onionbagblog

Sadly my Moultons and various fixed wheels aren’t quite suitable for Wivenhoe Wood or the banks of the River Colne. It’s back to the future in oh so many ways - MTB included.

My days of two fixies and a track bike ownership are over. It’s a London North Essex thing, baby.

A built to budget bike from yer man Bob of, um, Bob’s Bikes SE17, and then come Saturday morning and the beast was ready to roll out. It was damn hard work, with the heavy tread making heavy going of the treacle like Walworth Road. Get me on that Wivenhoe Trail ASAP.

Front suspension, disc brakes and enough rubber to power a condom factory. I can’t say it’s gonna be a ride of choice, more one of circumstances. When in Rome.

Chapeau!

I have so far kept away from #brixvill, the Thursday night pop up events taking place at Granville Arcade Brixton Village, and organised by the splendid folk of @spacemkrs. Nothing sinister - simply work commitments have clogged up the summer schedule.

But with an Evening Standard praise piece, and the clock counting down ever faster towards the Great Escape, I thought it was about time I took in the weekly highlight of Thursday Lates that has got so many locals buzzing about the bottom up regeneration of Brixton.

The basic idea is to extend the highly successful spacemakers pop up shop formula to a late night opening once a week. Since the start of the year, Brixton Village has had new life breathed into the empty units. Spacemakers has encouraged local businesses and event organisers to work alongside the more traditional traders.

With an art angle added into many of these ideas, it makes sense to open up the Arcade into the evening once a week, and to encourage diners to try out the many new restaurants. Weekly open meetings take place on a Tuesday across the road at the Dogstar. Anyone with an idea or theme for a future Thursday Late is invited to share his or her thoughts.

It all sounds incredibly altruistic, not to mention slightly idealistic -but it also works rather well. Thursday Lates has seen the coming together of old school Brixton, affluent young professionals and the Bright Yong Hipsters, all working and learning together to create something that is uniquely Brixton in outlook.

The old school Brixton boys provide the bass, the affluent young professionals pontificate over the fine food (in a picky, but appreciative manner.) The Bright Young Hipsters simply hang around and add a creative edge.

Meanwhile, @AnnaJCowen and I simply wandered up and down the diverse aisles, looking slightly out of place, but still not feeling left out. I like to think that there is some of the old school Brixton, the affluent young professionals and the Bright Young Hipsters contained within our collective coupling psyche.

The very existence of spacemakers at Brixton Village is a short-term proposition by choice. The business model (if there even is one) is directly related to the direction that the economy may, or may not take, over the coming months.

But by breathing life back into the area, spacemakers has helped to stimulate Brixton Market at a time when our friends from @lambeth_council seem intent on giving the traders a bloody kick in the teeth.

The decision to relocate the permanent temporary Streatham Ice Rink to Pope’s Road Car Park could well wipe out all of the economic goodwill that spacemakers has helped to put in place.

A public meeting to keep the temporary ice pad out of the market is being held at 7pm next Tuesday at the nearby Karibu. If any sense of the co-operation and community that can be found at Thursday Lates is present at the meeting, then Pope’s Road just may well have a future in supporting the traders, once spacemakers feel that it is time to move out.

Well, not quite closure as in no longer trading as a business (which it currently isn’t…) but closure from the point of view of a hugely successful community based campaign to keep away the proposed bonkers 5am booze and live bands licence for Kelly’s along the Clap’ham Road.

Confused?

A quick re-cap: Having closed as a traditional boozer just over two years ago, Kelly’s was bought by a local Porto businessman with grand plans. The first of Antonio da Silva’s money making schemes was to use the space to open up a clinic. This was rejected by @lambeth_council planning. The exterior neon lighting request can’t have helped.

Then came the non-licensed and illegal Porto car wash. Except that it was the most unsuccessful car wash in all of South London (tip for would be car washers: drinking booze outside your business all day ‘aint great for… business.)

The car wash was closed by @lambeth_council, but it probably wouldn’t have lasted the summer anyway, such was the lack of interest in actually washing any cars.

Da Silva then switched his attention to becoming a landlord. An ambitious planning application was submitted to @lambeth_council to squeeze nine luxury development flats (yeah, right) into the tiny space.

Building on top of the car wash garage was part of the deal, ignoring the obstacle of a grand old tree rather inconveniently blocking the building space. The application was thrown out on the grounds of over-crowding.

Running short on options, da Silva then turned back towards a bar for Kelly’s. Fine - this was the original purpose of the building, although a bonkers 5am licence didn’t exactly go down too well with the local residents.

