Catch the midnight train to...Greenwich

Deptford High Street's iconic train carriage is being moved this evening between 8pm and midnight (and possibly as late at 2am) and taken to be stored at Morden Wharf in Greenwich. The squatters are gone, the gates and decking have been removed and the Elvis loo looks a little sad, stranded on its own!

We asked the café business owner Rebecca if it's coming back. She's said, "It wants to come back to Douglas Square. But there's a slight hitch in that the only place it could be sited (to prevent any issues with the existing structures like lighting columns and market trading spaces) is by the Albany. But the Albany is planning to move their front entrance to face the square which will be better for the building as a whole but means the carriage would only have a short time frame in the square. It would be expensive to move it again!"

The train will be stored for the time being at Morden Wharf courtesy of Cathedral plc who are developing the riverside site on the Greenwich waterfront. Rebecca said, "The Council have been very helpful in navigating where the best place is for it to sit in the long term, and Cathedral are supporting my wish for it to stay in Deptford and not take it anywhere else." (The developer had at one point wanted to re-site the train at their new development in Brighton). "In the meantime I might open a little caff in the square just to keep the business going."

We asked what's happening with the Elvis loo. "All the plants and decking have been saved and are going to Tidemill's Assembly garden project. The Elvis loo is still up but there's nothing much left to save and the squatters left it in a bit of a mess. They've also written all over the tables, walls and floor, and had electric heaters on 24/7."

One of the squatters wrote in the comments section on our previous post about the carriage that they would keep the place clean, and even claimed to have changed the electricity bill to their own name. But it seems the more responsible among them were staying with their parents over the Christmas period when things got out of hand. During this period, a local shopkeeper witnessed an ambulance turning up to take a party-goer – who had overdosed on drugs – to hospital. The electricity is still in Rebecca's name.

Was she having a special send-off tonight? "No special send-off. It's all been a bit emotional and a bit of a rush! Now it's time to focus on the future." She hopes people will have good memories of the train, and look forward to its return.

The train arriving in 2008, and more recent and sunnier times...

Update: The train left tonight at just before midnight. Bye for now!

Train carriage squatted, and Creekside cafe to close

Plans to move the train cafe to Douglas Square have been taking a long time, and we heard it could be up to a year before it is relocated. In the meantime, the Deptford Project developers Cathedral plc had now agreed to help the cafe business owner's storage problem by moving it to one of their other sites in Greenwich (yet to be redeveloped) so that building work can commence on the Deptford site. But at the end of last week the train was squatted.

This is the same notice as was pinned to the door of the old Job Centre (perhaps even the very same notice), which was squatted at the end of September, just as refurbishment work was about to start on the new pub that is planned for the building. Although a train is not a pub, it seems the same rules apply, and no-one except the squatters can enter the premises. The decking was due to be removed and donated to a garden project, but now cannot be touched since it would deny the squatters access to their new pad. The electricity supply was also due to be cut off, but the squatters say it would be a breach of their human rights to remove their only source of power, which means the cafe (not the developer) may be stuck with a large bill.

No one was in when the site security guard let us into the yard on Saturday to take these photos. The developer's schedule will now be held up until they can get a court possession order. Not that they have seemed to be in any hurry to get started since they got planning permission several months ago.

Meanwhile, another local cafe is about to close, also thanks to redevelopment – the Creekside Cafe on Creekside, part of Faircharm Trading Estate. Their lease is up and there's no point in renewing it, since some time in 2014 building work will begin to turn a thriving employment zone into luxury housing. This will last three years or more and bring great disturbance to Crossfields residents. Unfortunately, a Lewisham Planning Committee agreed earlier this year that Workspace plc cannot make enough profit for its shareholders by simply providing actual workspace.

Creekside Cafe's situation differs from the train cafe in that its owners (Mason's Catering, already a fairly successful catering firm based on Deptford Church Street) knew nothing about Workspace's plans to turn Faircharm Trading Estate into luxury flats and chuck out the businesses that the cafe serves when they took on the tenancy. The train, on the other hand, was initially supported by the developer, who paid for its installation as "meantime use" on the site. In return, Cathedral ingratiated itself into the community with its branding, whilst boasting the cafe's successes as its own. Until, that is, they got their planning permission and wanted rid of it.

