High Street Wishlist

[Rachael]

Each to their own - I know a lot of people like Kente, but I would have to agree with hairybuddha. I don't like the coffee in there at all and the place lacks a bit in atmosphere and decor. The garden at the back is very nice, but not enough to entice me back.

The last item on hb's list will be addressed with the high street redesign being carried out now.

Hi Rachel - Do you have an easy link to the plans? Would be interesting to see what they're doing with it... My main concern is the need for an adequate pedestrian crossing option going up the hill.

Here you go:
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/SiteCollecti ... posals.pdf

[hairybuddha]

Thanks!

[Maria]

I would like all of the above, please; plus:

- a fabulous cafe in Mayo Park with lots of tables outside - I gather that is being planned anyway but just in case...
- a farmers' market every sunday - in one of the pocket square areas
- oh and the Sushi place we all got so excited about a few months ago
- and of course the greyhound to be finished - please, for God sakes, can someone finish it once and for all?!

That's alright for now; bound to remember plenty more in the nearest future, mind...

[gerispringer]

My vote is for the decent cafes, wine bar and restaurants, some midcentury and vintage shops as are in Crystal Palace, a sewing cafe and lots of trees, flowers and even hanging baskets for an instant splash of colour.

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[G-Man]

I think Sugahill does excellent coffee. Particularly the decaf as I have to avoid large doses of caffeine. I like Kente too for a toastie and Blue Mountain does a fantastic breakfast. We also have the Lemon Tree now and what looks to be a new clean, modern Chinese restaurant. Quite excited about that actually.

What I think would be good are:

A deli
A decent wine and beer shop, perhaps combined with the deli, with a place to drink and eat attached
Another pub, slightly different to the Dolphin, I'm thinking Antic or Geronimo here. Or a brew pub like the Florence in Herne Hill where they brew their own beer
A bike shop
A Vietnamese or Thai restaurant
A food market - which I think is coming
An art gallery/cafe...which I also heard a rumour about.

And Lee. Burgers shouldn't be cheap if the meat is well sourced. I'd rather have good quality beef than Red Rum in a bap.

Cheers

G-man

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[Rachael]

Slightly off-topic, but decent home-made burgers made with meat from the butcher cost no more than burgers made with supermarket nasty, gritty mince. I buy minced beef from The Butchery in FH. It costs a little more that supermarket mince (about £1-£2 per kilo more) but you use less of it and it tastes amazing.

[dickp]

I bought some ribs from the butchery at the weekend. They were lovely.

I admit, I can't afford to splash out on the expensive meat they stock. But, stuff like their pork hocks, ribs and belly pork is (relatively) affordable. Tasty too.

[Rachael]

Sainsburys Taste the Difference Minced Beef £9/kg. The Butchery Dry Aged Minced steak £9/kg.

It's a no-brainer.

[14BradfordRoad]

Slightly off-topic, but decent home-made burgers made with meat from the butcher cost no more than burgers made with supermarket nasty, gritty mince. I buy minced beef from The Butchery in FH. It costs a little more that supermarket mince (about £1-£2 per kilo more) but you use less of it and it tastes amazing.

Are you 100% sure that it's not the horsey bits in it that give it that great taste Rachael?

Only joking Rachael, btw - I like the nutritional delicious horsey taste!
MMMMmmmm!

[Pat Trembath]

Back to SteveofSyd's first suggestion.

My wishlist would start with Aladdin/Sainsbury's addressing their signage. On any occasion I go in, I ask when this will happen? Does anyone else ask the same question? "What if?" would be great, but even a simple improvement on what is there would look better in our improving high street, especially a shop trading in the core shopping area of Sydenham. Has Lee asked the question of the owners?

Apart from what residents would like to see, it is pride in their own high street that we should be hoping our local traders will aspire to. As many do.

It will be interesting to see what the response is to the "Sydenham Road Clean UP Day on 14 March". Anyone volunteering to help?

[JRobinson]

What if .... when we do use our local independent shops, we ask the person serving us, what they're going to do about ... the poor signage on their shop front, the naff window display, the mess outside their shop, etc, etc, whatever narks you about that shop that you're currently spending money in.

Obviously, one thing that T£sco do well is having a nice clean shop frontage, but that shouldn't mean that we're going to shop there instead!

[ETA] I'd like to see more trees, more cycle stands, and quite possibly a local home brew shop (I had thoughts of doing this myself or equally acceptable would be a brew pub.

