OS food shopping in London SE5/SE15

[Deleted User]

davsidipp wrote:

jackieo do you remember fantos in deptford high street a bit more lower class than jones and higgens oh the good old days when their was lots of big department stores. as for markets their are not many as i live in new eltham now so miss them a lot.

Yes and Chiesmans in Lewisham High Street and right next door the big RACS Co-op.
I ,along with other little urchins used to go to the basement of Chiesmans on a Saturday afternoon in the hope of seeing the new-fangled invention that was going to replace thr radio on the sideboard .I mean of course Television. Most children of my age had never seen a t.v. before and there were these huge highly polished mahogany boxes with tiny screens rather like port holes, and flickering black and white pictures were on there .it was quite a sight to see around 20-30 children all vying for a place to watch it.Mostly it was boring horse-racing or sport but sometimes if the male assistant was in a good mood he would leave the sets on so we could watch 'Billy Bunter' or a Lassie film.
Ah the simple pleasures of the early 1950s,Saturday morning pictures for 6d and a Palm Toffee bar that pulled all your teeth out for 3d. No playstations or computers in those days .You walked everywhere, as buses were for the rich kids. I lived on the borders of Blackheath, and often walked from there to the other side of Catford, past the bus garage to the bottom of Southend Lane to a place called Peter Pans Pool where for 3d you could get to have a ride on a three-wheeler bike or a tri-ang scooter, or to use the playground there .The round walk must have been about 6 miles .I couldn't do it now and I can't see many kids today that would walk as far as the bus stop without complaing .
Robertsons Jam factory was just by Catford bus garage, and if you collected enough jam jars and returned them they would pay a 1d each for them.We were a very enterprising lot in my day. You had to graft to earn a few bob then. My two brothers used to collect orange boxes from Lewisham market on a Saturday night, and take them home .Once chopped up and tied with string, local housewives would buy bundles for firelighters ,No central heating then either . Automatically if you passed a phone box you would press button B to see if there were any forgotton pennies left there .
I had a great childhood though, and wouldn't have swopped it for the life my grandchildren have today.There seemed just so much to do then .Whereas now so many children seem bored and jaded with life .Sometimes life was hard and often you felt the cold in the winter but on the whole it wasn't a bad time to live in. People wern't as nasty as now, and doors were left unlocked as there was nothing worth pinching anyway.Women always looked out not only for their own children but other peoples kids as well .If you fell over and your mum wasn't around, yell loud enough and someone would come and patch you up and give you some bread and jam to cheer you up. There was more community feeling back in those days .People cared about their neighboughs, no one died alone and forgotten.

bobbadog

Badgergal wrote:

Really, I thought it might be really expensive being Clapham? Which is why I never tried it yet.

Not overly so - the quality is amazing! We often get peppers from down there (my favourite veg) and they're 2 for £1, but instead of being tiddy they are easily bigger than my OH's FIST. Humongous things! Often do say, 6 courgettes for £1, huge bags of mushrooms 80p... we always come home spending about £6 and having two bags full of stuff.

They do amazing, fresh, proper juice which is quite expensive and meaty sausages which work out about £3.65 a pound, but they are very good quality and smell divine

davsidipp

jackieo what a lovely post i remember chiesmans part of army and navy which has also left bromley and the coop next door to chiesmans with the food dept downstairs . my mother in law lives in lewisham so she uses the local market very cheap but by the time i drive and park there its no cheaper for me but how i miss the good old days and im only 43 i agree the kids miss out today as i had a happy childhood does anyone remember the toffee apple man who used to come round on his pedal bike?

vfairbrass

I furnished my first home from the second hand department in Chiesmans and still have many of the pieces. Lewisham market has hardly changed at all in forty years although I see from the latest Lewisham Life that there are major redevelopments afoot (yet again!) to make Lewisham more attractive for shoppers.
I agree with all the postings about the market - excellent value and worth a visit - you could always park for free in the Tescos carpark and walk across to the market from there. Not strictly allowed but you could always pop in to the Tesco petrol station on the way out as the prices are usually low and feel you hadn't conned them.
Valerie

black-saturn

I've heard halal meat shops tend to be cheaper than an ordinary butchers. Thats if your brave enough to eat from one of those shops as I don't think they look very clean.

Goldilocks_2

You can get stardrops in the sainsburys in East Dulwich ( the large 24 hour one on Dog Kennel lane) 75 p I think..
I'm going to try to see if I can get some oxtail from one of those Halal butchers in Peckham on Saturday ( quick ride on the 436).. anyone wanna join me.. not sure if I am brave enough!

black-saturn

You could wear a headscarf and no one would bat an eyelid (I mean that in a good way, not racist).

