# Is Plumstead the grimmest part of London?



## Divisive Cotton (Jun 27, 2010)

It's the third time I've been there this weekend and today we thought we'd set of to find a pub...  ... we didn't find many at all but what was there were were frigging awful. They were like pubs in Harold Hill - but at least the 'Hill has grass, trees and parks . None of which seems to exist in Pumstead.

Prove I'm wrong and tell me of somewhere nice to go / drink / eat in Plumstead


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## ddraig (Jun 27, 2010)

abbey wood is worse mate!

i've lived in both


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## ddraig (Jun 27, 2010)

can't suggest anywhere other than the bus/train to greenwich/new cross


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## Chairman Meow (Jun 27, 2010)

Eltham is pretty grim.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jun 27, 2010)




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## spring-peeper (Jun 27, 2010)

I grew up in Plumstead.  

I liked Eltham, it was clean.


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## Maggot (Jun 27, 2010)

Divisive Cotton said:


> They were like pubs in Harold Hill - but at least the 'Hill has grass, trees and parks . None of which seems to exist in Pumstead.


Plumstead Common?  It's green and has spectacular views over London.


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## IMR (Jun 27, 2010)

Tilbury is worse. A miasma of ancient evil hangs over it.

Lesnes Abbey Woods are nice for a walk, they're not too far from Plumstead.


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## kittyP (Jun 27, 2010)

Plumstead is kinda grim but there are a lot of worse areas surrounding it like Abby Wood, Thamesmead, Charlton etc.

Having said that, I cannot really recommend anywhere nice to go eat or drink there.

Poor SE Londob


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## Maggot (Jun 27, 2010)

Divisive Cotton said:


> Prove I'm wrong and tell me of somewhere nice to go / drink / eat in Plumstead


There's a good cafe on Kings Highway, can't remember the name, but it's near the junction with Wickham Lane.


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## IMR (Jun 27, 2010)

Coprophiles have been observed masturbating on the Thames Path downwind of the sewage farm at Crossness - News Shopper fact.


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## Maggot (Jun 27, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


>



Care to explain?


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## ivebeenhigh (Jun 27, 2010)

Maggot said:


> Care to explain?



shampoo are from Plumstead


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## Maggot (Jun 27, 2010)

ivebeenhigh said:


> shampoo are from Plumstead


Cheers.  How silly of me not to recognise some one-hit-wonders from the 90s.


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## i'mnotsofast (Jun 28, 2010)

Maggot said:


> Cheers.  How silly of me not to recognise some one-hit-wonders from the 90s.



Uh-oh, you're in trouble!


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## cesare (Jun 28, 2010)

IMR said:


> Tilbury is worse. A miasma of ancient evil hangs over it.
> 
> Lesnes Abbey Woods are nice for a walk, they're not too far from Plumstead.




You don't even need to go as far as that. Bostall woods and heath are just off Plumstead High St/Wickham Lane. And Maggot's already mentioned Plumstead Common.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...83414,0.101666&spn=0.015821,0.037036&t=h&z=15


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## dynamicbaddog (Jun 28, 2010)

cesare said:


> You don't even need to go as far as that. Bostall woods and heath are just off Plumstead High St/Wickham Lane. And Maggot's already mentioned Plumstead Common.
> 
> http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...83414,0.101666&spn=0.015821,0.037036&t=h&z=15



There's also Shrewsbury Park which is part of the Green Chain and has some excellent views. I think Plumstead has got a lot going for it, I'd happily live there.


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## cesare (Jun 28, 2010)

dynamicbaddog said:


> There's also Shrewsbury Park which is part of the Green Chain and has some excellent views. I think Plumstead has got a lot going for it, I'd happily live there.



I lived there for a while (just off Wickham Lane) and I'd happily live there again. There's some beautiful walks ... all of that woodland and heathland just a stone's throw away from the High St. Yeah, OK, the High Street's not that inspiring but even then there's a good library, lots of asian minimarts, good transportation - and it's not expensive for London.

Hey, that google link names the heathland linking Plumstead and Welling as 'East Wickham Open Space' ... I always knew it as 'Fanny On The Hill' after the Dick Turpin legend: http://www.parkexplorer.org.uk/park_intro.asp?ID=GRN04

There's a pub up at the top by that name up on Wickham St but most people used to give that a swerve, had a bit of a reputation for being the local for nationalists ... NF/NF sympathisers back in the 70s. Dunno what it's like nowadays. The BNP's got quite a following in Welling. There was a minor white flight out of Plumstead at one point, first stop Welling, next stop Eltham


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## Brainaddict (Jun 28, 2010)

Unfortunately vast swathes of south east London have little to choose between them save variations in concentrations of shit on the pavement and little to recommend them save the railway stations that enable you to get the fuck out.


