Two stars.

The photos above show a couple of views of Erith Pier - the longest pier on the River Thames by quite some distance. Last year the very first Erith Pier Festival took place; the organisers expected around four hundred people to turn up to the inaugural event. As it turned out, something over four thousand people visited the pier on the day - helped by the excellent weather at the time. The Erith Pier Festival will be returning to the riverside on the 21st September 11am - 9pm this year. The festival will feature live music, various pop - up food stalls from the Erith Kitchen, Bexley Brewery will have a beer tent serving some of their excellent, locally brewed real ales, and there will be a number of children's entertainers as well. You can read more about the event by clicking here. Please note that the "Get there by boat" option is erroneous - it is not currently possible to visit Erith Pier by any public river service. If you own your own ship, that is however another story. 

I know that some sections of the popular press have been getting quite upset over the price of computer printer toner, and it is indeed a complete rip – off. I think that they were missing a trick, however, as there is something that is an even bigger con; I know it is something I have mentioned before, but I do feel strongly that it needs to be revisited. Why is the cost of men’s wet shaving razor blades so extortionate? Some are £15.75 for a measly eight blades. The materials involved in their construction and the labour utilised is minimal – the production lines are almost completely automated, and the materials are high quality, but there is little metal involved in reality. The only conclusion that I can come to is that the reason razor blades are so eye wateringly expensive is that the companies that produce and sell them seem to have the market completely sewn up. They charge so much just because they can. I think the only solution to this would be for a new player to enter the market to produce blades of an equivalent quality and durability (don’t get me going as to how quickly blades wear out – you are lucky to get four shaves out of a blade, nothing like the month of use that the manufacturers’ claim) at a fraction of the cost. I cannot believe that this would be technically or financially impossible. It takes someone with the kind of business expertise and audacity that have caused Ryan Air to overturn the short and medium haul air travel industry, to be able to challenge the big players in the men’s grooming market.  I bitterly resent being held over a barrel when it comes to shaving. On a side note, does anyone have a clue why there are no mousse or gel hair removal products targeted at men? A facial “Immac for Men” or similar might be an interesting product. I don’t know if there are any technical or medical reasons why such a product could not be brought to market. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please leave a comment below. All comments will be moderated and published within 24 hours of receipt. Email me at the usual address:- hugh.neal@gmail.com.

A form of ferry service has been in place at Woolwich since the 14th century, as a way of allowing the community to safely cross the Thames. The service pre-dates all other tunnel and bridge crossings in the capital. The documentation from that date refers to the waterman who ran the ferry, William de Wicton, sold his business and house to William Halle, for £10. In 1320 the ferry was sold again for 100 silver marks. There is no further mention of the ferry during the years that Woolwich rose to prominence as a royal dockyard under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Much later, in 1810 the army established its own ferry that ran from Woolwich Royal Arsenal to Duvals Wharf. In 1811 an Act of Parliament was passed to establish a ferry across the Thames from Woolwich at the Old Ballast or Sand Wharf, opposite Chapel Hill, where the dockyard then terminated. The ferry became known as the western ferry and was run by a company that called itself The Woolwich Ferry Company. The Western ferry continued to operate until 1844, when the company was dissolved after a history of inept management. The current free ferry was set up in the 1889 and has run ever since. The ferry infrastructure at the Woolwich terminals had been in operation for over 50 years, providing a ‘roll-on/roll-off’ transport service, and has seen traffic volumes using the service dramatically increase over this period. Over 1 million vehicle crossings and 1.95 million passenger journeys were recorded using the service in 2014, which is operated and run by Briggs Marine Contractors, under a long term operating contract with Transport for London (TfL). Since the two new ferry vessels entered service earlier this year, there have been an almost constant series of mechanical and electrical breakdowns, labour strikes and other disruptions to the service, which the public was erroneously told the introduction of the new ships would prevent. There have been several problems with the new service; the ships are run by electric motors powered by diesel generators, and the new automated docking system is also powered by electro magnets. The diesel generators have so far proved far less reliable than predicted. On top of this, the electro magnetic docking system only seems to work properly when there is little wind or tide affecting the movement of the ferries as they dock. Anything less than perfect conditions causes the ferries to bounce on the docking mechanism, and fail to make a secure contact. I have read reports that the new ferries, despite their new technology, are actually far harder to operate than the old 1960's models that they replaced. On top of this, there are a series of ongoing labour disputes between the ferry crews and the management of the service; at the time of writing these are unresolved.

Shock news following the recent health and hygiene inspection of the KFC Drive Through (I will not call it "Drive Thru" as that is an abomination). Bexley Council inspectors visited the restaurant located at 1, Manor Road, Erith on Tuesday the 6th of August. After the visit, the chain outlet scored a worryingly low two out of a possible five stars on the "Scores on the Doors" hygiene rating system. The low, two star award, means that "Improvement is necessary" - not what you would expect of a large multinational food franchise. How could a multinational mega brand allow one of its stores get into a position that it can only rate a two out of five star rating? It is immaterial whether the store is company owned or a franchise – the standards expected are identical. The damage to the KFC brand should such information become widely known is difficult to calculate, but it certainly would not be good. The Erith store has had a history of problems; In the summer of 2016, I received several reports of certain menu items being unavailable when requested, and I also heard a couple of unsubstantiated rumours that the store was suffering cash flow problems. It would seem from the investment subsequently made into the store, that these rumours were either incorrect, or had been successfully resolved. The Erith KFC branch made it into the tabloid papers back in February of last year; one of the largest news stories both nationally and locally had been at that time that of the temporary closure of a majority of KFC fast food restaurants around the country due to problems with their supply chain management, which had recently been taken over by courier firm DHL. KFC outlets around the UK ran out of ingredients, and had to temporarily close. Footage, allegedly showing KFC staff transferring raw chicken from a car into the side entrance of the Erith store was taken by a local person and uploaded to Facebook. The uploader made a number of unsubstantiated claims about the restaurant, including that staff were sleeping in the building. This was all published by the Sun newspaper without verifying any of the claims - not surprising as the Sun is well known for not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. A local source informed me at the time that the box the workers had taken from the car into the back of the restaurant actually contained a selection of cleaning materials. I was also told that when the Erith KFC Manager realised that the workers could not serve much in the way of food, and they could not at that stage be sent home, he got them to carry out a deep clean on the kitchen and the public areas of the restaurant - an instruction that apparently did not go down too well with some of the staff.

The vintage photo above (click on it for a larger view) was originally taken by me as part of a school geography project on the River Thames, way back in 1981. You can see Erith Police Station - when it still was a police station, and not a seedy and badly converted bunch of low rent apartments as it is nowadays. Next to it are some buildings that were a remnant of the old Erith - they are boarded up in the photo; not too long afterwards they were demolished to make way for sheltered housing. I came across the photo whilst going through a huge pile of photographs whilst clearing out a cupboard in my Mum's house some years ago. Nearly all of the shots were consigned to the bin. A few choice ones I have kept, and may share a couple with you online in the next few weeks. Unfortunately the rest of the geography project photos of Erith have disappeared - I was hoping to be able to archive them, but sadly this is not going to be the case.

