Are their any rules on having bonfires on summer evenings or late at night, apart from being totally anti-social?

Here's a link to Lewisham's Guidance:

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/P...nfires.htm

I do love that guidance...
They only allow what appears to be "smokeless bonfires" lol

I dont mind a little smoke from a fire, its when its old mattresses, and things that burn with heavy smoke that annoy me.

You could always have a chat with Environmental Health. Some years ago we had trouble with some former neighbours who thought they would burn mattresses and other material at 2am, hoping that everyone was asleep hence wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for us, we noticed as it woke us up . We called EH who served an enforcement notice as they were producing lots of acrid black smoke. We never did find out what they were burning but the EH officers said it was not acceptable stuff and potentially poisonous. It pays to have some faith in the council,I have found them very good on this sort of thing however this was before some cutbacks meaning that they were only on duty at weekends.

Burning mattresses and other material at 2am? I would have had a heart attack if that woke me up at night! Unbelievable how some people behave.

Afraid you're in a built up residential area and government guidance dictates a smoke-free area. Stems from the need to control smoke from chimnies- ie using smokeless fuel.