A Review of The Age Exchange, A Reminiscence Centre (with a cafe) Blackheath SE3
It’s all going to be ok… I don’t face a moral dilemma. I’m not going to have to lie in order to avoid destroying a charity’s reputation. I was attracted to the Age Exchange Reminiscence Centre by the glassy light interior, recently installed following a well publicised refurbishment. I ran in to sit at the atrium at the back, only to realise I’d missed the leather seated, book-shelved (fake) stoved area. So I went back. How cool is that? The reminiscence centre offers cosy retro for winter, and modern glassiness for summer. I’d never imagined that calling it the Age Exchange was a reference to the interior.
Glassy atrium at the Age Exchange
Both Interiors – compare and contrast
Guaranteed, this makes the Age Exchange one of the top Blackheath coffee shop listings for comfortable interiors. For that reason I would go back. Often.
And look at the dinky lovely toys all over the place. Miniature tea sets. I always wanted one of these.
I started young on this coffee shop mentality.
Retro toys at the Reminiscence centre
Which all leaves me morally free to tell you the truth about the coffee.It was dire. This was despite the presumably ornamental coffee bean machine on the top of it. How can it be possible to order a cappuccino and find black coffee under the froth? And do those machines use fake milk? After the coffee flavour, milk and consistency, is there anything left to grade about a cappuccino?
Fake stove
One of the exciting thing about the Age Exchange is the library downstairs. It’s a real live (a little little) library, forced out of its original home opposite the Post Office and rescued by some die hard campaigners (I do wish they’d rescued the room occasionally used for exhibitions. Us local artists are now bereft.)
The cake selection is very slight and could be added to, but satisfactory. We ate lemon cake. It was priced at £2 a slice, which means the re-vamped location has seen a 200% price rise, but this is still way ahead of the local competition.
I couldn’t tell if the staff thought we weren’t really supposed to be there but it didn’t say the ‘old exchange’ and my husband is getting on a bit. He spent the visit eyeing up the toasting forks. We needed something to cook marshmallows on our own smokeless fuel, and they can’t be much use on the fake stove. But we decided that stealing toasting forks from coffee shops (not to mention ones run by charities) is bad.
| Address | The Reminiscence Centre 11 Blackheath Village London SE3 9LA |
| Telephone | 020 8318 9105 |
Age exchange is indeed a unique place to visit. I have thoroughly enjoyed gazing through the excellent collection of antique objects, the old cooking utensils and top hats (there is even a model building on the roof of the archway into the coffee shop). I spent a long time just gazing at the old items; the more you look the more you see, and it is as though they all tell a story from the past.
Being a hot chocolate connoisseur, I invariably go for the milky, warm, chocolate delight. The age exchange ones win every time and I have to go back for a second helping. I was surprised to find out that it was actually a low fat hot chocolate as it was beautifully creamy with a subtle layer of froth on the top.
The friendly staff in the coffee shop are all volunteers who give up their time for the charity and do a marvellous job too.
Altogether a truly pleasant experience. I will certainly keep going!