SimonM

>>Blue Mountain Cafe NEVER knew how to do a good coffee and espresso:D< - just avoid Friday lunchtimes...

>>you must be very proud of the Blades performance yesterday<< Yup...crying all the way to the bank...:)

I am sure Robbie Fowler must be extremely grateful on United this season >:D

>>ps does any one else in ED support Leeds United?:D

That "Gary The Milkman" sounds a bit of a cad and a rogue to me....>:D

>>What scares me is when the real chain stores like Tesco, Weatherspoons and Starbucks try and come to town.<< Umm...hate to be the bearer of bad news but we already have two out of those three (ok the Starvucks is closed for the moment whilst Sainsbury's "refurbished"). And Weatherspoons has reached Forest Hill.......

>>SimonM - How can you compare a Deli with a Second Hand / Charity shop in terms of success?>> I was not actually intending to compare the two "businesses" in terms of their respective success - but can see now how it might read that way - more in their respective "fittingness" for the area. I don't think the charity/2nd hand pushchair shop ever had a permanent lease anyway - and was only intended to be there temporarily. (In this context though it is perhaps worth giving a nod to one of the longest lasting retail outlets in the area - the "Mind" shop on Grove Vale.) Other delis had tried and failed on Lordship Lane before, so it was nice to see the East Dulwich Deli get thinsgs right, although I seem to remember it began life as an "Italian Deli" with a windowful of pasta and tomatoes and very little else :))

An alien spacecraft in central London... may be quite clearly discerned on broghter days when progressing along Underhill Road, with the cemetery on your right. Officially it is just the Telecom Tower perfectly aligned behind the London Eye but TPTB must think we born yesterday to swallow that one...

>>Any one checked out the new posh cookery shop near Goose Green roundabout? Opened on Tuesday this week.<< Well I looked through the window but the shelves seemed fairly bare. Looks like it may be a cross beteween an Elizabeth David-type shop and one similar to the cookshop in Beckenham. Wonder if they will stock "Le Creuset" or AGA pans? B) The chaps were also planting lots of new saplings along the bottom end of LL too.

>>>The charity/second hand shop opposite which sold prams and toys and all sorts has been replaced by a ghastly "Claphamite deli", not fitting to the area at all:D

>>There was certainly many more than the one over-priced butcher in LL<< There were six in all: two on Northcross Road, 1 in the parade of shops opposite the Plough, 3 more down the hill in the "main" shopping area of Lordship Lane. Perhaps you should ask yourself why they all closed, one by one? For a long time the choice for buying meat was either one of the supermarkets, or to go further afield to somewhere like Miles & Son on Kirkdale (excellent butchers - much missed when it closed) or that place in West Dulwich. William Rose is not overpriced by any means - as I write this he is still selling top quality Aberdeen Angus Rump Steak at ?3.50 per pound - and heaven only knows how far along the road the Saturday queues would stretch if he slashed his prices - opr, indeed, accepted credit cards. The sort of butchers' shops you used to find on Lordship Lane sold a limited range of pretty dire quality produce, and were certainly strangers to words like "organic" or "free-range"

>>Is that not some kind of cheese on toast?<< The Franklins version - home-made bread and a proper cheese/beer/mustard mix and all - is to "cheese on toast" as a slab of Aberdeen Angus rump from William Rose is to a McGrunge hamburger... But I do congratulate you on the de haut en bas intonation of your (no doubt!) tongue in cheek dismissal....B)

Thanks for the tipoff! Thankfully the networks here are also tight as the proverbial condom stretched across a grand piano...

Are you serious?! Or just a Panther Cars infiltrator? As a motorist who does not ride a bike I still know I am 100% responsible for checking it is safe to open my car before doing so. If I hit a cyclist then the fault is entirely mine and he or she is equally entitled to know my details for any insurance claim.

