London Coffee Talk Thread - Page 24

Djeffery · #**461** Posted **Mar 5, 2024, 10:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by haljackey

Visited Westmount mall for the first time in ages. Dollarama is there now

Ages is right, Dollarama has been there going on 2 years now lol. In case you missed it, Shoeless Joes is now a Kelsey's too lol.

Djeffery · #**462** Posted **Mar 5, 2024, 11:00 PM**

Down at Covent Market, Blackburn Radio station Classic Rock 98.1FM is taking over the former CTV studio. Craig Needles, who used to do the morning talk show on CFPL 980 until a few years ago, does the afternoon drive show on that station as well as a couple times a week podcast in the format of his old talk show, will be hosting his radio show there every Friday, as well as on days there are special events at local downtown venues like Bud Gardens, Harris Park (Rock The Park etc) and London Music Hall. He will also record his Friday roundtable podcast there. I highly recommend his podcasts, given the lack of local news radio here anymore, and the Friday roundtable is typically entertaining, depending on who the guests are, and unlike radio, swearing is allowed. He did an hour with the police chief and chair of the police board last week that I really suggest people give a listen to after the recent budget debates.

MolsonExport · #**463** Posted **Mar 6, 2024, 8:04 PM**

i have lived in London since 2005. I go to the market about once a week. In that entire time, I have never seen CTV use that studio.

manny_santos · #**464** Posted **Mar 6, 2024, 8:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

i have lived in London since 2005. I go to the market about once a week. In that entire time, I have never seen CTV use that studio.

It was used by their morning show starting in 2000; the show was hosted live from the Market. They gradually used it less and less, and by maybe 2008 the show was mostly being done from the regular news studio. Then the show got cancelled in 2009.

That studio has basically sat abandoned since 2009.

MolsonExport · #**465** Posted **Mar 7, 2024, 6:36 PM**

CTV wonders why less people watch it. It has become the Canadian Toronto Video channel. There is so little local content of any quality left outside of the biggest cities.

Don't even get me started on the London Free Press, which has become birdcage liner.

MolsonExport · #**466** Posted **Jul 7, 2024, 2:39 PM**

There is (finally) a (good) bakery in Hyde Park (Churis Bread opened a second location a the intersection of Hyde Park and Gainsborough). Next door is a Piping Kettle Soup/Sandwich place. An upscale Lebanese restaurant is coming soon just a few doors down. And there is another coffee shop (The Coppa) nearby on Gainsborough, in front of Unger's Market (and the Scoop Ice Cream).

We are a long way from pedestrian village utopia, but these are baby steps in the right direction, and just 10 minutes' walk from my home.

jammer139 · #**467** Posted **Jul 8, 2024, 2:56 PM**

Maybe a rare sight? Saw half a dozen or so Longnose Gar below the TVP bridge just east of Ross Park this morning. Apparently still on the endangered list.

see Fish of the Thames River poster link below.

https://thamesriver.on.ca/watershed-health/native-species/fish-of-the-thames-poster/

also a couple of large Carp and a Bald Eagle fly by.

Djeffery · #**468** Posted **Jul 12, 2024, 1:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

There is (finally) a (good) bakery in Hyde Park (Churis Bread opened a second location a the intersection of Hyde Park and Gainsborough). Next door is a Piping Kettle Soup/Sandwich place. An upscale Lebanese restaurant is coming soon just a few doors down. And there is another coffee shop (The Coppa) nearby on Gainsborough, in front of Unger's Market (and the Scoop Ice Cream).

We are a long way from pedestrian village utopia, but these are baby steps in the right direction, and just 10 minutes' walk from my home.

I noticed today that Edible Arrangements is also opening (open already maybe) in the base of that apartment building at the corner, moving from the plaza adjacent. I didn't actually notice how many businesses are left in that plaza, I wonder if they intend to demolish it to make way for the second apartment anytime soon?

jammer139 · #**469** Posted **Nov 6, 2024, 10:01 PM**

Drewlo and Auburn have officially sold part of their land holdings to UTRCA on the SE side of Sifton Bog. These undeveloped parcels are now fully in the conservation authorities hands after this land deal.

" Two developers have formally turned over a portion of the Sifton Bog to public hands.

