Christmas lights going up!
The first days of November and the Christmas lights are going up in Dorking.
posted by The Cockerel @ 1:32 AM
Friday, November 02, 2007
About Me
- Name: The Cockerel
- Location: Dorking, Surrey, United Kingdom
This Blog covers many current issues and topics which might be of interest to anyone living in the town.
Previous Posts
- Halloween fire at St Martins Walk
- Mark Trundle, formerly of Pump Gallery
- Review the news from the Dorking Advertiser
- Frontier rocks Dorking Fireworks
- Dorking Fireworks tonight
- Pizza Piazza Building, South Street
- The Malthouse Pub, Mill Lane
- The Dorking History Section
- Reigate shows how it's done
- Mole Valley 5th best place to live in UK
6 Comments:
Yes, the best time of the year, it gets cold the nights draw in and Dorking gets a beautiful illumination with the fabulous lights. Dorking may be suffering in many respects but one thing it does have is a great set of lights.
The Christmas lights are always something special. Hopefully, they will give the town a much needed boost. It is just me, or does Dorking seem eerily quiet at the moment?? The Christmas lights are the best around. If you look at the other towns pathetic efforts - Epsom apparently is going to have NO lights this year, Guildford's are tacky and as for Oxford Street, they are always advertising some bloody brand name! Long may the brillant Christmas lights continue..
In Worcester Park we leave them up all year, and Sutton council just plug them back in in November. Cheap, but not necessarily that cheerful. Glad to see Dorking does things better. Must be the wealth ;-)
Welcome Worcester Park. I read the Worcester Park blog with a great deal of interest and found it to be very informative. I lived in Worcester Park five years ago and enjoyed living there. The traffic was awful (even before the Hamptons development in Green Lane!) and there was a good mixture of shops. It was however, lacking in restaurants and the pubs I am afraid (The Huntsman and The Cazbar) were often full of leery builders, who sadly could not string a sentence together without F'in this and that all evening.
Still go back to Worcester Park to visit my friends. The restaurant scene has got a great deal better and some of the pubs have improved as well. The Huntsman is still a chav infested dump, which is the equivalent of The Malthouse in Dorking. Run by the same pathetic pub chain - Mr Q's - cheap and very, very nasty. I was shocked to see that the charity shop's seem to have completely taken over the retail scene in Worcester Park - it is even worse than Dorking, and that is saying something! Also, it was sad to see M&S Food close down. There also seems to be a lot of cheapo kebab shops opening up as well.
Dorking has a lot of similarities to Worcester Park. There is a lot of empty units in both towns. The towns also have a large amount of charity shops, banks and estate agents. The traffic seem to be getting worse in both towns, thanks to the idiotic highways departments. The people who proposed the traffic lights at the Green Lane / High Street junction in Worcester Park and Pump Corner in Dorking, really should be shot!
I am happily settled in Dorking. The restaurants in Dorking are top notch and the pubs are generally of a very good standard - a nice mix of people usually, good ales and none of this chain pub crap (ie. Wetherspoon, All Bar One, Slug & Lettuce etc.) which are becoming commonplace in most Surrey towns. The countryside around Dorking is breathtaking and there seems to be more a community in Dorking as well. Saying that I still miss elements of Worcester Park. Sadly, it does appear the thuggish elements from North Cheam and Sutton, seem to be rearing their ugly heads in Worcester Park on a daily basis. Dorking, does have it share of problems as well. The anti-social thugs mainly consist of bored local youngsters with a sprinkling of thugs coming in from Redhill and Leatherhead, at the weekends.
If anyone wants to read the Worcester Park blog(s), I am sure Worcester Park will pass them onto us in due course. I have forgotten the website address and I cannot create a link at the moment. They are very good and are very similar to the Dorking blog, in terms of news, views, gossip and historical information.
All the very best,
DORKING Dan
Just a quick passing comment did anyone see yesterday's Times (Monday November 5)?? Apparently, a restaurant in Reigate was featured in the Harden's UK Restaurant Guide 2008, which is the popular food-lovers' directory.
It featured a modern bistro in Reigate called The Westerly. It was described it as a smart but informal eatery where prices are geared for the middle market. Reigate is also described by estate agents as the "new Wimbledon", as city professionals move into the well-heeled, leafy suburbs to raise their families. So, where does this leave Dorking?? Any suggestions? ~AP~
The Westerly is divine (the owners used to own the Stephen Langton in Friday Street.
I think we need to give Dorking a chance, it has better commuter links to London than Reigate, so ultimately things will improve.
We just need to be patient. Shops close because they don't get custom - market forces and all that. I love Dorking. I used to live in Guildford, and don't miss the endless shops and restaurants at all, its not everything people!
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