no more Pound Shops and fried chicken places!

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scarpetta
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Joined: 26 Oct 2009 15:24
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no more Pound Shops and fried chicken places!

Post by scarpetta »

recently moved to Sydenham and quite like SE26, however I am really hoping that the area will improve slightly. No bars but the Dolphin which really is a pub.

I love Kente, the Blue Mountain coffee shop, the Dolphin and last but not least trattoria Rafaele!

Please no more Pound Shops and fried chicken places. It would be awesome with a decent bar on the highstreet! I am sure it would prove massively popular!

Anybody knows what's happening with the old Pound shop site that is currently being refurbished?
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

Welcome to the forum.

Yes it's called Mustis (the sign currently above the shop will hopefully change soon and is for an old shop that was from a pervious owner before Musti took it over) opening soon.

Please see:

http://whatifsydenham.wordpress.com/200 ... part-deux/
Eagle
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Location: F Hill

Post by Eagle »

Whilst I also do not appreciate chicken shops and pound shops they seem to appeal to many good citizens
I guess Virginia water has both
scarpetta
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Post by scarpetta »

True, true. Just hoping that there would be a few more decent places to hang out. The dolphin could do with some competition. :)
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

what's wrong with the Golden Lion?

I can't think of anything worse than "a bar" if you would like "a bar" then why don't you move to Cla'am?

The reason that there are lots of cheap chicken shops and pound shops nearby is that, apparently, is what local people want.
scarpetta
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Location: Sydenham

Post by scarpetta »

I like SE26 and I'm not after a Clapham High Street..but what's wrong with one decent bar and a few more restaurants on the high street...?
Christhom
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Post by Christhom »

Sydenham's never been a great area for evening life. We had a oodt restaurant once, Mr Moon but it closed and the sports bar that opened on the same site didn't last either. Try Westow St, Crystal Palace
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

bensonby wrote:what's wrong with the Golden Lion?

I can't think of anything worse than "a bar" if you would like "a bar" then why don't you move to Cla'am?

The reason that there are lots of cheap chicken shops and pound shops nearby is that, apparently, is what local people want.
Is it? How do they know? Local businesses normally do not do much market research. Apparently what most people want here in that case are hairdressers and estate agents. There are far more of those than pound shops and chicken places. There are over 10 hairdressers/barbers in Sydenham!

Busiest places in the high street seem to be the blue mountain cafe, Tratorria, Ghurkas and The Dolphin. If you did some research what most people would want here is variety. I keep hearing this time and time again.
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

Christhom wrote:Sydenham's never been a great area for evening life. We had a oodt restaurant once, Mr Moon but it closed and the sports bar that opened on the same site didn't last either. Try Westow St, Crystal Palace
Why? Why can't Sydenham have these things? Why do many of us have to go elsewhere? Trattorria changed because they realized there was no-where to have pizza here. Look how well that's doing.

Sorry, I don't believe that Sydenham can't have a variety of shops and a fair amount of places to attract us out at night.
MiniFox
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Post by MiniFox »

Welcome Scarpetta!

Have you tried Bridge House? Technically Penge, but we rattle between there and the Dolphin
Christhom
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Post by Christhom »

Not sure why. I noticed only today the Caribbean place opposite Kwik-Fit is now shut.That sports bar is the only real bar I can remember. It is odd.
scarpetta
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Post by scarpetta »

Thanks for the great suggestions. Here's to greater variety!
Ulysses
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Post by Ulysses »

bensonby wrote:what's wrong with the Golden Lion?

I can't think of anything worse than "a bar" if you would like "a bar" then why don't you move to Cla'am?

The reason that there are lots of cheap chicken shops and pound shops nearby is that, apparently, is what local people want.
No Bensonby. That is what people from certain parts of Sydenham want. Sydenham's is a fairly exclusive High St. And once we've all picked ourselves up off the floor after reading that comment what I mean is it is pretty inclusive to the whims of the minority.

The old DiverCity site is a classic example of whim. One crappy business after another. I've lost count of what it has been but it is currently the drunkard's hangout and is about to shut down yet again. Is it called PepperMint or something these days? Same with the pound-shops - it tells you a lot that they are struggling whilst BM and The Dolphin etc thrive.

Unfortunately, outside of a clutch of obvious business' you simply will not currently see the majority of Sydders residents on the High St. After speaking to a good many people both in Upper and Lower Sydders whilst leafleting for the High St improvements I can assure you there are a good many comfortable streets and a good many well-off families who simply will not use most of the places on the High St. Again, bar places like those listed by scarpetta.

