Can you help the Old Cottage Coffee Shop this Christmas?
The Old Cottage Coffee Shop in Charlton Park is one of the area’s local gems. Earlier this year, its owners Michael and Mimi were delivering food to the vulnerable during the spring lockdown. And every Christmas Day, it has hosted festive dinners for the elderly.
Things are different this year – so they are making 24 boxes to deliver to older people on Christmas Day. And Michael and Mimi are asking for your help.
Can you write a Christmas card for each person? Michael and Mimi will send you a name and you can write a personal message.
Can you donate presents and snacks for nine men and 15 women?
Can you help deliver on Christmas Day between 11am and noon?
…or could you donate cash to help the project?
If you can help, drop in at the cafe (open Wed-Sun, 9am-4pm), text 07737 922 792 or email m.speak9[at]icloud.co.uk.
We’ve not been sent any information about this (engagement, eh?), all we’ve seen is a little-noticed tweet from Greenwich Council, but it’s worth flagging up – TfL is holding an online event on Monday 14 December to explain and discuss its plans to create a cycle route between Greenwich and Woolwich.
The first section, which begins at Old Woolwich Road and stops at Farmdale Road, right where Greenwich becomes Charlton, is due to be finished by next week after being delayed for about two months. A second section, through Charlton to Anchor & Hope Lane, is due to follow soon after. A third section, to the Woolwich Ferry roundabout, is currently being covered by wider bus lanes until funding can be found for cycle lanes – which have led to some traffic problems as drivers adjust to only having one lane rather than two.
The cycle route is part of a wider plan to create a continuous cycle route between Tower Bridge and Woolwich.
TfL analysis showed that Charlton and Woolwich would benefit most from low-traffic neighbourhoods (darker scores are higher, see the full details)
The wider Streetspace scheme also includes the blocks on through traffic in west Greenwich and new proposals for streets around Maze Hill. There is nothing for side streets in Charlton, despite rat-running problems here, and TfL advice that suggests that streets between the A102 and Woolwich town centre would benefit most from measures to to block rat-running – advice based on factors including traffic and casualty levels, cycling potential, schools, population density, deprivation and low car ownership.
Here’s chuck-out time at Fossdene school – hardly a conducive and friendly environment for walking and cycling, with pedestrians penned in and cars dominating what should be a residential road.
Plenty, then, to discuss. You can sign up using this form for the meeting, which runs from 6pm to 7.30pm.
Update: A decision on this was postponed so councillors could visit the site.
Controversial plans for 48 “pocket homes” on The Heights will go before Greenwich councillors next week – with planning officers recommending they allow the development on an estate car park.
Developer Pocket Living plans to build 45 one-bedroom flats and 3 two-bedroom flats on the contaminated plot overlooking The Valley. It plans to sell them all for 80 per cent of market value to people earning under £71,000 within the borough of Greenwich – meaning they tick the official definition of “affordable”, if not the dictionary definition.
The company specialises in “compact flats” – its one-bedroom flats are little bigger than a studio flat. After six months, Pocket will be allowed to market them across London at limits set by City Hall, which has been giving funding to the company under both the Johnson and Khan mayoralties. Former Greenwich & Woolwich MP Nick Raynsford is among its directors.
As well as the funding it has received from City Hall over the years, Pocket is asking to be excused from paying the Community Infrastructure Levy – a charge on property developers which is reinvested in local facilities.
Two linked blocks of four and five storeys are planned for the site, with two car parking spaces for residents – 21 spaces for existing residents will be retained and relocated. The blocks will be next to the two-storey homes of The Heights estate.
The Charlton Society has lambasted the scheme. It said: “The proposal would harm and block views across London. The land stability issues are unresolved and the ground is unstable.
“The massing does not respect the local context. Worse, in our view: it actively insults it. The proposal is best regarded as a case of over-development, given its context.”
It added that the land should be used for green space instead.
