My personal feeling is that the pub business in the UK is going to split into three distinct categories over the next few years; indeed, there is some evidence to suggest that this is already happening. The categories will include the large corporate chain pubs such as Wetherspoons, and others such as the Slug and Lettuce brand; the second category will include the high end “destination” pubs such as The Robin Hood and Little John in Lion Road, Bexleyheath (which I love), and (*Shudder*) gastro pubs - which I personally detest. The third category will be micro pubs, which are currently expanding at a fast rate. You may notice that I don’t mention the classic back street boozer. This is because I feel that these kind of pubs will die out, and in many cases have already done so. The role of the traditional pub in local communities is now much reduced – cheap supermarket booze and streaming TV keep people in their homes, and the high level of beer taxation, along with (to a lesser extent) the smoking ban have meant that rather than just popping round the corner for a quick pint, many people stay at home, and only go out to a pub as a special occasion / meal or similar. What do you think?
I don't normally comment on stories that have made the national news, as professional journalists make a far better job of it than I, but in this case the local connection is so strong, and the story so interesting that in this case I am making an exception. Brian Reader, a resident of Dartford, achieved notoriety for masterminding the audacious Hatton Garden Safe Deposit burglary in 2015. While later years saw him settle into a seemingly ordinary life, his criminal past cast a long shadow. Born in Lewisham in 1939, Reader's criminal activity began in his early teens. By his 30s, he had become a prominent figure in London's underworld, targeting banks and carrying out large-scale thefts. In the early 1960s, after leaving the army as a conscript, Reader began frequenting the Chop House restaurant in Clerkenwell, where infamous London gangsters such as the Kray Twins would while away the hours. He later led a gang of master burglars, the "Millionaire Moles," in an operation that saw them tunnel 40 feet into a central London bank vault in 1971, escaping with £3 million in loot (around £40 million today). He later broke into a vault in Holborn Circus in 1982 while he was wanted in connection with earlier raids. He managed to steal another £1 million in jewels, worth £10 million today. That same year he went on the run with his family – wife Lynne and their two children – in a glamorous bid to avoid arrest. The escape plan saw them spend a year in a Spanish Costa Blanca villa where Reader had a yachting licence and chartered boats around the world alongside his brood. They also skied in the French Alps. Reader's luck ran out in 1985 when he was jailed for nine years in connection with the £26 million Brink's-Mat robbery, worth £87 million today. But even after his release and subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis, Reader couldn't resist the urge to pull off "one last job" and masterminded the infamous Hatton Garden heist. At the age of 76, Reader, known as "The Guvnor," planned and executed the infamous Hatton Garden heist. Reader, then residing in Dartford, meticulously assembled a team of seasoned criminals to breach the high-security vault in London's diamond district. For around a year, Reader discussed the heist with an old colleague, eventually forming a team of ageing criminals. Hatton Garden, a district known for its jewellery stores, had been on Reader's radar for a while. At 76, he was the oldest of the group but actively involved in the planning stages, even scouting locations in the weeks leading up to the event. The gang managed to bypass the vault's security measures over the Easter bank holiday weekend, making off with an estimated £200 million worth of jewels and precious metals. However, unlike many successful heists, this one wasn't without its mistakes. The elderly criminals left behind crucial evidence, ultimately leading to their identification and arrest. Despite his criminal past, Reader lived a relatively unassuming life in Dartford after the heist. He ran a second-hand car dealership with his son. However, authorities eventually caught up with Reader and his accomplices. Although most of the stolen goods were never recovered, the heist itself became a national sensation. Reader, eventually caught and convicted, received a six-year sentence but was released early due to health problems. He died of prostate and colon cancer in his Dartford home in September 2023, his death kept secret by his family until a death certificate revealed his true identity. Brian Reader's story offers a glimpse into the duality of human nature. While he achieved a degree of infamy for the Hatton Garden heist, his life in Dartford presented a different persona. The case also remains partially unsolved, with a significant portion of the stolen loot amounting to a missing value of around £10 million never recovered.
