Night journey through Bromley

Categories: circumnavigation

Tags: urbanwalks

Date: 26 September 2007 01:36:31

The last two stages of the walk round Zones 4 and 5 were from Beckenham and Elmer's End to Bromley, and then Bromley to Grove Park. Done mostly in the evening, mainly because Saturday being the Day of Rest I have trouble getting out of bed until after the early music programme happens on Radio Three. And then a nice bath is called for. So by the time I've bought some bread and juice and taken the bus down to the Outer Darkness of Suburbia, the sun isn't far from setting.

The Hall Evangelical Church,  Beckenham, at night

To be honest there isn't that much to say about the walk. Nothing very odd happened. I don;t think I had any stunning insights into the human condition or urban geography or even

The outer suburbs of south-east London would fit most people's ideas of boring. In fact they are arguably the most boring places in Britain. (Though on the whole I prefer them to the outer suburbs of west London - more hills and fewer motorways

Beckenham churches

Beckenham St Edmund's RC

Beckenham is nicer than it sounds. Also higher density than you might think, at least near the centre of it. Lots of infill and little blocks of flats. And the scene is dominated by church towers. A sort of fake old town.

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Beckenham by night

Beckenham churches from the park

As you walk round the suburbs you are never out of earshot of suburban life, even in the middle of a largish park. Not just the ever-present noise of cars (I'm not sure there is anywhere in the south east of England you escape from that) but you can hear the odd snatches of talk, occasional shouts and raised voices, kicks of boot against ball, some partying teenagers, kids out late, now and again a dog barking. You can smell cooking too. Small whiffs of pizza or chips, a late season barbecue, Indian takeaways.

And then, fireworks. I've no idea why, or what it was all in aid of, but someone was letting off fireworks from their back garden somewhere round Langley Park. Maybe it was on Barnfield Wood Road. The first of the year. Fireworks always lift my heart. Just great fun.

Langley Park is apparently an Area of Special Residential Character whatever that means. (it seems to be a sort of conservation area for wealthy suburbs) Except they call it Park Langley on the signs.

The approach to Bromley town centre from the south west takes you through another one of those estates that turn out to be a lot higher density than you'd expect. Quite a successful layout for what it is, with shops and restaurants integrated into the blocks. But why so many blind-ended blocks? Neary all the blocks show blank brick walls at one or both ends, and quite a few do along their length as well, the houses set back behind walls and turned inwards. Its pathetic. It just makes dog toilets. Why not just put windows in end walls? It makes the rooms inside more pleasant and lets you overlook the public street, making everyone safer.

The worst are the seven or eight foot high walls at the sides or ends of gardens, or the fences out in front cutting the front of a block of flats off from the streets. Not only do they make even more dog toilets but they reduce the safety of the inhabitants. I suppose they think they will protect against burglars, but they won;t stop any professional thief who knows what he is doing, they won't stop a fifteen-year-old pissed on cheap cider who doesn't and they won't stop a desperate junkie. The illusion of security while making us less safe.

Everyone I see in the street after dark seems to be in their teens or twenties. Where are the other 80% of the population?

Bricklayer's Arms, Bromley

Bromley town centre is not a pretty place any more. It looks like it might have been once, and its got some nice old buildings - and some nice modern buildings - but the sprawl of multiple-lane roads surrounding the overlarge overheated mall make it all a bit inhuman. Not as nasty as Romford (where is?), but not as lively as Croydon or Kingston and on a more inhuman scale than either.

And there are plenty of brutal little buildings tucked away at the back:

Garrard House, Bromley

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JW Kingdom Hall, Bromley

I started by getting on the first bus that went past the bottom of our street bound for anywhere beyond Lewisham, and it was a 136 to Grove Park. So I came back on the 136 from Grove Park. Which meant I had to get to Grove Park . And I didn't fancy walking along Burnt Ash Hill so I went down into the Downham estate and back up again

Downham is in some ways the most unpleasant place I've been on my walks round London. Its also in some ways the most familiar. Its very similar to the sort of place my Dad's relatives lived around Brighton when I was a kid. If it wasn't for the absence of the South Downs it could almost be Moulscoombe, where Dad was brought up and only a mile or two from where we lived on a slightly newer estate.It is a similar product of the municipalised ebb of the Garden City movement. The Garden City was cut away from its economic and political roots and turned into the Garden Suburb, low-rise low-density council houses covering entire hillsides with families who didn't have an economic reason to be there or enough money to get out. If they were allowed out. At Valeswood Road in Downham, just round the corner from where I was walking today, they actually built a wall across the street to cut off the LLC council estate from the private suburbs of Bromley. I always feel odd in Downham. Its too much like where I actually come from and don't particularly want to go back to. I like more obviously urban places.

But seriously, if this is as bad as it gets we're doing OK.

And where are the photos I took in Downham? I need to look at my camera again!