Was about to start a thread on this. really interesting. was it that one of the streets was full of criminals? Seems that it was a terrible mistake to do what they did. that syreet that remains, propertys are 750k!
Thought it was interesting how that bloke was explaining that his family grew apart because they were were all moved out from Deptford to Charlton, Greenwich and Brockley. Highlights how close knit family life was back then that it really was all about living on the same couple of streets such that moving only a mile or two down the road - which these days most people would not bat an eyelid at - was such a difficult and destructive thing.
I always thought that the sixties and seventies built monstrosities were built mostly to replace war damage. I never realised they were a result of civic vandalism. I grew up in one of those two up two down terraced cottages that survived in Greenwich Borough. Great programme.
Started watching it and realised that the family they were talking about were related to me. Those wedding films had me crying me eyes out at people now gone. Also so angry that the destruction of those houses were part of some university boys plan who had never had a real family as they had proberbly been sent off to public school when a kid. Part of me thinks they were jealous of the love and life that was in those placesso they wrecked them. Me Nan was moved into the first block of flats built OK inside but I can still smell the lifts and stairs.
Started watching it and realised that the family they were talking about were related to me. Those wedding films had me crying me eyes out at people now gone. Also so angry that the destruction of those houses were part of some university boys plan who had never had a real family as they had proberbly been sent off to public school when a kid. Part of me thinks they were jealous of the love and life that was in those placesso they wrecked them. Me Nan was moved into the first block of flats built OK inside but I can still smell the lifts and stairs.
Very interesting programme on a local area and a bit depressing. Well worth a watch. I shall look forward to the Camberwell Grove one next week as I always wondered about that road when I lived in the area, considering the surrounding area.
My grandparents were both born and brought up in Creek Road Deptford as was my mother. In 1941 they all moved to the 'new town' of Becontree Heath by Dagenham Essex. A brand new semi-detached house, inside toilet, bathroom, open spaces for the 'kiddies' to play. They liked it so much that they moved back to Deptford in 1943. My mother is now dead. My aunt who is still alive and was also born in Deptford will enjoy this programme. She, like so many 'cockneys' loved living in 'old London'. Never mind the town planners, the city as machine, the middle class values imposed on the 'deserving poor', my aunt like so many of her generation, was more interested in the friends and family who lived all around until the planners evicted and rehoused my family in the late 1940s and pulled their house down, a house which had been lived in by my family since the 1860s. As our sociery appears to get more fractured and people become more isolated, as local councils are run by professional politicians and bureaucrats who plan everything and know next to nothing, there is a lot to be said for a simple life lived in familiar surroundings which are clean and friendly rather than antiseptic and functional. An irony is, that, as was said during the programme, some of these old 'slum' houses which survived the wrecking ball are being sold for hundreds of thousands. Le Corbusier and his like, his disciples, have a lot to answer for
My grandparents were both born and brought up in Creek Road Deptford as was my mother. In 1941 they all moved to the 'new town' of Becontree Heath by Dagenham Essex. A brand new semi-detached house, inside toilet, bathroom, open spaces for the 'kiddies' to play. They liked it so much that they moved back to Deptford in 1943. My mother is now dead. My aunt who is still alive and was also born in Deptford will enjoy this programme. She, like so many 'cockneys' loved living in 'old London'. Never mind the town planners, the city as machine, the middle class values imposed on the 'deserving poor', my aunt like so many of her generation, was more interested in the friends and family who lived all around until the planners evicted and rehoused my family in the late 1940s and pulled their house down, a house which had been lived in by my family since the 1860s. As our sociery appears to get more fractured and people become more isolated, as local councils are run by professional politicians and bureaucrats who plan everything and know next to nothing, there is a lot to be said for a simple life lived in familiar surroundings which are clean and friendly rather than antiseptic and functional. An irony is, that, as was said during the programme, some of these old 'slum' houses which survived the wrecking ball are being sold for hundreds of thousands. Le Corbusier and his like, his disciples, have a lot to answer for
Great watch, very sad & depressing though, what was once a thriving, bustling, close knit community is now a mish mash of cultures living in relative poverty simply because planners had an idea of what people should be living like.
It killed the market & local shops, perhaps those lower on the social scale would have had more chance of jobs rather than the lack of opportunity now.
Great watch, very sad & depressing though, what was once a thriving, bustling, close knit community is now a mish mash of cultures living in relative poverty simply because planners had an idea of what people should be living like.
