Gay Camberwell

We at Gay Camberwell have been watching Camberwell’s recent bingo/church/cinema campaigning with much interest. In summary, Gala Bingo on Camberwell Road, previously a cinema (and with a glorious art deco interior), and more recently enjoyed by many bingo enthusiasts, has just closed, and is due to be purchased on Monday 1st March by the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Merindband.  The Camberwell Online Blog community found out about this last week and have launched a campaign.  They hope to halt the sale (an optimistic ambition given the timescale) and to prevent the purchasers from getting planning permission for change of use  (which we hope has a good prospect of success).  They would like the hall to be turned into a focal point for the community, perhaps a cinema/arts centre.

This is an interesting campaign – as long as we’ve lived in Camberwell people have been talking about campaigning about various issues, but this one has really caught people’s imaginations. Their Facebook page already has nearly 500 fans, and featured on the front page of the South London Press this week. Why? Because people want to see SE5 improve. It’s nice to see people being so enthusiastic about things, and as one of Camberwell’s groups / entities, we thought we’d better have our say.

I suppose the campaign boils down to two issues: one is the conversion of the building from public entertainment to private use, and the other is the specific purchasers.

On the first, Camberwell is sorely in need of more non-pub based facilities and entertainment for its community. Indeed Gay Camberwell’s raison d’etre is to encourage people to enjoy living and playing in Camberwell. We have a fantastically diverse community and bringing people together in leisure is a great way of promoting community cohesion and development. Camberwell is on the up, and a few focal points are key to that. Thus we send our sympathies to the bingo players who have been left without a local bingo venue, and we would absolutely love for the old bingo hall to be turned into something that the community can enjoy. So we oppose the building being sold and given over to the exclusive use of a small portion of the community, or being used by people who drive in and out of Camberwell to attend without using any other facilities or contributing to the local economy, and excluding local people. The fact that this building is a beautiful listed building only strengthens the argument that Camberwellians should ideally be able to have access and enjoy it.

On the second issue, the specific purchasers, please do not think for a moment that we have anything against religion. It’s one of Camberwell’s great features that people can worship in any way they choose, and yet our diverse community currently feels relatively inclusive. This is one of the reasons why Camberwell’s gay community feel so comfortable socialising in SE5: people for the most part do their own thing and don’t interfere too much in other people’s activities. However we can only oppose the massive expansion of a church that, by its size (it has a capacity of 2000), will overpower the other religious establishments in Camberwell, and specifically encourages some of the very behaviours that are least welcome in SE5. As Gay Camberwell, we are sorry to see that they promote homophobia, which means that a) Camberwell’s gay community are not welcome, and b) attendees are encouraged to develop active homophobia, impacting very negatively on Camberwell.

As a doctor at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, I’m also personally very concerned that the church actively stigmatises people with any illness: they tell people that the cause of their illness is sin rather than pathology. In Camberwell we have Kings College Hospital, one of the country’s top hospitals. We have the Maudsley Hospital, one of the world’s most famous psychiatric hospitals. And we have the Institute of Psychiatry, one of the world’s top mental health research institutes. Camberwell is proudly at the epicentre of top scientific work in health, and is also devoted to reducing the stigma experienced by people with mental illness (including the fabulous Bonkersfest and Cooltan Arts).  

A huge church will bring huge numbers of people with these beliefs to SE5. Camberwell does not deserve this.

And so, we will be very interested to see where this campaign takes us. Apparently said church tried to take over a building in Crystal Palace and were prevented by community protests. Let’s go for a bit of community cohesion and positive action in Camberwell. Churches are great but when they actively discriminate and promote prejudice against huge numbers of people, we have to question their benefits to a community. And with Camberwell drastically in need of more arts facilities and community halls, and a beautiful old cinema crying out to be used by Camberwell’s residents, this seems like a chance too important to miss…

You can join the Facebook page here and the website here.

by Layla

Sometimes, in the quest for glamour,one is lured beyond the bounds of SE5. We at Gay Camberwell have often been intrigued by Dulwich's Beauberry House, and since they are running 'South London's First Gay Wedding Fair' in March, we thought we ought to check it out. A nice Top Table offer of 3 courses and champagne sealed the deal (though frankly it's still expensive!) and so last night, we cycled up and down hills and along a very dark road until we came across the venue. 

We felt rather incongruous, tying up our bikes in a driveway clearly meant for Rolls Royce cars, and as we ascended the steps to the front door, I whipped off my cycling anorak and tried to look posh... On entering, it became less clear whether posh was the order of the day or not. It's a funny venue. It gives off an air of modern country house glamour, yet doesn't quite pull it off: inappropriate clubby style music and  tacky vases that light up in different colours, and clearly some kind of 18th birthday party esque event upstairs. 

Onto the meal. The champagne was nice, but the food unremarkable. The atmosphere was quite odd. We spent much of the meal giggling, and frankly, we didn't know what to make of it.  Fortunately the Beauberry House food powered us up Herne Hill Road and home to SE5 in a speedy 15 minutes. Phew. Is it just me, or is Dulwich creepy? Maybe it's all those white arrows with pointing fingers. Or the pseudo-posh, overpriced establishments. Or sour grapes... 

