Woolwich

Have some of us just discovered Woolwich? 

It's been like that for decades.

iainment said:

usetobunkin said:

I am proud to say I am a Plumstead boy, and have witnessed its change. I say change and not decline because I think to say decline is to say 
that the people who are now residents are somehow second class citizens.
I believe Woolwich and Plumstead are working class areas and will always be working class. Something once again I am immensely proud of. 

I go to Woolwich quite often and I don’t feel like any issues affect me. 

Just because people might have a different heritage to me doesn’t make them a threat, we all want what is best for our family.
I am retired working class, the majority of people I see in Woolwich are working class, long may it continue.

I live in Plumstead and love it. Been here since 2005 and it has changed since then but not badly. Like you I am from the working class and proud of it.
Woolwich is changing as well and I’m there frequently. I’ve never felt worried about walking around there at any time of the day or night. 

The area has become a bit of the poster boy for the far right as a bad place to be. But it’s not.

@iainment Which is ironic because (I know I said I didn't want to get into "politics") when I first moved to the area you couldn't move for Combat 18 graffiti! Much better now imho.

redbuttle said:

Diebythesword said:

Meanwhile, in reality, Woolwich is rapidly beginning to gentrify and crime stats continues to go down in Sadiq khan’s London. 

Are you joking?

Exactly.

ElfsborgAddick said:

iainment said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

bobmunro said:

FreshHaddock said:

I'm not going to get in to politics and am certainly no fan of Sadiq Khan, but as someone who has lived in Woolwich for more than half of my life now, I would suggest that its problems predate his appointment by many decades. Indeed I might go as far as to say it never really recovered from the closure of the Royal Arsenal. Having said that I have grown to love the place. A lot of that might simply be because I also love the entire city, and if I were to sell my flat I would never be able to afford to live in London again. 

Bloody Khan eh? I've never forgiven him for how he dealt with the Great Fire of London.

I left the Woolwich area over 40 years ago and the inner city problems as described above already existed back then. Mid 70s onwards saw the major decline of Woolwich.

But I still have very fond memories of the place growing up there in the 60s and early seventies.

I would suggest the increase in crime in his term will include Woolwich.

That aside, walking down Powis Street on a Thursday afternoon in March was an eye opener.

Do you have stats to show an increase in crime - I’ve read somewhere crime is significantly down in London over the last years.

In HIS term.

That’s not stats.

To think a Mayor could make more than an incidental difference is naive. You have to look at Central Government funding for Councils and services as well. If that funding for critical preventive services goes down then problems increase.

Had a very nice but slightly expensive Pizza and an obscure craft beer on the Arsenal development a week or so ago.

Walked past the location of Manzies Pie and Mash shop on the way to get the bus home. I loved visiting Manzies as a Kid and thought it was the best thing ever.

Couldn't help but thinking how much Woolwich and myself had changed over the years.

iainment said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

iainment said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

bobmunro said:

FreshHaddock said:

I'm not going to get in to politics and am certainly no fan of Sadiq Khan, but as someone who has lived in Woolwich for more than half of my life now, I would suggest that its problems predate his appointment by many decades. Indeed I might go as far as to say it never really recovered from the closure of the Royal Arsenal. Having said that I have grown to love the place. A lot of that might simply be because I also love the entire city, and if I were to sell my flat I would never be able to afford to live in London again. 

Bloody Khan eh? I've never forgiven him for how he dealt with the Great Fire of London.

I left the Woolwich area over 40 years ago and the inner city problems as described above already existed back then. Mid 70s onwards saw the major decline of Woolwich.

But I still have very fond memories of the place growing up there in the 60s and early seventies.

I would suggest the increase in crime in his term will include Woolwich.

That aside, walking down Powis Street on a Thursday afternoon in March was an eye opener.

Do you have stats to show an increase in crime - I’ve read somewhere crime is significantly down in London over the last years.

In HIS term.

That’s not stats.

To think a Mayor could make more than an incidental difference is naive. You have to look at Central Government funding for Councils and services as well. If that funding for critical preventive services goes down then problems increase.

I'll pull out of this as you will have guessed what side of the net I'm on.

I live on the Royal Arsenal and the worst thing about it is that it’s crawling with Millwall. The amount of times I’ve been walking around in a Charlton shirt, minding my own business, only to get heckled at by some spanner muppet. A couple of weeks ago I even had a bloke stop his car in the middle of the road just to point at me and yell, “You’ve got shit on your shirt, mate! Hahahaha” My response was less than polite!

They’ll pipe down if we somehow manage to win both games against them this season.

Crusty54 said:

Diebythesword said:

redbuttle said:

Diebythesword said:

Meanwhile, in reality, Woolwich is rapidly beginning to gentrify and crime stats continues to go down in Sadiq khan’s London. 

Are you joking?

