Saw that too 
Nice one Chris 
The empty bakery in Perry Vale would be wonderful if it were up and running again, giving that area a real village feel.
Amen to that - while it was open it was great to have but it shut pretty quickly.
There have been two or three bakeries there over the years, as I recall.
What else does Forest Hill need? I came up with a slightly strange answer the other day when I went to Beckenham to buy something for our goldfish pond. (They are just goldfish - nothing as posh as koi carp.)
A lot of the discussion here about what Forest Hill needs has been based on the things that surrounding areas have that we don’t.
But I think one thing that would help is if Forest Hill had more shops that the surrounding areas don’t have. For example: like I say, I was in Beckenham buying pond stuff from a specialist retailer. On the way I passed a shop selling ballet outfits and shoes (we were customers, years ago). Penge has a fishing tackle shop. Dulwich has Bell’s Kitchens. Sydenham has that great bookshop at Kirkdale.
The trick is to find those things that people would have to come to Forest Hill to get. Nope, I’ve no idea either. But there are no doubt plenty of retail brains on this forum who might have some ideas.
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A condomerie?
Didn’t we have one of those about 10 years ago on Dartmouth Road? It didn’t last long.
I think the problem with hyper-specialised shops is that shopping on the internet is too easy. It is far easier for me to search for a specialised lightbulb or toilet seat online than it is to go to shops across South East London in search of the part.
That’s why the fishing tackle business on Dartmouth Road is purely online.
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Up to a point. For clothing (eg, ballet stuff), trying it on is probably necessary and part of the excitement for the little dancers. You can’t buy goldfish online or ask about pumps or get pond plants on line. The Kirkdale bookshop works because you can browse more easily than on the internet (see what I did there?). Bell’s Kitchens presumably survives because of its service.
So there are certainly shops - and it depends how you define ‘hyper-specialist’ - that can survive and, by the looks of them, do well.
We have a fishing tackle business in Dartmouth Road??? That’s probably what I’d call hyper-specialist, whereas the shop in Penge sells rods, reels, etc. Again, stuff you want to get the feel of, talk about with the expert shopkeeper, etc.
This recent discussion also led me to ask what does Forest Hill and Honor Oak already have? In other words what could attract people to the area. Some have already suggested with a second craft beer shop, we could be the craft beer destination in SE London.
Well we have some pretty interesting second-hand, retro antique type places. In Forest Hill there is Farr & Wyde and Wild Horses. In Honor Oak there is the fabulous Muck N Brass. And if we could extend our catchment area to the end of Dartmouth Road there is Mabel’s (fabulous) Five and Dime along with Behind the Boxes and Dulwich Reclamation.
It seems the area could also be a great place for retro hounds like me. Much better than Crystal Palace IMHO
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I’m now in email contact with Blackbird Bakery & have gave a couple of suggestions & contacts, so 
they join our merry gang soon!
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Re. Charlie Bigham’s fresh take away, oven only, meals. You can now buy them in Aldi for £3.99 rather £7.50, but under another name. Exactly the same distinguished cane-like basket etc. I’ve tried the Lasange and cottage pie, delicious. They only have a small collection of three or four of his meals, another one has sausage in it, although I haven’t tried that yet. I will contact Aldi’s and ask them to do his moussaka and macaroni cheese. It’s nice to grab a bargin.
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I’m feeling a quality Mediterranean restaurant. Maybe something similar to Havet in Bromley?
Though I hate the term Mediterranean Restaurant, try Hattush (really Turkish). I suppose you should try Le Querce too (really Sardinian).
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There’s one thing we don’t need and that’s a fried chicken shop, which luckily we don’t have in HOP parade. 
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Actually, the chicken from Ferfect Chicken is great, their ribs are stunning. We went there after a last SE23 get together and the general consensus was one of surprise as to how good it was.
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Wot you got against fried chicken?
Id love one ysing better ingredients and a buttermilk batter. Mmmmm.
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Morley’s on Brockley Rise also great - nice spicy seasoned wings and juicy pieces of chicken.
Perfect to nip across the road during pints at Chandos and chow down on some greasy wings.
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I’d happily embrace a KFC or Chicken Cottage opening in SE23. A Southern branch of StickyWings would be grand.