It killed the market & local shops, perhaps those lower on the social scale would have had more chance of jobs rather than the lack of opportunity now.
Also sad in hindsight is that planners never seem to learn from their mistakes. About the only thing that seems to have changed is that they now favour brick or local stone facing as opposed to prefabricated concrete.
Then again, is it even possible to undo social vandalism on that scale
Great watch, very sad & depressing though, what was once a thriving, bustling, close knit community is now a mish mash of cultures living in relative poverty simply because planners had an idea of what people should be living like.
It killed the market & local shops, perhaps those lower on the social scale would have had more chance of jobs rather than the lack of opportunity now.
Also sad in hindsight is that planners never seem to learn from their mistakes. About the only thing that seems to have changed is that they now favour brick or local stone facing as opposed to prefabricated concrete.
Then again, is it even possible to undo social vandalism on that scale
Thought the same thing, masses of blocks being built all over, Bermondsey, Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford etc - they are selling for a few bob, but there aren't any real local shops/high street, there isn't common recreational space or anything else that helps to foster community. People go into their underground car park, lift up to their apartment, sit in there all night, then off to work up town rather than locally...will it all go the same way when people realise they don't want to live in poorly built modern apartments with a lack of atmosphere and facilities?
It is the same in a hell of a lot of things,they let some twat with a degree who is hardly out of nappies loose on things that matter and they don't have a clue.As someone posted earlier how can someone who has been punted off to boarding school understand the closeness of a proper family?
Great watch, very sad & depressing though, what was once a thriving, bustling, close knit community is now a mish mash of cultures living in relative poverty simply because planners had an idea of what people should be living like.
It killed the market & local shops, perhaps those lower on the social scale would have had more chance of jobs rather than the lack of opportunity now.
Also sad in hindsight is that planners never seem to learn from their mistakes. About the only thing that seems to have changed is that they now favour brick or local stone facing as opposed to prefabricated concrete.
Then again, is it even possible to undo social vandalism on that scale
Thought the same thing, masses of blocks being built all over, Bermondsey, Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford etc - they are selling for a few bob, but there aren't any real local shops/high street, there isn't common recreational space or anything else that helps to foster community. People go into their underground car park, lift up to their apartment, sit in there all night, then off to work up town rather than locally...will it all go the same way when people realise they don't want to live in poorly built modern apartments with a lack of atmosphere and facilities?
The same thing is happening in lots of places - the current idea seems to be housing units make the most profit, so build houses. Gardens are a luxury, parks / sports pitches etc are uneconomic so simply aren't built. Local shops and pubs don't have a sufficent profit margin so aren't included within new development schemes.
To live in most of these places, one would have to drive somewhere else in order to do anything (even buy a pint of milk), or stay at home watching the TV. Either planners nowadays assume that's all people want to do, or they hope that there will always be something good on the box.
Fabulous programme and highlights the money over community culture that still exists today...to find out the houses that you HAD to move out of were infact totally suitable to live in and therefore all that family history lost must be heartbreaking.....i lived for a part of my growing up years in Rolt St not far from where that was filmed and the "old Deptford families" were a joy to know.
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Nail bar, Paddy Power, Costcutter...
Interesting programme. Showed the damage of revolution not evolution when dealing with planning, and reminded me to a degree of Bucharest.
As a side note St Peter the Great stayed in Deptford, and partly modelled St Petersburg on Deptford.
Very interesting programme on a local area and a bit depressing. Well worth a watch. I shall look forward to the Camberwell Grove one next week as I always wondered about that road when I lived in the area, considering the surrounding area.
shame about the pubs and unbelievable that there are only two left along the High St.
As our sociery appears to get more fractured and people become more isolated, as local councils are run by professional politicians and bureaucrats who plan everything and know next to nothing, there is a lot to be said for a simple life lived in familiar surroundings which are clean and friendly rather than antiseptic and functional.
An irony is, that, as was said during the programme, some of these old 'slum' houses which survived the wrecking ball are being sold for hundreds of thousands. Le Corbusier and his like, his disciples, have a lot to answer for
It killed the market & local shops, perhaps those lower on the social scale would have had more chance of jobs rather than the lack of opportunity now.
Then again, is it even possible to undo social vandalism on that scale
To live in most of these places, one would have to drive somewhere else in order to do anything (even buy a pint of milk), or stay at home watching the TV. Either planners nowadays assume that's all people want to do, or they hope that there will always be something good on the box.