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My 2 cents Peter


1) A proper bookshop

Definition of Proper needed here. Chener could be better and there has been much discussion around them but generally speaking I have lived in places with a lot worse bookshops. The stock selections are pretty good as is the ordering service


2) A sushi bar

Agnostic on this one


3) Less gastropubs who appear to be sponsored by the Fennel Marketing Board

I would only call 2 of the bars on LL Gastro or wannabe Gastro. (Franklins and Palmerston) The others server varying types of food but none of it especially gasto-ish and some of th eprices are quite good. (The "hotdog" in the bishop is one of the best value snacks anywhere and their pies are very good for the price - daytime only)


4) At least one good honest boozer with a pool table and jukebox in it

I would file the Gowlett under this category but a couple more wouldn't go amiss. I think these types of pub tend to be found in more studenty towns these days tho.


5) A small cinema

A hundred times yes!

I remember going to Saturday morning pictures as a kid at the cinema next to the school in Grove Vale, long gone now obviously and not the one in the picture featured above and there was another one in Forest Hill that is now sadly a Wetherspoons. But, anyway isn't there already a "What ED needs" thread elsewhere about this sort of thing.

jim_the_chin Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I know it's se23 but i keep going past the

> wetherspoons place in forest hill and thinking it

> would make a great cinema



Jim it was a cinema, then a bloody bingo hall, now a damned Wetherspoons. Also, the Rolling Stones and Who played there in the early 60s. What a waste of a good theatre/cinema space. Bring it back, that's what I say.

A vegetarian restaurant. Yes, I know, have said it before. But I find it weird that in such a Stoke Newington-y, Crouch End-y place as East Dulwich there isn't even one. And the restaurants we have aren't exactly veggie-friendly (I checked out Franklin's menu the other day and there wasn't a SINGLE veggie option. That's pretty poor in the 21st Century). Someone could make a lot of money with this one I'm sure - us veggies make up around 11% of the population - probably more around here.


Was in Crystal Palace last weekend & they have a brilliant Thai place with two whole pages of veggie dishes on the menu. Plus CP has Domali... why is there nowhere veggie here I wonder?

Franklins is based on the St John's school of cooking which is pretty unashamedly meaty and offaly. It harks back to traditional British cuisine, much of which was almost lost to us thanks to the victorians so doesn't really cater for vegetarianism as a concept but will sometimes have non meat based dishes on the menu.


It wouldn't surprise me if a veggie restaurant would do well, but knowing the LL limitations on restaurants that have come into play (see threads passim) it may have to be off the main strip.

A few years ago they always seemed to have at least one veggie option, now it seems they have lurched Gordon-Ramsay style into everything being offal. I think this is a mistake, they will surely be losing trade. It's not hard to adapt trad British fare - if Manze's Pie Shop in Peckham can offer a veggie option I don't see why it is beyond Franklin's.


Interesting article on vegetarianism in this week's Time Out, proving that it goes back a lot further than you'd think in this country. It wasn't just a fad that landed in the 60s.

Jeremy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A cinema would be good, if only they hadn't

> destroyed this place (which I'm sure Louisa has

> fond memories of):

>

> http://www.darkscreens.co.uk/cinema.asp?id=184



looks like it was destroyed by a jerry zepplin circa 1916.

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