9 August - Better safe than sorry
I
thought long and hard about whether to comment on the disgraceful scenes that
shamed London last night, but decided it was not what this site was all about
and that the perpetrators should not be given the publicity - and in any case,
the web did not reveal any similar problem closer than Woolwich. But all
that was before I slipped out to get some milk in Wilton Road (the last outpost
of Bexley on the Greenwich boundary) and found the shops closed before 3 p.m.
Only the pharmacist was open, albeit with half of it protected by steel
shutters. The lady in there told me that closure was a local initiative rather
than on police or council advice, none had been forthcoming from them.
According to a man standing outside (I can’t vouch for the accuracy as he had
clearly partaken of a beer or two) the problem was that some of the mob that
wrecked Woolwich had taken the five minute train journey to Abbey Wood and
lingered around Wilton Road. The Community Centre in Thamesmead burned down
last night. Possibly that event is linked to the problems not so far away. However
when I phoned a friend who runs a shop in Wilton Road he said that too many people
were spreading rumours, he had closed because of them but later came to believe them
all to be false.
From other parts of the borough come similar stories of premature shop closures and
that the largest shops have been contacted by Bexley council as one would hope.
Perversely a council staff member says that within the Civic Offices they have received
no advice at all. The top item on Bexley’s website today is ‘Fun in the Sun’.
Let us all hope there is no ‘fun’ again tonight. Keep safe.
Nearby news blogs…
• The Charlton Champion
• Greenwich.co.uk
• e-ShootersHill
• The 853 blog
The
Brockley blog
reports that Lewisham council had their shopping area cleaned up before 9 a.m. this morning. Impressive!