In this episode we take a bike ride down Bellenden Road. In the trendy neighborhood of Peckham, London. Bellenden Road stands as the epicenter of high quality urbanist living in the heart of South London. There you’ll find markets, barbers, restaurants, pubs, child care, and all the necessities of life right within walking distance of your front door.
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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to Peekom, South London. Today, we’re going to go on a bike ride through Peekom’s most popular neighborhood. But before we do, we’re going to walk back to the train station, and we’re treading this familiar territory because of a comment I received on my last episode where we walked from my apartment to the train station. One of my North American viewers wrote the following quote. I get your point, but the shitty scene of closed up shops with those sheet metal closings, scratches and graffiti on the walls and windows and trash and [ __ ] everywhere isn’t helping much the case of what American urbanization should look like. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like America cities are like this or even worse, and I agree with what you are saying, but focusing on optics helps a lot to get your point across.” Well, this is clearly a North American viewer who, and I’m going to lambast him here a little bit, doesn’t know what the [ __ ] he’s talking about. First off, focusing on optics helps a lot to get your point across. So apparently I’m supposed to pick just the nicest possible places in all the different cities that I visit to talk about urbanism and deliver to you only the best. Well, I hate to break it to you, North American viewer. By the way, thank you for watching. Please like, subscribe, and keep commenting, but this is a workingclass neighborhood. This is the kind of place anybody might live. Not just the best of what London has to offer. This isn’t a upscale area, but look at all the amenities. We’ve got bikes, we’ve got walking, we’ve got busing, we’ve got trains. There’s four different ways to get from your front door to the place you want to go. Not to mention, you could drive your car, which for these folks is a luxury item. They don’t need a car, but they have cars. Most of the people you’re looking at right now have cars. They’re just not in them because they don’t need to be in them. And when I get to the bike riding section of this video, you’ll see nobody’s using their cars because they don’t have to. Their cars are a luxury. Even for the middle and lowerass people of London, cars are a luxury. They’re not a necessity. And even for the middle and lowerass citizens of London, they still have cars because they have plenty of money to buy the luxuries in life. They live in London after all, which is set up for their success. Now, let’s talk about the shitty sheet metal closings and scratches and graffiti on the walls and windows and trash and [ __ ] everywhere that this [ __ ] thinks is a problem. Well, first of all, this graffiti and these closed up stores are small businesses. The reason they’re not open is because it’s 9:00 a.m. and these folks are probably taking their children to school. Don’t worry, though. They’ll be in their businesses offering you goods and services soon enough. And the reason why there’s trash outside is because that’s how London gets rid of its trash. They set it outside and then the civil servants, the garbage folk that come to pick up the trash come and pick it up. They do that overnight. Now, these folks probably put the trash out, but maybe they put it out too early or too late. Or maybe the trash people just missed it. But don’t worry, somebody will be around pretty soon, probably tonight, to pick it up. That’s just how this city works. That’s how they get rid of their trash. And yeah, sometimes there’s trash out on the streets. But only a [ __ ] North American who’s used to driving in his car everywhere he goes, cuz that’s the only option he has, sees a little bit of trash on the streets and thinks, “Oh, this is a shitty neighborhood.” And by the way, take a look out your window while you’re driving. Notice all the homeless people begging. Notice all the poverty. Notice all the drug addicts. Notice all the people that are in destitute and are wishing they had a car or a place or any kind of shelter. You’d rather look at that than a little bit of graffiti in an otherwise flourishing neighborhood. All these storefronts are occupied. These are small business owners. They’re just not here to lick your ass for you at this very moment. And so their shops are closed up. And yeah, there’s graffiti. This is a major city though. There’s a lot of folk around, children and scoundrels and whatnot. riff raff spray graffiti on things. So what? If you think this isn’t a resounding endorsement of good city living, of good urbanization, just because there’s a little bit of graffiti and some trash, then you’re a [ __ ] [ __ ] And if you watch my last video, then you noticed all the good aspects of what’s going on on this street. Look at all the transportation options. Look at all the people out with their children and their babies and walking their dogs. Look at how many people are on their way to the train, not driving in their car because they don’t need to. They don’t even need to buy a car. Now, I’ve taken up enough of your time making fun of this person who left this comment. I don’t recommend that