Muttley

Why does the Telegraph avoid mentioning two of the very best (and longest established) food shops on Lordship Lane, SMBS and The Cheese Block? Could it be that in the eyes of the Telegraph these are not 'local'? Disgraceful that at least one of those two didn't get onto their list.

Hey, this thread is about EATING OUT in Lordship Lane. If you want to eat cheaply, then surely it's a case of buying your ingredients (cheap chicken if you want) and eating at home. My concern is that on those occasions when I want to order a takeaway curry etc., I want to know that the meal I buy uses the ingredients I would want to use at home. Please don't divert this conversation onto domestic choices - people are welcome to buy what they want from Sainsburys.

A simple action that anyone who cares about this can take is next time when ordering from Mr Liu, or Coriander or wherever saying: 'before I order, can I check if the chicken is free range or not?'. Not that I'd necessarily trust the answer, but if this gets asked a lot, it will begin to register with restaurants that a lot of locals are concerned about this. I'm not saying every restaurant should respond, but I do want to know there's at least one Chinese, one Thai, one Indian, and one gastropub that is serving meat that isn't factory-farmed. Even the restaurants that claim to be "organic" (urgh) should be challenged occasionally to see what they mean by that.

When I read a book called 'Not on the label' a couple of years ago, I started getting queasy at the thought of buying chicken sandwiches and chicken curries unless I was confident of the source, and I reduced my chicken consumption by perhaps 75%. Hugh Fearnley-Wotsit's series on Channel 4 has just reinforced it - I can no longer bring myself to eat chicken unless I know that it's at very least free range. Just the thought of regular factory farmed chicken now makes me nauseous. So, where on Lordship Lane can I buy a chicken meal and be confident that the chicken I'm eating saw daylight and had room to move? Tandoori Nights? Franklins? I'll hazard a guess NOT Finger Lick'n Chick'n. Can the forum produce a list of East Dulwich restaurants that genuinely offer 'free range' quality and nothing less? I will happily give them custom, and there are probably many others who would do the same. The alternative is almost too disgusting to think about.

Thought I'd just revisit this thread six months on. According to Hamptons, of the GV15 flats next to ED station, eight are sold, one is under offer, five are unsold - barely any change since this thread started. The unsold ones include one two bedroom flat that is on for what seems an outrageously optimistic ?395k. What this means is that it was indeed sometime around the beginning of July that the market for newbuild flats in East Dulwich suddenly hit a wall. My prediction is that house prices in the area will stay stagnant for a while as sellers hold out for the sort of prices that were achievable in the 'old days'. Then we'll start seeing prices drop by 10%+ all over the place. Remember that house/flat prices in East Dulwich went up by something like 20% from late 06 to late 07, so even a 20% fall will only take us back to the still dizzy heights of 2006. And frankly, for 90% of local home owners and 100% of people wanting to buy their first home, a signficant fall in house prices would be a good thing.

"Awww, bless". Always patronising.

Polly D Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not so much a saying or a phrase but v annoying > when people talk as if everything they say is a > question, like, you know? This is known as "high rising terminal". There was a documentary about it years ago on Radio 4. The Australians popularised it, but I think it was traced back to California. It almost certainly caught on in Britain thanks to Neighbours. Another reason to despise that programme.

Have you noticed that these days everything is "uber"? Uber-ironic, uber-smooth, uber-cultured. It's pretentious twaddle, and is being uber-done in my opinion.

Wasn't the Sainsbury Freezer Centre where Iceland is now (closed around 1986 I'd guess)?

Is the "East Dulwich Society" still active? Haven't heard anything about them for years.

Where is the pink house shown on the thatchand co page? > http://www.thatchandco.com/locations/East_Dulwich.htm

One of the most anonymous outfits in East Dulwich has four branches here, including two on Lordship Lane (previously three), making it the most dominant chain in the area - yet it only seems to get referred to when people are referring to its neighbours. Surprises me that William Hill can justify so many shopfronts.

AllforNun Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The little fancy dress shop near Irish shop - lots > of fun. The guy with the Fez is always very > amusing, I think the suit of armour is the best > hire. I'd have expected this post to be by MrBen rather than AllforNun.

