Roaring Hot!

Just a hop away from Forest Hill on the train - or a short but lovely walk via the spectacular outlook from One Tree Hill - Honor Oak Park's high street offers another clutch of independent shops, coffee shops and restaurants to explore.

We moved to Forest Hill just over a year ago.  Busy repainting what felt like every wall in the house,  we hadn’t  ventured 'over the hill' very many times. But with a New Year's resolution to put down the paint brush and get out more, a dark Saturday evening in January seemed the perfect moment to try out Babur - especially with the news that it had recently been awarded Zagat 2013 London 'Best Indian Restaurant'.

On arriving, the first surprise was finding a tiger on the roof of a restaurant in Brockley Rise. (Babur is derived from the Urdu word 'babr' meaning 'tiger', Wikipedia tells me, so a week after our visit, this brilliantly over-the-top ornament makes sense!) The surprises continue inside - this is much more than your ordinary Indian restaurant. Bare brick walls, polished walnut tables,  intriguing art - a relaxed, stylish and welcoming place.

We're offered an inventive list of cocktails to kick off our evening. And the menu is pleasingly brief - no compendium of 1001 curries - instead, an intriguing range of dishes which all have something a little different or unusual about them, from South Indian style mussels in a coconut milk, mustard seed and curry leaf broth or tamarind-glazed quail breast as starters, to steamed spice crusted shoulder of lamb (allegedly marinated for 100 hours!) or pan seared bream with black mangosteen, coconut and Malabari masala.

There’s a great choice of vegetarian dishes too. And with main courses, there's a suggestion of the wine that will best accompany your food. It's all incredibly well thought through - the only disappointment of our meal is the clove-smoked buffalo curry, one of the mains, which seems rather heavy handed on the cloves to the exclusion of everything else. We will know for next time – and there definitely will be a next time - Babur isn't the cheapest evening out, but it feels really special, the food is excellent, and the service is friendly and attentive.

Sitting at our table, I found myself already plotting who I could bring back, and when. But before that I need to decide what's next on my list - Le Querce, apparently another of the star restaurants in Honor Oak, The Sylvan Post , Dartmouth Arms or Canvas & Cream in Forest Hill, That’s Amore in Kirkdale, or Trattoria Raffaele in Sydenham—so much choice!

If our evening at Babur is anything to go by, some great nights out at local restaurants and pubs lie ahead.
Review by Catherine Wood

New planters installed at entrance to Forest Hill station

At the last Ward Assembly of 2012 the Forest Hill Society successfully bid for funds to replace the two collapsing barrel tubs which have stood outside the entrance to Forest Hill Station for many years.  Local workman Tony O’Toole of Renovations Unlimited was commissioned to build replacements and on Sunday 2nd December, with the help of some fourteen volunteers, two large square planters of seasoned cedar wood were installed. 

These new planters cover most of the top of the brick plinth on which they stand – one of the ideas being that this would reduce space for litter to accumulate - so far with a degree of success. The old barrel tubs were donated to a local community gardening group for rebuilding and reuse by them. 

A selection of plants which need little attention were chosen, along the lines of a spiky thing in the middle of each, ivy around the edges, spring bulbs, and bright coloured somethings for summer. With this in mind we chose a colour scheme of pinks to purples and various shades of green: mixed Heucheras, Alliums and trailing Ivy were planted with a pink edged Phormium standing tall in the centre.   Mixed daffodils and narcissi will enliven the arrangement come the Spring.

If you would like to join in our community gardening activities (no experience necessary) - please contact volunteers@foresthillsociety.com

SEE3 Forest Hill Market - Saturday 16th March

Forest Hill Town Centre: A plan for the next 10 years

The last town centre plan for Forest Hill was produced in 2003. This plan was formally adopted by the Council and set out to redevelop the station area with strong links to both the Horniman Museum and to the Civic buildings of the Pools and Library. I think we can safely say that the museum, library and pools have been greatly improved over this period, but the station area has changed very little.

Ten years on, it seems a good time to start planning for change in this part of the town centre. During this year we hope to work with the Council and a range of stakeholders on a new ten year plan for Forest Hill Town Centre to take us through to 2023.

At the moment it is still very much only an idea but over the next few months we will start thinking about the best way to develop this plan. This will involve working with stakeholders (including both Network Rail and Lewisham Council), engaging with residents through the Forest Hill and Perry Vale Ward Assemblies and other events, and making good use of the many design related professionals that we have in the area! This is a real opportunity for a community generated vision for the town centre to help bring about positive change.

We see this process as taking forward some of the neighbourhood planning work that was started with the Sydenham Society in 2011, whether it ends up being a Neighbourhood Plan or something else.

We will keep you up to date with progress. Next time you are walking to the station have a good think about what needs to be different or should happen there…because we will be asking you about this very soon!

East London Line Trains Set to Increase Capacity

In December TfL announced their plans for the next few years for improving transport in the capital. One of the major successes of the last decade has been the Overground service, particularly on the East London Line (ELL). Already trains are very crowded especially at peak times, and forecasts show that more people will be using this service in the coming years.

So TfL has taken the sensible decision to increase capacity on the East London Line and have two plans that will together increase capacity by over 50%. The first plan is to increase train lengths on all ELL services from four carriages to five carriages. This will involve selective door opening at a few stations close to the Thames but will give all the trains an extra 25% capacity.

The second plan is to run two additional services on our line, probably from Crystal Palace. This will increase the number of ELL trains through Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park from 8 trains per hour up to 10 trains per hour. Once again this increases capacity by another 25%, taking the overall increase to 56%. There are slots available in the timetable so it should be possible to run these additional services without impacting the existing Southern service to London Bridge. We have also received assurances from Southern Railway that there are no plans to reduce services due to the Thameslink works at London Bridge.

