ales, and usually a local cider. Most also have restrictions on the use of mobile phones on the premises as well. The Penny Farthing is the second micro pub to open in the London Borough of Bexley, after The Door Hinge in Welling. A third micro pub – the Broken Drum is due to open in Blackfen within the next few months. This is certainly a cause for celebration, as the micro pub philosophy is to encourage strangers  to talk together and to foster a sense of community, and to turn back the clock to create pubs as they once used to be. The Penny Farthing is open noon to 3pm from Tuesday to Sunday; 5pm to 9.30pm from Tuesday to Thursday; 5pm to 10.30pm Friday and Saturday and closed Sunday evening and all day Monday. Incidentally the other current local micro pub The Door Hinge has just been voted Greater London pub of the year by members of CAMRA. It is now one of the sixteen finalists going forward to compete for UK pub of the year - an amazing achievement for a micro pub that has been open for less than two years. Congratulations Ray! My personal feeling is that the pub business in the UK is going to split into three distinct categories over the next few years; indeed, there is some evidence to suggest that this is already happening. The categories will include the large corporate chain pubs such as the aforementioned Wetherspoon’s, and others such as the Slug and Lettuce brand; the second category will include the high end “destination” pubs such as the Robin Hood and Little John in Lion Road, Bexleyheath (which I love), and (*Shudder*) gastro pubs - which I personally detest. The third category will be micro pubs, which are currently expanding at a fast rate. You may notice that I don’t mention the classic back street boozer. This is because I feel that these kind of pubs will die out, and in many cases have already done so. The role  of the traditional pub in local communities is now much reduced – cheap supermarket booze and large screen televisions keep people in their homes, and the high level of beer taxation, along with (to a lesser extent) the smoking ban have meant that rather than just popping round the corner for a quick pint, many people stay at home, and only go out to a pub as a special occasion / meal or similar. What do you think? What should be done? Are micro pubs the way forward? Either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above (click on it for a larger view) shows the view looking North along Erith High Street. I can confidently state that the photograph was taken in the spring of 1938 at ten past eleven in the morning. The (then not long opened) Odeon cinema is showing a poster for the John Ford directed film "The Hurricane" starring Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall prominently on the side wall. The film was released in the USA during November 1937, but it would have been a few months until prints reached the UK, and looking at the state of dress and the weather in the photo, it must have been mid to late spring when the photograph was taken. The time can easily be determined from the clock outside the row of shops to the left of the photograph.

The photo above was taken by me yesterday afternoon from as close as physically possible to the site where the photograph from Spring 1938 was taken, subject to the limitations of the changed road layout and the different camera image aspect ratio.  As you can clearly see, nothing of the original photograph has survived. The Odeon cinema should have still been in place, as it was a grade 2* listed building (a 2* is half way to grade 1 listed status, and is very rarely awarded - the reason for the award was that the architect of the cinema Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was also the man who designed the iconic K6 red telephone box that has become a symbol of Britain). Back in the late 1990's the cinema building was empty and in pretty poor shape. It had been originally proposed to convert it into a Wetherspoon's outlet, but the developers realised that restoring the original structure was going to be prohibitively expensive, and it was demolished - something that should really never have been allowed to happen. Instead a rather anodyne block of flats was constructed on the site. 

A further train related story has been raised by Darryl Chamberlain, who writes the popular 853 Blog, which mainly covers the Charlton and Greenwich areas. The name of his blog comes from the old dialing code for the area. I hesitate to call Darryl a blogger, as he is actually a "proper" journalist who writes for a number of publications. He has been highlighting a campaign that has recently been started to get the London Overground train line, which currently terminates at Barking Riverside, and to extend it under the River Thames to both Thamesmead and to Abbey Wood, where it would link up with both the North Kent rail line and the Crossrail railway currently being constructed. This would bring the first railway station into Thamesmead proper - the only large town in South East London currently with no form of railway connection. It would give Thamesmead the rail service it was first promised forty years ago. A new rail link across the Thames would open up jobs and new opportunities on both sides of the river. New connections would be opened up to Bluewater, Lakeside, Southend Airport and the Olympic Park at Stratford. Residents on both side of the Thames could do all this without having to take a car or enduring long bus rides. Hopefully something concrete will come of this, but I am not holding my breath.

Actor Karl Howman, who most famously played Jacko in the popular late 80's / early 90's BBC TV sitcom "Brush Strokes" has been cast in a role in Eastenders. I don't know much more than that, as I never watched Brush Strokes, and I don't watch TV soap operas. The only reason I mention it is because Karl Howman is a local lad. He went to Picardy School (now Trinity) in Belvedere, and I have it on good authority from his former head of year that the only reason Howman was not expelled for bad behaviour was because he was the captain of the very successful school football team! I don't know where he lives nowadays, but in the late 80's he and his wife lived in a big house in The View, off Woolwich Road. I used to sometimes see him parking his Ferrari 328 GTS in Nuxley Road, as he went to buy fish and chips for supper. 

