All natural?

Erith Town Centre currently only has one pub, and that is one that is sadly a shadow of its former self. The Running Horses is in a fantastic location opposite the excellent Erith Riverside Gardens, and overlooking the River Thames. Under previous ownership back in the 1980’s, The Running Horses Carvery was incredibly popular – to book on a Sunday you usually had to make a reservation a couple of weeks in advance. The food was well cooked and plentiful, the place was packed and the service was great. The excellent view over the River Thames from the upper floors windows only added to the whole experience. I can recall being taken there with my sister by my parents on many occasions. It was always a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately things have gone downhill since. The Running Horses used to be a “treat” destination, but nowadays it seems to be the last refuge of the desperate. The current owners spent a lot of money on the place a few years ago, but I don’t think they have recouped it. Walking past the place early on a Sunday afternoon, I rarely see more than a couple of cars in the car park at the back, or in the Riverside Gardens parking spaces at the front of the pub. This contrasts with the eighties, when a driver would be hard pressed to find a space after midday.  What the solution for this is I don’t know. Apart from the Mambocino coffee house and cafe in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, and the recently opened and very popular Riverside Fish and Steak restaurant, there are no other “sit down” eateries in the town (I refuse to count Morrison’s cafe, as it is not the sort of place that you can make a reservation). So The Running Horses does not have any direct competition, but it still is not doing very well.  All I can say is that it has a couple of issues: 1) Lack of publicity – many don’t know the carvery / restaurant still exists - and indeed it is now rarely open from what I have been told. An advertising campaign or even a FaceBook page might help in this regard, as their website appears abandoned. 2) A concentration on quality of food and drink. When I last visited The Running Horses a couple of years ago, the only real ale they had on tap was Young’s Bitter (one of my favourite bog standard bitters) but it was sour and off. When I took back the pint the barman denied it was off, and when I showed him my CAMRA membership card, he offered me a pint of Carlsberg lager in replacement. I am pretty sure he had no idea how insulting that was to a real ale enthusiast, so I got a refund and went home. This is no kind of customer service. I think a change of management company or brewery might be the best way forward to keep the place going – or indeed as has been mooted, that the place is taken over and refurbished by Wetherspoons. This option seems to be more likely now that the Carnegie gifted library in Walnut Tree Road is no longer available (more on this in the weeks to come).

It is not very often that a local restaurant gets extensive coverage in the press, let alone wins a regional award. The News Shopper have reported that Bexleyheath based Turkish restaurant The Meze, located at the junction of the Broadway and Lion Road has won the award for the best kebab restaurant in South and East London – a not inconsiderable accolade for a part of town that is better known for takeaways than for sit in restaurants. I do wonder, however, what criteria the judges use when deciding who to award the best restaurant prize to, as there are serious concerns about the hygiene practices employed in the kitchens of The Meze, and currently the “Scores on the Doors” star rating only grants the restaurant a one out of a possible five stars for food hygiene. The last Environmental Health inspection of The Meze took place on the 12th January 2017, and the examination found that food hygiene and safety was poor, structural compliance was poor and there was little confidence in management.  This really does not bode well – especially as throughout the London Borough of Bexley the levels of restaurant food hygiene have improved markedly over the last couple of years – you really have to be running a duff operation to merit a one out of five stars. I feel that if I was judging a restaurant in any form of competition, I would certainly take into account how likely any customer was to end up with food poisoning if they visited. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

You may well recall my observations and thoughts on the government's ill conceived plans to roll out smart energy meters to all of the UK by 2020, despite the huge cost and the miniscule actual per household saving the meters will actually bring, not to mention the very considerable risk of malicious hacking that the poorly designed devices expose their owners to. You may have seen recently that the BBC News website was reporting a story that smart meters made and supplied by company SSE have been malfunctioning and showing that their owners owe thousands of pounds when they should have read only tens - you can see the account here. As I wrote back in September, the predicted net energy bill cost saving per household was £23 a year, with the entire smart meter programme costing taxpayers £11bn. The government hopes to get 53 million meters installed by 2020, though just under four million had been installed as of late last year. A decade old Cabinet Office review of the smart meter programme, was unable to pinpoint the financial benefits of the smart meter programme, noting only the cost-benefit impact assessments made at the time varied between a net cost of £4.5bn and a £7.1bn net benefit to the economy. The same report claimed that smart meters “by 2020 will deliver a net annual saving of £23” per dual fuel household. The per-household cost given to the Cabinet Office at the time was an extra £390 for smart meters, against €150 per household in France when that country rolled out its own Linky smart meters. Dan Lewis of the Institute of Directors said in a recent interview:- “The government’s poorly thought-out smart meters programme has stifled innovation, competition and consumer choice driving the final cost to the customer up. It started costing £7bn and we are now looking at over £11bn. This programme needs to be opened up to much cheaper alternative emerging smart energy solutions. Only when utilities have to sell the technology to consumers and are prepared to return most rather than some of the benefits, can the cost of the programme be brought under control".

