Just found these matches!

[Earl Aelfheah]

[Rockets]

Ha ha, there's a throwback! Some cracking nights in there.

[Sue]

17 minutes ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

Crikey, blast from the blast 😮

[Spartacus]

That was a very cool place, many an interesting late night 

[Sephiroth]

Some great nights.  But also quite handy for a hangover pizza on a Saturday lunchtime without the faff or expense of a restaurant 

I remember the cocktail list showing drinks at  a fiver each as well 

[Sue]

5 hours ago, Sephiroth said:

I remember the cocktail list showing drinks at  a fiver each as well 

My friend and I once did a cocktail crawl down Lordship Lane. 

I think we started at Black Cherry (now Franco Manca). It got off to a good start when I knocked mine over and had to buy another one.

Liquorish was in there somewhere.

The crawl ended with me carrying a chair and her a set of glasses, both bought from an antique shop at some point on the crawl, can't remember where and long gone.

Was it where Spinach is now? Somewhere round there. The antique shop, not Spinach!

Edited December 28, 2025 by Sue
Clarification

[Penguin68]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

Was it where Spinach is now? Somewhere round there. The antique shop, not Spinach!

Spinach took over from Chandelier, which was then a cafe but had been an antique shop of the same name. Some shops up from Target Arms the militaria shop. 

Edited December 28, 2025 by Penguin68

[Sue]

Just now, Penguin68 said:

Spinach took over from Chandelier, which was then a cafe but had been an antique shop of the same name. Some shops up the Target Arms the militaria shop. 

Ah yes, that's right.

Didn't Chandelier sell a huge range of different kinds of tea? 

That militaria shop was bonkers.

[Penguin68]

3 minutes ago, Sue said:

Didn't Chandelier sell a huge range of different kinds of tea? 

As a cafe, yes. And they kept all the chandeliers they hadn't sold as an antique shop still hanging up. They had a real mouse problem, quite well covered up, however. 

[Sephiroth]

I suspect if one place has a real mouse problem, most of the adjacent properties do too

in my experience London generally, and East Dulwich for sure, has significant mouse issues so I always feel bad when a single place is called out 

[Penguin68]

14 minutes ago, Sephiroth said:

I suspect if one place has a real mouse problem, most of the adjacent properties do too

If a food outlet has a mouse problem then it's likely to stay there until the outlet runs out of food, unless it's adjacent to other food outlets. Why would the mice move? And mice can be dealt with. If you are prepared to pay for it. Which, with some proprieters, is a very big if. I have no evidence that the problem has reoccured in its new inception, although obviously good owners keep the focus on good hygiene. You win the battle but the war continues. 

[Sephiroth]

Why would mice move? It’s not so much they move as multiply and spread 

 

copy and paste rather than cut and paste 

mice can and should be dealt with.  But not easily or with guarantees 

i would say most people in se22 reading this have mice. Whether they know it or not 

[Rockets]

5 hours ago, Sue said:

That militaria shop was bonkers.

Did anyone actually venture in to that place? I recall it always being closed/very uninviting!

[Penguin68]

25 minutes ago, Rockets said:

Did anyone actually venture in to that place?

There was a Saturday afternoon crowd of enthusiasts, and at other times the owner might have been off acquiring stock. He also repaired air guns, which he also sold. He stocked edged weapons, uniforms, including antique uniforms, air guns and ammo and starting pistols and shot. Some medals and other militaria. Quite a lot of ex service chit chat on a Saturday. I had an amateur interest, didn't deal a lot, in English pattern swords and other mainly 19th century militaria. And made some good purchases there. I'm afraid WWII and later events was the major focus of most of the regulars. 

Edited December 28, 2025 by Penguin68

[Sephiroth]

Thanks penguin 

always wondered about that place and that’s way more info than I ever thought I would get 

(used to live above a gun nut on friern road - he would tell me nothing)

[OutOfFocus]

18 hours ago, Sue said:

Didn't Chandelier sell a huge range of different kinds of tea? 

I recall chandelier not wanting a review on this forum good or bad  

[Penguin68]

55 minutes ago, OutOfFocus said:

I recall chandelier not wanting a review on this forum good or bad  

As they have been closed, either as an antique shop or a cafe, for a number of years, the words 'go whistle' spring to mind. They are history now. 

[OutOfFocus]

Agreed. Just stating as a historic fact they tried to stiffle reviews.

[Sue]

20 minutes ago, OutOfFocus said:

Agreed. Just stating as a historic fact they tried to stifle reviews.

I'm wondering why they would do that?

Because surely positive reviews could only help them, and if they thought they might get negative reviews, shouldn't they have been addressing the reasons that might be (unless someone had an unwarranted grudge against them)?

But in any case, how could they have stopped people posting reviews on here?

PS I have corrected your typo! 😃

[Spartacus]

Sadly, a lot of businesses didn't invite reviews on the EDF at that time due to a number of "negative nellies" that would take delight in posting unfavourable comments, often despite never being to the business in question. 

No matter how good the place was, some posters would find fault that wasn't there "don't lile the colour of the bidet set in the private bathroom, avocado 😅"

Can hardly blame businesses at the time for not wanting reviews on here, thankfully that has mostly changed now. 

 

[Penguin68]

However, some would particularly like to avoid reviews of the 'there are far too many mice'; 'the cakes are deteriorating badly' nature. If you consider that a 'Negative Nelly' response. My experience was that the hot drinks and the varieties of e.g. teas on offer, were generally a positive element. As were the staff serving. 

[Sue]

Off topic (ish) but does anyone else remember when Blue Mountain opened?

They had chocolate coated coffee beans and a range of coffee beans sold loose, and I can't remember whether it was freshly baked  bread or rolls or croissants or  something else, but my then partner used to go and buy it/them in the morning.

And behind the part with the counter, it was divided into several little rooms, all different colours and styles. There was another room upstairs, though I can't remember if that was open from the beginning 

It was great.

It went through many incarnations after that, before eventually sadly closing, but I liked the first one best.

Also off topic (ish) there was a Greek? Turkish? deli opposite. My then partner bought some yoghurt there once, and when he got it home he found it was months (I think) past its sell by date.

He took it back. The guy in the shop opened it up, looked at it, sniffed it and said "There's nothing wrong with that." 😂

[alice]

Sometime in the mid 80s, the first incarnation was on Peckham Rye near the new old Tesco’s

[Sue]

9 minutes ago, alice said:

Sometime in the mid 80s, the first incarnation was on Peckham Rye near the new old Tesco’s

Oh, I didn't know that!

I didn't move here till 1991 (I think) but the NCR incarnation must have been around that time?

Unless my failing memory is even worse than I thought it was, sob.

[Jenijenjen]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

 

Also off topic (ish) there was a Greek? Turkish? deli opposite. My then partner bought some yoghurt there once, and when he got it home he found it was months (I think) past its sell by date.

If it's the same one I'm thinking of, it was a little further down the road towards LL, probably where the Fresh Flower Company is today. I'd forgotten all about it, with good reason. I think it disappeared before Blue Mountain opened and became a pizza place? I once bought a carton of milk from the deli and when I opened it, it was solid. I did get my money back though.