Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Suspicious coffee shops and bars to the north of Wood Green
Hello,
I'm writing this because I really feel at the end of my rope. I live between Bowes Park and Wood Green and I don't want to leave the area but I just feel so sad about some of the things I am seeing and its getting me down.
Although this technically happened Enfield it's right on the border, as in within 10 feet. In the summer there was this stabbing and fatality: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c04x9m4jzvmo - resulting this the Kuq E Zi coffee shop was closed all summer with forensic police there every day for months. It has now had its license removed and not opened back up. During this time the coffee shop Scutari next door shut down but now the police have gone they are open again but with the windows frosted.
The other side of Kuq E Zi is another Coffee Shop (Melodia) and 100 yard away is another Markos. They all have the same thing in common, no one in the area ever goes in them, they block out the windows so people can't see inside, they have the same small group of men that sit there 24/7 drinking bottles of water and smoking with their very expensive blacked cars parked on the pavement outside. They are very intimating, especially when its late at night, I have been harassed, there are fights, drug taking and makes the whole area feel unsafe.
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think they are used for money laundering and are related to drugs (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10126277/Face-face-devil-D...). There is no way these places can make enough to cover the business costs and rent from 4 people drinking water all day, they must be making money elsewhere. After the stabbing and the police investigation I feel like I'm right about this but I don't know how anything can be done.
There is now a new coffee shop / bar going to open Myddleton road, Bar 777 which has blacked out curtains. When my husband walked past and got speaking to what seemed like the owner, he said it was going to be a coffee shop in the front but to come because and there will be gambling in the back. Why he confessed this I have no idea but this seems again, another one of these "coffee shops".
I have spoken to councillors, emailed the neighbourhood watch police email, ASBO, Licensing - pretty much everyone to find out what can be done but either I don't get a reply or the emails bounce back.
I just don't know what can be done but the area seems to be getting filled with these businesses and nothing people who actually live here want to goto. The one councillor who got back to me told me to collect feedback from other residents or evidence, I have been trying my best but obviously the description of the businesses doesn't make me feel safe doing that but I'm honestly out of ideas.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has encountered these places and knows what could be done to help the area feel more safe.
Thank you
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lara on
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I saw some messages from @kotkas and @Gordon Farcas replied but their comments were deleted. I hope I caused no offence would the mods let me know what they said?
Harry are you saying there is nothing that can be done? Has this ever been dealt with in the past?
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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The replies were removed because they fell foul of our house rules.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Farcas on
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I don't know which rule led to my comment being removed. I simply said that a lot of information was publicly available from Companies House which enables people to see the connections between the people running these establishments (at least on pager) and that it would be relatively easy for anyone with the time and inclination to monitor customer numbers and give that information to HMRC to see whether it correlates with VAT returns. I also noted that this was a tax investigation what brought down Al Capone.
I agree that it is scary that such matters are never discussed in case they draw uncomfortable conclusions. It was that thinking that led to some of the scandals in our northern towns. I'm not saying there is a connection between any of these establishments and the sort of thing that goes on in those towns. I'm simply saying that ignoring apparemt wrong doing for fear of upsetting a particular group or groups is not a smart strategy. We are all equal before the law and have obligations to society regardless of which group we belong to.
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Permalink Reply by Straw Cat on
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Hmm, the lack of responses to this thread is strange ... and a bit scary
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Scary? Why? I imagine the lack of replies might be because it relates to a location that is well beyond Harringay and even outside Haringey.
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But Hugh, HiL often includes issues on the fringes of Harringay or Green Lanes - and is therefore a huge asset to those areas.
But the phenomena noted is something that I've observed elsewhere and concerns no particular ethnic minority - for instance in Hornsey High Street where a certain large and stylish restaurant has been operating for several years but never seems to have more than a handful of customers.
We don't discuss it on HoL much, understandably, but gangs - including teenage ones - are very much part of our cultural life here. And it is worrying if councillors won't talk about it.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Not necessarily gangs. I’ve lived in the Ladder since 1984 and when we moved here there were lots of cafes called Something or Other F.C. At the front there was normally a rather shabby room obscured by curtains with blokes drinking tea and coffee but the real action was in the back where gambling went on.
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NT
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