Further with the food theme:- there has been much in the press over the years in regard of the quality of ingredients used in fast food meals; most of the big players such as McDonald’s to their credit have improved in the quality and provenance of their meat and eggs for example. All of the companies are acutely aware that their public image and their credibility is dependent on their customers having confidence in their products. One such company is Subway, who foster an image of being a more health conscious option than some of their competitors such as KFC. It would appear that in some countries at least, the quality and healthiness of Subway meals is now being called into question. A study recently undertaken in Canada has shown that what is being marketed as chicken by Subway is rather less than is being claimed. In an investigation undertaken by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, samples of chicken meat were taken from a number of fast food outlets, and then genetically tested to find out exactly how much chicken each sample actually included. The results made for interesting reading. McDonald's Country Chicken-Grilled was 84.9 percent chicken, Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich 88.5 percent, A and W's Chicken Grill Deluxe 89.4 percent, and Tim Horton's Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap 86.5 percent. Meanwhile, Subway's Oven Roasted Chicken Sandwich (53.6 percent chicken) and Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki (42.8 percent) seemed to be only half chicken. So what was the "alternative chicken" mixed with the real chicken in these sandwiches? Mostly soya protein, according to the testing performed by the DNA researcher. But soya protein was not the only thing mixed with the chicken. The CBC report explained that the chicken in the six sandwiches included a total of fifty different ingredients (each chicken piece averaged 16 ingredients), ranging from honey and onion powder to industrial ingredients. I have to say that I am not actually surprised.  I cannot say for sure how accurate the testing may have been given that the results have not yet been published in a scientific journal. However, using less expensive fillers or "alternative meat" to bulk up real meat and enhance taste is not a new practice. Previous reports have found a number of other ingredients mixed with meat in tacos and different sandwiches such as wood pulp. To explain, Burger King, McDonald’s and other fast food companies list in the ingredients of several of their foods, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) or “powdered cellulose” as components of their menu items. Or, in plain English, wood pulp. The emulsion-stabilizing, cling-improving, anti-caking substance operates under multiple aliases, ranging from powdered cellulose to cellulose powder to methyl cellulose to cellulose gum. The entrance of this non-absorbable fibre into fast food ingredients has been stealthy, yet widespread: The compound can now be found in buns, cheeses, sauces, cakes, shakes, rolls, fries, onion rings, smoothies, meats—basically everything. The cost effectiveness of this filler has pushed many chains to use progressively less chicken in their “chicken” and cream in their “ice cream.” McDonald’s ranks highest on the list with cellulose integrated into 14 of their menu items including their renowned fish fillets, chicken strips and biscuits, with Burger King ranking second on the list with 13 menu items containing cellulose. Moreover, many cellulose-laden ingredients (such as honey mustard, bbq sauce, and cheese blends) can be found in multiple items throughout the menu making the filler difficult to avoid. It is best understood that all of the large chain fast food outlets skirt around food description laws by using seemingly innocuous phrases such as “all natural” which is meaningless – after all, crude oil and Uranium are natural products, but you would not want them anywhere near your food. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now that the final plans for the refurbishment and rebuilding of the White Hart / former Potion bar have been published, it would seem that the intention to build a series of flats on the current site of the pub garden have been somewhat curtailed. The new plans are more in keeping with the location, and the fact that the main pub building is located within a conservation area. You can see drawings showing the revised plans for the new building work above - click for a larger version. Providing the work is carried out to a high standard, I am hopeful that the end result will be a real asset to the local area. The replica of the original Victorian acid etched glass, wood and green glazed tile frontage is currently being constructed, and work would appear to be progressing well. Once the reconstruction work is completed, the building should look very similar to how it did prior to the extensive and illegal vandalism carried out by the former Potion owners when they criminally destroyed the listed pub frontage and installed a horrible anachronistic plate glass frontage that was totally out of place. The Spring and Summer of 2017 will see some big changes happen in and around Erith. Work is already under way on the new housing development on the site of the old Riverside Swimming Baths site on the corner of Walnut Tree Road and Erith High Street. The Exchange will be taking over the nearby former Carnegie Library, and restoration work has recently begun on the White Hart – where the upper floors will be converted into a couple of flats, and the garden will be replaced with some low level retirement apartments overlooking the River Thames. Word reaches me that the remaining vacant units adjacent to the Fit4Less gym is under offer from a potential new tenant, meaning that at long last the building will finally have full occupancy. On top of this, down on Fraser Road, the first phase of Erith Quarry will be completed by the end of the summer. The whole town is progressively being regenerated; one only needs to consider how much has changed in only the last year to understand the scope of the transformations – which are most certainly for the better.

