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tosscat

meh

unaesthetic

hello. been lurking for a while over the shoulder of my mrs rainbow_carnage... the industrial music on the last.fm radio is down to me. yay eclecticism and all that. all i have to say at this point is "skrelnik".

David

Welcome unaesthetic. skrelnik doesn't yield much in Google. skrelnick does though. I'm suprised Colette hasn't been on the case for this one.

andy

I don't know man, but he's a character.

Welcome Olaf.

Mike from London

Hello Stroud Green! I've lived in this manor for 20 years and within earshot of both the pizza places for the last 15 - can't tell you the good times I've had downing quattro stagione and Peroni beer, checking out the takeaways, scoffing oysters at Pat's fish bar before it closed, taking in festivals in the park, jogging the old rail line.....as well as the other stuff, trudging through the Perth Road lake district before they got the drainage right and dodging the drunks outside the WLM. If London is heaven and there are seven circles of paradise, SG is the top one as far as I'm concerned. And now I can connect with the SG experience online without even moving from my living room! Very glad that SGO is going strong - it was in its infancy last time I looked....about time for some unruly teenage years I guess. Here's looking forward to it.

andy

Hello Mike, welcome back. It was all fields last time you logged in.

andy

A massive flurry of members today. Nothing like a bank holiday weekend to send you to your internet.

Welcome to krapyrubsnif, duncan, mike from london (above), sjt and angela18.

sjt

I don't have a dog, either (I'm more of a cat person to be honest), but am thinking about moving to the area, and a friend recommended you all as very friendly helpful people. So hello!

Bridget

Hello everyone,

Im a newbie to this site. I live in Moray Road - Charteris Road end and I have live here for a year. Before that I lived in Stamford Hole, Essex Road for seven years and prior to that I grew in in Crouch End, Haslemere Road to be precise, my mum still lives there.

I campaigned in the 80s against the Parkland Walk becoming a toll road - Peter Bottomlys idea. Hopefully it is safe now for a few decades at least. Not that I go down there anymore since my dog died years ago.

Here are my good things about Stroud Green, my bad and questions?

Good:

Patek, is The Ivy of Stroud Green! I have been far too many times to remember: birthdays, New Years etc. I gave them a thank you card yesterday.

Would like to say the fish shop as its great to have one, noone seems to go in there, I made a point of buying bream or bass in there every week, but not sure how fresh it is. I tried to be friendly to the special needs guy who works there.

Finsbury Park. Has got better - no more flashers.

Front Room - average food, but nice atmosphere and somewhere to hide away with other middleclass people in SG!

The Tube. Being near Eurostar.

The lovely pharmacy with the sliding doors and the brilliant helpful staff

Bad

Tescos food, would be nice to have a nice deli.

Nowhere to get a good coffee.

the Italian cafe - awful food and drunken fights outside it.

People spitting on the streets.

Horrible kids walking around in hooded tops with/without dogs.

No good hairdressers unlike Crouch End, cant one move to SG?

No gym or DVD rental shop.

Near Holloway Road.

The stench of blood and chicken feet hanging outside Halal butchers.

Too many Halal butchers.

Friends cant come and stay and park their car for more than a day.

Questions

I was going to ask is Home closing - but someone else has asked - i think it is...shame.

A friend of mine wants to open a deli/coffee shop around here, he is a New Zealander he has the money and has been in discussions with various landlords. It will be a bit like Flat White in Soho. Do you think he will do well, or is it too much for SG right now?

What do you think the next chain will be in SG?

What do you think MR Pak will open next?

Where has the young Big Issue seller gone from Tescos? Is she ok?

Thats it from me - enough waffling!

Bridget xx

Ian

Comprehensive. You should have held back on some stuff - how are you going to get outraged in a forum now?

Bobby

I didn't realise the guy in the fish shop was special needs. If that's true, I might forgive him for the last time I went in there and, while I was browsing, he told me to hurry up as he was very busy. That was some time ago now.

katiejane

Welcome Bridget.