The blocks would sit behind two-storey homes on The Heights
Transport for London has objected to the scheme, saying there are too many car parking spaces as the existing facilities are underused.
However, Greenwich’s planning officers say they are happy with the decontamination plans and the stability of the site. Officers quote a report from Pocket which says: “The homes will meet an affordability gap by providing options for those who would not be able to afford a Shared Ownership / Private Sale home.
“It is noted that based on previous schemes, Pocket Living have detailed that typical purchasers are likely to be 50% key workers, 69% earning less than £46,000 and had rented within the private sector for 8 years prior to buying.”
The officers add: “The design quality of the proposal is of an appropriate standard that works well with the existing building as well as the wider character, form and scale of the surrounding area and the visual amenity of the street scene.
“The impacts of the proposed development upon the amenity of neighbouring occupants have been assessed and have been found to be acceptable.
“Overall, the proposal is considered to be an acceptable redevelopment of an underutilised site.”
Councillors will discuss the development at the planning board meeting next Tuesday.
It’s a brave time to open a new pub, but the once-infamous White Horse on Woolwich Road has been reopened with a new look and a new menu. PAUL BREEN popped in for a pint.
Having taught briefly at the old Holborn College (now Windrush Primary School) over the road, I knew the reputation of The White Horse. Passing it a few weeks ago, I realised that something about it seemed very different from the past associations of the place. However, I didn’t enter because like with most people, the act of going out is now a rarity.
But after seeing the lounge empty one early evening, with sensible precautions in place for social distancing, I went in and ordered a pint, where I experienced something new, positive and unexpected.
Under the radar, Charlton seems to have acquired a decent new pub to go along with the others that we already have. The angry past has moved out and there’s a new rider on the saddle of The White Horse. Though I never ventured into the previous shaven-headed incarnation, everything’s most definitely changed beyond recognition, from décor to drinks. I could feel echoes of The White Swan’s early days in a lot of what I saw, from the friendliness of staff to the general ambience of the place.
Speaking to the owner, I get a sense that he’s got a vision for the place and for being a part of the Charlton community. That seems timely when the football club has just acquired a new owner too; Thomas Sandgaard. There’s something about new ownership that fills people’s hearts and minds with a sense of hope, a sense of better times on the road ahead. That’s as true of a local pub as it is of a football club. Something in the human spirit feeds so strongly off fragments of an imagined future. Here, the promise of Sunday roasts (including a veggie option) brought back those lost moments of in-law lunches as a group at the same table.
Possibly even better than that (sorry in-laws) was the promise of forthcoming craft lagers and theme nights that used to be such a feature of The White Swan from dodgy DJs to quizzes and folk sessions. I wanted to scream out “my God, there is a future!” but present regulations dictate that shouting ecstatically is very definitely not allowed in public. I do though want to shout about this place because in my head I’m already there on that sunny May day when Thomas Sandgaard shocks us all by reaching this stage of his title-winning pub crawl around Charlton.
Though I only got a snapshot of one brief evening here, this discovery gives me a sense of hope, a light in the darkness of this lingering winter. Going to our other locals, of course, does the same I should add but there’s something beautiful, something restorative in finding newness right now. There’s a kindling of hope that the good old days can come back to us, that they’re not just moments lost in time in these days of living in fear.
The White Horse is somewhere I’m hoping to visit on one of those rainy Saturdays, in a time when we’ll joke darkly of days when we could cough suddenly and clear the bar to get a round.
There is hope out there and there is healing in the sight of old places staying open and new ones springing to life, even in this darkest of winters. We do need to support them though so that they’ll be there for us on rainy evenings, match days, film festival nights and the like. Nobody knows what the future holds or even how this virus is going to play out, but we’ve got to keep believing and to keep looking ahead. Thanks to the White Horse and Hachi Sushi Grill for their tastes of the past and the future. Thinking about it almost brings tears to my eyes, though it could just be the wasabi from last night in the Japanese café!
