I’m old enough to remember my granny reaching for a wicker basket rather than a set of car keys to go food shopping and maybe that’s why Royal Hill in Greenwich appeals so much. This is how shopping was and should be: buying meat from a butcher, fish from a fishmonger, and purchasing fruit and veg from a man who knows his onions. Local blogger ‘The Greenwich Phantom‘ has nicknamed the rather higgledy-piggledy parade of independent shops a short walk from the town centre ‘The Royal Hill Lovelies’ and that pretty much says it all.

At The Cheeseboard the window is piled high with bread and pastries and they stock over a hundred artisan produced cheeses as well as lots of good under-a -tenner wines to go with them. There’s organic and free-range meat at Drings the butcher and at The Creaky Shed greengrocer the colourful displays sourced from small farms in Kent and Sussex are enough to entice the most ardent salad dodger. Next door at La Fleur florist you can have a relaxing cuppa surrounded by gorgeous foliage. Last but by no means least, tucked away round the back there’s fresh fish from The Fishmonger Ltd.

If you need immediate sustenance you’re well catered for further up Royal Hill with great veggie breakfasts and coconut cake at Royal Teas and excellent antipasto platters and Italian ice cream at Buenos Aires Café & Deli. Greenwich’s maritime history means the area is not short on pubs either. At The Union, run by local micro-brewery, you can take your pick from their own unpasturised ales and bottled beers from around the globe. My granny would have been in her element!

TiYK Top Tip! Don’t come here expecting fancy modern ways like Sunday trading and late night opening. Some of the Royal Hill Lovelies keep pretty old fashioned hours with both Drings and The Cheeseboard closing for a half day on Thursdays.

Photo courtesy of Anne Helmond on Flickr