In this video Joss Stone talks about the record attempt, her preparation (or lack of) and how Oz first approached her.

Kyra writes the blog, Bitter Sweet City. Its tagline is “London & Other Places. Food & Other Things, For Your Delectation”. She can also be found on Twitter @bittersweetcity.

Slurp

by Kyra Kellawan

I’m a real sucker for noodles. Cheap, warming, and oodles of fun to eat, they’re cooked in 3 minutes flat and basically kept me alive during my student days. Now that my budget stretches a bit further than the 9p Asda variety, I make it my business to seek out a good bowl of noodles in every London neighbourhood I’ve ever inhabited. Streatham, you may be interested to know, has not disappointed me.

There are definitely at least two decent noodle-purveyors in Streatham. Slurp is the one I’ll write about this time, because I discovered it more recently than Oishii. (It’s good there too. We’ll come back to that another time.)

We visited Slurp on a very busy Friday evening and were seated immediately by a friendly waitress, who also had a big birthday party and numerous other tables to contend with. I say tables – they’re actually mostly benches, Japanese canteen-style, with one coveted round table complete with lazy susan in the centre, which always make me think of that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Anyway, I digress. We were seated in less than 15 seconds and had menus in our hands within 30. Pretty impressive stuff on one of their busiest nights.

The menu at Slurp is HUGE. It spans three different kinds of oriental cuisines: Japanese, Chinese, and Thai. At first glance you may think this is pretty ambitious and might lead to a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ dining experience.  After ordering a couple of Asahi beers and some of the Thai prawn crackers (fishy, salty, moreish, delicious, £2),  we settled on a shared starter of Chinese five spice duck rolls (£4.50 for 4). This was partly to slow the meal down – we’d only been seated a maximum of five minutes and we were in danger of receiving our food within 10. I’m all for efficiency, but I also like to people-watch and enjoy the delayed gratification of seeing what others have ordered before my own plate arrives. Our smiling waitress took our order without fuss and the starter was in front of us within 6 minutes, no longer.

Tasty as they were, the duck rolls were stodgier than anticipated. Hoping for something lighter to follow them, I chose from the Thai menu; (Chicken Coriander Pesto & Sweet Basil with rice, £6.60), and the mister ordered Chinese Grilled Sirloin Steak Cantonese Style with rice and broccoli (£7.90). My chicken was well-seasoned and very spicy in a clear gloopy sauce. The mister’s steak was really good quality meat, but he found the orange sweet-and-sour sauce on top a bit artificial and the rest of the dish a bit dry without it.

This is where I must confess that this wasn’t our first Slurp experience. We’ve been ordering takeaway food for delivery for a good few months now at home, and we’d usually go for our tried and trusted favourites. So although we were slightly disappointed with our choices on this particular Friday, we’re still huge fans. The trick is to know how to navigate that enormous menu and choose the things you’re fairly certain you’ll like.

If you’re trying Slurp for the first time, stick to the Pad Thai, the Chilli Beef/ Chicken Ramen and the Vermicelli Singapore-style, (in fact all the noodle dishes I’ve had so far are great) or any of the Thai curries, and you can’t go far wrong. I’d go as far as to say their ramen is better than at any Wagamama. There’s certainly nothing to dislike about the friendly welcome the staff give you, and if you choose a busy evening like ours then Streatham’s buzzy and cosmopolitan vibe will provide all the atmosphere you need. If you order in instead, then you’re unlikely to be disappointed and will have a very hearty meal for not much money.

In their own words, Slurp “strive to bring you the best in quality, service and value at all times…feel free to let us know what you DO think, so we can deliver a better service to you!” says their takeaway menu. They’ve definitely got most things right. Oodles of noodles, lots of fun, and an inexpensive evening out or in: so slurp away.

While parliament is taking its summer recess, Streatham’s MP, Chuka Umunna has taken the time to give us two tracks for this weeks Sounds of Streatham feature. The first…

“Got 2 Have Your Love” by Mantronix
Chuka: “Clasic 80’s soul. The type I was brought up on.

You can buy “Got 2 Have Your Love” by Mantronix here from

And the second winds the clock back a couple more years.

“Got To Be Real” by Chery Lynn

You can buy “Got To Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn here from

Chuka will be back with more “Sounds of Streatham” in a couple of weeks time.

Helena recently gave us an update of what to expect. “Yesterday we confirmed The Mike Strutter Group (AKA Paul Kaye of Dennis Pennis fame) as one of the acts for the birthday party! We’ve also got the Razzle playing and also launching their new video – “Wrong ‘Un” – which was filmed in the White Lion about a month ago, and our regular band Mangoseed”.

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There are more bands being lined up as well. Other plans include a barbecue and whitewashing one of the walls so people can graffiti on it throughout the party. The top prize in the raffle is free entry and a 3 course meal at Hideaway, with other prizes including an orchid from Colleen Blackman Design on Sunnyhill Road, vouchers for Pizza Express and maybe even a 2 night stay at the Fox Club London –  if Oz can twist their arm. If anyone else can donate something awesome as a raffle prize, The White Lion team would be very grateful!

It’ll start at 6/7pm and go on til 1am. Tickets are £10/person. If they sell out their capacity of 180 people then door sales alone will mean £1800 straight to the charity. To buy tickets go to www.Justgiving.com/whitelionbirthday , click ‘donate now’ and donate £10 per ticket, then just leave a message with your name and the number of tickets and you’ll be put on the guestlist.

Helena has also been enthusiastically telling us about all the other things which are happening at the white lion lately. “AMEX recently offered up a team of volunteers to help transform the pub and they’ve been hard at work every Thursday for 3 weeks so far. The workshop space is really starting to look useable. Next door to it is also a ‘Guitar Rehab’ centre where Adriano and Steve, who are guitar technicians for some of Europe’s biggest bands including our friends Alabama 3, will repair and build guitars that’ll then be used in guitar workshops and classes for kids in the workshop space”.

“Very popular Brixton-based World Music band Yaaba Funk have just chosen us as their new ‘home’”! Look out for their upcoming gigs.

“Team-wise, we’ve got a new bar manager, Justin, who’s taken a pretty hefty paycut from his IT job to come and work here full time because, like everyone who works here, he just believes in it! Matilda, the Hostel Manager, has been going crazy with decorating, covering chairs with pink and fluffy tiger-print fabric, collaging the toilet walls with happy bits of news and getting together stencils of the music4children logo that we’ll be able to spray paint onto walls and windows. She’s also taking charge of Monday (Open Mic) and Thursday nights – they’re called Music4Children presents Ask4Details and it’ll be a mix of spoken word, poetry, acoustic music, visuals and short films. We’re also planning to set up cameras so that we can eventually have live streaming of bands on our website. Our Media guy Junior is putting together a master mailing list and everyone on it will be sent a snazzy newsletter with videos, links, news of bands that have played and all the charity projects… there’s lots going on”!

Back in June, we told you about Oz’s latest plans for “The Worlds Highest Gig” in October with Joss Stone. A few days ago ITV2 confirmed that they’ll be filming a documentary of it!

Exciting things are happening right in the heart of Streatham and they deserve your support so get on down to The White Lion on Saturday 4th September. We’ll see you there.

Fred is open to offers now and has only three weeks to clear everything. You can try contacting him via his Facebook page here.

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Here’s another chance to see the great film about Caesars before it dissappears.

Angelina previously managed Croydon’s town centre and held the post of Chief Executive of Croydon Chamber of Commerce. It was during this time that she was awarded an MBE for services to business development and international trade in South london.

Here is her first installment.

New businesses opening!

If you haven’t already heard, Caffé Nero will be opening in Streatham towards the end of September on the site of the old Clarks shoe shop at 170 Streatham High Road. They will be joining Foxton’s Estate Agents, Risky fashion clothing and Kredens coffee shop among others.

Safer Streatham

Our A23 Police team are literally ‘getting on their bikes’ to provide an even more responsive service. Watch out for the two specially trained bike patrol officers, who together with their colleagues are proactively supporting the needs of businesses and residents along the A23 from Brixton Hill to Streatham Common.

Town Centre Regeneration

You cannot fail to have noticed the amount of works taking place in Streatham at the moment, all with a view to making our town more efficient and attractive! The Ambleside Ave road improvements are in full swing and sadly bring with them increased traffic and congestion. But rest assured that I am in regular contact with TFL to try to minimise the disruption and delays. The Hub and Megabowl schemes are also progressing and once again I am in contact with the respective developers to ensure the needs of businesses are represented. Phase 2 of the TFL scheme to remove the central barriers along the High Rd is also underway with architects appointed. Phase 2 will go from Gracefield Gardens up to Streatham Hill train station. Works to upgrade a selection of shop fronts on the High Rd should commence in the autumn and Streatham Hill Station has been upgraded, with Streatham Station to follow.

Freshview

On 20th August numerous Council departments and partner agencies descended on Streatham South and the St Leonards area for a special one day blitz to make the area cleaner, safer and greener. Work included, among other things, jet washing pavements, clearing bulky rubbish, graffiti removal and tackling fly tipping. Let’s hope that following the operation we can all work together to make sure the area stays cleaner, safer and greener.

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Stop press – Busy wine bar & restaurant in prime location for sale

Bar 19 and Restaurant, 19 The High Parade, Streatham High Road is up for sale for £120K. Anyone interested parties should send an email to dpowell1@btinternet.com

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Sainsburys Local

The Sainsburys Local on Streatham High Road will be closed for two weeks from 23rd August for a refit and upgrade.

Streatham Library

Streatham Library will be closed from Monday 23rd August to Sunday 12th September to ensure that the work to the boiler, roof and fire escape can happen quickly and efficiently.

Planning applications – Streatham Hub and Streatham Sidings Scheme

Due to the temporary closure of Streatham Library, from Wednesday 25^th August 2010 members of the public can view plans for the above schemes from 9am – 7pm at: Gracefield Gardens Community Health Centre, 2-8 Gracefield Gardens, SW16 2ST.

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That’s all the news for now. If you’re Streatham business and you’d like to receive this information and more then you can sign up to Angelina’s regular Email newsletter by filling in the form below.

“The Shame” by The Jinks & Michelle Weeks (Groove Assassin’s Vocal Mix)

Chuka: What I thought of England’s performance during the World Cup this summer (and a classic funky house track!)

You can buy “Shame” by The Jinks & Michelle Weeks (Groove Assasin Mix) here from

Chuka will be back with more Sounds of Streatham in a couple of weeks time.

Several weeks ago we wrote a piece about the arrival of Foxtons, which caused plenty of debate amongst readers. Around the same time Jacksons estate agents upgraded from their old premises in to the larger site that had been vacated by Bushells soon after the housing crash started. Whilst not always popular additions to a high street, estate agents do tend to be good indicators of an area that’s on the up. And there are plenty of other signs too. Streatham Pulse’s latest writer, Kyra Kellawan, gave us a review of Streatham Hill’s latest bar The Hamlet, which has proven to be a bit of a hit amongst Streatham Hill’s residents, many of whom have felt a little short changed when it came to decent drinking establishments. Fish Tale, on Leigham Court Road, has filled another gap in the market, bringing a quality fishmongers to Streatham Hill whilst adding a touch of class in the process. It’s also suitably located a couple of doors up from Kennedy’s, the well loved fish & chip shop, which only opened about a year and half ago but which has become a Streatham Hill establishment. The expensive refurb of Streatham Hill station has now been completed and helped smarten up the area too (although the plastic hanging baskets are a bit of a let down). Further south, there’s Hideaway, the jazz club which opened toward the end of last year and which is doing good business and giving locals a reason to feel proud. And of course last years street scape improvements outside the cinema have vastly improved the look and feel of central Streatham, with its strange 2D trees flourishing and trying their hardest to develop a third dimension.

