A Taste of Sugar

I keep trying to reread  the play written about Earlsfield, ‘Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World,’ hoping to recognise my area in this early work by the later multi-million selling author, Louis de Bernieres,  written when he was a young teacher working locally, but it bears no resemblance to anything I know.

Apart from being a patronising and unrealistic picture of everyday life in the streets of South West London (not to mention a sub – 'Under-Milk-Wood' pastiche) I don’t think Earlsfield was ever like that. I do think, though, that the area has changed beyond recognition, over the years and particularly, In the last two years, Earlsfield, has burgeoned as a retail destination in the time we have known it and worked there in our shop, Sugarbag Blue. all we see are articles about the dying high street,. Mary Portas has been appointed to fly in help from above to a few chosen streets across the country to reverse the decline in retail from its apparent former glory and to patronise us into feeling its our fault as traders. Years ago, I am told,  the area used to have several bakeries, a cd shop, several pine furntiture shops; our premises was one of three butchers, and then a vegetable shop and many others – most of these have been made unusable by superstores and the web.

In our first week of being open, a man from the scrapyard came in like a king, inspecting his troops, regarded our gift-covered shelves,  laughed  out loud with derision and left wordlessly; there was one pensioner who  used to peer scornfully in through the door as if he were looking at the desecration of a church, and mutter - 
‘.. but do we need it?’

Do we? Indeed, nothing we sell will keep you alive, but having seen so many young families come through the area and make a life and raise their children on the streets between Earlsfield road and Burntwood lane, and needing community, needing re-assurance that they were still part of the bigger world, I really think we do need it. People need to celebrate their chidrens’ and families' important milestones; they need to adorn their homes to make them special, even though they may not be raising their family in the ideal conditions they would dream of as young couples, possibly in houses smaller than they grew up and far from their parents, they need to have cafes to meet and make precious local connections, and to be social creatures not just mothering machines; women are the force behind families as they adapt, fit-in, and evolve. in the case of the many local South-Africans they need to keep in touch with their roots.

 The internet has seen the fantastic flourishing of enterprising mums organisations, which create a community linked from peoples laptops, there is I have discovered recently, but there has to be a physical place to go as well –particularly when you have young children, or are a young couple, your local streets really are where you live, they are what you are stuck with for now which is why, despite the dominance of the supermarket behemoths, Earlsfield  now has a new deli,  a beauty parlour a childrens painting shop, a flowershop and flower stall; a South-African specialist shop, a bike shop, a computer café/menders,  at least three hairdressers, Carluccios, Belle Amis with its mum-friendly environment, three gastro-pubs, it’s a kids thing for junior work-outs,, a thriving multi-cultural theatre, and a cocktail bar - to name but a few. There  are  some classic survivors from days of old –the lawnmower mender, tattoo parlour, the church and their powerful cake sales, the picture-framers, the snookerhall, and bubble café,  we don’t need any of these in the sense that they will stop us from starving or dying of the cold, but I think they do make life liveable, between going to collect todays 3-for-2 bargains at Sainsburys.

  When, a few years ago, with the driving persistence of a local councillor who had been given a parking ticket while buying a card form us…. Some of the traders  got  the council  to allow free parking on one side of the road on Saturday afternoon, our tiny triumph seemed to signal that we were not just a dusty through- route on the way to the Arnedale, but a place in its own right. No, the parking victory was nice in that it felt like we might just have an identity, apart from the fact that the trains take you to central London in minutes, every three minutes. I recall, when we used to share a house with my brother up by the common, most people up the hill back then had never heard of Earlsfield or didn’t know where it was. Well,if you want to eat at Carluccios, I bet  you know where it is now.

I really mourn the loss of some absolute gems-does anyone remember the diy shop near the post-office that could find anything, absolutely anything and was always home to old geezers, chatting(and smoking, inside - shock, horror); the terrible loss of 'Wines of the World' which may have been hit by the supermarkets and their utter dominance of anything except Harrods; the ill-feted yoghurt shop; the life-style café with treatment rooms; the amazing secondhand bookshop gobbled-up by the station- (will we ever see their like again?) But the secret of revitalising of a community might not be in the hands of a government-appointed czar, but in the links between smalltime businesses, like  wagons joining in a circle to fend of  attackers’ arrows. The guy from the scrapyard came back about 5 years later and shouted over a queue of customers into our bustling shop
 ‘who’s laughin’ now, love?

I would love to hear any relevant stories about Earlsfield, or to post pictures of interest about our history.

.( Don’t get me started on parking – next, I would love suggestions as to a system to alert people when the dreaded 'blue meanies' are about – a system of whistles or Robinhood style catcalls - this is not because the government shouldn’t be able to empty our pockets to fund the bank bonuses, but because the signs along Garratt lane are downright deceptive – we’ve all known it for years down here. Anyway, more on that anon.)

 written by Jo.