[Steveofsyd]

I would like...
1. More cafes or at least the current ones to upgrade and restaurants
2. A bike shop as mentioned before
3. Love the trees and flower boxes
4. competition for best shop front - inspire the owners to make an effort and they get publicity in local paper
5. Waitrose or M&S
6. Deli (meats, cheeses, olives, olive oils and coffee beans which they will grind for you - the smell alone will bring people in)
7. Little toy shop
8. Cinema would be great - I agree (Sat morning specials for kids)
9. Pubs upgraded for real Ales, pale Ales, foreign beers, at least a dozen (min) single malts and simple bar food
10. Outside seating and benches everywhere

Re the coffee shops - lets pick our favourite and donate all our unwanted books and magazines to them if they're interested. I like to go in and choose a good book or magazine to read.

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[leenewham]

Back to SteveofSyd's first suggestion.

My wishlist would start with Aladdin/Sainsbury's addressing their signage. On any occasion I go in, I ask when this will happen? Does anyone else ask the same question? "What if?" would be great, but even a simple improvement on what is there would look better in our improving high street, especially a shop trading in the core shopping area of Sydenham. Has Lee asked the question of the owners?

I haven't Pat, did you mention the What If project to them? When we get some spare time I'd be willing to carry it on in Sydenham, but as I know you know, we have been busy doing signage for see3, Jill, On the Hoof including their cups etc, the library. And what we do in Sydenham is for free. We need to earn a living too! But I'm glad to know you support the project and we do what we can when we can.

[Decibella]

West Norwood are getting a 3 screen Picture House cinema, not to mention an Antic pub and a leisure centre bang in the middle of the high street. Shame Tesco et al put up the rents making smaller shops struggle.

Picture houses are really popular.I'd love one. I hope they get the KICC place in Crystal Palace.

OK, my go:

A proper bistro. You know, french onion soup, rustic food, candles in wine bottles. A bit like this amazing place: http://cafegourmand.com

Art shop/gallery/cafe.

Organic wholefoods supermarket (in the old sorting office or snooker hall at Cobbs Corner?).

Waitrose (in the old sorting office or snooker hall at Cobbs Corner?).

Indoor market (in the old sorting office or snooker hall at Cobbs Corner?).

Theatre/cinema (in the old sorting office or snooker hall at Cobbs Corner?).

Pub that does comedy nights, great food but no overpriced burgers (Greyhound?)

Antiques/curio shops (like Kirkdale used to be).

Hi Lee,
I have recently moved to Sydenham from East London and the first thing I discovered, much to my delight, is 'Well Being Foods' on Sydenham High Street - which is a brilliant organic health food shop. Its a few doors up from snappy snaps, and well worth a visit.
They have fresh bread every day from the Blackbird Bakery, and yummy homemade veggie samosas and patties (gotta get there early in the day though as they sell out pretty quickly!)
All the things you want from a shop like this, fruit & veg, dairy free milks, loads of tea's, all kinds of nut & seed butters, organic tinned food, raw chocolates - they actually stock their own packets of organic nuts and seeds which I love to buy for my porridge and salads, really good value and better than any supermarket.
They also have tonns of herbal remedies and supplements for health and well being, and the manager is a library of information on all things food/herb/health related.
Its my favorite shop in Sydenham. YOUR WISH IS GRANTED!

[leenewham]

We use melvyns wellbeing often. We like it too. And we like melvyn. But it's not a wholefoods organic Supermarket. My wish is still unanswered!

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[Fairlawner]

Totally agree with Gman.

A deli- there is no where in Sydenham to buy nice cheeses, tasty cured meats or fresh tapas. WellBeing has a small selection of nice bread and cheese, but the prices are over inflated and the owner is not the most personable man I have ever met (im sure not everyone will agree).

A decent wine and beer shop - I am fed up with being faced with overpriced crappy wine choices in local shops. This shop in Old Street http://www.citybeverage.co.uk/ is an independent that always has amazing offers in store and not too pricey.

Another pub, slightly different to the Dolphin. Antic or Geronimo or Capital (who own The Florence in Herne Hill and Actress in East Dulwich). All sell good food that is not as over priced and full of cheap produce like the Dolphin, which is a disappointment every time i dare order it and only go back because there is no where else! A Sunday roast that tastes like school dinners or a sausage baguette (this should be cheap pub grub) that is only £8 because they serve it on a chopping board with a tiny tin of chips...£8, ridiculous.

A bike shop - As a daily cyclist it would be great to spend my money in a local shop rather then shopping online or visiting shops in surrounding areas.

