“Illustrious Ladies” Tour led by Jane Hart, SATURDAY 8th MARCH at 2pm, part of International Women’s Day

Music Monday: Peckham Blancmange

Synth duo Blancmange had a string of early 1980s hits, starting with Living on the Ceiling in 1982. Singer Neil Arthur hailed from Lancashire but at the peak of their success he was living in 'London SE15 in a huge Georgian house. It's not mine I share it with four other people'. (don't know where ...

Swedenborg Churches in Deptford and Camberwell

 The visionary Christianity of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) had a big impact on the more mystically inclined believers in the 18th and 19th centuries, famously including William Blake (though never somebody to bow to another's doctrine he had his criticisms of the Swedish thinker). To this day the Swedenborg Society still maintain a centre in Covent Garden ...

Valentines 2025 in Deptford and Lewisham, including ‘Horrible Music for Horrible People’

 

Chumbawamba, Levellers and more: New Cross Venue 1991

I have posted previously about the Venue in New Cross Road, closed since Covid but in the early 1990s one of the top live music places in London, particularly for up and coming indie bands. This selection of references from Sounds music paper from January to March 1991 shows just how busy it was. There ...

Goblin Band and some South London folk nights/open mics

Goblin Band were great at the Goose is Out last week (Friday 31st January 2025) at the Ivy House, bringing a new energy to traditional folk song including not one but two versions of Widecombe Fair, a song which as they note they have resurrected after it being out of fashion for years. Excellent support ...

Goblin Band and some South London folk nights/open mics

Goblin Band were great at the Goose is Out last week (Friday 31st January 2025) at the Ivy House, bringing a new energy to traditional folk song including not one but two versions of Widecombe Fair, a song which as they note they have resurrected after it being out of fashion for years. Excellent support ...

Railton Road Radical Histories Mural

The 'wall of respect for the radical histories of Railton Road' was painted  in 2021 by the RAD Mural Collective on a wall at  the 198 art space at 198 Railton Road. Designed by Jacob V Joyce and Monique Jackson, it packs in a lot of local historical detail, referencing black, queer and other radical ...

Rubbish & Nasty, New Cross Road – noughties ”nu-rave squat-chic”

Was chatting today about noughties New Cross and was reminded of Rubbish and Nasty, a music/retro clothes shop that was at 308 New Cross Road from around 2006-8. It was part of a row of interesting places including Prangsta (304), Cafe Crema (306), and a little earlier the squatted coffee shop at 310. All in ...

David Lynch/Elephant Man in Shad Thames SE1

Shad Thames/Butlers Wharf has been used in so many films, evoking as it does to this day the lost world of dockside London with its warehouses and narrow streets.It was memorably used in 'The Elephant Man' (1980),  starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins and directed by David Lynch, who was hired for the job by ...