Ever heard of Trio Cafe on Bellenden road?
https://goo.gl/maps/9wUW9jEWVLv
Bellenden road is between East Dulwich and Peckham; residential, a couple of primary schools and expensive organic butcher nearby, popular with families, etc. – in many ways similar to many areas in Nappy Valley.
Trio Café was open for, I believe, less than 2 years, probably from early 2015 till mid 2016 or so. The architects who designed it still have pictures on their website:
http://www.mwarchitects.co.uk/?p=1825
It was meant to be a child-friendly café with a nice play area and toys. I don’t know 100% why it closed, if it went bust or what, but I, like many, suspect too much of the clientele was, in fact, mums who paid for a single espresso then stayed the whole afternoon keeping their children playing there.
I think
it’s not straightforward to find the balance between making a place child-friendly, but not so much so that families pay £2 and spend the whole morning or afternoon there!
You’ll probably find some old discussions on the East Dulwich Forum.
Btw, a pizzeria replaced Trio, but it lasted less than a year, and has now been replaced by another pizzeria. Not sure why the first pizzeria didn’t last as it seemed to be always full.