Neighbours joined together to literally stop the traffic by throwing lunchtime street parties in Lewisham on Sunday (June 2).

There were 25 Big Lunch events - a national initiative to bring communities together by cooking up a storm - held across the borough with a further 25 expected later this month.

News Shopper: Sydenham Singology in Forest Hill

Residents laid out tables in the road and shared food, conversation, music, dancing, and general merrymaking.

News Shopper: Spencer Ball hosted one of the events with wife Carolina Susaeta-Ball in Brockley’s Cypress Gardens.

Spencer Ball hosted one of the events with wife Carolina Susaeta-Ball in Brockley’s Cypress Gardens. The 41-year-old dad-of-two said: "It was really, really nice considering it was the first time we had done it in this road.

"A large part of it was due to everyone in the road being really enthusiastic so it made organising easier.

"More or less everyone came at some point and brought nice food and got into the spirit of the event.

"Some people who lived at the opposite end of the road had never seen each other before, so it was good for the new residents and the old ones."

News Shopper: Cypress Gardens' Big Lunch

Sabina Kapp organised a Big Lunch for Forest Hill's Broxted Road and Woolstone Road where around 120 people came together.

The 43-year-old sales manager said: "It was a real success because so many people volunteered and worked since January.

“Not many people in Broxted Road knew each other. Some people had never even seen each other on that road which is shocking to me.

“I am American, I think people are generally really shy here. Socially, sometimes people have to be forced into it or they won’t do it.

“I think the more people you know in your neighbourhood, the safer it is and the more community-orientated it feels.”