Following my recent series of articles highlighting the ongoing reliability problems with local bus services operated by Arriva, along with the worrying issue of passenger fare evasion; I found that this was dramatically underlined yesterday when I was a passenger on a 99 bus from Erith to Upper Belvedere. The bus got as far as the stop at the Pom Pom when a very scruffy and dishevelled man in his mid-30s who looked to be under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals got on the bus and said that he did not have any credit on his Oyster card and could he travel for free? The bus driver indicated across the road to the two mini markets opposite the bus stop, and suggested that the man add credit to his Oyster card there, then return and try to get on another bus. The man then said he did not have any money and he only wanted to go a couple of stops up the hill towards Upper Belvedere. The driver then suggested that if it was such a short journey, the man could walk, and he could not stay on the bus unless he paid his fare. The man refused and started shouting at the driver and moved down inside the bus. The driver then came on the public address system and said that he would not be moving until the man got off the bus. After a couple of minutes the man started shouting and raving again. He then ran to the front of the bus to the driver's cab and spat at the driver which was blocked by the security screen. The appalling scumbag then got off the bus, and we were able to continue our journey as normal. Your thoughts regarding this horrible situation would be appreciated. Prior to this disturbing incident, I was contacted by a reader who holds a very senior position within the UK transport industry, and who has some fascinating insights into the internal problems the Arriva bus company is currently experiencing. Due to their status, the contributor has to remain anonymous. They write:- "I don’t often get time to make a comment, but I thought a couple of notes might be of interest with regard to your comments about Arriva. Having now retired from my role with the Confederation of Passenger Transport, I am free to make some comments. Firstly, Revenue Protection is not a function of the franchise operators of the TfL network. The revenue inspectors are staff working directly for TfL. While drivers are made aware of the potential fraudulent use of cards, they have to make a considered judgement about tackling anyone who appears to be defrauding the system such as the character you mentioned in your report. I once tackled a young person who was fraudulently using one of the old flash pass Concessionary Freedom passes (pre-Oyster) . I removed the pass and went to place it to my offside whereupon I was momentarily stunned when I received a fist to the side of my head. I immediately got out of my cab to give chase, but the assailant got away. When I returned to the bus to seek witnesses not one of the passengers offered to give their details and one actually told me that I was a bus driver, not a policeman, and shouldn’t get involved. The pass had obviously been stolen from an elderly lady, who could have been their grandmother or aunty and one wonders what else the assailant had stolen from her. After that I never again sought to question such pass abuse. It simply wasn’t worth it. While we are now in a smart card world with buses fitted with assault screens, I doubt many drivers would bother to seek to tackle anyone using an invalid pass. Operational supervision of services is hardly ever conducted from the roadside these days. Vehicles are co-ordinated by Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems and are regulated by office-based controllers who look after the services remotely. They use radio control to instruct drivers where services need to be regulated which is why you will rarely see a point inspector these days. With regard to your comments about Arriva’s punctuality and reliability. You may be interested to know that Arriva has been undergoing significant change in recent months. The business had for some years been a subsidiary of the German State Railways (DB), who decided to dispose of the Arriva subsidiary about 3 years ago. It took some time to find a buyer and when agreement to sell was eventually reached last October, the new owner materialised as private equity firm US based I-Squared Capital who had previously made an unsuccessful bid for First Group. It has become clear that they were only really interested in the non-UK interests of Arriva and that the UK operations have been a headache for them. Major re-organisation has resulted in many management and supervisory roles being ‘consolidated’ and redundancies have been made in many places. This has resulted in the not surprising overloading of remaining staff and consequent lack of morale and inability to hold things together in many places. It isn’t just Arriva. TfL has been awarding contracts to incumbent operators rather than them changing hands in recent months, because all operators are in desperate trouble with shortages of staff. This is making it even more difficult to maintain service levels. There has been a strong suggestion that the London Arriva operations may change hands as part of the I-Squared deal and First Group may well materialise as an interested party as they have declared an interest to return to the London market. You will know that they have already acquired Ensignbus and have been on the look-out for at least one more operation in the London area. It was with some surprise that my old depot at Grays won back all the contracts recently tendered in the area despite Arriva’s difficulties. This is not just a London problem. These difficulties exist all over the country and this is resulting in many services being surrendered or reduced in frequency to match service levels with available resource. Even here in rural North Devon staff shortages are a problem. By way of example, of the 6 school contracts due to be operated by Filers Travel in Ilfracombe this morning, the company was short of two drivers. This resulted in two of the contracts having to double up to try and cover the missing two. This involved one large size vehicle having to negotiate a