Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
High street changes
You may have seen the Guardian’s report of a high street survey comparing types of business now with those in typical high streets in 2019. No point in repeating it all here (link below) but I popped my St Ann’s postcode into the search field and got some headlines for a composite of GL and WGR. Since 2019, in our area, there are:
13% more barbers and hairdressers
Twice as many amusement arcades
100% more restaurants
A third as many banks and 21% fewer cash machines
and
40% fewer bookmakers
than in 2019.
Most of this is easily observable walking around (though I hadn’t clocked the bookie reduction), but it’s quite interesting to see it quantified, and as a reflection of national trends.
Full story here:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/jan/28/how...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Linda Davies
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In the parade of shops on Green Lanes which stretches from Falkland Road to Frobisher Road my husband told me yesterday that the car show room, which has been there for as long as I can remember, has gone and just before where that was sited there is a new Barber's. How many Barber's does anyone need, they are springing up all over the place.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh
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Those are both spaces with unconventional histories. The car show room started life as the garden of The Queens Head and was host to all sorts of cabaret and musical shows. The space you’re referring to that has just become a barber is, I’m assuming, what used to be the Om Shaktivel Temple. That started off life as the entrance to the Constitutional Club, a Conservative-aligned social and political hubs.
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fascinating stories, thanks Hugh! (And yes you are right re the new barber’s venue - it’s where the temple used to be)
Anyone knows what’s happening with the space that hosted the second car show room?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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Out of interest I did a search on the area I grew up in, in Sunderland, and the results came back as
Going up
Barbers and hairdressers, 20% moreCafes, snack bars and tea rooms, 50% moreRestaurants, 100% upBookmakers, 100% upDiscount stores, 100% upGoing down
Cash machines, 50% downGymnasiums, sports halls and leisure centres, 50%Its a very different area to Harringay but seems to share some similar characteristics in retail change.
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Michael — Yes, I suppose the overall point is that chunks of straight retail have gone online or to retail parks, leaving high streets mainly to services that have to be delivered in person.
Of course, percentages can be a crude measure anyway — the amusement arcade increase might be two now instead of one previously — but, given the failure rate of catering outlets, for instance, I wonder if it also suggests that high streets are more vulnerable now to having empty shops and consequent loss of community feeling since other shops have departed?
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