Beer, food and crafts..

...three vital aspects of life if truth be told.

I have advance news that the former Deptford Deli at 4 Tanners Hill is set to reopen as 'Blossoming T', an 'art and craft gallery cafe, with art exhibitions, arts and crafts to sell and workshops for adults and children' according to business owner Cinzia Callegari. She says 'food will be simple organic fairtrade whenever it's possible, or from my allotment; tea, herbal tea served in vintage tea pots and cups...and hopefully organic wine from Italy.' She is also hoping to have live music once a month.

I do hope that she has better luck than the previous occupants Deptford Deli and Deptford Properly - from what I've heard, the property suffers problems with flooding and the landlord has in the past been unwilling to improve the situation. Hopefully it will be third time lucky - I like the sound of Cinzia's venture; tea and knitting (and cakes, we trust!) can be a winning combination!

Secondly, news that the Royal Albert pub on New Cross Road is planning a mini beer festival to celebrate the arrival of four new hand pumps at the bar, bringing the number up to eight.

'Octopump' will take place from 2-4 September and includes a range of beers and ciders on tap, music and BBQ, as well as the arrival of a bar billiards table. If you don't know how to play, you might want to get in a few practice sessions down at the Dog & Bell in advance. There's no news as yet on which beers and ciders will be on offer; RA management if you want to add this in the comments, please feel free!

Finally news of plans for a new 'Brockley' Saturday market. I have put Brockley in inverted commas here as the proposed location is the car park next to Lewisham College on Lewisham Way - not really Brockley in my view, but then again not really New Cross and not really Lewisham. I guess calling it St John's Market would have prompted lots of questions of 'where?'. There's only vague information so far - a facebook page and basic website exist so if you are interested you should probably bookmark them. Of course we have plenty of market in Deptford every Saturday, and although I do often get frustrated at the lack of local seasonal fruit that's on sale - rarely see greengages or russet apples for example - I probably wouldn't bother going all the way up there just for that. I guess it will be handy for people living in St John's and New Cross though.