Gareth's reviews
Review of John Barnett
08 Aug 08, 13:58
Great for kids shoes/non-trendy footwear 
Good local shoe shop, especially for kids. Good range of Clarks kids shoes, nice and solid for the little whipper-snappers. The staff are very good and patient with kids, and prices are very reasonable. I got some 'dad sandals' from here, but I'm not sure i should be admitting this in public on the interwebs.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of London Recumbents
14 Jul 08, 10:43
Makes a trip to the park very special
This is the secret weapon in the arsenal of child entertainment in Dulwich Park. Cafe? Check. Playground? Check. Lots of space to play frisbee and football? Check. Wild areas to go gruffalo hunting? Check. But you don't ususlaly get the opportunity to hire a trike with a huge bin on the front and pedal the kids round for an hour. There's a whole load of options here, from your standard bike with a kiddy seat on the back - so you can check if it's worth you splahsing the cash on buying your own one, through to bikes with enough spaces to carry the Waltons, through to ground-hugging recumbent kids bikes for the older ones. You can even stick the grandparents on a tandem. Prices are good, and even in the dark days of winter it gets everyone out the house for a while.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of East Dulwich Station
09 Jul 08, 11:41
My Favourite train station! (In East dulwich) 
My issue with this station is the appalling amount of rubbish around it. Peek over the fence - there's tonnes of it! Maybe I should accuse the fair citizens of East Dulwich of not throwing their litter in the bin - it's not too much to ask surely?!? There's no excuse for it, and it's a sign of very bad manners, mjind you, I wouldn't ask anyone to pick their litter up these days, not really in your best interests to get knifed over a crisp packet. Anyway, surely they could clear the litter up once or year? Get some of these young offenders everyone is so keen on these days to get in there and clean it up? Those of us who's gardens back onto the railway line suffer a year-round 'rubbish storm' blowing down the railway line, and I hold Southern Railways responsible! (But in these privatised times, surely they'll blame Network Rail or whoever it is owns the bits of track that aren't in the station or whatever!)
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of John Alan Flowers
09 Jul 08, 09:20
Great local florists/flower shop
If you need a quality bunch of very beautiful flowers, come here. They also have a large assortment of flowers and shrubs etc in pots outside, so for a bit of floral giftage, drop in here! I'm happy to say i don't know a lot about buying flowers, but the staff here will, if you're a bit useless like me, guide you in the right direction.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Green & Blue
03 Jul 08, 15:05
Lovely food and wine
The effort the owners are putting into this place really shows. Great food and wine - from ordering a few nibbles to getting in lots of bits and sharing tapas style, this hits the mark. The wine is why you should come here though, staff will recommend wine for you, and are very good at helping you find something new, unusual and tasty.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of William Rose
23 Jun 08, 09:38
suppliers of 'special stuff'
Great butchers. If you like meat, this is the place to come in the area. Everyone else feels the same way, as there are queues round the block most weekends, which invariably means I hardly ever visit. Can source you pretty much anything if they don't have it in stock, get your Xmas orders in early!
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Studio 45
16 Jun 08, 21:16
Good, reasonable picture framers 
Have done a decent job of the things I've taken them, and they have a fairly random selection of prints, worth popping into if you're in the area and... you either need something framed, or fancy buying a print.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Grove Vale Filling Station
16 Jun 08, 21:13
It's a petrol station
Not much to say here. The petrol has always been first class! Because of the relatively small size of the forecourt you do get a higher amount of impatient gobshites who think beeping their horn at you will somehow make the petrol come out the pump faster - the results of my experiments indicate this doesn';t happen, sorry guys.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of K & V News
13 Jun 08, 14:48
The perfect pre-train stop
If you commute from East Dulwich train station, this is your perfect stop-off before climbing aboard a horrendously crammed train into central London. The shop is well stocked with mags and papers, an exotic range of smokes and drinks are also on hand, top-up your oyster card, and buy lethal looking kids toys.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Post Office
13 Jun 08, 11:53
No queues!
Provided you're not doing a passport application or road tax etc, ie, if you're posting something - then this is better to go to than the main post office on Lordship Lane as it hardly ever has queues, which perhaps makes this Post Office unique in London!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Post Office
13 Jun 08, 11:51
Nasty queues
You always have to queue in a post office, this one I think holds the inner London queueing record as i've been there a few times, and each time the queue was out the door and took at least half an hour to get served. I have found the staff very helpful here, hence three stars.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Caffe Nero
12 Jun 08, 12:30
The coffee is burnt!
