PFC Penge Food Centre Sydenham Road

[syenhamboy]

Don't buy any fruit or vegetables from here, just walked past and the guy is putting out sliced watermelon and literally coughed all over them without any attempt to shield his cough or the fruit.

Buy and use at your peril

[gpdgentleman]

@syenhamboy
Excellent fruit and veg shop across the road called Fresh 'n' Fruity, been using them for years & they're observing all the social distancing these days. Same lady owns Billings Butchers 2 doors down (again excellent), we're really very lucky in this neck of the woods to have a genuine high street with traditional shops. I count PFC as one of those and treat them as an old fashioned 'grocer', if anyone remembers what they were.

[Parker1970]

@syenhamboy
we're really very lucky in this neck of the woods to have a genuine high street with traditional shops.

We are indeed. Even before the crisis I used to get all my mum's meat & veg from Billings and the greengrocer and take it over. Now of course I am doing all her shopping as she is in at risk group, but she won't have meat from anywhere but Billings... especially their sausages, she would rather go without that have any other.

[The Clown]

Maybe I had bad luck then, as I bought some sausages from there and they were decidedly average in quality. I used to buy mine from Villagers in Beckenham (although I don’t eat sausages often, it must be said). It actually put me off buying more meat there, so interesting that others seem to really rate it. My sister’s butcher down in Kent is so disturbingly good. Simon actually sold it on but it’s still brilliantly run and if you are ever in Kent he now runs a pub called the “Butchers Block” and the menu is delicious. Sausages and pancetta starter nom nom.
Now I have a sausage craving!

[Pally]

Billings is brilliant for fish and meat and some cheeses and deli stuff as well. Fresh and Fruity great selection and they are so fair and nice, take anything bruised away, give extra in the bag etc. At the moment they are working so hard with gge Sydenham murual aid group to get supplies to vulnerable people. ....both shops are

[sparticus]

We’ve been getting deliveries from Fresh & Fruity/Billings for three weeks now. One of the things that makes self-isolating bearable. I gather they are pretty busy when they are open, so a big cheer to Mera and her family/staff for doing this, and the volunteer delivery people as well. As for PFC, my daughter, who does some supermarket shopping for us, reports that there is no social distancing measures there, so though I rate the place highly in normal times, we wont be using them.

[Nigel]

I echo the comments re Fresh and Fruity and Billings . Both great shops staffed and managed by lovely people with very high standards .

[purpleflower123]

I hate to be negative about a local independent store, but I have also been shortchanged at PFC in Sydenham. They have also charged me different amounts at the till to the price marked on the shelves - the first time I put it down to an honest mistake on their part as regards labelling, but it has happened many times now and I've decided to shop elsewhere. It's a shame as we go there for specific Mediterranean / Middle Eastern products which are hard to find elsewhere.
However, the Village Food Market just up the road has much nicer staff and a similar range of products, and have never shortchanged me or been funny about the pricing. Happy to recommend them as a good alternative

[The Clown]

Is that the one down near The Alfred?

[admin]

No, it's next to Tesco

[GFA]

I hate to be negative about a local independent store, but I have also been shortchanged at PFC in Sydenham. They have also charged me different amounts at the till to the price marked on the shelves - the first time I put it down to an honest mistake on their part as regards labelling, but it has happened many times now and I've decided to shop elsewhere. It's a shame as we go there for specific Mediterranean / Middle Eastern products which are hard to find elsewhere.

I had the same experience when I tried to buy a jar of honey a couple of months back. When I told them the price on the till was wrong (£2 - £3 more). they said that I looked at the price of a different honey. We went back to the shelf and I was correct, however the gentleman I spoke to said that the price shown on the shelf was wrong and then removed the tag from the shelf. I refused to buy the honey and left. I popped in the following week just to check if they changed the pricing on the shelf - they hadn't! I haven't shopped in there for some weeks now since they've hiked the price of their oranges (I also buy oranges and the rest of my veg from Fresh Fruity - which I'll stick to).

I echo the comments re Billings & Fresh N Fruity. Haven't tried the Village Food Market Shop but will pop in this week.

[f4monty]

I doubt anything will change with PFC - assuming they're not behaving themselves - unless their business falls off a cliff or they get prosecuted or threatened with prosecution. And the latter relies on us, as consumers, reporting to Trading Standards. You'd have to make sure you had as much evidence as possible but do contact them on cer@lewisham.gov.uk

I'm afraid I have no evidence, but then I tend to notice things are wrong only if a price is outlandishly wrong. For better or worse I never notice or remember prices of food!

[KPR]

They’re definitely gouging - don’t go there often but their prices have rocketed since lockdown started. Not sure it’s a sensible long term tactic - they have plenty of local competition in the form of both the regular supermarkets and similar ‘ethnic’ places (though I do sometimes wonder whether the latter are actually in competition with each other - the staff appear to be interchangeable, so I wonder if the same ‘boss’ owns all of them and has the whole thing stitched up). As someone above said, the future of shops in general must be in doubt for anything except hairdressers, nail bars and restaurants/cafes (and Sydenham already has an oversupply of all three).

[mikej]

It's strange that the original shop in Penge doesn't seem to attract the same comment/criticism. I wonder why?

[chrisj1948]

My wife complains that the price of humus at PFC has risen 25% since lockdown. Since we are both old and forbidden by children from doing our own shopping, I wonder how she knows!