We need to get people to look again at what is there and be bothered about what might open up. People forget there is a good flower shop, a decent bakers, some good beauty shops and pharamcies, 2 excellent opticians (that interestingly only stock Prada et al...) and much more besides. Has anyone been to Alhambra's - very nice it is too.

Whether anyone likes it or not...Sydenham High St 'represents' [to use down wiv da kidz' parlance] an increasingly minority demographic.

Cue: Parker coming out from his hidey-hole and banging on about Beckenham and LB of Bromley again.


Oh, scarpetta, in case you missed it then please see this thread. The plans include a 'bar'.

http://www.sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewto ... 7950aaa80e
Last edited by Ulysses on 26 Oct 2009 18:37, edited 2 times in total.
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

Christhom wrote:Not sure why. I noticed only today the Caribbean place opposite Kwik-Fit is now shut.
It was a new food outlet selling Caribbean food. They didn't bother to change their sign so to any passer buy it sold sea food and was no different to before. It was called 'try me'. Not the best name for a business selling food.

All the new owner did was write on an A board in chalk saying 'new business' and stuck it on the other side of the road!
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

we used to have variety....huge variety....abotu 15-20 years ago. Lots of the "interesting" shops closed down because they didn't make enough money. They didn't make enough money because there wasn't a demand for them.

There is however a demand for estate agents, chicken shops, barbers and pound shops. There must me. Otherwise they wouldn't stay in business and there wouldn't be so many of them.
Ulysses
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Post by Ulysses »

bensonby wrote:we used to have variety....huge variety....abotu 15-20 years ago. Lots of the "interesting" shops closed down because they didn't make enough money. They didn't make enough money because there wasn't a demand for them.

There is however a demand for estate agents, chicken shops, barbers and pound shops. There must me. Otherwise they wouldn't stay in business and there wouldn't be so many of them.
But do they stay in business though bensonby? That's the question. Think about it...the chicken shops and barbers seem to always be being reposessed/shut down. The barbers on Kent House Road has become something else just recently. The Salmonella Emporium that is in what was the 'Lokal' restaurant by the Cake Store has been about 4 different things this past year alone! Is it now called Miami Chicken or somesuch?

Just because one idiot after another doesn't do his market research and opens up the exact same business as the one that just went to the wall doesn't mean they are thriving. Frankly 90% of them can go to the wall as far as I am concerned. And they invariably do.

As for The Golden Lion, you're right. Don't dismiss it scarpetta. The live-nights are particularly good.
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

bensonby wrote:we used to have variety....huge variety....abotu 15-20 years ago. Lots of the "interesting" shops closed down because they didn't make enough money.
15-20 years ago. Times change. We want interesting shops. We shouldn't be saying 'don't bother' because before the berlin wall came down, when michael jackson was still good, before email, the internet, before out of town supermarkets, when Woolworths was making a profit and when Findus crispy pancakes were popular we had some better shops and they stopped trading for whatever reason that may be.

Times change.
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

Ulysses wrote:But do they stay in business though bensonby? That's the question. Think about it...the chicken shops and barbers seem to always be being reposessed/shut down. The barbers on Kent House Road has become something else just recently. The Salmonella Emporium that is in what was the 'Lokal' restaurant by the Cake Store has been about 4 different things this past year alone! Is it now called Miami Chicken or somesuch?
Morley's has been there for as long as I can remember.

The two (!) down by home park seem to always be busy....one of them has been there fore years. The Kebab shop near Lloyds, again, has been there for as long as I remember.....as has "gogo pizza" and the kebab shop next door.

All the estate agents have been there for donkeys' years aswell.....there are more than there ever has been.

Quite frankly these shops do thrive. They can only thrive because of the custom.
As for The Golden Lion, you're right. Don't dismiss it scarpetta. The live-nights are particularly good.

The worst bit about that pub :wink:


I still don't understand why they don't have the music in the back room. Thus increasing capacity and letting people listen to the (admittedly good) music from the main bar if they find sitting on top of the band too loud.
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

leenewham wrote: We want interesting shops.

is that the Royal We? Ok, if new demographics move to the area then the demand is created and the shops follow.....that is an organic change.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like the chicken shops et al. But I'm realisitc of the fact that a large proportion of the local population (not those who read this site) are the patrons of the chicken shops and so on...
Trawlerman
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Post by Trawlerman »

Good point. I would like some interesting shops. But I probably won't get them.

What, by the way, is interesting?
More suggestions, please.

Not particularly bothered about the Dolplhin.
I remember when it was a proper pub. Still, each to their own.

Where is 'Sydders'? Sounds quite 'naice' ...I probably couldn't afford it.
Shame.
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