Brockley (London) on a Budget

September 27, 2013 9:18 AM

Spending a week in accommodation in Brockley, London, in early October. To be specific, Manor Avenue Brockley London, SE4 1TE. As London seems to be the place where you literally breathe out money in order to survive, keen to do this on as low a budget as possible. Will not have a car and prefer walking where possible.

So therefore:

- Are there specific, good, supermarkets and food stores within a short walking distance? Searching throws up a Tesco Express 0.3 miles away; anything else?
- Are there good takeaway place? Not meaning dodgy £1 chicken and chip places, but decent pizza places, also within walking distance?
- Are there good places to eat nearby that are also cheap; so, looking at cafes and pubs, rather than restaurants where you hand over bundles of notes

posted by Wordshore to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

There's a Lidl in Peckham (SE15 5DP) and an Aldi on the Old Kent Road (SE15 1NQ) - both cheap as chips. Perhaps worth loading up and shelling out for a cab back, then not eating out as that gets expensive quickly. Can't help on the local knowledge, but Brockley is really nice - I hope you have a good week.
posted by fishingforthewhale at 9:42 AM on September 27, 2013

Restraunts, but cheap: Cheap Eats in South London

Time Out in general -- the mag or the website -- is a pretty good resource for up-to-date London-related stuff. Likewise LondonTown.com

Lidl and Aldi are indeed about as cheap as you can reasonably get in London in terms of supermarkets. If you have a wander around there might also be some local markets.

If you're looking for stuff to do, Greenwich is ~2km to the north and quite a few of the attractions there are free (although they're pretty staid IMHO). Here's some more free stuff to do.
posted by Drexen at 10:00 AM on September 27, 2013

Just a note though, in case you didn't know - eating out, even chips - fries - isn't the cheapest option in the UK. So much so that it takes Brits ages to realise that when Americans say take out is cheaper than real food, you actually may be serious.
posted by glasseyes at 10:07 AM on September 27, 2013

I live in the next street along from Manor Avenue, yay Brockley. The nearest big supermarket is Sainsbury's in New Cross, which you can get to by bus or overground, or it's probably a 20 minute walk. I'm pretty sure (it's hard to check on my phone) that the 171 bus will take you to Lidl in Peckham. There is a Tesco Metro (which you've spotted) and a Sainsbury's Local on the other side of the train tracks, next to Broca food market (which is good but perhaps a bit pricier than you're thinking of).
Brockley Market runs every Saturday morning and has good meat, fruit, veg and food trucks. It's generally fairly reasonable, but the timing may not work for you.
We've not found a good pizza place since the place we liked stopped delivering to SE4. We like Fishy Business in Harefield Road for fish and chips, and Wing Lee in Brockley Cross for Chinese food. Meze Mangal on Lewisham way is refurbishing at the moment (it may be finished by the time you get here) but is probably one of the best places to eat in the neighbourhood and does takeaway. 
I'd also check out the reviews and posts on Brockley Central if I were you, and do let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
posted by featherboa at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2013

Mr Boa has reminded me about Mo Pho Vietnamese restaurant, and the Asian supermarket on Lewisham Way (which neither of us knows the name of), which are both reasonably priced.
posted by featherboa at 11:20 AM on September 27, 2013