A Saturday in Deptford

I was sitting in the sun outside the Deptford Deli on Saturday when I came across the article in the Guardian about Deptford and its creative juices. I certainly soaked up enough of them at the weekend, starting with picking up a few books on the market followed by a gorgeous mixed meze for brunch at the Deli - the food there is excellent.

Next it was on to Laban for the end of year children's show. On account of the heat I had to have an iced coffee in the cafe there first, also run by Feast Your Eyes (who run the Deli) - not quite such a selection of food, but hey nobody ever got rich selling food to skinny dancers.

In the show there was some good dancing of course, but to be honest it's just a pleasure to sit in the Laban theatre listening to good music on their awesome sound system. The soundtrack to the performance included Squarepusher, Transglobal Underground, Nitin Sawney and The Prodigy - oh and a completely different tip The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams.

Then we went to the Deptford Arms for a bit to take in some of the Deptford Independence Festival, featuring music all day and most of the night at the Arms, as well as at the Birds Nest and the Albany. Highlight for me was Anthony.Love, a singer songwriter accompanying himself on a semi-acoustic bass. He did a good cover version of Bloc Party's Flux as well as some of his own songs (mural below is in the garden at Deptford Arms - same artist who did the recent Brockley station mural, I believe).

Finished up in the Duke, labanistas pub of choice, recently refurbished by the people behind The Dartmouth Arms in Forest Hill and the The Dolphin in Sydenham. It feels like it's about twice the size as when I last went there a few years ago, nice and airy with very comfy sofas. All in all a good day out in SE8.