Interesting discussion on the changing nature of the Northcote road. I grew up just off the Northcote road in the 70's and it was an eclectic mix of all manner of folks, from teachers, actors, first generation immigrants, nurses, bankers, artists, all sorts really. I'm sure all this changed with the advent of Ofsted inspections in the 90's and people wanted to get their children into excellent schools, so this pushed house prices up as those that could moved into catchment areas for schools. That's when the area changed again and many more affluent families moved in, nothing wrong there but there wasn't the diverse mix any more gone were the barrow boys on the market stalls rubbing shoulders with the city worker.
I think what I'm trying to say without getting too nostalgic is that things change all the time, the Northcote will survive, it always has due to locals supporting as much as they can. It was great back in the day and great in the early 2000's up until recently.
Southside offers much more for the families that have stayed in the area and now have teenagers, as was mentioned younger families simply can't afford the house prices and have moved out, so not as many buggies on the Northcote....maybe they should install a winter luge on Belleville road, that would draw the crowds and annoy the SUV brigade

To those mourning Northcote Music - they once charged me £200 for a repair. Two years later they had closed and I had to have the same repair which was done by another shop (recommended by my teacher) for £36.

They weren’t saints!

@ dimelda - i'm a climate nut and certainly think we need many fewer cars and definitely fewer SUVs but still - writing "People like you are the problem" about someone who does actually go to Northcote Road from some distance away on a thread about getting more people there is - forgive me for saying so - bonkers.

Pedestrianising Northcote road during the weekends would be great and hugely increase footfall. However they stopped the summer one so this is just a dream. Once they will kill it, with just estate agents, beautician, dentists and opticians there, they will realise the economic impact of taking away the summer closure is way higher than the money they claim it cost. Very very shortsighted approach to urbanism, which for London with the push for bikes, bike lanes and LTN is shocking

joetaylor wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 2:28 pm How about permanently pedestrianising Northcote Road? Seems like this would eliminate a lot of the costs of temporarily pedestrianising it, as well as making the area much nicer.

I don’t think that would help. Maybe at weekends when people go out for a leisurely stroll but during the week I think it would a disaster because there’s nowhere to park - the surrounding streets are already very full as they’re all residential. I don’t live very near but I often pop over to Northcote Road for one or two things and at the moment I can just park outside the shops. If it were pedestrianised I wouldn’t bother as there wouldn’t be anywhere to park. Also the congestion on Bolingbroke Grove would be even worse than it already is.

How about permanently pedestrianising Northcote Road? Seems like this would eliminate a lot of the costs of temporarily pedestrianising it, as well as making the area much nicer.

Things certainly have changed in the last 15 yrs.
Parking is one! It’s now gone up so much I do think twice before parking near shopping streets since Wandsworth put the cost up to £3.90/hr!
Before I would park wherever all the time and not care.
Wandsworth are not helping local businesses by putting the shopping streets at a premium.

I also agree some shops are not even wanted like the six opticians or however many there are.

I am so sad about SDS as they offered such a great service and knowledge! Online is only great if you know exactly what you want and won’t need to return anything. That part is a pain in the backside.

I have only shopped once in Oree and over £5 per pastry is not for every day, I do love Aux Merveilleux de Fred as amazing quality and worth every penny and more reasonable.
Ole and Steen is overrated and for some reason the Northcote Branch is so badly run!
The one in Canary Wharf has amazing coffees every time without fail , bigger size sandwiches and socials .. don’t get it . I even gave feedback to the manager here as I can’t understand the difference. To pay almost £7 for a toaster and still be hungry is a joke. They give little squares…
And I’ve had several bad coffees / it’s run by not properly trained people. Especially for the baristas … long wait, and random coffee quality.

@Starr - we knew them well - the Music Shop closed because they were fed up with trying to compete with online - people regularly called in for their expertise (which was enormous) and then spent their money wherever it was cheapest.  It got to the ludicrous level of eg them advising on which editions of music were best for beginners, and then finding the person they advised had bought it on Amazon.  In the end we'll get what we're willing to pay for.

Im not on its doorstep and its a place I have to have a reason to go to. But I will try and shop there more as its a lovely lovely road.

Have to admit I go there less and less as it doesn't have a lot to offer me other than what I can get in Balham. Would love to see this change. Yes real shame about the music shop closed soon after my children started picking up instruments. I do believe it closed out of choice though rather than struggling.

Not sure that greedy landlords make much money out of empty shops - it's much more likely to be related to the reason Northcote Music closed (I know this story first hand) - someone walked in and asked about musical instruments, had a few demonstrated, had the pros and cons explained, chose one, fiddled with his phone, showed the phone to Andy Staples (who owned Nortcote Music) and said "can you match this price?" and when Andy said no just shrugged and said "well I've ordered it" and left.

If you want a thriving local community and shopping centre then you had better be willing to pay for it.

It really is quite sad walking down Northcote road… so many closed shops and two huge sites (old All Bar One and old Paperchase) make it look really bleak. Sadly with most of the premised owned by a couple of extremely greedy landlords it’s not surprising.

On the plus side … Molton Brown are opening in the old Caudialie site which is good !

SDS aren’t closing the showroom is moving to Wimbledon, 10 minute drive from Northcote Road