Last Saturday I was down in Gravesend on a search for a new chair for my home office - more on this later; the current chair is literally falling to pieces and really needs to be replaced with something more suitable sooner, rather than later. Whilst travelling along West Street, which runs parallel with the River Thames, I could see a large red lightship moored on a metal jetty, which you can see in the photo above, courtesy of fellow blogger and journalist Cathy FitzGerald - click on the photo for a larger view. After doing some research, I discovered that the ship was actually the historic former Trinity House Light Vessel 21, usually referred to as LV21. The current owners of the ship describe it thus:- "LV21 is a 40 metre steel-hulled lightship transformed into a floating art space and performance facility, designed to provide a range of services promoting and supporting the creative industries while celebrating and honouring the maritime traditions of the vessel. LV21 is a unique venue with an individual and distinct identity, one of Kent’s prime platforms for cultural activities across diverse artistic disciplines. An integral aim of the LV21 project is to help rejuvenate the riverfront and improve the public realm, bringing new life to what was once a busy commercial thoroughfare. LV21 will endeavour to act as a beacon, attracting the community, visitors and businesses to the riverside and establish itself as an iconic landmark. It is a celebration of the area’s historical maritime importance and creative community, a brand synonymous with creativity, innovation, regeneration and rejuvenation – a leading light in Kent’s cultural offer". This is a real change in purpose when compared with the original task for which LV21 was designed, which was acting as a warning to other vessels sailing in what could be treacherous waters. LV21 was built back in 1963; LV21 saw most of her service off the Kent coast on the Varne, East Goodwin and Channel stations. In 1981 she was involved in the worst Light Vessel collision in which the Light vessel had survived. She was retired from service in 2008. The following account of life on board a light ship during the 1970's and early 1980's was written by Derek Grieve, the last Master of LV21, and has previously been published elsewhere online. Derek had an interesting career. He  traveled extensively with the Royal and Merchant navies, after which he became a Trinity House lightsman working his way up to Master. "There were normally five crew members on a Light Vessel, all were required to be ex-Able seamen or above in the Royal or Merchant Navies. There were times when we were short handed and everyone had to ‘muck in’ to cover for the shortfall in personnel. We would deliver or arrange delivery of our gear/stores the day before we were due to fly out to our ships. On the day our duty started we would arrive early in the morning and check our gear was within the weight limits. After checking that all their crew members were present, the masters/skippers would go to the office, ‘book in’ and receive a briefing on what had been happening. They also received any special orders from head office, down at Harwich, including any plans for the next month. When all this had been completed we would be loaded into mini buses and taken to the locations where we would be transferred to our respective ships. Those going to the Newarp and Smiths Knoll stations would go to South Denes Airport, situated just to the North of Great Yarmouth. Those going to the Dudgeon and Outer Gabbard stations would go to the helicopter pad at Cromer Light House where Graham, the lighthouse keeper would have everything ready and supply mugs of tea. ‘Bonds Helicopters’ did the helicopter transfers. The pilots would do their utmost to get us aboard, even in heavy weather. They were fantastic pilots and fun people. There were many times during the winter months when the crew changes could not be done due to the bad weather, those waiting to return home having to spend another day or two on board. When you are sitting in a helicopter, which is hovering near your ship, and you are watching it gyrating in heavy seas, the helipad looks a very small area to land in. Then the pilot decides to ‘give it a go’. He guides the helicopter into the hover above the wildly bucking deck and starts matching the movement of the ship. He tells everyone that they are to remain in side while the engineer unloads the stores and loads the gear going ashore. Then he would increase the downward thrust and we would all pile out and those going home would scramble in. When the deck was clear he would wait for the deck to reach its highest level and reverse the thrust and shoot from the deck as the stern dropped into a trough. We would then quickly stow our gear below decks.Trinity House didn’t supply food. It was up to us to buy our own supplies for the 28-day tour of duty. It was important to allow an extra two or three days supply of food as the weather at the end of the trip could be so bad that they couldn’t do the change of crews, so there was no option but to stay on board until the weather became favourable. Those who lived near the Depot at Great Yarmouth tended to go shopping in the local shops. Others who lived further a field ordered from Yare shipping which was situated near the Haven Bridge. The supplies would be delivered the day before embarkation and weighed as there was a weight limit imposed as transportation was by helicopter from South Denes airport. Alcohol wasn’t allowed onboard, but a blind eye was turned at Christmas and New Year. As long as you were sensible, peace would prevail. Every year, a couple of weeks before Christmas the Caister Lifeboat would bring the Mayor of Great Yarmouth and representatives of local businesses out to the ship with goodies for the crew. It was looked forward to, as we didn’t have many visitors and the nearest neighbour was just over 14 miles away, ashore at Caistor. Those who were old hands pre-booked fresh provisions such a vegetables, to be delivered at the time when half the crew changed. Mail was also brought out at this time if there was any. At the end of your tour you would put all your unused frozen food into boxes with your name and place it in the bottom of one of the two large chest freezers onboard. Any vegetables left over would be left for those remaining on board. In the winter, when the weather was very bad and all you could do was hang on tight, going to the bridge/lookout was not a task for the faint hearted. The ship could and often was, thrown about by massive waves. The worst time was when the tide turned and the ship was broadside on to the wind and tide and she would lurch fore and aft then roll sideways into the trough between the waves. But these ships were well designed and strongly built; making them very good sea boats, which is just as well. The North Sea is not very deep so the waves are close together forcing ships to smash their way through them; this often weakens the hulls of ships not built to withstand this sort of punishment making it the most dangerous sea in the world. The 28 days were quite boring if you didn’t have a hobby. There were jobs to do, changing over the engines so they had the equal amount of running hours. Cleaning the ship went on all the time with a major clean just before you left the ship. There was a massive amount of brass work and keeping it shining was a job I hated. Greasing all deck equipment was ongoing to ensure that everything would work when it was required to. Some jobs could only be done when it was good weather (normally in the summer) such as calibrating the anchor cable. This would have to be done at the lowest tide possible (springs) and with a window of approximately 40 minutes everything had to be prepared in advance. The heavy engines were started to ensure that there was sufficient air pressure to operate the windlass. Power was then put onto the windlass and it was prepared to haul in the cable.Cleaning the lantern and its optics was another of those jobs, which had to be done regularly to ensure that the light could be seen as brightly as possible. After all, that was what we were there for. The outside glass was only done in good calm weather for safety reasons. There were no safety harnesses in those days. On the 21 we were lucky as we could access the lantern by climbing up the inside of the tube. Older LVs had a ladder/stairway leading up to the base of the lantern giving access through a trapdoor underneath the lantern. The climb would leave you open to the elements and was no joke during winter months. I remember one winter the wind was creating ‘sideways snow’ and by the time I got inside the lantern I was like a snowman, not a comfortable way to do ones job". A fascinating account, which got me thinking. Erith is also a maritime town with a long history, just as Gravesend is. Both towns have had a past reputation for being a bit on the "rough" side in certain ways (I spent a lot of time in Gravesend in the late 80's / early 90's, and the town has certainly come a long way since then - and I think the same could be said of Erith). Gravesend celebrates its maritime history and heritage with tourist attractions such as the LV21 - why could Erith not do something similar? As long time readers may vaguely recall,  some years ago plans were put into place to move the Radio Caroline ship the Ross Revenge to Erith Pier to allow it to be opened to the public as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the famous radio station. I had some small involvement in the preparation for the event, and would have been the key holder for the ship when it was not in use, due to my connection with the station, and my living in close proximity to the pier. Unfortunately due to a number of factors, the relocation of the Ross Revenge to Erith Pier never happened, and the opportunity was lost. It seems to me that we are ignoring the River Thames and the area's maritime history to our loss. Erith Pier and the Riverside Gardens are lovely places to be on a sunny day, and we ought to be doing more to promote and utilise them in a similar way that Gravesend is doing with the LV21. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I did not find what I was looking for in respect of a new office chair in Gravesend; instead I went into the West End yesterday and visited specialist chair supplier the Back 2 Back back care shop, where I placed an order for a special chair. Not cheap, but very high quality, and exceptionally comfortable. I should be taking delivery before the next Maggot Sandwich update. No doubt a photo of it in my office in Pewty Acres will also be forthcoming. I spend so much time on my backside in my home office that I might as well make it as comfortable as possible.

The ending video this week is a BBC4 documentary on the history and influence on music that the Vox AC30 amplifier (as manufactured in Erith and Dartford) has had. Do give it a watch - lots of famous faces appear in the programme. 

Crayford Island.

The posters above are as they say, for the forthcoming "Our Erith" art exhibition, being hosted by the Friends of Christ Church, Erith. You can read more about the event, and how you can take part by visiting the "Our Erith" page of the Christ Church website here.

