Potager?! anyone know if / when its opening?!

[CJMAHER]

An empty shop, looks to be a fruit and veg shop called The Potager, on Forest Hill Road (where DIY store was).

just wondering. the last time I went by a week or so ago, it was still a gutted shop with a work bench in!

missing the Christmas orders and opening next year would be a shame (for them, mainly)!

anyone know if / when its opening?!

[CJMAHER]

just found out some more info on the place

East Dulwich Deli founder Tony Zoccola to launch juice bar and greengrocer concept in London: Tony Zoccola, the founder of East Dulwich Deli and a founding partner in the Great British restaurant in Mayfair, is to launch a juice bar and greengrocer concept in London. Zoccola is opening Potager in Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich, in October. He has taken a ten-year lease on an 800 sq ft site and is spending about ?100,000 converting the former DIY store.

[LondonMix]

October 2016?

[Salsaboy]

Takes time to grow Artisan fruit and veg.

[LondonMix]

Apparently!

[pablogrande]

great they are opening a concept

[dbboy]

And a many, many fruit juices / smoothies to recoup a ?100k investment.

[goosey-goosey]

It might be worth the wait. The East Dulwich Deli was the start of something big all those years ago - the development of LL started soon after. Watch FHR develop similarly, albeit from Oct 2016 onwards. Bring back the late-night bagel shop! :-)

[sheilarose]

Hills and Parkes deli in Honor Oak has reopened as Honor Oak Potager, and judging by the signage is the same company as the one scheduled to open on FHR.

[Penguin68]

If it's going to be a potager, why isn't it selling soup?

[yeknomyeknom]

It's Honour Oak Provender, not Potager. Tony will have a Provender and a Potager no less.

[Sue]

Penguin68 Wrote:

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> If it's going to be a potager, why isn't it

> selling soup?

https://avantlandscaping.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/what-is-a-potager/

[Sue]

yeknomyeknom Wrote:

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> It's Honour Oak Provender, not Potager.

It's Honor Oak, not Honour Oak :))

Sorry, couldn't resist .....

[Penguin68]

So - based on the helpful definition that a potager is a medieval herb/ kitchen garden, exactly how does a shop without any obvious garden space become a herb garden? Potager does not mean greengrocer and juice bar. It is an origin word for soup, the ingrediants of which do come from a kitchen garden. You might as well call a butchers a livestock farm.

[yeknomyeknom]

Lol. Quite right. Sue Wrote:

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

> yeknomyeknom Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > It's Honour Oak Provender, not Potager.

>

>

> It's Honor Oak, not Honour Oak :))

>

> Sorry, couldn't resist .....

[sheff]

Been in a few times now and really like it...

The fruit and veg selection is good and the fruit is great quality..

A little out of our way but try to pop in at weekends...

Now if they only did a weekly veg box..

[Dude909]

Is it really? Personally I think it's a wasted opportunity

[sallyfran]

I was really sorry when they stopped selling St John bread, which was just outstanding. Apparently not enough people were buying it but I always found it curious that their marketing was so low key as to be almost non-existent. It took weeks for them even to put a board outside saying what they sold - I think from the outside you would have had no idea that they sold bread.

[Tima]

The St John's sourdough bread was the only reason I went there so disappointed they have stopped. Need to find another source.

[yeknomyeknom]

I get frustrated by people who start putting in so much effort and don't maintain it. Frustrated because I want business to do well but it seems even the basics slip by.

I spent a few mths wondering what the Potager even was. The writing on the window finally appeared and didn't make it any clearer. Because it said soups I assumed maybe you could eat in. All that beautiful space and it just sells veg at the back. Their opening times aren't always adhered to. It feels well awkward when you walk in, stone cold silence. They need a bit of vibe. Some welcoming music. They need to be clearer on their offering and for the offering to be better. They need to leaflet the local area encouraging locals to give them a try and explain what they are all about. They need to check their fruit displays in the window and clean out mouldy fruit from them.

They need to sell St Johns bread if that's what pulls people in. Then when people come in for that they need to upsell. Therefore making the bread worth having. Maybe have a bread club (just made this up) where people sign up for say a month of weekly bread and pay up front and go and collect each weekend. They need to be inventive. It's a tough market and locals want to support businesses but they have to give us something to work with.

[Sue]

I don't know the shop.

What is it exactly that they are? Presumably not just a greengrocer, so what is their USP?

[*Bob*]

Despite walking past it almost every day, I have no idea what this shop is, what it wants to be, or why I would want to go in there. I'm not sure if they know either.

[dbboy]

Veg and fruit smoothie shop? Is it really viable? I;d have the DIY shop back.

[B&G]

I've been in for a coffee a couple of times, and a juice once. Both were fine though the juices aren't cheap. Agree about the vibe - sort of feels like you've stumbled into someone's living room accidentally. Haven't bought fruit or veg in there but that's really just because I forget they do it.

I'm not sure how much one should expect to pay for a doughnut these days, but I saw this in there the other day and had to laugh.

[*Bob*]

Hopefully that was for all five? Suspect not though..