Bexleyheath is a town located in the London Borough of Bexley, it is also the town that I have grown up in for the majority of my life, and a town that I am proud to call home. Throughout the years as I have got older, Bexleyheath has also evolved too, there have been many new developments, such as the ‘face lift’ of The Broadway Shopping Centre, however there is much about Bexleyheath that hasn’t changed and certain places and activities commonly shared by the community, that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. So without further ado, based on my own experiences growing up, this article is dedicated to the area of Bexleyheath and will include a list along the theme of ‘you know you are from Bexleyheath if’ – the aim being to pick out different aspects of the town that everyone can relate to and bond over.
‘The Beast of Bexley’ was a headline created by the London press after a big cat with markings similar to a black leopard was spotted by residents prowling in their gardens in the Borough of Bexley. New alleged sightings cropped up every few weeks as communities started brainstorming strategies to capture the ‘beast’. The question remains: is the beast still out there? And where will it be spotted next?
Bexleyheath is home to numerous clubs and bars along the ‘Broadway Strip’ as I like to call it, these include: Blend, NYNE Bar, Zingaras, Pure, and Arcadia to name a few. You’ll know you are from Bexleyheath if when you turned 18 you got yourself all dolled up and clasped your ID as if it was your Golden Ticket into the ‘adult world’, just to be rejected from many of the above venues and find yourself in Zens instead… For example, boys can only attend Pure on a Thursday if they are aged 18 as they have to be 21 on a Friday and Weekends, whereas girls only have to be 18. Also, you have to be 21 on Fridays and weekends to visit NYNE Bar, Zingaras, Arcadia.
I hold my hands up, as soon as I reached eighteen, every Friday and Saturday I was in the Furze either for the night or pre-drinks before my friends and I moved on elsewhere. The left side of the pub as you walk in was dominated by a younger and rowdier crowd (and still is). You can’t go wrong with the Furze as it is a Weatherspoon’s which only means one thing: cheap prices and of course you MUST (mainly talking to the girls here) take the obligatory toilet selfie in the Furze’s full length mirror! Now I tend to drink in pubs such as The Red Barn instead where there is an warmer, more mature and diverse crowd. You’ll also know you’re from Bexleyheath if you have frequented any of the following pubs aside from The Red Barn: The Yacht, The Travellers, The William Camden, and The Lion to name a few!
The Bowling Alley was THE place to go as a kid growing up in Bexleyheath. Not only is it home to bowling lane after bowling lane, it also boasts of the arcade where you could waste your pocket money trying to win a cuddly toy, or spend hours on the dance mats. And how can we forget the parties hosted at the Bowling Alley? The ones where you would all do the conga throughout the lanes wearing your special shoes that were one size too big and smelled of smelly armpits! Also you definitely know you are from Bexleyheath if you badgered your parents for 20p to get the chocolates and sweets from the machines at the end of each bowling lane (in fairness I would still do this now).
Photo credit:Nowadays it is near enough impossible to be given anything in life for free, but you’ll know you are from Bexleyheath if you remember the days of free swimming at Crook Log. My friends and I would abuse this most weekends- it was a great initiative to get kids active and was sorely missed when it was cancelled.
Saturday mornings at Cineworld Bexleyheath were great, you could go and see a film for as little as £1 which meant you still had plenty of money spare to gorge yourselves on buckets of popcorn and bags of Pick and Mix. If you were lucky and got to the cinema early, there was sometimes children’s entertainment just before the trailers began – where have the good old days gone? I am aware I am starting to sound extremely nostalgic now…
Photo credit:Before Broadway Shopping Centre was renovated, and even after it has been, there has been and always will be a group of youths who hang out around the water fountain doing activities such as smoking or skateboarding. You might have been, or might still be, a bit intimidated to walk past this crowd, or you might judge them inwardly and outwardly, thinking that surely they must have somewhere better to go? Or if you don’t do any of the above, this probably means that you were one of the kids guilty of hanging around here! You’ll further know you’re from Bexleyheath if you remember the time someone filled the fountain up with washing up liquid so that it overflowed, and if you still call it a water fountain even though the water has now been removed and replaced by plants…
Growing up, every Saturday throughout the summer my day was spent at Danson with a group of friends, we’d all get some food beforehand and take a few essentials such as a blanket or a ball for a kick about. If we were feeling more daring, we would hire out a pedal boat and go on the boating lake well over the allocated time we had paid for. Of course, you’ll also know you’re from Bexleyheath if you attend/attended Danson festival and Danson fireworks each year, an event in the summer and an event in the winter that everybody always looks forward to!
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