There are a surprising number of old mattresses cropping up everywhere. More even than there used to be. I saw one today as I was out shopping for essentials in West London. This could be because (in my borough anyway) you now have to pre-book a visit to the local council waste disposal site. This has undoubtedly led to an increase in fly-tipping. Forgive me Elfs but I'm not quite sure about the second picture there. The front window of somebody's house..?
Oh yeah, but the one where it is, is thought where the 'pros' reside. There'll be a (worn out)mattress outside there soon.
A member of station staff got stabbed in the shoulder today at Bromley South. A youth has been detained fortunately. I'll have a wild guess that a certain section of the community did not have a train ticket.
Sorry to hear about another example of all-too-common street violence. I hope the station staff member makes a swift recovery. The section of society you're referring to Elfs is the lawless section I presume. Something that definitely separates the poor member of station staff just trying to do their job, and the yob who wounded them.
I spoke to one of the station staff this morning. As far as he was aware, his colleague is now out of hospital, great news.
I was pleased to see that there has been no increase in shops closing in the high street, sadly I cannot say that regards the begging, usually there would be upto 10 people from Bromley South station upto Barclays. Bromley is rapidly going downhill
As @ElfsborgAddick is aware, a British man in his 70s with a clearly serious health condition was living in the train station for some weeks, in the waiting area with his suitcases and possessions On my thankfully rare visits to Bromley I saw him, and after several weeks I became frustrated & asked to speak to the Station Manager. I asked him what he was doing about the homeless man sleeping in his station, to which he replied “what homeless man?”, to which I replied “the one your staff are ignoring every day”. He said he would go & speak to him. Several days later, I saw said homeless man in the High St, and he told me that Southeastern had phoned Bromley Council, who had immediately moved him into a local hotel for a maximum of 56 days. The man had a familiar hard luck story of losing his job / health at the same time, he has been told by Bromley Council that they do not have a single empty property in the whole borough. What a sad state of affairs a. That it took a Good Samaritan (me) to have to intervene for him, and b. That Bromley Council cannot house our own people..: What a mess this country is in.
A few years ago a local resident knocked on my door asking me to sign a petition to stop the council using a former school in Avalon road to house homeless people. I didn’t sign, and I don't know what happened, but I often pass the building and have never seen a living soul there. I don't know the facts, but it may be the nimbies rather than the council who are responsible.
Bromley is becoming the next Croydon, give it time. The Travelodge up by the old Kwik Fit Motors I thought used to house situations like this? Whilst great that something was done, 56 days is not ideal.
Speaking as someone who was born in the town & grew up there, it saddens me a lot to see the state of Bromley these days, it’s unrecognisable.
Agree totally, although compared to a lot of other places people will still see Bromley as a nice place to live. However, it does not alter the fact that the town has gone downhill rapidly over the past five years.
