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THE ALLEYNIAN 710
Taking the Pulse of Peckham
Fred Edenborough (Year 12) reflects on discussions with his English teacher, Miss Milton, about the changing nature of SE15, where they both grew up
Truth be told, I struggled a little to find a route into this article. Discussions about geographical identity and gentrification, and the frequently misguided stereotypes arising from these phenomena, can often reduce people to factional, polarised defence of their ‘territory’. While discussing with me the social context of Peckham, Nunhead and Dulwich, Miss Milton, who grew up in SE15, as did I, highlights a key issue – the reductionist outlook with which we view parts of London. Why is it that when we think about Peckham, we think of Rye Lane, the high street? It becomes a metonym for a larger area, and the conflation of a small portion of it with the whole leads to complicated identity politics – especially with the after-effects of the pandemic, and given the ways in which corporate expansionism have impacted this slice of South London. Place names and postcodes both play vital roles in establishing and consolidating the cultural identity of an area. Equally, rising house prices and gentrification, and their intersection with geography, bring with them a narrow aesthetic that then falsely characterises the rest of the area. Peckham is a perfect example of this: walking down
Rye Lane, you are absorbed in the bustling, multicultural, vibrant atmosphere of pop-up markets, drawn in by the smell from stalls of fresh food. But, if you look around, small side roads branching 200 metres off the high street take you to secluded townhouses, smattered in greenery, tastefully tucked away on quiet back streets. Some residents in and around Rye Lane have been living there for generations: Miss Milton makes a valuable point, remarking that ‘you’ve got to imagine how it was for people who grew up here … to allow these people to mourn these spaces’. More noticeably, the post-lockdown encroachment of East Dulwich-esque denizens upon Peckham’s borders, well- heeled people who can’t quite afford the high prices of Dulwich Village, is subduing Peckham’s unique personality. We are seeing this process play out not just in Peckham: neighbouring Nunhead, too, known to some as ‘white man’s Peckham’, is morphing into an indistinguishably gentrified region. Yes, this will bring wealth and development, but nonetheless the cost of this invasive expansionism is becoming starkly clear – pricey coffee shops, the diminishment of local businesses, more pricey coffee shops.
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