The same clever developer did the same last year with the pop-up Mvemnt Café by Greenwich DLR, which was run by Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency, who knew the limits of the project – to cash in on the Olympic pedestrian traffic to Greenwich Park. Perhaps a fine example of "meantime use". Cathedral hailed it as a great success, though we hardly ever saw or met anyone there (since most Olympics punters were herded away from it and all the other Greenwich businesses).

It seems "meantime use" can only work if the business can be easily relocated or closed down. But even then, a planning application can take a long time to come to fruition, and there are often delays in building phases once permission is got, so any business who takes up a "meantime" offer suffers enormous insecurity about when they must move out. In the meantime the business may have become established in the community, sorely missed as a community resource when it's gone, and the business itself left with debts it has no chance of recouping if it cannot easily relocate. And even if they can, like the businesses being chucked out of Faircharm, relationships in the community built up over many years are severed by a move to another borough or town.

Meanwhile, Creekside Cafe has only been around for a relatively short time, but their cheap and tasty food proved popular with and highly convenient for local artists, craftspeople and residents – and those Creekside businesses who haven't yet been forced out by Workspace's new plans for Faircharm.

Train cafe update

If you're missing the train cafe terrace in this lovely weather, you'll be pleased to know it will be open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays for the next four weeks.

Meanwhile, Lewisham Council is conducting a feasibility study on the logistics of relocating the carriage to Douglas Square. The results of this will be known soon.

The picture above was taken by Sarah Lee for a recent Guardian feature Ten British restaurants with unusual histories.

Wave goodbye to the Deptford train cafe

When building work finally commences in a couple of months' time on the delayed Cathedral/United House development next to Deptford station (see pic below), one of Deptford's most recent and best loved landmarks, the café known to locals as "the train", will have to move.

The café has been given notice to be off the site by 31st August, but a decision over where it will go must be made within the next week. Whilst Cathedral have offered to help with some of the relocation costs, another option is that they buy the train business and move it to Brighton, where they are 'delivering' an "Innovation Quarter". Meanwhile, the café staff have been given notice, as have the creative business tenants in the arches, who have been offered space in Canning Town.

The train café was originally planned to be moved to sit alongside the new station – the perfect place for it. It appears on this model which was viewed during the 'consultation' (though was missing from the application drawings).

There is certainly plenty of room for it here. There is also room here for a nice big anchor.

But Network Rail own the land in front of the station and they have said the train café would compromise the franchises they want to put in their arches, eg their corporate partners Costa Coffee. Surely the developers must have known this might be the case when they submitted their plans?

Might the train go here instead, under the Mr & Mrs mural?

No, Lewisham Council says the train is too heavy. The anchor was also considered to be too heavy to go here. Watch out the pavement doesn't cave in next time you walk on it!

Could it perhaps go here, in Douglas Square? Or are there other vested interests vying for this space? If it can't go here, then it's goodbye to the train cafe.

Update 20th June 2013: Still no news on the train's new home, or if it can stay. Some of the displaced artists and creative businesses may relocate to Tidemill, but nothing is confirmed.

Update 29th June: ditto above.



CREATIVE DEPTFORD AND THE DEVELOPERS

The marketing pitch of all developers is that Deptford is a thriving creative community, yet these days a great many of Deptford's creatives are actually homeless. Businesses are being chucked out of Faircharm to make way for luxury apartments, Utrophia's temporary time on the high street is up just as soon as Antic get their planning sorted, and the artists in St Paul's House must also move out at the same time as those in the Deptford Project yard.

Lewisham Council, which enjoys the vast amounts of Section 106 money that comes from these developments to spend in other parts of the borough, also trades on Deptford's creative reputation whilst failing to ensure there is adequate accommodation for the people that created the reputation. The Council have just re-signed the contract for Newbould Guardians to stay at the old Tidemill school – a property that could accommodate a hundred creatives yet only houses about ten, at enormous expense to Lewisham's taxpayers whilst making a tidy profit for a private security firm.

