Coulgate Street, 10.20am today

We've written so much about Degustation lately that Max would no doubt accuse us of being in the pocket of 'big boulangerie'. However, we think it's such an interesting test case for Brockley's future that we have become a little obsessed with its fortunes.

This morning, for example, it was the setting for a perfect little Brockley vignette. An assortment of prospective customers hovered on the pavement, waiting for the shutters to rise: a twitchy-arty sort, a young couple and a scruffy blogger. Meanwhile, a guy in a hood over his baseball cap wandered past, mouth open, eyes fixed on the French word on the sign above the shop, aghast. He muttered, "what is happening to Brockley, man?"

The fact that the focus of his disappointment wasn't the line of overflowing commercial bins flanking the Brockley Barge to his left or the tatty view of the sorting office and Costcutter in front of him, but the small independent food shop, run by a guy who's been living in the area for years, speaks volumes for the depressing nature of the "we don't want gentrification" line of argument.