>>>that shop was where the notorious murder of a shop keeper happened during a 1970's robbery which went tragically wrong.. That was when it was a sweetie shop.<<<< It wasn't the shopkeeper - it was local off-duty P.C. George Hammond - quite a popular local beat bobby - who was stabbed by a local 17 year old inside the shop as the latter tried to steal the takings (a sweet shop for goodness sake! As we see from recent events at Willow. local thieves seem not to be blessed with much in the way of common sense) George was severely wounded and in fact suffered chronic faliure as a direct result of the stabbing and was on the critical list at King's for quite a while and not expected to survive. He did make a recovery of sorts though, although remained a renal patient and had to retire. He died a few years later so, technically at least, he was not murdered,,,,

>>>Mr Captain_Birdseye and Mr Simon M - where is Nico when I need him? I have found Beauberry House quite over rated, as was Belair. The food at the Palmerston has been rather good of late though....... I wonder what everyone else thinks?<< I thought Belair quite appalling - not yet honoured Beauberry with my patronage. or indeed the Palmerston. But Franklins does a wonderful Welsh Rarebit!

It's not directly across the road from her gaff though - she's not that daft! (I knew about the house, not that LB had bought it - but what a shrewd move!) Some months ago they really went to town with this house for a few days - loads of Media vans and people and lights and cars - supposedly for that Peter Davidson sitcome thta was on last year. We all had apologetic leaflets shoved through our doors beforehand giving details of shooting times and apologising for any inconveneince caused - especially as a night shoot was involved. Then when they eventually broadcast the series it turned out that only about 2 scenes out of the whole 6 episodes were shot there...

Yes, "Chez Nico" was originally at "Mr Liu's". I rememember that, instead of posting a menu in the winoow, Nico posted a very sniffy message to the effect that if you wanted to knoow about his restaurant then (a) look him up in the (then) two leading restaurant guides of the day and (b) he would confirm however he did not do prawm cocktails or steaks more than medium rare. Naturally everyone gave him rave reviews....

I remember in one episode of "Dempsey & Makepeace" the Dynmaic Duo visited a "Chelswa bookshop", and I almost fell out oy my chair when I recognised "Stone Trough Books" in Camberwell - I wonder what became of that? (And. like Nick Brimble, "Makepeace" too has ended up in "Emmerdale", playing an - uh - cop...) A few years back I was passing the Dog in the village and it was closed for the day/morning, loads of TV vans out front, supposedly for an episode of "The Bill" - but I never recognised it in any subsequent showing. Similarly "Barcelona" was closed one day to TV types, this time supposedly for an ad....no idea what though!

>>Your words couldn't be more truthful, infact there are such laws in place but how to execute a compulsory purchase order or a renovation order if there is no-one to give it to? In fact the owner if not officially notified can claim that the council has in effect STOLEN the property That's why that house is stuck there, as far as we know the owner could be anywhere in the world, but you wonder why he/she hasn't re-surfaced in so many years ?<< There are ways around that problem - and the land would not be "stolen" as the Council would retain the purchase money for when the former owner resurfaces - less of course any costs incurred for, e.g., rendering an unsafe structure safe again.

>> had been told a while back the guy who owned it had moved to the states and could not be traced... therefore the property is in limbo.. if its grade II listed it cant be pulled down, and if they cant find the owner, it cant be restored.. shame<< I live along the road from it and pass it often, and have witnessed its continued deteriortion over recent years. So for me this is currently one of the worst things in ED, if only because the current eyesore has such unrealised potentional. It is barely a shell now. I do wonder though why the Council cannot compulsorily purchase it and then lease it at a peppercorn to someone prepared to restore it? Best bit of ED? Not sure if Peckham Rye Park is in SE22 or SE15, but it is in its own way as charming as the *other* large park in Dulwich. If it's in SE15 then I think I'd nominate what I was told on my move to SE22 was Dulwich;s "Bohemian Quarter" = Northcross Road :))

>>>We hope you find it useful and please let us know if you have any comments about it.<<< Very useful! Thanks

No, the stables were closed a few years back and the horses moved elsewhere in SE London - probably somewhere closer to 1 of the Sarf Lunnon footie grounds perhaps? I thought it a shame at the time as I quite enjoyed seeing the horses being expercised in pairs around ED - they came along Underhill Road quite often - or in the park.

>> having just returned from Gordon Ramseys at Hospital Road Chelsea<< Gordon Ramsey eh? I can remember when you did not have to go and slum it in Chelsea to visit a trendy restaurant but could pay top dollar to be personally insulted by Nico Ladenis in his expensive yet terribly-trendy Lordship Lane eaterie...

But the dropped curbs are *all* close to junctions, and the Highway Code makes it crystal clear that parking near a junction is not on. This applies whether there are dropped curbs there or not :))