Saturday Farmers' Market@Horniman Gardens

 

Forest Hill (London SE23) has long been a rather overlooked and little-known part of South London. Although parts of Forest Hill overlook East Dulwich it has been in the shadow of SE22 in terms of popularity for years. After all, in 1973 it was in East Dulwich not Forest Hill that future 3-star Michelin chef Nico Ladenis chose to open his first restaurant – Chez Nico. As it was, East Dulwich in the early 70s was a pretty unlikely spot for Nico.

Over the past few years Forest Hill has started to awaken from its slumbers helped by the arrival of the Overground, which has greatly improved connections with Central and East London, although the rail connections were already not bad. We are now seeing more fashionable food shops open including AGA's Little Deli, the Butchery and a place selling crèpes etc.  Not forgetting the reopening of the completely renovated and expanded Victorian Forest Hill Baths and leisure complex in September 2012. 

House prices here are also on the rise. 

The latest sign is an expanded 'Farmers' Market' in the recently renovated Horniman Gardens on a Saturday morning, which is already more exciting than the small market that used to be held in the car park of Forest Hill Station.The market is running until 21st December and then apparently will be back in the New Year.      

 The Butchery also have a shop in Forest Hill

 Wild Country Organics

 The cake stall

 

Astons Organic Bakery

 Market with a view towards the centre of London – small hint of the Shard

 Shop locally!

Campaign trying to persuade people to use their local SE23 shops: 'if every adult spent £5 a week in local shops in Forest Hill rather than in supermarkets or on-line that would bring in £3.5 million to the local economy'. 

Butchery returns to Forest Hill (London SE23)

The Butchery – as a 'Pop Up' shop in Forest Hill

 

TheButchery that opened as a Pop Up shop from the beginning of December 2012 until Christmas Eve will be opening its door as a permanent shop on this Friday (22nd) at 10am. It is at 49 London Road, just opposite Sainsbury's. There have been a number of short-lived ventures in this shop. Hopefully this will be much more permanent. Certainly it appeared to be very successful in the lead up to Christmas.

The opening of The Butchery appears to be further confirmation of the continuing renaissance of specialist food shops in South London. The on-going horsemeat scandal may well help encourage this welcome revival.

The shop is open from Wednesday to Sunday.

 

Forest Hill (London SE23) – butchers to open + fight to save hospital facilities

The Butchery Ltd – the pop-up shop version  that was around between 
the beginning of December and Christmas Eve

News from the Forest Hill Society:

'The Butchery Limited, one of our stallholders from the Food Fair and a SEE3 PopUp, have signed a lease for 49 London Road. They are busy installing permanent refrigeration and hope to open the doors once more in early to mid February. We are delighted that another of our stallholders is moving into permanent premises and wish them well in this venture. Some people have asked why a local family was not given the chance to try the shop as a PopUp. Although Ruth and Nathan have an outlet in Bermondsey, they live in the heart of Forest Hill, so we couldn't get more local.'

This will be the first time Forest Hill has had a butchers in many years. There hasn't been one here since Dewhurst closed (no great loss!) some 20 or more years ago. There was also the much missed Miles & Son on Kirkdale but that is probably officially Sydenham.

Lewisham Hospital

The TSA for the South London Health Trust, Matthew Kershaw, presented his final report to the Secretary of State for Health on January 6. The Secretary of State now has 20 working days to review it and make a decision on the future of the NHS in south east London by 4 February 2013. The final report makes the same recommendations as the draft report. ie that the A&E and Maternity units at Lewisham Hospital are closed and that we all use King's College Hospital or Queen Mary Hospital in Woolwich instead. These plans could have serious impacts on health provision in South East London and, once implemented, cannot be undone as they are planning to sell off 60% of the land. If you haven't already done so, please sign the petition against the closure of Lewisham's A&E and Maternity unit. There is going to be a march from the roundabout outside Lewisham Station to Mountfield Park on Saturday, 26 January from noon to 4pm. Watch our website for details of where to meet if you would like to join us - we will probably meet in Forest Hill first.'

South London: casualties and new ventures

Green and Blue (Lordship Lane) to close at the end of the year

Sad news that the wine shop and restaurant Green & Blue, which concentrated on organic and biodynamic wines, will be closing at the end of 2012 after surviving a number of years of difficult trading conditions. See the blog here announcing the closure due to a combination of factors including increases in rent etc. 

Still as is the way there are new entrants into the market, which includes Dulwich Vintners run by Robin Eadon. I was due to meet Robin this week to talk about his recently formed company that concentrates on the wines of South West France. Unfortunately I had to cancel but hope to meet him early in 2013. Robin used to work for Oddbins at the shop in Dulwich Village, one of the casualties of the Simon Baile debacle.   

Dulwich Vintners' website  

Other new ventures:

After years of being pretty moribund, Forest Hill (SE23) is beginning to show signs of life:

 AGA's Little Deli and Café (Dartmouth Road) includes excellent bread, Neal's Yard cheese, Monmouth coffee and lovely olives 

Still on Dartmouth Road but closer to Forest Hill Station is Berries – sandwiches, crèpes and cakes  

The Butchery: Forest Hill's pop up shop: 1st-24th December