part of route through the village of Berrynarbour which is not usually ideal for a full-size coach. All this then led to a subsequent works contract running late. On top of this one of the company’s 4 daily bus workings also ran into mechanical trouble and required attention resulting in another journey running late. I myself had to drive to Lynton this morning to cover their Lynton-Ilfracombe College contract as there was no local driver available to drive the out-stationed coach from there. This is just a small private family-owned operator – the larger group operators are in even more difficulty". Since the author sent me the article above, news has now broken that Arriva have just lost the contracts for Routes 99 269 and 401, and the new operator which I believe is Go Ahead will have brand new electric buses from January 2025. This will be a relief for people that use these routes that currently use the old out dated, polluting, and unreliable buses. Thanks to the second reader who brought this to my attention. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
We are shortly approaching the 40th anniversary of what was probably the biggest and most destructive blaze in the local area since World War II. First, a little background to the story. Erith Pier is the longest pier on the entire length of the River Thames (Southend Pier does not count, as it is judged to be in the Estuary, rather than on the Thames itself). The pier is of a rather unusual design, being of a “Dog – Leg” arrangement, with the longest part of the pier running parallel with the shore. The reason for this was that historically the pier was used for industrial purposes when the area now occupied by the large Morrison’s supermarket was a large deep water shipping wharf. One of the main products handled by the pier and the wharf was the unloading and trans-shipment of giant rolls of newsprint paper from the paper mills in Sweden to a warehouse on the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road, before finally being taken by lorry up to what was then the giant newspaper print presses in Holborn and Fleet Street. I recall, back in the early 1980’s, not very long before the deep water wharf finally closed down that the warehouse that stored the giant rolls of newsprint in Fraser Road caught fire. Once the paper was alight, it proved impossible for the fire brigade to put out. Fraser Road was blocked for nearly two weeks, as the emergency services contained the blaze, but left it to burn itself out. I can recall standing in the back garden of my parents’ house in Upper Belvedere on a bright and sunny day on the 16th of May 1984, and being amazed by what appeared to be snow flakes falling from a cloudless sky. The flakes were actually specks of ash from the raging paper warehouse blaze a couple of miles away. The smell of burning pervaded the area for nearly a month, well after the fire burned itself out naturally – and left the warehouse building a burned out shell. From my recollections of the fire, nobody was seriously hurt, and there was a substantial insurance settlement to the owners of the Europa Industrial Estate. The damage caused to the warehouse can be seen in aerial photograph that you can see above – click on it for a larger view. I am guessing that the photo may well have been commissioned on behalf of the loss adjusters working for the insurance company that insured the warehouses. The site is so large that an aerial photo would be the only way to really assess the extent of the damage. Nowadays it could be done far more quickly and cheaply by an aerial drone, but back in the day it would have had to be done by a photographer in a helicopter. Maggot Sandwich reader and retired firefighter Alan Magin was one of the team who tackled the blaze. Back in 2016 he wrote to me about the fire:- "My recollection was that we made up the attendance from Greenwich, as we had the 100' turntable ladders. It was impossible trying to put it out, as the corrugated metal roof covered the combustible materials. I remember a plastics factory was also involved, melting its produce into the drains, so they needed replacing in the rebuild. What was handy though was the floating pontoon at the Erith Deep Water site. It was a case of relay pumping, from an appliance on the pontoon, as in effect we always had water! A senior officers decision no doubt, a good one if you ask me. Rather than use fresh water from the hydrants. I think the damping down operation lasted a week. It was interesting to hear you say the fire started in a paper warehouse with perhaps reeled paper? for newsprint maybe? If these reels got anywhere near damp they started to expand/unwind creating heat, hence the spontaneous combustion. I attended a slightly larger fire at one of Mr Murdoch's warehouses in Grove St, Deptford, that one was started deliberately. I think he might have upset a few people! Incidentally, I was shot up again on our 100' turntable ladder, (I must have been a glutton for punishment) only to be told by the operator to come down immediately. After my descent (walking down) the operator in his excitement had forgotten to put out the manual jacks to stabilise the appliance!!! I still think what might have happened if he had tried to manoeuvre the ladder? I might not have been here writing to you!" There was an inquiry into the cause of the blaze. The warehouse stored giant rolls of newsprint that had come from paper mills in Sweden (via Erith Deep Water Wharf and the Pier - when it was still in industrial use). The paper was stored prior to being transported to Fleet Street for the newspapers. It was determined that several giant rolls of paper had been left on the pier during a heavy rain storm, and water had soaked into the rolls. They were put into the warehouse whilst still damp - and as can happen when organic material gets damp in certain circumstances, the paper heated up and spontaneously combusted, taking several million pounds of stock, and a very expensive warehouse with it. Subsequent to the insurance pay out, the burned out warehouses were demolished and replaced with some new warehouse buildings, which are on site to this day. What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
