This might not mean much if you don’t have children or aren’t a computer gamer, but this summer my kids have educated me in the Pokemon Go sites of Forest Hill.
It turns out that there are quite a lot of Pokemon Go stops and gyms around here (Library, Pools, Railway Telegraph, Honor Oak pub, the Lady Mural to name just a few) and the kids were excited to discover that the Horniman museum is a Pokemon ‘nest’ (which is rare). So if you are ever in the Horniman Gardens and see bunches of children (and a fair few adults) wandering around with mobile phones shouting ‘I got a Pikachu’, now you’ll know what they are up to… To be honest I have never seen so many teenagers in the Horniman gardens before.
People travel around the city to visit Pokemon sites so I guess the Horniman don’t mind if it helps their cafe sales and they might get some potential visitors out of it too!
Pokemon Go in Forest Hill
The Pokemon players in this house were very excited to discover the Horniman Gardens are a nest. Pikachus acquired all round! The 18 year-old kept herself busy while waiting for her A-level results by getting out and walking a lot this summer, looking for different terrain to catch different pokemon. It’s been quite sweet really.
I got into a fight outside the Horniman and had to run away as my Hypno was getting thrashed by a bigger pokemon. I’m pretty certain I don’t know what I’m doing yet. Any tips for a level 8 novice?
I worked out exactly where the gym was at Horniman because I saw a group of youth hanging about acting in a suspiciously non-suspicious way.
My daughter was generously helping out her dad the other day, teaching him some of the more advanced Pokemon lore. Five minutes later he said: ‘Oh, I’ve just taken this gym’. Daughter tells him through gritted teeth that’s really good for a novice, and did he know that was HER team’s gym?
Sorry Michael, I can’t help, my children and I are novices too! I did get into one scrap outside St Saviour’s Church, but was completely beaten and haven’t dared try again.
Yes it’s quite sweet, my daughter made friends with a couple of boys in Horniman Gardens, they were comparing their Pokemon collections and sharing tips, whilst I sat on a bench admiring the beautiful herbaceous borders and chatting to the boys’ grandma. All quite civilised really.
Horniman also has free wifi which probably helps.
I caught two Pikachu (s?) at the horniman when I first started playing - I don’t know how a nest works but we were there on Sunday for the Brazilian music and there were lots of us middle age losers playing quite obviously. My partner was disgusted but I caught loads including a Mr Mime! Wandered round Canary Wharf for ages today catching them before realising I should probably go to work…
I didn’t know what a nest was either until I was enlightened by the grandma I chatted to, who seemed more clued up about it than me! It’s a place which has a lot of Pokemon, and where you are pretty much guaranteed to catch a particular type (Horniman is a Pikachu nest). But that’s about as much as I know.
It’s definitely one way to get everyone out of the house anyway!
I live in FH and can confirm Horniman to be a great place for Pokemon, and with Dulwich Park down the road you’re never short of good areas. I’m level 28 atm 
My best advice is to not power up ANYTHING you catch. The higher your level the higher cp pokemon you will find, save your stardust until you have high level pokemon you definitely want to keep. Your main goal is level up. The best way to do this is using your lucky eggs at strategic times, and catch every Pidgey you see! They are cheap to evolve and doubled with the lucky egg you can get 1000xp at a time.
There are various nests around London.
Holland Park: Bulbasaur
Greenwich Park: Charmander and Abra
Dulwich Park: Magikarp
Imperial War Museum: Eevee
To name a few.
Oh dear we are only level 11 - total novices!
Crystal Palace Park is also a good place for catching Pokemon.
The kids were pleased when we popped out to the shops at the bottom of Brockley Rise, and discovered the gym at St Saviour’s church and quite a few Pokestops (2 at Dalmain School, St William of York, Honor Oak pub). They no longer moan about coming on errands with me!
Even Horniman Museum staff are poke-fans! See the Horniman blog posts here, with more info on catching Pokemon at the Horniman:
http://horniman.ac.uk/get_involved/blog/pokemons-pikachu-invades-horniman-museum
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/get_involved/blog/pokemon-sighted-at-the-horniman
(Admin - I wasn’t sure if it was OK for me to copy and paste the info from the Horniman blog, so I have just put in the links)
Absolutely no probs copying and pasting from the @HornimanMuseum blog to here from my point of view (although they might prefer we didn’t)
Unfortunately, it seems Pikachu has become bored of our little Horniman, and has migrated (I.e the nests have changed a little) seems we are now surrounded by Sandshrew, another mouse pokemon. Be interesting to see how busy it will be with pokemon goers now that pikachu has gone.
Feel free to post any links to blogs in the forum.
We have loved seeing Poke-fans in the Museum and Gardens this year.