- Mighty Hoopla weekend just finished 3rd – 4th June 2023
- Lambeth Country Show this weekend June 10–11
- Pokemon Go event scheduled Friday August 4th to Sunday 6th
Events in Brockwell Park seem over the top and have received more attention than usual.
Friends of Brockwell Park chair, Peter Bradley, was in the thick of it, with two BBC interviews, one on TV one on radio.
He was on BBC London TV, broadcast both lunchtime and at 18.30, on Tuesday 6 June; and at 07.15 on BBC Radio London, on Shay Kaur-Grewel’s show, Wednesday 7 June (both available on BBC iPlayer).
In both interviews, Peter spoke of the intrusiveness of such events into the normal peaceful enjoyment of the park, by humans and wildlife. He also accused Lambeth Council of a breach of faith, with its decision to run the Pokemon major event, where it had promised that no more would be held outside the May–June timescale (see previous blog on this, FOBP Press Release).
For the BBC TV interview with Luxmy Gopal, Peter invited her and her cameraman into his flat, 13 floors up, facing the park, where the journalists could hear the noise from Mighty Hoopla first hand and commented ‘you can feel the whole room vibrating’.
Local businesses lose out.
In both interviews, Peter challenged the council’s assertion that such events brought in money for local businesses, saying that the council had no local evidence to support its assertion. FOBP has surveyed local businesses after each event for many years, and 80% of 80+ respondents said they either lost money, or their takings stayed the same.