If your friend opened a cafe like Flat White, I'd be in there everyday. I go out of my way when I'm in town for FW and Monmouth coffee - maybe crouch enders would do the same.

Re: the Big Issue seller. I think there was a dispute about the pitch. I saw the guy who's currently there in a row with her - he was saying that he'd been to head office and they'd said it was his. Haven't seen her since.

Colette

I'm confused by the Big Issue seller, because sometimes he's at the Wells Terrace exit of the tube too. Is he allowed two pitches?
I'd say there'd be a market for a good coffee shop, but he ought to aim for the top end (geographically, that is) of SGR if he wants to capture some of the Crouch Enders. And also I'm biased becuase that's where I live. I'd love a place to pick up good coffee beans though. Yum.
I hope Home isn't closing - I'll ask the guy next time I see him, he's a friendly chap and lives on my street (he claims to lurk on this site actually...)
As for nice hairdressers - has anyone tried Blossom? the amount of effort they've put into decorating the place is impressive - the guy is always in there after closing doing some work on the place. I think it looks lovely.

rainbow_carnage

Hi Bridget.

I just wanted to second katiejane's sentiment. I also go out of my way for good coffee. If your friend opened up a place in SG, I'd be there daily. If he promised to play decent jazz or blues instead of terrible pop, he could have all of my lunch money. And if he stayed open after 7pm, he could have my first born, as well.

unaesthetic

hey, that's my first born too... but if the coffee is right though... (and certainly if the kid is ginger)

VictorMoses

@Bridget, there is a gym in Stroud Green - Paradise Walk Gym (ladies only), at the bottom of Crouch Hill, just past the Dairy. It's quite small, but they do some good classes - Tina Baker (GMTV soap expert and celebrity slimmer) does aerobics on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

Bridget

Thanks for all your responses!

I will let you know what happens with the deli/coffee shop and tell my friend Sam what you say, feel sorry for the big issue girl, she was annoying always going "how is she?" to my little boy - I said he loads of times! He looks like a big bruiser with a frosting of hair so its strange!

Bridge xx

Agaton Sax

Parp, clang, drum roll...

Hello everyone, I joined a while ago but have been lurking in the undergrowth for a bit, peering out from the under-visited New Members Start Here outpost

I've been living on Cornwall Road for the past four years and during that time have come to the conclusion that I like

The Noble (though preferred the Polish owner who had DJ sessions there), the Faltering Fallback (for the Ewok smokers' village) and the Swimmer off Holloway if I can be faffed going up there; Mari e Monti for Sunday breakfasts; the Mind shop for picking up books; Blackstock Road for friendly spice shops and, occasionally, T-Bird; the fact that there's a chap with the Hammer & Sickle flag outside Tesco; the "exotic" dancers at The Triangle; Jai Krishna,despite the fact they've gone posh with indoor toilets; the small library near Haringey station; Tollingtons Fish & Chips.

Don't like: the fact that the Chrysos hardware shop has closed; the Dairy pub (great building, boring people); too many estate agents opening up; dog shite on my street

Deli/coffee shop with jazz would be good, probably.

poxy

Now, if ever there was a post crying out for a Venn diagram, that's it.

Welcome Agaton Sax. I've read all your books.

krappyrubsnif

olleH. .noitcudortni na ekam dluow I thguoht tsuJ. .ydnA emalb aedi ym toN

.relleps drawkcab a fo tib a m'I

Christ this is hard. Hello anyway.

Krapy Rubsnif

Agaton Sax

Here comes the mirror man...

Thanks for introductions. Is this site strictly virtual then, or do people meet up in the pub?

Not that I'm gagging for a drink...

T.J.

Hey,

Not so much an introduction as a re-introduction. I registered on here over a year ago (and said hello then) but then pretty much forgot about the site and haven't been around since. It's now been added to top of favourites list so no more forgetting. I stumbled across it again today and remembered what a cracking idea for a site it was and how nice and simple and friendly it is so I'll try and stick around and if not become a regular, at least a valued occasional contributor, like Hunter S. Thompson was at Rolling Stone.