you, my other viewers, go on and make fun of him. I’ve done enough of that here. All right, now let’s go for a bike ride. Right through this tunnel here, there is a bank of rental bikes. They’re super easy to rent. I’m just going to scan the QR code, download the app, get on the bike, and go. We’re going to do a tour of Bell &on Road. Everybody I talked to said that Bell & Road is the place to live in Peekom and it’ll be the quality of life that we see on this road that will dictate that this neighborhood has arrived. Now, that’s according to the real estate agents that I spoke to. A lot of people told me that this was an upand cominging neighborhood. And then a lot of other people told me, “No, it’s arrived. This is it.” So, I needed to see for myself. And everybody said, “Bellinon Road, that’s where you got to go and that’s where we’re headed.” Now, at first, I was a little nervous about riding my bike in London. Everywhere I had been so far had been pretty congested with traffic, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I got to Bell & Road and saw that not only did it have bike lanes, but that the traffic was quite minimal. For those of you that are wondering, here’s the path that we’re going to take today. We’re going to go straight down Bell & Road, go through one of the neighborhood streets, back onto Bell & Road, and then back to the bike bank. Now, you’ll notice that all of this real estate is single family homes. There’s not a lot of two and threetory stuff here. As we get on to Bell & Road, it does become more multi-use buildings, but most of these are single family units. You’ll also notice that there’s a lot of bikers out, there’s a lot of walking, there’s a lot of busing, and there’s a lot of driving. People in London like to drive and because they have fantastic public transportation, it’s not terribly congested. This is Bell & Road, one of the finest streets in South London. And look, there’s not really that much traffic. Now, as we pass through, you’ll see some multi-use buildings, some two and threetory buildings, and a lot of single family homes. This is a whole neighborhood full of row homes. Notice how all the cars are parked. This is a Tuesday morning in London. These people don’t use their cars to get to work. They take the bus, they take the train, they walk, and they bike. Now, stopping here for a moment, you can see that these row homes are adorable. These are old. Don’t get me wrong. Each one of these homes is probably over a hundred years old. But look at how nice they look. Look at how well-kept they are. And Peekom isn’t known for being a well-kept neighborhood. Everybody told me that not very long ago, Peekom was pretty rough. And the turnaround that it’s seen over the past 5 10 years or so has really raised all boats in this area. That’s why you see such a flourishing community everywhere I go. What a nice contrast this residential neighborhood is from Ry Lane where I’m staying here in Peekom. Ry Lane is very busy. It’s obviously very multi-use and there’s lots of commercial and industry on Ry Lane, but this is very quiet and secluded. Not something you might expect in a heart of London. [Music] Here’s one of the main streets, and you can see there’s plenty of traffic on this street. buses every few minutes, motor vehicle drivers, but also people on bicycles, people walking, and so on. We’re going to turn around and take a slightly different path through the neighborhood and back onto Bellendon Road. So, we’re off of Bellendon Road now, and we’re into again another residential area. Row homes, single family homes, and the occasional complex. One thing you won’t see until we get back onto Bell & Road is retail stores or bars. There may be an occasional pub here and there, but most of that activity, that retail activity is going to be on Bellendon. What’s so nice about these mixeduse neighborhoods is you’re never too far from a bus stop. You’re never too far from bicycle parking. You see these bicycle garages every so often on the sides of the streets. That’s what they’re for. They’re for parking and securing the neighborhood bicycles. You’re never too far from a train or public transportation. And of course, you can always just drive your car. There’s plenty of space here for cars. And every so often at most of the intersections, you’ll see some retail and commercial stuff. You’ll see clothing stores and boutiques and places to get your nails done and your hair and grocerers and stuff like that. This right here is the heart of Bell & Road. One of the keys to good urbanism is no matter where you live, you’re never terribly far from anything that you might need. So the concepts in a in the United States of 15minute cities, that’s [ __ ] In the United Kingdom, a 15-minute city is a waste of time. They are looking more for 5 minute cities, 2 minute cities. You should be able to walk out your front door, hung over from the night before, get to a convenience store within a block or two, and get your Red Bull and be on your way. You can see the train is on my left, and we’re getting closer to the train station. There’s a bike bank right up here by the church. I’m going to drop off and check in my bike, and then we’re going to take a little walk. I wanted to do some walking in this neighborhood to see what it was like. And eventually, we’ll end up back on Ry Lane. You’ll notice that I check my map pretty often. I’m still really new to London, so I don’t always know