Cathedral plc say on their website: "In summer 2008 we installed a 1960s commuter train carriage into a site next to Deptford High Street train station in south east London. We put it there to kickstart a £42m mixed-use PPP regeneration scheme with the London Borough of Lewisham in partnership with United House...The Deptford Project Café has become a popular place with Deptford locals. Lovingly restored by neighbourhood craftsmen and run by a local group, the café acts as a creative hub for the community and as the focal point for The Deptford Project. It has been featured in media all over the world and was hailed as London’s grooviest new café. Vogue magazine included The Deptford Project Café in their top 50 favourite things in London....We continued our placemaking by opening up the abandoned arches under the carriage ramp and letting them on a temporary basis to local craftspeople. They have built a vibrant community there..."

But now we're chucking them all out!

United House, who call the site Deptford Rise, say "it is a £60m PPP project to include 138 private homes, new public space, live/work units and office space for small, creative organisations. The Deptford Project is already established as a thriving and quirky community initiative where features include a cafe in a disused train carriage, pop-up markets and an outdoor cinema in summer."

So the people who have built the vibrant community, who have helped to create Deptford's reputation as a creative hub, must fuck off so that new creative spaces (which no one will be able to afford) can be built. The creative scene in Deptford is down to two main factors: Goldsmiths College and cheap space. The latter is now only available as a result of temporary spaces created by developers while they thrash out the details of their luxury home developments with Lewisham Planning. The only creatives who can survive the onslaught of the developers in relative security are those who can afford to own their buildings.

There could be a smoother transition from temporary to permanent in these situations, but there is not. What makes an area unique in the first place is disregarded and unsupported when it's time to sell the luxury flats to overseas investors (see Alternative SE4's latest post). The Deptford X visual arts festival only gets support from developers when they are sucking up to Lewisham Planning in the initial stages. Never mind, eh, creative people are a sturdy bunch used to living on the edge in total insecurity, and those who find themselves having to leave are soon replaced by the next batch of plucky graduates, a factor that the developers are relying on. There is no "now", there is only "the future". In the future, all creatives are envisaged as operating solely in the digital world, where space is virtual.

The buzzword for developers and planners is Placemaking. This is originally defined (since the 70s) as capitalising on a local community's assets, inspiration and potential "to create good public spaces that promote health, happiness and well being". There is indeed now much capitalising on the community's assets – in this case, 'Creative Deptford' – in order to drive up the value of new luxury apartments and increase the profits of the developer.

The main driver for the massive Convoys Wharf development is Deptford's "creative" reputation. The fact that the site has enormous historical significance is more or less disregarded since preserving and celebrating that aspect would get in the way of building 3,500 flats (3000 of which are likely to be marketed to foreign investors). Heritage is mainly to be acknowledged in place naming only. In its "Cultural Strategy" the developer states that their plans will make Deptford "the new Shoreditch" whilst conveniently forgetting that that part of the East End is located right next to the wealthy City of London, and hundreds of creatives had to move out before all the new trendy people could move in.

Still, in the time it takes for the Convoys site to be built (some twenty years or more), there may be opportunities for cheapish temporary spaces, but not for some time to come, so this will be little comfort for those caught in the present developer-led transition. Such is the poisoned chalice of regeneration.

Remembering Josie and Lou's Cafe

Giuseppina (Josie) behind the counter at Lou's Cafe © Peter True

Ex-Crossfields resident Peter has sent us some old pix of Lou's Cafe (see previous post). Like a great many others, Pete used to hang out at the caff when he was younger. He now lives in Rochester down the road from Josie's nephew so has kept in touch with the family, as well as Crossfields and Deptford. Pete says, "This was by far my favorite cafe in Deptford, run by Josie, her brother Lou and his wife Polda (who cooked). It was all home cooked food, and home baked cakes . The urn on the right just bubbled away all day. Sadly it closed because of illness, a fraction short of 60 years in family business. This is a Christmas time shot and it's the early to mid 80s. The shop became Josie's home and I visited every now and then, and if I was very lucky there was home-baked rock cake on offer...Sadly now, Josie has joined Lou and Polda in the Great Cafe in the Sky..."