Hachi Sushi Grill is in Frances Street in Woolwich
With the second lockdown at an end, local restaurants are looking to fill their tables once again. PAUL BREEN wandered over the border into SE18 to welcome a newcomer…
I have seen light at the end of this tunnel of whatever way we wish to describe it, crudely or otherwise. I discovered two new places within one evening that remind me this will be over one day in the future and when it is, maybe we’ll come out of it all the stronger.
The two new venues that I’m talking about are Hachi Sushi Grill up in Frances Street between Woolwich and Charlton and the revamped White Horse Bar and Bistro on the main road between the same two places. Each of these are new in their own way and deserving of local support. That’s not singling them out for special praise. They’re just two examples of the many businesses that are struggling through these crazy times.
Inconsistently we’ve got a system that lets people fly on planes with a hundred strangers, but not eat out with half-a-dozen friends. Neither’s ideal in the midst of a pandemic, but the inconsistency’s stomach-churning. That’s why we need to support such places to help them survive.
Okay mini-rant over. Let’s get down to the meat and veg – metaphorically since I’m a pescatarian. Probably just as well too, since the first stop on my tour of local eateries is the new sushi restaurant on Frances Street, just around the corner from where the King’s Arms used to be. That appears to have been eaten up by yet another apartment block in a city that’s hungering to look like parts of Tokyo. Maybe that’s a good omen for the little business taking up residence in what seems an unlikely place.
Hachi Sushi Grill is a new venture that is run by people from the Philippines who have a real passion for Japanese cuisine. Being nosey, I fished for this information and also got told that the chefs have worked for the more famous Sticks’ N’ Sushi chain. Having lived in Japan and then Korea for a few years, I’ve high standards when it comes to Asian restaurants. Generally speaking, the real gems are most often not found in the high streets but slightly off the beaten track like the amazing Seoul Bakery in Bloomsbury or Sensaru, closer to home in east Greenwich.
Hachi is a lot closer to Seoul Bakery than Sensaru in spirit, if not in geography. It’s a small place that offers both take-away and sit-in options. It’s not licensed though seems open to the BYB idea. On the menu there’s a good selection of sushi, sashimi and other more substantial, hot meals. Though basic in furnishings and appearance, the authenticity of the food is what made this place a real gem for me. In Japanese cooking, every meal’s treated as a work of art. Each piece of sushi should have the aesthetics of sea and mountain, fish and rice. There’s no throwing things onto the plate, as if appearance is secondary to taste.
The guys at Hachi seem to get that. They wanted us to like our food – their food – laid out on the plate as if inviting us to pause for a moment and upload it onto Instagram. Better than that, they gave us free bowls of miso soup to accompany it. The price was reasonable too and the place safe as possible in these times, with customers being sensible around each other. If it hadn’t been that way, I wouldn’t have eaten in.
It took me the best part of this year to make a tentative return to eating out, rarely. Probably from now on, I’ll mostly get takeaways from this place until such times as it’s a more normal sit-in experience – but, I will support them. Places like this need our support for having the courage to start out on a new venture in these times when so many are fighting to stay in existence. And both new and old need to survive so that when things do normalise, there’s a world and a locality worth going back to.
Hachi Sushi Grill is also on Just Eat. Tomorrow: Paul visits the revamped White Horse on Woolwich Road.
Got small children to entertain next weekend? Charlton Toy Library, which is based at Charlton House, is putting on a treasure hunt in Charlton Park next Saturday. In their own words…
Charlton Toy Library is putting on a Christmas Treasure Hunt, on Saturday 12 December between 10.30 – 12.30.
There will be two trails for little hunters. One easier one for kids up to 3 years and one advanced one for kids over 3 years. Starting point is at the Charlton Toy Library to collect the treasure map.
The event is free to attend and participants will receive a treat at the end. All social distancing measures and government guidelines are being followed for this event.
It follows a pumpkin hunt held at Halloween, which we’re told was a roaring success. To sign up, visit eventbrite.co.uk.
