Tuesday 10 April 2007

The Old Post Office

I felt really gutted when I saw the Old Post Office being gutted; I guess someone has bought it and making use of it. Bang goes my idea of turning it into a jazz café.

Please let's hope they have some imagination and not just turn it into flats.

So who does have any information on the new developments? I for one would like to know more.

Back to our old friend, Busta Rhyme. He's shown his lack of aesthetic in the past and the new tasteless banners hanging outside the pub are not even worthy of a closing down sale at a pound shop. Is business so poor that Busta needs to fly flags to advertise the fact of being open? I'd love to make The Ship my regular drinking hole, but it has as much charm as pair of oversized gold hoop ear-rings. I'll stick with The Star thanks.

25 comments:

sibonetic said...

Have asked for info on my blog http://sibonetic.blogspot.com/
will let you know if I turn up anything

Bentos said...

Well, she looks like she's having fun.

Anonymous said...

I saw it on fire a month or 2 back. So that probably explains it being gutted out.

Anonymous said...

I thought this website was about plumstead, seems to have turned into mingers.com

Doctor Pangloss said...

Anonymous, this blog has never been exclusively about Plumstead. Much that we like to praise and rant about our area, we are allowed to go off-topic.
I'll try not to get too chav-tastic though.

Anonymous said...

Chav it up as much as you like, its good to have a few sites about plumstead (including other topics). Chavs are everywhere but I'd rather have it as it is, warts n all, than selective articles.

Anonymous said...

I think that flats are most viable for the old post office. There will never be a cafe in P Common because there is no passing trade in the day. The best bet is something in the high street, assuming the upper plumsteadites know where that is......(lol).

Anonymous said...

What about Mother's who are on maternity leave and dog walkers I see plenty of people around in the day when I work from home occasionally. Also what about evening trade when there are plenty of people around,

Anonymous said...

If theres no passing trade then hopefully the estate agents will sod off.

sibonetic said...

Plenty of people go past there, not only on foot, but it is also a busy junction, it the place even looked half decent I am sure people would check it out, and it if were any good, come again.

There are lots of people these days who work from home etc. who would like a chance to get out of the house and meet people at lunch time.

Anonymous said...

Ok, Ive looked into this and there are two basic viable locations in U.P..... - the pound shop in Plumstead Common Green - in between the butchers and the kebab shop....and further down in Ablairs "salon refusee"..... but when you are punting out lattes at 1.50 you need rather a lot of people. Any business person will tell you that the High Street, would be most viable...that is where the people are.
And again....one wonders who ones punters would be in the village...as far as I have seen, there would be an attempt by certain elements to "colonise" the place, and others would be discouraged. Organic alfalfa muffins and opera are the only way forward......

Seriously, one has to ask what the people of UP are doing with the facilities they have, before we add more. The butcher is patronised (in both senses)...there is a queue outside on saturdays as people try to keep them in business and I commend that. The pubs are run mainly as hobbies..... none moreso than the woodman.....

organic alfalfa muffins are the only way....

before you shoot me down...the petition for a cafe rouge in plumstead got 27 signatures.....

Anonymous said...

An online petition that was only promoted to people already on this blog (and I doubt there are more than 27 people) will hardly have had much take up as it was not out in the public domain.
I'm not sure we are ready for Cafe Rouge and Starbucks but there is certainly a demand for either a cafe or a restaurant, I am considering posting something through all the letter boxes in the shops around the common telling them so.
Last night there was a mouse in my house and I didnt fancy eating in but there was nowhere for me to pop too locally so I starved (literally)..

sibonetic said...

Would not dream of shooting you down in flames, it's just I am an eternal optimist, didn't think Cafe Rouge was quite right anyway.

Think this guy had the right idea

'Bistro or Italian or nice cafe in the morning with fry ups, croissants, lattes and sarnies for lunch and cake and vino in the evening with big plates of pasta and papers to read and a fun local owner who knows all your names..... ' sounded fairly inclusive to me.

Still think the old Post Ofice would make a good location as you can get tables outside, which would give you a great view of the cars being forced to dodge the buses being forced out into the middle of the road by the wierd bollard on the opposite corner, but that's another sorry.....

Anonymous said...

Well, new metal shutters have now been fitted to the windows and door of the old Post Office, which strongly suggests a return to retail use and that a flat conversion is NOT on the cards.

Anonymous said...

No one has purchased it yet. The owners were told to secure the building by the council because of the recent fire - hence the shutters.

Anonymous said...

Where is it up for sale? Anybody know how much?

sibonetic said...

Got a suggestion for anonymous with the mouse problem

'Last night there was a mouse in my house and I didnt fancy eating in but there was nowhere for me to pop too locally so I starved (literally)..'

have a look here for somewhere good to eat in the shire

http://sibonetic.blogspot.com/

Simon

Anonymous said...

Update: re old post office and house next to it (formerly squat set on fire)... spoke with gentleman (I'd say about 40, tall, slim-ish, asian, nicely dressed and spoken) standing outside, as all new windows were being put in and the place being cleared and renovated. I asked if the old post office was being let, and he said it was already let but he didn't know what kind of business it would be. He also said that he himself would be living in the house. So that scar on the face of the common is being removed. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that somemone with some taste opens up just the kind of place we all seem to want.

Anonymous said...

Well if that's the same fella I spoke to it's either going to be a nice large newsagents, a hospice shop or wait for it...drum roll please...a net curtain shop!

Ooh I can't wait - such vision...but hey, why am I not surprised?

Anonymous said...

is there not already a newsagents next to it? How many papers and pints of milk do people buy.
Can someone not post a lovely letter to the shutters saying we would like a cafe please..

Anonymous said...

I refer people to: http://www.pledgebank.com/plumsteadcafe
which I created a while back. It is now closed, and admittedly I was WAY too ambitious in my idea (so no need to renew attacks on that subject please!). BUT if what we want it a little cafe on that corner, perhaps someone else might want to start a pledge, or circulate a petition, or something, as a way of appealing to the person planning to open something up there.
i think at least there would be interest by a businessman/woman to know what his/her local market might want.
a nice little cafe where you can get coffee, sandwich, pastry, maybe even pasta and a glass of wine of an evening... would be fantastic!
i would certainly promise to patronise such a place once a week!

Anonymous said...

I refer people to: http://www.pledgebank.com/plumsteadcafe
which I created a while back. That pledge is now closed, and admittedly I was WAY too ambitious in my idea (so no need to renew attacks on that subject please!). BUT if what we want is a little cafe on that corner, perhaps someone else might want to start a pledge, or circulate a petition, or something, as a way of appealing to the person planning to open the place up.
i think at least there would be interest by a businessman/woman to know what his/her local market might want.
what do we want? it sounds like people generally want a nice little cafe where you can get coffee, sandwiches, pastry, maybe even pasta and a glass of wine of an evening... it would be fantastic!
i would certainly promise to patronise such a place once a week!

Anonymous said...

I am definitely in favour of a cafe or somewhere to go during the day as I am pregnant and as such am off pubs. Now I know my back garden does a nice line in BBQ's when Mrdp is home but I like to eat out and will need somewhere closer to venture out in the day than getting in the car and going to Greenwich..

Anonymous said...

Congratulations MRSDP!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone been to The Woodman? http://fancyapint.com/pubs/pub2452.html
Or can you suggest a decent pub to go to in the area/surrounding areas that serve good food? The ones on the High Street look a bit ropey ........