One of the perks of being a moderately well known local blogger is that I do tend to get sent all sorts of press releases and publicity documents before they are made available to the general public. One announcement reached me too late for last week's Maggot Sandwich update. Bexley Council have made a two decisions which will do nothing to increase their popularity with residents. Firstly they have cut the funding to Bexley Youth Services to the tune of a total of £358,000 by the end of March this year, effectively closing down much, if not all of the service. Up to twenty seven Youth Service jobs are at risk. The council claims that the restructure, which will target Bexley’s most vulnerable children - including those with special needs and those caught up in crime - is the right way forward. In the build-up to the announced cuts, an online petition against changing the structure of youth services gained more than two thousand signatures - this seems to have been in vain, as Bexley Council are steam - rollering through the cuts anyway. So much for their motto:- "Listening To You, Working for You".

The News Shopper are reporting the results of an extremely unscientific piece of data analysis that nevertheless sparks some degree of interest:- Bexley has been revealed as the happiest borough to live in London, according to tweets.  Data analysis company Tekja produced a new Twitter study which gave an insight into the capital’s happiest to saddest boroughs.  The data was collected through 50,000 tweets each day and Bexley came out on top – with Lewisham third bottom and Sutton last. The point of a tweet was determined by examining each word against a list of 2,500 English words rated for happiness from -5 (negative) to +5 (positive).  All of the results are being displayed at Somerset House’s Big Bang Data exhibition which runs until February 28. All very interesting, conversation provoking stuff, but it does not really stand up to any kind of rigorous analysis.

Word reaches me that a new shop will shortly be opening in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. Subway are opening an outlet in the vacant unit opposite the clothing store Blue Inc. I for one welcome the move; of all the “fast food” outlets, Subway offer by far the healthiest food options – and I find their offerings to be very tasty. They certainly will be a credible alternative to the salt, sugar and fat laden stuff sold by KFC and McDonald’s. Subway are far from perfect, but better than many of their competitors. I also understand that Mambocino still intend on taking the large corner unit opposite Argos (shown in the photo above - click on it for a larger view); not only does the very successful coffee shop / informal restaurant need the extra space to expand, but the new unit at the front of the shopping centre has a door that would allow customers to access the restaurant after the main shopping centre gates are closed and locked at 6pm every evening. This is the one issue that has prevented the evening opening of any business in the shopping centre. I understand that Mambocino wish to retain their current daytime premises within the centre, and to expand with an evening opening “sit down” restaurant opposite Argos. I feel that this is a very good idea; at present the only place where one can sit down to a knife and fork meal after 6pm is the café in Morrison’s – hardly somewhere you would want to book! I think Mambocino could well be on to a winner. My source informs me that the reason the whole development has taken such a long time is that new power cabling and a full kitchen ventilation system are having to be installed in both the prospective Mambocino corner unit and the smaller unit which will house the Subway franchise. Things are looking up when it comes to eating choice in the town.

Although, as many readers know, I personally detest mobile phones, I am acutely aware that many people run their lives around such devices. Tus I do keep an eye on developments in mobile phone technology. Windows Phone started off life as a promising alternative to Android and iOS five years ago. Microsoft positioned its range of Windows Phone 7 handsets as the true third mobile ecosystem, but it is time to admit it has failed. If a lack of devices from phone makers and even Microsoft itself wasn't enough evidence, the final nail in the coffin hit today. Microsoft only sold 4.5 million Lumia devices in the recent quarter, compared to ten point five million at the same time last year. That's a massive fifty seven percent drop. Even a fifty seven percent increase wouldn't be enough to save Windows Phone right now. Microsoft and Nokia have sold a total of 110 million Windows Phones compared to four point five billion iOS and Android phones in the same period. With Lumia sales on the decline and Microsoft's plan to not produce a large amount of handsets, it's clear we're witnessing the end of Windows Phone. Rumours suggest Microsoft is developing a Surface Phone, but it has to make it to the market first. Windows Phone has long been in decline and its app situation is only getting worse. With a lack of hardware, lack of sales, and less than two percent market share, it is time to call it: Windows Phone is dead. Real Windows on phones might become a thing with Continuum eventually, but Windows Phone as we know it is done. It won't stop Microsoft producing a few handsets every year as a vanity project, but for everyone else it is most certainly the end of the line. I doubt that many people will even notice, to be honest. 

I reported some time ago about the plans that Aldi had to challenge the domination of Sainsbury's in Crayford; news has now been released that the construction of the new Aldi store is now beginning. The new 18,200 sqft supermarket will be the prime focus of the development in Roman Way - which will sit adjacent to the Tower Retail Park, and just over the road from Sainsbury's. You can explore the area in the embedded Google Street View above. There will be 157 parking spaces on the site, and other smaller retail buildings. Planning permission for the store was passed last year, and Aldi hope to open in November. The new store is going to be located on the quaintly named Crayford Island, almost directly opposite the huge Sainsbury's, which I understand was the largest one in the country when it opened; I am unsure if it still holds that title nowadays though. 

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I featured a story about a campaign to raise a petition to the government to remove the rail franchise from Southeastern. It all went quiet for a while, but finally a government response to the petition has now been published.  “The industry is working hard to improve services and we are reforming passenger compensation. We are determined to provide the service passengers expect across the country. We know that some passengers are very frustrated about the performance and the service they receive. We expect Southeastern to continue to work with Network Rail in order to minimise disruption and ensure services improve in 2016. The Department for Transport is closely monitoring the performance of the rail network across London and the South East and operators must inform customers properly when things go wrong. As the Chancellor stated in his Autumn Statement, we are committed to reducing the time threshold for which passengers can claim from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, and the Department is gearing up to reform the compensation arrangements as set out in that commitment.

As part of our robust franchising programme, the current operator of Southeastern is delivering millions of pounds of investment to improve journeys, which includes:

•       New high speed and classic services delivering more than 95,000 extra seats, including 1,000 extra seats on Southeastern’s High Speed services every day

•       Refreshing 112 trains and updating toilets on a further 190 trains as well as improving accessibility by investing over £10 million in the train fleet over the franchise

•       An obligation to improve stations by investing £4.8 million by 31 October 2016 and from January 2015 opening Cannon Street 21 hours a day with additional staff to assist passengers

•       Extra staff will be available at stations as Southeastern have committed to ensuring that its gatelines are staffed for 90% in London and 70% of opening hours.