And so on Wednesday morning, I (and many others) received official notification from the fine Ross Hill, the Licensing Officer @lambeth_council, stating:

“I write further to your recent representation in respect of the above-mentioned application, which was due to be considered by our Licensing Sub-Committee in early September.

I have just received notification from the applicant that they now wish to withdraw their application. The application will not be processed any further, and will not appear at a committee hearing.

I understand that the owners of the premises are now looking to reopen it later in the year, trading within the times permitted under the current licence, which are as follows:

Monday - Wednesday 10:00 - 00:00
Thursday 10:00 - 01:00
Friday & Saturday 10:00 - 02:00
Sunday 12:00 - 00:30″

The generous opening hours still seem to favour the landlord, and not the locals, but they are a damn site improvement on the bonkers 5am proposition. I personally probably won’t oppose the hours, although noise levels will of course need monitoring.

Lessons learnt: It is truly wonderful how the #hyperlocal community around my little patch of South London has managed to work together to overturn such a highly unsocial variation in licence application.

I started off in isolation, first seeing the statutory notices appear on the pub door, and thinking that I would be alone in trying to preserve any sense of community that is left along this corner of the Clap’ham Road.

A knock on the door with my neighbours, a blog post that hooked me up with other concerned locals, communication with the local Safer Neighbourhood Team, interest from the nearby Fentiman Resident’s Association, backing from the Bolney Meadow residents and let’s not forget the HUGE show of support from the very good @janeinlondon / E Hants and Jack the Lad Hopkins.

Here we have a local community united against a landlord chancing his luck with the Licensing Committee. Over forty objections were submitted to the Licensing Committee, as well a petition with double this number of signatures. The applicant was able to view these, a factor which led to the withdrawal of the variation in licence.

It’s such a shame that this may well be one of the final acts that I will be able to carry out around here locally as part of the community. If @AnnaJCowen and I were sticking around, then I would most definitely build upon this local network and work upon other local issues.

And so yeah - you can stick yer bonkers 5am licence somewhere else far away from our local residential community. And please keep the noise down, come the more civilised closing time.

Time gentleman, in more ways than one…

With a huge heads up to the good @labourstockwell, here’s where we find out exactly who is responsible for pitching in with the bonkers 5am alcohol and live music licence for Kelly’s along the Clap’ham Road.

The mysterious CL 21 Speed Ltd, as listed on the Variation in Licence form, didn’t give much away. Likewise for the Southwark SE5 85X postcode. For more of a pointer then you need to look slightly closer to home and the A Toca Cafe, situated along Wandsworth Road, SW8. Mr. Antonio da Silva is listed at Companies House as the current owner, strangely under the business of ‘window cleaning.’

And so it would seem that the plan is to turn Kelly’s into a Porto cafe. I’d be quite supportive of this in principle - custard cream cakes, coffees and sea fish food. I fail to see however why a licence until 5am in the morning is required to provide such a service.

It is accepted that Sunny Stockwell is home to the largest Portuguese community outside of the mother country. We are an inclusive lot around here, working, resting and playing rather well together. I would like to continue to be able to rest at a reasonable hour.

But my #hyperlocal little patch of South London is not a Porto holiday resort. It is a residential area of South London, where locals needs to rest before heading out to work the next day.

Even the Porto enclave of South Lambeth Road doesn’t have any bar with a bonkers 5am licence. My fear is that once Little Porto closes at a respectable hour, the customers will simply stream down Dorset Road and continue to party around my #hyperlocal patch.

This really should be a straightforward common sense decision for the Licensing Committee to make. If the application is to proceed (which is unlikely) then the Committee needs to assess if the lifestyle of locals living nearby will be affected.

The @lambeth_council Licensing Committee is made up of political representation across all three parties. Party politics shouldn’t come into this.

@LambethLabour courted the Porto community ahead of May 6th. It is hoped that this same feeling of respect and understanding is applied to all living within Sunny Stockwell.

It’s surprising how much detail you can actually find by doing some little digging around yourself. Having established yesterday that the planning application for nine flats for Kelly’s along Clap’ham Road had been thrown out last month, the continued on / off saga of the proposed bonkers 5am booze and live bands licence took a further twist on Tuesday afternoon.

With the Oval Safer Neighbourhood Team telling me on Saturday that the licence has now been withdrawn (hurrah!) and the good @JackHopkins_Lab saying the opposite yesterday, it was time to seek official clarification.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle - the bonkers 5am licence hasn’t been withdrawn as yet, but it is the understanding of the officers within the Licensing Department @lambeth_council that this will happen very soon.