The most recent arrival to the High Road is Kredens Polish Deli/Coffee Shop. Kredens is the first joint venture by Phil and his partner Marta. They are an English/Polish couple who in Phil’s words “have been working, living, surviving in the Big Smoke now for a number of years”. Marta already runs Perfect Living estate agency on the high street here and through that they noticed there was a good cafe culture in Streatham and also a large Polish community. As an Englishman who has discovered the delights of Polish cuisine Phil says he “wanted other non-poles to feel just as welcome and try what we have to offer. We hope we’ve created a place that’s inviting and a bit different. The name Kredens is the name given to an old style of furniture in Poland. We chose this to reflect the old tea shop setting we wanted. We have had great feedback from residents and have been welcomed by many of the owners of other businesses in the area, don’t believe the hype, Streatham is a hive of hospitality. We liked it so much we even moved here”.

Whilst the big redevelopment projects of the Streatham Hub and the Megabowl continue to drag slowly along with little progress being made, there is a quiet regeneration happening regardless. Why not go out and explore some of the new businesses, let us know you’re favorites and help support the High Road. Viva La Streatham.

“Grateful” by Dennis Ferrer feat. Kenny Bobien

Chuka: “…what I think when I meet all the amazing volunteers who keep our community and voluntary groups going (and a great gospel inspired track!)”

Grateful (DF’s Raze Yo Handz Vox Mix) by Dennis Ferrer feat. Kenny Bobien by streathampulse

You can buy “Grateful” by Dennis Ferrer feat. Kenny Bobien here from

Another local blogger that has volunteered her services to Streatham Pulse recently is Kyra Kellawan She writes the blog, Bitter Sweet City. Its tagline is “London & Other Places. Food & Other Things, For Your Delectation” and she can also be found on Twitter @bittersweetcity.

As Streatham Pulse’s new in house food & drink reviewer she intends to deliver a new series of monthly bar, cafe & restaurant reviews. In the first of the series Kyra has visited Streatham Hill’s newest bar, The Hamlet.

It’s been a little over 6 months since I moved to Streatham, and I am fast appreciating all it has to offer. It’s such a friendly place, with a real sense of community, not to mention diversity and a refreshing lack of snobbery or postcode envy. There’s also plenty to delight the tastebuds: Middle Eastern patisseries, Portuguese cafés, Asian fusion restaurants galore and plenty of West Indian vegetables and spices to be had, all a stone’s throw from the flat I share with the Mister, who has lived here for the last four years.
The one thing I had noted that Streatham Hill was really lacking, however – at least within stumbling distance – was a great local pub. The Mister had tried his best, bless ‘im, showing me to his most local haunts – The Crown and Septic, as we fondly call it, or to Taylor’s, (hmm – we’ll save it for another review) or even to Bar 61, which although charming and with great tapas on offer, can’t really call itself a pub.

The Hamlet goes at least some way towards addressing that, with a style all of its own. It’s less of a typical local and more of a cocktail bar with DJs and food. Décor is stylish and dark; the ground floor has something of a 20’s speakeasy vibe to it, with mis-matched chairs, dark wood floors and old-fashioned lampshades. It’s dusky and rather sexy, with large leather sofas for some low-key lounging. There’s a mix of jazz, big band and modern beats being played by an enthusiastic DJ. A small but well-stocked bar offers a multitude of cocktails, a selection of continental beers on tap (Birra Moretti, Heineken – both £3.60 a pint) and a small open kitchen at the back allows some inviting foody smells to waft towards the customers.
Down a rather small and rickety staircase there’s a basement bar, which has an intriguing ceiling created by layering lots of old records on top of each other. The effect is modernising; if upstairs is circa 1928, downstairs could be 1970. More tables for eating are laid out down here, and it’s the kind of space that would do very nicely for private hire purposes, with its own corner bar and large flat-screen TV. It’s less cosy than upstairs, and the décor theme doesn’t really carry on down here, but it’s certainly a better option if you’re looking to sit down and try any of the delicious-smelling food, which I certainly was.
The staff here are very friendly and when the Mister and I ordered drinks upstairs and intimated that we’d like to eat as well, we were given menus and allowed to choose our own table. The menu is not huge, but has been thought out really well. I chose the bacon and stilton salad which came on a bed of fresh spinach, with a lovely creamy dressing. The Mister chose the crab cakes – these came with a fresh and zesty little side salad, and some chips. The chips were pretty ace; just the right side of chubby, with light and fluffy insides. Although not cheap at around £9 for the salad and £11 for the crab cakes, we felt the food was good value considering the quality of ingredients and the portion sizes.

Happily fed and watered, we looked around at the other punters. The place was busy, the ambience was good, and the cocktails everyone seemed to be sipping (as they were 2-for-1 all evening on Thursdays) looked great and would definitely get sampled on our next return visit. As we waved goodbye to the cheery staff, I noticed that the information board outside was advertising quiz nights and burlesque nights in the offing. The Hamlet looks to be a pretty sweet multi-functional venue that will keep a lot of different kinds of Streatham-dwellers happy. If it keeps doing what it’s doing, I can only see success for this welcome addition to the neighbourhood.

Kyra will be back with another review next month. In the mean time you can read more of her writing here at Bitter Sweet City.

“What Happened To Us” by The Jinks feat. Carla Prather

Chuka: “A tough funky house track likely to be one of the main tunes coming out of Ibiza this year”.

Chuka will be back with more ‘Sounds of Streatham’ in a couple of weeks time.

The latest plans for the building of Streatham’s temporary ice rink have been published by Lambeth Council and the news is that it’s not going to be in Streatham. The Popes Road car park in Brixton has become the preferred site. Ever since Lambeth Council & Tesco agreed to move forward with the Streatham Hub project, there has been intense debate on where the temporary ice rink should be built. Lambeth claimed to be considering about a dozen sites but the only one they made public was Streatham Common. This caused an outcry amongst many Streathamites, with members of Sustainable Streatham & Streatham Action forming the ‘Hands Off Our Common’ group to campaign against it. It seems that the message was clear that everyone in Streatham wanted a temporary ice rink to be built somewhere but no one wanted it on the common.

One of the most interesting things about the paper which Lambeth have now published is that it finally lists all of the other proposed sites and gives the reasons why they were rejected. It’s no wonder Lambeth were tight lipped about it until now, as it turns out Streatham Common was not the only park land to be considered. Clapham Common, Tooting Bec Common, Brockwell Park and Crystal Palace Park were all on the list. Had this news got out there would likely have been several other campaigns launched in opposition. Other sites, including the former MI5 building further down Streatham High Road and a Coldharbour Lane site were rejected due to the cost of obtaining the land and installing the facilities being prohibitively expensive. This just goes to show how poorly Lambeth have come out of the agreement with Tesco. There was lots of public backslapping from Lambeth after the agreement, however, it seems that Tesco’s promise to build a temporary ice rink was dependent on the land being provided by lambeth Council for free. In return for this meagre offering from Tesco, Lambeth gave them the permission they wanted to demolish the existing rink sooner than planned, therefore reducing the timescale for the project, and to increase the size of the store. Kerching.

Several other sites were rejected due to likely public opposition leaving only Popes Road Car Park left and even that is not without its problems. Many of Brixton’s business leaders have been affected since the car park closed down and had been hoping that it would either re-open or a new one would be built in its place. And many Streathamites, particularly the skaters themselves are likely to be unhappy about having to travel to Brixton. The Streatham Hub saga continues and it seems we could still be some way away from any work actually beginning. The 2012 completion date that was given back in May, always seemed a little optimistic. It has officially been changed to 2013 but even that would be a miracle at this stage.

You can download the full Lambeth Council paper here.

Click here for a short history of the Streatham Hub development.

You can read more about the situation on Jason Cobb’s blog here. In fact Jason has taken the time to make his very own “Downfall” parody in reaction to the Hub and Lambeth’s whole leisure facilities fiasco, which he has been closely following. You can watch his video below. For more satirical Downfall videos click here.

The Downfall of Leisure in Lambeth from Jason Cobb on Vimeo.

Adventures Close To Home. Part 2.

by Lauren Tones

They say don’t judge a book by its cover. I say don’t judge a shop by its front. The Korona Delicatessen in Streatham Hill looks very tidy, but my assumption of it being purely Polish has kept me away from its door.

The only reason for that is Ziggy the Polish guy from work. He brings the strangest concoctions for lunch, mainly suspect things in jars that make the microwave smell meaty. Things that have jelly on them. Things too rich and interesting for my traditionally English/boring palette.

It was the chalkboard outside pushing Spring Rolls that invited me in on my way home from work yesterday. What I came out with wasn’t Spring Rolls, but a beigel, a bag of gnocci and a block of halloumi cheese. I like places that encourage you to buy things that you’ve never tried before and amongst the wide selection of Tiptree jams and pasta I took a chance on two new foods (cheese and gnocci, can you believe it?!). But the beigels… the beigels… how have I always been under the impression that to get a decent one you have to trek all the way to East London? Korona’s are to the same standard when popped in the toaster and I am delighted that I no longer have to venture into ex-boyfriend territory for a bit of decent bread.

*Image taken from The Jewish Daily Forward

Two weeks ago Streatham’s new MP, Chuka Umunna, gave us his first selection of tracks for our new ‘Sounds of Streatham’ feature. It caused a flurry of interest on Twitter. One twitterer ChrisMalvern70 responded by directing a tweet to DMiliband. “Take note” he said referring to the credibility of Chuka’s choices in comparison to David’s selection of choices (Elton John & Sting amongst others), which were published by labour-uncut.co.uk as part of their ‘desert island discs’ feature. David’s brother Ed, whom Chuka is backing for leader, has now also published his list; and although Labour-Uncut thinks they represent a cooler choice than the older Miliband brother, we’d have to question how Robbie Williams, Billy Bragg, A-Ha and Beethoven can possibly be considered ‘cool’. Perhaps Ed should consult Chuka next time.

Another tweet, this time from lexpretend, pointed out that the original version of the Erykah Badu track “Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)”, which Chuka wasn’t able to recall was “You Can’t Turn Me Away” by Sylvia Striplin. Thanks for spotting it. His friend danhancox wondered whether Chuka “would employ us as his parliamentary researchers with special responsibility for UK Garage and 21st C soul”?

We’re glad the new feature went down so well last time. Here’s the latest installment. Enjoy.

“I Can Sing” by Mr V.

Chuka: “I would describe this as a lovely New York-infused soulful house track perfect for a warm sunny afternoon”.

Chuka will be back with more sounds of Streatham in a couple of weeks time.

Another local blogger we’ve discovered recently is StolenFromMother, or Lauren Tones to her friends. Lauren’s writing has been featured in Notion Magazine, Gigwise.com, and referenced in Joe Shooman’s ‘Kasabian: Sound, Movement and Empire’. Her blog ‘EatMeDrinkMe‘ which, unsurprisingly, is about food & drink, can be found at stolenfromother.wordpress.com.

Over to you Lauren.

Adventures Close To Home.

by Lauren Tones

I have been a Streatham resident for the past two and a half years. The High Road is the longest in Europe apparently. There are a lot of betting shops, some half decent charity shops, numerous 99p stores and fried chicken outlets on every corner. The men swagger about with cans of Special Brew, pee all over the cemetery at the end of my road and I often wonder why they don’t bring back the stocks or those outdoor cages they’d leave drunks to sober up in back in the olden days.

I’d been skipping off to Balham or Brixton for my kicks.

I did go for a few glasses of wine in Nineteen Bar with an arrogant old flame when I was quite drunk once. It was a nice bar and I liked it, but he was the type of lad that ridiculed Morris Dancers on days out in Greenwich, stole other peoples seats and insulted overweight families in public. Our nights out often resulted in us getting kicked out of somewhere, so I’ve not dared to return to the place in fear that he’d wound anyone up there.

With its bright paint, I don’t know how or why I hadn’t visited Purple next door. Despite gliding past the cafe tons of times on the bus to and from work, last Sunday was the day I actually went in. I ordered a vegetarian breakfast. The cappuccino arrived with a luscious amount of froth. They didn’t even question me or give me a ‘look’ when I wanted to replace baked beans for an extra hash brown. And get this… it came with roasted peppers and asparagus. And a veggie sausage that had proper veggies in it. Mushrooms, two fried eggs and tons of toast too. If I could eat that every morning for the rest of the summer, I’d die happy. It was THE BEST.