The timetable for the increase in capacity is not completely clear yet but it looks like they will be delivering the additional services in 2014/2015, at the same time as the connection between London Bridge and Charing Cross is temporarily suspended to allow for the Thameslink work to go ahead. This is likely to lead to a temporary jump in demand for ELL services connecting to the Jubliee line. So services are likely to be extremely busy on the ELL for the next few years but it is worth recognising that TfL are planning the right enhancements to increase the capacity on these services.

Jewish New Year for Trees

On the 3rd February members of Bromley Reform Synagogue, together with members of the local community (including Jim Dowd MP and Councillor Susan Wise) planted a tree at the Horniman Play Park in Forest Hill to celebrate Tu B'Shevat—The Jewish new year for trees.

The tree chosen was a Paper Bark Maple (Acer griseum) or in Hebrew אֶדֶר (eder) Interestingly there is another incredibly similar word in Hebrew אֵדֶר (ayder) which is translated as the hide of a stuffed animal. Just across the road from the play park is the Horniman Museum which is probably most famous for their collection of stuffed animals!

I would like to say that this was all carefully planned, but no, it was just a remarkable coincidence, but I can't think of a more suitable tree to plant opposite the museum.

If you visit the Horniman Triangle you can see this tree in the corner of the play park, behind the swings. Across the road in Horniman  Gardens, between the sunken garden and the nature reserve you can visit the Sweet Chestnut tree that  Bromley Synagogue planted two years ago for Tu B'Shevat and to commemorate the visit of Janusz Korczak to Forest Hill one hundred years earlier. This tree now has a plaque so you can find it.

Take a trip to the Amazon

Visit Horniman Museum and visit the Amazon to discover a diverse landscape of exotic plants, unusual animals and fascinating cultures.

This dual language exhibition (English/Spanish) is perfect for families looking for some adventure.

You can buy single-entry tickets for Amazon Adventure or annual tickets for unlimited combined entry to Amazon Adventure and the Aquarium.

If you already have a valid Aquarium Annual Ticket, you are eligible to upgrade this to a Combined Annual Ticket which includes unlimited entry to Amazon Adventure. This offer will be for a limited period only.

The exhibition is open from 16th February—24 November.

Seeing Three Ways

2012 was a great year for Forest Hill. We have campaigned hard over the past few years for investment in our town centre and are beginning to see the rewards. 

Back in 2006, when the Forest Hill Society was formed, one of our key concerns was the future of the swimming pool. The sudden closure of the pools was really the driver for a number of local people to come together to form the Society. Over the years we worked hard with many other people in the community and in the council to bring swimming back to Forest Hill. In September 2012 our dreams were realised with the opening of the new pool, a great new facility in the heart of Forest Hill.

The opening of the pool has brought in new businesses to Dartmouth Road after many years of harsh conditions for retailers on the street. In 2011 there were far too many empty shops on Dartmouth Road and the decline was having a bad impact on many businesses that were still there. But as we got closer to the pool opening we started to see new shops opening; a charity shop, a new pub, a few boutiques, a sweet shop, a deli, and a bagel shop. The difference between now and a year ago is stark. Dartmouth Road is back to being an important shopping street, with a mix of shops, restaurants and pubs. There are still a number of empty units but we can be a little more confident that these will be brought back into use in the not too distant future.

In April we decided that we wanted to try having a food fair in Forest Hill, to see if it would help bring more people into the town centre and to prove that there was demand for quality retailers. After a couple of food fairs we were getting good reactions from local businesses telling us that the town centre was busier as a result, so we decided to run these fairs monthly.

2013 is also looking positive for Forest Hill. We are actively involved in SEE3, a separate organisation with responsibility for delivering the promises made in the Portas bid document. We work closely with SEE3 to ensure that Forest Hill and Kirkdale get the maximum benefit from their share of the funds. SEE3's activities will help improve our Town Centres, but unlike us, they are a commercial organisation with funds to pay people to deliver the improvements. Louise Brooks and her team have done a great job in creating three pop ups before Christmas. By the time you receive this, there will be a fourth Pop Up in Forest Hill, “Love Ur Look” at 10A Dartmouth Road, whose launch is timed to coincide with Forest Hill & London Fashion Week (15-19 February) and a fifth is planned for Kirkdale in April.

Forest Hill Traders' Association will be promoting Totally Locally in the spring edition of Lewisham Life, so keep your eyes open for the chance to win a £100 spending spree.

But all is not rosy. We are actively involved in the campaign to Save Lewisham Hospital. Although the Minister has decided that Lewisham should lose its Maternity and A&E units, nothing has yet been closed and the hospital remains open as normal. It will take at least three years before the necessary infrastructure has been built to replace Lewisham's facilities. In the meantime, the fight will go on, and we would encourage you to use Lewisham whenever you need hospital facilities. Other hospitals have suffered due to people avoiding them after similar announcements and we need to make sure Lewisham survives.  The proposed changes will materially impact the long term viability of Lewisham Hospital and it could well suffer a total failure due the impact of the proposals. Lewisham Council will be seeking a Judicial Review of the decision.

Finally, we are monitoring the situation regarding the laundrette. There are rumours that an Estate Agency wishes to get change of use for this vital community resource. Forest Hill has a wonderfully diverse population and a laundrette is an essential requirement for many local residents.

We end the year with a great outlook for Forest Hill town centre. We can be sure that 2013 is set to be a great year for Forest Hill with the SEE3/Portas funding and a great team behind it, pop-up shops, monthly food markets, an active traders' association, and last but not least the swimming pool open again.

Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society