> So what abot that organic food shop then near the > cheese block. They any good? You mean SMBS? From the name you'd think they wanted a low profile (what do the letters SMBS stand for??), but they're a widely reviewed and much-loved East Dulwich institution. Would probably feature in many people's 'Top 5' for favourite SE22 shops.

kford Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The funeral shop opposite the Mexican joint Yes, interesting, with the changing demographics of East Dulwich, I wonder how the funeral business has been recently. Three funeral parlours (?) on Lordship Lane, what goes on behind their net curtains?

Some places on Lordship Lane have had more than their fair share of coverage - White Stuff, Green & Blue, Le Chandelier, the odd estate agent, you know the usual suspects. But there are other places that barely, if ever, get a mention. Perhaps with good reason. How about some reviews of LL's most anonymous places. Here are three whose portals I have never entered: Speedo Pizza Finger Lickin Chicken (soon to be replaced by the new bakers) His Lordship Launderette - I think that's its name. Anyone know the people who work there? What's their story?

Smart new sign above the shop, gives it a new lease of life. As long as the inside doesn't change I'll be happy.

Boss Man wines. The sign's up, but they've got plenty of work to do on the interior. What will be their USP, I wonder, with Nicolas and Green & Blue nearby.

> which is why chipping is best. I assume that's not the same sort of chipping as I do with large branches before putting them in the green bin.

Er...how about putting collars/name tags/contact details on your cats (with apologies to those of you who do)? None of the seemingly hundreds of mogs that are constantly coming to use my garden to make a 'deposit' has a collar. Growl.

"Vomit on the 176 (Lounged)" would be a good title for a book. As would "The Bus Stop at Caffe Nero".

To some extent the regeneration began in the mid 1980s. In 1986, East Dulwich was beginning to get swept up in the property boom that followed 'Big Bang' in the City, and it was being 'discovered' by yuppies. My recollection is the same as Frisco's, that in the mid 80s you couldn't get a train to East Dulwich after about 9.30pm weekdays, and nothing on Sundays. So late evening trains, whenever they came, made the area seem more accessible. There were lots of skips in my road in 1987, The Observer did a piece about great old flats you could buy on Goose Green, and house prices more than doubled in three years. There was a good restaurant called Le Careme, all the Indian restaurants, plus the Time Out recommended Thai Pavilion on Melbourne Grove. Then things came to an abrupt halt in 1988, and there were a few years of stagnation (some house prices dropped by at least 25% from their peak). I agree with those who say Sainsbury's arrival was a key moment. When was that, 1992 ish? There were two big worries at the time, that it would generate horrific traffic jams throughout the area (didn't happen) and that it would kill off shops on LL (to some extent did happen - the last butchers, greengrocers etc all gradually disappeared). I'm sure that being a place with a Sainsbury's put East Dulwich on the map for many people. Of the other 'turning points', one that stood out for me was when East Dulwich Tavern, by reputation the roughest pub on Lordship Lane, got done up as the EDT. That started the game of pub leapfrog, where the next roughest pub on the list got done up to become the new smart venue. The Plough was the last.

Over the last year, Disgusted Of East Dulwich has complained about all sorts of newcomers - White Stuff, Caffe Nero, Jojo Maman Bebe, Mrs Robinson, the list goes on. By and large, those threads have died down as most people begin to accept that there's a place in SE22 for these new shops. But anti-Foxton feeling is on a different scale, mainly because as a business they are on a different scale too (just like a cuckoo in a robin's nest, an analogy I have used before). If anti-Foxton threads disappear, it will be a sign that they and their out-sized, over-illuminated, excessively-vehicled office has been accepted in the area. So I hope threads like this one run and run and run, however repetitive they become. By the way, did I mention that I can't stand Foxtons?

> I have my work permit and my Passport already. Cripes!! (as you will discover we English always say) that was quick! Only yesterday you said: "I'm currently only researching right now, First I'm going to work on my passport than work visa".

A rather naive sounding American logs on to East Dulwich forum (having registered) to announce he's coming to live in East Dulwich (why East Dulwich?), then starts asking whether East Dulwich is near London, and how many quids you get for a dollar. I applaud Forumites for being so welcoming, but doesn't this whole thread strike anyone as a bit odd?