Sugar Mountain Closed

Hi All

I will be closing the shop soon.

I’ve been here for 7 years now and it’s time for me to move on and do something else.

I will keep the shop open as normal until myself and @Anotherjohn find a suitable tennant as we don’t want the shop sitting empty. Then I can give everyone an exact date.

NAIL BARS NEED NOT APPLY!!!

I’ll still be involved with community goings on, with the library & working with @Michael so you won’t be getting rid of me that easily

Ive loved every minute of running my shop and an so grateful for all my amazing customers over the years.

P x

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Although my kids are too old for me to use the ‘I’m buying kola cubes for the kids’ excuse anymore!

Sad - my favourite shop in town

You can’t close Sugar Mountain @Pauline!

Oh no!! This is sad

Have you thought of selling online as well as in the shop Pauline? You could weigh and pack sweets between customers. People would love to have a quarter of sweets mailed to them in towns where there are no shops like yours. You could do a monthly subscription service!

I cant believe Charlotte not having your blue sweets because we moved has come to this!!! Dont do it!

Sorry to hear this Pauline. The high street will be be a little less exciting without Sugar Mountain. I hope you do stay involved in everything in the community and i look forward to your next exciting initiative as i know you cannot be stopped!

Nooo! The shop is a memory lane beacon, a glorious independent quirk for Forest Hill and you are a valued local mover and shaker. SO sorry you have to make this decision Anything we can do as a community to keep you going rather than give way to another nail bar/ fast food joint or empty shop?

Oh no Pauline!! I am very sorry to hear this.

Nooooo… just as my littlest was getting old enough to bribe with a ‘stop at Paulines’ on the way back from ‘daddies beer shop’. Where am I going to get my mix of black jacks and fruit salad now?

Sorry to see you shutting up shop, the high street will certainly be much poorer, and a little less unique for the loss.

Really sad to hear this Pauline. Have you thought of trying to sell the business as a going concern? I’d have thought that there is quite a bit of value in the brand, and maybe someone local would like to pick up where you are leaving off.

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments, very much appreciated by me.

The next tennant that goes into my shop will be a very lucky person having the most amazing landlord that is the legend @Anotherjohn

He is the most fairest, laid kind, and funny person I know and I will always be friends with him and his family. He has been a substitute Dad to me for many years too and I don’t say that lightly about anyone.

I’ve got something up my sleave at the moment but will share when I do my homework!.

You may all have Sugar Mountain still and more if I manage to do what I intend.

P x

So gutted to hear the news. Will pop in for some sweeties for my mother soon.

Hey Pauline. I’m so sorry to hear this. A stop for a chat and a bag of bon bons is the highlight of my trips to Dartmouth Road. I hope you’re next project is even greater and grander.

Greater and grander! Well @pauline I hear the Capitol is still available

oh nooooo
My hubby is gutted that he wont be able to get sweets…

Good luck @Pauline in your next adventure

Thanks again everyone for the lovely comments

IF I can pull off and get permission for what I want to sink my teeth into next it will be amazing for the local community and the local traders & get the high street buzzing at weekends

Like I said I have some homework to do and am meeting @Michael & @JohnRussell next week to get opinions and advice, and off course I will be speaking to @Anotherjohn too for advice and his opinion as I value all of their opinions and advice as they have been involved in community goings on longer than I have.

@MajaHilton I’d also love to have a chat with you about what I want to do and hear your opinion.

P x

Hi Pauline

It was great to finally meet you earlier today - just in time it appears!

Best of luck with your new venture - I have nothing but admiration for people like yourself who set up businesses for themselves, and those who do lots of community work on top of that.

Al

Hi Al

It was lovely to meet you today, and thank you.

Was great to have a chat with you today, and hope the family enjoyed the sweets you picked up today.

Pauline

Can we start a campaign to crowd-purchase and crowd-eat all of @Pauline’s remaining stock? I’ll gladly make the trip from Tunbridge Wells to help out!

That’s so funny Chris, but everyone will probably be sick.

Though if you really want to do it I’ll post the last day of opening.

Bonkers

I’m not just thinking about you, @Pauline - I think we need to consider the local dentists your closure is putting out of business!

Hahaha

That’s funny.

Yeah happy to be involved.

Stay right where you are!
There is limited stock left and there could not possibly be enough sweets to go round. I just hope there is enough left for Halloween. I suspect the parents of little monsters will be stocking up early this year just in case!

Sad to hear about closure Pauline. You’ll be fond memories of a traditional old school sweet shop for many.
I’m intrigued to find out about your next venture, but for now we’re left on an ellipsis…

Good Luck in your next chapter
To be continued…

I will pop over shortly

Thanks for popping by for a chat today Maja

I will be keeping stocked up as normal until I close, had a great chat with @MajaHilton today and feeling very positive my new venture will work.

Meeting @Michael and @JohnRussell on Monday to go over my plans too.

And @Anotherjohn is back from his break on Monday too.

Really positive about the new venture I want to go ahead with and am so lucky I have the support and experience from all mentioned here,especially @Anotherjohn who has been absolutely amazing and is supporting me in my decision to sink my teeth into something new, thanks boss xx

Can’t wait to hear the new plans, @Pauline! Keep us informed

Sure will Chris, but got a lot of work to do over the coming weeks

Sorry to hear this, but looking forward to what you do next!