Fellow local Blogger The Thamesmead Grump has been very busy of late; he’s been carrying out his own investigations into the state of food outlets policed by Greenwich health inspectors; the results have been pretty impressive – when he checked the fast food shops in and around Thamesmead, he found that most had a five star rating, or a good four. He did notice that some outlets don’t show their sticker very well, a surprise when the results have found to be so good overall. It definitely feels that things are well on the up with regard to the cleanliness and proper preparation of food when one is out and about in the local area. There are still disappointments, however, including one that I have to say really surprised me. A local outlet has scored an overall two star rating; the inspectors commented that the food hygiene and safety standard was Poor, the Structural Compliance was Fair, and the Confidence in Management was Some. What shop do you think this rating applies to? Erith Morrison’s supermarket! How the “big five” supermarket can rate only a two star Scores on the Scores on the Doors rating makes my mind boggle. It sounds like the management of the huge store really need a fundamental shake-up. I will be monitoring the Scores on the Doors website for the next inspection of Morrison’s, as the rating should be radically improved. It is doubly worrying as Morrison’s is one of the town’s biggest employers, having around 550 staff in both full and part time work. I would have thought that any sufficiently large company would have processes and procedures in place to ensure a high standard of food hygiene. I would be interested if anyone knows what caused the very poor food hygiene rating. If you are a Morrison’s employee and can enlighten me as to the problems which the store appears to be suffering from in respect of hygiene inspections, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com and I will treat any information that you can give me with the utmost confidence and discretion.

We are now rapidly approaching TRP (Tweed Retirement Point), the time of year when my tweed sports jackets get put away in the wardrobe, to be replaced with somewhat warmer garb. For me, along with the first switching on of the central heating, this marks the first steps towards winter. This year has been a mixed bag weather - wise. Not sure if this is a good thing from a personal viewpoint (I really don't do heat well - anything over around 22 degrees Celsius is too much for me), but it should at least temporarily shut up that group who every year trot out the same mantra "we don't get seasons like we used to" and blame it on global warming. As I featured some time ago, all of the data used to model potential climate change is inaccurate, and the predictions made by both the pro and the anti global warming theorists are now worthless. The reason for this is that nearly all weather stations that are used to collect temperature, precipitation, sunlight and wind data are located in towns and cities - wherever in the world you care to check. Some of these weather stations have been in continuous use for many years; quite often for more than a century. When the weather stations were first set up, they were often on farms and smallholdings in what were then the suburbs. Urban sprawl has now happened, and what were the suburbs are now in many cases a part of the city. Cities suffer from a condition known as Urban Heat Island - the concrete and metal that make up city tower blocks, and the tarmac that covers the ground acts like a giant storage heater, keeping the overnight air temperature artificially higher than it would otherwise actually be. When climate analysts compare the heat data, say from 1913 with 2013 they then see a marked hike in the overall temperature, which immediately gets blamed on increased Carbon Dioxide levels, due to pollution. Indeed this may also be happening, but the vast majority of the temperature increase is actually due to the heat leakage from air conditioning units and the buildings which house them. The overnight temperatures stay higher than expected, as the fabric of the buildings slowly leak the heat that they had built up during the day. What this means is that the historical meteorological records bear no relation to contemporary ones - it is a classic case of comparing apples and oranges. Both camps in the climate change discussion really need to go away and re - evaluate their computer models, as they are all based on fundamentally faulty data. You can see the practical results of this if you spend any time in Canary Wharf; the temperature in the wharf is always a couple of degrees higher than across the river in Greenwich, and the wharf is both windier and subject to its own microclimate. All because of a bunch of closely spaced skyscrapers which emit a large amount of heat. the fact that the air temperature within Canary Wharf is usually around two degrees warmer than the area outside at any time of the year, supports the urban heat island theory quite neatly. Whatever ones' personal views in respect of climate change, I feel that it is important to be aware of accurate findings, and at present it would seem that the numbers just don't add up. It may be time for the climate scientists to start again from scratch.

Bexley Brewery have now released their first two brews to pubs and clubs around the local area; if you would like to sample Red House Best Bitter or BOB Pale Ale, you can do so at the following locations:-

Dartfordians Rugby Club, Bourne Road, Bexley

The Penny Farthing, Waterside, Crayford

The Robin Hood & Little John, Lion Road, Bexleyheath

Old Bexley Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Bexley

The Volunteer, Bexleyheath

The Orpington Liberal Club, Orpington

Bexley Brewery hope to have their licence for off - sales approved pretty soon; as soon as this has been granted, they will be able to sell to the general public. I will keep you informed. 

I had the following article sent to me by Caroline Field, the Project Manager for the Erith Park development:-  "Lions and rhinoceroses at Erith Park! Last week the core group met people from the London Geological Diversity Project who came to explain why our site is so geologically interesting. When it was a brick quarry the work wasn't mechanised so the workers used to spot the fossils and keep them for ome local gentlemen who used to pay for them. Some of these are now in the Natural History museum and ...are important speciments - including the skull of a lion and a rhinoceros jawbone. Their research has also uncovered a 19th century brick catalogue from the site. They produced ornate decorated bricks and have printed photos of buildings where they've been used - including Bromley Town Hall and New Scotland Yard. So there are buildings you can still go to and say 'that brick came from Erith Park'. Francois is going to be working with local people to produce an interpretive panel at Erith Park to make sure everyone knows this fascinating history". Thanks Caroline, a really fascinating account that I have forwarded to local historian Ken Chamberlain.

The end video this week is a review of the first ever portable (or should that be luggable?) Computer - the Osborne One from back in 1981. The story of Osborne computers is still taught at business schools around the world as an example as to how not to run your company. Watch and learn.