Louisa

Good to see The Plough remains that, let's hope it can be revived as a great pub again.

Well I hope to god it is a myth, because I always remember my great grandmother telling me of an elderly man when she was a girl, who told her not to venture over the hill as the stench of death from the great plague would strike you down in an instant. It's always been a strongly held local legend, and hopefully it isnt true, though if it is, what on earth could they be releasing into the air? Surely this could be a public health issue? Let's call Southwark Council :)

Yes looks it :(

The Herne was definitely one of the last bastions of a traditional London boozer around the Rye.. The Clock House has always been a bit snotty, but The Herne had a very big local customer base, as well as people coming from far and wide for a drink.. It's interesting to see the 4x4 buggy brigade with their weedy looking husbands with man bags huddled in a corner drinking a bottle of red, and some burly loud mouth bricklayers at the bar downing pints of fosters, all happening at the same time!.. I will probably venture in again for half a guinness as it it kind of reminds me of certain Clapham pubs about 20 years ago when the whole gentrification thing started.. Interesting social experiment, god I wish i'd taken up sociology at Uni :(

I'd like to see Grove Vale smartened up a bit.. everyone is concentrating on these units on LL, and poor old GV is being neglected.

I hear rumours that this old church was built on one of the original plague burial sites for the thousands who died in the city of London.. Like many other more famous local sites eg the park opposite Hornimans museum, these areas were picked for mass burial because they were so far outside of London and could prevent any further outbreaks.. How times have changed, these areas are now cinsdered inner london! :)

I was lucky enough to see Lionel Blair in Dulwich Village this morning (though he had sunglasses on so didnt want to risk looking a fool incase it was someone else haha) :)

When I last went in Eric and Margaret seemed most upset about some of the publicity they had received.. Apparantly a few people had gone in and made some negative comments and perhaps they took this on board, but as I had pointed out before, time stands still at Le Moulin and long may it continue I say.. It's all part of the charm... Let's not allow 21st century values to bring down what remains to be a good quality fairly priced indepedent local restaurant :)

I have to agree with your sentiment Gerrard, I have bought a few cars in my time from some very dodgy salesman, some of whom worked in supposedly reputable showrooms for main dealers..

ED cannot become a haven for chain stores! I've said this before and i'll say it again, ED is extremely residential and LL does not have the room for expansion for large chain stores. I agree that someone like Foxtons might be able to find a plae to setup, but it's still not going to attract any of the big chains onto the lane, unless they fill the places already occupied by chains eg Iceland, Somerfield... :)

Foxtons really do compl,etely change an area.... I would say since moving into Putney, roughly 50% of the retail units are now occupied by EA's.. Can you imagine what LL would look like? I wonder if the Foxtons top management have been to Peckham? they obviously are not aware that it is less than 2 miles away from ED haha :)

I have friends who live close to Putney, which is in the record books for having more estate agents along one stretch than any other location in the UK... Far from frighten the other agents off, I am afraid they will attract yet more EA's to the locality which will be great for house prices and awful for people who just want to go shopping up the lane. :(

I am not a massive fan of the chain store, but i'd be quite happy to see a subway open their doors at this location...

whiting is great, love it, and it is widely available in SW chippies Devon/Cornwall. One of the things I love about Scottish chippes is the Battered Haggis supper.. it's fantastic..

Traditional chippies are on the whole not available in London, but elsewhere in England, especially coastal places, they are still widely sold to a high standard, especially family run businesses. I can only think of a handful in London, all of which are on the outskirts of town. Having said that, Britsnnia on upland road is not bad in my opinion. Love the idea of a traditional pie and eel house opening locally, although Manze in Peckham has been there since 1923 and still serves very good quality food.

I dont know about anyone else, but I quite enjoy the fact that fish and chips is a grasy one off treat, and I think seacow is a million miles from offering what I consider to be traditional fish and chip supper... I guess if your a health freak or just like to think your better than everyone else because your eating there thats fine, but otherwise I dont see the point going in there when you can go in a whole host of decent chippies around Dulwich. And by the way asset, who drinks a bottle of wine with f&c? :)

I went up last sunday to take some photos which I have now sent off to the National War Memorial people along with a very nice letter explaining what everyone on the EDF is doing and how supportive you all are for this project. I am also looking into getting a special wreath made from real poppys locally at one of our very many LL florists, which we can hopefully lay this November at the memorial on behalf of the EDF.

I'm quarter Irish, quarter Scottish, something like 50% English.. and apparantly have some Spanish going back many generations... The part of Ireland my dads side is from is Gort in Co Galway, which now has a population of 2,000 Brazilians working at the meat factory and has an annual carnival every summer! So when people say what is English I am afraid they are about twenty years out of date, because what is anything now? What is Irish I ask you?

This sounds like a great idea peckham_perkster, I would be 100% in support of any such move to help maintain this monument. Thanks for your contribution, and to everyone else whos put forward their support.

Emilys on north cross road is good, but the best chippie is on uplands road

Just to let everyone know - I contacted the British Legion with an email and phone call citing support from local people on this matter, and so far ive been informed of: 1) A Southwark Council team member who deals specifically with the up-keep of memorials and historic sites around the borough. 2) Contacting the local MP who can inform a special parliamentary committee in the second chamber which helps support the maintenance of these memorials. I am slightly confused because I always thought the British Legion dealt with these things directly on behalf of those who can no longer speak for themselves. But anyway, it is the role of the ordinary citizen once again to put pressure on yet more third party groups to make sure this memorial is taken better care of. I wonder if a group of us should take a few hours out and go up and do the work ourselves!

I have contacted the British Legion about the old war memorial on the border of Dulwich Common and LL, as I believe this being the only memorial to local men and women who gave up their lives in two world wars and beyond, should be taken better care of and should be fully restored to what it was with the removal of undergrowth and weeds, and the painting and restructing of the old iron gate which once surrounded part of it. I believe the church as it was used to care for this memorial but when it became seperated from the COE, it was allowed to go to ruin with little care if any taking place for many years. I as a long standing local resident have had family members fight and die in both world wars, as I am sure many others of you have, and I think it would be a really fitting tribute if we could get the local council and the current church to help restore this memorial to all those lost locally in ED and the surrounding areas. I have written a few letters, but will only send them off once I have gathered enough support for this, so if you have the time please could you help support this cause in any way you can. Thanks.

Most of the older Harvester pubs have taken over historic or traditional pubs and transformed them, whereas most of the new ones are situated on out of town shopping malls or service areas where they are more suited I think. I last was forced to eat in a Harvester two years ago, and I found the menu had no direction, and the steak I had was awful. As you say Mockney, it would be great to have a pint and then wander for a walk into the woods. This is such an historic place and yet its being totally overlooked by the Harvester.

The Harvester should be fully restored to The Grove Hotel, which was a famous coaching inn until the 1920's. I remember the Harvester promising to retain all original features and the name of this historic pub when they took over ownership in the late 70's, and yet this place has seen three dubious fires, some awful refurbs which have incorporated nothing of the original pub, and eventually name "Grove Tavern" being removed altogether from the signage. Just like the beautiful concrete house and st peters church, the history and cultural value of this part of LL has been left to rot and it is really offensive. The same is true of the Plough which again was an historic inn for farm laborers for nearly four centuries, and ended up in the hands of some stupid pub company! Bring back some decent traditional pubs.. please!

sema thai is still ther,e i went past earlier!