Erith has been the location for an astonishing number of world changing inventions. It is unfortunate that prime amongst these is one that will forever be associated with the carnage in the trenches of the First World War. Hiram Maxim, the American born, naturalised Briton who invented the eponymous Maxim machine gun had his factory at Erith, which I covered in some depth recently; Maxim's company later merged with the larger Vickers company to become Vickers Sons and Maxim, and went on to produce the most heavily used machine gun of WW1. It was responsible for more deaths in combat than any other weapon at the time. What a lot of people don’t realise is that the biggest killer of World War One was not a weapon at all, it was a disease. More people died during the great flu pandemic of 1918 than died as part of the conflict itself. Figures are somewhat vague, but it is estimated that five hundred million people around the world  became infected with the H1N1 influenza virus, of these, between fifty to one hundred million ended up dying; at the time this was between three and five percent of the world population, making it the deadliest natural disaster in recorded history.  What was especially unusual about the outbreak was that the victims were mainly young, normally fit people, rather than the elderly and infirm. The reason for this was that the H1N1 virus caused a massive over – reaction in the body’s auto immune system. The strong immune systems in healthy people were thus far worse affected than those in elderly people or infants, and consequently more people at the prime of their lives ended up dying. To maintain wartime morale, British and allied censors removed almost all references to the horrendous flu outbreak in newspaper stories featuring the UK, Germany, France and the USA, and instead focussed on flu stories in the then neutral Spain. Consequently the outbreak nowadays gets called the Spanish Flu, when in fact the terrible effects were felt all around the world.

It is now just over three months since I quit Sky TV after twenty three years of subscription to their satellite TV service. I was expecting to "go cold turkey" but quite the opposite has actually been the case. Despite Sky writing to me on a weekly basis, unsuccessfully trying to persuade me to rejoin. The quality of programmes on Sky, and especially the selection of premium movies leaves much to be desired, and I seriously resented paying for premium channels like Sky Atlantic, and still have to sit through advert breaks. All Sky subscribers are actually paying a subscription to watch adverts – it makes no sense. In the USA, commercial TV companies are already feeling the pinch. Some are cutting back on the number and length of their commercial breaks to try and tempt back customers who are now voting with their feet and leaving the traditional broadcasters and moving to subscription based, advert free streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix knows their customers hate adverts. "We know one of the benefits of an ecosystem like Netflix is its lack of advertising," Howard Shimmel, a chief research officer at Time Warner, told Bloomberg in an interview last year. "Consumers are being trained there are places they can go to avoid ads." In response to Netflix's advertising policy, many networks have actually cut back on the amount of ads they show in an effort to lure back in the younger Netflix / Amazon Prime Video generation. Media analyst CordCutting.com crunched some numbers and found that each Netflix subscriber saves themselves about 158.5 hours of commercials per year. The number will be somewhat lower in the UK and most of Europe, where fewer adverts are allowed per hour of broadcast television, but it is still a substantial number. As I have previously written, I consider the Sky business model to be fundamentally broken, and if they don’t move away from hugely expensive satellite broadcasting and convert to a full streaming service, I think they will be dead and gone in the next five years. What do you think? Comment below, or Email hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly the report from Barnehurst ward:- "There was a recent report of a burglary early hours of Thursday 8th August along Drummond Close Erith, entry was gained by smashing the front door of the property. Also there was a report of theft of motorbike outside an address along Normandy Way Erith between 9 pm and 9.30 pm The team shall also be holding a contact session between 4 pm and 5 pm at the Barnehurst Golf Club along Mayplace Road East if anyone wishes to speak to the team. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. If you are after crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which has lots of information that you may find useful. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Belvedere ward:- "On the 31/07/2019 we had a burglary in poplar mount. The thieves stole gold, jewellery and tools. They gained entry via the rear windows and door, from the alleyway it is believed. Happened sometime between 10:00 and 21:00. The team assisted the RSPCA on 07/08/2019 by seizing two mistreated dogs form an address on Erith Road. Just over our border by PC Smith was happy to help out. We have, for a while now, had complaints about certain HMO's in Barnfield Road. If you are experiencing problems with any of the residents of the HMO's please let us know. Our next Street-a-Week will be on 18/08/2019 from 12:00 - 12:30 on Halt Robin Road, at the junction with Upper Park Road". Bexleyheath ward:- "There have been reports of fights and disturbances in and around the Golden Lion public house, Bexleyheath. The council is seeking witnesses for more information. here seems to be no reports off any burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward over the last week A theft from motor vehicle was reported overnight on the 04/08/2019 & 05/08/2019 along Pinnacle Hill, tools were stolen from a van. Also along Rochester Drive Bexleyheath, suspects had tried stealing a van off the driveway at about midnight. A purse was reported stolen from an elderly female. Believed to have been taken in the H and M store on the Broadway, this was reported on the 03/08/2019. Also a wallet was reported stolen which was reported in ASDA on the 6/08/2019. There was a report of a victim using an ATM on the Broadway on the 01/08/2019 and was unable to use the machine. They were approached by two youths who allegedly tried to help him get the card out of the machine and victim thought this was suspicious and took their card and walked away. Money was taken from victims account, card was cloned. There was also another report of suspects calling the victim to say they need to upgrade their online banking security and to log on to their online banking which they did and money was stolen. The team regularly conduct patrols along drug hot spot areas and ASB areas on the ward and conduct regular stops and searches where necessary".

