Lambeth - What's on for the family - December 22nd-23rd 2012

I imagine many parents will be trying to sort out some last bits of shopping and making sure everything is grand for Christmas day.

So here's some things to keep the children busy:

SATURDAY (22nd December)

Need to do some shopping still for christmas goods? Here's a list of local shops selling toys. Take the kids along!

Brixton

Morleys is located at 472-488 Brixton Road, SW9 8EH opposite the Underground and opens from 9:30am to 8 on Saturday, 10:30 to 5:30 on Sunday and 9am to 6pm on Christmas Eve

Diverse is located at 65 Atlantic Road, Brixton, SW9 8PU.  Their opening times are 11.00am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and 12.00pm to 5.00 on Sundays.

20 Storey is situated at 2A Market Row, Brixton, SW9 8LD and is open from 10:30am.

Buses through Brixton include P4, P5, 188, 196, 59, 159, 3, 133, 333, 45, 345, and 37. Alternatively you can catch the tube or the overground into the area.

Clapham

Under the Greenwood Tree shop is located at 11 The Polygon, SW4 0JG and opens from10:00am to 6 on Saturday, 11:00 to 5:00 on Sunday and 9am to 4pm on Christmas Eve 

The area is served by Clapham Common tube stations and buses 37, 345, 322, 35 and 88.

Herne Hill

Tales on Moonlane is located at 25 Half Moon Lane, SE24 9JU and is open Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm.

Just Williams has two shops, one at 18 Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, SE24 9HU and one at
8b Balham Hill, Balham, SW12 9EA. Both are open from Saturday 9:30am to 6pm and Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm.

There is a farmers market at Streatham Vale this weekend from 10am to 2pm and it includes kids activities. It's located at Granton Primary School, Granton Rd, SW16 5AN, Buses 60 and 118 will take you nearest the school.

Alternatively pop up to the Southbank and head toward the London Eye to check out the Christmas Market which has 80 chalets of goodies to see!

To get to the London Eye, catch the 159, 77 and 12 or take the tube to Waterloo.

Perhaps take this evening to go and look at the Christmas lights. See our guide here.

SUNDAY (23rd December)

Need to get stuff done in the home? Then pop to the library and get out a few DVDs for the kids. Films usually cost a £1. Current offer at Brixton library is get 2 out for the price of 3!

You can find a map of Lambeth libraries here.

Another option is to take them swimming. Check out our list of reviews here. I should also mention that there are some reviews of local soft play facilities. I expect these places will be very busy!

So if you are looking for things to do at home, check out the Spit-Spot website. One of my favourite suggestions from their site is painting with condensed milk - I'm going to have to give that a go!

Hope you get everything done this weekend and have a wonderful Christmas day!

Keeping It Local Part 2: The Elusive Products.

It's been another week of shopping local and a real mix of the good and the bad. Let's take a look at what that was.

As mentioned previously, certain items were hard to find. So have I found them? The answer is no.
I had managed to get some bargain price nappies at a local store but repeating that was unlikely as shops tend to hold the small packs at a higher price. 

I hadn't located baby food and this week the problem is still there. Small retailer only tend to hold a couple of pots.So I thought maybe I should just buy a bulk order online direct from the supplier (not local but avoiding the high street). Unfortunately the cheaper brand I use have just moved their shop to Amazon. And I don't really want to be supporting them!

I continued looking for an online alternative but could only find the items at a higher cost price. Going local and keeping away from the chain stores shouldn't be a luxury experience! Still puzzling about how I could get around this, I decided I'll cheat, I'll go high street but from a retailer I like - Waitrose.

So out on my adventures, I decided to pop into the Waitrose at Clapham Junction (not really local). Did they have the baby food I want? Hell no!!! So have I bought any baby food? Apart from the random odd jar, no.

Sausages I like (chipolatas) are still elusive.  And I haven't found a bread I'm happy with. There is the option of the farmers market. I do get some bits and pieces from them but I am sometimes paying the higher end of prices.

I haven't found Bisto caramelised onion gravy, risotto rice at a non-deli price and Ready-brek or bagels. None of these items are particularly unusual but maybe for the small retailers they are a risk investment.

I noticed that many of the little shops sell the same products so if I'm looking for a certain spice, I can probably get it in at least ten local shops. I can understand why they wouldn't get in items which aren't bought by their usual clientele. To get new purchasers to come through the door, big businesses have to do huge advertising campaigns. It would be hard for a little store to tell customers that they provide a new service.

Another problem for me exploring these little shops is I have a pushchair and many of these spaces are not buggy friendly so I look at what I can see from the outside, make a presumption about the shops contents and either visit or not.

On a better note, I've been using my Brixton pounds. They have been great to use for gifts and food so visits to 20 Storey and Morleys have helped sort out my Christmas presents. I'm not sure how many people know you can use your note in Morleys as the staff had to check with supervisors both times that I went shopping which suggest the use of the Brixton pound doesn't happen to often (or I got christmas temps both times).

I also had food in the village using both my paper notes and pay by text. I haven't tried getting my more regular shopping with the pounds and I can't see a hairdressers I would use which takes the notes...any suggestions welcome. 

So there we are. The frustrations remain the same. Next time, I'll talk a bit more about pricing.