cafe 207 for child friendly playarea and coffee time for mums/dads nannies although does get pretty packed some mornings.

I love the fat deli cafe in balham. its very calming and friendly and does nice coffee. to eat its quite litmited as it is a deli but to sit down for a coffee whilst u feed ur little one its a nice environment.

Also bertie and boo is my abs fave but half the time cant move for all the buggies and being a small venue. great coffee, atmoshpere and food though

I agree that Crumpet used to be great but seems to have gotten progressively grubbier and more expensive... the food was nice but not worth the price, esp at around £6.50 for a pretty basic bacon sandwich! Its a shame as I loved it when it first opened and the owners/staff all seem lovely, and the last thing Northcote Road needs is another clothes shop. Also agree that Gails is totally un-pushchair friendly, but maybe thats their plan?!

shame, although it was getting grubby the last time i went there.

and i completely agree with juliantenniscoach's comments on cheshirecat's post. "entitled" doesn't begin to capture it!

Unfortunately I think that last post says more about the "entitled" attitude some people have, than it does about 'crumpet'.

I can't quite get my head around 'Gail's' pricing so although it looks great I'm off to al gusto, brew or recipiese.

When Crumpet first opened it was great, then it became really popular and it was ruined by spoilt little brats who were never disciplined or watched, attacking other children in the play area. It became everyman for himself in the scramble for buggy parking and seating. The tables were left with too much mess, as no one bothered to even do a little clearing up when they left. That might work in a place where only a few tables have toddlers but not when EVERY table looks like the aftermath of a food fight. The staff probably couldn't cope with that much, which explains why it became so dirty. The last time I went and some cow was saving the only two remaining seats for her friends, I was heavily pregnant at the time, so my friend and I sat down. She had the cheek to say 'You will get up when my friends arrive won't you?'. I never went back again! It's not Crumpets fault, sad really.

If it is true I too am sad it is closing. It's so nice to have a place that welcomes children & prams and is a independant cafe. Andy the owner has always promoted Northcote Rd and spent a lot of time organising street parties etc and creating a community feel on Northcote Rd. But unfortunately I too had stopped using them, there coffee isn't what it use to be and the cafe itself had had become quite grubby. I would definately go back there if it meant it wouldn't close though.

I agree, thought it was excellent.

Nice to have some decent space that welcomes kids and isn't a McNeroCostaPretSubway chain.

Gails is ok but I always feel the food is for admiring not eating.

I agree with the comments. It's a great shame it's closing as there really isn't anywhere like it with a decent play space for children, but I also recently found the tables, chairs and toys to be dirty, so it wasn't such a nice place to be.

I'd be interested to hear from the owners of Crumpet. I think they were a local couple.... It makes me sad to think that a fantastic entrepreneurial venture like that can't sustain as it always seemed so popular. Surely it's partly down to finding an excellent manager. Anyway, I wish them well whatever they move on to.

I used to be a regular of Crumpet Bellevue and I totally agree that it has gone downhill and is now pretty awful. It's fine when they are not busy, but on a busy day, the staff are completely over-stretched and as a consequence, are rude. The food is super expensive, and has gone downhill (eg they no longer serve crisps with the club sandwich, such a cheap and mean thing to take away, surely doesn't save them that much). And I do agree it is filthy!

Problem is, what is the alternative - the coffee at Cafe Nero is rancid, and the other tea shops on Bellevue all seems to serve factory-made cakes. I often go to the deli just off Bellevue, but feel like I need to mortgage my house after every trip! Whilst the quality of the stuff in there is very good, that place is what I call a rip off!

I love the Northcote Patisserie - it has a very homely feel, and the cakes are delicious. Unfortunately, I don't think the sandwiches are very good.

I've never been a huge fan of Crumpet, felt it's food was very overpriced and tiny portions, although the coffee in Gails is yummy again the prices are eyewatering.
2 things in particular put me off Crumpet pretty soon after it opened, we ordered pasta for our 3 year old with the child at the till, we were served the portion for a 6-12 month old, we got a crying hungry child and us having to buy another meal, no apology/discount nothing, on closer look at the menue the dishes had been given a similar name and were identically priced (any decent place would not have done that, or would have trained staff to clarify made us think it had been done on purpose the food was tasteless, overcooked and generally yukky.

I went very soon after it opened and 'surprised' at the prices decided to order crumpets figuring that I could share them with my baby, I was served 1 crumpet.
Somewhat disappointed we ate it and left, on the way out we walked past a staff member carring in latest supplies of milk and yes Sainsburys value crumpets (they were about 7p for 6 or 8 at the time)
after that I was never really able to go back there and enjoy it

My experience of crumpet tallies with many others. It is a great concept, but of late it was dirty, the high chairs were always broken and a bit dangerous and the prices seemed high for what you got.

I am sad that there is yet another estate agent, when we would all love a genuinely family friendly cafe, with good food and a play area.

Such a shame that the independents are being priced out.

Unfortunately I'm another one who stopped using Crumpet after being a relatively frequent customer - a few years ago it was the only decent place with child-friendly facilities and food. Over recent times I agree it has become grubby (at best) and quite dirty (at worst). Also the kids' portions were tiny (maybe mine are greedy ) and so expensive for what it was. There are more alternatives now so in the face of competition it should have upped it's game. Sadly not.

I love gail's coffee although i rarely go there because i think it is a rip off and difficult to go in there with a buggy!
I refuse to give my custom to recipease because i dont agree that simply because you have a famous name you can charge 15% more, even though i like the man.
The only reason i was not going to crumpet very often is because sometimes some people would use it as a childcare and would let the children being little tyran to the others. It happened twice so i decided to go as little as possible. But the other times i went and it didnt happen i thought that is a lovely place and my children like it there.

Sadly matches my experience of it too. I always found it really quite grubby and also found the chairs uncomfy to sit on, they reminded me of school!
Shame that it's a clothes chain coming in it's place but am glad it's not another coffe shop, frozen yoghurt shop, ice cream parlour or estate agent! Also a little relieved it's not an independent clothes store as the few there are already are pretty unaffordable to the majority.

Coffee - taste of the beholder clearly but I give you Jamie Oliver's Recipease as outstanding coffee

Your account of Crumpet sounds dreadful and thankfully never happened in my infrequent visits. If that was the 'norm' for any period of time, that would kill off any business.