Nope. Woolwich one of fastest gentrifying areas in the capital

https://trustforlondon.org.uk/data/gentrification-across-london/

and crime is falling citywide. 

https://news.met.police.uk/pressreleases/neighbourhood-crime-significantly-falls-in-london-after-met-boosts-local-policing-3459166

Facts do not lie. Nor do they care about “feelings”. Although my feeling as a Woolwich resident of the last 15 months are the place is continuing to get better and better. 

Extremely happy here with 20 mins from the city now, and world class Nepalese cuisine on my doorstep https://www.ft.com/content/903c5569-c1d6-43d6-852d-df5d382a8aa5?shareType=nongift and a stones throw from the valley. 

Does it have problems? Absolutely. Every place in any city does, but let’s not pretend it isn’t rapidly improving. Im fairly sure it will join Shoreditch, elephant and castle, Peckham and Deptford as areas once deemed as certifiable shitholes that are rapidly improving. 

There are homes for very rich people in the Arsenal development but cross the road and there is extreme poverty at the moment.

Berkeley Homes and Greenwich Council are keen to flatten the area and build more tower blocks.

Yep, but I’d say the other side of the road will see rapid improvement in the next few years. Even now the square renovation, the bobs your uncle cafe opening and the old gun pit renovation makes beresford square look much more inviting. Woolwich central development will be finished, adding about 800 homes to the area and more high spec commercial space. Greenwich council’s recent “2040 plan” has the Woolwich island site finished within the next 5 years, which considering they haven’t started anything they better get their skates on.

dont get me started on Greenwich council’s lethargy in redeveloping these brownfield sites in Woolwich - I’m looking at you indoor market and macbean street sites.

Chippycafc said:

CAFCTrev said:

I live on the Royal Arsenal and the worst thing about it is that it’s crawling with Millwall. The amount of times I’ve be9en walking around in a Charlton shirt, minding my own business, only to get heckled at by some spanner muppet. A couple of weeks ago I even had a bloke stop his car in the middle of the road just to point at me and yell, “You’ve got shit on your shirt, mate! Hahahaha” My response was less than polite!

They’ll pipe down if we somehow manage to win both games against them this season.

I went to gravesend the other week to meet my family, another shithole town now, and I was wearing a Charlton shirt. At Dartford station some moronic Millwall fan came up to me and at 200db gave me a loud bellowing of MILLWALL.  Similar happened at gravesend and when I got back home at Basingstoke some idiotic teenagers gave me a rendition of we are Millwall no one likes us. 

No other issues with anyone else on the day. What is it with these cretins. 

I think it's literally because of their recent record against us, we have very little ammunition to fling back at them if they get mouthy, and punching down is what they like doing best. Again, this season that could change!

I remember having a walk through the town centre just before we left London in 2013, memories of my childhood flooding back of Lyon’s tea house, the Shakespeare pub, freeman, hardy and Willis, cuffs and many more. 

Curb_It said:

But I don’t care what people can try and say about Woolwich and its regeneration, as soon as you come out of those gates and cross the road you need to keep your wits about you. I certainly do. 

I do understand that, but it does make me laugh a bit. I came here as an 18 year old, the first time I had ever lived on my own, as a student. Over 30 years later, having grown and changed with Woolwich, it really doesn't worry me.  It's not like I haven't had the odd "dicey" encounter, but that was when I was younger and a bit wilder and I'd have found that sort of trouble elsewhere quite easily. I guess it just comes down to what you are familiar with.

Into the evening beresford square etc can get a little dicey with people drinking in the square, never had any issues, however. And I’d say it is getting better. During the day especially in the summer it’s a great space now with kids playing in the fountains, one of the best things the council have done for the area. As I said, I think with the Woolwich central and island sites being developed the area “up the hill” will be very different to how it is now. Woolwich has a bright future imo and I really like living here.

Believe me, there are plenty of women your age and older that (how can I put this delicately?) fit your description, and of all ethnicities, that are certainly "robust" enough to look after themselves in Woolwich. I would even go as far to say that women like that were probably among my role models when I was more nervous about the area!
I worked with women like that in the Council that had to deal with the sorts of complex social problems that areas like this experience and they are the rocks that community (if it exists at all) in places like this are founded on.
I am also aware that I have much less to fear than a lot of people because I'm a white middle aged man, but I have a feeling that you are selling yourself short. It's always good to keep your wits about you, but I really don't think Woolwich is as bad as a lot of people make out and I don't think you should be too scared of it, even if there are a few loonies that might cause problems if you point out they are being arsehats. Last night on the way back from work on the Purple Train some suited and booted young man in his 20s or 30s sat on the seat diagonally across from me and put his shoes on the seat right next to me. I was instantly enraged and wanted to kick off, but I glared at him, thought about it, and moved seat. If I had done, it might have turned nasty, but I think that is a London thing as much as a Woolwich thing.