Hilly Fields cafe aims for MAX opening
The new cafe on Hilly Fields is nearly ready to open, having experienced a slight delay due to the need to bury the telephone line serving the building, rather than run it in to the park on telegraph poles.
Pistachios' Aysin confirms that they are aiming to open at some point during the Brockley MAX festival and hope to have a confirmed date soon.
49 comments:
Coooool! Any word on when the Gantry will fling open its doors to the masses?
That's interesting as the telegraph poles went up last week!! 4 in total up to the cafe...bizarre turnaround? They must be kicking themselves not to open sooner with all the good weather we've been having...think their original opening date was March so I wouldnt call 3 months a slight delay...
Hey ho...
Story on the Gantry's imminent opening coming soon.
The Gantry is hoping to open next Tuesday.
I hope they have nice toilet facilities.
Me too.
Had a quick peek to see how things were coming along on Wednesday night. It's looking good! Had a brief chat with the owner and he's hoping to open on Monday. Fingers crossed!
I'm confused having not been up there yet. Are there telegraph poles or not? The article seems to suggest they have had to bury their telephone line whilst the poster of the second comment says there's poles installed?!
Couldn't they just use a mobile?
Sounds like a good decision to bury the wires.
The cafe looks great, and so does the Gantry from the little glimpses I've had.
Really hope both of these businesses will be roaring successes.
Anon at 13.24:
Maybe they want to offer wifi?
Maybe they want to accept credit and debit cards?
Maybe they want to have multiple phones on the same number and don't want to be paying an unnecessarily large monthly fee to not make use of its mobile functionality?
Maybe they don't want a phone that is easy to lose/smash/have stolen when they aren't looking?
Maybe they are smarter than you?
Fare play, no need for the insult at the end though.
There were objections to the telegraph poles from the 'friends of hilly fields'. Don't know why, they're less obtrusive than the lamp posts, and they're made from trees.
.... and unlimited toilet tissue
The only authority on hilly fields, I think you'll find, is the BDS. The 'friends' can get lost - if it impresses the BDS, it's in.
Anon at 14.03: I thought you were one of the Anons making comments against 'mung' businesses and implying that wanting a landline was in someway twee. In which case an insult was deserved, however it appears you may not actually be, so sorry for the insult.
I think telegraph poles are like railway lines. Leave them long enough and they blend in and disappear into the countryside. HS2 NIMBYS take note.
Not sure if the same applies to motorways and power lines though.
For heavens sake. The telegraph poles went up about 2 weeks ago and are incredibly unobtrusive. I didn't even notice - I was wondering what my dog was sniffing at...they are on the tree line and blend in no problem. Only thing I noticed was the smell of creosote and even that's gone now.
Telephone poles are at least quiet. On the matter of motorways, I used to live where they built the M5 in the valley below us. Visually wonderful. Improved the view of miles and miles of countryside the way a river would - but the noise reverberating from the opposite hill was a nightmare.
I personally think that pylons are not too visually intrusive - and can sometimes look wonderful. There was a Country File poll a few months back (only just seen the results when looking for something else) that voted 2 to 1 in favour of having power cables buried despite the extra cost. I would have voted against.
But nimbies objecting to HS2 and wind turbines (and a skateboard area in the Upper Park - <>)are as much if not more concerned about the noise as the visual impact.
I've just walked past the cafe, it looks close to completion inside, but not close enough for this weekend, Maybe the telegraph pole thing is an excuse for not opening? Another thing, there were about 6 cars and vans parked around it, obviously needed, but in the future wouldn't it be better if vehicles approached from Eastern Ave rather than Hillyfields Cresc?
Can't wait for both the cafe in Hilly Fields and The Gantry to open, both exciting ventures.
Exciting by Brockley standards perhaps.
I hope they've found a way to reuse the old glory hole, perhaps they could run the phone line in through it.
Just to go further off topic, there was a programme on BBC 4 earlier this year on the history of the national grid. (Yes I'm a geek). Anyway, one of the things they pointed out was the contrasting attitude to power pylons in the UK compared to France and Germay where they are viewed as adding to the aesthetic of the landscape and having architectual merit in their own right.....
That was a very good programme. I saw bits of it too. LIke the series on motorway building.
16:24 gets deleted but 16:23 doesn't?
With respect to both Tamsin and TM, the telegraph poles are/were quite intrusive, and it's the 'job' of the friends group to keep Hilly Fields in, at least, as an unencumbered state as when they began to befriend it.
The lines thread through trees. Very soon there would be tree cutting notices to deal with that adverse situation.
I would guess that burying a telephone cable might be an advantage when installing a burglar or fire alarm. Particularly from the point of view of the insurance company.
There was also going to be a large exchange box somewhere near the bowling green. I think that was more the objection. And although the poles blend in ok, it's just more clutter in our lovely park. More things for dogs to do their business around, more things for people to nail advertisements for flat shares to, etc.
But isn't "dog business" organic, and thus welcomed above all else?
Hopeful to have better toilet closing systems then last times. And also not to have sand dragged in from the playground. I don't even know how it got there anyway.
The dogger always knocks twice.
The Gantry is opening next thursday (7th of june) ;-)
Anon 8.38, don't be a fool.
@Jack, loos that close at all would be an improvement. Anyway, the cafe people have made sure there has been a loo available all along (on the other side of the block) and I can confirm that it does lock. It also had loo paper in when I visited with my son.
Plans for the Gantry look good:
http://www.lifeforms-design.com/projects/detail/The-Gantry
I wondered what that building work was.... hate cafes in parks... its like dragging the city into the one area that is vaguely countryside .... surely I am not the only one
Probably not the only one but in the minority I bet.
Urban parks are not supposed to be "countryside" (privately owned farms, massive fields of rapeseed and barbed wire?) they are public spaces for town dwellers. Tea, cake, bandstands, cricket....goes ack generations. It's perfectly in keeping and I can't wait.
I can't wait either - I hope they do great coffee. It will be my nearest cafe by quite a way. And I think they've done an amazing job at turning something that was a total eyesore into something really rather attractive that blends into the park rather well. Love the 'living roof' - look forward to having a freshly picked salad!
I was up there yesterday and the cafe looked great. Just wish it had been open - I would have loved a coffee.
anon@2.07 I'd agree if they'd plonked it in the middle of green space, but it's right in amongst the other "developed" bits of the park - the play areas and tennis courts. Some other developers did want to stick it right in the middle of the grass and trees (fortunately their plans were rejected) but this current cafe is the redevelopment of an existing building. And I think they're doing a very good job, from what I've seen so far.
Agreed, it's lovely work. The oak works really well and it's transformed what was a bleak and ugly building.
It's cedar wood not oak and I think it looks a bit cigar box like but obviously a real improvement
All Cedar eh?
Another species recognition tussle I've darn well got into.
Does anyone know if this is open yet? Would like to go but don't want to end up in the rain with no shelter... Thanks!
http://brockleycentral.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/hilly-fields-cafe-opens.html
Hilly areas always attracts me last time i have visit satpara lake lake in Pakistan when i got cheap flights to islamabad because its low cost tour and area is famous for it beauty.
It's oak.
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