South East London blogzine - things that are happening, things that happened, things that should never have happened. New Cross, Brockley, Deptford and other beauty spots. EMAIL US: transpontineblog at gmail.com Transpontine: 'on the other (i.e. the south) side of the bridges over the Thames; pertaining to or like the lurid melodrama played in theatres there in the 19th century'.
Last week (13 August) saw the anniversary of the 1977 'Battle of Lewisham' when local communities and anti-racists from all over the country mobilised to oppose a march by the far right National Front from New Cross to Lewisham, events covered in detail at this blog before. SE London community digital radio station Sister Midnight FM marked the anniversary with a day of programmes themed around…
The partial solar eclipse was a joyous occasion. Telegraph Hill Park (top park, pictured) in New Cross was packed with thousands of people, with sun (and moon) worshippers streaming towards it by foot and bike from all directions. It often gets crowded on New Year's Eve, and is generally busy on summer evenings, but I suspect this was the biggest ever crowd in the park. After staying there for a…
In the early 1980s the former Odeon cinema site in Camberwell, on the corner of Denmark Hill and Coldharbour Lane, became a branch of the discount jeans chain Dickie Dirts. By 1984 it had closed and been squatted, which I believe it was intermittently for the next couple of years. On 9 August 1986 there was a gig there featuring The Levellers and The Bambi Slam Source of gig advert - The Wire,…
I loved Keith Ridgway's novel Dooneen, set in an alternative present version of Dublin where housing struggles are intensifying towards some kind of uprising. The story actually starts though in Southwark with two men walking from the River Thames (including a drink at the Angel in Rotherhithe), through Southwark Park and on to their home in Havil Street SE5. The next day the lovers are separated…
As always lots going on in the SE London beer and coffee zone. Best news is that a new pub is set to open shortly on the site of the former White Hart in New Cross Gate. The Broken Wheel, as it will be named, will occupy the iconic junction of New Cross Road and Queens Road, a place where there really should be a pub. The White Hart was there for over 170 years, it had its ups and downs but in its…
It's hard to keep up with the flourishing zine, comics and book fairs happening at the moment, which I see as a very positive sign. This weekend (11th and 12th July 2026) sees the ARC festival of contemporary comics taking place in Copeland Park, Peckham with at least 100 exhibitors. South London Comic and Zine Fair is coming up at Stanley Arts, 12 South Norwood Hill, SE25 6AB on Sunday 19th July…
Popped along yesterday to the 35th birthday party for 56a Infoshop, the boutique radical social centre/archive/bookshop at 56a Crampton Street SE17, just down from the Elephant and Castle. Keeping a constant presence, and keeping relevant amidst everything that has changed over this time, is an amazing achievement. Who said anarchists can't organise anything? Caught some poetry and a folk trio,…
It is now a hundred years since the General Strike of May 1926, when workers all over the country walked out on strike in support of miners. The strike was strongly supported in South London industries, and there were major clashes with police. One such episode took place by the Charlton riverfront, where the Medway Oil and Storage Company had a fuel depot storing petrol. This was on North Street,…
The occultist Peter J Carroll died recently, best known as one of the founders of the Chaos Magic current. As he reflected last year: 'As I turned 72 in January it occurred to me that Chaos Magic really began fifty years ago in a squat in insalubrious Deptford, London, where certain insights emerged during intense study, furious practice, wild experimentation, and meetings with remarkable and/or…
Deptford is bringing in the May this year with Full Bloom, a weekend music and beer festival: 'Led by Villages Brewery and a network of local venues, Deptford in Full Bloom brings together live music, folk sessions, DJs, zine fairs, art exhibitions, and pop-ups across the neighbourhood. Expect everything from open mic nights and jazz sessions to street celebrations and the iconic May Day parade.…
Students at Goldsmiths University of London have occupied the college library in New Cross in protest against another round of cuts threatening the jobs of hundreds of staff (academic and professional services) and leaving the future of some courses in doubt. As the occupiers have noted, 'Goldsmiths is a microcosm of the decimation of Higher Education, the arts and our collective society'. The…
Ludicrous rant going round on line from a far right wannabe influencer who apparently commutes by train into New Cross from Kent and then gets the bus somewhere. I'm not going to name her as these shameless grifters rely on publicity, but here's a flavour: 'you have never known hell on earth until you have stepped foot into a gloriously disgusting place called New Cross, It is filth... it is…
In 1985, the Pogues launched their great second album 'Rum, Sodomy and the Lash' with a party on HMS Belfast, the retired Royal Navy ship permanently moored between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. All of this was in keeping with the nautical theme for the album, the sleeve of which features Theodore Géricault's painting 'The Raft of the Medusa' (1819), with the band's heads superimposed on some of…
The 2026 New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival starts on 24 April and promises '21 events across ten days, with venues ranging from pubs to parks and from boxing gyms to churches'. Some interesting movies and venues, including 'When we were Kings' at Double Jab Boxing Club in Fordham Park and David Byrne's 'True Stories' at Piehouse Coop.
