Hello Boris,
I live in Sydenham in London. We have a number of pubs in the area. Unfortunately our most recognizable pub is shut, the Greyhound. But there are a few others well worth visiting, such as the Dolphin, which is the local 'Gastro pub', The Woodsman for it's incredible Sunday Lunches or a proper old English town pub, the Golden Lion. You may want to buy a book from the Kirkdale Bookshop (they have some great books on the area so you can see what it used to look like in it's heyday) or perhaps try the excellent hot chocolate from Sugahill.
If you come here you will notice a few things that are wrong with the area. It has fine housing, incredible architecture, some wonderful parks and generally very nice people. A lot of these people genuinely like that are and want to make it better. That's one reason the pub boarded up at the top of the hill is still there, as it has been for hundreds of years, and hasn't been made into identikit faceless flats.
There is a movement to improve the area, and there is a huge opportunity for local people to influence that movement.
Why not come down, have a pint on us and we can tell you what we think. From litle things like 'why aren't there any bicycle racks at the station in Sydenham?' (you may want to come by car Boris), 'Why does no-one use Home Park?' (and why did they take the football posts away), 'why is Bell Green still a building site?', 'Why are there empty shops in the high street and what can we do to encourage business to move in?' etc etc.
It's your chance to meet real people, engage with them, have a friendly chat and we will even buy your beer (as long as you don't drive yourself).
Bring the press if you like (or not as the case may be).
Hope to see you soon Boris.
Regards
Lee
Local resident.
Sydenham.