Hello. I just wondered if anyone new about another coffee shop opening up next to the Thai restaurant, just along from the Hop. It looks like it's called St.Davids. This is an interesting development, along with the Teapot up near Sainsbury's. It must be quite a risk for the owners to open up and I'm definietly going to show my support as and when I can. It's great to have these new additions to the area. I have read the Londonist peice on FH and they are quite right in saying that there are lots of retail spaces available for budding entrepeneurs. I am thinking I may open up something myself! What, if anything would be like to see in FH? Another shop like Bunka? I went in on Saturday and it seemed to be thriving.

Also has anyone been to one of the Perry Vale Assemblies? I got a note through the post and I thought about going to see what has been planned and future developments for the area.

Be good to hear from some of you.

Perry Vale Ward Assembly: I went to the first one but unfortunately couldn't make it to any subsequent ones. Worth going to at least once. Get to meet some people and see what the local issues are. 'Perry Vale' and 'Forest Hill' Ward issues are quite different: FH focus on the town centre and bemoan the lack of shops, whereas PV, being mostly residently, talks about traffic a lot. The meetings have a reputation for providing good refreshments though!

Thanks for replying. I'll def make the effort to go.

If you want to open a shop you might want to consider what works well in East Dulwich (your previous home according to previous posts). I would suggest that the butchers, fishmongers, bakery and delis work well in attracting people to the town centre beyond our fine Sainsbury's.

I don't think I've ever been into Bunka, but Mayo Maker, Oliver London, and Tilt have not exactly thrived in Forest Hill. I'm not sure that people see Forest Hill as having enough variety for clothes shopping and they are probably more likely to go to Lewisham, Bromley, Bluewater, Westfield, or West End. It would be lovely to develop a centre for independent quality clothes retailers, but I suspect it is a difficult market and requires a few shops to form a core group and attract people from a little further afield than the current high street does.

I'll probably get slated for this, but another nice pub/bar, to compliment the few we have.

Thanks Michael. It is interesting what you say and you are quite right about the core of shops. Check out Bunka (on Dartmouth Road) if and when you get the time. It's amazing it's survived the recession actually. They sell some cool stuff in there - including men's clothing! They also have a shop in Balham.

Hi Herbert. Nothing wrong with pubs and bars in my humble opinion!

I think, though, if the 'jam circus' one opens in the old post office, we'll have a decent tally of pubs and cafes. Actually, at the moment I think we're in oversupply mode with coffee shops.

How about a really good second hand clothes shop? I know there's the charity shop, but that's really for people just offloading unwanted stuff; this would be more discerning, and of course would buy people's clothes also. There's one just for women in Crystal Palace (not sure what it's called but my partner likes it and it's a good role model).