Morning, Surbiton. Six weeks ago I sent the first one of these to thirty-one people. This week I went back and read every reply anyone has ever sent me — all 233 of them — and counted what you actually say. That is today's issue.
First, though: the Black Lion went on the ballot yesterday afternoon and picked up six votes before the day was out. Voting closes Sunday night. If you have not had your say, the link is at the bottom, and it takes a minute.
Since the first issue in July, 157 of you have replied — 233 replies in six weeks. This week I read every single one again and counted what they actually say. Here is this newsletter's readership, in its own words. Counts are people, not messages — writing in ten times only counts you once.
What you ask for— readers who asked for or talked about each
Events & what's on · 47
Roadworks & traffic · 33
Buses & trains · 27
Food, pubs & cafes · 22
Shops & the high street · 20
Music & the arts · 19
Volunteering & community · 15
Things for the kids · 11
Events wins the single column — but add roads to buses and trains and 60 of you asked about getting around, more than anything else. That is why the roads box exists.
Or as one reader put it in week one: “When all of these bloody roadworks will be finished!” Working on it, Keith.
Where you are— the 124 readers who told me
Berrylands · 34
A particular street or corner all your own · 29
Central Surbiton · 15
Tolworth · 11
Chessington · 9
Long Ditton · 8
Southborough · 7
Lovelace · 4 Kingston KT1 · 3 Hook · 2 Ewell Road · 2
Berrylands, you are more than a quarter of everyone who has ever said where they live. One reply, in full: “How did you know I am in Berrylands?” I didn't. You told me. You all keep telling me.
What you sent us— readers who have done each at least once
Asked us to cover something · 72
Sent encouragement · 43
Tipped us off to a story · 27
Nominated a business for the awards · 25
Corrected something we printed · 9
Became a regular contributor · 7
Complained · 4
Every bar on this chart changed the paper. The four complaints? Two of them were about an unreadable dark-green roads box in week one — which is why it has been cream ever since. The nine corrections all ran in print, including the best one of the run: a reader rode the 281 both ways and proved our route-change story wrong, so we said so. This chart is the edit meeting. You are in it.
233 replies · 92 times a reply shaped an issue · 34 questions answered in print · 25 reader tips became stories · 3 sections that exist because you asked
So when I say the ballot was built by readers, this is what I mean — it is how everything here gets built. Voting closes Sunday night:vote.optimax-ai.com/surbiton/best-of
The unlit crossing on Upper Brighton Road
Caroline wrote in yesterday about the crossing on Upper Brighton Road near Lovelace Gardens: the light over it is out, and the crossing is genuinely dangerous after dark. With the evenings drawing in fast now — we lose about four minutes of daylight a day this time of year — that gets worse every week rather than better.
A street light out is one of the few things the council will actually fix quickly, but only if somebody reports it. It takes about a minute at kingston.gov.uk under street lighting, and the more reports on one column, the harder it is to leave.
If you use that crossing on the school run or coming back from the station, that is your minute well spent. And if anyone knows it has already been reported, tell me and I will chase what happened to it.
One small correction to yesterday. I said today would be dry all day. It has picked up a drizzle window between six and eight this evening — not much, about a 45 per cent chance and barely enough to wet the pavement, but if you are walking somewhere at seven, that is the bit to know. Everything before six is dry, topping out near 21°C.
Saturday. Dry, bright, up to about 21°C. No notes.
Sunday, for the third time. I have now told you twice this week that Sunday is the day, and the forecast has not budged: 22°C, clear sky from morning to evening, and wind of one to three miles an hour. That is about as still as an English August day gets. Whatever you have been putting off doing outdoors, do it Sunday.
What is on. Tonight the summer-workshop kids do Trolls The Musical JR at the cornerHOUSE on Douglas Road, 7pm, with a second performance at 6pm on Saturday. Saturday in town: chess club at Surbiton Library, 2pm to 4pm, free — children welcome with an adult; the Legends of Swing at the Surbiton Club, St James' Road, 8.30pm, free for members plus a guest; and Gianluca playing at the Surbiton Flyer, Victoria Road, from 9pm, walk in. The Tolworth Station garden volunteers are out from 10.30am.
Sunday. Junior parkrun at Alexandra Rec at nine. Then the Street Art Festival in Kingston, 10am to 4pm, free — murals going up around the town centre, and the weather to stand about watching them.
The K4 is still diverted — via Lingfield Avenue, Maple Road and Claremont Road, with nothing served between Cheyne Hill and Surbiton Station, or between St Mark's Church and Cheyne Hill. It runs that way until 6pm on Tuesday, which lines up with the power-cable work at the top of St Marks Hill finishing on Wednesday. Every other local route is on a good service.
Malden Way clears tomorrow night. The northbound service-road restriction at Oxford Crescent finishes at midnight on Saturday. Hook Road keeps its lane closures to 18 October, and Leatherhead Road has lights at both Chalky Lane and Bridge Road — though the Chalky Lane one was flowing well this morning.
Rail: still nothing posted for the weekend beyond the standing Berrylands closure. I said yesterday I would look again, and I have — the engineering-works list has no Surbiton or Guildford entry for Saturday or Sunday. Two of the last three weekends had one appear late, so I will check once more in the morning, but as of now your trains are normal.
Best of Surbiton — voting closes Sunday night:
Thank you for writing in. All 233 times.
Have a good weekend,
Mike
Surbiton Daily · a short email every morning about our bit of south west London. Written for the 695 of us who read it. Got something for tomorrow? Reply to this email — every reply reaches a person, not a robot.