*Bob*

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What I actually found when I first came here was > somewhere that immediately brought Eccleshall Rd > area of Sheffield to mind. This is a GOOD think > IMO btw so I propose that Hee Hee.. Now that brings back a few memories. (I used to live just off the Hunter's Bar roundabout). I can see what you mean!

I haven't been in 'Banfield' yet.. I hope it'll be less humiliating than my last (and first) visit to a wood merchant. I asked for some WOOD of a certain size, and they all sat smirking behind the counter - "sorry sir, we don't have any WOOD" - because, you see, it's called TIMBER.. see?! Oh.. how we laughed!

I remember an estate agent once mooting ED as 'the Crouch End of the south'. I immediately thought 'bad transport links, expensive houses and Bugaboos everywhere' - though I'm not sure if this is what he had in mind.

Seeing as I'm such a misery-guts (and there's been lots of bad-mouthing on't forum of late) I thought I'd try and make amends by starting a thread simply bursting with positivity, goodwill and general bonhomie. Which ED establishment represents the very embodiment of good customer service? Myself? Winner: William Rose Runner-up: Dulwich DIY

Ok, I may have overdone it with 'run around and scream' (no need to be so LITERAL, folks) It was just to make the point that children make noise when they play. Obviously, I wouldn't expect my lad to misbehave or run around end scream in a restaurant (I can do that myself when the bill arrives). But the Herne has a big back yard with a mini-adventure playground, so a certain amount of noise is inevitable and not out of place.

Absolutely agree with Sean.. Anyway - no-one's talking about talking their six-month old down the old Dog and Duck to watch their parents line up shots, arm-wrestle and talk like Jim Davidson. There's always been a place for families and children in pubs (especially 'proper' pubs) - on occasions: it's part of the reason why pubs were divided in 'saloons' and 'bars' (as well as to keep the wife at arm's length, of course).

The Forest Hill Tav is but a short stroll away if it's old skool you're after..

The Herne is either a nightmare or a godsend - depending on which way you look at it. You have to book in advance because it's a godsend for people who have young children - and they know it. Kids under 5 are meant to run round and scream. That's what they do! (I think they call it 'playing' outside of London). Better they're doing it in the Herne at weekends (and therefore can be avoided if you wish) than doing it in the CPT, EDT, Inside 72, Sainsburys, Railway Tracks, Opium Dens etc etc.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- As for the use of a stereotype, well > strertypes would not exist if they held no truth, > so I dont see a problem in using them to make a > point. Indeed - same goes for the stereotype of the grumpy, miserable old git:))

snorky Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What about the UPtown girlz ? > Too busy lookin' for a downtown man. I think.

The 'yummies' in question probably caught sight of Louisa, her crimson face contorted with rage.. and hurried on past.

I used to love fish and chips from Wimpey. The fish had been shaped like a trapezium - which (at the time) I considered to be a culinary triumph.

Louisa, it must take-up an awful lot of your energy, being so bitter all the time. You must be constantly exhausted.

Louisa, please post some pictures of these teeny-weenie prams from the past - I can't find them in any of the pictures of my Gran, Mum, brother of I when we were babies. In fact - they all seem twice the size of your average pram today.

... constant bleating on the forum about: Three-wheeled prams (it's only a pram, for god's sake - does it matter?) Butchers and greengrocers charging more for a better product that clearly costs more to produce and supply. House prices going-up (despite owning one for years and therefore secretly jumping for joy) City bankers ordering Moet and talking about share-dealing and house prices (I've never seen or heard one) Claphamites taking over (no-one on my street - where are they all?)

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just have to say to Mockney, you may like the > film, each to their own. But best film script > you've ever seen... COME ON?!?! We've watched > better films around your house on several > occasions. Anyway, this is way off topic. So, > filming at Belair 'ey... "Very, Very foolish words, man.."

Why does THE CAMBERWELL CARROT scene always get all the limelight? I know it's a big spliff (tee-hee!) and therefore mildly amusing, but it's hardly the defining moment of a film with too many good bits to mention. W&I is a one-off.. just great from start to finish.

Once you've had a prawn cocktail and steak diane in Walsall, circa 1988 - you'll never go back. (To Walsall, or Steak Diane)

Look, I'm sure it's melon balls and prawn cocktails chez pierre every night of the week - but I'm afraid it doesn't do it for me. Incidentally, I was talking more in general about the standard of restaurant food in the UK (much derided by the French at the time - remember?) 10 or 20 years ago. My point wasn't that you're some kind of dunce to enjoy such food: just that such a stuck-in-the-past menu immediately brings back delightful memories of all the crappy restaurants I've eaten in over the years before the UK pulled its gastronomic socks up. Some of these places are still knocking around, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

(doghouse) To make amends, I shall go to Le Moulin and REPORT BACK (as, I suspect, will others who otherwise wouldn't have) Inevitably, the discussion has now become totally polarised beyond the initial point. "WE won't go in there unless Eric DJs and Margaret does freestyle beat-boxing on the mic!" "Well we don't want you in there - so we won't even clean the toilets!" etc. All I can say is, every time I go past a restaurant (in England - we're not in provincial Italy here), which looks a bit run-down from the outside and is filled with oldER diners, my brain instantly recalls all those places I went to with my folks over the years, serving melon balls and parma ham, steak diane and prawn cocktails to people who didn't know any better. And in that instant, my feet just walk on by. That's all!

Yeah... that's it. They don't want passing trade. Actually, they keep the outside like it is because they actually want to put people off coming in. See? They can do 50 covers on a Friday night, but secretly they only want to do 40. Maybe.

TW, I'm all-up for a shop-owner sticking-up for themselves in response to negative comments (and the EDD is well-worth sticking-up for), but your posting is a bit of a customer relations disaster. Perhaps you should consider a hasty re-edit before the morning?!

Like George Lucas, I think you have to forgive REG on the basis that the world would be a slightly poorer place without the one thing he has given us. (no, not Argos) Tony Parsons, on the other hand, really is a total arse. Every time I see him moaning away with his arm casually slung over the back of the interviewee sofa (usual on 'This Week') I just want to leap through the screen and pour hot tar over his genitals.

Eric and Margaret. I feel like I know them now. Good luck to 'em, I say. If they're making a living out of it, why should anyone be bovvered?? But alas, these sorts of places are the ones that usually end-up on "Ramsey's I'm-Going-To-Point-Out-The-Bleedin'-Obvious Kitchen Nightmares".. when the old clientele dies away (sometimes literally ha ha) and Little Eric Junior, successor to a 'successful family business', is left crying into the prawn cocktails, wondering where it all went wrong.

Of course there's always an exception to the rule.. that 'hidden gem' that serves up top-notch food behind a jaded exterior, but unfortunately, in London anyway, this is an exception. In general, restaurants need all the help they can get - both to keep their existing customers and get new blood in through the door. Just on the basis of this thread, if it looked more appealing from the outside, they'd have at least four or five new customers immediately - at least to give it a go! And without wishing to be rude (although no doubt I will be.. as usual) there is a difference between what youngER diners and what oldER diners consider to be 'good food'.