Another place I’d only ever seen from the bus window was Streatham Fruiterers on Streatham Hill. Today, I passed on walking through the market at lunchtime in favour of noodles al fresco on a hot Brixton rooftop. Coming home without any dinner, I jumped off the unbearably stuffy bus at the Hill, found myself in the grocers and walked home £8 lighter. What isn’t obvious from the piles of fresh produce on the front is that they sell homemade looking jams, chutneys and some nice other bits. What a find! Plus, you can’t argue with a big bunch of asparagus for £1.80. I’m going back tomorrow. Take that Sainsburys!

The White Lion is the HQ for Oz’s charity, Music 4 Children. The charity was founded during a trip to Nepal in 2002. After helping to feed a group of hungry children, (orphans of the armed conflict in Nepal), Oz realised he could do much more to help. He set about forming the charity, in order to raise money to build an orphanage. For their first fundraiser, he and his band, ‘The Hidden’, climbed 5,545m up Mount Everest, to play a 40-minute concert, in front of about 100 mountaineers, raising £30,000 and breaking the record for the world’s highest gig in the process. A German band, performing at 6,000 metres in Bolivia, has since beaten that record. However, that has only strengthened Oz’s desire to go one better. In October this year, he’s planning to climb Mount Mera, in Nepal, for a performance at 6,475 metres, taking back the record, hopefully, for good. But these days, no charity concert is complete without big-name acts, so Oz has managed to recruit, soul singer, Joss Stone, to come with him. Not content with just one famous, soul-singing act, he’s also got the Noisettes expressing an interest too. It’s Stone, however who’s the most keen. As soon as she was approached she embraced the idea wholeheartedly and personally met Oz in a café to discuss the plans. Her first words to him were “So when are we doing this?”, showing not a hint of apprehension at the challenge ahead.

Back at the White Lion, Oz’s plans are just as ambitious. When we popped in to see him recently, he was hard at work with a team of volunteers turning a large store-room, out the back, in to a community centre with a pedal powered cinema and kids club. Once that’s finished, he’s planning to build a recording studio and facilities for a local radio station in the cellar. Upstairs on the roof, there are plans for a beehive, wind turbine and community garden. Oh and maybe a hot tub too. This really is no ordinary pub.

Oz has a background in setting up venues, right through from the building work and project management, to installing the sound systems and interiors. His previous projects include, Dex, in Brixton (which many readers will know, already has one of Oz’s roof-top hot tubs) and The Tabernacle in Westbourne Park (host to The Leisure Society gig, which we reviewed last month). It seems like he has the qualifications and the will, to turn The White Lion in to one of the most exciting and unique venues in London. It’s not surprising that The BBC are in talks about making a six part documentary series about Oz, The White Lion and The Worlds Highest Gig. It looks like Streatham could be coming to TV screen near you soon.

This article has also appeared in this months edition of New London Review, the new magazine for Streatham, Brixton & Clapham.

Those who know Streatham’s new MP, Chuka Umunna, will know that, when he’s not consumed by politics, he is listening to music. His Twitter followers became used to his ‘track of the weekend’ tweets during the general election campaign. In the first of a new feature, exclusively for Streatham Pulse, Chuka will be giving us his tracks of the fortnight. Here’s his first installment. Enjoy.

“Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)” by Erykah Badu
Chuka: “Taken from her new album this is a modern take on an old soul track the name of which leaves me; but what I can say is that this is Nu Soul at its very best. Beautiful”.

You can buy ‘Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)’ by Erykah Badu here from

“Sincere” by M J Cole
Chuka: “A classic underground dance track which defined the whole of the garage scene in London in the mid 1990s before MCs came to dominate and (in the end) destroy that happy scene we loved in those days”.
You can buy ‘Sincere’ by MJ Cole here from

“Summer Time” by Ella Fitzgerald
Chuka: “This track needs no introduction at all. It’s sunny and what better way to celebrate than listen to Ella at her best”.

You can buy ‘Summertime’ by Ella Fitzgerald here from

Chuka will be back with more sounds of Streatham in a couple of weeks time.

Why did you go in to Politics?

I’ve always been fascinated by what makes the world go round and that’s partly through growing up in Streatham in the 1980’s. It was hard, particularly in the northern part of the constituency, where people were rioting due to the situation they found themselves in. Also I’m part Nigerian and have been to Africa and seen the extreme poverty there and those two things brought about political consciousness in me.

Were your parents politically active?

My father stood for the governorship of the state from which my family are from in Nigeria, shortly before he died in the early 1990’s, so I think the political gene probably is down to him.  My mother has never been politically active but has always had a strong social conscience. She was a probation officer, so I think both of my parents had an effect on me in that way, but it wasn’t like I was brain washed and my family certainly didn’t have a history in the Labour Party. I went to the Labour party, it didn’t come to me.

What do you think are the biggest problems facing Streatham now?

One of the things that I was most struck by, going around the constituency over the last two years was the state of some of the housing that people are living in. It really was quite shocking what I saw and that for me is a complete priority. It’s not just an issue of investing capitol in the infrastructure of peoples homes; it’s about making sure there’s decent housing management because people are not getting treated the way they should be, in social housing in particular.

Another is the school places issue. We’ve gone some way to addressing Primary school places but we’ve obviously got a long way to go. We are transforming the currently empty school at Dingly Lane, just off Woodfield Avenue in to Henry Cavendish 2. Hopefully that’s going to relieve some of the pressure but in the northern part of the constituency, in the Brixton Hill area, we really need another Primary school too. And of course these issues we’re having now are going to come up with secondary schools too.

photo by John Ferguson

As an opposition MP, at a time when there’s going to be huge budget cuts, what do you think you’re chances are of being able to affect change?

I’ve just tabled two parliamentary questions to the housing minister. The first was to ask if they are going to carry on with the decent homes program and the second was to ask whether, if Lambeth Living, who run Lambeth boroughs social housing stock, achieve two stars in their next audit commission, they’ll receive the 230 million pounds that was allocated to them by the last government. One of the issues that the Liberal Democrats accused us of during their election campaign, locally, was our failure to solve the housing situation. So I’m hoping they will follow through by ensuring that the capitol comes through. I can keep putting pressure on to ensure that we get that money and I’m not going to let up on that. It’s the same with the money that’s coming through from central government for our education because, although we have to deal with the debt, part of the way you do that is through growth, and we won’t see growth unless we have a highly skilled economy and highly skilled people coming through in the future. We need a good education system to do that.

The other thing is our transport connections here in Streatham. Thameslink is under threat so I’ll be tabling questions to find out what the hell is going to happen with that. Also I’ll be taking forward the campaign to bring the tube to Streatham. At the moment we’re waiting to find out the results of the feasibility study, which is being carried out by The Mayor of London, in to extending the Bakerloo line. That’s due to come through soon so we’re waiting to see what happens with that. I’ve written to him arguing that we should be at the top of the list for any extension.

Will you be playing any part in helping to bring private investment in to the area?

Absolutely. I see one of my roles as a member of parliament as being an advocate and an ambassador for the community and part of that has got be in arguing for private investment. Although, it’s got to be done in a way that’s suitable for the community and that residents are happy with. But certainly beginning the dialogue and arguing that they should put money in to the area, is something I can do.

How exactly will you do that?

A lot of the people who have units here on the High Road are small independent businesses. They find it very difficult in this economic climate to deal with their landlords. They’re not getting the same takings as they would do in more benign economic circumstances and their landlords, who are often not present, some are abroad, are squeezing a lot of them out. One thing that I’ve argued for is to have a Streatham High Road business association of sorts, where they can all come together and negotiate with these landlords. The business breakfasts that are going on at the moment are brilliant but I’d like to do my bit by having a large gathering at the House of Commons and bringing in other people who are linked and seeing where we can go from there. I’m trying to do it in such a way that I don’t reinvent the wheel because I’m aware that the kind of meetings that go on in Streatham already are great, but I’m interested from a policy making point of view in finding out whether there’s something we need to do from a legislative angle to help people here.

Will you be lobbying TFL to follow through with the planned improvements to the High Road?

That is actually one of the things which is in my in tray. I’ll be working with Valerie Shawcross, The London Assembly member, on this. She’s been appointed the new chair of the transport committee, which is great news. So working with Valerie I’m going to get an answer on that and find out what the time frame is. I really like the section, which has been completed by the cinema. Not everybody does and there have been some people saying there will be more accidents with people crossing the road in the wrong places, so we’ll see. But wouldn’t it be lovely if it came all the way up the high road?

During the campaign I got a call from the powers that be saying they wanted to come along and launch the parties diversity manifesto in Streatham. We did a walk about down the High Road and held a rally outside the Odeon. There was this huge national media circus. David Miliband was here, Harriet Harman, Diana Abbott, and loads of local people all going down the High Road, going in to barber shops. People were absolutely gob smacked by this thing that just arrived, with TV cameras all over the place. That was Streatham High Road at its best. It was lively, people were stopping, saying hello, chatting, joining the throng. It was quite something. You can see the video on my website. It was quite an amazing day. I’ve never seen anything like it.

photo by Nick Wilson

In contrast to Streatham’s previous MP, Keith Hill, you’ve always been quite outspoken about things. You don’t tow the party line. Now that you’ve been elected, will that continue?

Yes. I wrote a piece for the Guardian recently, in which I didn’t pull my punches, but in a way I suppose I’m going in to parliament at quite a different time for my party. I would never wish a Conservative government on my constituents because I know what happened the last time, but one of the advantages of going in to opposition is that you are a lot more free to say what you think. Also the parliamentary Labour party is a lot more democratic, so not only are all these people who want to become leader courting you, but also the shadow cabinet in the Labour party is elected by back benchers. It is a lot more collegiate and a lot more democratic, so if I’m outspoken about things people will actually engage with you more than if you go in as a government back bencher, where you basically tow the line, do as you’re told and maybe you’ll get a job in a few years. I always say that it’s a balancing thing. If I oppose everything and was always slagging of my party, which I don’t do – I’m in the party because I agree with the overwhelming majority of policies – but if I did, then I wouldn’t have any influence. But if there’s a particular subject area where you think your party’s got it wrong and you take a different line on that particular issue, you can have so much more influence. Also you don’t always have to wash your dirty linen in public. You can often resolve a lot of things, in the interests of your community, without having a shouting match in the national media so I think it’s about judgement and balance. If something is in our manifesto I don’t think I’d be justified in voting against it because that’s the contract under which I stood. But if your party does something, which isn’t in your manifesto, like you know, an illegal invasion of a foreign country then I think it’s important that you vote with your conscience.

As well as the war in Iraq, I believe another thing you disagreed on was the Digital Economy Bill?

Yeah, I though the bit, which gave powers to take action against people accused of infringing copyright was so draconian and shouldn’t have been rushed through in the way that it was. I think we got that wrong. There were other aspects of the bill, which were quite sensible but that in particular I had problems with.

Why are you supporting Ed Miliband for leader of the Labour Party?

Because, I think there’s a lot we can be proud of, not least in the constituency, with all our children’s centres, new health centres, record school results, safer neighbourhood teams and all the rest, but the fact is, we did lose the general election in one of our worst defeats in history. One reason for that was that we felt that we needed to refresh ourselves in government but when we had the opportunity to do so, in 2007, we were far too cautious in tackling the big problems, the environmental, economic and democratic crises, which came about. We became out of touch. We became the establishment. The Labour party is not the establishment. Traditionally, we’ve always struggled and challenged the status quo but we’d kind of become a bit establishment, which was exemplified with ‘bigot-gate’. And there are still some outstanding issues, which we failed to get a grip on. Immigration is an issue, which people are massively concerned with but if you look at the reasons why people are massively concerned with immigration, it’s actually a smokescreen for our failures in dealing with the housing problem in the country

We also took an approach where we completely bought in to this globalised capitol market model where people are thrown in to the ocean of globalisation and if they’re drowning then maybe we throw them a lifeline; instead of trying to bend the system we have at the moment so that it serves more of the people more of the time.