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## cesare (Jun 28, 2010)

Brainaddict said:


> Unfortunately vast swathes of south east London have little to choose between them save variations in concentrations of shit on the pavement and little to recommend them save the railway stations that enable you to get the fuck out.



You could describe vast swathes of anywhere in London like that. What the south east has going for it are the huge parks, and woods, and heaths and common land. Easy to miss if what you're looking for are 'edgy' High Streets with gastro pubs, a couple of vegan hotspots, an indie coffee shop and a Starbucks to protest outside. Fair enough, you don't see much in the way of Glasto wristlets and white dreadlocks


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## red rose (Jun 28, 2010)

Oxleas wood and oxleas common are just off of shooters hill road, I suppose they're closer to being Woolwich than Plumstead but its a gorgeous area with a massive hill for kite flying and a nice little cafe.  They have live bands in the summer too.


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## cesare (Jun 28, 2010)

red rose said:


> Oxleas wood and oxleas common are just off of shooters hill road, I suppose they're closer to being Woolwich than Plumstead but its a gorgeous area with a massive hill for kite flying and a nice little cafe.  They have live bands in the summer too.



Aye that's pretty too. 

It's on the _other_ side of Shooter's Hill though ... into Eltham, Sidcup, Bexley territory. /there be dragons


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## scifisam (Jun 28, 2010)

IMR said:


> Tilbury is worse. A miasma of ancient evil hangs over it.



Yes, but it's not London. 

Plumstead is nicer than a lot of the areas directly surrounding it. Like kitty says - Thamesmead in particular is really fucking grim. I once a picture of my Dad, who grew up in Thamesmead, standing in front of what I assumed was a shed, but, no, apparently that was his house. 

Those sheds later got knocked down to be replaced enormous grim concrete ghettoes that cabs wouldn't go to when I visited the area to look at a flat in 1999 and briefly wondered if I'd strayed into worst areas of a small town in Slovakia, except with more people lying on the streets and three separate men asking me to come and have sex with them (I had a child in a pram at the time). Fucking hellhole. 

Hopefully it's got better since then. It couldn't have got worse - there would have been a UN intervention.


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## kittyP (Jun 28, 2010)

red rose said:


> Oxleas wood and oxleas common are just off of shooters hill road, I suppose they're closer to being Woolwich than Plumstead but its a gorgeous area with a massive hill for kite flying and a nice little cafe.  They have live bands in the summer too.



Where do they have live bands in oxleas woods?
I grew up round there (not in the woods, no) and still go there sometimes and don't recall anything like this


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## cesare (Jun 28, 2010)

scifisam said:


> Yes, but it's not London.
> 
> Plumstead is nicer than a lot of the areas directly surrounding it. Like kitty says - Thamesmead in particular is really fucking grim. I once a picture of my Dad, who grew up in Thamesmead, standing in front of what I assumed was a shed, but, no, apparently that was his house.
> 
> ...



Aw  No. It's not like that and was never as bad as you just described. I lived just off Eynsham Drive near Yarnton Way for a few years back in the 70s, and my folks still live off Yarnton Way now. The old Clockwork Orange Thamesmead. Yeah, on the main roads there's still a lot of concrete, it hasn't been demolished. But you only have to walk a couple of minutes to get to e.g. Southmere,  a lovely lake with swans, herons, other waterbirds.

As with Plumstead, as with Abbey Wood, as with Thamesmead - people judge from what they see travelling on the main roads. 

These aren't concrete jungles for as far as the eye can see. Yeah for sure some high rises, and a council estate. But two minutes walk to lakes and nature reserves.


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## Citizen66 (Jun 28, 2010)

I don't think its possible to find anywhere more grim than canning town.


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## red rose (Jun 28, 2010)

One word: silvertown


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## Citizen66 (Jun 28, 2010)

Yep there as well.


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## fogbat (Jun 28, 2010)

Plaistow, festering bum-boil that it is.


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## ddraig (Jun 28, 2010)

red rose said:


> One word: silvertown



that one! bloody relief getting back to Woolwich from there, never has the foot tunnel looked so appealing!


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## sam/phallocrat (Jun 28, 2010)

The Star on Plumstead Common Road is a very nice boozer, and the Old Mill on the other side of the Common isn't too bad either, maybe a little seedy though.  The area round the High Street is admittedly an utter shithole, but the Common's lovely, and the further you go up the hill away from the Thames the nicer it gets.  Shrewsbury Park/Eaglesfield/Oxleas Wood/Jackwood/Castle Wood are all worth a wander through.


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## sam/phallocrat (Jun 28, 2010)

I don't think there are any nice places to eat there however.  I'm still quite fond of the Wimpey's in Woolwich though


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## ska invita (Jun 28, 2010)

the thamesmead estate can on a sunny day be quite nice - one bits got a boating lake





and theres another bit of plumstead round abbey wood which is genuinely beautifull.

hard to say whats the grimmest part of london - personally i find certain corners of north east the most depressing


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## Le Shark (Jun 29, 2010)

There's depressing parts of London in all directions - I mean has anyone walked round certain parts of West London recently?