Some 2,000 fans were allowed back into The Valley last night after the easing of lockdown rules – but once again, the team failed to live up to the big occasion. KEVIN NOLAN was there to see a disappointing defeat.
Charlton’s prospects could hardly have looked rosier than they did at The Valley on Tuesday evening. The stadium was spick, span and ready to welcome 2,000 fortunate aficionados through its doors; its grass was as green as you’ll find anywhere in the Emerald Isle.
The team had redeemed itself for that 4-2 humiliation by lowly Burton Albion by producing a superb performance to dismiss Ipswich Town at the weekend. Results had gone their way 24 hours previously and there was an even more recent boost with the news that 2nd placed rivals Peterborough United were on their way to defeat at Wimbledon. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. Milton Keynes‘ role was simply to slot in and make up the numbers.
It was, of course, too good to be true. Because as any savvy Addick knows, Charlton don’t do “occasions”. Make a fuss of them and they freeze. It’s a tried-and-true article of faith, proven frequently down the years. They do better while flying under the radar, not splashed all over the media as they were before this latest fall from grace. Charlton all too briefly but unwisely held the stage. Shame nobody marked the visitors’ card and reminded them of their role as mere stooges in a pre-ordained scheme of things.
For it soon became clear that MK were having none of it. They swaggered out as if they owned the place and for a couple of dominant hours proved yet again that, as that philosophical French bloke Albert Camus pointed out, “the only thing that spoils a football match is the presence on the field of another team”. On to Charlton’s immaculate field on Tuesday strutted the best team the Addicks have met so far this season. Crisp and confident, their reputation for attractive, possession-based football was well-founded. It’s a so far unsolved mystery why Russell Martin’s side are languishing in the lower reaches of League One. They won as they pleased at The Valley and if it took them 75 minutes to turn their superiority over their hosts into a tangible advantage, that delinquency was entirely due to the brilliance of Ben Amos.
With his disastrous role in the Burton debacle firmly behind him, Amos came close to stealing an unlikely point from this 1-0 trouncing. As early as the second minute, he was in action to parry Cameron Jerome’s subtle flick, then followed with a smart save from Ben Gladwin. Scott Fraser’s bruising, angled shot was repelled with a prudently outstretched foot before a perfectly timed swoop whisked the ball off Jerome’s toes as the experienced striker broke through on his own. Before the interval, Amos kept the scores level by awkwardly dealing with Gladwin’s drifting corner, then defied Fraser again as his parting shot.
After the break, the overworked Amos again stood firm with a fine save from Andrew Surman and an outstanding fingertipped effort to waft Carlton Morris’ drive to safety until with a quarter hour left, his resistance was finally broken. Breaking swiftly after substitute Chuks Aneke missed a chance to give the Addicks a surprise lead, MK turned defence into attack with swift, ground passing, the last of which was Matthew Sorinola’s perceptive delivery which put Fraser clear to the left of goal. Picking his spot, the busy Scottish midfielder cracked an accurate drive across the diving Amos and found the far bottom corner. It was hard on Charlton’s blameless keeper but the goal been overdue for a long while.
Shortly before Fraser’s breakthrough, Conor Washington had stung Andrew Fisher’s hands after running on to a superb ball from Marcus Maddison. Having fallen behind, the locals rallied briefly, with Darren Pratley curling a decent effort over the bar then, in added time, scuffing a last chance against the bar. But they never genuinely threatened to equalise, with Fraser’s goal always to deliver the points to the roundabouts of Milton Keynes.
Though far from a season-defining setback, this defeat was a chastening reminder that deliverance from League One is gained through blood, sweat and on this occasion, tears. It’s a tooth and nail job, not some softshoe shuffle through a carpet of roses. Charlton clawed their way out of this unpleasant division less than two years ago, then subsided in heartbreaking fashion at the first time of asking. They might find it easier to yo-yo back again if they keep a lower profile.
The Charlton Champion 