I’d say that on those issues, which I’ve just identified, Ed gets it. I think he has some of the answers as well and more importantly where he doesn’t have the answers he’s prepared to listen. If you talk to any of the people in the green movement, they think he’s absolutely fantastic. In spite of the fact that he was a cabinet minister party to the decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow and despite the fact that Copenhagen didn’t deliver what we wanted, they really love him, because he listened, he consulted them and he gave them more than they hoped for. I think the way he conducts himself and the way he does his politics – less top down, more listening to groups from the bottom up and not just railroading through a my way or no way kind of attitude – that appeals to me. Also he’s a chum. He came down here and did a Q&A with the community and he was absolutely superb. I’ve bumped in to people who said that was fantastic. They really enjoyed it and they felt like they were being listened to. It was great for all the schools to come along. I mean the teenagers were more on top of the detail than anyone.

What are your ambitions in politics?

I’d be lying if I were to say that I’m not ambitious to get on and to get my hands on the leads of power because that’s the best way to deliver for your community. But ultimately I’m ambitious in my politics. I think that we still are massively unequal in many respects and I think there’s a lot of emphasis on material consumption and not quite so much on the other things, which make us happy. That’s what makes me a social democrat because I believe that were mutually dependable beings and I think you can only really be happy and succeed as an individual in the context of a strong community that nurtures you. Anything that I can get my hands on to make that happen, I’ll grab it.

Since giving this interview, Chuka has found time to address the left wing organisation Compass. In the videos below he clearly sets out his vision for The Labour Party.

Chuka is keen to support Streatham Pulse and plans to make regular contributions. He’ll be keeping us updated with blog posts and will also, in a break from politics, be giving us an insight in to the music he’s been listening to each fortnight, in our new feature ‘Sounds of Streatham’. The first installment will be online this Friday.

Streatham Pulse is an independent and politically neutral website. We’d like to openly invite readers as well as members of the other local political parties to comment on this interview and tell us what you think of Chuka as our new MP.

The Mysterious Tale of Streatham Green and the London Spade

By diddlysquat

“In 2005 Streatham Green won the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association ‘London Spade’ award for best public open space scheme in the capital” (source – Wikipedia)

Anyone who knows Streatham Green, and has also happened to have seen ANY of London’s other green spaces must surely be choking on their dinner right now.

Based on this evidence, the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association are clearly heavy LSD users. There is a reasonable chance they pick up their supplies in Streatham Green. In this context, their ludicrous decision to award the London Spade now seems to at least make a little sense.

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure to wander the lawns of this fabulous park, I will attempt to describe it. Words, however, can not do this place justice.

It is sandwiched (crammed) between one of the most deprived (but nonetheless ‘interesting’) parts of Streatham High Road, a ‘Chariots Roman Spa’, and two extremely busy bus stops trafficking people to the relative oasis of Croydon. A collection of desperate drunks hang around the concrete slabs (could these be seats?) recently installed as part of Streatham’s somewhat halted re-generation efforts by Lambeth council. Drugs are regularly peddled (it’s Brixton with none of the cool factor). Not so long ago one of the many Chinese takeaways facing the green was busted for selling Ketamine with its special chow mein. Traffic fumes fill the air. Oh, and it is about 10m x 10m large. This is not a place you come for a picnic. Or a walk. It is, in fact, a place you would walk a considerable distance, through dog shit, to avoid. It is a great place for people watching, however. If you like watching people urinating in public places.

I don’t want to sound too harsh – I love Streatham, and one of the most wonderful things about this place is its greenery. We do have some genuinely fantastic green space in Streatham. Streatham Common and Tooting Common are both special places. This makes it all the more insulting that Streatham Green is laughing in their faces.

No doubt someone has stolen the ‘prestigious’ London Spade. It is possibly committing horrendous sex acts on paying customers in Chariots Roman Spa.

I am not alone in my damning opinion. A google search for Streatham Green delivers to the lazy researcher the following astute assertions: ‘Streatham Green is criminal. In the best and worst sense of the term….Each time I come to kick it here someone tries to sell me hash…One time I saw a person get punched directly, point blank in the face.’

One day all of our parks will be awarded the London Spade. Just need to get those pesky trees cut down first. Pleasant places need not apply.

A branch of Foxtons is possibly the most potent symbol of an areas gentrification. Of the other big high street firms, only Starbucks can compare. Streatham doesn’t have a Starbucks yet, but, it’s arrival is surely not far away. Brixton is about to get one, so the unstoppable Starbucks march is definitely heading in our direction.

For now though, it is the estate agents who are leading the charge. Not only is Foxtons soon to open, but Jackson’s have taken over the old Bushells site, which they vacated shortly after the housing crash. This is a sure sign that the housing market is improving and with it the fortunes of Streatham. But, whilst Jack Stamps was never a very highly regarded pub, this is not going to be a change that everyone is happy with.

Blackheath are also soon to get a branch and it has attracted plenty of debate and opposition.

There’s a good article in The Times about Foxtons and the effect it has on an area here.

So how do you all feel about Foxtons arrival? Join the discussion on the forum now.

Welcome to Streatham

By diddlysquat

I’ve been living in the lovely Streatham for a year now. For those of you who don’t know, Streatham is a sizable town in South London, forever described by loyalists as ‘near’ its rather cooler brethren – Brixton, Balham, Clapham, even Tooting on a good day. Streatham is famed for a number of notable associations – an infamous brothel, a hideous nightclub, and the queen of etiquette herself, Naomi Campbell, just to mention a few. Van Gogh even came here. Some say he chopped his ear off with a Streatham blade. Others say he was off his tits on Absinthe.

The word Streatham means ‘Hamlet on the Street’. Cute huh? Before arriving a year ago, upon telling an old friend in trendy Shoreditch I was moving to South London (the humanity!!) he replied “Gone for the big house in the burbs have you?” Yeah, how veryDarling Buds of May it is around here. More like the Darling Buds of Kwik Fit.

For some reason, I do actually like it here. Streatham is the embarrassing friend you are afraid to introduce to your other, cooler friends. When you find yourself living in Streatham, you defend Streatham. Streatham needs you, and that sort of desperate dependency has its charm. We might not have the tube. We might not have a Waitrose. But we DO have two Lidls, twenty nail bars, a 99p stores and even a cheeky little 98p store. Entrepreneurship is not dead here (The Apprentice, eat your heart out.)

Us Streatamites (and yes, I know – a year in Rome does not, a Roman, make) pretend we don’t want the tube anyway. It’s crowded, expensive, there is no view, and it is simply too clichéd to live somewhere in London that features on the tube map. You can have your tube you ponces. I like my trains being cancelled due to ‘no member of train crew available. I like ‘Sunday services’.

Britain’s Worst Street!! (Streatham High Road picked up this rather dubious honour in 2002. Yes, maybe, but ‘The Longest High Street in Europe’ too, we proudly reply. And let’s face it, that’s what you want if you happen to have the worst street in Britain running through your neighbourhood like a fat filled smokers artery. For it to be really, really bloody long.

‘We had a John Lewis once!!!’ they cry (the real Streathamites, that is.) Yes, yes, I know. I am repeatedly reminded. My barber tells me, every single time I go for a hair cut. It gets a little tedious, this looking backwards to former glory. Before living in Streatham I was in Manchester. Manchester’s version of the Streatham John Lewis yarn is called the Hacienda. Get over it. Yeah we’ve got faded glory. And bugger all else. John Lewis was a wuss, it didn’t want to hang around. Wimpy did, and I love it for it. Square burgers are simply better than round ones. Period.

So that’s it. My virgin rant about Streatham. The first of many. South London, I love you. Now I’m just off to John Lewis to pick up some civic pride. Its on special offer there.

You can find diddlysquat’s blog at southsiderants.blogspot.com or follow him on Twitter at @diddlysquat29.

The former, John Lewis owned, Pratts Department Store in Streatham.

Over the last couple of decades The World Cup has, incresingly, led to countless attempts to capture the spirit of the tournament in song. This year is no different,with several unofficial songs hoping to be adopted by the fans as the anthem of 2010. However, this year, Streatham has its own song. ‘Get a Moving Move On’ by ‘The Self Motivation Society’ was inspired by the NHS campaign, Change4Life, and the video was filmed on Streatham Common. Here’s what the makers of the video say about it on their website “Filmed at Streatham Common Park in SW16 …The video concept is a BIG ‘kick about’ in the paddling pool at Streatham Common between all ages, big people, little people, boys and girls representing the UK’s culturally rich and diverse communities, mirroring the spirit of the World Cup games”. The song is a re-working of Quincy Jones’s “Get a Bloomin’ Move On” (’The Self Preservation Society’) from ‘The Italian Job’, which has been regularly played by the England Supporters Band over the past fourteen years.

How do you think it competes alongside the other contenders for this years unofficial anthem? There’s yet another re-working of Baddiel & Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’. This time by a group known as ‘The Squad’, featuring Robbie Williams & Russell Brand. This sorry attempt by a group of fame hungry glory seekers smacks of desperation. Whilst Three Lion’s was a great song in 1996, fourteen years later it hasn’t quite stood the test of time and sounds a little embarrassing.

And what about this re-recording of the ‘Tears For Fears’ classic, ‘Shout’? Featuring, media whore, James Corden and Dizzee Rascal, the former grime MC, who has embraced the world of pop with such enthusiasm that he’s now sold his soul to Simon Cowell (who has produced this track and featured it on Britain’s Got Talent). Shame on you Dizzee.

‘Get A Moving Move On’ by ‘The Self Motivation Society’ has my vote for this years anthem. To check out some of the other crimes against music committed in the name of football, check out this article about some of the worst in The Guardian.

Those of you who read this blog regularly will have seen the article about Nick Clegg’s visit to Streatham, during the general election campaign, at the height of Cleggmania. Floella Benjamin was one of the key figures that day. As a local resident with some celebrity clout, she had been publicly backing Chris Nicholson’s campaign in Streatham. As a result she was invited to introduce the Lib-Dem leader and took the oppurtunity to give a rousing speech. Her kind words were clearly not forgotten by the current Deputy Prime Minister when the honours were being handed out recently. The former Playschool presenter was given a life peerage and will now represent the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. In fact, according to this rather strange interview she was asked by The Lib Dem’s to be their candidate for Mayor of London in 2008. Perhaps her new role in politics is designed to gear her up for the Mayoral challenge in 2012? It seems an appropriate time, therefore, to write a profile of one of Streatham’s most well known residents.

Anyone who grew up in the seventies and eighties will remember Floella for her appearances on Playschool and Playaway. Others may know her for the acting roles, in which, she has often been cast against type. Her break through came when she played the, jailed prostitute, Barbara, in six episodes of prison drama, ‘Within These Walls’. Another role, in particular, showed a very different side to the squeeky clean kids TV personality that we came to know. It was in a film called Black Joy, released in 1977, which told the story of an immigrant country boy’s arrival in Brixton. It has been described as the UK’s only example of a “Blaxploitation” movie and featured Norman Beaton (of Desmond’s fame) as Dave King, a streetwise con artist. Check out the video below (Floella appears 55 seconds in).

Benjamin was born in Trinidad & Tobago. Her father, a policeman and jazz saxophonist, invented her name – ‘Flo’ being short for ‘flower’ and ‘Ella’ meaning ‘best of all’. She emigrated to the UK in 1960, settling in Beckenham, and after several years acting on stage and screen began presenting Childrens television in 1976. With her distinctive beaded hair and characters such as Reggae Rita, she helped introduce a mainstream children’s audience to black culture.

In 1997 she published her book, ‘Coming to England’, an autobiography of her arrival in Britain. You can watch a clip from the dramatisation of the book, made for BBC Schools, below.

In 2001, she received an OBE for services to broadcasting. She was the chairman of BAFTA at the time, an organisation which also awarded her a lifetime achievement award. She was also a governor of The National Film & Television School, a governor of Dulwich College & Vice President of The Royal Commonwealth Society. In 2006 she was given an honourary  degree from The University of Exeter and was also appointed Chancellor of The University, which appropriately has a ‘Streatham Campus’. She’s also been known to perform at The University with her band ‘Damn Right I Got The Blues’. The only video available of the band performing, comes from Spanish Televison.

In 2008 she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London and she is also a cultural ambassador for the 2012 Olympics. Lady Floella Benjamin OBE, Streatham salutes you.