Later, we received an e-mail from Camberwell Library telling us that tomorrow (Monday) they are having a LGBT quiz. It's at 6-8pm in the library, and there are sweeties for prizes. Intriguing. I am busy but Roz is hoping to go along, so do join her!

by Layla


Sometimes I feel sheepish for posting about eating so much. You must have a vision of the Gay Camberwell team waddling from restaurant to restaurant in SE5. So I will try very hard not to mention the brilliant new Love Walk Cafe, possibly Camberwell's best breakfast venue and tea shop, having had a delicious meal in a completely full Buddha Jazz, or even having been to Angels and Gypsies twice in the one day (don't tell anyone!) first for a fantastic sandwich, and later with a group for my birthday festivities. No, I will try to distract you by demonstrating that far from being a very greedy girl, I am in fact an energetic, glamorous socialite.

First, energetic. Ah yes. I have been too ashamed til now to admit that sometimes I venture beyond the confines of SE5 but it is true. Once a week I cycle to Peckham Rye, hop on a train, and attend an ice skating lesson.Oh yes. Streatham may seem quite an incongruous place for ice skating, but in fact its rink seems to be its main attraction. Never have we managed to find a post-skate pub in the vicinity, alas. However I am proud to report that this week Roz and I passed our level 1, 2 and 3 ice skating tests. I can now go both forwards and backwards, and jump 1cm in the air on two wobbly feet. It is an accomplishment. I can heartily recommend it as an activity adventure day out from Camberwell... If any Streathamites read this blog and take great offence about their sorry lack of nice pubs in the ice rink vicinity, please do reply with suggestions of post-skate drinking establishments and I will retract at once. 

Next, glamorous. I was contacted by the Southwark Weekender last week. I was in fact in the middle of attending Roz's work leaving party and couldn't really make out what was being said. It turned out that they were doing a feature on South London's first gay wedding fair. On Monday 8th March at Beauberry House in Dulwich in fact. And before I knew what I'd done, I'd provided a silly quote and next thing I knew, we were in the paper. Clearly this implies glamour of the highest degree. Well, judge for yourself - click below to download the PDF!

And finally, socialite. Last Saturday was the famed and much-anticipated occasional Moona party, a lesbian cabaret party on a theme, in this case the French Revolution. Said party takes place in The Castle and is run by Karen McLeod, author of In Search of the Missing Eyelash (lesbian themed stalker story set in Crystal Palace). Having dined copiously, my birthday companions followed me nervously up the Castle stairs to be met with great music, mad costumes, wall-to-wall lesbians, and an occasional gay boy in a stripy t-shirt. We were serenaded on a ukelele and an impromptu life drawing class was commencing when I grew weary and headed home to bed. 

PS It's LGBT history month - Camberwell has quite a lot going on. Check out the calendar for details.

by Layla

I have been enjoying monitoring SE5 developments on my walk to work. A stroll through Camberwell Green brings me first to the ex-Silver Buckle, tentatively named Oberon, but now - if rumour is correct - about to be re-christened The Tiger. This is due to the new owners (the same ones who own the East Dulwich Tavern, apparently), having uncovered a beautiful old tiled display from the pub's bygone incarnation proclaiming its original name. Walking past it every day has been great fun. First the shiny dark green tiles emerged on its facade, then its lovely original signs - not for The Tiger a hideous and mis-spelled PVC computer-print sign ("Noodels City", I am referring to you). Suddenly there are windows: big and generous, and they are restoring original features inside and out with vigour. The owners intend this to be a proper pub, and you have to respect the efforts (and presumably expense) they are going to in order to restore it rather than quick fix dabs of paint as others have done before them. I am very much looking forward to seeing the result.

Further up the hill, I come to the other developing establishment: the Love Walk Cafe. Whose name I think you'll agree gives off a rather better tone than the Denmark Hill Cafe. On the former site of El Gallo/Willow, the Love Walk Cafe has been developing behind whitewashed windows for some time, but this week the whitewash is gone and my nose has been pressed against the glass, intrepid reporter style, to find out what's going on. It looks rather nice, actually. It seems to be a cafe, promising fresh juices and smoothies, as well as a nice-looking coffee set-up. The furnishing and decor looks purposefully eclectic and quite pleasant. It looks almost ready to open... With the lovely Cafe Bay starting to trade at the weekend, as well as during the week, perhaps this oft-neglected patch of Denmark Hill is about to become Camberwell's cafe district...

On the gay front, Camberwell is rather busy this month, thanks in part to LGBT History Month, and I'd like to think in part to Time Out proclaiming Camberwell 'London's new gay bar capital' a couple of weeks ago, in their glowing review of Angels and Gypsies. See the events calendar on the Gay Camberwell homepage and the history-themed films that we've programmed for Pink Screen Sundays . There are some interesting things going on, including a gay-friendly cabaret club night, Moona, on the 6th, a gay history walk on the 20th, a meet-and-greet Southwark Council LGBT-related workers on the 11th, and a launch of children's books at Peckham library celebrating same-sex parents and other types of families on the 17th. Enjoy!

PS We've done a few new restaurant reviews ourselves. Check out Angels and Gypsies, and Zeret Kitchen. And since Time Out positively reviewed  Silk Road last week (they can't stay away from Camberwell at the moment - their columnist proclaimed last week "inexplicably Camberwell has become a foodie destination"!), we'd better get down there and check it out. Got to keep that finger on the pulse you know! Queues out the door for Camberwell restaurants - it's happening now, folks! Better make a reservation...