•       The new £26m Rochester Station completion was opened on 13 December 2015 and forms part of the East Kent Re-signalling programme, an investment of £145m.

•       Strood Station - a £2.6 million project to demolish the current 1960’s style station and replace it with a modern building – Work is due to start in Spring 2016 and to be completed by 2017.

•       A programme to deep clean all Southeastern stations and a programme of station improvement works across the franchise.

Alongside this, our record investment in the railways, and the transformative work which the industry is doing on this part of the network, is essential in building a world-class railway, providing more services and better journeys. We understand that passengers are concerned about performance and the service they receive, however we know that Southeastern are working together with Network Rail in order to minimise disruption and to recover services faster where infrastructure failures occur. We would like this work to continue in order that service improvements continue. Southeastern have been working on their fleet of trains to improve capacity in the Metro area, and the Department for Transport is working with Southeastern to look at whether additional capacity can be introduced in the near term and improve the service for passengers. This Government has long recognised the importance of improving the performance of train operators, and through Network Rail we committed to seeing £38 billion invested in the rail network, and the hugely ambitious infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and HS2, as well the transformation of London Bridge. We closely monitor the performance of both the operators and Network Rail, and incentivise their performance through the Franchise Agreements and Track Access Agreements. Whilst we understand the frustration felt by all constituents affected by any delay, we would like to assure you that the Department for Transport is determined to see further improvements and provide the service that passengers expect". In a very long – winded and bureaucratic way the Department of Transport are in essence telling commuters to get stuffed. This is precisely what I was expecting; the only real light at the end of the tunnel is the news that there is a strong likelihood that the whole Southeastern franchise may be taken over by Transport for London, who have a pretty good track record of turning around failing rail businesses. Time will tell.

In the past there have been rumours (which I have reported) about the forthcoming Crossrail project being extended past its currently planned terminus at Abbey Wood, and extended down to the proposed Paramount London Theme Park. Until now there has been little concrete evidence that anything other than a bit of talk had been going on. This has now changed. The News Shopper have reported that MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, David Evennett attended a meeting with other local MP’s at number eleven Downing Street last week. The event was to lobby the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne to agree to extend Crossrail down to Ebbsfleet. Evennett said “We have so much potential along the riverside but transport services must be improved and extended. Local rail services are poor and Southeastern has failed to cope with the growth in passenger numbers. The extension of Crossrail could give a huge boost to economic development in our area, together with new housing and business opportunities”. The group were lobbying for extra regeneration in the east of London and along the River Thames with constituencies in south east London, Kent and Essex represented at the meeting. Thus far, no decision has yet been made as to whether an extension will be allowed. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Maggot Sandwich has a guest contributor this week; Gary Drew is a well - known radio presenter who broadcasts a weekly show on Laser Hot Hits. Gary is a renowned authority on 1980 's Jazz Funk and Soul music, and he has a very wide background in radio broadcasting. He writes a piece on his take on DAB Radio, following the article recently submitted by Peter Moore, station manager of Radio Caroline. Gary writes:- "It is well known in free radio circles that I am a supporter of DAB and I have been on board with this method of broadcasting since 2005. However despite much banter and teasing from fellow free radio colleagues on laser and friends having a polite dig at me for this I began to take DAB seriously around late 2012. I am aware that early DAB began in the mid 90's with stations being duplicated on DAB in parallel with the analogue versions. In those early days it is true that if you was able to get a good signal (mostly from the national BBC stations) you were able to get decent quality 198 kbps or 256 kbps and mostly stereo or something called joint stereo. I didn't bother purchasing my 1st DAB set until 2003 but I sent it back within just 3 weeks out of disappointment as the signals were weak on my local services and there was lots of burbling and cut outs most of the time. By 2005 the network had improved but a consequence of this was dropping bit rates of many stations and switching to mono in some cases not just to fit more stations onto the multiplexes but also to improve signal quality for those who had purchased earlier radio sets. Back then DAB radios were expensive and I think I paid over £150 in 2005 for my trusty Sony midi system with built in DAB which still works very well to this day. As I knew the framework for DAB was being upgraded albeit slowly, I decided to stick with it and I wasn't bothered about mono or low bit rates as long as I could hear the station I wanted to listen to. The same applies today with me in that the bit rate and mono signals of some stations doesn't really concern me as long as it's out there and I can get it. Your average Joe public would think in much the same way even now.  A serious issue would be if the stations could not be heard or cut out much more often like the old world space radio service which I believe suffered that fate even though it relied on satellites to get a signal. However to be fair, although I never had world space radio myself I did hear reports that when it did work it was okay. I think it was a victim of early technology launching to the masses too early without being developed enough. A proven record of a success story in satellite radio would be Sirius XM in the USA. Anyway back to DAB and over the years many stations that were DAB only (the selling point) with no analogue alternative changed ownership or closed down or were taken over thus not lasting very long. Some of this was to do with investment and running costs or restricted listenership as DAB was still in its infancy in my opinion until at least 2010. By then it seemed that more stations were coming on board and lasting longer, reception was improving and stations became settled in that they would not be moved around on the multiplex as much forcing a retune. However that said I have had to perform 3 re-tunes since October 2015 as the operators of DAB can be a bit ruthless at times by moving a station to a different multiplex sometimes without warning meaning that the station is still on the air but your radio won't find it unless you do a rescan where it has moved frequency within the DAB bandwidth.  In 2009 I bought a Pure Evoke flow wi-fi radio for the internet mainly but also for DAB. This newer radio worked better than the Sony on DAB as the firmware had improved and it is upgradable over the airwaves. I wanted to get all the London stations I could get on FM many years ago but I am out of range where I am so DAB was the answer and having more than one DAB radio was better so in 2011 I bought a Pure One Mi for the kitchen. Now DAB was taking off with more stations being added every few months but it wasn't until around 2012 when I bought a Pure One Classic when the real fun began. It was now possible to record, pause and rewind live radio. The ultimate selling point for DAB was here and I have had many years of success with this radio by setting the timer when I'm away and being able to playback and listen again to my favourite shows. In December last year just a few months ago I learned that DAB+ upgrades were now available for some Pure radios and DAB+ sets were now on sale and affordable in the UK. DAB+ a better version of DAB had already been adopted in most of Europe and stations were (and are) still closing there to go onto the DAB+ platform. Many Medium Wave stations closed on New Years Eve in France and Germany and other countries are following soon. In the UK we are already starting to see medium wave closures  with BBC Radio Bristol due to close on February 18th. There are unconfirmed reports that BBC Radio 5 Live is to go digital only soon as well. I was lucky and managed to get a free upgrade sent to me from Pure for my Pure One Classic mark 2 and Pure Evoke Flow mark 1 but now some people are paying £10 for DAB+ upgrades and these can now be done over the air rather than by plugging the radio into a laptop with a USB cable like I had to do. There is an upgrade for the Pure One Mi but you have to pay and not all radio's will be able to update. Why pay £10 to upgrade? A very good reason is that the new national multiplex is already testing on 11A and some of the stations will be broadcasting in DAB+. A DAB+ test is already going out for engineers and this is moving forward at a pace. I am still a big fan of analogue radio and as a free radio broadcaster and DX'er myself - I get a lot of joy from listening to pirate, clandestine and free radio but in recent years I have found myself not wanting to put up with poor signals on shortwave so I use the Twente SDR in the Netherlands and likewise the noise floor on medium wave is intolerable at times so I would rather find the DAB or online equivalent of a station. FM is okay but limited by local range and national stations require retuning. In most cases RDS or EON on analogue FM will take care of the retuning process especially while driving. Internet and wi fi radio and phone apps are very good but there is some waiting to connect or sometimes there is buffering so DAB is better for me as it's almost as instant as analogue radio, you can get almost everything you get on analogue, you can pause, record and rewind, you can listen to stations out of area in the crystal clear like clear DX and DAB+ is already here and improving and it will not be going away. Small scale DAB multiplexes have started and these are for stations who cannot afford to go onto the DAB platform on their own so they can be privately funded or run as a group of stations. There are 10 near me on one SS multiplex and stations like Radio Caroline and Solar Radio are already on some of the small scale multiplexes but not in all parts of the UK (yet). I am also lucky in that I can get 6 local multiplexes with my nearest 13 miles away and my furthest 50 miles away which only comes in on good days. Sometimes the station ident comes up but with no audio. I would like to thank Hugh for the web space and close by saying - love it or hate it DAB is here to stay. The analogue noise floor will get louder as more people buy electronics and medium wave frequencies will be sold off. Bye for now". Thanks to Gary for that very informative piece; if you have a view on what he says, please leave a comment below, or Email me directly to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Last weekend Erith Model Railway Society held their annual exhibition. One of south east England’s largest shows, it moved to a bigger venue this year at the Longfield Academy, having outgrown previous venues. Over two thousand visitors turned up to look at the model railway layouts. The exhibition encompassed over thirty quality layouts and sale of a range of products including transport books, DVD's and model building kits. You can visit the Erith Model Railway Society website here. The video below shows several layouts taken at last year's exhibition - do give it a watch.

