Sue

Why do you think the Castle will go bust? It's been pretty busy whenever I've been in there lately.

There surely must be a way to make the bins foxproof whilst still allowing for bags to be put into them. Some kind of latch which couldn't be opened by fox paws? I suppose they would just get vandalised 🙄

I stopped going to the EDT when I was meeting a friend there one afternoon last year. The place was empty except for me, and the bar staff suddenly put on awful music, really loudly. When I politely asked them to turn it down a bit, they turned it up. I took my pint outside, and when my friend arrived we went to the Palmerston instead. Haven't been back there since. Well, can't now anyway 🤣 When I said it was iconic, the emphasis was on the "was". It was once genuinely quirky, before they started messing about with it. It was different from the other ED pubs at the time, which were - without any exception I can think of except maybe the Castle - awful. The Castle later went through a sticky patch when they kicked out the lovely manager who had been there for years and brought in someone who wasn't exactly welcoming. We put some stuff on the juke box, which after a couple of tracks was turned off from the bar (with our money in it) and the worst kind (my opinion only, obviously) of sentimental Irish music put on instead, at full volume. How to win friends and ensure your customers come back 🤣 Luckily the manager changed again, and all the staff there now are lovely ❤️ I really hope the Castle doesn't get gentrified (or the Blythe, but that's not in East Dulwich, so less at risk, I would have thought?)

I googled their reviews. You are right, they do have a significant number of complaints, although overall they get over four stars. Their customer service made some useful suggestions to somebody with connection issues - I wondered if you had seen this response?

How on earth can the council spare the staff to go out and remove dog poo every time it is reported? Where are these people based? Just the travelling time there and back must take up a fair chunk of their day. This mess is all over the place. If people keep reporting it, the council workers would scarcely have got back to their base before they had to go out again and remove another pile! Cushy job! Maybe this is the answer. Keep reporting it, and someone with half a brain cell at the council will realise that it is far more cost effective to bring back the bins and just have someone make a trip round all of them as required to empty them. This does of course depend on why the bins were removed in the first place. Were dog owners actually using them? It seems to me that the people letting their dogs poo (I really don't know why we can't use the c or s words) on the pavement or in the gutter probably wouldn't be bothered to use the bins either, plus you could hardly have a bin on every street. I don't know what the answer is. There are many many dogs in East Dulwich now. Maybe have some sort of test for prospective dog owners, like a driving test, before they are allowed to have a dog. To include picking up and proper training, including recall. Sadly that is obviously not feasible, and never going to happen.

I wasn't trying to be funny! I wasn't clear what you meant. Of course I know where the South Bank is! You said "I am along Southbank way and calls keep being disconnected". As I then said, I didn't know if you meant where you lived (I have no idea where you live, or if there is some road round here called Southbank Way which I hadn't heard of) or whether it was somewhere you were temporarily. I googled Libra and nothing comes up re phones, only astrology 😂 Do you mean Lebara? They piggyback off Vodafone. If they piggybacked off Three I imagine you would have exactly the same problems as you are having now (I'm assuming it isn't a problem with your phone) so there wouldn't be much point in changing! I will have a look at the iD website, however people who are happy with a service (like me, in this case) generally don't go onto a company's website to praise them, only if they have cause to complain. That isn't to say that there may not be a problem with iD, but some sort of independent comparison (I don't know if Which have investigated) would be a better way of finding out. Anyway, I hope you have better results with your new provider. When my brother lived in East Dulwich, he and his family had to switch from Vodafone when they moved within the area, because they got no mobile signal at all in their new flat and had to go up the street to make phone calls. Hopefully you will have a better experience!!!

That was obviously a joke! Several people on here are so keen to have a go at Malumbu on every possible occasion that it seems that it's them that have myopia 🙄 It's getting more and more tedious.

Actually that's interesting. I have had the occasional call cut off, but I thought I must be leaning on something on my phone by mistake. It never occurred to me it was anything to do with iD! But I've never had problems connecting in the first place, anywhere in London (or anywhere else). Maybe I've just been lucky. The only problem I've ever had with iD/3 was quite a long time ago when the whole of the network suddenly went down for a while. I can't remember how long for. Where is Southbank way? Is that where you live, or do you mean you were writing that post while near the Southbank? What network do Libra piggyback on?