Find more photos like this on The Streatham Network

I’ve never been a church goer and have always considered church music to be painfully boring, however American gospel has always taken a radically different approach, inspiring soul, funk and hip hop artists for several decades now. It seems that some of those genres have also influenced gospel music in return and one artist in particular, who has taken his specific style of Gospel and brought it to Streatham. This video, by Dimeji & NCR was filmed at St Margaret The Queen Church on The Leigham Court Estate (known locally as the ABCD roads) and uses high production values alongside lessons learnt from hip hop videos to produce something which, although a little cheesy at times, is full of energy. I for one, never expected The Church of England to look like this.

You can buy “When Da Praise Goes Up” and other songs by Dimeji here on

Lambeth have now launched their plans for a new form of co-operative council, which aims to put more control in to the hands of residents. This was a big part of Lambeth Labour’s election campaign but has since been slightly overshadowed by the new coalition governments plans to encourage and support cooperative schemes in councils throughout the country. It’s easy to see why people are finding it hard to distinguish between Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ plans and Lambeth Labour’s so-called ‘John Lewis Council’. However you look at it, it seems like resident led schemes, are the way most local government will be run in the future (it’s cheaper that way, you see) and Lambeth is leading the way.

In a refreshing change from Lambeth’s usual bland and difficult to navigate website, they have chosen to launch this scheme in a very twenty first century, social media fashion. They have “begun an on-line collaboration using a new Lambeth Co-operative council ‘wiki’ - a special web site that allows visitors to comment on and edit the content, just like Wikipedia”. They’ve also got a Facebook group, and started a hashtag so that you can easily follow discussions about the plans on Twitter. Click here for more information on what a hashtag is.

So what does all this mean? Well, if the front page of their white paper is anything to go by, it will be like one big barbecue in the rain. If you’d like to find out more about the plans, how to get involved and how they might help make the changes you want to see in Streatham, follow the links in this article, read the full white paper below and have your say.

“I wanted to celebrate this lovely view and our jolly afternoon out.  I have tried to capture the overall dampness, the warmth of the sun and the contentment of the house.  I love living in this part of London and hope this shows in my work”.

You can see more of Angelique’s work at Bigger Picture Gallery, 2A Anerley Hill, Crystal Palace, SE19 2AA

Or you can buy ‘Red House in Streatham common’.

The painting is Acrylic and Oil on Canvas H 76 cm W 61 cm D 3.5cm
Price: £650.00

Hix & Buck was founded last year by Chix Chandaria, a former dancer and Dan Roebuck a former mining engineer. Their change of direction has so far paid off. They’ve had their wine served to celebrities on The F Word and had their Chardonnay Cognac selected by Channel Four as one of their ten best drinks for Christmas.

Tickets for the event include the chance to taste a selection of 10 exclusive wines, accompanied by canapes created by Nineteen’s head chef. They cost £3 in advance or £5 on the door and the event runs from 4pm through until 10pm. Click here to buy your tickets.

If you can’t make it on Thursday you can also pop down to Nineteen Bar & Restaurant tomorrow evening (Tuesday 18th) where they will be offering a free glass of wine with every meal. Chix will be there to recommend food and wine matches and answer any questions.

Hix & Buck are also offering an introductory ‘Taster Case’ offer exclusively for Streatham Pulse. The ‘Taster Case’, which includes a bottle of each of the wines detailed below, usually retails at £60.94 but will be sold with a £10 off promotion, including free delivery to anyone quoting the voucher code ‘streathampulse’.

Click on the links below, sign up, and add each of the wines to your basket. Quote ’streathampulse’ in the voucher box before you pay to receive the offer.

J & L Charlemagne Brut Rosé Methode Traditionelle – Bottle Price £10.99

J & L Charlemagne Sparkling XO Methode Traditionelle - Bottle Price £11.99

La Maison des Maines Mainart Sauvignon Blanc 2007 – Bottle Price £8.99

Mas d’Intras Cuvée Isidora 2008 - Bottle Price £8.99

Mas d’Intras Grenache Cuvée Trace-Negre 2007 – Bottle Price £9.99

Mas d’Intras Syrah 2007 Bottle Price £9.99

Saturday marked the 50th event by Lambeth’s Community Freshview, which took place on Tierney Road in Streatham Hill. Freshview is a Council run scheme led by residents, which aims to help communities improve their neighbourhoods. Residents earmark a site and gather volunteers, and Freshview provides equipment, expertise and a helping hand. It has been hugely successful, not just in improving the environment, but also in bringing communities together and helping to forge new friendships amongst neighbours who, in many cases, didn’t know each other before. Saturdays event was the third day that Tierney Road’s residents have worked on the site over the past few months, changing what was an overgrown, weed riddled patch, used as a dumping ground by fly tippers, in to a community garden and fruit & vegetable patch. The Mayor of Lambeth, Counciller Christopher Wellbelove, attended the event and got his hands dirty by planting a fern in the patch. The Freshview team, led by Keith Naish, also trimmed hedges and painted walls in the street and ended the day with a street barbecue. The next phase will involve planting trees down the street. The slideshow below shows the progress.

Find more photos like this on The Streatham Network

As well as the Tierney Road project, Freshview has also been involved with the Ferrars Triangle group, in Streatham South, who have developed a strong local community, based around various gardening projects, and has also held street parties, pumpkin & sunflower growing competitions, and formed a knitting club and book club.  If you’ve got an area in your street in need of attention you can contact Freshview at freshview@lambeth.gov.uk.

Unfortunately this man only received 117 votes. He looked pretty happy with that though.

The Lambeth Council Election Results. Click on the images to get details of each ward.

This followed the visits by David Milliband and Harriet Harman, who came to help Chuka campaign the week before. However, the biggest news story this election has been the rise of Cleggmania, so when The Lib Dem Battle Bus rolled in to town on Monday, the worlds media were there waiting, as well as a few hyper local bloggers such as myself, Jason Cobb, Brixton Blog, Sly & Reggie and the the man who stole the show, Wolfgang Moneypenny of Free South London (more from him in a moment). It was Sly & Reggie who kicked off proceedings for me by driving in to the centre of the crowds in their Morris Minor truck/stage and launching in to a rendition of their song Cleggmania, which angered Glen Neil, the director of The Palace Project, who was hosting the event and clearly couldn’t see the humour. You can listen to the track below and if you like it then check out Sly & Reggie’s other tribute to Clegg, ‘Nick Clegg’s Fault’.

Cleggmaniabysly and reggie

But it wasn’t just Glen Neil who was angry. Labour placard wavers who’d turned up to crash the event jostled with Lib Dem placard wavers whilst the Tories drove a giant billboard through proceedings leading to plenty of pushing and shoving. When the revolutionary freedom fighter, ‘Wolfgang Moneypenny‘ entered the fray things got even more interesting. Labour Council candidate, Clarence Thompson MBE, began heckling Wolfgang, goaded on by a Lib Dem activist who was keen for these two to make fools of themselves in front of the press. They soon found common ground though and were shaking hands while Wolfgang proclaimed Clarence to be a local hero.

Then, nearly an hour late, the battle bus rolled down the street and, after four hundred odd journalists, photographers, PA’s and hangers-on stepped off, Nick Clegg emerged in to the scrum and was quickly bundled in to the community centre. Former Playschool presenter Floella Benjamin gave him a rousing introduction and he stepped up to deliver a speech, drawing huge applause for attacks on Gordon Brown and his “illegal war” and David Cameron for being so complacent that he was already measuring for curtains at number ten. His message to Dave “In this country you don’t inherit power. You earn it”.

Find more photos like this on The Streatham Network

Tomorrow night (or Friday morning actually) at approximately 3.30am we will find out how all this has affected the election in Streatham. But until then I will leave you with Wolfgang Moneypenny, who is writing exclusively for Streatham Pulse about his trip to Streatham on Monday. Over to You Wolfgang.

I grew up in Streatham. I am a Streathamite. In my most passionate moments I even shout in Streathamish.

But, until yesterday, I hadn’t returned to my hometown for far too long. Squirreled away planning anarcho-situationist hyperlocal revolution in my top secret commune, touring South London’s many other hotspots, I had neglected Streatham…

And so I resolved to don my bicorne & aviators and return to the mammary teat of my transpontine motherland.

Thanks to a tip off from my network of info-nozzles, I had learnt that Liberal Democrat leader and messiah-of-the-month Nick Clegg was also planning to visit Streatham. Ever vigilant for opportunities to increase media exposure for the South London independence movement, I decided my homecoming should coincide with this event.

And so it was.

National media thronged outside the Palace community centre. Lib Dem supporters placard-wrestled with polite Labour troublemakers. I turned up, my heart already soaring with nostalgic pride at the mere sight & smell of near-by Streatham Hill, before Clegg and the yellow battle bus had arrived.

I got stuck in. My placard and revolutionary uniform sparked interest and I found myself subject to the attentions of countless photographers whilst I debated my separatist regionalization platform with local political figures and party supporters, all amidst the click-click-click of a dozen cameras.

The confusion amongst the press was brilliantly tangible. Was I for real? Is South London independence plausible? Can anyone dressed with such a fabulous hat be politically serious in a world of grey careerists? All valuable questions that I am happy to spark off.

But then Clegg & his electioneering machinery arrived, briefly turning attention away from my revolutionary posturing. The media/supporter scrum swarmed around the Lib Dem leader – surface deep in staged conversation with Streatham PPC Chris Nicholson.

Clegg was flanked by his wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez. I was instantly drawn to her sexy mumsiness. “¡Miriam es guapa!” I hollered. She smiled beautifully and looked at me with a mixture of coyness & hunger.

This was a splendidly exciting return to Streatham. Cameras. Action. Romance. Weather oscillating from hailstorms to stunning summer.

But how Streathamish was this homecoming? A Sheffield MP, leader of a mainstream political party, brings his national election campaign into Streatham – one of countless quick stops during an increasingly frantic transBritish campaign. Lib Dem & Labour supporters – at least some from outside of the constituency – obeying their nationwide party leaders. Streatham viewed through the cold numbercrunching demographic & psephological analysis rather than the warmth of feeling & knowing How many other towns have experienced this exact kind of thing during this election campaign? Hmmm…

The hyperlocal silver lining in what was a generic event were the local bloggers, including BrixtonBlog, OnionBagBlog & myself. And, of course, a certain StreathamPulse.

After Clegg left for another homogenous event and I had finished the meeting & greeting of everyone from my old university Chancellor Floella Benjamin to nameless jounos, I took a walk down memory lane. Towards Mitcham Lane. Punchdrunk on shots of nostalgia, seeing the places I had grown up, shocked at how much I’d forgotten and how much I’d remembered. It was here that the non-localism of the day’s event struck me.

What I realised during the day was an intensification of what I was trying to explain to the humancogs of the old political mechanisms. Globalisation & regionalization are the dynamic social processes in the contemporary age. A mainstream political event like this, whilst no do doubt fun, an amusing bizarre ritual, seems to miss the point(s).

I think, comrades, we owe it to our ‘bourhoods to demand more of politicians & the media to, y’know, represent. Take stock of the nuances that can make a place beautiful, ugly or – best of all – a duality of the two.

From the Common to the Hill, Streatham is Streatham, for better and worse. As this site says: Celebrate Streatham.

The nation-state is dead. Long live Streatham. And viva South London.

Peace & War.

Streatham Pulse recently made a rare trip north of the river to see a band at ‘The Tabernacle’ in Westbourne Park. Whilst ordinarily I’m too consumed by what’s happening in south London to think about venturing to west London’s gentrified suburbs, on this occasion I had good reason. The Streatham-based band, ‘The Leisure Society’, were topping the bill and I wasn’t about to miss it.

‘The Leisure Society’ are about to make a big impression on the music scene. After years of refining their particular blend of indie/folk, they’ll soon be releasing their second album to a growing fan base expecting great things. In 2009, the eight piece ensemble made Ivor Novello history, becoming the first unsigned band to be nominated for the prestigious award. They’ve since been signed to record label ‘Full Time Hobby’; released their debut album, ‘The Sleeper’; and won the ‘iTunes singer songwriter album of the year’. With their single ‘Save it for Someone Who Cares’ receiving their second Ivor nomination, they’ve become the first band to be nominated in two consecutive years.

