Park

[RedRider]

Stretched between Old Kent and Camberwell Roads, a patch of reclaimed industrial land, Burgess Park is my local.
I held a camera on a ride through from work last weekend. I love the sounds but couldn't capture the BBQ smells.
Forgive the smudgy lens and the random nature of the thread. Just wanted to share my first youtube vid and a slice of parklife.

 

[Roadrider48]

Ain't pedestrians a pain in the rear?

 

[RedRider]

[QUOTE 3206644, member: 259"]I lived next to Burgess Park for a year in the eighties. It was a very scary place back then.[/QUOTE]
Aye, it's a strange and unusual place really. Used to be all railways, canals, victorian houses and industry, bombed in world war two. It was closed for a year (a couple of years ago) and had £5-10million spent on it. It was closed so long because they found lots of poisonous industrial waste hidden under the surface which needed sorting.
Landscaped, bridge put in over the lake, there's a cool bmx track in there now which is well used and floodlit at night.They've added brick BBQ sites in a couple of areas and these are well-used in the summer. Plenty of big carp in the lake and it's fished 24 hours a day during the season.
It's far from 'gentrified' like parts of nearby Brixton and even Camberwell and Peckham but it feels a lot safer than it did a couple of years ago, mainly because there's always people there. More a source of pride I think than fear.
Up until 2012 I'd only ever really been there for the Carnival del Pueblo - fantastic Latin American festival - and it'd seemed too open, but they've done a decent landscaping job and it's part of my daily commute these days. I like it.