Recently another shop closed at the bottom of Brockley Rise - Bubbles Food & Wine (next to the scooter shop) - it was a small convenience store and I have no idea why it closed as it seemed to happen suddenly. At Christmas time it was taken over for a while by a business selling Christmas Trees - squatted I assume as they left quite a mess behind with trees dumped on the pavement.

It is next door to another property which has been empty for a long time, was an Indian restaurant for a while but I have forgotten the name, it has a black painted frontage.

With these two properties empty, and the Honor Oak boarded up, plus another property (next to Soundheart) that seems to have been empty for years, that area is looking quite dismal now. Obviously the Honor Oak situation has its own issues, but I don't know why all these other shops are empty - there are lots of houses, schools and a doctors nearby so plenty of people walking past them. I for one often go to West 9 over the road for basic groceries, newspapers etc.

Soundheart is a fantastic little shop and it is a shame it does not have a better shops as neighbours.

Bubbles had been running down for a while, in truth - the fruit and veg was wound down last summer and after that it had no discernible advantage over Milan or West 9. I've seen someone coming and going through the main door a few times since the Xmas tree place shut, so there's some activity going on there.

It would be nice, I agree, to have some better shops there, but we can't have'em everywhere.

The empty restaurant was a kind of 'bar' for a while around the time the HOP reopened.

Further discussion on the 'Babe Hanger Club' can be found in the SE23.com archives http://www.se23.com/forum-archive/messages/9/1000.html, one of my favourite threads on the forum.

It was a shame about Bubbles as I had found it quite useful for buying last-minute vegetables until it got run down.
West 9 is good, the staff are always polite and friendly to me, and they have a good bread range now and even free-range eggs!

I do agree that we can't have nice shops everywhere, and Honor Oak and Forest Hill have a good range of shops so can't complain there. I just find empty shops rather depressing - will they just lie empty for years now?

Sorry Michael that link doesn't seem to work...

Sorry, just take out the comma at the end http://www.se23.com/forum-archive/messages/9/1000.html

It is a shame that more shops in this area are not being used. Hopefully if the honor oak reopens and thrives it will attract other new shops. There must be a market around there for a cafe bar or restaurant.

Interesting link. Where is the equal bar?

Bar Equal used to be on Honor Oak Park itself, where Stone Bar now is.

Thanks. Odd I never noticed it.