OK. I don't usually eat beetroot (except raw and grated in a salad) or brown sauce. I hate cooked beetroot, if that is what the packs are. I suppose it depends what sort of food you are looking for. Before you accuse me of being snobby, Lidl is very good value for many food items which I would buy, but there isn't one in East Dulwich, and those in Peckham and Camberwell Green are too far for me to walk. I don't understand what you mean when you say "You said that you want it closed down so why would you go in there in the first place?" I was pleased that a pound shop was opening locally, and If memory serves, I said that on here at the time. I have been in there several times in the hope of finding great things to buy - great things like I have found in other pound shops in the past. I haven't found anything much I want to buy in there, let alone any bargains, even at Christmas. I did once buy some toothpaste, and when I got home I realised that it was cheap because it was a smaller size tube than I usually buy. My post on this specific thread regarding it closing down was in the context of the previous posts which said things like no staff being available to serve customers. Of course there are very expensive shops and restaurants round here. I don't usually go there either, and I don't want them closed down either. I don't know quite what point you are trying to make?

That's very odd. I'm with iD and have had no problems making calls at all. I don't understand the internet issues. They don't provide internet, do they? Do you mean specifically their own website? If so, why on earth don't they get it sorted out?!

We used to go to the CPT quite often! I don't remember any red lights over the road! When was this?!

But Poundland aren't actually that cheap, are they? I found their toothpaste, for example, was not cheaper unless the amount in the tube was smaller. What are the bargains in there?

They already have one shop on Oxford Street. If memory serves it's at the Tottenham Court Road end. Where is the new one going to be?

Passed it earlier and looked through the window. Horrified to see that they have removed the beautiful tiled floor. I suppose it's too much to hope for that they will replace it unharmed, or indeed at all 😭 When I moved here around 1991, it was one of the few decent pubs, if memory serves. Unless you wanted a fight 😂 And it had some great music and comedy upstairs. I saw Eddie (sic) Izzard there. They also used to have live music downstairs, separating off that room at the side with a makeshift velvet curtain. I wonder if they intend to combine the downstairs space with the presently unused space next door, and have an inside entrance to the upstairs space, instead of a separate entrance on the street? The pub is certainly in a prime position!

It was iconic 😭 But over the years some changes had already been made which detracted from the original atmosphere. In my opinion.

I don't think the baths have been "in continuous operation"? They were closed for renovation. I can't remember exactly when, but I remember some "discussion" on here because the pool could/should have been made longer and/or deeper, and wasn't. Itv certainly has a relatively shallow deep end, and it's a pity that people can't dive

It sounds lovely! I wasn't aware of it! Thank you for posting!

Oh I doubt it, it's a pretty big question 🤣

I've moved GPs twice because I wasn't happy. It took about half an hour max each time. I'm very happy with where I am now (The Gardens). Depends whether you'd rather have the slight inconvenience of identifying another suitable GP (eg by looking at reviews, ratings etc) and then going there to register, or prefer the stress of staying where you aren't happy, in a surgery which doesn't seem to be improving, and prefer to complain on here! Yes things should be different. Yes you can try to get them changed. If they don't change, maybe it's time to put your physical (and possibly mental) health first?

I thought this was interesting re the importance of trees in urban areas, though a bit off topic, sorry. It's a short reel about two trees in a station car park in Petersfield, absolutely filled with pied wagtails on a cold, dark, wet night. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BEzpKfYXf/

The Lordship Lane branch didn't have any decent stationery even when it opened, if memory serves. Once upon a time, you used to be able to get pretty good notebooks in pound shops, and cheap drawing pads for kids. I imagine they are laid out like that to make the best use of space - more shelving for products and fewer aisles?

I was joking, sorry, that probably wasn't obvious. I'm not sure I agree with culling aka killing loads of anything (except things carrying diseases like malaria etc), but I don't know enough about it to be able to say.

Has anyone here bought one of these? Malumbu? Does it do what it says? I just have the rad on in whatever room I'm in, if I'm in there for a while (I move the thermostat around with me and turn the rads on and off as appropriate), but this sounds like possibly a better solution, if it works and is actually cheaper. Also a temporary backup should something go wrong with the boiler. It sounds rather dangerous if people are using one in the bathroom though? I have my bathroom rad permanently on, so it heats up whenever the boiler is on to heat another room.

Doesn't it depend on how much it would cost to get your existing car through its MOT, if it fails?