Fantasy Lordship Lane

[Polly D]

Love - North Cross market, ED, ED Deli, Cheese Block, SMB foods, the burgers in liquorice and the Bishop, Sea Cow, Franklins (cos of Katy) - hmmm all a bit food orientated - and of course, EDF and you guys.

Hate - the queues in SMB foods, buses being full at 8am, charity shop spillage on a Saturday, the queues in Somerfield and the fact that the fish and olive counters close so early, the fact that the cash points run out of cash by Saturday night, grotty closed-down shops not doing anything and most of all, not being able to ever cross Lordship Lane.

[AcedOut]

LOVE:

- The (French?) blonde waitress at Tandoori Nights (and the food is great to boot).

- The Bishop's Sunday Roast (see below). The while chicken chilli thing is great too when it's on the menu.

- Hednizm. Good hair cut for reasonable prices (3x cheaper than the city)

- The scrambled egg / egg Benedict on Sunday mornings at Black Cherry. This HAS to be experienced.

HATES:

- The service at Bishop, especially on a Sunday! The food is great, but waiting up to 1 hour for it is driving me actually cook for myself!

- Halifax Estate Agents. They allegedly (according to the vendor) made up fictitious bidders when buying my flat 3 years ago.

- The Amusements. Only thing amusing about that place is the lack of people in there. I've never seen more than one person inside, although I have my suspicions about that place, which fits in the same category as the hi-fi shop.

- The SUV-style pushcairs. Are those big wheels really necessary!? Thumbs up to the parents that use the rucksack style things. Keep fit AND keep out of the way of people at the same time :)

[Parker's Folly]

HATE:

- Too many estate agents, and their fancy little VW's and Mini Coopers with flash signage theron.

- The poxy kebab, chicken & fish, etc fast food outlets.

- The police station (only its brutalist facade really)

- St Thomas More Hall - what the hell goes on inside that place: Bingo?

LOVE:

- Seacow

- Cafe Nero (sorry...)

- The library

- Hisar

WOULD LIKE TO SEE:

- A bookstore that also has internet facilities and a coffee shop/cafe, with reasonable prices.

- A CD store with a good vinyl selection as well, at a reasonable price.

- Waitrose

- H&M (ha ha - fat chance)

- Carluccio's cafe

[jim_the_chin]

dang those agents vw's, they regularly have 7 of them on a short stretch of road, it just looks like one big advert, which i'm sure they love

[Jo]

Likes:

The butcher

Seacow

Cheese Block samosas

Farmers

the books sections of the charity shops

The Bishop

The picture framer on North Cross road

Liquorish's burgers

Green and Blue

The card shop

SMB

Hisar

Kebab & wine

Dislikes:

Blue Mountain. Had a panini that was cold in the middle, a breakfast that took over an hour to arrive and was mean in proportion and soon just gave up going altogether.

The Amusements.

Trying to cross Lordship Lane

The empty unwins

Prices in EDD

Wants:

A japanese restaurant.

Frightened of:

The owner of the stationery shop. That guy freaks me out.

[mightyroar]

What about Jack's Cafe? Some space for pushchairs and great food. Staff really nice not moody like Blue mountain.

cheese block people never smile at me either.

But the Cheese lady with her van on Friday is very friendly.

what's all this about hot chicks? Perhaps fractionater should get himself down battersea zoo if it's young animals he needs to find. and whats a milf?

[dulwichmum]

Yes, indeed what is a milf?

[blinder999]

MILF=

Mother

I'd

Like to err... get

Friendly with

[clare]

Do you mean Mr Strange in R*l*ns ???? He is so wierd. Is he a cult member do you think? He is the most pedantic irritating person and is SO patronising.....I try not to go in there if I can help it.

