In praise of Sydenham High Street

[sparticus]

Good coffee at Blue Mountain
Books at one of the oldest independent bookshops in London
Superb DIY shop with friendly and helpful staff
Bob's wine for excellent selection of booze, knowlagable staff and great gift wrapping
Phone repairs
Key cutting and cobblers
Photographic services at Snappy Snaps
The peerless PFC for middle eastern food and so much else. Interesting Polish beer and milk at 2am.
Lovely and friendly Fresh 'n Fruity for fruit and veg including those Seville oranges!
Billings- but no pig's liver?
A haberdashers for machine needles and zips
A couple of "pound shops" for interesting and cheap bits and pieces
A couple of good 'greasy spoons' for the breakfast fry-up
A helpful chemist/pharmacy for repeat prescriptions
A halal butchers for 'goat' meat for curry
A curry house if you can't be bothered to cook it yourself
The wonderful Trat Raff for a great evening out
Knighton Motors for reasonable and efficient car repairs on my old banger.
A great fish and chip shop and Beer Rebellion for a decent pint
The Dolphin is OK but a bit gloomy for my taste. The Golden Lion could be so much better. But maybe a decent boozer at the other end if the High Street one day soon?

It's a tragedy we lost the Coop- Budgens is horrible. We could do with a decent bakers, though Lidl baked goods ain't bad if you can stand the place.

I'm sure others will have their own favourites. Before the demise of the Coop I reckoned to do 90% of my shopping on the High Street. It is still, in my opinion, one if the best and most useful High Streets I know. So much better than Forest Hill or East Dulwich.

[simon]

Can't understand why people on here seem not to like the Cake Store. Had the last slice of small GI loaf I bought on Saturday this morning and was still fresh. Thriving local business with a national profile that employs quite a few people.

[butters]

I love the Cake Store!

Also, great food and coffee at On The Hoof, Saturday morning brunch is my favourite
Ice creams and nice cool drinks from Cherry and Ice
Great falafel from Selim

I think for a high street its remarkable (in a good way) that there are no large chains, no macdonalds, or pizza hut like Penge.

[Sydenham Syd]

Agreed on the cake store - their bread is pretty good, although I have a weakness for the odd Lidl baguette...
I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more in the sourdough dept, and I know that is horridly middle class, but I reckon there is a market for it. They used to have some but have stopped it seems.
I think some people think it is a bit pricey, but I reckon it's fair value

[monkeyarms]

I've recently become quite partial to Calabash of Culture - anyone who ever ate in Covent Garden's much-loved institution Food For Thought will be struck by how similar their food is. I had a sweet potato curry from Calabash recently that was great - blew my hangover clean away. I do think C of C are selling themselves a bit short: they need to at least stick a menu in the window or something.

[Nigel]

I would add the very good dry cleaners near Dilz cafe - lovely couple run it and very good service . Always seem to get the traces of Belgian bun out of my suits .

A very good morning
Nigel