Their set at the Tabernacle showed off a wealth of material, which lives up to the expectations now being placed upon them. It’s not often a band manage to combine such a large variety of instruments, complex arrangements, multiple parts and tempo changes yet still retain such a clear, cohesive sound. It was their encore, however, that was the highlight. With the venue not permitted to grant an extension, the band simply assembled amongst the tables in the front row and performed, informally and completely un-amplified. With the crowd gathered in silent awe, there was a realization that we were witnessing an intimacy, which we’re unlikely to see repeated, by a band well on their way to bigger things.

The word on the street back in South London, is that their new album, recorded partly in New York, but mainly in Streatham, has a more complex sound than their last and is expected to win them new followers, whilst retaining old fans, such as Brian Eno, Mark Riley, Mark Radcliffe, Dermot O’Leary and Guy Garvey from Elbow, all of whom have actively championed the band. It’s an impressive list of achievements and admirers for a band who only turned professional a year ago. In fact this time last year, singer songwriter, Nick Hemming was working in a fabric warehouse in Merton. With Streatham being the home to last years Mercury Music Prize winner, Speech Debelle, could it be too much to expect the Mercury award to go to another Streatham act in 2010? Could this even be the start of a period which sees Streatham hailed as the next creative hotbed? Or am I getting a little carried away with myself now?

Here’s a little sneak preview of what they’ve been getting up to on their recent tour.

You can buy Leisure Society music here from

This article can also be found in the current edition of ‘New London Review’, the new magazine for Streatham, Brixton & Clapham.

Click here to read the original Streatham Pulse blog post about the Leisure Society from last year and to watch the excellent video for their, Ivor nominated, song ‘Save it For Someone Who Cares’.

Tomorrow sees the launch of a new magazine for Streatham, Brixton & Clapham. It’s called The New London Review and will be covering local politics, arts and culture. Here’s what the editor (and Streatham resident) Stephen Murphy says about it… “We set out initially to report on local democracy and community issues in south London (think Lambeth Council, a billion pound corporation and the Streatham ice rink)… and then quickly decided it would be more exciting if we also covered the great arts scene we have from arthouse cinema to fringe theatre to street art exhibitions. As well as the website, we publish a monthly magazine… see May’s issue for our line-up of star columnists including Toby Young, Martin Bright & James Purnell writing about all things eduction, the arts and community organising. We also cover the best of May’s movies and theatre south of the river. And check out our interviews with Adam Byatt and Rosie Lovell – two of our very own gastro stars, both with book launches and growing fan bases throughout London. We are all about informing and entertaining and promoting our communities – we hope you like it!”

As well as star writers like Toby Young there will also be contributions from local bloggers such as Jason Cobb and yours truly, Streatham Pulse. Copies will be available from local newsagents and train & tube stations in Streatham, Brixton & Clapham. You can also subscribe online.

Click on the image below and then click  ’look inside’ for a preview.

Several hundred Hells Angels rode through Streatham yesterday. Many thought it was a motorcycle rally but it was in fact a funeral procession for a well known and well loved biker called ‘Charger’. He was a devoted Hells Angel for nearly four decades who died recently whilst riding up the A1 on his way to party with fellow Hells Angels. The procession left the official Hells Angels London clubhouse in East London and travelled to Streatham Park Cemetery on Rowan Road where he was laid to rest.

Find more photos like this on The Streatham Network

Having attended last years Streatham Food Festival, and enjoying all of the very generous and delicious free tastings on offer, I can happily recommend you all pay a visit to this years event. Here’s what the organisers say about it.

“Savour Streatham… From Saturday 15th May – Saturday 22nd May the Streatham Food Festival is back for a second great year with a week of delicious delights and entertainment to really get those taste buds tingling! It’s a celebration of the best food and foodie things to be found in the neighbourhood, with restaurants, pubs and bars, retailers, cooks and great events firmly at its heart. A fantastic Food Fair starts the festival on Sat 15th with the ground floor of Gracefield Gardens Centre taken over by local restaurants and producers to tempt you with free tasters from around the world. With demonstrations on cake making, pasta and pizza workshops, crafty ways with fruit, a children’s art club, a fabulous food quiz, Fairtrade and much more. For the week following, an exclusive Taste Trail will showcase many restaurants, cafés, pubs and bars across SW16 with fun events and fantastic special offers. So for a truly tasty 2010, tuck in to the Streatham Food Festival. Check out the full programme on www.streathamfoodfestival.com”

You can also visit their Facebook page, where you can see photos from last years event.

Last night at half ten, after a long drawn out planning meeting to discuss the application for the redevelopment of the Caesars/Megabowl site, Lambeth Council’s planning committee voted three to two in favour. The decision has been a long time coming and finally signals the end for the nightclub, Caesars, which, for better or worse, has come to symbolise Streatham for so many. Its Roman Chariot horses rising up over the A23 are the defining image for those that pass through Streatham. It is partly that image, along with its signs for male lap dancing evening, “Lap Attack”, cage fighting nights, and the stories of its underworld links and police raids that has given Streatham the slightly shady reputation, that it really doesn’t deserve.

Whilst the majority of local businesses, as well as many residents, are in favour of the redevelopment. There is a very vocal group of residents from the Telford Park conservation area, known as FOSH (Friends of Streatham Hill) who are dead set against it and have managed to have all previous applications rejected. Whatever your opinion, it is hard not to mourn the loss of, yet more of Streatham’s great entertainment venues. Although its hey day has long since passed, when Caesars was, The Locarno Ball Room, it was one of London’s most popular night spots and partly why Streatham was known as the West End of South london.

You can read the memories of Streatham residents who enjoyed nights at The Locarno here. In 1969 it became known as The Cat’s Whiskers. It was the memory of The Cat’s Whiskers that led Councillor Lib peck, who eventually voted in favour of the redevelopment plans, to take a moment during the meeting to reminisce, recalling the time she saw Elvis Costello play there. Large entertainment venues like Caesars, the Megabowl, The Ice Rink and the old ABC cinema are slowly disappearing from Streatham and taking with them some of the character that made the place famous. Their demise is inevitable. Let’s hope that what’s replacing them can give Streatham back some of the pride it once had.

I’ll let the current owner of the club Fred Batt have the last word on the club, with this video.

By downloading the Veoh player here, you can see more of Fred Batt in this episode of Most Haunted, filmed at Caesars. You can also visit his My Space page, where he describes himself as a Demonologist.

Read the full report on the planning meeting in The Streatham Guardian.

This is an exciting week for Streatham band Mirrorkicks. Their debut, self titled album is released on April 19th, following up from their single, Podium, which was released on Monday. The album was recorded and produced in the studio which, band members and brothers, Anil & Ingmar Kamalagharan, built in the basement of their family home in Streatham. The brothers met fellow band members Gerard De Waal and Edwin Pereira whilst at secondary school in Streatham, making them a genuinely homegrown band.

Mirrorkicks’ list of achievements so far include being playlisted on over 30 UK radio stations, being interviewed for Q and Kerrang magazines, as well as playing live as part of the official ‘Save BBC 6 Music’ campaign protest outside the BBC headquarters in March.

You can get tickets here for the official album launch gig on April 19th at Waterrats in Kings Cross, or you can add yourself on the guest list and get them at the door by emailing guestlist@mirrorkicks.com

Buy Mirrorkicks here from

This Sunday, the 12th Streatham Common Kite Day will take place. After taking a break in 2009, The Kite Day is back and this year promises to be a great event. The current weather forecast is for bright sunshine and more importantly, wind. There will be top kite flying teams in attendance as well as food and drink stalls, including a beer stall, hog roast, pancake van and Ishmail’s Mother Currys. What better way to celebrate the arrival of Spring?

The Royal Academy are currently running the first major Van Gogh exhibition for over forty years. The timing is due to the recent publication of the latest edition of Van Gogh’s letters, many of which also include sketches. BBC1 also screened a docudrama over the Easter weekend which used these letters as the basis for the narrative. Amongst them is one from 1895, addressed to his brother Theo, in which he describes sketching Streatham Common. It begins “My dear Theo, I’m sending you here with a small drawing. I made it last Sunday, the morning a daughter (13 years old) of my landlady died. It is a view of Streatham Common, a large, grass-covered area with oak trees and broom. It had rained in the night, and the ground was soggy here and there and the young spring grass fresh and green”. The sketch shown above is not the Streatham Common sketch, which unfortunately appears to be lost. It is a sketch illustrating one of the poems he includes in the letter. Click on the photo to read the letter in full.

Van Gogh was known to have lived in Hackford Road in Brixton from 1873 to 1874 This is commemorated by a blue plaque as well as on the local currency, The Brixton Pound twenty B£ note. He made several return trips to the area in the following years and was known to be fond of sketching Streatham Common.

Former Streatham resident and film maker, Jason McDonald, used to be a regular at Taylor’s on Streatham High Road; so when he started writing a short film about a work-shy wide boy’s hunt to find his local pub’s football trophy, he always had Taylor’s in mind as the location. He shot the film in July 2008 and finished in September of last year. It had its world premiere at ‘The World of Comedy Film Festival‘ in Toronto, Canada earlier this month and he’s now travelling across America showing the film on the festival circuit, with screenings currently booked in at the ‘Staten Island International Film Festival‘ in New York, the ‘Lake Arrowhead Film Festival‘ in California and ‘The Bare Bones Film Festival‘ in Oklahoma, where it has been nominated for ‘Best International Short Film’.

Jason’s background is as an animator. He began his career working at Steven Spielberg’s London animation studio ‘Amblimation’ in 1991 and has, to date, worked on such big budget films as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’, ‘The Wolfman’, a couple of ‘Harry Potter’ films and recently, ‘Iron Man 2′. The camera crew he used for ‘Taylor’s Trophy’ have also worked on big films such as ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘The Dark Knight’.

Unfortunately ‘Taylor’s Trophy’ has yet to be accepted by any British film festivals. In Jason’s words “Too many of them are art film festivals and really don’t support ‘entertainment’ films”. However if it’s not picked up over here he’s interested in trying to arrange a possible screening at The Streatham Odeon as part of ‘The Streatham Festival’, so watch this space. In the meantime, check out the trailer for the film below. You can find out more about the film at www.taylorstrophy.com or by joining the Facebook group. You can also follow the film here on Twitter.

Taylors Trophy – Trailer from jason mcdonald on Vimeo.

Also on the bill will be Ska, Reggae and old school R&B from ‘The Coolers’. But if all this raucous hip hop, reggae, ska and dub step is not to your tastes don’t be put off by The White Lion. This video of ‘Sam’s Piano’ performing an intimate acoustic session on the roof of The White Lion is a great demonstration of the diversity of the acts that the pub is bringing in and also shows off the amazing view from their roof. This is a really stunning video.

You can watch the rest of Sam’s Piano’s rooftop session at The White Lion on their You Tube channel here.

You can buy music by Sam’s Piano here on

The big news in Streatham over the last week has been the agreement between Lambeth Council & Tesco to progress with the Streatham Hub project. Tesco have agreed to push forward with the project and crucially to keep the continuity of ice provision that has always been one of Lambeth’s stipulations. This will be achieved by building a temporary ice rink, possibly on the Common opposite the existing site. This will allow Tesco to bulldoze the old rink along with the rest of the site and start building soon. This has been considered a victory by the majority of Streatham residents. It is undoubtedly good news that Streatham will finally have the regeneration that it so desperately needs (by December 2012 apparently), but I can’t help but mourn the loss of another of our towns great buildings. In this video Suggs from Madness tells us about the Ice Rinks history and it’s problems.

You can download the associated documents about The Streatham Hub here. Click here for Streatham Action’s take on it. And you can read more opinion on the subject at Jason Cobb’s blog here.

Click here for another song by Cuppa T called Miss Pinkerton. Or here for some of Mark Bennetts own video tributes to Streatham.