Drewlo Holdings and Auburn Developments confirmed the sale of 7.23 hectares (18 acres) of land to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) on Wednesday morning."

https://london.ctvnews.ca/developers-sel...portion-of-sifton-bog-to-utrca-1.7100552

MolsonExport · #**470** Posted **Nov 8, 2024, 1:59 PM**

^great news. I am a big fan of the Sifton Bog and the surrounding trails, and I visit every second week or so.

MolsonExport · #**471** Posted **Nov 8, 2024, 2:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I noticed today that Edible Arrangements is also opening (open already maybe) in the base of that apartment building at the corner, moving from the plaza adjacent. I didn't actually notice how many businesses are left in that plaza, I wonder if they intend to demolish it to make way for the second apartment anytime soon?

The plaza is fully leased, with some new businesses, so I don't expect that they will demolish it anytime soon. In fact, I don't suspect it is going anywhere. Meanwhile the heritage house continues to rot...

Hyde Park is much busier nowadays. There is a mosque tucked into the medical building on Gainsborough, which has sharply increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The upscale Lebanese restaurant is now open, right next to Piping Kettle Soup/Sandwiches.

haljackey · #**472** Posted **Dec 5, 2024, 8:30 PM**

BBQ anyone? (3pm, Huron Heights)

MolsonExport · #**473** Posted **Dec 6, 2024, 3:31 PM**

My backyard looks the same. I shovelled four times yesterday alone, and I need to shovel again.

Djeffery · #**474** Posted **Dec 6, 2024, 9:50 PM**

It's ridiculous how localized this storm was. I live and work in Woodstock now, a drive to London as part of my job, and I have a few inches on the ground in my NW Woodstock subdivision. Our plow service came by a couple days ago but you can't even see the ridge of snow they pushed to the edge. Over on the other side of town near Toyota you can still see the grass through the barely more than a dusting of snow. Whereas the parking lots in the northern half of London are in mid-season form for the snow mountains already.

jammer139 · #**475** Posted **May 7, 2025, 12:59 PM**

New Music Festival planned for the grounds of London International Airport in the Fall targeting return of Western and Fanshawe students.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ne...or-takeoff-at-london-s-airport-1.7527984

Djeffery · #**476** Posted **Aug 5, 2025, 11:16 PM**

Was in the Holiday Inn on Wellington just south of Southdale today and saw a sign in the lobby that they are rebranding as a Candlewood Suites "soon". There is some renovations going on. I wonder if the attached restaurant will have a tenant when this rebranding happens. I can't even count how many names that restaurant has had over the years (more than the hotel itself has had lol). It was La Cage Aux Sports when it originally opened in the late 80's. A friend briefly operated in there as The Angry Goat after his family closed the Huron House but it didn't last long.

MolsonExport · #**477** Posted **Aug 7, 2025, 6:08 PM**

What exactly is going on behind the plot of land behind the old London Mall and that wretched strip mall just to the south (that used to have the Rexall)? I know that they were doing something to stabilize the creek, but there used to be a forest there, and it is now completely gone.

jammer139 · #**478** Posted **Aug 7, 2025, 7:32 PM**

This is the next phase of the Mud Creek rehabilitation project that has been ongoing for years and won't be completed until they do the rehab on the northside of Oxford St where ESAM is planning their new subdivision. This project has been really slow and started before the pandemic.

https://getinvolved.london.ca/mud-creek-phase-2

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What exactly is going on behind the plot of land behind the old London Mall and that wretched strip mall just to the south (that used to have the Rexall)? I know that they were doing something to stabilize the creek, but there used to be a forest there, and it is now completely gone.

MolsonExport · #**479** Posted **Aug 7, 2025, 8:17 PM**

much appreciated!

ssiguy · #**480** Posted **Aug 8, 2025, 2:41 AM**

Hey guys, I'm coming to London next week for 3 days as I'm visiting my sister who lives in Wardsville. I'll just be exploring my old hometown and seeing what's new. Obviously I'll be hitting downtown, RR, and Wortley but what about other areas. Is OEV worth the walk or would I become too depresses? What about SOHO, is it really just a name or are there some interesting areas? Also what about Blackfriars, I understand it's starting to develop?

Maybe a get together is in order but I'm only there next Tues afternoon to Friday night.