SimonM

I remember "La Bella Italia" - over the road from the "Father Red Cap"? - and your uncle and the breadsticks and the candles in wine bottles...! >:D< Oh for a decent Osso Buco or Saltimbocca alla Romana...But Luigi's at the foot of Gypsy Hill also used to be good, if hideously pricey!

OK here's my sad contribution:- Two parrots were sitting on a perch and one said to the other "Can you smell fish?"

The "Jervais" joke has been around for years - I'd love to knwo who "created" it! I suspect two ad-men having a long boozy lunch together thought it up, probably drinking to forget they had just lost the "Faory Liquid" account... The joke has been immortalised in one of Ian Rankin's Rebus books - I forget which - but he strews bits of it all the way through the novel and only those who have heard the jokes recognise what he is doing! >:D<

You should consider forwarding that to Private Eye Pseuds' Corner! (!)

>>There's one in Sydenham, that definitely sells small pets, I'll have a look in and let you know....<< And one in Forest Hill, and another at Upper Norwood...

As I came past thsi afternoon they had a skip outside and 3 or 4 guys appeared to be gutting the interior. On Saturday the shop was certainly open - but selling its rather splendid plant pots at half price...But there's no "closing down" or "closed for refurbishment" type signs either.

>>Does 3 monkeys count? - Its in Herne Hill, but that's only down the road.:D

Clearly it can only be a matter of months or even weeks before either Murdoch or Branson buy you out....:)-D

Anyon else seen the Surma's ad. in the new edition of "London South"? :))

<< A few desultory observations. (1) "You don't have to be loaded to go to law" - or, indeed, as a famous judge ironically observed many years ago "The Law, like the Ritz Hotel, is open to rich and poor alike". (2)"No win no fee" will only be taken on by lawyers who reckon they have a pretty good chance of winning the case. If you look through all the messages in the thread you'll find it pretty hard to pin down any clear-cut libellous/defamatory statement by anyone. (3) At the moment a certain local business may no longer be selling its goods to maybe half a dozen or so motorists reading this thread. If said business goes public with any libel action however it can expect to go bust almost immediately, the general public being a somewhat suspicious, "no smoke without fire" body of citizens and all.... (4) I am sure that, were there any major company in any way connected to this hypothetical local business, it would be only too aware of how you can lose a case you have technically won......Think "McLibel". However it seems that any such company has already taken some care to distance itself from the (hupothetical) local business anyway None of the above is in no way meant to contradict the excellent advice given to the effect that one should not name names in here - there's other ways of getting the word about which will not put the site owners at risk ;-)

>>>The Irish Shop is (to my knowledge) unique in South London:D

>>>Mick McManus a personal favourite. There was a cap who knew who he was.:D<) Oh and my cousin's husband beat him in a TV wrestling bout once. Everything was fixed in those days and he was supposed to let Mick win as per usual but he forgot the script....

>>>Have you ever had coffee from a Nespresso machine? I hate the idea of using those special pods, and much prefer the idea of fresh coffee, and I despise Nestle and Nescafe, but - the Nespresso machine makes spectacular Nespresso with superb crema...... I was horrified.<<< Umm...yes I have...and what is more I enjoyed it. But in my defence this was (possibly) a nespresso clone in a hospital coffee shop, and one is so pathetically grateful to get anything that is vaguely coffeeesque and drinkable in such an environment that I thought it well worth the risk of losing all my gastronomic street cred...I mean I can remember when a cup of coffee in a hospital was made with half a teaspoon of revolting brown gunge with boiling water poured over it... In general I do shuddder at the very concept of pods though - coffee's own version of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers"? - and yes the home-made espresso with one of those cheapo-cheapo metal makers you can buy for 37p in France is quite delightful, if you don't mind the burnt fingers and the fiddly washing-up afterwards. But one's own kitchen lacks a little ambience when compared to a nicely set-up coffee shop with a tempting array of 500 calorie home made cake slices and the creme de la creme of East Dulwich cafe society sashaying by...B)

>>Hornimann Museum Cafe - Great space - fantastic for families but mad with kids on Fridays and weekends. Food of variable quality but staff really nice<< Things may have changed since, but then this cafe first opened after the amssive re-vamp pf the Horniman it was run by the same people who own/run Mon Petit Chou

>>Far too much talk of this subject now, it is I hope time to change the subject?:D

It is still John Kennedy? As I recall, this was the guy who opened the place way-back-when...