[Amelie]

Hi

LOVE

The Sea Cow (so glad to see it back up and running)

William Rose

The EDD

SMB Foods

Northcross Greengrocers

The retro sweet shop on Northcross Road (sorry, forgotten the name)

Franklin's

Mrs Robinson's (just for browsing, way too expensive)

The picture framer's on Northcross Road (really good quality workmanship and a great range)

A J Farmer's

A-Z Express Dry Cleaners

Fabric 501 (have you met Guneh? Fantastic bloke!)

The Cheese Block

Roullier & White (again just for browsing except at Christmas)

WOULD LIKE

Chener Books to be refurbished

The freeholders of just about all the buildings on LL to be served with repair notices by LB Southwark (not holding my breath for this)

All the empty commercial properties inc. the old fish and chips shop on Whateley Road to be brought back into use

The art gallery on LL to sell something that 1. I like and 2. I can afford

St Thomas More Hall to be reimagined - has anyone signed up for the ballroom dancing lessons there?

A local cinema and theatre

A good music shop

An independent clothing shop

HATE

The state of the pavements and road surface from one end of LL to another

The neglect of the Library end of LL and the Goose Green end and the area around the ED station

The bookmakers

Iceland

Somerfield

Budgens

LB Southwark (how they achieved their CPA rating is a mystery, if ever a borough was crying out to be forcibly taken over by HMG .............)

The gas showroom at the Library end

The pathetic excuses for pharmacies/chemists which we have here

The equally pathetic bakeries

The beautician/massage parlour at the Library end which has always seemed to lack customers

The state of The Plough

The fast food places

The police station (how did something so eye-wateringly ugly ever gain planning permission?)

The gun shop (why is it here?)

The motor spares/tyres shop - whatever it is, in the building with all the scaffolding along the top where new flats are being developed

The dog excrement everywhere and the fact that every cat in the area regards gardens which contain pebbles as gigantic litter trays

The bus drivers who behave as though the whole of LL is a race track

The needlessly excessive amounts of street furniture

The crappy ntl connection in East Dulwich that keeps blanking out, freezing, falling out of sync and pixillating!!!! The complete inability of ntl to fix the bloody problem!!!!

[bald marauder]

Can anyone else comment on the eggs benedict at Black Cherry - if they're good I'm going to try them, it's my absolute favourite breakfast and a bit too fussy to make at home (never been good at sauces...)

[bald marauder]

I like the cheese lady with her van too - did you know she also does deliveries in ED on Fridays if you can't get up to North Cross Road? I beleive you can phone in your order and she will drop it off...

[RosieH]

can it be that we all really want to live in Clapham with no poor people?

[bald marauder]

hmm, should we order some hair shirts so that we can show our solidarity with the plight of those less well-off than ourselves? Personally, I wouldn't want to live in Clapham (even if I could afford it) - or anywhere else for that matter. I like East Dulwich for it's relatively local, independent feel - and because it's not (again relatively) completely up its own arse in the way that much of Clapham is. I also like (shock, horror) the fact that it's next to Peckham, where within a few minutes walk you can find a culturally different (and I mean that in a good way) experience. I think it's important to keep a diverse range of shops, eg Somerfield (and possibly Iceland, though focusing on frozen food doesn't seem particluarly healthy in one of the most obese countries in the world). I don't think that social inclusivity means we either have to totally sacrifice any 'nice' ie read 'expensive' things - nor do I think it means that scruffy, run down shops should be celebrated. Do you think it makes poor people happy to look at or shop in a depressing environment? I doubt it very much.

[RosieH]

Hell I like a nice shop as much, if not more than, the next person. I'll fritter away my money on expensive cheese and fancy bubble bath, and personally am unlikely ever to set foot in Iceland. but I know people who do, and who value it for its low prices and worry that if M&S does move in then they're going to have to make the longer trip to Peckham to feed the family. By the by, re frozen food and obesity - frozen food isn't inherently unhealthy (Giles Coren in the Birds Eye adverts is right) - and a ready meal's a ready meal, whether it's from M&S or Iceland. I'm not advocating scruffy shops, but Iceland and Somerfield have their place,and I really don't want to go the way of Clapham (and to some extent Brixton) where the trendification of an area pushes up prices and forces out people who've lived there all their lives. It sounds like we agree on that, I love East Dulwich precisely because it isn't Clapham (and we don't have White Stuff and M&S).