The 10th Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The building boom.

All of the construction work that is going on in the local area – the former LINPAC factory site in Slade Green, which will have 350 new homes built on it; the Erith Park development with around 700 dwellings, the demolition of the old Bexley College site in Tower Road for further housing, and the Erith Quarry site with a proposed 600 larger houses on it - the artists impression above shows how the primary school which forms an integral part of the development will look when viewed from Fraser Road - click on the picture for a larger view. These developments will all be significant employers of construction staff. When on top of this one takes into consideration the aforementioned Paramount Theme Park at Swanscombe, where building is scheduled to get under way early next year, there is going to be a lot of work for anyone employed in a building trade. In fact a recent report jointly published by consultants KPMG and the London Chamber of Commerce, found that approximately 605,000 skilled workers will be needed on building sites in London and the South East region by April 2015. The figures include 50,000 construction managers, 66,000 carpenters, 41,000 plumbers and 40,000 electricians, plus many other ancillary trades.  There is a skills shortage meaning that some of these roles may well go unfilled. Many older construction workers were forced to leave the industry in the recession, and do not appear to be returning now that the market has picked up – around 400,000 were laid off during the recession, and the business is now feeling the pain. The construction industry requires 29,000 newly qualified workers each year up to 2017, but less than half that number are currently being trained. The shortage of qualified and experienced construction staff has caused the wage bill to skyrocket. The London Evening Standard reported last week that a top bricklayer can earn around £100,000 a year, whilst carpenters are now charging £200 per eight hour shift. Average wages for construction workers in London and the South East have increased between ten and twenty percent in the last year, whilst average wages for general workers have only gone up by a tiny one percent. The message would seem to be that if you want a good income and are not happy with your current job, you should consider retraining as a construction worker. Ironically one of the biggest centres for construction training is actually located in Erith – The National Construction College South is situated in Manor Road. It is a large warehouse shaped building almost opposite the Erith Construction depot. The college building contains a large covered open space where the students learn the practical skills of the construction trade – they actually build houses inside the warehouse from scratch – they fit windows, install wiring and plumbing and once the house is complete, they then learn the techniques of demolition as they pull it down. The National Construction College South is one of those institutions that even many locals don't know exist, though it has been on Manor Road for many years. More on regional construction projects later.