Quick update: When I registered, I'd been living here for 6 months with some friends from back home in Ireland and was still quite the newby. 12 months and one house move down the line (just went 100yds from Lancaster Rd to Carlisle Rd - if anyone saw a guy moving his whole house by hand one weekend last Septmeber, that was me) and I'm still here and still loving it. A hardened and grizzled veteran by now (in my own eyes, though I've a long way to go on some of you). Myself and the better half and the lesser half (our housemate) can often be found in the front bar of the Fullback (especially when Irish rugby on but not exclusively) or wandering out Upper Tollington Park at exactly 10.29 with a bag of Tollingtons.

I have one potentially helpful suggestion and one question:

Suggestion for people on Scarborough Rd or Carlisle Rd: I've just recently realised you can get straight from top of Oxford Rd through to Scarborough Rd over the top of the Parkland Walk by just hopping a tiny wall. Saves walking the whole way around if you dont have bag/suit. (BTW, does anyone know what goes on in that "Studio" building at the end of Scarborough Road?)

Question: Anyone know an early house or something nearby that would be open at 8am this Saturday morning and have Sky Sports? I need to see Ireland V All Blacks. Will ask Pat in the Fullback but might be pushing it.

Mike from London

Wow - Carlisle Road. There are only about four houses there......you could be in the very same one where my daughter was born. How is Mr Amico? You're not in the downstairs flat, first house are you?

T.J.

@Mike: No, in one of the (slightly) newer, small houses across the road. The flats in that first house do like nice though. Amico, is that the older Italian couple across the road? I'm afraid our conversations rarely go beyond a friendly nod as we pass on opposite sides of the road.

Mike from London

@TJ: The house opposite - I know - not just slightly newer but around a hundred years newer :-). The original Victorian house where you are fell down about ten years ago from subsidence - just fell apart - and was totally reconstructed from the foundations up. As for Amico - nice man in his way - and the rest, I loved that street, we had good times there and I have many stories about it, but I won't share them here ;-)

T.J.

@Mike: By "slightly", I guess I was referring to the fact that, though they are new, they are aging pretty quickly. Put together pretty shoddily. Wont be long before they go the way of their predecessor, I think. Glad I'm only renting.

Yeah, it's a pretty nice road. Trains are a bit of a pain, especially on our side but I'm used to them by now. In fact I think the old house may have just been shaken apart by them! Some of the freight trains feel like they are going through the kitchen when you are upstairs. The road itself is nice and quiet though, except for the ocassional screaming fox. Get loads of them because of parkland walk and the railway line, I expect. I grew up in the country so knew what it was but you don't get urban foxes in Ireland and my girlfriend thought it was a child getting murdered the first couple of times.

Liz

Hi TJ - I live in Scarborough Road so we're pretty much neighbours. Good tip on the short cut - coming from the park and turning into Parkland Walk, how far up is the wall to hop? Where does it come out? I've never seen anyone go into or out of the studio either, but then I leave for work quite early.

T.J.

@ Liz: The wall is just 50yds up from the bridge across to the park, if that. It's at the end of the "studio" building. You actually come out in the car park of that building but there's never anyone around and there's no like trespassing signs or anything up so I figure... Then you just walk straight out of the car park. The (very slightly) illicit nature of it is half the fun. There's about 10ft of undergrowth between path and the wall but it's pretty much all cleared away. Might be a bit muddy in bad weather.

Similar to the studio building, there is a premises near Pak called Topic Records which I believe was a very important record company in the folk world at one point but I've never once seen it open (always full shutters down and padlocked). Similarly though, I never see the area between 7.30am and 7 or 8pm on a weekday so maybe it does open. Does anyone know?

hooofck

Hey T.J., that's interesting about Topic. From their website it seems they are still going strong - I know very little about folk music but I'd say any indie label that has survived for 69 years must be a pretty special record company.

unaesthetic

ani difranco's record label righteous babe used to have a buzzer on the door at the same address, but it's not there anymore.

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18 May 2013