All Change on Ladywell Road

Ladywell Road has seen a number of changes over the last few weeks and there are a couple more hopeful developments in the pipeline.

Firstly, of course, was the long-awaited re-opening of Ladywell Tavern. Ute and I had Sunday lunch there a few weeks back and it is a great improvement - a much more relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere - the kind of place you could happily go and read the Sunday papers by yourself and have a coffee, without feeling intimidated. The new owners are very keen for it to be part of the community and tentative plans are already afoot with Ladywell Village Improvement Group (LVIG) to host a Ladywell Beer Festival there at some point in the future. Good food and decent wine and beer too.

Next up, Oscars has now opened on the site of the former International Minimart. Once again, a complete transformation. Part deli, part cafe, serving paninis, cake and ice cream, plus a range of decent bread. Beautifully done, with a lovely garden to the rear and nice touches such as the mosaic by the entrance. Good luck to local resident Petra who is behind Oscars and also active in LVIG.

Thirdly, YOGIS newsagents changed hands this week, with the previous owners moving to Lee Green after 30 years running the business. The new owner, Kaidaya, is keen to make a few changes and expand the shop to the rear. I dropped off a copy of the results of the survey that LVIG did about Ladywell Road, but now might be a good time for lots of people to go along and ask him if he is thinking of selling some fruit and veg (and then supporting him if he does!).

Shop Local in Ladywell Bags
There are a very limited number left now - just a dozen or so scattered between a few of the shops. Most of the money has been collected and banked now and a second order will be placed soon. Feedback so far has mostly been asking for longer handles for the next batch - anything else? Although we didn't make any profit out of the first batch, we did prove wrong all those who said it wouldn't work and the scheme couldn't compete with the bags sold at supermarkets etc etc!

Walkabout
Finally, I don't think I've mentioned that way back at the beginning of July I organised a walkabout in and around Ladywell Road with Deputy Mayor Heidi Alexander, highways officers and representatives from Ladywell Society and LVIG. It was a really useful to have Heidi there as well as officers, and for residents to explain their concerns and hopes for the road. Perhaps as a result of our previous walkabout and various casework enquiries (or perhaps just a happy coincidence), highways have submitted a bid for £250,000 to TfL to make improvements to the area along Ladywell Road. We will find out in November if they have been successful. If they are, highways will carry out a feasibility study and possibly do a consultation to coincide with the Ladywell CPZ consultation next spring. Highways issues raised on the walkabout included:

• the railings
• traffic speed
• the need for a safe crossing at the end of Algernon Road
• uneven paving (the patch outside the drycleaners that has been roughly tarmaced over for ages is waiting for Thames Water to come and sort it out. Every two weeks or so highways come along, inspect and fine Thames Water, but they still haven't sorted it).
• parking: residents' parking and the need for short-term parking for shops

Other issues raised included:

• long-term empty premises such as Nightwatch and the Snack Bar which bring down the rest of the street
• the run-down state of Coral's building with empty flats above (with all the money they are draining from the local economy, you'd think they could at least restore the top half of the building and rent the flats out really)
• the possibility of a Christmas market by the station, like Brockley had
• the garages site on the corner of Malyons Road (planning permission was granted a few years ago for flats and retail premises, but no approaches have been made to planning yet to do this)

Greens Mean Business

Meet my new psychedlic snake draught excluder, which is now blocking the draught from my cellar door. I bought it from REFAB, who run a stall in Greenwich Market and are one of a number of local businesses which feature in a new online Green Business Directory. Other local businesses in the directory include Chunk Originals, UK5 Organics, Shop on the Hill and DAGE Furniture Shop.