So hurrah again.

I think.

I managed to speak with Ross Hill, a council officer working within Licensing. He recognised the confusion, as I re-told the story of how the local police believe that the licence has been withdrawn, whereas the local councillors think that it is still active.

Ross confirmed that this is all rumour, but he mentioned that the understanding within the Licensing Department is that the proposals will be formally withdrawn before they go to Committee.

The allocation of item agendas has already been filled for the next meeting on 31st August, which leaves the 8th September as the available remaining for the licence to be withdrawn ahead of the next meeting.

Ross confirmed that over forty representations against the licence have already been received. The sponsor of the licence has been able to view these, and it is believed that this evidence, along with a stern contribution from the local police, has led to a re-think.

Ah yes - about that re-think…

Kelly’s currently has a weekend licence until 2am. Although this is still rather late for a residential area, it is far more acceptable than the crazy nineteen hours of all day boozing that was planned.

I think most locals could live with a weekend only 2am licence, and then 11pm during weekdays. The conclusion from my chat with Ross however is that a new licence variation is being considered. By implication, this would suggest something slightly later than 2am is being lined up.

Not acceptable.

Ross also mentioned that the building was sold two years ago, along with the existing licence. He wasn’t able to name who the new owner is, but he said that they currently run other nightclubs along the busy commercial stretch of Wandsworth Road.

It seems our #hyperlocal little South London residential community is being confused by the owner for the night time economy patch elsewhere in the borough. Kelly’s should be a community pub, and not a nightclub for outsiders.

So yeah, it’s still very much a case of watch this space. Or even that space on the front door of Kelly’s where all formal licence variations have to be posted. If you objected to the licence then you should receive an email from the Licensing Department, *if* the original application is withdrawn.

Otherwise it looks like being Room 8 at Lambeth Town Hall on the evening of 8th September, to let the Licensing Committee know that a drinking den of a nightclub is clearly not acceptable within our residential community.

How to solve the problem that is Kelly’s along the Clap’ham Road?

*deep, deep sigh*

Consultation with the local community and cooperation to find a working solution for the site would be a good start.

Some digging around on the @lambeth_council planning database confirms that the yuppie flats application was actually rejected last month. Which makes the current bonkers 5am alcohol and live music licence for the site become all the more clearer now.

The timeline seems to suggest that the original plan was to convert the site into nine luxury flats, with a bar below. This was a separate application to the recent request that proposes to introduce nineteen hours a day of boozing into my local community.

I was broadly supportive of the flats development, as were many other locals living around here. The site has been officially empty for two summers now, crumbling around the edges and currently being squatted. It needs a long-term future.

The current owner (still trying to track down - any pointers?) now clearly wants a get rich quick scheme put in place. With the planning application refused, the timeline continued last month with the appearance of the illegal car wash.

This is no laughing matter - with no consultation with local residents, and with no contact with the council for a change of business premises, a Porto car wash appeared overnight within the garage of Kelly’s.

This was the most unsuccessful car wash in South London. It attracted zero customers. It did attract however friends of friends of friends, who all gathered outside the carwash and sat around on the street drinking beer all day.

With some help from our local councillors, the car wash was soon closed down. The handmade (and misspelled) sign still remains, as do the padlocks put in place by the Porto’s running the operation, who return periodically and dump off unknown packages.

Which brings us up to date with the Kelly’s timeline of mismanagement. No yuppie flats, no Porto car wash but a highly offensive licensing application for boozing and live music until five in the morning.

It is clear that the owner wants to make a fast buck out of the building, but not by bringing along the support of the local community on board. The consensus during our door knocking at the weekend is that locals want to find a use for the site. We would be happy for a local pub to return with a properly managed and socially responsible licence.

The complete lack of consultation with local people has given us zero confidence in Kelly’s actually being able to contribute anything to the local community. The twenty-four hour licensing laws were proposed to try an implement a relaxed continental cafe culture. What is currently planned at Kelly’s is the exact opposite of this policy. This is not a delicatessen but a drinking den.

The deadline has now passed for anyone wanting to comment on the application ahead of the meeting of the Lambeth Council Licensing Committee on 31st August. @janeinlondon / E Hants and @JackHopkins_Lab have very kindly set up an online petition to continue with the campaign.

This is a very really #hyperlocal issue, and it is genuinely a case of every extra signature gained will send out the message of mistrust that we have locally about the proposed licence.

This is a community, and not a nightclub site. Let’s keep it that way.