[Deleted User]

vfairbrass wrote:

I furnished my first home from the second hand department in Chiesmans and still have many of the pieces. Lewisham market has hardly changed at all in forty years although I see from the latest Lewisham Life that there are major redevelopments afoot (yet again!) to make Lewisham more attractive for shoppers.
I agree with all the postings about the market - excellent value and worth a visit - you could always park for free in the Tescos carpark and walk across to the market from there. Not strictly allowed but you could always pop in to the Tesco petrol station on the way out as the prices are usually low and feel you hadn't conned them.
Valerie

There used to be a second market at Lewisham behind what was the Prince of Wales picture house which was almost opposite the Catholic church on the way out of Lewisham going towards Catford, big square tower on the left hand side . I suppose thats all gone too now .My late Mum always bought her fresh fish from Alf's in that market, as it was almost jumping off the marble slab.The markets stalls were all open in those days and we never got ill from the effects of it at all.In front of Woolies there were stalls and in front of those was a butchers called Gorstons, and the meat hung on hooks outside all weathers .On a Saturday afternoons around four p.m. it was always packed with people as they would auction off all the meat as few people had fridges, and definintely not freezers in those days .If you bought a big enough joint the butcher would chuck in a lb of chipolatas as well for luck. At Christmas if you bought one of his big birds hanging outside you always had free stuffing meat thrown in.The only problem was the birds came complete with feathers and my two brothers and I had the job of de-feathering the blooming thing.The feathers were saved, and used in pillowcases or cushions and my Mum burnt the stubbly bits off with a candle. The giblets were made into gravy and what little was left was usually put on our compost heap at the bottom of the garden. Nothing was ever wasted at all.I even can remember when Sainsbury's had a small shop in Lewis Grove behind the post office in Lewisham, and it had a very large man who was on the butter and cheese counter .In those days butter was cut from a block with wooden paddles and freshly wrapped for the customer I was always facinated with this as he always seemed to get it exactly right , Mums watched the weighing with eagle eyes and God help anyone who short weighed them..Mind you it was bought by the quarter pound then, as it was a very precious commodity, and rationing meant that you could only have a small amount .She would buy eggs singly, and they went on sizes of: small one penny halfpenny,:medium 2 pence and :large two pence farthing. When Sainsburys first opened a supermarket that was serve yourself in Lewisham you would buy eggs in a plasic box either three or six at a time . Quite an innovation and my Mum didn't like self service at all.
Woolworths sold biscuits from open topped biscuit boxes, and you would but half a lb at a time .There was very little wrapping to recycle as everything was in either a brown or white bag .You could even buy sugar in a blue and white bag that was weighed up at the counter .
Bread came from the baker who delivered daily, along with the milkman's horse and cart .I had the job of following this bad-tempered animal all down our road with a bucket and spade to pick up what he left behind for my Dad's vegatable patch I hated both the job and the horse .That darned animal always tried to bite anything that came too close to him . Ungrateful beast ,my Mum always said 'go and give 'Jimmy' (the horse) an apple '.I still have the scars to this day,and I have never had a good relationship with any horse after that:rotfl: Also in Lewis Grove next to the ABC bakers and cafe was a shop called John Hoods the cleaners .In the window sat a lady with a machine who spent all day repairing ladders in womens stocking .It was 8 for 2/6 ,I remember as my Mum would never go there unless she had exactly eight ladders to be mended .
I haven't been back to Lewisham in years and would probably not recognise it anymore
Times change and things move on, but my memories are as fresh as ever thank goodness . At least I have still got all my marbles and haven't started dribbling yet :rotfl:

dronid

JackieO wrote:

Whereas now so many children seem bored and jaded with life .Sometimes life was hard and often you felt the cold in the winter but on the whole it wasn't a bad time to live in. People wern't as nasty as now, and doors were left unlocked as there was nothing worth pinching anyway.Women always looked out not only for their own children but other peoples kids as well .If you fell over and your mum wasn't around, yell loud enough and someone would come and patch you up and give you some bread and jam to cheer you up. There was more community feeling back in those days .People cared about their neighboughs, no one died alone and forgotten.

D'you know I'm 34 and i feel this way. It rather sadly feels like Thatchers children who were told to be aspirational - whatever you have is not enough! It's a shame. Nowadays we have so much and have little to contrast it with so don't appreciate it. I've always tended to appreciate the least of things rather than the most excessive and having travelled I've seen places where what we have is astonishing luxury. It does help put it in perspective!:o

Goldilocks wrote:

You can get stardrops in the sainsburys in East Dulwich ( the large 24 hour one on Dog Kennel lane) 75 p I think..
I'm going to try to see if I can get some oxtail from one of those Halal butchers in Peckham on Saturday ( quick ride on the 436).. anyone wanna join me.. not sure if I am brave enough!.

Thanks so much for this Goldilocks I have been looking everywhere near me and cannot find Stardrops anywhere! We have a rather good Halal butchers on the Old Kent Road which a friend keeps recommending me to. The health and safety standards are as good as most supermarkets and, sadly, often better. The reason I don't shop there. 1 I tend to get stuff delivered and 2,more embarrasingly, I am intimidated about going into butchers etc and asking. It's ridiculous! I'm an assertive 34 year old man who's been independent since 18 and I find it difficult to go and ask for something in a butchers. Perhaps there needs to be some training!

Let me know what time Goldilocks. I might join you!:T

dronid

JackieO wrote:

At least I have still got all my marbles and haven't started dribbling yet :rotfl:

Something I feel my generation can be grateful for too after the cheap mince in the 70's and the mad cow disease!:eek: :rotfl: