Why we feel that we can’t go to Street Feast again.
Sign of the times…
The highlight of last Saturday was Street Feast at Model Market in Lewisham. A brilliant hidden gem behind the dullness that is Lewisham High Street. It’s achingly cool and a clever use of a long derelict market. Unlike the previous Street Feast I’d been to in Dalston, the vendors all have individual roofed pitches with seating, making it easier to find a spot to enjoy the food.
Living the high life on the high line
Sat atop their grassed version of the New York High Line, sipping slushy cocktails in the sun we couldn’t have been happier. A bunch of children next to us played with actual toys (not phones), newborn babies added cuteness and everyone was having a good time.
But then the following morning I saw a tweet from @DowneyJD – one of the organisers saying: ‘There is nowhere else like #ModelMarket and it’s the Lewisham locals that make it such a great and special place’.
The real Lewisham
We agreed with the first part but thought how hidden Street Feast is, it’s even fenced off from the high street – you can’t even get in here, you have to walk around to the other side. The people we saw in the shops and surrounding area on our walk from and back to the car were (mostly) NOT the same people we saw inside Street Feast. It was like someone had plonked a little bit of Dalston in the middle of Lewisham and not told anyone.
So I said: ‘@DowneyJD @StreetFeastLDN it is indeed special, but we’re not sure Lewisham locals actually know it’s there?’
To which @DowneyJD replied ‘What a strange and unnecessary thing to say. I’m certain they know but perhaps you know better?’
We don’t claim to know better than anyone, but wrote: ‘@DowneyJD just seems like a secret world on the other side of the high street! Just wonder if people are travelling in/out for it.’
We were shot down with: ‘@WeLoveFoodTweet Wonder away but in the knowledge that you are wrong.’
Oh.
So I tweeted a few London restaurant industry types who I knew were there the same night as asking ‘So who went to @StreetFeastLDN Lewisham last night and are you a local? ?
@WeLoveFoodTweet It's not an argument. It's you not knowing WTF you're talking about and me pointing that out.
— Jonathan Downey (@DowneyJD) April 26, 2015
The winking emoji was a poor attempt to show this was lighthearted. It obviously didn’t work because he said. ‘Now you’re just being a dick. Good for you. We interview and survey our guests and know the postcode they live and work in.’
I’m being a dick? Charming.
Anyway, this ended with Ade getting involved saying he doesn’t appreciate his wife being called a dick and with @DowneyJD blocking us. That’s fine, no biggie but what did bother us is that we were also blocked from the Street Feast account for which we were supporters and fans. In fact we’re even running a competition in conjunction with them. Awkward.
I tried to not let something so petty rile me but when messages of support came in from our followers it made it into something bigger. And when I find myself wide awake at 1.30 am the following Monday night drafting this post in my head, I thought perhaps I should write it all down.
I surprised myself by feeling upset about this, the ‘dick’ comment really stuck. Totally uncalled for and odd. I’m sure if we had the same conversation in real life and not behind the security of social media, I certainly would not have been called that.
We care about our ‘brand’ and would never ever want to look or sound unprofessional, we were merely pointing out something which we believe to be true, we live pretty close to Lewisham and so know what a Lewisham local is. We couldn’t have been happier that something like Street Feast had come this close to our home, there’s hardly anywhere decent to eat around here. We WANT the locals to go there to sample the food and atmosphere for themselves. It just didn’t look like many were…
Oh and by the way, when we went to Street Feast no one asked us our postcode or where we work.
Yum Bun indeed
It’s just a shame that we feel that we can’t go there again. Plans for summer visits with family and friends are now scrapped. We won’t be trying SmokeStak‘s delicious looking ribs or having another gorgeous Yum Bun ice-cream bao.
Not that we’ve been barred (as far as I know) but the enjoyment factor would go from a 9 to a 1. For us, eating out is about so much more than the food, it’s about who’s part of it, behind it and their love and passion for what they do.
