Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Shop facelifts
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Glad that you've pointed this out. I've noticed the same thing. As far as I'm aware it's not public money. My sense is that this is a community of traders who've found that there's money to be made, investing and setting their roots a bit deeper. Traders see examples like Goykuzu having a huge leap in business as a result of a makeover (and in their case doubling in size) and it just makes commercial sense for established traders to follow suit. It also seems to be attracting new traders. I'm beginning to wonder if the pattern of shops being established for an incoming community reflects some version of Maslow's Hierarchy; start with the most basic need, food, and now we're moving up to personal care as hairdressers and clothes shops begin to spread. (I feel the rotten tomatoes coming. Okay, okay, I said I'm beginning to wonder. I'm not setting down a hypothesis here.).
I also wonder if these improvements are going to make it more likely or less likely that we'll start to see a more diverse collection of shops.
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Permalink Reply by Pip on
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I was just commenting on that with my husband the other day.
I guess it's the shop owner's version of keeping up with the Jones but I like that they all still look individual. I guess the other option is that a new sign writer has opened and has been giving significant discounts ;)
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In fact the sign maker opposite the Arena has just done his shop front. He's done it in mock Victorian. A new fashion for Green Lanes?
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Or we could go neon Hong Kong style, signs up buildings, hanging over the street ;)
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I reckon it's all a bit of a facade - bound to be a front for something that doesn't meet the eye.
Seriously, though, these new makeovers (some a bit superficial) do brighten up GL.
Gokyuzu (Watch the spelling, Hugh - and there should be three umlaut things over the vowels) is in a different league. I've just come from my first visit there and spent the best part of two hours over my papers, lamb shish, beer etc at a time (3.00 - 5.00pm) when most of the other restaurants are empty. At no point were there fewer than 16 and as I was leaving there were 28 or 30 diners, plus a few waiting for takeaways. Certainly shows the others the way to do business, with essentially the same familiar ingredients but much more enjoyably presented. Never thought I'd spend two hours so pleasantly in Ford's old open-front vegetable shop. But someone called Mrs Eds has a better (?pre-refurbishment) review somewhere.
But across the road Nafsika's Taverna (authentically Greek in its mezes and music - Maddy has a post on it with enthusiastic input from Jono and the owner and others) has abandoned whatever Greek and Homeric authenticity her old sign displayed, though a little grubbily.
'Nafsika' is no more than a naff surrender to our indigenous refusal to pronounce names in something like their original spelling. Hellenic Phonetics for Britannic Dummies, and no amount of twee pseudo-Greeky sign printing can disguise that.
Her previous one-word sign 'NAUSIKA' was all we needed. That it's a taberna should be obvious. Not quite an exact transliteration of Homer's original but near it. 'NAUSIKÁA' would be closer to the young princess who got the hots for Odysseus when she stumbled across him on the Phaeacian shore, shipwrecked, brine-soaked and bollock-naked in 'Nausikáa', Book Six of Homer's Odyssey. (Odysseus, for want of a fig leaf, tore a mighty branch from the nearest tree. They don't make'em like that nowadays, girls.)
Anyway, Nausi-káa = 'Burner of Ships'. Hope our Nafsika hasn't burnt her boats with that unhellenic sign.
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What about Re-Style, the hub of the community?
Getting a bit posh in there isnt it? All those lovely floral tributes from local businesses..
I saw a guy in there the other day who was the absolute spitting image of Al Pacino in Scarface. When you see a guy getting out of a very expensive car wearing a long camel coat around the shoulders-style, you have to start wondering..
Now you can do it all on Green Lanes: get married, get a haircut and beauty treatment, get your photos done, have a kebab and then upstairs for a late night game of poker
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Well, you could do all that for quite a while including a quick visit to the turkish eczane (chemists) for headache pills (or something else...) inbetween the pre-wedding haircut and nail therapy, sunbed, photos and wedding...
And all within a short length of GL. But those limos really do block the bus stop as they wait for all of the above to happen!
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I really don't understand the amount of the same types of business...kebab shops, hairdressers or jewellers...how can they all survive? I would love to see more variety, especially on the food side. I do love Turkish food, but it seems to be the only option in GL.
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Permalink Reply by JeremyS on
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Our local high street has very intentionally been built up to serve a Turkish population. I think I remember seeing an article many years ago about the leader of the Harringay Traders' Association and Green Lanes becomong 'Little Turkey'. I suppose it's almost there. So the shops you see aren't primarily designed to serve a local community. They're designed to meet the needs of a certain segment of London society, many of whom visit from other parts of London to eat, groom and shop in their community. Nothing new in this. It's how cities seem to develop. LA is a great example (http://www.frommers.com/destinations/losangeles/0014021211.html). But this monoculture is not my choice. I'd choose more diversity, a set of shops designed to serve a neighbourhood.
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Permalink Reply by Mr Growbag on
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I'm surprised that people don't feel there's enough choice of food locally. I love this area (among other reasons) for its culinary diversity. Sure we're lucky to have such a great choice of Turkish/Kurdish restaurants but that's far from all. Off the top of my head:
Bianca - Italian pizzeria;
Papa John's/Pizza Hut
China City - Chinese noodle bar;
The Village - Bulgarian;
The Garden Ladder/Salisbury - pub food;
Cafe Lemon / Obergine - cafes which also serve pasta, main meals etc
La Ruche - cafe. French-style patisserie.
Paprika Shop - Hungarian coffee and cakes.
Numerous cheap-as-chips fried chicken outlets.
McDonalds and Costa at the Arena shopping park
And just up the road on Turnpike Lane there are two Indian restaurants (Jai Shri Krishna and Jashan) and a Malaysian/Singaporean place (Penang Satay house).
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. . . . and Nafsika's Taverna - authentically Greek, despite my disappointment with the new livery (above);
. . . . and Muna's Eritrean & Sudanese restaurant - roughly opposite the Hawes&Curtis temporary monstrosity of a face-lift.
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