I don't want to wade into the 'dreadful chains invading discrete Dulwich' debate - presumably they're here because they have a market, and in a 'free world' - who are we to tell people that Green and Blue up the road does coffee that is about 10 times better than the burnt stuff these guys serve. These places serve a purpose, they are kid and buggy friendly, which people criticise them for, but often they are convenient if you are cursed with kids. But the thing I don't get with these places is that the coffee is pretty bad. You'd think if you're going to set up a successful coffee business you'd be selling a product that is wonderful, and that justifies the money? Well, Starbucks, Costa and Nero - the coffee isn't good enough!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Merton Timber
12 Jun 08, 11:53
Terrible customer service 
Places like this don't deserve to stay in business. As they're so close to home, I've been in a couple of times and each time found the staff rude and unhelpful. Now, I realise to them i probably look like a speccy tosser, and well done to them for making that observation. But they clearly didn't want to help me. I was trying to get some flooring so would have been spending quite a bit, but no, all four idiots standing around behind the counter would rather grunt, patrionise you and laugh at you when you get your measurements mixed up rather than trying to help. Pardon me if I don't know what the standard size for florring materials are! That's why I'm in here asking for some assistance! Which is why, the fantastic Whitten Timber in 'Peckham Central' now get all my business. I realise places like this generally do most of their business for tradesmen, but treating punters with cash this badly.. no excuse.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Kwik Fit
12 Jun 08, 11:47
fast and courteous service
Try going into most garages and not be patrionised by a twat, it can be next to impossible. Kwik Fit does a good job of employing people who are good at what they do and have decent customer service skills. It shouldn't really be noted, being polite and in some way effective at your job should be the baseline, but in lots of garages etc, it's not always the case. The missus went in here also found them really helpful, explained everything and weren't pushy. 10 points for the men in the blue overalls.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Grove Vale Library
11 Jun 08, 16:03
Small, but perfectly formed
Good selection of kids books, Small collection of adult books, but covering enough genres to make it worthwhile popping into. Even have a few graphic novels! Very handy if you live in the Dulwich/Camberwell/Peckham hinterlands
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Sainsburys
10 Jun 08, 09:52
Is big, and well staffed
Well, it's Sainsburys, but they stuck an extension on it last year, meaning you get a huge range, and generally you don't have to wait long at the checkouts, which is really the main criteria I use for judging supermarkets. I know you can save a bit of cash by going to Asda on the Old Kent Road, but really, why would you bother?
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Lordship Lane Carpets
03 Jun 08, 11:19
The daddy of SE London carpet shops
Try as i might carpets are one thing I've never been that bothered about. My wife, however, likes to take her time, checking out samples and grilling the assistants in the shop. In which case, these guys win and you should use them instead of any of the big chains. The reasons are, they have a huge range of stock, carpets, laminate, amtico flooring, even rubber flooring should it appeal. They don't rush you, and spend as much time as you need talking through the options. I've used for the last 8 years, and found their work fantastic. They even turned up once to fit a carpet, and they'd run out of stock of the one we'd chosen, so brought along a more expensive carpet to fit for the same price. Hoorah!
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Dulwich Garden Centre
02 Jun 08, 13:52
Stock pretty much all you need
If you're lucky enough to have a garden, or even a few pots on window sill, these guys have what you need, plus with the added benefit of decent parking alongside. Staff are generally very helpful, and will suggest stuff which would grow well given the conditions you have. Also famous for a) their Xmas trees and b) range of cards from gardeners/related services displayed in the door. Nice place to browse on a sunny day!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Dulwich Tandoori
30 May 08, 15:27
Good, dependable curry house
Nothing special, but it deserves special mention as they coped admirably with an early evening visit from my massed family which resulted in lots of rice being flung about by the young whipper snappers, let's hope the tip softened the blow of the clean-up!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Terry's DIY
28 May 08, 16:16
fantastic for diy 
This shop is great because a) it's enormous - going back about half a mile behind the shopfront, they've stocked everything i've ever needed, and seeing as i've lived and renovated a couple of crumbling Victorian houses in the area that's not bad b) the staff know their stuff and can really help c) the staff are also polite and helpful to women - which can be rare in this kind of shop d) they sell lots of stuff to keep foxes/rats/moths/cats out of your garden/house - which is nice. give them a go
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Green & Blue
21 May 08, 16:19
amazing food, wine and coffee
What is great about this place is that it's essentially impossible to have a bad experience. Opinion seems quite divided on the place, but I'd state 1) if you like interesting wine, 2) if you like decent, continental food, 3) If you love great coffee - you can't go wrong. Yes, you've got to pay for it, but you're paying for these guys to do the hard work for you. If you don't like paying over a tenner for a bottle of wine - go to Threshers. If you want 'normal food' - lots of places on Lordship Lane will be fine, and if you want bland coffee - Caffe Nero is just down the road!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.