Bexley is a patchwork of places, each with their own cultural character. Culture is put to work differently in each place.

South Thamesmead - Culture is key in Europe’s biggest regeneration programme

Thamesmead was built as a New Town in the 1970s on marshland adjacent to the River Thames. Peabody, a significant housing association in the borough is undertaking a massive long-term regeneration of the area, currently concentrated on southern parts of Thamesmead (located in the London Borough of Bexley). The programme is guided by a Cultural Infrastructure Plan which has supported numerous small arts organisations, and major pieces of cultural infrastructure (previously described). In keeping with the original ethos of New Towns, in Thamesmead, this cultural activity is viewed as playing an important role in developing good community life and social connections. The concentration of this activity and improved connectivity in the area could also make South Thamesmead an attractive destination for visitors from elsewhere in the Borough and beyond, curious for new cultural experiences. As Thamesmead grows, cultural activity will be both an important feature of community life as well as a bridge to people and ideas from other places.

Sidcup - Culture drives local businesses and leisure economy

Sidcup is a bustling town centre in the south of Bexley. The area is notable for its large student population studying at Bird and Rose Bruford Colleges which, in term-time is a constant presence around the town and can fleetingly make it feel like a far-flung outpost of the West End in southeast London. Both Colleges programme public performances and events which are open to the public. Residents also have access to the borough’s only independent cinema at the ‘The Sidcup Storyteller’ where the town’s new library is also located. Live music and comedy is also available most weeks in The Alma, Boyles Bar and The Iron Horse, while a cluster of micro-pubs providing specialty beers possibly gives Bexley its most entertaining cultural offer. The Sidcup Business Improvement District plays an important role supporting a calendar of events, throughout the year, bringing shoppers to local businesses.

Erith - Culture helps create a new heritage attraction

Erith is Bexley’s historic centre where the legacy of war, manufacturing, Victorian leisure, post-war town planning is written into the built environment. The town has London’s longest pier, newly renovated Riverside gardens and at low-tide the foreshore reveals fossilized stumps of a Bronze-age forest. It is the most interesting place in Bexley to go for a walk. Yet despite having so many stories to tell Erith sits just beyond the major transport networks of the DLR, the Thames Clipper service and Crossrail putting it out of reach for people who might want to hear them. As well as being a link to the past, Erith also points the way to future opportunities and / creativity/making spread out to the west in Belvedere. It is a place where, as already demonstrated by The Exchange, and the recently opened community centre “68”, cultural activity has the power to bring visitors, improve community life and restore pride.

Bexleyheath - Culture helps a shopping centre reimagine itself

A major retail centre attracting shoppers from across the Borough and beyond. The Broadway Centre was opened in 1984 and the area was pedestrianised in the 1990s, but with much shopping now carried out online, the area faces an ongoing challenge to attract visitors and create engaging experiences for residents. In the 15 years since its formation, Bexleyheath Business Improvement District’s work has become increasingly about organising events and social activities that give shoppers additional reasons to come out. Pre-Covid the BID organised five events, last year it organised 22. Many of these are performances by musicians, dance groups and school children as well as successful night markets - the BID in recent years has collaborated twice with Bow Arts on the production of a lantern parade. As the town centre shifts from being primarily a place of shopping to public-place enabling a range of social experiences - there is a greater need both for cultural events and better physical infrastructure to support them. For these events Bexleyheath needs more stages, seating and tables.