Breakfast, Dinners, Teas...Lou's Dinnerstea!
(Thanks to Lou's Cafe customer and ex-Crossfields resident Paul for that witticism)

Anyone with information about the arson attack that led to Josie's death is urged to call the police incident room on 020 8721 4961 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Police launch murder investigation and meanwhile bust the bookies

The high street felt somewhat blighted today, not only with bad weather and endless roadworks disrupting trade and shopper's movements, but also with the sad news of the death of 82 year old Giuseppina Fazzani in a fire at Lou's cafe, which occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning.

There was a high police presence at that end of the street as they investigate what they now believe to be an arson attack, with evidence that an accelerant was used to start the fire on the cafe and the Vietnamese restaurant next door to it. The Fire Brigade managed to save the life of a second woman who lived on the first floor, and the Deptford Dame, who broke the story yesterday morning, points out that if the proposed closures of our fire stations go ahead, she may not have survived.

Older residents will remember Giuseppina from when the cafe was a popular haunt before it closed around 20 years ago – it was also quite a creative hub for local musicians, artists and activists. Friends and family have been leaving flowers.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the street, van loads of coppers descended on Corals, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes in what is thought to be a drugs operation. William Hill and Jennings seem to have escaped the raid. A staff member at William Hill's said, "We only sell bets here...". Of course, despite these bookies breaking the terms of their licenses by "being associated with crime and disorder or being used to support crime" (Gambling Act 2005), it'll be business as usual tomorrow, no doubt.

See next post for Crossfields' remembrance of Josie.

New Deptford cafe opens in Resolution Way

New cafe Kitsch in Sync opens to the public tomorrow and Holly (pictured behind the counter) will be serving coffee, speciality teas, homemade cakes, scones and ice cream, plus sandwiches made with artisan breads, salads and homemade quiche.

The cafe adjoins new gallery Occupy My Time, and both are situated opposite Arch Materials in Resolution Way, in the studio spaces under the new flats behind the new Tidemill School.

The strip of studio spaces here are now (mostly) all occupied as independent 'project spaces' and galleries and were launched last Friday by the umbrella organisation Enclave, headed up by Anthony Gross who also runs The Old Police Station.  

Occupy My Time Gallery, run by Sue Cohen, and the new cafe are just two of the several spaces, all of which will be open tomorrow and over the weekend. We missed the opening last week, so cannot comment on the other spaces, but the current exhibition at Occupy My Time is well worth a look.

The cafe is a little out of the way, being off the high street, but can be accessed from Giffin Street via Tidemill Way, between Wavelengths and the school (as well as from either end of Resolution Way). We look forward to the Deptford Dame's review of Holly's coffee and homemade cakes!

According to the Enclave website, their project space "is a flexible infrastructure with display space, utility area, Enclave’s and temporarycontemporary’s (aka The Old Police Station) new art offices, a future residency module ('unit') and pop-up charity fundraising bar. Due to be completed in August 2012, this space is the command-centre for Enclave operations. The Gallery and Project Space are connected and can be used together or separately for simultaneous projects".

'Enclave tenants' will each present a project in the main gallery every year in addition to the programme in their own spaces. The Enclave gallery will present a programme of exhibitions, events, projects, symposia, and film clubs – including an International Film Club programmed by Phoenix Fry from Deptford Film Club.

Perhaps the first film to be shown here should be Hide & Seek, the Children's Film Foundation production shot on location in Deptford in 1972, which shows Deptford as it was then (partly demolished as a result of the 'clearances'), just to establish the scene a little bit better than Secret Histories of our Streets recently did. It's a great film and could fill the Enclave space all weekend.

People Before Profit embarrassment

With Gorgeous George and the Respect Party in the news, one might be led to ponder what Lewisham's own version of real left politics, People Before Profit, might be up to.

