kford

The Bishop beats any pub in Clapham simply beacuse you can get a seat, the barman knows you and it has a dog.

Don't show Mr Livingstone that. It'll give him ideas.

Like Mark and Selma, we lived in Clapham for several years. When we moved there Clapham High Street was a jumble of charity shops; cheap local restaurants, like Eco and La Rueda; a great hardware store and a Budgens supermarket. Now, after ten years it is unrecognisable, with a huge Sainsbury's AND a Sainsbury's Local, a Tesco Metro, a GBK, a Sea Cow, Belgos and several assorted queues-on-weekends bars. Sound familiar?! Why? It's a destination. When we lived there it never felt like Our Town. You seldom saw the same person twice, even in your own street. Lots of flats, lots of 20-somethings, lots of transient Europeans and Antipodeans, all out to spend their hard-earned City cash. We moved here several years ago for some peace and quiet, and to have a sense of belongling. And can you imagine a forum like this in Clapham, with such strong views on the future of its community?

Those active road signs actually work. Everyone's happy. My car's had two new suspension bushes (?230 each) caused by speedhumps, and I tip-toe over the darned things. And BMW now make 'London-spec' bushes made from harder rubber to counter the effects of UK traffic calming measures, as they don't have the problem in Germany (and curiously, their pedestrian casualty rates are lower than the UK's; maybe drivers there have their eyes peeled for pedestrians rather than speedhumps).

And cushion bumps are there to allow ambulances on their way without further hurting the patient on board. Full bumps still don't stop the real speeders: the uninsured and un-MOT'd, van drivers in vans that don't belong to them, dustbin men and the police.

It is a bit echoey, and the pictures on the wall look like they came from Athena c.1988. A few sepia shots of LL and local characters would endear them to the locals a bit more. And not serving bland, expensive burgers too.

It's still the best of the 'good-for-you' burger joints, and infinitely better than McD's or BK in terms of quality and brand. Maybe it's just the way this particular franchise is run, if the Clapham one is still keeping up standards. Not being able to offer rare burgers does suggest that the patties are prepared off-site however. Time for Wm Rose's to set one up. Hnd home made are the best, as Keef says. Nice with a bit of ginger, red onion and coriander mixed in. Yum.

Well spotted, keef :))

And some geese.

???? is on the money. The rents argument is the stongest against this trend. The big boys have such buying power and arrogance - look at Nero; they've swaggered into town without even bothering to sort out their planning permission. And Foxtons' two fingered gesture of a shop front speaks volumes for their attempts to integrate into the community. Support the shops and eateries that are already here - the good ones will survive and thrive, the dross will be replaced by new indies, if the rent is still cheap enough.

B?arnaise sauce: 2 egg yolks 110g/4oz butter 2 shallots, roughly chopped 1 tbsp tarragon, roughly chopped Method 1. Melt the butter in a small pan. 2. Place the yolks in a mini food processor along with the shallots and the tarragon. 3. Give the mix a quick blitz. Slowly add the melted butter to the processor and blitz until the mix becomes thick and creamy.

Good on yer, SNUB for trying to brighten up our rainy week. You might not have got it quite right this year, but, hey, I bet the first Glastonbury was chaos too. To all the moaners, I suspect you'd rather they didn't have one next year, so you can have an empty, muddy and windswept Goose Green to yourselves again. And risk assessments, without sounding too Daily Mail, are the kind of safety-first tosh that's making us all a bunch of blame-everyone,-sue-everyone,-never-take-personal-responsibilty dullards. Phew.

Fair enough.

O'Neills? Are you sure, Keef?! It's the fakest of the fake.

I know Northcote is not the best example, but it does have the ubiquitous All Bar One, Nando's etc. Perhaps I should've said Reading. And I hope you're right re planning.

EDA is correct. Something to suit everyone.

Swap Chener Books for Waterstones. Change the Bishop to an O'Neill's, the EDT an All Bar One. Make the stationery shop a Rymans. Green & Blue can be an Oddbins. Hirst Bakers can be a Greggs. Change SMBS Foods into a Fresh & Wild. Franklins could be a Cafe Rouge, Mrs Robinson a Cargo. Swap all the cafes for Subways, Prets and McDonalds. And Foxtons to a... Foxtons. Be careful what you wish for. If you want to live in a clone street, move to Northcote Road!

In the inner city 'burbs of Melbourne, Australia, permits are given free to residents; shoppers and visitors have only an hour's grace and they have to pay-and-display. Revenue is earned from that. Can you imagine such a sensible system here?

Being the only accessible coffee shop on LL is not a reason to allow them to stay. It's only because of their might that they can afford to comply, i.e. completely rebuilding the entire shop front; smaller outfits struggle to meet the costs of following the law to the letter. If Southwark did come down on the other shops in LL, it'd be either a ghost town or a clone town.

It's all good. Mrs Kford reckons the fish 'n' separate chips is better than Sea Cow.

Thanks! (tu)

Wise words, Wino.

And don't be silly, frisco.

Around a station, near a school, I can just about see a justification as this involves daytime parking issues. But beware, fines make up a big proportion of a council's parking 'profit', so those guys buzzing around on scooters will be issuing PCNs for the slightest infringement. Although there would be no excuse for parking outside of our allocated zone without a permit, or on a yellow line at the wrong time, or thoughtlessly blocking a ramp or an access road, I guarantee even the most cautious driver will get tickets. From my time in a CPZ, my neigbours and I recieved PCNs for the following spurious reasons: In the five minutes we were inside scratching off the dates on the day pass (?15/book valid only for two years) to place on a relative's car For having one wheel over the white line at the end of the CPZ (even though the other wheel was in). Clamped and removed because the disc fell from the screen while we were away on hols in hot summer of 2003 (in the plastic holder provided by Lambeth) because the permit number (but not the date) was slightly obscured. ?280 to get the car back. On a buider's van in the time it took for him to carry his stuff to our door and before we could give him his vistor's pass None were successfully appealed. Be careful what you wish for.

No no no no no no no. Lived in one before which actually caused more grief after it was introduced. Just a cash-cow that won't stop LL parking problems, as most issues arise with evening diners and weekend and evening shoppers whose parking falls outside the patrolled hours. I already pay to have my car on the road through vehicle licence duty.