Top 10 Things To Do In Lewisham
Who knew that almost all of the best things in Lewisham were in or around Lee? You know, Lee.
Some of the decisions are a little bizarre: Mountsfield Park gets the sympathy vote, The Dacre Arms in Lee is 'best pub' (we've been, it really isn't) and there's no nomination for Browns in the 'Best Coffee Shop' category, but two for El's Kitchen and Degustation, despite the fact that neither is a coffee shop and Degustation recommended we pop to Costcutter when we once asked if they sold ground coffee.
Overall, New Cross, Blackheath, Brockley and Deptford have been robbed, but it's a good reminder of how much lurks on our doorstep:
1. Best restaurant: Villa Moura, Blackheath/Lee
2. Best museum: Horniman Museum, Forest Hill
3. Best venue: Dirty South, Lewisham
4. Best pub: The Dacre Arms, Lee
5. Best coffee shop: Cafe of Good Hope, Hither Green
6. Best random activity: The Green mini golf, Hither Green
7. Best shop: Gennaro Delicatessan, Lewisham
8. Best takeaway: Babur, Crofton Park
9. Best park: Mountsfield Park, Catford
10. Best library: Manor House library, Lee
30 comments:
The Dirty South used to have more fights than Madison Square Gardens,must have changed.
And the Cafe of Good Hope is always empty,and i pass there twice a day.
Nick, I think these Top 10s are obviously going to be down to particular tastes and the extent to which the judge(s) get around London. People are more likely to favour their local services.
I keep meaning to get to the Dacre Arms. Pubs are a good example of how opinion can be so dramatically divided. Places like The Talbot horrify me but I suspect they are favoured by most in Brockley. I must admit that they do look after the ale.
Nick, what would your Top 10 be?
Genaros is fantastic, shame it's not a little closer. It demonstrates that there IS a market for a proper deli in one of the poorest boroughs in London. Been there for years I believe.
Oh, and The Deptford Deli gets a good writeup in time out http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2%3A29669/deptford-deli?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d9b471a8fea892d%2C0
Feel free to post other suggestions if you disagree, that's what the comments section on the original post on Londonist is for!
The Cafe of Good Hope was busy when I went recently.
I always thought the best "random activity" was shouting at the bins in Deptford High Street, myself.
I've been to Dirty South a few times - it's alright, depends what's on there, really. It's an improvement from the days when it was the Rose of Lee...
It is a funny old list, though - possibly because it's a borough-based thing, so you'd assume it'd evenly cover an abitrary area. But John's right, if I was to write a similar list about Greenwich, it wouldn't get any further east or south than Charlton. It's all subjective on what we get up to in our own lives.
I do keep meaning to get to the Dacre Arms one day, though. I had a lovely late afternoon skivers' pint in the Dog & Bell in Deptford yesterday, come to think of it.
@John - of course these things are subjective and a bit of fun, although not all opinions are equal.
My list would probably find room for The Deptford Project, Hilly Fields (or even Blackheath itself, if we can count that as Lewisham), The Amersham Arms, The Rivoli and about 50 other pubs ahead of The Dacre Arms.
I wouldn't lobby for The Talbot to make the top 10, but how anyone familiar with what it was like only two years ago, threatened with complete annihilation, could say its current incarnation horrifies them is completely beyond me.
@Darryl - I think you do yourself a disservice. If you were setting out to write a list of the best of Greenwich, you'd do your research pretty thoroughly.
I really don't mind that the writer hasn't, but the preponderance of Lee and Hither Green venues is fairly funny.
I have to disagree with the first anonymous, the Cafe of Good Hope is full of people most of the times I pass in front instead, and I live round the corner.
And it'll be on "This Morning" on ITV tomorrow morning as it's had its child-friendly garden redone by Diarmuid Gavin.
no way is Mountsfield park the best park. That list is corrupt.
No mention of Pound Shops? Oh come on!!!
All pretty subjective but I reckon the best restaurant is Babur and the best coffee has to be Browns. I'd also vote for hilly Fields as best park! And I quite like the Wickham Arms...!!
Nick - that'd involve getting the bus to Eltham, though. Imagine! ;-)
(actually, Tudor Barn...)
The Deptford Project is fun and interesting but the food/coffee is pretty mediocre.
Disagree about the food and if the criteria is coffee quality, then Brown's is the winner hands-down. Personally, I'm not really bothered about the coffee, the Deptford Project is a delight.
I went to the dacre arms at the last big snow 22 guys. 0 ladies. Including bar staff.
There you go, points of view, many men entering a pub and finding 22 girls and no other men around would be pretty happy.
Nice to see a list of enterprises selling good, honest fare on there and not pretentious nonsense. That's why they got the votes.
There were no "votes", it's a list written by someone who works for the Guardian.
And you'll note that the list includes a "posh" restaurant, a "mung" cafe and a takeaway that's always being lauded here. In fact, not a greasy spoon on the list...
Oh and Dirty South's for middle class kids, a deli is only for snobs of course, a library, a park and a museum are all "twee" places full of yummy mummies. And don't get you started on mini golf.
I might have given you the Dacre Arms, if it wasn't practically in Blackheath.
I read in the Daily Mail that honest fare gives you head cancer.
I remember when honest fares used to put bombers on the moon, not just cause cancer of the face.
Nick, you sound really cut about it! Chill, Brockley doesn't always have to be the centre of everywhere, even if it does have the tube.*
@Clare - eh? I thought we were talking about the Deptford Project, which is in Deptford?
I think you're taking my other comments literally but they werein reference to the daft anon above who said:
"Nice to see a list of enterprises selling good, honest fare on there and not pretentious nonsense. That's why they got the votes."
To be crystal clear, I don't really think that parks are "twee", I think they're great.
Has Brockley Nick come under the influence of Lou?
There were no "votes", it's a list written by someone who works for the Guardian.
You forgot the 'looney left'.
@Anon above - no... I was pointing out the irony that the anon who was heralding the list as the triumph of ordinary people's common sense over the chattering classes was mistaken - the list was actually written by the sort of person that anon affects to despise - a Guardian journalist.
Wow, late night posters get confused easily
well best shop Gennaro Delicatessen?!?!????
Your palatal sophistication must be really low.
They take olives, capers, artichokes and other products from the tins, put it in a bowl on the counter, and sell it as fresh products at silly prices.
None of those you listed are fresh produce at all, they're all preserved in oil.
And guess what's commonly used to keep oily stuff in. Yes tins. Large tins in the case of shops.
By the way I'm going there right now, it's the only place where you can buy durum wheat, indispensible for pizza.
Hi all, the top ten "author" Hayley here! Great to see that the post has promoted a good debate and there are now tons of other suggestions in the comments etc.
I think we've proven that there's lots of brilliant stuff to do all across the borough. Yes, I'm the first to admit that the list is focused on the Hither Green / Lee area, but as I said in the post, I've only lived in the borough for a couple of years and am still exploring.
The Cafe of Good Hope was nicely busy when I last went there on a Sunday lunchtime a few weeks ago. Yummy hot chocolate.
And, OI!, I'm not looney! (and, for transparency's sake, I'm not a Guardian journalist, either - I just happen to work in their press office).
H :)
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