Crayford ward:- "On 3rd August between 12.00-14.30 a catalytic convertor was stolen from a vehicle parked in Bexley Lane. Between 1.20-1.25am on 3rd August two vehicles had items stolen from them in Falsfaff Close, items included two pairs of Rayban sunglasses, a handbag and a wine coloured Barbour jacket. Number plates were stolen from Stadium Way on 3rd August between 11.15-12.15, LX16VXB should be on a red Citigo Skoda. At about the same time on the same day and place, someone attempted to remove number plates from a silver Ford Focus. A Bosch garden strimmer and other items were stolen from a garden shed in Marden Crescent overnight between 3rd and 4th August. A green and white Greenmech Dual Feed towable wood chipper was stolen from a locked yard in Thames Road over the weekend 3rd and 4th August. A white Fiesta van GJ68XYU was involved in a road traffic accident at Swan Lane on Saturday 3rd August. It has since been reported stolen by an unknown person. Our next community contact session is on Wednesday 14th August between 16.00-17.00 at Vintage Lindy Lou's in Waterside Gardens, Crayford". Erith ward:- "We had the Erith Ward panel meeting and had a really nice turn out of people, if this meeting would interest you feel free to contact me for more information. The priories we set out which was chosen by the residents of Erith are as follows - Extra patrols around Compton Place which includes a meeting with the local Cllr. ASB patrols around West Street. Crimes of note - Burglary Residential 01/08/2019 Rutland Gate - By unknown suspect attempting to gain entry into victims house and damaging the front door and making off without gaining entry. Theft of Motor Vehicle 01/08/2019 Fraser Road. Theft of a  Motor Vehicle 02/08/2019 Avenue Road. Theft from Motor Vehicle 20/07/2019 Park Crescent. Theft from Motor Vehicle  03/08/2019 Bexley Road, Theft of Motor Vehicle 06/08/2019 James Watt Way".  Northumberland Heath ward - no report this week. Slade Green and Northend ward - no report this week. Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglary - No household burglaries this week. Crime prevention: Close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you're going out for a few minutes. Photograph and keep a detailed inventory of each item of jewellery and keep it in a separate place. Remain vigilant at all times Burglary Business/Commercial The Beam Engine House, located in Bazalgette Way, SE2 was broken Into between the hours of 4:00pm on Friday 02/08/19 and 07:50am on Sunday 04/08/19. Numerous items taken, unknown Total value of items taken and damage caused to gain entry, however a new roller shutter was costing about £3,500. Theft from Motor Vehicles - Between the hours of 11:245pm on Thursday 01/08/19 and 10:15am of Friday 02/08/19, a vehicle parked locked and secure on the drive of a property in St. Katherines Road, DA18, was broken into. No damage was caused to gain entry, the glove box was searched. A hire vehicle locked and secure parked Kale Road, had windows smashed, untidy search. The theft of a Catalytic converter had occurred at 10:55pm on Monday 05/08/19 in Grange Crescent, SE28. Between 9:am of Monday 05/08/19 and 8:00 pm of Tuesday 06/08/19,a vehicle was stolen from Eastgate Close, SE28.The theft from a motor vehicle occurred in Kale Road .The incident happened in May 2019, after the victim had noticed the passenger door was open and the victims purse was on the passenger seat. Bank cards and cash ,which apparently the victim had left in the vehicle were taken .bank cards were cancelled Victim had not contacted police regarding the theft, it was only after officers contacted the victim following a search of a male found to be in possession of the stolen cards. Good News - Message of thanks from the staff from at the Beam Engine House to Mark Headley - Designing Out Crime Officer and PCSO Dennis Hobbs for help given". West Heath ward:- "No burglaries reported to us over the last week. Unfortunately we have had a number of vehicle crimes. On Friday August 2nd at approximately 8.30 am a vehicle was broken into in Hythe Avenue, an untidy search of the vehicle was made but nothing appeared to be stolen. Attempted theft of an exhaust/ catalytic converter in Bedonwell Road on Tuesday August 6th between 10.30 – 10.40 am. A vehicle was broken in to in Glenview on Monday August 5th at approximately 9.45 pm via the driver's window. Untidy search of the vehicle, no further details known at this time. Theft of motor vehicle from Cranbrook Road between Saturday July 27th and Sunday August 4th, the victim was on holiday and returned to discover the vehicle missing. The victim was still in possession of the keys. Theft of a motor vehicle from Preston Drive on Wednesday August 7th between 4.15 – 4.30 am, thankfully the vehicle was later recovered. One report of criminal damage to a motor vehicle in Longleigh Lane on Saturday August 3rd between 1 am and 2 pm when the owner returned to the vehicle and discovered several dents that were not there before. The team arrested two prolific offenders over the weekend, one for failure to appear and the other was wanted on recall to prison".

The end video this week is a return to a local jazz combo who I first featured a couple of weeks ago; The Tom Fleming Trio were filmed in the main hall of the former Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, courtesy of The Exchange. Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.  

A burglary.

You may recall that last week I wrote about a break in at the Cross Keys Centre in Erith High Street. The former pub building is being restored and converted into a mixed office space and community hub, which when finished will be open to the public. Since my last edition, I have received high definition CCTV images of the burglary, which happened on the evening of the 16th June. If you are familiar with the Cross Keys Centre - and after all it is one of the most striking pieces of architecture in the town, you will know that it clearly displays a number of CCTV warning signs on the exterior of the structure. I can only surmise that the youths did not care that they might be filmed whilst trespassing, breaking and entering and burgling the building whilst it was unoccupied on a Thursday evening. In the image above, you can see a group of youths at the back of the building, loitering on the first floor balcony, where one of the group is forcing off the shuttering covering the back door, and smashing the door glass to illegally gain entry to the multimedia presentation suite / conference room.

The second still image was taken twenty minutes later, when the group of youths exited the building. As they made their way down the metal staircase, they were clearly unaware that they were being filmed. The youth at the back of the group can be seen holding a Bose bluetooth wireless speaker in his right hand - he had just stolen this from the Cross Keys Centre.  

The third still photo was taken from slightly earlier in the chain of unfortunate events. It shows the same group as they climbed on the roof of one of the outbuildings to the rear of the Cross Keys Centre. It gives a pretty clear view of the faces of the group who were about to break and enter the building. If any reader knows the identity of any of the youths, please Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com, and I will pass the information on to the relevant authorities. As Julian Hilton, co - owner of the Cross Keys Centre said last week:- "The Cross Keys is an important building for the regeneration of Erith town centre, and we want to keep the doors open, not turn it into a fortress. Through Neighbourhood Watch we would like everyone's help in making sure young people don't vandalise and steal like this. This is the first incident of its kind in a long time and we hope it's the last".

The KFC drive through restaurant in Manor Road, Erith is currently partially closed for refurbishment. The “sit down” part of the fried chicken outlet is closed to the public, and only the drive through part is still functioning. The reason for this is that the fast food store is being refurbished and rebranded with the new KFC corporate look and feel. The red and white plastic look is being replaced with brick-effect walls and timber tables, designed to replicate a "kitchen as the heart of the home" image. A new feature being added to the restaurant is a semi-open plan kitchen that will allow diners to see their food being prepared. Its design should also allow service to be much faster. Commissioned artists will provide illustrations and photographs to adorn the walls - and the space will be brightly lit by low hanging copper lighting. This refurbishment is the latest battle in the all – out war that KFC Erith has with the large McDonald’s drive through that is located directly opposite it in James Watt Way.  The KFC has had a rocky history; back in February 2014 the Erith franchise applied to open 24/7, and a large local campaign was started to prevent this from happening. Fortunately common sense prevailed, and the franchise owners voluntarily withdrew the application when they saw the extent of local opposition. The Erith KFC franchise has also had problems with supply in the recent past; last summer I received several reports of certain menu items being unavailable when requested, and I also heard a couple of unsubstantiated rumours that the store was suffering cash flow problems. It would seem from the investment being made into the store now, that these rumours were either incorrect, or have now been successfully resolved. The new KFC store look is being rolled out all around the country, and the Erith store is merely the latest in the long line of outlets being thus rebranded. One problem the rebranding will not solve is the thorny issue of car queuing for the drive – through. Service at the drive through (and reportedly, the main store as well) is very slow; at busy times the cars queuing for the occupants to place orders get lined up all the way around the car park and out onto Manor Road. Though a busy main road, Manor Road is not very wide, and when queuing cars line up in the road itself, this causes terrible traffic hold – ups, as cars wishing to pass the KFC queue find it difficult to pass, as oncoming traffic can prevent overtaking manoeuvres. This problem has been reported to the local Police, but I am not aware of any solution being put in place. Perhaps the KFC refurbishment may lead to some traffic routing solution? Time will tell.

