Both Sides of The Road (19 minutes)
Location: The A206 Plumstead Road (section from Burridge Road to Woolwich New Road)
Transcript
This is the Woolwich Wandering podcast, a series of sensory sketches inviting listeners into the vibrant and complex world of Woolwich, a place in South-East London that I call home.
I am Lizzie Fort, community dance artist and researcher, and a resident of Woolwich since 2016.
In each episode, listeners join me on foot as I move, dwell and feel my way through built and natural environments.
These are dispatches from a community in flux. Where public land and privately owned public space ambiguously merge.
A battleground where efforts to protect the soul and character of a place rub alongside agendas for the future.
OK, let’s get into this episode.
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[traffic noises]
This sensory sketch covers a small 300m section of the A206 Plumstead Road in Woolwich where two very different streetscapes stare at one another across a big, busy, smelly, fast paced dual carriageway.
The A206 is the infamous road that divides Woolwich in half. A chasm between what feels like two very different worlds; Woolwich’s old town centre and the new Royal Arsenal Riverside development. This road is the main protagonist in the story of Woolwich’s present and its future.
On the new Woolwich side of the dual carriageway are high rise residential buildings with commercial units underneath that are part of the Berkeley Homes development.
On the other side there’s a parade of rundown historic buildings that are home to many ethnic minority run businesses. Colourful shops and cafes spill out onto the street where the diverse communities of Woolwich meet. The former covered public market building that’s now grade 2 listed is currently empty.
This wandering sensory sketch is recorded at a contentious moment in time, because these local small businesses are in limbo. A compulsory purchase order has been issued and these buildings are on brink of being knocked down and as part of a new development The Woolwich Exchange. This development received planning permission from Greenwich council in 2022 for 800 new homes, a new public square, and repurposing the old covered market into a new community space with a cinema and other leisure facilities. There will also be what the developers call a green buffer, or more tree planting and seating to soften the blow of the Plumstead Road.
Demolition has been delayed because the negotiations with some landowners and businesses are still not resolved. Many business owners are not happy with the prices they have been offered to buy the businesses, or the relocation support.
And so, I wander along this streetscape knowing this tension and uncertainty is rumbling away…
—
[sounds of the road and buses]
[Lizzie] I start my journey a little further back from the main road in the town centre, leaving Beresford Square under the archway in the south-east corner. The sounds of the market traders are replaced by the whirring hum and hiss of buses at the north end of Woolwich New Road.
[sounds traffic passing]
Pausing here, I am looking across the road at a grey, metal fence that encloses an empty plot – it seems to be being used as a car park at the moment.
My view is interrupted several times by the buses passing by in both directions.
I get to the zebra crossing. Crossing the road I am reminded of an encounter in 2019 with a street artist who I watched taking colourful rags from a bag, and tying them to the grey fencing to create a beautiful collage of colour. It was a really wonderful act of guerilla art. Eventually I started chatting to her and she invited me to join her. So for a while, we slowly, tied rags from clothing from charity shops that she had ripped into rags onto a grey metal fence. Each act of tying each rag to the railing with my hands felt like a small, radical act of care. This kind small, modest woman didn’t want any credit for her work. She knew it would be taken down eventually. Our brief shared encounter has stayed with me years later.
[sounds of traffic noises, bus passing]
I am now wandering towards the main road, I pass a parade of ethnic minority owned local businesses.
[sounds of voices talking, buses passing]
The Mini Market Halal butcher sits opposite KSN Foods Afro-Caribbean and Asian food store. Both stores spill onto the path with crates stacked high with fruit and vegetables. There is a savoury, musty smell of fresh produce in carboard boxes and there’s the sound of meat being chopped inside on the butcher’s counter.
[sounds of butcher chopping meat on counter, customer voices chatting and ordering]
In KSN, a long queue of customers chat in a chorus of global languages. Next door at the newsagent’s window, people huddle round the notices board, where local rooms to rent and items for sale are advertised. The parade of shops continues with Tai Tip Mein restaurant noodle bar, a phone repairs shop, convenience store, Rihanna’s hair and cosmetics and a solicitors. There is an African cash and carry, a money transfer place.
[sounds of sirens, voices of customers, sirens getting closer and louder, buses passing]
[sounds of café]
Female voice of customer: “urm, cup of tea and scrambled eggs on toast please.”
Male member of staff at counter: “Yeah.”
Customer: “Thank you.”
Staff: “You are welcome no problem. Take a seat you can pay after.”
Customer: “Oh, ok thank you.”
[voices of customers, coffee machine noises]
[Lizzie] A elderly man walks into the Arsenal Gate Café and takes a seat.
“The usual Bill?” the waitress asks.
Kevin Lyttle’s song ‘Turn Me On’ plays on Heart FM.
Currently situated at the corner of new Woolwich Road an Plumstead road, this popular family run cafe is one of the businesses that is having to relocate due to the development of this area. Sat in a window seat with a mug of tea, watching people pass by in all directions, some heading into Woolwich town centre, Beresford Market, or crossing the road to Royal Arsenal Riverside. Beyond the traffic lights and the road there is a patchwork of historic and new buildings and trees behind the boundary wall of the riverside development. I can smell a full English breakfast being cooked, and occasionally get a waft of cigarette smoke from the customer sat outside on his mobility scooter, counting his cash.
[sounds from café]
[Lizzie] A council street sweeper pushes a trolley full of litter across to Beresford Square, as Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’ plays out on the radio.
