Streatham town centre manager slams comedienne's remarks

10:40am Tuesday 24th April 2012 in News By Rachel Blundy

Jo Brand branded Streatham a "s**thole" Jo Brand branded Streatham a "s**thole"

The town centre manager has reacted furiously to comedienne Jo Brand labelling Streatham a “s**thole” on the comedy quiz show, Have I Got News For You.

In a 300 word complaint letter, Angelina Purcell, who works for Lambeth Council, said Ms Brand had “let herself down badly” over the remarks on Sunday night’s edition of the popular BBC One programme.

Ms Purcell said the “flippant comment” had caused “serious damage” to her efforts to transform Streatham’s image, adding it had made her job “ten times harder”.

She said: “You clearly do not understand the serious damage your flippant comment has had on our collective efforts to transform Streatham’s image.

“Together with the committed people of this town we continue to make strides in reversing the town’s economic decline.

“You’ve made my job ten times harder with you the use of one word and I’m sure the 60,000 residents and 3,000 businesses feel just as angry as I do.

“For us, you’ve let yourself down badly Jo and I hope you’ll think twice about doing something like this again.”

But a spokeswoman for the comedienne said there was no “serious intent” behind the remarks and apologised for any offence caused.

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She said: “When Jo is on tour she says this about every place she goes to and she has never had any complaints yet. Most people have a sense of humour about where they live.

“It was just a throwaway remark which is no way was supposed to have any serious intent behind it.

“As for some people not finding it funny, we’ll take your word for it and she won’t ‘diss’ Streatham again in this way.

“We sincerely apologise for any offence that may have been caused.”

In September 2002, Streatham High Road was voted the ‘Worst Street in Britain’ in a poll organised by the BBC Today programme.

Do you think Streatham is a dump? Leave a comment below and vote in our poll...

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COMMENT: 'Streatham is not a dump' says leading Conservative

Comments(5)

jpmulvey says...
1:18pm Tue 24 Apr 12

First thing is I think Jo is a comedian, and a very good one at that, secondly she was a resident of Streatham and knows the place well, and thirdly she was right, it is a sh**hole.
lack of investment by Lambeth over the past 20 years, while it plows all it's money in to that bottomless pit of Brixton, and waiting 14 years for Tesco to build it's superstore, has left Streatham blighted.
But that said, I think it's always nice when a celebrity give Streatham a mention

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Brian Maiden says...
7:59pm Tue 24 Apr 12

Publicity is good, whether negative or positive. Her comment and the so-called controversy surrounding it has inadvertently created free advertising for the area. Hopefully people from outside the area will come and make their own minds up. Personally, I agree with her and I'm a resident of the area. We do NOT need 3 cash convertors and endless western union transfer shops. So far I have seen no improvement to the area and there appears to be nothing to show for my council tax...but as long as Brixton centre looks pretty for the tourists,yuppies and potential investors....

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JammyDodger99 says...
10:51pm Tue 24 Apr 12

Brixton centre looks pretty? That's if you can avoid being stabbed by the yooties to have time to appreciate it. Streatham may still be a s**thole but it's getting better all the time. I think if the highlight for the development of Streatham is a Tesco's, then we're pretty screwed. Lets aim for a Waitrose, I says!

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GR-London says...
12:32am Wed 25 Apr 12

What is the difference between Streatham and say; Tooting or Mitcham or Battersea or Putney or Fulham?

All of these areas have gone downhill over the last fifty years as has most of London, its generally overpopulated and dirty.

When these things happen slowly over the course of time some people tend not to realise, but speak to someone who has been away and come back and they see it clearly.

So you can't really single-out Streatham.

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paddler says...
5:17pm Wed 25 Apr 12

Streatham is neglected and has been let down by Lambeth for years! but also by the littering and dirty habits of many of its population. Lambeth has let us all down in ways a cheeky jibe from Jo Brand could never do so Angelina can leave it out with 'made my job harder' and just get on with doing the job my council tax pays for, that goes for Lambeth Council too!!!

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