[mumra]

Could not agree more RosieH. I personally chose to live in the Bellenden area for the choice, as I feel I can be transient according to need. Although I am nearer Lordship Lane shops, I can easily justify frequent trips to Peckham for Woolworths, Jean's fabric shop, (Jean is a legend) Khans bargain basement (honestly you can get anything there) the Review bookshop (Chener books=no competition) and Petitou cafe (best cappucino south of the river) How many more shops do you need selling olives?

[ratty]

Easy peasy!

Hates:

Hooray Henry's in the Bishop talking unnecessarily loud! Yes we know your opinion is more important than anyone else's but some of us can live without hearing it!

Cafe Nero's - should have gone the whole hog and opened a KFC ffs

The lack of a real pub on the road anymore! :(

The clique of student types in Inside 72

Loves:

EDT - it's got better and better

The music in Inside 72 (shame about the students)

Northcross in it's entirety

The DIY Shop - the dudes in there are so helpful!

Wants:

A full on proper street market ffs! I said FFS ffs!

[Bony Fido]

Ratty,

Re:"Cafe Nero's - should have gone the whole hog and opened a KFC ffs"

We've already had a KFC in LL - it is now some other make of fried chicken shop, the one opposite Thomas More hall.Apparently when Col Sanders visited the UK many years ago he was so disgusted at the state of many of the shops bearing his name that he had them closed down - the LL shop was one.

[ratty]

Good grief! Maybe I ashould have said McDonalds!

I remember when there was a Starburger on LL!

[dulwichmum]

If only there was a Starbucks on Lordship Lane!

[Ant]

Pfeh. Their vente skinny mochafrappaslappacrappachinos with caramel sprinkles have never really done it for me.

[monica]

"The freeholders of just about all the buildings on LL to be served with repair notices by LB Southwark (not holding my breath for this)"

Amelie I am a landlord on LL and my partner and i have recently refurbed our property,as have our neighbours.So when you refer to Freeholders on LL please dont use the phrase "just all about"please as there are freeholders who love LL and work hard to maintain our properties.Thanks

Norhcross road have a great market,EDs are brill,the petshop,grace and favour,drum and stella b.Lovely flower shop,blue mountain and sweet shop.Unfortunately the other shops are not all that.

[Jeremy]

Agreed that most of the shops on LL range from "fine" to "very nice" in terms of the exterior decor. But there are definitely a minority which let the side down. It needn't be expensive, I'm just talking a spot of paint and a bit of elbow grease.

[Mac]

Good

- DIY shop to open a bit later, and on sunday

- Tandoori Nights, also the Mirash Tandoori (they've got monogrammed carpet tiles!)

- Cafe Noodle, an overlooked cheap eats and you can byob

- Hong Hong, the man who works there greets my gf with "Hello Lady" which never ceases to amuse.

- An X176 that only stops at Waterloo, E&C, Camberwell Green, DH and ED during peak hours.

- Not exactly LL but wonder if we could have a chalk board in the park to roughly book the tennis courts, would mean you could wander off until your hour came up..

- More bars to have table football.

- Once went to a flamenco night upstairs at EDT, that venue could be used for music more often.

Not so good

- i have an irrational fear of the EDD.

- as above, crossing the road.

- the Blue Mountain. The manager is pompous, and doesn't give a crap what his customers think.

- Dell's autos. Stay clear of this luddite if you value your life.

- the amusements.

[monica]

Jeremy we have tried talking to the owner of chener and hes not bothered about exterior deco unfortunately.I feel sorry for the staff because they do get moaned at about the deco,but what can they do?