[Female voice] [laughter]…”oh hello there, you alright? I didn’t recognise you there.”
[Male voice] [laughter], “bless ya. Urm can I get the large breakfast please, no sausage, urm, brown bread, and a coffee please.”
[female voice] “Beans of tomatoes?”
[male voice] not decipherable.
[Male voices discussing football] “…and Liverpool and Brighton.”
“You’re out this week.” [laughter]
“I’ve got Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool.”
“I’ve got Man United.”
“I’ve got Tottenham, Arsenal…[undecipherable]”
[Lizzie] I finish my tea, return the mug to the counter, and continue my wander.
[sound of coffee machine and voices in the café fade out]
[sounds of buses brakes squeaking]
Fallen leaves and litter dance as the wind whips them into circles in front of the Grade 2 listed former Public Market building. There is a trolly; it is filled with cardboard boxes. It’s wedged into the corner by the doors, and litter gathered in a pile underneath. I peer inside to see if there is anything going on in there. It’s an empty space now but in 2018, for just under a year it was a space that was activated by Street Feast. It was a food hall of different food vendors that surrounded rows of communal tables and chairs, and a mezzanine bar area. It was lively and busy and also quite pricey, but it was a good night out every now and again. It closed in 2019, much to the disappointment of several local people I have spoken to in the Woolwich Wandering project. Since then as far as I know the market has mainly been empty, looking in there now there’s not a lot going on there is just piles of chairs and white goods stacked up. The only thing that I know was in there was a light and sound installation, Dreamachine in 2022.
[sounds of the traffic on Plumstead Road]
The business, food and retail units that share this streetscape with the old public Market are mainly ethnic minority owned, there is African food outlets, Wing Lee Chinese, a couple of fast-food chicken places, a church, beauty salons, clothing and accessories, a photo centre, money transfer centre, phone and laptop repair shops. Some of the buildings seem to have multiple businesses inside so there are lots of signs outside that introduce all the different businesses in each unit.
The facades on these buildings are bursting with character and stories of time gone by.
Above the Isradem money transfer shop sign there is what looks like a man dancing round a lamp post. The man has been painted over, so looks like a faded shadow on the front of the building.
Above the photo centre there are old, cracked orange signs with yellow writing that advertise ‘blues, reggae, Motown, country, soul, R&B, garage’, and I wonder whether this used to be a music shop or a bar.
Above Iffy’s beauty salon the building is falling to pieces. There is paint and rendering that is peeling off the is bird poo all over the windows and the piping. Nest door there are wires tumbling down from aerials above.
On other buildings plants are growing out through some of the brick work and there is moss growing over the roof tiles.
There is no doubt that this stretch of Woolwich does need some care and attention. But I am not convinced that knocking it down and creating a new aesthetic consistent with the other side of the road is the way to do it.
I’ve watched documentaries on Woolwich where people talk about it as somewhere that has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, that has a strong sense of independence and embracing opportunities. And walking along here now it makes me feel a little bit sad that that these businesses that operate here haven’t got the opportunity to be part of this new development that’s coming.
[sounds of voices and traffic]
Having walked east along this streetscape, I am now at the crossroads with Burridge Road waiting to cross over the dual carriageway to Royal Arsenal Riverside. I press the button at the pedestrian crossing and wait, walk to the middle where I press another button and wait again.
[sounds of traffic passing, baby crying]
On the other side, you are greeted with Uniform large glass fronted retail units that line the street along the Plumstead Road. They include an estate agent Sainsbury M&S Food and a gym. There’s a few leaves dancing across the path but urm, seeing litter is rare.
The brickwork around the glass door entrances is the same all the way along the street, creating uniform square arches. These businesses are all well-known chains, all tidied away behind the glass fronted entrances, no signage or produce on the street.
Above the commercial units are people’s homes, and what looks like open, communal court yard spaces for residents.
These two opposing streetscapes could not be more different. The old town side portrays multiple languages, cultures, stories, histories through the array of independent businesses that cater for the local community that have lived here for decades. This street scape is both ordinary and extraordinary, depending on your perspective and lived experience.
The new development over the road has a singular consistent look and feel along this stretch with chains and big business that say money, productivity, and progress. Billboards advertising and I quote “the riverside life” entice young professionals to be part of a new community in Woolwich.
Looking at the Woolwich Exchange plans, the aesthetic of this development will bring both sides of the road closer in look at feel. More public space and better public facilities are really needed in Woolwich, but I worry about the human and cultural losses of this process. These small businesses will hopefully find new homes locally, so that their regular customers don’t have too far to go. Only time will tell.
Having wandered along the royal arsenal side of the road, I am now at the main set of traffic lights and pedestrian crossing that I could see while sitting in the Arsenal Gate Café. I have come full circle now, ready to sit down with another cup of tea and watch the world go by.
[sounds of voices, traffic fading out]
—
[music fades in]
In the next episode, I immerse myself in the waterscapes, through Maribor Park on the Royal Arsenal Riverside, and The River Thames.
For more information on the Woolwich Wandering project or to contact Lizzie directly with comments, responses and suggestions, visit www.woolwichwandering.com,
Resources that have informed the making of the sensory sketches can be found in the show notes.
Thanks for listening.
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Show notes
This podcast was created, recorded, and produced by Lizzie between August and December 2023.
Music – ‘In the City’ by Oleksii Kaplunskyi from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/
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