Yes, I used to catch the 12 from Shepherds Bush to Dulwich Plough to see my then girlfriend… which ended up being the reason why I settled in southeast London 
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But then those of us “north of the river” rarely ventured “south” !!! 
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Was the bistro Le Forêt des Amis? I remember seeing in the New Year there on a couple of occasions.
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Wasn’t Forêt des Amis on Perry Vale in the premises that then became a series of Indian restaurants ending as Cinnamon and is now Piazza della Cucina? Although when I first moved to SE23 in 1988 I think it was called Dickens Inn or something similar.
The place I’m thinking of was on Devonshire Rd and was very small - think it was probably where the fish and chip shop is now. I think it was an Italian as I seem to remember having pasta there a lot!
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I think it was called Poochies or something very similar, I have a very vague memory of it.
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Casa Piccone.
My wife and her sister were waitresses there - and the delivery drivers, James and Rhina were 2 of the 4 ‘Young Ones’ that I rented my flat above what’s now Beetroot & Beans.
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Yes, you’re quite right, of course. I misinterpreted ‘just opposite the station’!
Does anyone remember the lewd ;‘Bird in Hand’ inn sign? From one side you saw a man walking along with his arm round a woman’s waist. From the other side you saw that he had pulled up her skirt and exposed her bare bottom. I don’t remember it lasting very long!
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At that time, after people had walked past the Condom Shop at No.49, the Bra Shop at 51a and the *Knocking Shop in the basement of 53a, that bare bottom must have looked quite tame.
*The Knocking Shop - and I’m not making this up… I rented the garden flat at 53a to a guy I met at Spiggy’s [cocktail bar at No.73] and it turned out that it was for a little brothel. The first I heard about it was when one of my stylists in the shop, Browns hair salon, said that a guy came in to announce himself for his 2 o clock appointment with Charlene and, after a bit of confusion (beacuse we didn’t have a Charlene) and him making a quick call to the lady, he apologised and said that he had to go to a door down the side alley. Oops! Mind you, they paid the rent on time };^)~
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Thanks John, Casa something rings a bell but Piccone doesn’t seem familiar. It was only a little place and I’m going back to the late 80’s and 90’s which I would have thought predates restaurants doing deliveries!
Now that sounds vaguely familiar Zoe! Thanks. Maybe John’s suggestion of Casa Piccone was what preceded Poochies or came later!.
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The pizza & pasta restaurant was definitely Casa Piccone (may have been Picone) - I just checked with my wife - and that’s bang-on the date because I bought 57a (Beetroot & Beans) building in 1986 and she was still waitressing whilst pregnant with my son in 1988.
Would you remember the owner/chef, Peter, who was a very posh black-haired gentleman with a great moustache? On his nights off he’d sit and get rat-arsed with his mate, Billy Lawson, who lived just along David’s Road.
Hold tight though - now I’ve just read your follow-up to Zoe and re-read the dates, being late-80s 90s and maybe this Poochies thing did come along just after Picone?
Apologies if I’ve got it wrong.
Yes, it was one of the longest routes and hence difficult to schedule. They split it in Oxford Street - the route to the NW staying as the 12 and our section became the 176 still terminating in Penge. Then they moved our terminus from outside Debenhams to Tottenham Court Station to reduce the number of buses on Oxford Street.
And staying with transport in the days that Connex ran our LBG service - Connex coincidentally also ran a service from Sydenham to Dulwich on their NSW franchise.
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That was when the 12 Bus ran to Penge I think?
Wish it still ran to FH that would save my needing to rely on the trains to work.
Snap! thats my old neck of the woods.
I used to get the 12 from Shepards bush to Oxford Circus.
I remember in those days I’d see a 12 or 176 with destination of Penge and think ‘Where in earth is PENGE!!!’
Now it would be a dream for me at least to have 2 busses serving the central west end.
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Those were the days!
Forest Hill had the number 12 to Oxford Street and the train that was 9 minutes to London Bridge and continued on to Waterloo East and Charing Cross taking an additional 3 minutes per stop.
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Great pic. What’s the building at the bottom, now the dental practice?
No need for apologies John - you could still be right! Although Poochies seemed more familiar than Casa Piccone your description of the owner/chef with the wonderful moustache was very familiar!! When I think about it more I didn’t move to Forest Hill until December 30th 1988 and was so shattered I couldn’t face going out on New Year’s Eve so the only year in the 80’s that I could have gone there would have been 1989 but it was probably more likely later on in the 90’s!
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Black and White postcard showing the exterior of the station and local businesses; Chalk and Cox (right) and W.H. Cullens Stores (left), c. late 1890s
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The estate agents opposite the station was a launderette until a few years ago. I’m sure I heard that this was the first self service launderette in the country. A claim to fame if ever there was one
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