Blue mountain cafe - walked out (Lounged)

[HonaloochieB]

hannahspanner Wrote:

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> I had breakfast there with a friend a couple of

> months ago. We both had hairs in our food:'(

Keep it quite hannah, these middle-class bastards will all be demanding them now.

[LibraCarr]

Hi,

I have never been into the BMC but notice that if you want to go inside you have to cross pretend mosaic. Given that it is uneven and slippery when wet it constitutes a health and safety problem. I also noticed chairs that were not stable.

Well, thats another needle into the death of a local business.

Which is the next business that we will slag off and make them close.

Regards,

Libra Carr

Suppliers of fresh food and salads to the gentry

[Mark]

Have you notified the authorities about this breach of heath and safety Libra Carr or are you going to wait until there's an accident? Did you tell the manager about the unstable chairs? I have to say you're making quite a substantial allegation there about a business and I hope you can back it up (i.e. that you have tested the slipperiness of the flooring) should you have to.

Of course you could be jesting and trying to make a point that (you think) people are trying to close local businesses with their comments and criticism. Strange way to do it.

[Fuschia]

Mark Wrote:

> Of course you could be jesting and trying to make

> a point that (you think) people are trying to

> close local businesses with their comments and

> criticism. Strange way to do it.

If so, she's a bit OTT. I don't see why I should be banned from commenting on such poor service that we had to leave without eating and my little boy burst into tears. The proof BMC's long term future is unlikely to be affected by my criticism, is that poor service there has been an issue for many years, yet it still thrives.

[Fuschia]

Odd, the title of my post "Blue mountain cafe - walked out" seems to have changed itself to "Blue mountain cafe"

Is this some technical glitch, or big brother?!! I've changed it back.

[Administrator]

It was big brother. As a courtesy to local businesses sometimes I change the titles to just the businesses name, this is usually when the title is "business x - terrible place!" or "business y - don't go there!". You title was borderline but I see it states what you did, and is not detrimental to the business on its own, so I apologise for changing it.

[SimonM]

There is no doubt that that "pretend mosaic" flooring outside the BMC which they installed a few years back is potentially extremely dangerous in wet conditions - especially to someone not too steady on their feet. It is a negligence action waiting to happen I think. (Only *my* personal opinion obviously)

[Sue]

What's the difference between "pretend" mosaic and real mosaic?

Looks real to me - I like it :)

[Fuschia]

Administrator Wrote:

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> It was big brother. As a courtesy to local

> businesses sometimes I change the titles to just

> the businesses name, this is usually when the

> title is "business x - terrible place!" or

> "business y - don't go there!". You title was

> borderline but I see it states what you did, and

> is not detrimental to the business on its own, so

> I apologise for changing it.

Apology accepted, but bit surprised you didn't tell me you were changing it! Still, at least I'm not going doolally

[Administrator]

I do not tell everyone that I am changing their title, like it says in the terms of the site I sometimes edit them, usually to make them more informative to users. Yesterday (as is typical) I moved six "wanted" and non East Dulwich specific posts out of the gossip section and changed the title of six different "wanted" posts to make them more descriptive, the point being that I cannot tell everybody that I am making a change.

Anyway, let us not take this off topic, back to talking about The Blue Mountain Cafe.

[HonaloochieB]

SimonM Wrote:

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> There is no doubt that that "pretend mosaic"

> flooring outside the BMC which they installed a

> few years back is potentially extremely dangerous

> in wet conditions - especially to someone not too

> steady on their feet. It is a negligence action

> waiting to happen I think. (Only *my* personal

> opinion obviously)

In wet conditions? In brothel creepers? It's an accident waiting to happen.

That's why I avoid it and rock 'n' roll my way down to Rock Steady Eddie's at Camberwell.

#That's why I go for that rock and roll (and butter) music.....#

[bloke]

They lost the plot at BMC. Staff too young and 'groovy' to give service. And that creaky floorboard at the front gets on my man-boobs.

[Guest]

I rather enjoy the creaky/bouncy floorboards. If you sit near the front of the cafe you can have fun for hours watching your companion bobbing up and down every time someone walks within six feet.