Thank you, hope I don’t disappoint

You are merging with Willy Wonka and there will be a chocolate factory in Forest Hill.

If only, but not so Sherwood.

Pauline is already our Willy Wonka.

Aww thanks, I so much appreciate all the lovely feedback and comments.

Hope I can do all proud with my next venture after my 7 year itch

If you go in and ask with a whisper, Boots will discretely sell you an ointment for that Pauline.

Very best of luck, Pauline, with whatever you do next. You are a dynamo. I have a suspicion about what you might be up to, but may be totally wrong. Maybe we should do s sweep, winner gets a personalised lucky bag of sweets.

Pauline’s Place, Forest Hills first estate agent where you can get your nails done! You heard it here first

Haha Mr Man

And John @Londondrz I couldn’t possibly do that without adding a hairdresser

Thanks @RachaelDunlop you may well have guessed.

You probably have

@Pauline I doubt @RachaelDunlop has guessed that you intend to restore the Croydon Canal as an ice rink.

Now let’s stop the speculation and give Pauline some space, otherwise she probably will spill the beans before she has time to work out her options.

But if you see her digging a ditch in the middle of the night, you’ll know what she’s up to.

Ah, thanks @Michael I do need a bit of time out to get my head around new stuff

Though will be plodding on :rapidly

@Pauline Will your new venture still be able to offer the kids a safe space?

OH NOOO! The boys are always 'shall we go to Pauline’s?" Really sorry to hear this Pauline - it was growing into a nice parade of shops along Dartmouth road there. x

I agree.
With the Archie Parker, Leaf & Groove, Sugar Mountain and Chiarmello Florists all together I thought it had shaped-up nicely.
Don’t worry though, I will try my best to get a tenant whose business compliments these guys.

I will make sure I am around after School at least once a week for the local kids to come and speak to me in a safe, open environment.

Most probably the library, though I will have to check with “Safe Havens For Jimmy” if I can transfer this to the library one or two days a week, though don’t see it being a problem.

Funnily enough this is what made me upset about deciding to close the shop as I feel I will let kids down that have been bullied etc and trust me just to chat about it normally to me.

Again this is another reason for me moving on as I would love to work part time during the week with kids that are starting to go off the rails that I can pull back before they do, I have a good rapport with kids of this nature in the community and I tend to find out everything and think I could make a difference with them

Please don’t forget I will be working on my weekend venture and still open for business as Sugar Mountain as normal during my change of life guys lol

Superb Pauline, you are a credit to the community. I hope you are able to continue, but if you are not I dont believe there is a single person out there who would be able to say a negative thing about it. You have given a safe haven to kids for many many years and Charlotte knew she was able to go into your shop not only to buy sweets but if she felt uncomfortable or threatened.

Have a rest, you have earned it!

Nobody’s mentioned the ice creams. Where are we going to go for an eat-in double scoop ice cream and chat on a sunny weekend afternoon?

@Pauline Sad to hear you are closing down. Good luck with your new ventures. Myself and business partner would be very interested being new tenants of property. We are both locals to forest hill and looking to open a unique social enterprise business here. Let me know what is the best way to get in touch, if property still available?

Hi @etesfay2, I’m the landlord but unfortunately the shop is already lined-up with another tenant. I’d be happy for you to PM me with your details just in case any of my other shops on Dartmouth Road unexpectedly become available.

As a general point though, this brings me back to the idea that Forest Hill needs a joined-up approach between landlords, the Forest Hill Society, the Forest Hill Traders Association, prospective new start-ups and local estate agents so that we can try to shape the town centre with individual and interesting businesses instead of the knee-jerk quick lettings to new nail bars (for instance).

Anything SE23.life can do to help, I’m open to suggestions and collaboration as always

Thank you Chris; and for anyone else who’d like to expand on this I’m always avaiable for a chat.

Great idea. Would be good to see a more coordinated approach.

@Anotherjohn thanks would love to know about future shops that open up for sale or rent on Dartmouth road. We are ideally looking for a spot that is no more than 10mins from Forest Hill Station. Happy to PM you my details…not sure how to PM on here though

I have enabled PMing for you @etesfay2

thanks

Devastated. Forest Hill will not be the same without you.

Any official word on what will come next?
Who can follow in Pauline’s footsteps?

Typically as Sugar Mountain closes, Lordship Lane is getting Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe which is a chain of classic sweet shops.

I will see if I can get the prospective tenant to spill the beans.

I’ll ask too Mr xx

How about this one Etesfay2
43 Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill SE23 - Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward
https://www.kfh.co.uk › shops-for-sale

Sorry above link not working. Here is the link…

https://www.kfh.co.uk/commercial-properties/south-east-london-and-north-kent/forest-hill/se23/shops-for-sale/1000633/?v=2

If it helps, reference to C3 use is a different way of saying there’s a flat on the 1st and 2nd floors.

It’s also worth noting that the empty property next door has just been ordered to reinstate the shopfront (by removing the door to the flat), which might make it more appealing to a new tenant in the near future.

With the prospect of new businesses moving into that empty shop on one side and the redundant pub on the other I’m sure that the future for this property is going to be better than it is at the moment.

£350k for a shop and a flat in a location like this has to be intriguing at least.

17 posts were split to a new topic: Zero waste store coming to Dartmouth Road (former Sugar Mountain shopfront)