The current system of paying a toll via a booth at the Dartford River Crossing is about to change; as from November the 30^th, drivers will no longer have to stop to pay the toll. Instead they will be able to use a pre-paid system called Dart Charge. It is reported that since the Dart Charge website went live on the 5^th November, an average of 2,200 drivers per hour have been pre – registering for an account. The system uses number plate recognition software to identify specific vehicles and when they use the crossing. The advantage is that drivers will no longer have to queue to pay the toll fee, and it is hoped that this will reduce congestion, which historically has always been a significant problem. Fleet operators and haulage firms have been keen on the change, and have been registering their corporate membership of Dart Charge well in advance of the “go live” date. To date over one hundred large haulage firms with over 22,000 trucks have pre – registered, and interest has been keen from overseas haulage organisations as well. This is all well and good, and any efforts to speed up traffic passing through the tunnels and over the bridge is to be welcomed – the current arrangement causes a bottleneck that all too often brings M25 traffic to a crawl, if not a halt. The problem is not so much with the new Dart Charge system, as with the method of enforcement via number plate recognition – there is already a serious problem around the country with false or stolen vehicle number plates in use by crooks trying to avoid both toll charges and fines for other traffic offences. I know for a fact that in the local area vehicles are illegally on the roads with suspect plates. Only a while ago I saw three young boys of around twelve or thirteen years of age, all crammed onto one asthmatic scooter, riding along the pavement in Erith as though it was a normal thing to do (which by the look of them, it probably was). I called my local Police contact and gave him the scooter registration details. He checked the computer, and said “that’s strange – it’s down here as a silver Bedford van!” The scooter had a false plate – probably why the kids were so unconcerned about being seen on it. This can be multiplied a hundredfold when businesses sense that they can save money by avoiding the NPR cameras. Overheads such as toll charges are always unpopular with businesses, and there are a minority of unscrupulous operators who will always seek ways around them, legal or not. This form of identity theft is becoming increasingly common, and in many cases it becomes the responsibility of the unwitting person who has had their vehicle ID cloned to prove their innocence, rather than the other way around. Unless some examples are made when perpetrators are actually caught in the act, I foresee this becoming a problem which will only increase over time. What do you think? Will the undoubted increase in traffic throughput be worth a strong likelihood in the level of identity theft? I must admit that personally I am ambivalent, but realise that some readers may hold strong opinions on the subject.

The campaign to Save Belvedere Splash Park continues; the organisers are strongly encouraging members of the campaign to write to their ward Councillors to complain, as it would appear that some Councillors have been gravely misinformed as to the reasons for the Splash Park closure, and have been duped into believing it is purely for health and safety reasons. There is evidence to suggest that Bexley Council have a plan (or are at the very least considering) relocating the current children's play area in the main "swings park" situated at the junction of Woolwich and Albert Road in Upper Belvedere, across the road and into the site currently occupied by the Splash Park. Along with closing the adjacent Belvedere Library, this would free up a large area of land, which the council could then sell off to property developers in order to build yet more shoe box sized flats. Not only would the money grabbing council make a packet out of the land sale, but they would get a sizable increase in council tax income from the site. If this is indeed potentially on the cards, it would once again underline the fact that Bexley Council don't give a stuff for residents in the North of the Borough, as most of their mandate comes from the wealthy and council pampered South. Nothing this morally bankrupt Council plans to do would surprise me any more.

Local news sources, including but not limited to the News Shopper have been reporting that the plans for the Swanscombe based Paramount theme park have been put on public display for residents to examine. The only trouble is the nearest place where the plans have been on show was Dartford FC football ground last Sunday. No consultation or information is being carried out in Slade Green, Erith, Belvedere or Thamesmead, even though it is highly likely that a substantial number of staff for the forthcoming park will live in the local area; the Paramount adventure park is planned to cover forty five Hectares and cost in excess of £2 billion. There are going to be twelve major rides, said to be of world class standard, along with Europe’s largest indoor water park, a total of eleven thousand covers in a number of different restaurants as well as a twenty square Kilometre indoor events space designed to rival the O2 Arena. There will be car parking for ten thousand visitors and four thousand staff – though many will be encouraged to visit via train from the nearby Ebbsfleet station. There are even rather optimistic ideas of getting at least five percent of the visitors to the site by ferry boat from London, further up the River Thames. Personally I think the journey time from around London Bridge / Waterloo to Swanscombe would be too long to be attractive to very many people. The developers have been a little short sighted in not having an information open day in the local area; this especially rings true when one considers that an open day was held in Grays, Essex on the opposite side of the river. I concede that if the promised additional river crossings do appear, the distinction between North Kent and South Essex will become increasingly blurred due to the effective removal of the Thames as a historic barrier. Nevertheless, the juncture of North West Kent and South East London is very likely to be the home of many who will both work in the park, and those who will be potential visitors – a bit more consideration would have been welcome. To be honest it is symptomatic of the attitude to Slade Green, Erith , Belvedere and Thamesmead that is shown by both local and national government. An independent observer reported to me that when Boris Johnson opened Bexley College recently, he apparently made an off – the – cuff remark that he did not know the area existed until his visit – something I find hard to believe since I saw him on a walkabout in Bexleyheath Broadway a couple of years ago – unless Boris has a particularly selective memory, which for a career politician would be no great surprise at all. Nevertheless, the North of the London Borough of Bexley has historically had a poor deal when it comes to investment, infrastructure and attention. It is heartening to see the money that is currently being invested locally by private enterprise – the Erith Park development, the LINPAC site in Slade Green, the redevelopment of the old Bexley College site in Tower Road (see the photo above - click on it for a larger view), and the proposed Erith Quarry development are all signs that whilst politicians have little faith in the area, hard-nosed business people do. Incidentally I was talking to a very senior person within the Bexley Council Environmental Services team earlier in the week. I mentioned about the degree of public consultation and care that the developers, The Anderson Group are taking.  The person agreed strongly with me – they said that in many years of dealing with property developers, The Anderson Group were amongst the best, and they had the most properly thought through environmental policies. I happened to mention the handful of local people who would like the development banned and the quarry site left as a nature reserve. We both agreed that this was never going to happen, as the area needs the housing and the jobs that will come with it; not only that but they confirmed something that I had long suspected – the quarry site suffers from a high level of ground pollution caused by a variety of illegally dumped chemicals. You may recall that some time ago I wrote about my recollections of the old Atlas Chemical and Paint factory that used to be located in Fraser Road, roughly where the Wickes DIY store is now situated. Atlas was owned and operated by Denis Thatcher, who rose from the shop floor to become the proprietor. When the factory was closed down in the 1980’s, many drums of chemicals were left on the site, only to mysteriously disappear apparently overnight. My contact from Environmental Services confirmed that the drums of noxious liquid were dumped on the quarry site – not only that, but apparently when the geological and ground contamination surveys were undertaken by an independent consulting company, they also found a World War II era military tank buried on the site – so much for it being ideal as a nature reserve! Apparently pre – construction remedial action is planned, which will remove all of the contaminated soil and other materials so that the site will be clean when the builders first move in and start work. It was interesting to speak to someone on the inside of the construction and planning process, and to get an insight into the relationships that develop between the parties. I feel that the development of Erith Quarry will be seen as a positive step overall, and that it is now down to The Anderson Group and their public relations consultants Lexington Communications to manage local people’s expectations and to maintain a steady stream of accurate and up to date information in respect of the multi million pound project.