I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday morning when I received an email from Bexley council telling me that the Regeneration team are planning two “consult the public” events, the first of which took place yesterday in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, and the second takes place on Wednesday the 6th July on the triangle of land opposite the bottom of the shopping centre escalators. The Council announcement said:- “The London Borough of Bexley has been successful in securing funds for a number of projects aimed at regenerating Erith Town Centre. These projects aim to improve the town by providing new high quality housing and shops. They will improve the quality of key public space areas and see the launch of a number of projects aimed at revitalising the town centre”. This is all good news, and follows on from the announcement back in January when Councillor Linda Bailey, Cabinet member for Regeneration and Growth said "Erith has huge potential and our aim is to ensure it is developed in a sustainable way, with well-designed improvements that deliver the results local people need. We have also made complementary bids to two further funds managed by the Mayor of London and hope to be able to say more on that in the next few weeks." It would seem that a substantial cash fund of nearly £3.9 million has indeed been secured to develop and improve Erith Town Centre. I understand that the main focus of the regeneration will be the area between the old Erith Town Hall and the Post Office. I understand that the old town hall is currently almost totally unused, as the outsourced council tax and benefits functions carried out there have now been outsourced to Bromley Council in a cost saving bid. I have said before that I would be surprised if Bexley Council did not sell off the building and surrounding plot of land to developers. My concern is that they might try to package up the council office site with the old Carnegie gifted Library building next door to make a huge piece of real estate that they could sell for building flats on. The former Riverside Swimming Baths site at the lower end of Walnut Tree Road is already earmarked for redevelopment as town houses and apartments – the rapacious council would not surprise me if they tried to once again “sell the family silver” and flog off the rest of the land on the Eastern side of Walnut Tree Road. All the more reason I, and many other local residents would like to see J.D Wetherspoon’s take up the old Library building and sensitively conserve and convert it into a pub / restaurant. Wetherspoon’s have the deep pockets and cunning lawyers to challenge any underhand activities of Bexley Council – and are also very familiar with working with listed buildings – the library has Grade II listed status. What do you think the council should do with the regeneration money it has been awarded? What would you like to see in the town that is currently missing? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Some good news was pointed out by Malcolm Knight of “Bexley is Bonkers” that Bexley Council is about to launch a crackdown on Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s). Bexley Council published the following statement “The council is working to implement a range of new controls to take firm control of the issue. It wants to ensure that smaller properties that are converted to HMOs provide suitable accommodation and reduce the risk that they create problems for other residents. This is something which has only recently started to cause concern and we are taking steps to ensure we have the powers we need to protect the occupiers of the properties and their neighbours. London is growing fast and the demand for housing far exceeds the supply. It's important to remember that these properties help meet people's genuine need for housing. If they are properly managed, they do not generally cause problems." The council says it has been looking at a package of measures which may include a selective licensing scheme for parts of the borough, securing powers to licence small two-storey HMOs, and the adoption of an Article 4 directive which would remove planning permitted development rights for smaller HMOs. All this is good news, though how far Bexley Council will go in practice is not clear at this point. We will have to wait and see what actually happens. 

Local resident and Maggot Sandwich reader Raymond Ratcliffe sent me the the following piece, and some relevant photos, which you can also see below. "Ye Olde Leather Bottle – Heron Hill- Belvedere 1643 – 2016:-  This is what happens when Builders / Property Developers get hold of a building and a large area of land. First a little bit of history the core of the present building is said to date from 1643. In 1783, when this was acquired by Taskers of Dartford, it was described as the leather Bottle at Chalk-Stile. There is evidence for the building back to 1751 and the licences are recorded for the pub of this name back to 1726. The Leather Bottle was also a name given to a pub on the riverside. 

This happens when Builders / Property Developers get hold of empty properties. They do not care about any local history. By the way the public footpath through the property has all types of rubbish i.e. plastic bottles, papers and at the other end of the footpath is impassable due to loose ballast from the site and a shopping trolley blocking the way". Despite the age and history associated with the Leather Bottle, it was not a listed building - quite why I have no idea. The developers of the site have misled and outright lied to local residents - they said that they were merely clearing the car park and a small patch of land next to the historical pub - and their builders have been extremely rude, aggressive and abusive to anyone taking photographs of the demolition work, as Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers has reported previously. Our local history is being wiped from the map - this was possibly the oldest building in Upper Belvedere, and it has been destroyed. If this had happened somewhere else, there would have been public uproar. I am appalled.

Long time Maggot Sandwich reader, and occasional contributor Dana Whiffen writes:- "45 years since Led Zeppelin played locally. Formed from The Yardbirds and even called The New Yardbirds for a short while in 1968 before changing their name to Led Zeppelin. They joined a host of other live bands that were working hard to make a name for themselves between 1968-1970. Then this music was known to rock music fans as “Underground Music” mainly because there was no national commercial media outlet for this music at the time. With pirate radio stations, music clubs and the many local live venues the only way to get recognition at the time. Many of these bands worked constantly playing live to a growing number of fans throughout the UK, while their albums at the time received moderate sales and made little impact on the album charts and they rarely released singles, knowing that they would not get played. Between 1968-1971 there were also numerous clubs that played their albums or tracks from them to fans of the music, I remember a local venue that was hot and sweaty and packed with dancing fans who wanted to hear tracks played loudly from bands such as Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie, Johnny Winter, Humble Pie, The Groundhogs, Wishbone Ash (who are to play the Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford in October 2016) and local bands like Stray. On March 12th 1971 Led Zeppelin played the University of Kent, tickets sold out on the day they went on sale for 60p each (12 shillings in old money). This year was a significant year as many of these bands began to break America and the UK and to attract the attention of the major record labels. While in early 1971 BBC Radio playlists included Carole King “It’s Too Late”, David Bowie “The Man Who Sold the World” and Janis Joplin “Mercedes Benz”. The same year, the already established Rolling Stones released “Brown Sugar” in May 1971 and in June The Who released “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, while The Beatles had already imploded and were making solo music. Led Zeppelin (whose bassist / keyboard player John Paul Jones comes from Sidcup) between 1968-1970 had completed 4 US & 4 UK tours their debut album Led Zeppelin was released in January 1969 making the top 10 in both the USA & the UK for a short period, but the release of Led Zeppelin 2 later that year together with their constant touring was to propel them towards the big time with Led Zep-2 making a big impact on UK & USA album charts and this even saw their first album return to the charts at the same time. In the USA their record company released an edited version of “Whole Lotta Love” from Led Zeppelin 2 and it sold 1 million copies and received wide-spread airplay, but it was not released in the UK. Between 1971-1975 they became one of the biggest rock bands in the World and by November 1971 they had released their 4th Album. It went on to sell 37 million copies worldwide and is listed as one of the best selling albums of all time. In 1974 they launched their own record label SWANSONG and went on to sign bands such as Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell (from Stone the Crows). From 1975 to the later part of 1977 they took a break from touring resuming at the end of 1977 with a North American Tour where they set an audience record of 76,229. In 1980 after the death of their drummer John Bonham the band split and they were brief reunions in 1985, 1988, 1995 and 2007 with John Bonham’s son Jason on drums. Fans had hoped for a full tour and new album but despite rumours and large cash offers Robert Plant has said no".

