Aylesham Centre

M. Manze, the pie and mash shop whose presence at the Rye Lane entrance of the Aylesham Centre in Peckham, South London, connects the property’s commercial address to a tradition of South London working-class food culture dating to the shop’s founding in the neighbourhood in 1927, gives the Aylesham Centre on Rye Lane in the London Borough of Southwark a food heritage identity at the gateway of one of London’s most ethnically diverse and culturally concentrated high streets. The Aylesham Centre serves a Peckham catchment whose West African, Caribbean, South Asian, Vietnamese, and Turkish communities give the property a commercial character whose independent operator floor the national chain retail format alone does not replicate at equivalent cultural specificity. Lumindi Fabrics, the West African textiles and fabric retailer, gives the property a West African fashion and community identity. Pak Butcher gives the property a halal meat identity. Kim Lien Mini Market gives the property a Vietnamese specialty food identity. Traid Peckham, the charity thrift store, gives the property a sustainable fashion and community identity. Aklowa Perfumes gives the property a West African and Middle Eastern fragrance identity.

Iceland Supermarket anchors the frozen food and grocery category. JD Sports and Sports Direct serve the athletic and licensed sports merchandise categories. Boots, Superdrug, and Savers Health and Beauty serve the pharmacy and beauty categories. Holland and Barrett serves the natural health and supplements category. Specsavers serves the optical retail category. Costa Coffee and Greggs serve the café and bakery floor. EE and Vodafone serve the UK telecom categories. Wilsons Cycles Peckham gives the property an independent cycling retail identity. H&T Pawnbrokers and Nathan and Co Peckham give the property community financial services and currency exchange identities. Peckham Hill Pharmacy and Day Lewis Pharmacy give the property independent community pharmacy identities. CeX serves the second-hand electronics and entertainment media category.

The property’s commercial role in South London is the Rye Lane Peckham community shopping centre: an Iceland-anchored grocery and practical retail format whose M. Manze pie and mash heritage identity, Lumindi Fabrics West African community culture, and Pak Butcher halal food give the Peckham and Southwark diverse urban catchment a daily-needs and community retail destination at the heart of inner South London’s most diverse and culturally concentrated commercial high street.