Listen to folk at Blackheath Folk Club

Occasionally your author gets bouts of Laurie-Lee-style nostalgia for a folk club he used to attend as a child in a Cotswold village. So, it was a real treat to find about about Blackheath Folk Club, a similar event which takes place every Tuesday in South East London.


The club holds its weekly meetings from 8.30pm in a room at the British Oak, at 107 Old Dover Road on the Blackheath/ Kidbrooke borders, and when your author popped in last week there were many fantastic performers, of a quality you would usually expect to pay good money to watch.

One who is especially memorable is Jim Radford, known for his acapella sea shanties and British and Irish folk songs, but as with many folk clubs of this type, the floor is open to performers who just show up and play, so you never know what treats might be in store.

For more, see http://blackheathfolk.com/ (website has live recordings which play automatically, so switch your speakers off at work - unless you work at a folk music record label).

Buy books at the Bookshop on the Heath

Whilst your author isn't sure they're quite accurate in describing themselves as 'one of London's...last remaining second-hand bookshops', the Bookshop on the Heath, in Blackheath, is certainly a gem, and should not be missed.


Any bookshop that, in the modern bookselling climate, sets a blanket price for paperbacks of £1.80 (or three for £5), and bravely holds out against the new big boy of second hand books, the Oxfam, selling books just a couple of doors down is a special place, but its the old and rare books which are really interesting at the Bookshop on the Heath.

The only problem with a bookshop like this is that it drives your author to buy books faster than he can read them, so he will have to ration the number of trips in future. That said, the reasonable price structure, and the obvious passion with which owners Jasmine and Richard Platt run this little family shop is very special, so maybe a trip to the bookshelf shop is more appropriate.

For more information, see http://www.bookshopontheheath.co.uk/

Get a snack at the Blackheath Tea Hut

Situated at the centre of Blackheath, right on the side of the A2, the Blackheath Tea Hut is a small hut which serves tea and fresh snacks, cooked to order, 24 hours a day, helping to stave off the hunger of passing motorists and others who happen to be in the area.


A simple menu of sandwiches, burgers and cakes is lapped up by all comers, and its a real institution in South East London, so much so that its story has even been made into a film.

Whilst the hut is apparently involved in a few scuffles with Lewisham Council about the closure of laybys in its area, it still maintains a good trade and provides decent food at reasonable prices.

For more on all things tea hut, visit http://www.blackheath-tea-hut.co.uk/