I am not a great follower of sport; for the most part I fail to see the point of it, but once again I bow to my overall personal libertarian philosophy of “if it works for you”. One thing I have noticed recently is that minor league Formula One team Caterham Racing have filed for voluntary administration, and that finances are so bad that  the team’s 230 staff have not been paid  since the 30^th September. Caterham Racing were owned by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, who also owns the Caterham Group, which consists of a couple of high technology companies and the famous high performance car manufacturer. The principal concern is how financially healthy the non F1 Caterham Group companies are; there is a strong local interest here, as the Caterham Cars offices and factory are located in Kennet Road, off Thames Road in Crayford (see the photo above – click for a larger view), and many employees live locally. If the whole Caterham Group are in difficulty, it could have severe consequences for the highly skilled and experienced workforce.  There currently is no news to this effect, but it must be very worrying for all of those involved. If you work for Caterham, and would like to let me know what is going on in the Crayford factory in complete confidence, then drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The red telephone box (which incidentally was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – who was the architect of the old Erith Odeon cinema) that has for so many years formed an integral part of the British high street is looking very much like an endangered species; fewer and fewer people use them to make calls, and nowadays they seem to be the de facto urinal – probably not helped by the fact that Bexley Council has done away with all the public toilets in the borough. If one is lucky, a fee taking automated “Turdis” loo may be available, but more often than not there is nothing. The widespread use of mobile phones has effectively made phone boxes obsolete. Much debate has been undertaken as to what the phone boxes can now be used for, but no definitive outcome has arisen. It may be worth the UK’s local authorities looking across the Atlantic Ocean to see what New York City are doing – they have come up with a solution that is both economically viable and also decidedly imaginative and creative. The city announced Monday that it had selected a consortium of advertising, technology and telecom companies to deploy throughout the city thousands of modern-day pay phones that will offer 24-hour, free gigabit Wi-Fi connections, free calls to anywhere in the U.S., touch-screen displays with direct access to city services, maps and directions for tourists, and charging stations (for the mobile phones that most residents would prefer to use). The devices will also be capable of connecting people straight to emergency responders, and broadcasting alerts from the city during emergencies like Hurricane Sandy. The whole system, city officials said, will constitute the largest free municipal Wi-Fi network in the world. All of it will be funded by what the providers say will be an astonishingly large revenue stream from sophisticated digital advertising — picture different and constantly fine-tuned ads depending on the block — that's projected to generate for the city $500 million over the next 12 years. Scott Goldsmith, the chief commercial officer at the advertising company Titan working on the contract, says the infrastructure will "revolutionize how advertising is delivered in the biggest media market in the world." Fifty percent of that revenue will go to the city. The end product will no longer be called a "pay phone." The city is calling the new devices "links”. This sounds interesting, and it looks like a very viable pointer to the future. New York City has a sufficient density of pay phones to make coverage pretty much guaranteed to be continuous. I am unsure if the same could be said of central London or Birmingham for example, as many phone kiosks have already been removed. The principle remains the same however, and with sufficient investment (not to mention civic will to do it) I see no reason why British cities could not offer the same model, especially as it would seem of be capable of returning a sizable profit, not just paying its way. It will be interesting to see what investigation local authorities undertake in respect of this – especially after the disastrous Rabbit Phone project of the early 1990’s. 

You can occasionally still see faded Rabbit Phone signs outside of post offices and other public buildings, many years after the plug was pulled on the service The photo above was taken many years ago on Watford Junction Station - somewhere that I know rather better than I care to - I have to travel there regularly for meetings for my day job. Rabbit Phone was a system set up by mobile phone company Hutchinson (later re – branded as Orange). Rabbit was what was termed a “Telepoint” service - Telepoint services such as Rabbit allowed subscribers to carry specially designed (CT2) home phone handsets with them and make outgoing calls whenever they were within one hundred metres of a Rabbit transmitter / receiver unit. Original plans were for twelve thousand base stations to be placed around the UK by December 1992. The first service was launched in Greater Manchester in May 1992 with the entire city centre of Manchester covered with Rabbit base stations. The service was then rolled out to the rest of the North of England and there was nationwide coverage in the autumn of 1993. At the height of Rabbit's operations there were 12,000 base stations and 10,000 customers in the UK. The service ceased in December 1993, only twenty months after being launched. Rabbit had two thousand subscribers at the time the service closed. The failure of Rabbit can be mainly attributed to the rapid fall in cost of analogue mobile phones from Cellnet and Vodafone, which also accepted incoming calls, and were not limited to a small number of  geographical contact points that the rabbit system was tied to. The imminent conversion of these mobile phone networks to the modern-day GSM standard sealed Rabbit's fate. Hutchison lost around $183 million from the failure of Rabbit, but soon made the money back with the very successful launch of the Orange mobile phone network. I think any organisation planning to deploy a modern city – wide WiFi service as per the New York model will need to ensure that both the technology and the business model meet with the users expectations; if this can be done, I can see no reason why it could not be a resounding success.  What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Further to my musings last week in relation to the possible future use of the White Hart / Potion bar, now that it has stood empty for such a time, I have had an Email from a reader who would rather remain anonymous; she tells me that the venue is definitely being researched as a possible retail outlet once again; whether it is Subway looking at it as previously mentioned, or if another company is looking at the former pub is still uncertain. From my own research it is clear that there is definite commercial interest in the place, but the potential occupants are taking great pains to keep their tracks covered for now. This is quite common in commercial property negotiations, and should not be seen as anything other than normal commercial practice. If any reader has any further information, please let me know – any discussions will be held in complete confidence.

I stumbled across the end video completely by chance; it is a piece of digitised 8mm cine film showing Bexleyheath and the Broadway shopping area "then and now", the "then" being the early 1930's, and the "now" being the autumn of 1987. The whole thing is a remarkable period piece, and it makes for fascinating viewing. Do give it a watch and please feel free to comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.