Before your message, it had not occurred to me that Caffe Nero might even attract people to Loordship Lane away from Sainsburys, but you make a convincing case.:) The place was still doing a roaring trade when I passed it today - so much so that I do wonder if a campaign to "Save the Nero" - should the Council decide to try and enforce the partial closure before the appeal is held - may yet emerge? It does seem clear that at the present time CN offers certain facilities not offered by any other similar establishment in SE22.

>>Starbucks use crockery, unless you are having a take away, and you can't really blame them for giving out paper cups when you order a take out, unless you wish to buy a mug when you are there. I am not in any way trying to be confrontational by taking you up on this point, and I know they generate a huge amount of trash with their take-aways.>I love Starbucks, and I love coffee, and I don't really understand why these shops are so universally villified.<< I have never had an espresso in Starbucks that was truly hot, that had a proper crema or an acceptable flavour. I don't like their prices, or their sizing system. More generally I don't like the way they colonise our shopping centres and help eradicate any trace of local character amongst the shops. In Miami Beach, on Lincoln Road Mall, which is maybe as long as that part of Lordship Lane from Goose Green to the Townley Road junction, there are no less than four branches of Starbucks. I am sure nothing on that scale would happen here but it is a chilling thought. :)) Obviously personal taste in coffee is just that - a personal thing. But to me coffee is always far superior in France or Italy to that sold in the UK and Ireland and, yes, the USA. I don't think the British truly like real coffee :)) -- they seem to go for this really weak brew!

Commercial leases usually impose upon the tenant interior and exterior decorating covenants, usually at 3 to 5 years intervals. I wonder therefore if Chener Books is in fact the freeholder of their site? I remember when it first opened the back room was an Aladdin's Cave of second hand books, but they had to close it due to the - um - lightfingered nature of so many "customers" Oh and the children's bookshop on North Cross Road now has some adorable teddy bears as part of its window display. These and the Starchy Gallery nearby make window shopping just now an absolute joy! >:D<

>>I spoke against the application on the grounds that it would result in fewer than half the units in the parade being A1 retail use<< Out of curiosity what was the geographic extent of "the parade" for the purposes of this application and/or Council policy? just the few shops from the East Dulwich Grove junction northwards, or the Lordship Lane shopping area as a whole?

>>>At the risk of being flamed on my second post, what's so terribly wrong with Caffe Nero? Someone must like it otherwise it would have closed up already.<< An excellent question. The place is always close to full each time I pass so there's clearly a local demand for its services. Perhaps one reason it is popular is that, unlike a number of the atrociously expensive, non-chain bars/cafes now littered along Lordship Lane the people behind the conversion of the design took care to make the cafe easily and fully accessible to pushchairs and wheelchairs. (And in this connection, the proud sign on the door of the East Dulwich Tavern boasting a wheelchair-accesible bog always amuses me, given the height of the step you have to negotiate to enter the pub in the first place) Interestingly, the other chain cafe-type place along Lordship Lane - the Gourmet Burger Kitchen - did likewise, whereas the seemingly-cherished "local" browsing-and-sluicing joints took some care to ignore both the provisions of the Disablity Discrimination Act and to discourage generally anything/one on wheels. I have sympathy for the guy living close by who gets woken up by the noisy fan - but that is probably a problem that can be surmounted without denying Nero its change of use Order, and good luck to him if his tactical manoevre gets Nero to do this. But if Nero has to close who knows what may replace it? I suspect they will win their appeal. As for the "opening the floodgates" argument, well Starbucks - which as a lover of proper coffee and real crockery I of course loathe and despise - is already here anyway, having failed to get the Shepherds site in the Village. Other chains are also already here - all those estate agents are hardly local entrepreneurs giving Lordship Lane any kind of village ambience after all. ditto the chemists' shops.

You should be grateful...in France they'd eat you (and not in a good way either!) (6)

Saw these at Dulwich College on Sunday whilst stocking up at the Farmers' Market! Some of them were quite wonderful - loved "Posh Slice" & "The Death of King Harold", and the very witty Britney :)

>>what's a hobby bobby?<< A Special (on no account to be trusted when you can't find your way home)

>>but it's a fine blog well worth a read most amusing:D