The Greens Mean Business website has also been set up to highlight the Green Party's policies for small businesses in London. In brief, these include:

• Requiring all new commercial developments to make 50% of their office, workshop or retail space available to small businesses at affordable rents.
• Increasing the advertising space on the Underground, and giving priority to local business and free space to community groups.
• Closing London City Airport and using the land as a new Green Industries Park to encourage new enterprise in the growing environmental sector, especially manufacturing.
• Free insulation for every home that needs it, massively expanding the market for manufacturing and fitting energy-saving materials and products.
• Investing more London Development Agency funds in developing the skills we will need for a green economy.
• Introducing new procurement policies in the GLA so the administration buys more goods and services from within London.
• Expanding the Green Homes Service, including the low-cost ‘concierge’ scheme, which offers a comprehensive consultancy and planning service for people wanting to make their homes greener and more energy-efficient.
• Have solar panels up and running on 100,000 roofs by 2015. Interest-free loans will be available to householders, community groups and businesses to make use of new, clean energy technology.

See here for further details.

Ladywell Survey - headline results

The new Ladywell Village Improvements Group (still provisional name!) have now analysed and summarised the results of their recent survey of residents' views of shops and services along Ladywell Road. They received an impressive 251 responses to their survey, which in many cases confirmed what we expected, though the high percentage of residents who feel safe in Ladywell was a welcome surprise:

• 93% of respondents lived in Ladywell
• 82% of respondents use the shops on a regular basis
• §
• §Respondents want better provisions for Fruit & Veg
• §
• §Coffee Shop, Butchers and Deli also feature for new business to open
• §
• §
  47% of respondents would like to see the General Appearance of Ladywell improved
• 80% of respondents replied they feel either fairly safe or very safe in Ladywell, with 20% of respondents not feeling safe.
  
• Most respondants gave the existing shops in Ladywell a score of 3 out of 5

This is valuable market research which a couple of potential new businesses to the area are already making use of, and which the group intends to feed back to existing businesses and the Council. The steering group are putting together a draft constitution for the new group and will soon be calling for nominations for committee posts and advertising the date of the AGM. Details to follow.

With many thanks to Hellen, Cynthia and Debbie for all their hard work in putting this together.

82% of all 251 respondents use the shops in Ladywell regularly.

With a focus on existing businesses in Ladywell, 48% of respondents would like to see them sell largely fruit and vegetables.

In terms of new businesses that respondents would like to see, Fruit and Veg, Coffee Shop, Deli and Butchers were all popular.

Potential new businesses could strengthen their business plan by combining business categories.

47% of respondents would like to see the General Appearance of Ladywell improved.
(* Other includes: litter, cleanliness, police patrolling, less take-away’s, less hairdressers, paving renovation, speed bumps…)

80% of respondents replied they feel either fairly safe or very safe, with 20% of respondents not feeling safe.

Overall assessment of provision of shops and services in Ladywell.

Ladywell Tavern

Ladywell Tavern has been closed for a few weeks now and I'd heard that there had been another change of management and further refurbishment works were underway. However, I was glad to see notices go up on the boards outside the pub this week saying that it is will hopefully be re-opening at the end of April with real ales, fine wines and traditional pub food. Sounds good, fingers crossed!

Oops, meant to plug this a few weeks ago

I think Nick on Brockley Central plugged this meet up a few weeks ago, though I can't find the link right now and I said I would too, then failed to do so - sorry! So, better late than never, TONIGHT - Make Your Mark meet up at Toad's Mouth Too, Brockley Road, 6pm.

"The Make Your Mark meetups were started to encourage budding entrepreneurs, creative people, innovators and activists to get together to talk about their ideas.

If you have a plan for a business, a web project, a book, a passion to change something, or simply an idea that you want to try out, come along. This is a friendly place to share a drink and give your idea a bit of love, focus and attention.

We particularly welcome people who want to develop an ethical project or business. Come and find inspiration and practical support to help get your idea off the ground.

Please email Jo Hill if are interested in coming along or sign up at Make Your Mark or contact Jo Hill."

Sounds like a good idea. Wholefood organic fairtrade food co-operative anyone?!