Residents in a South London town with so few pubs that “no one knew each other” have started to make it feel more like a community again by setting up a swathe of social groups to help people reconnect.
Erith is a town sitting on the River Thames on South London’s fringes.
Located in Bexley borough and bordering Dartford in Kent, the town’s train station is just over 30 minutes from London Bridge so until the Elizabeth line opened, it was one of the city’s less connected towns for transport.
With that relative isolation from city life can come a more tight-knit community, but in Erith’s case it’s been suffering with a slight lack of togetherness.
Once known for its vibrant town centre, the area has seen a decline in recent years – with only two pubs left on its iconic pier.
Jade Flannery, 30, is originally from Plumstead but moved to Erith in 2018 after visiting family in the area while growing up.
She said that when she was younger, everyone knew each other, but that the town later started to feel “fragmented”.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have this wonderful pier that was used a lot when I was a kid and now it’s not used at all. The pubs were all closed [when I moved here in 2018], all the shops were closed too.
"There were more shops at the time than there are now but even then it felt like we didn’t have a lot, and no one knew each other.
"I don’t know how to explain that but as a kid, when I came here, I felt like it had a village vibe.”
Ms Flannery is the director of Theatre Box, a performing arts academy for young people and adults in Erith.
She said she started the group after moving to the area and seeing that local kids had “nothing” to do.
Theatre Box started as a partnership with The Exchange, a dedicated space for community groups in the town, when the venue opened in 2019.
Since starting as a performing arts group for young people, the scheme has since branched into a community choir for adults.
She said: “We had people that were like, ‘I’m not singing, I’m just here to socialise,’ and now they’re asking for solos and wanting to have their moment in the spotlight, which is fantastic.
"Because it just wasn’t here, there wasn’t anything for them.”
Ms Flannery is also director of the Erith Town partnership, a group of businesses started by The Exchange to promote community events after Covid.
Since starting, the collective has set up a pop-up cinema in the town’s disused Argos unit and organised the Erith Made festival.
She said: “You could feel the community spirit that’s dissolved for whatever reason and the town’s festival was gone…
"It had a bit of a depressing vibe if I’m being really honest.
"And it’s been nice to see that that has been changing because we do have a lot going for us, the town has so much going for it, and it’s trying to just bring that back.”
Lilly Maetzig, 30, is the sales and marketing manager for The Exchange.
The community and arts centre opened in the town’s old library in 2019 after the building closed for repairs in 2009.
The space has since become a staple of Erith for locals to meet and collaborate on art projects through workshops for no cost or a small fee.
Ms Maetzig told the LDRS: “It’s kind of a new model to have the community be uplifted and supported by having these things like a craft workshop, to empower people with skills that they may not have access to.”
She added: “People have home, people have work, but then this is kind of a special in-between place and I think it’s very easy to have nothing in between.
"Maybe you go to the pub as an in-between spot, but this is somewhere where you don’t have to spend any money.”
Ms Maetzig said the space has become so popular that some volunteers are there every day, creating a space that is welcoming to all members of the community.
For example, the deli and restaurant in the basement of the building, The Bookstore, maintains a reasonably priced menu so that a wide variety of residents can afford to buy lunch.
She said: “Erith, like many places in London, is gentrified very quickly.
"So it’s something that we’re very aware of, that we don’t want to be part of that wave of gentrification.
"We want to be a place where people who are new to the area and old to the area can all comfortably come.”
Data from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) last year found that 41 pubs had closed in Bexley since 2000.
Caroline Panetta, 56, has owned The Ship in Erith with her partner for the past 20 years.
Despite being one of the few boozers left in town, the owner said the space is still recovering after Covid.
Ms Panetta told the LDRS: “I’d like to think we should be pummelled with people. I think we’re all just trying to do our best.”
The pub owner said that a change for Erith has been “a long time coming”.
She said that the opening of the Elizabeth line station in Abbey Wood has also brought a “whole new type of person” to the area.
She said: “We’re Londoners now really, there’s lots of new people coming into Erith, they’re all buying property in the area because of the Elizabeth line. We’ve never been in London as much as we are now…
"It’s a lovely area and because of Crossrail, it’s come up big time.
"If you go down from Abbey Wood on the Elizabeth line, you end up in the West End in 20 minutes.”
Labour Councillor Chris Ball, representing the Erith ward for Bexley Council, told the LDRS: “Erith went through a major development in the early 2000s, removing the old grey concrete and replacing it with the modern shopping centre and additional residential accommodation.
"In recent years the centre has changed management and is currently looking very sparse.”
Cllr Ball said that the Erith ward councillors are fighting for rent prices that will help local traders “get a foothold” in the town centre.
He also said the councillors were looking for ways to promote the nighttime economy in the area.
He said: “Part of the challenge is the shopping centre closes its gates early in the evening, leaving limited scope in the centre itself.
"As ward councillors we have hosted decision makers recently on a ward walk to promote a cohesive strategy for the town, both commercial and residential and maintaining and building community capacity will be key to the success.”
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Picture 1: A mural in Erith found just outside the town’s train station. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Joe Coughlan
Picture 2: Jade Flannery, 30, director of Theatre Box and the Erith Town partnership. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Joe Coughlan
Picture 3: Lilly Maetzig, 30, sales and marketing manager for The Exchange. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Joe Coughlan
Picture 4: The Exchange is found in the old library building on Walnut Tree Road in Erith. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Joe Coughlan
Picture 5: The Ship is one of the last few pubs left in Erith. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Joe Coughlan
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