Every so often I feature an old and log forgotten technology that did not really take off. You may recall that I recounted the story of the Capacitance Electronic Disk video format a while ago. Now marks the fortieth anniversary of another media format that should have made it big, but due to a number of factors, it ended up being consigned to the parts bin of history. Back before all-digital music, back before the Digital Compact Cassette, back before even the Digital Audio Tape existed, there was a strange audio device that, briefly, captured the imagination of Hi-Fi enthusiasts across the world. The Elcaset, as it was called, was an enlarged cassette that started in Japan, wove its hidden, spinning spools round the world and then finished, appropriately enough, in Finland. The humble Compact Cassette was already more than a decade old in 1976, and its pros and cons had by then become fairly clear to most listeners. It wasn’t a huge reel-to-reel deck as used by pro studios, and was thus portable by the standards of the day—even though Sony's cassette Walkman was still a few years away. The sound was generally acceptable for a generation raised on crackly mono Dansette record players. But the small tape size—two sets of stereo tracks squeezed onto a strip of tape just 3.81mm wide—and the slow playback speed of 4.76cm (1⅞ inches) per second rendered the device incapable of really capturing and playing anything near the full sonic range that music ultimately requires. What's more, there was often plenty of hiss that couldn’t easily be masked. So 40 years ago, a trio of rising Japanese electronics giants decided to inject some quality into the game, something that they hoped would hit the Hi-Fi market as well as aspiring consumers and indie studios. Thus Panasonic, Sony, and Teac came up with the Elcaset, a larger small format. It was virtually twice the size of the old cassette—more like a paperback book in size, at a hefty 15cm wide, 10cm tall and 2cm deep. It contained quarter-inch tape running at double the speed of regular cassettes, which naturally gave the format greater frequency response and a wider dynamic range, as well as much less hiss. It also had six tracks, despite still playing back in stereo—the third track on each side was for a cue function that was designed as an additional facility that studios could use, but never fully implemented. The other big difference was that the Elcaset’s tape was gently pulled away from the body shell when it was played, so that even the most scuffed—or crudely-made—frame wouldn’t effect the audio signal. To put it in technical terms, the cassette had a high-frequency bandwidth that hardly got over 16,000Hz, whereas Elcaset exceeded 25,000Hz, and had a fine mid-band (the region in which most vocals and guitars live). It made a better noise, basically. The best Elcaset decks had three motors, three heads for playback, recording, and erasure, closed-loop dual capstan, VU meters, and remote control. All-in-all, they sounded pretty damn good. Sony, Teac, and Panasonic had their own top-of-the-range versions as well as more reasonably priced decks, and there was even a hand-bag sized "portable" version, the EL-D8, which looked like, and essentially was, a piece of mobile pro-audio kit. With a "big four" PR launch—input from Panasonic, Sony, Teac, and then Hitachi—for their "revolutionary Elcaset system," the format should have become a big seller. There were some good reviews, and certain pundits still claim today that Elcaset's overall performance was virtually as good as leading mid-range reel-to-reels at the time, such as the Revox B77. So with the cassette already battling the newish 8-track cartridge, the manufacturers believed Elcaset would apply the killer blow to the older format, leaving it to struggle with the 8-track for market supremacy. Unfortunately, Elcaset's arrival in 1976 coincided with the year that sales of several other innovations took off. One of these was the chromium oxide (CrO2) cassette which, while not quite matching the finesse of the Elcaset, did greatly improve cassette sound and could crucially be used in any existing cassette player. The CrO2 cassette cost 40 percent more than a normal tape, but for the audiophile or the discerning pop fan, there was now a premium recording-cassette that didn’t require a whole new deck. The leading tape manufacturer Sansui eventually started to make Elcaset tapes after Sony belatedly brought out a chrome tape of its own for the new decks. But this was already too late. For the compact cassette player there was also Dolby B, which looked and sound fairly fresh on the scene. Dolby B (which funnily enough followed after Dolby A) took out the hiss, reducing noise without overly affecting the sound, again adding value to the existing, cheaper, format. Another innovation, aimed purely at the Hi-Fi market, was a superb range of cassette players from Japanese firm Nakamichi, which had been making them since the autumn of 1973. These slowly gained a great reputation as they squeezed every last drop of sound from a compact tape and, when used with a chrome cassette, almost gave vinyl a run for its money. Decent examples of the legendary Nakamichi Dragon player still command three and four-figure sums today. And, speaking of money, one minus point amid a splash of mainly good reviews was the Elcaset’s exorbitant initial price—coming in at over £1,200 in today’s money. So when indie sound studios realised that the sound was going to be, in some cases, a little worse than a cheaper, used, reel-to-reel deck, that market started to shy away. The convenience of Elcaset would have saved a little studio time, but not enough to warrant the outlay. On top of this, reel-to-reel was comparatively easy to splice—to edit with, literally, razor blades - a technique I was taught back in the late 1980's when I was an intern at what was then BBC Radio London. Elcaset on the other hand could only be dubbed, and recording drop-ins could never be as accurate even if the cue system were ever completed. As for domestic sales, Hi-Fi was costlier back then anyway, but such a price was a big leap for all but the most dedicated audiophile. No way was the average person going to spend such an amount on what many just saw as a glorified cassette. The last straw, domestically speaking, was the failure of Sony and the others to provide pre-recorded tapes. Many people, even Hi-Fi enthusiasts, didn’t always want to have to record their own material. Some just wanted to buy Top 40 albums off the shelf of their nearest music store—but they couldn’t with Elcaset. This would prove to be an error that Sony barely noticed, and repeated with the Betamax video format—their last such content mistake; subsequently they bought up CBS Records as well as shares in various film companies. Elcaset tech was undoubtedly ahead of its time though, and the extra-shell tape handling that it featured would go on to dominate the video market for the following 25 years with VHS and S-VHS. The people behind the "biggest, bestest" cassette just hadn’t considered the public’s price limits, their love of prerecorded material, or even the possibility that existing rival formats could still develop their own innovations. In 1980 the Elcaset itself officially died, the last few thousand unsold players auctioned off at a fraction of their worth to the highest bidder. Incredibly, there were virtually no serious bids from the US, Japan, or even Western Europe, and the highest bid actually came from a Scandinavian distributor. So the last Elcaset players ended up in bargain basements in Finland, blasting out at the snowy forests while the rest of the music world began to forget about their beloved cassette’s short-lived big brother. There’s also no denying that these machines were built for the ages; there’s many a tale of Elcaset players being found in attics this century, after 25 or 35 years in storage, and still playing perfectly. Analogue audio fans still swap "elcassy" tips on sites such as tapeheads.net, and if you ever need to lube your belt and two spools—and you probably will with the older Sony tapes—this is definitely the place to find out how. There is now a niche but steady market in secondhand Elcaset players and unused Elcaset tapes, not just on eBay, but in Finland, the UK, US, and Poland. Bexleyheath hifi dealer Whomes used to sell Elcaset machines - especially the very high end models - I recall visiting the shop with my Dad and being given a demonstration - though Dad was never going to buy a machine - but a free look was something else altogether.

