Lewisham West

How do you improve a suburb that has not one but two pieces of heritage listed sewage infrastructure?  How about a light rail station?  Yes, Lewisham proud home of the Lewisham Sewer Vent and the Lewisham Sewage Aqueduct can now add Lewisham West light rail station to what was previously a rather effluent heavy list of public attractions.


Lewisham West clings so close to the western edge of Lewisham that a relocation of six inches would require a rename to Summer Hill East.  The light rail has managed to get out of Dulwich Hill although only barely as a sign welcoming you to that suburb is a five minute walk from the station.


One of the first things you notice when you arrive is another flour mill.  For a moment I wondered if I had travelled in a complete circle and wound up back in Waratah Mills.  The Greenway persuaded me otherwise.  You remember the Greenway, that glorious strip of overgrown back yard where apparently bandicoots frolic in the afternoon sunshine.  Well it's fair to say its gone into a bit of a decline at Lewisham West.  Such of the greenway as exists seems to consist of a dumping ground for branches and bits of vegetation which appear to have been culled from elsewhere.  It would be rather as if someone had attempted to start a zoo by dumping a bunch of severed animal limbs into a pile.


Which is a pity really because the rest of the surroundings of Lewisham West station are actually rather pleasant.  Part of the flour mill has been demolished (or possibly just fallen down) and replaced by, rather handsome, new residential buildings.  A couple of the, presumably more stable, buildings have undergone the same sort of conversion that took place at Waratah Mills.  Toss in a small park and some generous open space and you have one of the least benighted modern high density residential developments I've yet encountered.


Through this precinct of modern living the canal/storm water drain/ambitious gutter I mentioned at Waratah Mills continues its well graffitied journey to the sea (river actually).  Acknowledgement of the presence of running water comes in the form of flood markers attached to one of the remaining old mill buildings.  I'm not quite sure how useful they are.  If the markers are underwater then so are you.  Still I presume it serves as a "don't say we didn't warn you" device should all of the new development disappear beneath the waves.


The first time I came to Lewisham West was a few years ago when much of the surrounds were still derelict industrial areas and building sites.  It was dull, gloomy and slightly menacing.  It was also night which didn't help.  It has to be said that things have taken a definite turn for the better.  I wandered around the park for a while until I noticed parents were pointing at me and hustling their children away so I took the hint and went into town.