[eccentric]

like it or loath it BMC has been in the vanguard of ED gentrification for at least 20 years. I did hear the guy who laid the mosaic has a house in the Bellenden area with very similar embelishments and is going to leave it to the NT.

I shit you not!

PS I'm not a shareholder in BMC.

PPS I'm not Mel.

As an aside has anyone pointed this thread out to BMC, maybe they'll act upon the comments and pull the staff into line.

[Fuschia]

eccentric Wrote:

> As an aside has anyone pointed this thread out to

> BMC, maybe they'll act upon the comments and pull

> the staff into line.

I left a written complaint at the BMC itself, but a week on, there has been no response.

[Sue]

eccentric Wrote:

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> like it or loath it BMC has been in the vanguard

> of ED gentrification for at least 20 years.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Not 20 years I'm sure, I moved to ED in 1991 and it wasn't here then :-S

[SimonM]

I am pretty sure it was there in 1984....but am ready to be corrected.

[Sue]

SimonM Wrote:

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> I am pretty sure it was there in 1984....but am

> ready to be corrected.

xxxxxxx

I live in Ulverscroft road opposite the BMC.

The opening of the BMC was one of the first signs of the changes happening in ED. I'm absolutely certain it wasn't there when I moved to ED in 1991. If there was a cafe there in 1984, it can't possibly have been the same place.

When the BMC opened, it had a counter at the front selling bread, yummy cakes and coffee beans. There were a few little rooms at the back, including one tiny one decorated in Chinesy red.

It was a very unusual venture for the area at that time. North Cross Road when I moved here had a newsagent, butcher, cobbler and Greek deli. Lordship Lane had a toy shop and junk shops. There were no decent places to drink.

Grace and Favour opened a while later as a teashop/cafe, but then became what it is now.

Surely someone else must remember the BMC opening??!!

[Fuschia]

http://www.bluemo.co.uk/history.html

"The Blue Mountain tea and coffee shop opened in 1993, in a converted two up two down home at the top of North Cross Road in East Dulwich."

[SimonM]

oops yes...I remembered taking my mother there on one of her *very* rare visits to see me...had though it wa sher 80's visit but now see it must have been the '94 one..

And yes I remember with affection the state of the place when it first opened,,,great cakes...coffee in cafetieres...the whole place down out in bare-bricked, bomb-blast Chic...

[Fuschia]

I first went there in 2000...and stopped going in 2003 after several bad experiences while I was pregnant and with a small baby.... like when I had scrambled eggs and a bagel (pregnancy craving) and the bagel was sent back, burnt, and no replacement appeared for 15 mi ns, by which time the scrambled egg was cold. That was the incident that really put me off, being pregnant and tearful. I complained then and they just shrugged. It's very disappointing that despite the premises makeover, the chef is no faster than the "old days"

Anyway, i mailed them now via the site to ask if they intend to respond to the complaint I left.

[david_carnell]

And I'm afraid it is not only the ED branch that's poor. I was in the Sydenham branch on Tues and had one of the worst cups of coffee I've had in a long time.

But it has no competition in Sydenham for that sort of establishment so probably does quite well. Staff were very nice though. Gave me directions to the station and even offered me some free staff birthday cake. Maybe by combining ther best elements of the two we could have one decent cafe.

[Sue]

I went to the Sydenham branch while on a Goose flyer mission, and thought it was lovely, quite a different feel to the NCR branch. The staff were great too, really friendly and helpful even though I wasn't staying to eat or drink anything.

[clive3300]

Like many other London restaurants that remain inexplicably successful, the food and service remains unreliable or even poor because most people going there wouldnt know or care what good is, or actually get a perverse enjoyment from how bad it is.

The endemic British lack of quality expectations (and it is a British thing - the rest of Europe and the developed Commonwealth doesn't share it) seems partly a perceived class issue. E.g. Louisa who thinks that anyone who wont just accept any old crap chucked their way is some sort of arrogant toff and is directly responsible for all that is wrong with the world: One should prove one's worth by only eating soggy chips and cold beans.

[macroban]

> Louisa [...] is directly responsible for all that is wrong with the world

Tell Gordon Brown. He needs someone else to blame.