As if any local traveller did not already know it, Southern and Southeastern trains have been jointly ranked as the UK’s worst rail services. Passenger satisfaction dropped for both rail services since autumn 2015 in terms of both value for money and reliability of services, according to the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS). Punctuality ratings for Southeastern were an appalling fifty six percent. The rail company had one of the lowest levels of satisfaction when customers were asked how they felt about trains running on time. A third of people described the service’s punctuality and reliability as ‘poor’, with a 17 per cent drop in customers claiming they were satisfied. Nearly 40 per cent of those surveys also criticised how both companies handled delays. No surprises there then!

The widely reported experiment Bexley Council made in Welling to switch off street lights between 1am and 5.30am had thankfully been dropped. In a press release published on Friday, the following announcement was made:- "After considering the feedback from its recent, part-night lighting trial‟ in Welling and trials of LED lighting, the Council has decided to implement alternative energy efficient lighting technology, rather than turning street lights off between 1am and 5:30am. The street lighting trials took place as part of the borough's wider savings proposals to balance the Council's budget in the face of cuts in government grant and the rising cost of key services. They involved switching off street lights during the early hours of the morning. At the end of the trial feedback from residents was collected and other data reviewed, such as any changes in the level of crime or accidents. During the trial period, the Council also looked at alternative options for converting lighting to LED for reducing costs. After considering the feedback from residents, a programme to install LED lighting in Bexley's streets wherever possible will start later this year. We've listened to what our residents told us," said Cllr Alex Sawyer, Bexley's Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transport. "The consultation following the trial told us that they would prefer to have their lights on for as long as possible. We were also looking into different methods and found that improvements in LED lighting make it a viable and cost effective alternative. "I thank all of the residents who gave us their feedback after and during the trial period. Our newly elected colleague, Cllr Ray Sams, had the opportunity to discuss the issue with many local residents during the St Michael's Ward by-election campaign and they were pleased we had listened to their concerns.” LED lights are approximately 40% more energy efficient than traditional sodium lighting. They also require less maintenance. Overall the change in lighting methods is expected to achieve an annual saving of more than £300,000. The works are expected to start in Autumn 2016 and will be completed during 2018". I could have told them this from the outset! LED lighting quite plainly is the way forward - it strikes me that Bexley Council have carried out a divisive and expensive "pilot" scheme that was entirely without merit.

The ending video this week is a look around the exterior of St. John the Baptist Church - far and away the oldest church in Erith, which predates The Magna Carta by at least a couple of hundred years. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Erith KFC 24/7?

On Thursday afternoon I was walking along Manor Road, past the KFC Drive Through (not "Thru" as it says on the sign - their branding team are imbeciles)  when I happened to see a notice in the window of the fast food outlet. I am always curious about such things, so I went down the steps to the entrance in order to more closely investigate. Quite a lot of the stories I publish come from carefully checking planning applications, either directly posted in the street, or submitted to Bexley Council's labyrinthine planning website. What I saw was a copy of a licencing application that the company that owns the KFC franchise has recently submitted to Bexley Council. What I saw horrified me. You can see a photograph of the application below. Apologies for the glare and reflections - the light was not the best.

In essence, the store wants to increase its opening hours to include the period between 11pm and 5am seven days a week. Apart from an hour or so closed in the evening, and another hour after 5am, presumably to allow cleaning, this would in effect mean that the drive through would be permanently open to customers. If they were to succeed in their application, there would be a constant stream of drunks, druggies, violent criminals and all sorts of anti social undesirables brought into what is a fundamentally residential area. You may think I am over - reacting, but if one looks at what has happened to the nearby existing 24/7 fast food drive through - the McDonald's at Plumstead, which is in a far more suitable location (opposite the Plumstead Bus Garage, next to the Post Office sorting office, and well away from any residential housing), they have had to employ around the clock security guards due to constant problems of alcohol and drug related violence, anti social behaviour and all sorts of other associated criminality. What makes the situation in Manor Road even worse is that the KFC is directly opposite a McDonald's Drive Through. If the KFC succeeds, the McDonald's will be forced to also open 24/7 in order to compete. The McDonald's backs directly onto the Compton Place housing estate - and I am sure that local residents will have a lot to say on the subject. The KFC itself is directly opposite the block of flats on what used to be the site of Erith Odeon (a grade II* listed Art Deco building that was illegally demolished by the developers of the current flats), and it backs onto what used to be Erith Trades and Social Club, which has just been demolished to make way for key worker apartments. There are also houses that form part of Compton Place opposite the front of the fast food outlet; basically it is hemmed in on three sides by residential accommodation. I have had a chat with my contact in the local Police - and they are not happy about the planning application. Apart from the concerns already mentioned, there is apparently a history of burglars parking vans in drive through restaurant car parks, before the occupants go off to burgle nearby houses. An unusual van parked in a street or cul de sac attracts attention, but a van parked in a drive through does not, thus enabling them to break into a number of houses, then bring their stolen booty back to the van before making another sortie, undisturbed. I am also led to understand that both the McDonald's and KFC car parks are used to conduct drug deals from time to time. If you have strong feelings about the matter, it is possible to log an online complaint by clicking on this link to the Bexley Council Licencing Complaints Website. Whatever your personal opinion of the large fast food chains like McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King, for example, one can at least say that if you are in an unfamiliar town and find yourself in need of sustenance, visiting one of the large fast food chains will mean that you will know what you will get, and the standard of cooking and food hygiene will be consistently high. The food itself may well be bland and uninspiring, but reliability is often the key. I was therefore extremely surprised that the Erith drive through branch of McDonald’s currently has a “Scores on the Doors” food hygiene rating of only two out of five stars. For an organisation that prides itself on cleanliness and good ingredient handling practices, this is a real blow. In their defence, McDonald’s have issued the following public statement:- “The management team had recently changed resulting in a breakdown in the supervision of the cleanliness system.  The areas highlighted in the inspection have now been rectified and the cleaning system has been re-implemented”. I am certain that things will have markedly improved now, several months after the last inspection, but it does beg the question, how could a multinational mega brand allow one of its stores get into a position that it can only rate a two out of five star rating? It is immaterial whether the store is company owned or a franchise – the standards expected are identical. The damage to the McDonald’s brand should such information become widely known is difficult to calculate, but it certainly would not be good. It is ironic that a two star rating in Erith is actually at the upper end of the high ratings – pretty much anywhere else has one or no stars, with the notable exception of the Mambocino coffee shop / cafe, and the T-Bone Cafe in Fraser Road, both of which score a very creditable four stars out of five. I will have to take a look to see if McDonald’s have their pitiful rating sticker on display. Something tells me that would be very unlikely.

