Still, the internet seems a strange way to sort somehting like this out. You just know other areas have sharper elbows and more Internet users

Btw, it’s really worth going in to Cowling and Wilcox. They’d hate to be described as a Woolworths substitute (and there is no pick and mix) but I’ve got a number of things (of the stationary / means of affixing tiles to walls in a non-permanent fashion variety) there that I would normally have looked for in Woolworths.

Stop press news: looks like there’s to be regular comedy at the Joiner’s Arms on the first Thursday of the month. At long last, comedy in Camberwell. So no more misery, please.

There is also a very good bakers on Southampton Way (white crusty bread only — but so good it’s normally sold out by Saturday lunchtime). If, like me, you are totally fed up with the Post Office on Denmark Hill, the sub Post Office hidden at the back of the convenience shop next door is a great find.

Otherwise, I’d tend to agree with the posters above that Camberwell is lacking in decent places to buy good cheese, meat and fish. Maybe the new co-op supermarket will improve things?

roasted meats they have in sometimes which you can buy in a tin tray (not a tin cos that’d be less impressive)

Sophocles is OK but yet to really try al the breads.

Cruson I want to like cos of the old gadge and it being local etc, but some of the produce is just stale.

Wing Tai is handy but is quite pricey as Chinese supers go. I’ve never tried the fish but am surprised if it’s not that fresh. I’ll have a looksee next time. Don’t overlook the roasted meats they have in sometimes which you can buy in a tin. V convenient for slicing and adding to noodles, rice etc.

Your friend,
Phil G

As for Sophocles, they are OK but have a very limited and unchanging range of breads. Cruson & Wing Tai sell veg, admittedly, but no idea on origin and thus how far it’s had to travel to get here; I don’t want 6-month-old, dry-frozen, tasteless New Zealand apples.

And then there’s cheeses, cold meats, and other dietary staples.

Fair enough, maybe a bit of a unfair representation. I guess I just think it’s naive to think that things in Camberwell can necessarily carry on as they are, and people should be a bit more pragmatic. Yes Dulwich might be all strollers and weimeranas, but it probably induces more people from outside the area to go and spend there – something I think the somewhat forbidding environs of Denmark Hill would struggle to do, which is something which by the looks of it, it probably needs. And I’m as much an advocate of local businesses (Crusons or Sophocles etc) as anyone, but just because they’re old/local/inexpensive institutions, that alone might not necessarily make them immune to closing for whatever reason (see Kennedy’s). We can bang on about how wonderful they are, but I do wonder if say, the current owners were to retire – would there necessarily be another generation willing to take up the reins? who knows. Change or die I reckon.

@ Phil G

Good Call.

@ Dagmar

I thought all the girls who worked in Sophocles were Eastern European?

The event is organised together with the Sunday Swap Shop and Art’s Bar people and will include:

Free Shop: if you have something you don’t need and are happy to give it away for free to someone who does, bring it along. You might find something you need too. Please bring only things which are easy to carry (no bulky stuff and no electrical goods, please)

Seed Swap: get your gardens, balconies and allotments ready for spring.

Invisible Food: learn everything about the wild food growing in our parks/gardens and urban spaces.

Take part in an art project: the theme is home, so please bring something which means home to you. This could be anything from a photo to a sound recording — check People Mapping article on the site to give you some ideas.

Hope to see some/all of you in a couple of weeks

Maybe it is the January crunch bust slump blues that makes me so lyrical about Sophocles.

Processed crap sounds nasty. It is such a pity restaurant and takeaway menus don’t have mistakes in like they used to. “Giant fresh crap,” that kind of thing.