Coming up at Goldsmiths in New Cross next week (April 11th), the Sticky Fingers Publishing Fair 'Join us for a fair celebrating feminist, queer, disabled-led and local interdisciplinary publishing, returning for its third year. Featuring 56a Infoshop, The 50-ft Press, The Alternative School of Economics, BitterSweet Review, Burley Fisher Community Press, CAMP!, Ⓐ DUDLEY Ⓔ, Em—Dash, F.A.T. Studio,…
A mesmerising audiovisual performance at Strange Parade in Nunhead last month (28 February 2026), with Inga Tillere's film piece accompanied by words from Johny Brown (of Band of Holy Joy) and musical accompaniment from Mark Beazley (bass) and Jono Podmore (theremin and other sounds). 'Figurant' is centred around the 'discarded fragments of space and time' embodied in a found 8mm film from 1960s…
I strongly recommend 'Commonplace: a South London Landscape History', a series of limited edition zines/pamphlets written by John Gray with photographs by Sam Walton. There have been three published so far: 'Bostall Heath to Plumstead Common' 'Woolwich Common to Eltham Common' 'One Tree Hill to Peckham Rye Common' The next one, 'Streatham Common to Tooting Common' will be out in May 2026 Based on…
Lots of great events coming up in Telegraph Hill Festival this month I am doing two history related talks. New Cross from fields to factories in the 19th century Thursday 26th March, 7:30 pm at the Somerville playground, 260 Queens Road, SE14 5JN - tickets here (donation) 'In the space of a few decades in the mid-19th century, New Cross went from being a largely rural area to an increasingly…
New Cross has quite a few fine trees - London Planes on the wider roads, cherry trees in residential streets and gardens full of all kinds of specimens. But one of the finest must be the Giant Redwood at New Cross Gate station. Legend has it that it was planted from seed in the 1980s by a railway worker who worked on the track there at the time The tree today The tree c.2010 (photo found on ebay)
People gathered opposite New Cross Gate station on Friday 6th February 2026 to commemorate the life of cyclist Irene Leardini and to campaign for safer roads in her memory. Irene, aged 39, was among other things an Italian bike mechanic who had worked at Clapham Cycle shop. She was killed by a lorry on 20th January. A white bike memorial was installed with flowers and candles. 'Irene was a young…
Staff and students at Goldsmiths University of London are campaigning for the release of a Goldsmiths student who has been in prison for over a year for alleged Palestine solidarity action. Fatema Zainab Rajwani, who also goes by Ray, is a 21-year-old film student and poet. They are currently being held as part of the Filton24, imprisoned without being convicted for alleged damage of weapons in an…
First day back at work yesterday after the Christmas break, and a nice moment of synchronicity. As is my wont at this season I have been working my way through various lists of the best albums of the last year. Number one on the Quietus list for 2025 is aya's Hexed! on Hyperdub, with Claire Dibbles describing the artist 'as a master of sound design, functioning as both a storytelling tool and as a…
All Together Now was an anti-racist festival held in Deptford in April 1978. According to a contemporary report: ''All Together Now' was the name of ALCARAF's (All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism and Fascism) multicultural festival which ran for three Saturdays before the local authority elections. A Community resource centre, the Albany, and a community theatre the Combination under an ALCARAF…
The Arcade in front of Peckham Rye station is empty and awaiting demolition - in fact signs around the site say that it demolition was due to start in summer 2025. The two-storey building was built in around 1935 to occupy the square in front of the Victorian train station. It was designed by Scottish architect John James Joass who was also responsible for some of the buildings at London Zoo and…
Incredible scenes at Skehans pub (Kitto Road SE14) last week when the surprize musical guests turned out to be... The Pogues. Yes I know Pogues singer Shane MacGowan is two year's gone, but this line up included key founding members Spider Stacey and Jem Finer, and some amazing guest musicians including Darragh Lynch from Lankum and Iona Zajac (photo from Pogues bassist Holly Mullineaux insta )…