This looks to be another good night from Oz at The White Lion and all in aid of charity. The proceeds from the gig will go towards building an orphanage in Nepal so you can feel all warm and fuzzy inside as you enjoy yourselves. You can buy tickets to The Rotten Hill Gang gig by making a donation here. Good work OZ.

***POSTPONED: Since writing this the gig has had to be postponed. Here is the message from Oz.***

Hi Everyone, It’s with great regret that I have to inform you the Rotten Hill Gang has been postponed. Mick Jones has gone on tour with the Gorillaz for a couple of months so we have to reschedule the gig. If you would like a refund please let me know and I will refund your money, otherwise you can keep on the list and wait for the rescheduled date.

Apologies again.

Oz Bayldon

This map of cycling black spots includes a few spots dotted around that junction as well as many more down Streatham High road. This is a reminder of how badly suited Streatham High Road is to cycling and how short sighted it is not to include Streatham in the cycle super highway plans. The A23 is a vital route in to London and in Streatham we actually have wide enough roads to accomodate decent segregated cycle highways, yet the recent road improvements in Streatham and Brixton have done nothing to address this. If you want to learn more about the problems with cycling in London there is a very good blog by an Englishman, now living in Holland, called David Hembrow.

You can see more ghost bikes below. The photos were taken by photographer, Nicholas Adams AKA Guerilla Photo.

And here is a BBC news report about ghost bikes.

It came as something of a surprise to me yesterday to hear Streatham’s Councillor Mark bennett tweeting from a meeting (that rhyme was unintentional by the way) with Glentoran, the owners of the Megbowl site. They were presenting their latest plans for the redevelopment, which are due to go before a Council planning meeting in April, I believe. Many of us Megabowl watchers expected Glentoran to pull out and sell up, after their last proposal (number 3) was rejected. They threatened as much prior to that decision but it turns out it was all talk. In fact it could be argued that Lambeth have played this quite well, as with each rejection, Glentoran return with a proposal that’s slightly smaller and more in keeping with it’s environment. It sounded like they came close to having permission granted last time so this could well be the one that finally gets accepted. According to Mark Bennett they were met with strong support.

All the documents for the application can be downloaded online here. They’re quite extensive and more than a little confusing. They contain more images of their previous proposals than of their current one. The significant points, as far as I could tell, are: The height has been scaled down (by how much is unclear); more of The Megabowl facade has been retained (including the side return); there are 19 fewer residential units but the same retail space (30,000 Sq ft, with the possibility of a mezzanine level and with more basement excavation to help attract larger retailers like John Lewis); there will also be a community theatre, exhibition & cafe space on the corner of Sternhold Avenue and Blairderry Road.

The proposed cafe, exhibition & theatre space.

My favorite parts of the documentation were references to Caesars, and the accompanying pictures, which attempted to show the obscene behaviour that would be stamped out if permission for the development is granted.

The proposals are not very different in appearance to the previous efforts so anyone hoping for a brand new, beautiful vision of Streatham Hill will be disappointed. However they have attempted to answer many of the criticisms they’ve encountered up until now, so it’s now down to Lambeth to decide whether they’ve done enough.

This Saturday 27th Feb at 11am there will be a community protest against Tesco outside their Streatham Hill Tesco Metro branch. It is in response to Tesco’s behaviour over the Streatham Hub project. For anyone who doesn’t already know about The Hub situation, in a nutshell, Tesco bought a huge swathe of land, which includes the leisure centre and ice rink, about ten years ago. They were granted planning permission to build a huge superstore, car park, and residential flats in return for also funding the building of a new leisure centre and ice rink. All these years later they have done nothing with the land and refuse to say when, if ever, they will start work. In the meantime the existing leisure centre has closed and the ice rink is crumbling. It is a sorry state of affairs, making Saturdays protest long overdue. However, as I researched other Tesco protests, what struck me was that all previous protests have either been by people opposed to Tesco’s business practices or by people opposed to the opening of a Tesco superstore in their town. Our protest must be unique in that it is by residents desperate for Tesco to come to town.

In many peoples eyes Tesco are the devil. Of course it’s understandable that we are so willing to dance with the devil. After all Streatham sold its soul long ago and now we’re just desperate to finally get something in return. However, if Tesco eventually do come good on their promise and turn that end of Streatham into Tesco land, we may still live to regret the whole sorry saga.

For a good overview on Tesco watch this Dispatches programme below.

or for a different take on Tesco’s empire building watch this excerpt from Armando Iannucci’s Time Trumpet.

I recently stumbled across the site 28 Days Later. This is a site for the type of people who like to spend their free time exploring abandoned  buildings, drains and cranes as well as infiltrating active sites. In the words of one of its members ‘Alias’, “Urban Exploration and Infiltration is about learning to appreciate your surroundings and the buildings and structures around you, and seeing beauty in places where many people will not. It is also about gaining access to these places in order to document, photograph, film or just explore these places”.

Another of its members, known as ‘Speed’, recently explored the inside of the Megabowl site on Streatham Hill. These are his pictures. Unbelievably it’s been sitting derelict since August 2006, whilst its owners Glentoran are still no closer to gaining the planning permission they want. Imagine what a savvy developer could do with this place, without having to resort to the full scale demolition that Glentoran are after?

for more pictures of the disused Megabowl you can follow the links to two other members previous visits to the site here. and here.

These campaigns are the just the latest in a long list that goes back decades. None have succeeded in the past so why might they now? Well there is the fact that capacity on tubes and trains in London will have to increase to cope with demand in the future and new lines will without doubt be one of the solutions to this problem. It’s also been said that the difficulties with tunnelling through the soil prevalent in South London has been overcome by modern tunnelling methods and machinery. Therefore it is right that people are at least arguing the case for Streatham. However, the current finances of the Government, Lambeth Council and TFL surely mean that all of this will remain pure fantasy for a long long time to come. What do you think? Please let us know.

Those of you that follow Streatham Pulse on Twitter may be aware of the campaign that was started recently to get Streatham born, 1950’s comedian, Tommy Trinder to the top of Channel Four’s list of The Greatest Stand Up Comics Of All Time. The Campaign was started by Ross Noble, who is also one of the nominees. Bemused by the shortlist, which generally favours comedians from the last few years, Ross thought it might be a bit of a giggle to boost the largely forgotten comedian’s chances of topping the chart. He started his campaign on Twitter and it quickly received the backing of comedians, Alan Davies, Jason Manford, Rob Rouse and co-creator of Viz, Simon Donald, who started this Facebook Group to help the cause. Voting has now closed and we will have to wait until later in the year for Channel Four to reveal the winner, so in the mean time keep your fingers crossed for Tommy and have a look at some of his work on You Tube. Here is a video featuring Tommy presenting Sunday Night At The London Palladium in the ’50’s. After the opening dance number Tommy appears about 2.20 in where he entertains the audience with some jokes before introducing Pinky & Perky.

The blue plaque on Wellfield Road in Streatham, commemorating Tommy’s birth.

You can buy comedy recordings of Tommy Trinder here on

Stunning, although I think I speak for many when I saw “Enough of the snow now. Please”.

Over Christmas I saw a close friend who reminded me of the last time we bumped in to each other. It was in the Clarence in Balham several months earlier where she introduced me to fella called Christian, who lived in Streatham Hill. It turns out that Christian is one of the core members of the Streatham based band ‘The Leisure Society’. I have to admit I hadn’t heard of them before but on listening to their debut album, ‘The Sleeper’, I was pleasantly surprised to hear such quality music. As soon as I looked in to the band more I was amazed at what I found. Initially it was their background that fascinated me. Nick Hemming, the other founder member, started his musical life in a band with film maker, Shane Meadows and actor Paddy Considine. I’ve long been a fan of these two and was impressed when I discovered that Nick composed the music for Shane’s films ‘A Room For Romeo Brass’ and ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’. If you haven’t seen either of these films I’d highly recommend them. They not only cemented Shane as one of Britain’s best working directors but also launched Paddy’s career, which has led to his appearances in major films, like ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’. However as I found out more about them I was even more impressed. Not only have they had their music championed by several DJ’s, including Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie, Dermot O’Leary and Guy Garvey of Elbow, (who named their song ‘The Last Of The Melting Snow’ as his favorite song of the year), but they have a string of prestigious awards and nominations to their name, which include the ‘iTunes UK’s Album Of The Year’ in the singer songwriter category and an Ivor Novello nomination for best song musically and lyrically. This last award was eventually won by, none other than, their number one fan Guy Garvey and his band Elbow.

This should give you enough reasons to check out the album, ‘Sleeper’, for yourselves and to look forward to their second album which is currently being recorded in the bands Ego Drain studios in Streatham Hill. Although presumably recording is mostly on hold while they complete their European Tour. You can start by watching the great video below for their song ‘Save It For Someone Who Cares’.

Buy ‘The Leisure Society’ album, ‘Sleeper’ or their EP ‘A Product of The Ego Drain’, or any of their individual songs here on

If anyone didn’t already know what the great mural on Leigham Court Road was, they surely must now. The classic childrens story by Maurice Sendak has been made in to a film by the already legendary director Spike Jonze, and it’s showing at the Streatham Odeon right now. Spike is the man behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and some of the most well known music videos of the last fifteen years including Praise You and Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim. With that kind of track record Where The Wild Things are is sure to be worth a watch.

You can buy ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak here 

Lambeth is celebrating the switching on of its town centre Christmas lights with a parade, which starts outside the Odeon cinema in Streatham this afternoon at 4pm and continues on to events in West Norwood, Herne Hill, Brixton, Clapham and Oval. Apparently Father Christmas will be touring the borough in an open top bus to flick the switch. According to the Lambeth Council website he will be joined by “a band of helpers including hip hop pixies, musicians and carol singers. There’ll be face-painting fun, cookie-decorating, roasted chestnuts and snow-making fun for all the family”. What is a hip hop pixie? I can’t wait to find out.

The event is organised by the Streatham Festival.

Whilst it doesn’t have the celebrity endorsement of 2006 when June Whitfield, who was born in Streatham, was drafted in to flick the switch, it does, however, sound a lot better than 2005, when musician Garri Holness, was invited to do the honours after he lost part of his left leg in the King’s Cross Tube bombing. He was hoping to publicise his campaign for justice for bomb victims and to promote his single “Something I Wanna Tell You” but the invitation was withdrawn after it emerged that he had been among seven men convicted of raping two 16-year-old girls on the Stockwell Park Estate in Brixton in 1985. Oh dear, that’s not what Streatham needs.

Itinerary

• 4 to 5pm Streatham – outside the Odeon
• 4.30 to 5.30pm West Norwood – St Luke’s Church – West Norwood
• 5 to 6pm Herne Hill – Brockwell Lido car park
• 5.30 to 6.30pm Brixton – Tunstall Road next to Morleys
• 6 to 7pm Clapham – The Pavement
• 6.30 to 7.30pm – St Mark’s Church, Oval

3. The last proposal   2. The second proposal   3. The first proposal

Property Developer Glentoran has had it’s plans for the redevelopment of the Megabowl/Ceasars site rejected for the third time. The controversial proposal has divided many in Streatham, with a large number of local businesses in favour but most resident associations against it. The Streatham Guardian reported yesterday that planners had recommended the proposals get the go-ahead but, according to Councillor Steve Reed, Lambeth Council’s planning committee rejected the plans at a meeting yesterday evening.

What does this mean for Streatham? Lost oppurtunity for desperately needed investment and development? Or is it a good decision to help ensure Streatham ends up with a development which doesn’t have such a big impact on the local area?

Whatever happens with this site let’s hope it doesn’t become another Streatham Hub, with the buildings laying derelict for many more years to come.

Much of the content on Streatham Pulse is made up of Streatham related stuff that I’ve found on the internet. It’s a place to put all of the stuff that I find which I think deserves to be seen by more people and hopefully appreciated by some of those who think that Streatham has nothing to offer of interest or beauty. As I search I keep coming across Ronald Hackston’s pictures. Some of his photos are included in the Streatham Pulse gallery, which was meant to be a place to show off Streatham at its best. However many of Ronald’s photos depict the less attractive side to Streatham; The decaying buildings, graffiti, strange shop windows, the rubbish dumped on streets, the unusual street signs; Yet he manages to find the interest and beauty in them. This blog would be a worse place without Ronald’s photos so this is a nod to him. Keep up the good work.

