The fight over the land around The Den has bubbled away for years but local resistance brought it to the boil in recent weeks – then something good happened
Bermondsey has been called a few things over the years. For a while it was known as Biscuit Town, legacy of the Peek Freans years when south-east London supplied the world with garibaldis. During the second world war the Luftwaffe renamed Bermondsey and its surrounds Target Area G, shortly before flattening the place – although Millwall FC’s manager Bill Voisey did survive a direct hit on their ground, the Den, sitting late at night in his office.
Millwall, Bermondsey and a growing network of supporters have had cause for celebration this week in another battle. The first stage in a fierce campaigning victory for the club and its community came on Wednesday afternoon with the news that Lewisham council would be pulling the plug, for now, on an acrimonious compulsory purchase order (CPO) battle that has played out in a series of fevered civic meetings, a brilliantly conducted social media campaign and, increasingly, in these pages.
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