I’m not defending him for what he said because it’s completely uncalled for and down right rude but I’m a lewisham resident, went multiple times last summer, went back opening weekend and will be back more. I signed up for the mailing list and was asked for my postcode which is se12, lewisham. I bumped into a few people I knew, all lewisham borough residents. I’m born and bred South London, peckham, charlton, lewisham, and though I’m not who you’ll see on the high street on a Saturday afternoon that doesn’t make me any less of a resident.
Good response Isla, thank you.
I think you might of accidentally hit a raw nerve, that’s why they got so defensive. Street feast is the one of the first signs of gentrification in Lewisham, leading to house prices rising, so the locals might not be too happy. The organisers of Street Feast must know this, and although they are trying to integrate the local community, it was obvious to you that they weren’t there.
A look at this douche’s twitter feed does indeed seem to suggest he has form for this kind of chippy arrogance.
Its the fear if this and the possible oh-so-cool condescension which (in part) keeps me away from these kind of events in the first place.
Will watch how this one unfolds with interest…
I think this is a massive shame, because I’m a massive Street Feast fan, penciling in a trip to their East London home once a Summer. People really sometimes watch who they are speaking to on social media, and also remember that even behind a computer screen you’re still being a complete idiot in public.
I found this interesting, because I’ve never been down to one of their events in Lewisham, because I always look at it thinking that is way too far to travel out of central London!
Thanks Rachel. Ade wrote a long reply to you then lost it, duh! Lewisham is only ten/fifteen mins from London Bridge, not far at all. In fact easier for you coming from deepest darkest Kent. It is a shame, do really want to go back but it wouldn’t feel the same, know that sounds silly but it’s true.
Kind regards,
Saffron & Adrian
welovefood-itsallweeat.com
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1. Great observation! I lived in Lewisham and steered off the fest because it didn’t feel Lewisham. Entry fee made it other-worldly and doesn’t give the community feel, in fact the opposite. To be honest charging someone to walk into somewhere to spend more money is quite unreal.
2. No one should use swear word at anyone. Full stop. Don’t let it get to you.
I live in the borough of Lewisham and go to streetfeast, I went last night and spoke to a few people and they lived in the borough, friends who I have been to streetfeast with live in Lewisham as well. Do all the people who go to the Dalston Streetfeast live in Dalson? Do the people who walk down Lewisham high street live in Lewisham? As a big shopping centre I bet a lot of them travel in from elsewhere. What is the ‘real Lewisham’? As for saying that Streetfeast is fenced off that is nonsense, the photo you show is the beginning of the high street and it was only a small section that was fenced off. Why not celebrate the fact that finally lewisham has somewhere as great as this rather than trying to pick holes in it by saying that it isn’t for local people when it clearly is!
Good afternoon and thank you for your comments. Firstly we didn’t say that Model Market was fenced off (the pic on our post was taken where the street market is, quite away from where the main entrance to Model Market). We were merely pointing out that it seemed, to us, a different world tucked behind the main shopping area of Lewisham high street. All we pointed out was that the people who were wandering about laden with big blue and white stripped shopping bags were totally oblivious of the amazing venue just behind them. We visited on the first Saturday and we felt that the clientele in Model Market were a million miles from those just outside on the high street. Yes you are right that people may come from elsewhere to visit the shopping centre but I doubt very much that it would be from outside the borough of Lewisham. The borough of Lewisham is large, very diverse and covers some very affluent areas as well as some that are not quite so privileged.
We are sorry if you felt we were picking holes, it wasn’t a personal attack on either Model Market or Lewisham borough’s inhabitants (unlike Robert Downey’s personal verbal attack on us – that really upset my wife). Other comments (left here and emailed directly to us) suggest to support at least some of our views. That said we honestly feel that Lewisham is on the cusp of something great. Russel Norman is opening a branch of Polpo there soon – and he rarely gets things wrong.
Adrian.
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