This Wednesday marked a very important date that remarkably few people are aware of. It was the seventieth anniversary of the switching on of Colossus – the World’s first programmable digital computer. On the 5^th of February 1944, the MK1 Colossus attacked its first cipher challenge. Contrary to some erroneous accounts, Colossus was not used to break the German Enigma code – that work was done on a separate set of electromechanical analogue computers called Bombes. What Colossus did was crack the daily key settings of an even more fiendishly complicated code system called Lorenz, which was exclusively used by the Nazi High Command to communicate with each other. Colossus was designed and built by a team headed by an amazing electronic engineer called Tommy Flowers, who was born and raised the son of a bricklayer in Poplar, East London. Flowers was ferociously intelligent, and whilst an  apprentice electrician at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, he undertook  evening classes at the University of London, where he was awarded a BSc in Electrical Engineering. He later became the head of the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill, where prior to the war he was instrumental in the design of the first automatic telephone exchange. I have a personal connection with this piece of history; my late Great Uncle Horace worked in the Dollis Hill Research Station during the war. We know very little of his wartime experiences, but we do know that as well as being exempted from military service, he was also exempted from Home Guard or fire watching duties, which was extremely unusual at the time. He never said anything about what he had been doing, but it remains likely he was part of Tommy Flowers’ Colossus design and construction team, which was the most secret allied project of the war, classified even higher than the Manhattan Project to create the first nuclear weapons. Colossus was an amazing feat of engineering - It occupied the size of a living room (7 ft high by 17 ft wide and 11 ft deep), weighed five tonnes, and used 8kW of power. It incorporated 2,500 valves, 501 of which are thyraton switches, about 100 logic gates and 10,000 resistors connected by 7 km of wiring. Reading 5000 characters per second (faster than anything ever produced commercially), Colossus found the start wheel positions of Lorenz-encrypted messages to enable the decryption of 63 million characters. Typically, it took Colossus up to four hours to establish the start wheel positions of messages. It is often surmised that the Allies might have been reading some of the decrypted messages even before they reached Nazi High Command. By the end of the war, 63 million characters of high-grade German messages had been decrypted by the 550 people working on the ten functioning Colossi at Bletchley Park. After the war, some of the Colossi were destroyed, and the remaining ones moved to GCHQ, where it is said they were in operation until the mid 1970’s. By the early 1980’s the story of Bletchley Park and the Colossus computer was finally coming out, after over thirty years of total secrecy. Great Uncle Horace never said a word, and it is to my great regret that we only discovered after his death what may have been his involvement with the astonishing feat which has gone on to change the world. Up until very recently I would have recommended Bletchley Park as an ideal day out for anyone with an interest in history, computers, radio, or who just wants a day out somewhere with lovely formal gardens and a picturesque lake. Things have changed, however. It used to be that visitors could pay a one – off entrance fee, which would grant them access to all of the facilities in the grounds of Bletchley Park; there was a motor museum, a museum dedicated to Winston Churchill memorabilia, the National Radio Centre (run by the Radio Society of Great Britain, of which I am an inductee) an old fashioned post office and a model railway. On top of this, the two main attractions were the main Bletchley Park House and the surrounding huts, used by the wartime code breakers, and the National Museum of Computing, home to the rebuilt Colossus. Recently a new Chief Executive was appointed by Bletchley Park Trust (the charity which has overall responsibility for the place). The new chap, called Ian Standen has decided that he wants to turn the park into the “Disneyland of code breaking”. He’s closed down the Churchill Museum, and made every facility except the main house and the huts an extra entrance fee, and also fired a number of the volunteer curators for not being “on message” despite the fact that many of the volunteers worked at Bletchley Park, or later at GCHQ and have an intimate personal knowledge of the history of the place. Instead he wants to use actors to play "characters" loosely based on real life people to guide visitors around the museum. To add insult to injury, he has had the National Museum of Computing fenced off and excluded from guided tours, even though the huts they occupy were an integral part of the original organisational setup. Visitors now have to navigate a series of gates and pay an additional fee to enter the computing section, even if all they want to do is see the Tony Sale Colossus computer rebuild (as pictured above), which to be honest is the focal point for any visit to Bletchley Park. As you may appreciate, these changes, which are designed to create additional visitor revenue may well have done exactly the opposite. A campaign is now under way to get Ian Standen sacked, and the whole Bletchley Park setup returned to how it originally was established. The campaign are currently trying to recruit Stephen Fry as their figurehead, and from what I have read, they already have a huge amount of support, both from visitors and the IT industry. At present Bletchley Park is being torn apart by a small coterie of people who have no appreciation or understanding of the place, and merely want to turn a quick buck. The place is not an amusement park; it is a British technological and cultural institution that should be treated with suitable dignity. I suspect that the “re – organisation” will be cut short by those who really care about Bletchley Park. In the meantime I would urge readers to boycott the place in order to send a message to the likes of Ian Standen that he cannot play fast and loose with a national treasure, where the wartime code breakers shortened the war by an estimated two years, saved countless lives and in so doing created the computer revolution. You can see an online album of photos of Bletchley Park by clicking here.

The News Shopper are reporting that the Crossrail tunnel from just outside of Plumstead Station going Northwards under the River Thames to North Greenwich has now been completed. Around seventy percent of the Crossrail project has now been completed, and I understand not only that, but the work has been done on time and on budget. Although seventy percent of the tunnelling is completed, the full project is at the halfway point. There are many stations to be built, and infrastructure to be commissioned too. Crossrail are opening some of their building sites to the general public, who will be able to view the progress of work for themselves. You can visit their website here to book free tickets for a number of events.  The Crossrail project is a massive venture; it is costing £73 billion, and employing around 10,000 people, including 280 apprentices.