Here are some of my favorite Streatham photos from his Flickr photostream. Clicking on the photo will take you to the Flickr page. Please explore his stuff. He does, of course, also take photos of other places and things.

Streatham Fireman, Stephen-Remell Coleman, also known as rapper ‘Controversy’, is using his talents to help recruit more young people in to the London Fire Brigade. You can watch the video for his new song, London Firefighter, below. It’s pure genius.

If you liked that check out his ‘Got Mine, Got Yours’ video he made a couple of years ago to encourage people to fit fire alarms in their homes. He also made an Asian Streets Mix.

Oz Bayldon, who runs The White Lion on Streatham High Road set the world record for the highest live gig in 2005 when he and his band played to a hundred or so mountaineers 5,545 metres up Mount Everest. He’s since set the world record for the longest gig (44 hours non stop), however both of these have since been broken. Clearly not one to accept defeat he has decided to make a second attempt at the highest ever gig next year when he will climb 6475 metres up Mount Mera in Nepal. watch the video below to learn more about it.

All of these record attempts are in aid of his charity Music 4 Children and The White Lion is also run in aid of the charity. If you’d like to get involved in the latest record attempt or just find out more about it, get yourselves down to The White Lion tomorrow, Saturday 28th Nov. Support Oz, whilst also supporting a thriving music scene in Streatham.

You can follow The White Lion on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook or visit there website here.

Streatham Ice Rink, despite being on the brink of closure, has decided to pull its socks up and redecorate. Desperately in need of a paint job for some time the owners appear to have gone all out and given it one of the most dramatic touch ups imaginable. It’s almost psychedelic. Unfortunately the paint seems to have run out half way through the job so the sides of the building remain as they were. Perhaps that’s a deliberate reminder of how run down it was looking before the paint job, and still is behind the facade.

Sign the petition to keep Streatham skating here.

The campaign to bring the tube to Streatham has gained a little more steam recently with the addition of a new campaigner called Kent Martin. He has started a blog called simply, Streatham Tube, to raise awareness and has submitted a petition to Number 10 which is awaiting approval. This follows on from the campaign which was started by Labours parliamentary candidate for Streatham, Chuka Umunna, who has his own petition which you can sign here. In fact, if you follow either of them on Twitter, you will see that they have already joined forces and are meeting to discuss their campaigns on Thursday.

It seems there have been several attempts to bring the tube to Streatham starting with a campaign way back in 1926. There was another campaign in 1989/90 from a group called Streatham Against the Roads, which gained around 5000 signatures. This group included Robert Doyle who now runsStreatham Action. In the past one of the reasons given for not bringing the tube our way was due South London being made up of the wrong soil. Too much sand and chalk apparently. However modern tunneling methods have now made it possible and TFL is currently considering an extension to the Bakerloo line, which could bring it to Streatham Hill. A fella called John Bull has a good blog about transport projects, London Reconnections, where he outlines the current options being considered.

The campaign may be a long shot but it’s got to be worth supporting all the same.

There are links on the right where you can click to follow Streatham Pulse on Twitter or to join the Streatham Pulse Network if you want to chat or upload photos or videos to the site. Also on the right there is a feed bringing in all the posts from Twitter where Streatham is mentioned. Below that is a feed bringing in photos from Flickr which have the Streatham tag. These feeds are great ways to keep track of what people are saying about Streatham or what’s happening in our area.

Let me know if there is anything else you think I should add to the site. And please spread the word.

Thanks

Well done to Cllr Mark Bennett for making this video of the Streatham Common fireworks display. I like his slightly tenuous but interesting facts at the end.

Well done to Streatham Residents for voting for Streatham Common in the ‘Your Bourough, Your Budget, Your Choice’ scheme. Another boost for Streatham.

I wrote about this previously, but it’s now open.

The old Chinese Herbalist shop has been handed over for use as a gallery space for the Artists from The Streatham Artist Studios. Each week until the end of the year, a different artist will be exhibiting their work.

Next year, once the shop has been returned to it’s owner to be rented out, the organisers hope to take over one of the other empty shops on the High Road.

What a great idea which I hope becomes a regular feature. In fact, seeing as there are about 40 artists working at the studios and about sixty empty shops, why not have several galleries running simultaneously?

find the gallery here

I’ve set up a social network for Streatham Residents to get in touch with each other and celebrate Streatham online. You can use it to upload your photos and videos to this site too.

Streatham Action has published this video on their website, in which Streatham residents give their opinions on what Streatham needs to improve.

Let us know what you think Streatham needs.

Cllr Mark Bennett has posted this film on Twitter of the London to Brighton veteran cars passing through Streatham this morning.

This Sunday sees The 76th London To Brighton Veteran Car Run in which owners of cars manufactured prior to 1905 take them on the 60 mile run from Hyde Park to Brighton following a route which takes them down Streatham High Road. The oldest cars leave Hyde Park at sunrise (06.54) with the last of the cars leaving by 08.15. I reckon the first cars should start to appear in Streatham around 07.30.

]]> http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/10/30/the-london-to-brighton-veteran-car-run/feed/ 0 http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/10/29/calvins-tweet/ http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/10/29/calvins-tweet/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:32:40 +0000 streathampulse http://streathampulse.wordpress.com/?p=231

In Calvin Harris’ latest tweet he hails Streatham High Road as the best high street in Britain. Well said Calvin. I have a new found respect for you.

It’s come a long way from since it was voted worst high street in Britain several years ago.

You can buy music by Calvin Harris here on

Streatham has been immortalised in music by this fella called Flow Tight with his track, (SW16) Going Back To Streatham.

You can buy this track and many others by ‘Flowtight’ here on

GALLERY ONE – Streatham High Road, Streatham Hill, London SW2 4RS

“Lambeth’s original borough wide showcase for creative talent. Following the huge success of the Lambeth Open studios event at the beginning of October 2009 we are trialling a series of Gallery spaces across the borough. The aim is to use otherwise empty buildings and shops as exhibition areas to further showcase the creative talent so abundant in this part of South London.

We have been kindly lent the old Chinese Herbalist Shop by Ludgate Land Limited for the months of November and December. For full details of who will be showing and when click on the link”.

Here’s a good photo blog called ‘From The Upper Deck’. It features photos of London taken from the top of a double decker bus, including a couple on Streatham buses like this one, The 319 to Streatham Hill.

http://www.ftud.net/

Mannequin in Perfect Plend on Streatham High Road. Photo c/o Ronald Hackston’s photo stream on Flickr

We, the undersigned, call on Tesco, owner of the Streatham Ice Rink, to ensure the continuity of Streatham’s ice rink provision pending the development of the Streatham Hub Scheme.

An African Parrot goes missing in Streatham. Could this be the start of a Parrot population to rival London’s Parakeet population?

http://www.streathamguardian.co.uk/news/4654346.Parrot_goes_missing_while_looking_for_love/

You can buy music by Speech Debelle here on

Dunraven School on Leigham Court Road in Streatham has just built a new sports hall using recycled shipping containers… and it looks great. Now it’s been shortlisted for the Prime Ministers Better Public Building Award. http://www.betterpublicbuilding.org.uk/finalists/2009/

Read more about it here. http://bit.ly/WGpjK

]]> http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/08/189/feed/ 0 http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/08/mercury-music-award-nominee-speech-debelle/ http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/08/mercury-music-award-nominee-speech-debelle/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:19:27 +0000 streathampulse http://streathampulse.wordpress.com/?p=182

Streatham girl, Speech Debelle, is one of the nominees for this years Mercury Music Prize with her album “Speech Therapy”. Not only that but she’s second favorite to win it, after Florence And The Machine. Good luck to the girl. Check out her myspace page below.

http://www.myspace.com/speechdebellemusic

and read about her here… http://bit.ly/N532m

You can buy the album ‘Speech Therapy’ as well as other tracks by Speech Debelle here on

Bizarre video about Andrew Cairns from the band Therapy? – remember them? – and the time when he claims to have spotted Elvis in Streatham.

You can buy music by ‘Therapy?’ here on

There’s a lot of these kind of videos on youtube but here’s a very good one showing one mans journey from Clerkenwell to Streatham compressed down to about six minutes from forty five, and set to some good music.

From Youtube c/o sixthland ]]> http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/05/clerkenwell-to-streatham/feed/ 0 http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/04/pullman-court-streatham-hill/ http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/04/pullman-court-streatham-hill/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:35:15 +0000 streathampulse http://streathampulse.wordpress.com/?p=160

Pullman Court is the first major work of the architect Frederick Gibberd and one of the first developments built in the International Modern style in Britain. The building can be viewed as a response to two contemporary factors. First the housing shortage. Secondly the availability of new materials such as reinforced concrete and steel: the building is clearly influenced by the Bauhaus. The site developer, William Bernstein, wanted homes for the young professional classes that were easy to manage and labour saving. He commissioned the 23-year-old Gibberd for the project and was notable for allowing a modernist architect freedom of design on such a large scheme. The structural engineers were L G Mouchel and Partners. Bernstein’s faith established the young architect’s reputation. Gibberd went on to a long and prestigious career that included the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Heathrow Airport and the master plan of Harlow New Town.

In 1995 the external fabric of the buildings was extensively repaired and English Heritage collected paint samples, which may enable the reinstatement of the colour scheme. At the time Christopher Dean of DOCOMOMO lobbied the government until they agreed to raise the listing status from Grade II to Grade II*.

Pullman Court residents will be pleased to welcome you at the next London Open House.

Extract taken from The Twentieth Century Society website, http://www.riskybuildings.org.uk/docs/building/pullman/index.html

photos from Flickr c/o pullmancourt, jenny-bee

P.S

Apparently Eddie Izzard lived here in the ’90s.

]]> http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/04/pullman-court-streatham-hill/feed/ 1 http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/02/how-not-to-rob-a-streatham-hill-electronics-shop/ http://www.streathampulse.com/2009/09/02/how-not-to-rob-a-streatham-hill-electronics-shop/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:56:15 +0000 streathampulse http://streathampulse.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/how-not-to-rob-a-streatham-hill-electronics-shop/ I like this story about a stupid thief getting caught.

A painting depicting an old 159 Routemaster bus on Streatham High Road, outside The Odeon. The 159 to Streatham was the last Routemaster to run on a non tourist route before they were scrapped, making Streatham bus depot its final resting place.

The picture is by Ray Jackson. Ray specialises in capturing the liveries and colours of buses from a bygone age and has undertaken many commissions, as well as producing his trademark heritage pictures of vehicles in local scenes.

http://rayjacksonart.co.uk/

Part of Perfect Blend’s advertising.

I found this photo at the Durkan website, http://www.durkan.co.uk which shows another proposed devlopment for Streatham Place. This one is for the site of the former petrol station next to the McDonalds drive thru. I can’t find any other information about this development. I emailed them to ask for more info. I received a reply asking who I was but after I replied saying I was an interested resident of the area I got no further messages.

Another development happening in Streatham is the Clapham Park Project which includes Streatham place and the area around New Park Road. A masterplan was drawn up several years ago and updated in 2008. Arkwright House on the corner of New Park Road and Atkins Road (The South Circular A205) was demolished last year and work has begun on the infrastructure before building starts next year on its replacement. This will be followed by the demolition of another few blocks behind it on New Park road and the building of new blocks, a new primary school and remodelling of the road network and landscaping.

Watch this space.

You can see the whole document below

Created by Dave Cross, a Balham resident who has also created Planet Balham, Planet, Clapham, Planet Tooting, and others.

Photos from Flickr c/o

John~C, jennie.f, Ronald Hackston, ppaces, Yersinia, R i c h a r d, frintonpark/robbie, susanne hakuba, ppaces, dusashenka

The cover to Hellbalzer 214. Hellblazer is a horror comic book series, which as far as I can tell is partly set in Streatham. Anyway this cover shot shows the character on Gleneldon Mews.

You can buy copies of Hellblazer here from

Photos from Dusashenka’s photo stream on Flickr