There aren't even any decent tube links to most of it to help you escape


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## ska invita (Jun 29, 2010)

sarobinson said:


> There's depressing parts of London in all directions - I mean has anyone walked round certain parts of West London recently?
> 
> There aren't even any decent tube links to most of it to help you escape



this is true, and north west london has the highest gun crime rates by far (or was the case a few years back) - total incidents = south+east combined.

That air of depression and grimmness is not really in the architecture,  but in peoples eyes and in the ether. (i'm sticking with north east on this one...)


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## Mitre10 (Jun 29, 2010)

ska invita said:


> this is true, and north west london has the highest gun crime rates by far (or was the case a few years back) - total incidents = south+east combined.
> 
> That air of depression and grimmness is not really in the architecture,  but in peoples eyes and in the ether. (i'm sticking with north east on this one...)



On the subject of NW London, Stonebridge Park and its environs is pretty fucking grim from my experience.


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## Idaho (Jun 29, 2010)

ska invita said:


> the thamesmead estate can on a sunny day be quite nice - one bits got a boating lake
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Must have to stop to untangle the rudder from shopping trolleys every 2 minutes.


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## Lord Camomile (Jun 29, 2010)

I live 'twixt Plumstead Common and Shrewsbury Park and have to say I don't think it's that grim at all; no more than many similar parts of London and with a lot going for it. Just wish it was a little closer to central


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## Zinedine* (Jun 30, 2010)

Ive lived in deptford and work in peckham, both very grim


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## hipipol (Jun 30, 2010)

Zinedine* said:


> Ive lived in deptford and work in peckham, both very grim



Rough, very rough
Cant help you maintain the cheery life view much
Good luck


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## stethoscope (Jun 30, 2010)

Citizen66 said:


> I don't think its possible to find anywhere more grim than canning town.





red rose said:


> One word: silvertown



Yes, both of these are a bit bleak.


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## sam/phallocrat (Jun 30, 2010)

Lord Camomile said:


> I live 'twixt Plumstead Common and Shrewsbury Park and have to say I don't think it's that grim at all; no more than many similar parts of London and with a lot going for it. Just wish it was a little closer to central



Whereabouts?  I grew up in a house on Genesta Road, if you know it . . .


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## el-ahrairah (Jun 30, 2010)

Ilford.  An utterly pointless place.  Purgatorial, soulless, and lacking any of the amenities necessary for humanity to survive in adversity.


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## Zinedine* (Jul 1, 2010)

el-ahrairah said:


> Ilford.  An utterly pointless place.  Purgatorial, soulless, and lacking any of the amenities necessary for humanity to survive in adversity.




Really?? Ilford used to be really good when I was younger


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 1, 2010)

sam/phallocrat said:


> Whereabouts?  I grew up in a house on Genesta Road, if you know it . . .


Having checked Google, I do know it (though not your specific house, obviously  ); I walked to the bus down Nithdale Road just this weekend 

I'm just up the road from there, overlooking Shrewsbury Park.


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## bromley (Jul 1, 2010)

Surely Woolwich is worse?


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## i_got_poison (Jul 7, 2010)

Maggot said:


> There's a good cafe on Kings Highway, can't remember the name, but it's near the junction with Wickham Lane.







> There's a cafe on Kings Highway, can't remember the name, but it's near the junction with Wickham Lane



i thought i'd make a minor though important correction.


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## Cliffite (Jul 13, 2010)

I can recomend the Old Mill on Plumstead common as a decent real ale pub with an OK garden. Bit tatty inside but pleasent enought and a smattering of aging trotskyists and old labour types to boot.

Nepalese cafe and greasy spoon by the station are both alright to eat in. What is to recommend Plumstead? Common and the cheap cheap houses surely?


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 13, 2010)

We went to the Old Mill after the Make Merry and it seemed a pretty nice place. Been meaning to go back but it's never really come about


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## Boycey (Jul 13, 2010)

i (and i daresay a few other urbanz) had a great night out in plumstead a couple of weeks ago.


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## sam/phallocrat (Jul 13, 2010)

West Thamesmead really . . .

(not that I could make it  )


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## dtb (Jul 14, 2010)

scumtek put plumstead back on the map


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## littlebabyjesus (Jul 14, 2010)

Citizen66 said:


> I don't think its possible to find anywhere more grim than canning town.



Yep, I'd have to agree with that. It's kinda central yet totally remote at the same time.

Brainaddict is right that lots of SE is much of a muchness, but there are lots of woods and things around. It is possible to escape somewhere nice.


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## Maggot (Jul 15, 2010)

i_got_poison said:


> i thought i'd make a minor though important correction.


What's wrong with it?  And can you remember what it's called?


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