The White Lion

Mirandola

Indeed. Independents ftw. I like the range of shops we have, although I WANT A BOOKSHOP. SOMEONE GIVE ME A BOOKSHOP. NOW. 

kreuzkav

I don't think it's about SGR having a variety of restaurants but about it being turned into a strip.  There was so much more grace to the place ten years ago.  Bookshops, there is one.  I'd like a street full of downbeat bars, restaurant.  The wig shops and hairdressers are cool.  Second hand bookshops and record cd shops like Church St stokey please.

miss annie

New Beacon Bookshop caters for quite specific interests, I think @Mirandola is keen for a general bookshop. Quite a few people have wished for one here or in Crouch End. As someone with a vested interest in bookshops, I would like to ask a question. How many SGers have bought a brand new, full price book from a bricks and mortar chain or indie bookshop this year? Not Amazon or one of it's subsidiaries - AbeBooks etc, and not a downloaded e-book. I'm curious.

Mirandola

Me. lots.

kreuzkav

The 'Thrill of it all' Joe O connor at a jumble sale for 2 euro.  Poetry books by Emily Dickinson, Baudelaire. Some books at Fopp, Covent Garen. <div><br></div><div>The odd thing is that some writer friends who have published books (not famous) say that they get more money from e-reader books sales than from paper ones.  The downside of e-readers is that Amazon control the market.  The downside of paperbacks is that they use so much paper.  Saying that I have about two hundred book on my shelves or in storage.</div>

Sutent

I read lots but I have no time to go to bookshops. It would be easier if a shop was nearby though

Toddlesocks

I buy lots of books for the husband and I, new and secondhand, never online. Still miss Stepping Out, some decent secondhand , arts & crafts, and fabric shops would be great.

checkski

Does Daunt's count? I buy from the one in Belsize Park fairly regularly. But for years I couldn't afford new books, and this must be true of many, many readers. My bookshops were charity shops and libraries. In the modern age, and despite ethical objections, it is understandable that Amazon should be a regular port of call. Would an indie bookshop do well in SGR? It would be absolutely lovely to have one. Great respect to New Beacon, but they have a particular brief. Might you be able to open one, Miss Annie? That would be a double pleasure.<div><br></div>

miss annie

I miss Stepping Out too. Have you been to the new fabric shop just by the Hornsey Rd/Seven Sisters Rd junction @Toddlesocks? I say new, it's been there about six months now.

Toddlesocks

Will need to check it out miss Annie, am over that way visiting The Handweavers Studio quite frequently, had not noticed it.

Sutent

I have been reading the comments on this post over the past month and have yet to comment.  I have been troubled by some of the comments here. While walking out of well terrace yesterday I was confronted by large groups of people drinking, smoking and eating outside the Italian, burrito and the theatre. The socioeconomic background of these people may be slightly different to the WLM however the evidence shows that gender discrimination is not a class related one but is huge issue with British society. Unequal pay, equal working opportunities, domestic violence, sexual rights are huge issues in our every day lives and not just an issue with red faced smokers outside WLM. But it's easy to point a finger at these people as they are seen as different to us. At my university I work in a group called Athena swan as which is looking to support young female scientists to take up higher positions in science. At the moment very few females make it to higher positions but hopefully with more flexible and supportive working conditions this will change. No form of discrimination is acceptable in society but it is not limited just to the WLM.

vetski

New fabric shop? *runs<span style="font-size: 10pt;">*</span>

Papa

Ah, it was the chess board Krappy... you bloody hipsters.

krappyrubsnif

Yes.  I am a born loser, but if I play again I will move to Vagabond.  You get a better class of beardy interruption there.

Papa

And apparently an unspecified member of the cast of Game of Thrones, the guy told me had just been in when I got a drink on Wednesday<div><br></div><div>(In Vagabond that is, not the Park Tavern)</div>

kreuzkav

Aiden Gillen used to live here.  

Mirandola

stuart/carchetti/petyr? Really?

ADGS

I've bought new books full price from physical shops within the past year. But I still don't need a bookshop downstairs as much as I do a decent brunch at a very reasonable price.<div>(Not least because Big Green Bookshop is hardly far)</div>

Fin

<p>I can't stand the WLM. The sell cheap booze to alcoholics, a morally dubious business model if ever I've seen one. Get rid.</p><p><br></p>

dion

i looked at the selling agent website and couldn't find it, so maybe they aren't selling it after all

krappyrubsnif

Well, it launched a very lively discussion.    I think I'll start another rumour.     How about 'Looks like the wig shops are going to be turned into a Caffe Nero?'

Toddlesocks

My neighbour is a regular, recons WLM will be gone by Christmas. Rumoured to become an alternative Folk Bar called " The Scruffy Utopia ", craft and board game booths, book exchange and live music including mid week yodellers night. Small dogs and well behaved children welcome.

MHP

I will be glad to see the back of it. Too many pubs in the area if you ask me.

Arkady

@MHP, are you serious?

TescoPigeon

Krappy tell me a bit more about this caffe nero!!!

Papa

I heard the White Lion was going to be turned into a Dalston hipster bar called Car Showroom, with actual cars in there and salesmen-style barstaff

TescoPigeon

TescoPigeon likes this

krappyrubsnif

Papa L I'm seeing this.  Craft beer delivered by gas pump, road movies showing on the back wall, petrolhead cocktails served in used oil cans, road trip music and American style waitresses dressed in overalls.   Let's do it!

Papa

I was thinking more an old-school Arfur Daley-type endeavour....<div><br></div><div>...but now you outline that brave vision I may prefer your plan Krappy.</div><div><br></div><div> </div>

kreuzkav

Have Weatherspoons met their Waterloo?  If it goes and I'm not hoping it does I think it won't be some indie eaterie or cafe due to its size and infrastructure but some chain like Masala Zone.