Following my musing on local bespoke tailors nowadays and in history, another skilled craft came to my attention recently. Whilst putting together each Maggot Sandwich weekly update, I sit in my dedicated home office in front of my iMac. I have a very comfortable orthopaedic chair which originally belonged to my late Dad. He gave it to me years before he got seriously ill; I must have had it for around fifteen years I guess. The chair was custom made for him by what used to be the orthopaedic department of the now long defunct New Cross Hospital when he had a hip replacement operation. Even though the chair was custom made for him, he never really took to it, and it remained only occasionally employed, until he gave it to me. I have used it daily ever since. Nowadays the chair is looking very shabby; the black vinyl seat covering is split, and the foam stuffing is visible; it would be very easy for me to go out and buy a new office chair for around £70 or so, but not only has my old chair got sentimental connections, apart from needing re – upholstering, the thing is in very good order. There are still a few professional furniture upholsterers around, and last Saturday morning I turned up at the door of Perry’s Upholsterers at Plumstead Corner. The shop has been there for as long as I can recall. The owner was very open and friendly, took a quick look at my chair, and immediately said that he would be happy to restore it, but there was a six month waiting list for his services! I was gobsmacked – I had (incorrectly) assumed that very few people would require the services of an upholsterer. I thought that most people would have rather gone out and purchased a new three – piece suite from DFS or Land of Leather, rather than having their existing one professionally rebuilt. How wrong I was. The proprietor informed me that he gets a lot of work, as there is still a demand for furniture refurbishment and recovering, there are really only two high class upholsterers in the borough, and demand for their services is very high. He went on to say that when he first started, as apprentice to his father some thirty odd years ago, there was a lot of competition and prices were low in order to win work; now the opposite is true – prices are high, competition low and waiting lists long. This seems to resonate with my story about the rarity of the bespoke tailor in UK society nowadays. Back in 1939, Burton’s had opened a bespoke tailors shop in Erith High Street, and you could get a custom made suit for 45 shillings (£2.50 equivalent).  Local Historian Ken Chamberlain has memories of the place being extremely impressive, and sent me the advert with the very dashing looking chap in the photo above - click on the image for a larger view. I notice that the sharp styling is heavily influenced by American fashions of the time – wide shoulders and a narrow waist – a look that featured in many period gangster movies which were very popular then. Regular Maggot Sandwich reader Lance has been doing some investigations into the comparative cost of pre – WW2 bespoke tailoring compared with now, and has come up with some interesting findings. Lance writes:-“ Did a couple of quick comparisons against 1938 cost of living.  Firstly multiples of a loaf of bread.  In 1938 that was 2p or 6 to the shilling, so 26 shillings gives us 156 loaves of bread or at today’s price of £1.50 it’s £234.00. Secondly fractions of the price of a house.  In 1938 the average house price was £600 and 26 shillings is 1.3 pounds so 600/1.3 is 462.  Today’s average house price is £240,000 divided by 462 is £519.00 . Gives us a range between £234 and £519, which would fit in with your hypothesis about bespoke tailoring being relatively more affordable”. Interesting stuff indeed, as a bespoke man’s suit from Sidcup based Mold and Russell with set you back something in the region of £950 today, depending on material and finish.

Regular readers may recall that back in August last year, I mourned the closure of my favourite restaurant, which had been serving authentic home – style curries in Brick Lane since 1969. Sweet and Spicy closed its doors for the final time due to a massive increase in both rent and business rates, levied by Tower Hamlets Council. Sweet and Spicy catered mainly to the Bangladeshi and Pakistani local residents, rather than the tourists that most of the other more mainstream establishments in Brick Lane attract. It would appear that Sweet and Spicy may have just been the first of many food outlets to close – as the rules created and enforced by the council have suddenly been changed. The Evening Standard are reporting that many of the curry houses in Brick Lane have licences that allow them to serve food and drink until one or two AM on weekdays. The council have a bye law that says that no “sit down” restaurant  in Tower Hamlets can admit customers after eleven PM, and that all restaurants must be closed by midnight, or the owners would be faced by a fine of £20,000. They say that this ruling overrides the terms of the food and drink licensing, though I understand that this has yet to be legally challenged. Understandably many local restaurant owners are up in arms over this issue – they regard it as a restraint of trade, as the Brick Lane Restaurant Association say that on average, restaurants get around a third of their total income from sales made after midnight, and a curfew would mean that many of the sixty restaurants in Brick Lane would be forced to close for good. Tower Hamlets Council say that the midnight curfew is to stop “anti social behaviour”. I suspect an ulterior motive on the part of the council – when I first started visiting Brick Lane in the mid nineties, it was still home to the rag trade, with many small “sweat shop” factories, and trade outlet shops selling cheap clothing to vendors such as market traders. There were quite a few restaurants, but overall it was a grimy and not very welcoming place if you were not a local. Very slowly, over the intervening years, the Lane has slowly got smarter, and has become a tourist attraction dedicated almost exclusively to Indian restaurants. The area in and around Brick Lane was rebranded as “Bangla Town”, and a campaign to re-name Whitechapel tube station to Brick Lane Tube station started. Whilst this was all happening, the former Truman brewery in the lane was converted into a retail space with offices for a number of start up technology companies, and the surrounding roads, still with original crumbling Huguenot terraced houses became fashionable – one by one they were bought up and restored, and they are now some of the most desirable properties in central London. In short, the area has become gentrified. I suspect that Tower Hamlets Council are enforcing the midnight customer curfew as they actually want to drastically reduce the number of curry houses in the road; after all, the amount of Council and Business Tax that can be generated from a small but busy restaurant is limited. By killing the restaurants off, the council would be able to get property developers to move in, and thus attract wealthy foreign investors. London is already the hottest property location in the World – millionaires from places like Russia and China are attracted to the UK, and specifically London for a number of reasons: The UK is politically stable, has a very well respected legal system, and property is a very good investment, especially when foreigners may lack confidence in their own countries. As we have seen in the news not that long ago, some Russian oligarchs have been both  imprisoned and had their assets seized because they fell foul  of President Putin. Much money is flooding into the UK from foreign sources, as it is regarded as a safe haven.  I reckon that Tower Hamlets Council have realised that with some cunning dealing, they can secure a slice of this potentially lucrative cake. Please feel to leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

The ending video is somewhat appropriate; it is a short explanatory film about Bletchley Park and the code breaking work carried out by the Colossi during World War 2. There are interviews with a number of the original operators and engineers. If my Great Uncle Horace had still been alive, it is possible that he would have featured in the documentary. Do give it a watch and please feel free to leave a comment below.