*Monday 16th August update*

Sadly it seems that the information provided on Saturday by the Oval Safer Neighborhood Team is incorrect. The bonkers 5am licence HAS NOT been withdrawn. Today is the deadline for any objections. You can email Ross Hill at Lambeth Council BEFORE 5pm if you wish to comment on the application.

Many thanks to Councillor Hopkins for confirming the situation:

Hi there,

I just wanted to let you know that Kelly’s licence has not been withdrawn yet and today is the last date to make representations.

If you can email Ross Hill by 5pm stating your objections against the 4 licensing objectives:

* the prevention of crime and disorder;
* public safety;
* the prevention of public nuisance; and
* the protection of children from harm.

Myself and Cllr Edbrooke will be putting forward an objection on behalf of the residents who are continuing to sign the petition.

Original blog post…

The campaign to close Kelly’s along the Clap’ham Road continues!

Sort of, and before it’s even opened.

Confused?

Cripes.

And so I spent a very enjoyable and rewarding Saturday afternoon with the most excellent @janeinlondon / E Hants (yep, I was wrong) and Jack the Lad Hopkins, our two fine @LambethLabour councillors here in the Oval ward. Oh, and another local resident as well.

The reason? We are all rather concerned about the fallout from the bonkers 10am - 5am booze and live music licence that someone from outside of our borough had made to our friends from @lambeth_council.

The aim of Saturday afternoon was to spread the message about the proposed plans, and to stimulate conversation about what this might mean for our #hyperlocal patch of South London as we continue to strive forward as a community.

Kelly’s creates confusion on so many fronts. First there is the uncertainty about the bonkers 10am - 5am licence, and how this fits in with the planning application lodged to build yuppie flats. The planning application includes a bar for downstairs. But is this is a separate application from the late night booze den? Who would want to live above a bonkers 5am bar anyway?

The current landlord has past form in pimping out parts of the building for a quick buck. We witnessed this at the start of the summer with the makeshift car wash that appeared without any planning permission. Some liaison with my decent local councillors soon led to the swift closure of the unlicensed business premises.

Saturday afternoon saw more uncertainty creep into the Kelly’s conundrum. We encountered a couple of the nice local cops from the Safer Neighbourhood Team whilst out on our door-to-door campaign.

I had received an email earlier from the Oval SNP, confirming that they oppose the bonkers licence on crime and disorder grounds. I took the opportunity of asking the police face to face if they had any powers to actually speak at the Licensing Committee to expand on these concerns.

The response was revealing: our friendly local police heard on Friday that the licence has now been withdrawn. Hurrah! This hasn’t been confirmed, but I have been promised some clarity on this at the start of the week.

Apparently it seems that the sponsors of the bonkers licence wish to re-think their plans. Too damn right. But not quite time to celebrate just yet. The word on the street (Richbourne Terrace, actually) is that a new licence will be re-submitted, sometime later in the year.

Although 5am may be slightly optimistic, there is no guarantee that a similar highly unsocial hour for serving booze and playing live music may still be part of the application. The police mentioned that the owners want to try and convince the local community that a late night drinking den is just what the area needs right now.

So yeah - it seems that possibly the initial threat to our neighbourhood may have been put temporarily on hold. The mystery that is Kelly’s still needs monitoring however, to see what crazy plans some inconsiderate nightclub promoter wishes to inflict upon us next.

We are not against Kelly’s trading as a pub - we actually welcome the return of the business operating as part of the community, and not as an unsocial business that will divide our neighbourhood. Slapping in 5am alcohol licence requests, with no prior consultation with the locals, is no way to go about building this trust.

Meanwhile, the yuppie flats planning application requires some clarification. Who is behind this, and what is the relationship with the apparently aborted bonkers 5am licence?

Details aside, Saturday was rather ace, I resisted all temptation to do the door knocking thing wearing a @LambethLabour sticker, as was sported by our fine councillors. I was happy to post flyers with their names and party logo on - it was jolly decent of the Jack ‘n Jane roadshow to give up their weekend to rally around our cause.

It is hoped that this new level of understanding (arf!) may even extend out into the badlands of @LambethLabour Stockwell territory. Apparently Kelly’s technically sits within the ward boundary of Councillors Walker, Bowyer and Bigham.

Blimey.

Many, many thanks to @janeinlondon / E Hants and Jack the Lad Hopkins for helping out. Community does exist around these parts. I needed a drink after all of this co-operation. Kelly’s was sadly closed. It was only Saturday afternoon, after all.