Recently they've made some news for participating in the taking possession of properties owned by Lewisham council that were "earmarked for 'disposal' " (auctioned off at less than their market value), and housing homeless families in them. See the story here (PBP's website), here or here. By 'participating in' we mean John Hamilton has been publicising these activities, but many involved are activists who are not, as it were, PBP party members. Nevertheless there is a collective aim for the common good.

But what is this? Strange goings on in Deptford...PBP's flagship cafe Come The Revolution ("the brainchild of PBP campaigner Ray Woolford") has closed. Is the lease up? Maybe, but no word from Woolford, he's out of town.

Meanwhile, the cafe's workers, who, from PBP's publicity would appear to be the happiest in the world ("the work is more interesting and the pay is better than where I was in my last job, and you feel you're doing something for the community"), are now fighting their boss, Woolford, after he sacked them for unionising for better pay and conditions.

Although the cafe has been popular for some, its location has not been ideal for pulling in the casual punter. Some have been sceptical about the coupling of leftist politics with an estate agents (Housemartins, run by Woolford). According to the Facebook page set up by the cafe workers, they were afraid Woolford would close the cafe, only to reopen it with new staff. Lack of clarity about who actually owns the building seems to have contributed to paranoia after a member of staff who occupied a flat above the cafe was evicted by an untraceable company – more grist to the mill for those involved.

But planning permission has been in for this building for quite some time by the owners, P Logan (as in Logan's Chemists who had the shop front previously) to "demolish the existing building fronting" as part of a plan to (re-)construct a 5-storey building (see the application DC/11/78237/X, still not decided). Woolford's lease was obviously tenuous and the cafe's (and the workers') future was never secure. Of course, this is no excuse to pay your staff poor wages but imagine if all of the businesses on the high street had to conform to union standards.

Unite (Britain's largest Trade Union and already in the news) are supporting the workers and co-hosted a meeting on Friday night at the Amersham Arms in order to demand reinstatement without penalty (as well as minimum hours contracts and union approved health & safety training).

Neither Woolford or Hamilton were in attendance, but George Hallam (PBP's rep in Feltham) came to smooth ruffled feathers and perhaps distance PBP from Ray Woolford's misadventures. A further meeting is planned for early next week.

See also cometheunion.wordpress.com

Starbucks at Wavelengths

The sauna, steam room and changing rooms at Wavelengths were closed on Wednesday for a long overdue deep clean. Parkwood Leisure are gone, and in their place come Fusion Lifestyles. All council leisure centres, except in Downham and Ladywell, will close at 6.30pm on Friday 14th (tomorrow) for a "smooth handover". It will re-open at 7am Saturday morning.

Fusion Lifestyles will be running Lewisham's leisure facilities for the next 15 years. It is a registered charity and will be paying for the additional facilities to be added to the Wavelengths site (a new gym) now that the library has moved to the new Deptford Lounge. Fusion Lifestyle's facilities usually include a cafe run by Starbucks.

We know one New Yorker living on Crossfields who will be very pleased to hear this news, but the arrival of Starbucks is being met with less enthusiasm on the high street where cafe culture has recently taken an inexplicable upturn, with independent venues popping up all over the place. Wavelengths may see an increase in visitors due to improved facilities and Starbucks are undoubtedly well placed to serve a captive audience throughout the borough, but Wavelengths cafe is unlikely to be a hotspot for high street shoppers.

Deli-X

We popped in the new Deptford High Street cafe Deli-X on Saturday. It's where the Bear Space cafe used to be. The space has been opened up, with the delicatessen stuff at the front along with beautifully displayed fruit and veg, and the main seating area behind some book shelving, stretching out to the back doors which open onto patio garden as before.

We had tea and cakes – the tea was served in fine china with a tea pot, which seems to be all the rage these days. Teapots are a big feature at Deptford's other two new cafes: Come The Revolution on New Cross Road and Blossoming Together at the foot of Tanner's Hill (previously the Deptford Deli). We also had some very good coffee – to rival that of the presently undisputed favourite coffee meisters The Waiting Room.

See the Deptford Dame's post about Blossoming Together.