Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Tottenham Green Market

Hi everyone,

On Saturday 28 June, I'm launching Tottenham Green Market, on Tottenham Green, the green space near the Town Hall in N15.

It's for six Saturdays initially, and depending on the response it will probably be a year round market after.

People I've spoken to about this have been very excited about the market and it would be nice to see people in and around Tottenham join us for this.

There is a huge amount of talent in Tottenham, and through the market they will now have a place to sell their products to locals too. Think of Wildes Cheese (who makes his cheese in Tottenham and is very popular) and Flourish Bakery (who supply hotels and restaurants with their great bread and pastries), plus Beavertown Brewery, who have just moved to a space in Tottenham Hale.

There will be stalls selling local, seasonal produce, cakes, coffee, pickles, jams and chutneys, street food
and more!

The opening hours are 10am till 3pm, and there will be live music and a bar too.

Hope to see you there!

Jessica

PS you can follow us on Twitter@TottenhamMarket

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Beewan Athwal on June 11, 2014 at 9:11

Looking forward to this. The ploughman's are always heavily attended. It'll be nice to have a weekly market so we can get together more often. Thanks for putting this together.

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Permalink Reply by Dave on June 11, 2014 at 16:41

Jessica must be moving house to Tottenham - smart move!

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Permalink Reply by 3af81zgd3d9kv on June 11, 2014 at 17:23

Hi Jessica I have a few questions re. the market. Is there an email address I can email? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by AnnaC on June 12, 2014 at 7:29

This is great news - thanks Jessica. I can't make the first two but am already looking forward to the third. This is long overdue in Tottenham and I really hope it's a success. I agree a poster would be great so we can circulate.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 12, 2014 at 11:47

Now I'm really puzzled. What exactly is long overdue in Tottenham?

Where is the Tottenham where this hasn't happened? This may seem a silly question. But in lots of discussions about Tottenham people seem to have a different "mental map" of the place; what it dies and doesn't include and where the boundaries are.

So I have the feeling that there's something I'm missing in the discussion here. Because there have been small markets with stalls in different places for many years. Sometimes they worked; sometimes not. For exmple, there used to be one in the larger playground at Earlsmead School in Broad Lane. I know about it because I was a school governor there for several years. It was later discontinued.

There's a regular small market outside Tottenham Sports Centre 701-703 High Road which has run for many years.

Nor do I quite grasp the idea that we should turn attractive green open spaces into markets.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 12, 2014 at 12:21

Of course, Jessica, I'm always happy to agree to differ. Although in this case I still don't know what I'm disagreeing with. (Actually it was Anna C's comment that I didn't understand.)

But in any case, as I live in Tottenham and love the Green - which is two pieces of scarce public open land - I think it's entirely reasonable for me and other residents to raise questions about what's happening there. But If you don't want to get into a discussion that's perfectly fine.

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Permalink Reply by pamish on June 12, 2014 at 13:22

From the above, this is +/- a food market. Not just any food, not even M+S food, but Ploughmans type food, at a fiver a burger (@ Harringay prices). So this is something new. The market in Earlsmead school was a boot sale, and was closed because so much of what was offered was stolen goods or knock-off DVDs.

South Tottenham - SoTo - people are not likely to schlep up to Spurs/the Sports Centre to shop. I went to the huge new Sainsburys there for a look last week, and they didn't have the tea I wanted. So meh, again. Not many people employed either, it's all run by robots and two busy till operators.

You forgot the existing market at Wards Corner, but that of course is an indoor market with fixed stalls, no competition from a village green type affair.

I'd like to see something happening on Page Green, the green strip alongside Broad Lane. TfL were meant to be improving it as part of the gyratory work, nothing yet but maybe it's part of the much-needed snagging. Meanwhile it's shelter for rough sleepers, no spikes.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 12, 2014 at 15:37

Pam, I hadn't forgotten Wards Corner market.

On the contrary, in my amused scepticism about throwing ever more public money at creating a Cultural Quarter around Tottenham Green, I even suggested that Haringey staff who go on about café culture should "talk to the Latin American traders at Wards Corner" who've actually made a success of this.

So what's planned is a "village green type affair"? And "no competition" to the existing businesses which have to pay rent, minimum wage (?) and business rates; and have a waste contract. Well, maybe you are right. Although for some marginal local businesses paying off loans, that may not be the case.

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Permalink Reply by pamish on June 12, 2014 at 22:59

'Village Green' ie centre of a self-defined area, with turf. Stalls are temporary, put up for the day. They pay rent to Jessica who pays rent to LBH (or whatever private company now owns our green spaces). I guess they pay themselves whatever they can earn on the day, less taxes, if they do well it will be above minimum wage, but it's their risk. It may be that they will also use the now re-paved space in front of the Town Hall and Bernie Grant Centre, as well as the grassed area. It's all being done up in a £million+ scheme so this is part of the re-branding.

Tottenham is gentrifying at a terrifying rate, and without much having been knocked down so far. All the Ploughman's events, which are targeted at those who will pay higher prices for quality food+drink, have been stuffed to the gunwales. There's room, and provision, for all sorts. I think £5 is the right price for a burger, that's what it costs not to torture the meat. Others may disagree.

I'm sure you'll be among the first there on the day, unless like me you're off to Gay Pride which unfortunately clashes with this first week.

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Permalink Reply by pamish on June 12, 2014 at 23:32

PS 'No competition' because there will be little overlap of shoppers. eg Already Costa is full a lot of the time, and just as full is Pueblito Paisa, yards away, another coffee + cake shop (sort of) but with different clientele, many of whom travel miles to be there (not like Costa I suspect).