A Vietnamese or Thai restaurant - The Tamnag Thai in Crystal Palace is lovely, i know i would be a weekly visitor of a Sydenham Vietnamese or Thai.

A food market - I have high hopes for a decent North Cross Road style farmers Market occupying one of the new areas created by the redev of Sydenham High Street.

An art gallery/cafe- my wife is at home in the week looking after our 7 month old. There is no where in Sydenham for Mothers and Babies to meet like-minded peeps, or get together with their friends.

I think overall, good service, well thought out ingredients and good produce/products is key to all. It amazes me that the target audience is here in Sydenham, yet the businesses still seem to avoid it as a place to start trading.

I would love a M&S Food or Little Waitrose but that is probably just a little too blue sky eh?! Perhaps we should be happy with a high street full of Pound Shops.

[noangel]

Coming out of hiding to comment on this:

I would like:

1. A Wholefoods style supermarket, an alternative to what we already have. Not M&S (which I can visit anywhere in London), not Waitrose (which I will never use, I'm too common) and not Tesco
2. A micro-brewery pub that also does beers/lagers/ale from around the world. A combination of Tap East in Westfield Stratford or the Rake in Borough Market.... if we could also move Borough Market further south
3. A nice clothing boutique, which sells decent clothes
4. A vintage market, perhaps in the sorting office
5. Regular farmer's market
6. An independent record store
7. An amazing music venue (perhaps combining the above similar to Rough Trade Brick Lane)
8. A cinema, similar to Screen on the Green (Everyman) in Islington
9. An independent specialist camera store
10. A decent stationery shop

The negative:

11. Rid of all those horrible mobile kiosk. Does anyone actually frequent those?
12. Rid of those horrible store fronts. There is some amazing architecture along the High Street but it's hidden.

And lots more.

Back to hiding

[Kate R Park]

I'm amazed by the number of people that include Waitrose/M&S in their lists. Over the past 6 months or so, we have relied more and more on the existing High St businesses, due in full to the attitude of Waitrose Beckenham. Following the (imho) unecessary inclusion of the 'home' section, selling essential items like cushions, crockery and telephones at the apparent expense of having a storage facility, the response to our question about stock levels of fresh produce was greeted with "we stock our shelves in the morning, and when they are empty, that's it". Great if you're retired, or a lunching lady; not so much for the 9 - 5 workers who want to pick up ingredients at the end of the day.

We now buy all of our fresh meat and fish from Billings, fruit and veg split between PFC and F&F, most store cupboard/dry goods also from PFC, and loo roll, bottled water etc from the supermarket already in our High St, whose staff are almost unfailingly cheerful.

Agree that another pub selling decent food would give the Dolphin the impetus it needs to re-think their menu more often; it makes the Greyhound debacle even more frustrating. Also a deli, for an extended range of cheese/cooked meats (Billings have a limited range, which I'm sure they'd extend, space permitting), and a good off licence, where one has the option of paying more than £2.99 for a bottle of red.

Hopefully the improvement of the paved areas once completed will encourage business owners to fill the gaps.

[hairybuddha]

I can only speak for myself on the M+S thing and my reason for wanting one would be the significant jump in the quality of the offering compared to what we have now. Businesses like Waitrose and M+S are also often a bellweather for the improvement of an area and draw other investment in (not Tesco though, they are pure evil).

I take your point on the Beckenham Waitrose though. Perhaps there is an environmental argument for not having massive chilled strorage rooms running all day?

Agreed on the paving, the bits and pieces that have been finished already represent a massive improvement.

[Kate R Park]

M&S might offer a healthy alternative to take-away eating, but that's something which could equally be provided by a decent independent deli. Agree though that I'd rather see M&S or Waitrose than Tesco or Sainsburys. Also not sure about the environmental argument - from my days (long past now) of working in a butchers, even then, the chilled and frozen rooms we had were incredibly well insulated. I assume that Waitrose have deliveries most days now, delivered in a lorry with a chilled compartment, and using diesel to do so.

I think that the recent discoveries about the provenance of some of our 'food' have made me even more cynical about the guilty parties' places in the community. Even though (I don't believe) that M&S or Waitrose have been linked with the horsemeat headlines, I haven't heard them shouting from the rooftops to disassociate themselves from the procurement strategies of others either. Glass houses and all that?

It would be lovely to have the full range of outlets that would cater for our every conceivable shopping need, and note your point about various businesses being an indicator of an area's presence, but I'd shy away from the thought of an identi-kit High Street with the usual Starbucks/Wetherspoon/Pret type suspects at every turn.