London through its charity shops #31: Forest Hill SE23

The magnificent Horniman Museum sits atop Forest Hill with great views of London from its gardens. Down the hill lies Forest Hill town, with a lovely old 1920s picture house, The Capitol, now a Wetherspoons pub. Sir Norman Foster described Forest Hill as “a delightful pocket of South London” and other buildings of interest include an Arts and Craft library, several Art Deco mansion blocks and my personal favourite:

It has some quirky cafes (one, The Montage, also has a vintage shop and art gallery upstairs) and gift shops, and three pretty good charity shops.

Sue Ryder is large and pleasant but, as my daughter bemoans most charity shops, not enough toys. Not many books either, but lots of clothes and bric-a-brac, some decent records, and too much new stuff. A few doors along is a small British Red Cross. Mainly women's clothes and yet again, poor children’s section and small book section. Some decent records and loads of CDs and DVDs. Best of all, opposite the new swimming pool and the old library, Ald Life felt like a jumble sale scrum. Just missed out on a Doctor Who Tardis containing DVDs for £3 – and that was expensive. It’s mostly cheap as chips and has loads of books, CDs, buggies and kid’s stuff.