Popped into Ty Crepe on Brixton Hill today. It's still pretty quiet but I hope it picks up as it was really nice. They have a great selection of French beer and cider and the crepes were delicious - we had 2 sweet ones and they were really good without being too sweet. One was a boozy and it tasted proper. We sat on comfy sofas and the staff were pleasant and the service quick. They also have highchairs.
Brixton chitter chatter, part 2
- Thread starter editor
- Start date
- Status
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
ooooh.. this is v. interesting... been wondering.. the cider and the high chairs are a big draw for me... (not sure what that says about me as a mother but still....).. will try it soon.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
From @press_not_sorry on Twitter; missing girl last seen in Tulse Hill:
.@guardiannews @TelegraphNews @TheTimesLive @TheIndyNews Any chance of covering the disappearance of Serena Beakhurst? http://bit.ly/e5clPu
.@guardiannews @TelegraphNews @TheTimesLive @TheIndyNews Any chance of covering the disappearance of Serena Beakhurst? http://bit.ly/e5clPu
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Poor old Brixton Wholefoods
I have rather a soft spot for the place.
It's true that every person in there is either gloomy or moody or dippy or some other one-dimensional cliche. But as I've got to know them over the years, and the shop in all its dysfunctional soap-opera reality-TV drama, I have a better idea about how it all works.
The grumpy beardy bloke is the guv'nor. He never gets a day off, he works there from dawn til dusk 7 days a week. He has the prison pallor cos he never sees daylight, apart from the occasional jaunt to the highstreet, during which he nutter-mutters under his breath about how useless and shiftless his workers are. The child of one of his staff is sincerely convinced that he lives inside the shop. Despite being a bit of an arse, he is honest and trustworthy, principled and ethical, and trapped in a dismal routine of his own making.
The grumpy French woman has the archetypical Parisienne disdain for anyone who is not a personal acquaintance, and even those she knows well rarely earn a glimmer of a smile. But it's this woman who is able to diffuse a tense situation with a single word, who knows the names of the local homeless people because she shares tea and cake with them, and remembers the names and personal likes and dislikes of the children who come into the shop.
The long-haired Chinese chap has a large and complex family, all of whom make strange and compelling demands on his time. He is a tennis prodigy who never plays a tournamant.
The diminutive woman with the small voice has deep pools of strange history.
The large gallumping beardy bloke works in Theatre, his ambition thwarted by circumstance.
They've all got fascinating back-stories. And the relationships between them all could keep a telly-drama script writer happy for many Bafta-winning years.
They're not all grumpy all the time. And they do actually have to put up with an awful lot of shit.
I was in there once and overheard a row between a foiled shoplifter and beardy bloke. The shoplifter - caught with two bottles of Palestinian olive oil down his trousers - found every attempted twist met and invalidated with calm logic, and eventually played the race card. This last infuriated the beardy bloke who finally turfed him out fo the shop. At no point was the thief threatened with the law.
The local dealers and crack addicts are in and out all day long buying 20 pence worth of dried herbs to palm off on the drug tourists. They aggravate the proper shoppers, butting in and pushing and barging. The staff try to keep the peace between the various factions, having failed dismally in all attempts to get the dealers and addicts to leave the shop alone.
Oh, and there was the time when the scary idealist threw a scary tantrum and eventually had a terrifying meltdown in the shop. In the end another punter who knew her phoned her fella and he came down to escort her away. She was upset because she'd found a product on the shelves that she thought ought to be boycotted. The guv'nor tried to explain that he had indeed taken it off the shelves, but demand was so high that he re-instated it and put a sign in the window about the boycott.
Whatever you want, if they don't have it, they'll order it in. And they stock nearly 300 different herbs, some of them thrillingly obscure, which you weigh out yourself and then tell them how much you owe. Is there anywhere else that trusts their customers to tell them how much they owe?
So, there you go: a rather idiosyncratic, independent hippy shop.
Long may it stumble on.
Great post - thanks for that
I've been going in Brixton Wholefoods about once a week ever since I've lived here (about 15 years) and the only gripe I've ever had is their lack of smiles/saying hello etc, despite all my efforts. I've tried small talk, flattery, speaking French, flirting with the female employees - everything basically - and I think I made one woman smile once. Oh well. But that post is helpfully illuminating anyway! I'm just pleased there's a decent, independent food shop there.
I did think that Holland and Barrett might take some of the Brixton Wholefoods custom, but having been in H&B for the first time today and seeing how small the shop is and how small their selection of items is, I don't think BWF will be worried, even though the H&B staff were friendlier.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
She's been found, safe and well.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
yeah, just seen the news.
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
BWF is a great place. I am not fussed if I don't get a smile there, as I hardly get it elsewhere in London. But what does matter to me is that I can buy Palestinian Olive oil at a reasonable price and get advice about herbal remedies for my aches and pains. They also stock some great chocolate in there.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
Anyone noticed how much better Pavilion GPs Practice has got? It's actually possible to get an appointment within a fortnight (sometimes on the same day!). Also they seem to have got rid of the sour faced middle-aged receptionist whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to prevent patients from pestering the doctors with their bothersome ailments.
I had a letter a while back informing me that there was a change in something - management, or the GPs who are running it. I mentioned it to a friend who works for the NHS and from what I recall they have been incorporated into some bigger groups of practices. I can't remember the details but I think there are a few in Lambeth now run by an overarching body. Maybe that's the reason.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
I do mean Maureen. She was nice as pie if she'd taken to you but woe betide you if she didn't like the cut of your jib. In my house she didn't like my previous lodger, me or my daughter. She fawned over my husband though.
colacubes
Mr Hot Cookie
Thought so
I somehow seem to have gotten in her good books. I don't think she's gone though (or certainly wasn't a few weeks ago)
story
Changing the facts
Those helicoptor plane trees on Windrush Square, the ones that line up along the edge of Effra Road: are they dead, do you think?
When they were delivered last year, they spent a long time out of the ground and I was worried about them then, but they seemed to flourish over the summer. But this autumn the leaves didn't change from green to brown. A healthy tree will withdraw the chlorophyll before later dropping the leaves.
When they were delivered last year, they spent a long time out of the ground and I was worried about them then, but they seemed to flourish over the summer. But this autumn the leaves didn't change from green to brown. A healthy tree will withdraw the chlorophyll before later dropping the leaves.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
She once refused point blank to give me an appointment that Kings College Dental Hospital had told me to make with a GP to get a specific antibiotic for a really bad tooth abscess that the dentist could not prescribe as he wasn't a doctor, and the one he'd given before hadn't worked. I had to really kick up a fuss to see a doctor, who said I was right to refuse to leave until I had an appointment and she'd have words with the receptionist.
Nah she loved me, it was DC who was a prick.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
Try pming pH. He knows about such things.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
I think you're right there Pip, I'm sure that was the reason given as to his absence.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
Maybe but when he first disappeared the practice manager said something weird to me about why. Along the lines of ''He's on sabbatical. I'm sure I don't have to say any more''.
Hmm. I hope he isn't ill. He was lovely. But equally I hope it wasn't something dodgy.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
They always reminded me of a sort of Jack Sprat and his wife in reverse.
- Status