exactly where I am or where I’m going. And it’s not a grid system, so it’s pretty easy to get lost in London if you’re not paying attention. Now, the nice thing about London is it’s not very easy to stay lost. You might take a wrong turn or go down the wrong way, but pretty it’s pretty easy to determine where you’re at once you get there, and then you can figure out where you need to be. Well, here we are back at the train station. Now, just north of the park that we just went through down to Bell & Road, there was another road that wound its way back over to Ry Lane, and I wanted to walk it to see what it’s like to walk in this neighborhood. As you can see, this isn’t ideal. This sidewalk isn’t really all that wide, and there’s awful lot of cars parked. This would be a great place for London to expand its walking and biking infrastructure, and maybe close off this road to cars altogether, or just make it a oneway where you can only park on one side. Even in a place like London, there’s still work to be done. Now, this is infinitely better than any place you’re ever going to find in the United States or Canada. But for London, it still needs work. There’s still plenty of gaps to fill and places to make more accommodating. Now, the reason I crossed the street here is because there were people coming the other way. And as you can tell, this sidewalk isn’t actually wide enough to accommodate both of us passing each other. So, I found it easier to just cross the street. One interesting aspect of London is all the flora. It’s actually quite tropical looking. It’s just thicker skinned, so it can handle the London winters. London is quite green and pretty. And in fact, I think it’s even designated as a forest. The city itself is considered a forest because of how many trees and how much greenery there is. Now, for those of you that are wondering, we’re only a few blocks away from Ry Lane, that busy, bustling street that you keep seeing me walk on. Look at how secluded we are. Look at how far away it seems like we are from that type of infrastructure and that kind of street. Another thing to recognize and to notice here is just how many small businesses there are in this area. Look at how many small business owners there are. Almost every single one of these storefronts is a locallyowned business. That’s the heart and soul of the London economy. And it’s true, every once in a while you’ll see like a McDonald’s or a KFC or something, but that’s the exception, not the norm. It’s nothing like American Commerce where every single place you walk into is a giant corporation. Now, there are giant corporations here, that’s for sure. But many of these stores are owned by young professional Londonites. Even the major corporations are often franchises. So these are local London people who run, own, and operate these stores. And again, look at how many buses there are. It’s like a bus every couple of minutes. How nice that must be for the people that live here. When your feet get tired, you just get on a bus. It’s simple. It’s basic. And we have nothing like this in the United States. You might have something similar to this in your neighborhood for three or four blocks or I don’t know, maybe a a block. Maybe they shut down one of your streets in your downtown area to cars so that you guys can walk around and gawk and gasp at how wonderful it is to have a pedestrianized street. But this is almost the entirety of London. The whole metropolitan area is set up this way. If I walk two blocks to the east, I’ll be in a nice quiet neighborhood. If I keep walking north, I’ll be on Ry Lane, another busy intersection, but I’ll have a library and a workout facility, a gym, a public pool with a hot tub. If I go across Ry Lane here and into the park, you’ll get to see the public library. There’s also a public gym facility with a hot tub and a saltwater pool. This little covered area has live music and they have festivals here. This is also a major throughway for bikes as there’s a very widely used and very nice bike path that takes you all the way up to Elephant and Castle which is central London. There’s also a community college here, a woman’s center and other government buildings where they have services for young and old alike. Stopping for a moment to take a look at the trail system. These are the bike paths that take you all the way to downtown London from here, which is quite a ways. One thing to notice in these metropolitan areas is just how happy and healthy everybody looks. Everybody walks where they’re going. Everybody bikes where they’re going or they take public transportation. This isn’t filled with just homeless encampments and drug addled wanderers and nomads. This is a high functioning society, one that certainly has problems. It certainly has social decay. But London has a system in place to take care of those folks. You don’t see them on the streets because they’re in hospitals and they’re in drug treatment centers where they belong. As we get closer to Ry Lane, you’ll see my apartment’s right across the street. And I think I’m going to go home for some tea and some eggs. I love how London’s the only place where they drive on the wrong side of the street. So much so that they have to say, “Look,” before you cross the street. They have it painted all over on the ground. “Look left, crazy Brits.” Well, I’m back home. It’s time for me to go have my tea and eggs. And thank you for watching. [Music] [Music] [Music]