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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

The new Green Lanes bars and cafes opening between Pemberton Road and Effingham Road are beginning to show a clear trend...

New trendy Polish restaurant about to open next to Yasar Halim

Brouhaha doing great guns next door 

Passion Cafe with a great new Chef (old Carpet Shop)

New American style Bar and Burger place on the corner (old Obergine) about to open

The inimitable 'Blend' cafe further up

Jam in a Jar bar, food and music venue - now well established

and probably others I've missed...

Next it'll be a delicatessen and a Waitrose....

No complaints provided we don't replace the Mediterranean buzz of Green Lanes with a scene that aspires to Crouch End (& priced accordingly)!

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Anyone who can describe Crouch End as a yuppy ghetto has never lived in a real ghetto ( or a war zone, for that matter  )

I have a similar problem with the use of the word ghetto. A ghetto is a place where you are either forced to live or have no choice but to live in. Having said that I am not going to get upset about it , complain to the local press or send in a freedom of information request about Christopher's use of it.

Christopher made some very good observations in his long response but rather blunted its impact with his followup piece re yuppy ghetto and friendly bombs but I will assume that no real malice is intended. I was drawn to Crouch End in the late seventies because I worked at the telephone exchange and the North Area HQ was based here .....what is now flats and the M&S building in Crouch End Hill. Back then CE was a very mixed and diverse area with an alternative feel because of the students from Hornsey College of Art. My immediate neighbours were punk students and a West Indian family and directly opposite Michael Mansfield (the barrister) live with his family. There were many Greek Cypriots and Irish and West Indians in the area. The Queens pub was a drug haunt and burglar break-ins were more common. But Christopher, things change but thirty-five years on my reasons for choosing CE remains the same. The history of CE indicates that like Notting Hill and other gentrified areas in London it is returning to its original demographics but we probably will never have the equivalent taking afternoon tea in Wilson's department store while a band played on. So, while we may feel powerless against the private landlords, Russian oligarchs and opportunist council members we can embrace the diversity within our borough and do our best to maintain it rather than building barriers. 

Everywhere changes over time, to think otherwise is a pie and mash, up the apples and pears, lor love a duck fantasy. Harringay is not the same as it was when we moved here 30 years ago and won't be the same as it is now in 30 years time. A three bedroom house on the Ladder knocking £900,000 is what will encourage landlords to hike rents (not that many need that much encouragement) rather than a growth in asymmetrical haircuts and wearers of large, red framed glasses.
As for Waitrose, I remember when the arrival of Sainsbury and then Tesco was the death knell of Green Lanes shops. It wasn't. People who want to shop at Waitrose will shop there wherever it may be (29 bus to Holloway Road) if that is what they want and ditto Green Lanes grocers.

Michael (who has large, red framed glasses)
Another think hiking up rents in my situation is that previously I was competing with other singles and couples seeking to rent one bed flats. Now I'm competing with groups of sharers who have to live in one bed flats as they can't afford bigger flats or houses around here. Landlords know this and turn a blind eye to it but know that they will get the higher rents.

Christopher, how can you call Crouch End a "yuppy ghetto"? And how could you refer to SouthTottenham as "riot-torn"? (in your previous post) And compare Claire Kober to the KKK? (also in your previous post)

I don't see how Crouch End is a ghetto - not at all (as Michael has correctly pointed out). 

The riots were in the postcode of N.17 which is not South Tottenham. Definitely not! They were in Tottenham (without the South).

I am no fan of Claire Kober or Haringey Labour, but what you said is just way over exaggerated.

And I don't believe Harringay is going through "Crouchendification" or gentrification, these are just slight changes which every area goes through!

Btw, I don't see the need of that "I speak as a Labour Party member" excuse. 

The term was used figuratively, not literally. Sorry to all of you who are so desperate to take offence, but it's time you all learned about the use of metaphor. Also, I never said anything about "war zones". The distinction between north and south Tottenham is neither here nor there, and the rioting extended over a wide area, including Wood Green. I'm surprised, given the poverty in the area, and the degree to which the Council's policy is to drive up property values and drive out of the borough anyone who is poor, that there is not more unrest. Kober is a petty local Stalinist dictator, and her inner cabal runs the Labour majority group by a campaign of terror and corrupt candidate selection procedures (see recent correspondence on this forum). None of them are worthy of the labour movement. Attlee, Gaitskell, Nye Bevan, Wilson, even Callaghan or Healey, would not recognise them. Jerry, you are living in a dream world if you think otherwise. Also, if you don't realise the relentless gentrification which is going on in the area, you are completely blind. 

No Christopher, it's not really fair at all to call an area riot-torn when there were no riots there. Please stick to the facts.  

Billy - Funnily enough, I also slept through the riots. Mostly because there was none going on locally. South Tottenham continues to be the quietest place I've ever lived (too much so, at times). 

Thank you Billy Hole and Abster for clarifying. And thank you for pointing out the huge differences between South Tottenham/Seven Sisters etc. (N15) and Tottenham (N17). I agree that it is not fair to call an area riot-torn when there were no riots in that area!!!

Also, thanks Billy for pointing out that the demographics of Crouch End have not really changed in the last 20 years.

And Christopher, I feel that Claire Kober has been incompetent and has made many decisions not in the interests of Haringey & I'm not a fan of hers and not a Labour supporter...but the way you have described her is unfair.  

Tottenham Hale is in N15 and very definitely was riot-torn.

Got to agree with you on all the main points there. Lets add on that David Lammy is no Bernie Grant, who not only would have stood up for Tottenham youth but also would have fought against austerity, war and all the nasty cuts that Lammy keeps his trap shut about. What Chris is talking about is the widening gap between politicians and the people. Haringey Council IS run by an undemocratic cabal who reflect the New Politics, ie reflect market forces, privatisation etc and ignore the public who  are regarded as passive consumers. 

>>Haringey Council IS run by an undemocratic cabal who reflect the New Politics, ie reflect market forces, privatisation etc and ignore the public who  are regarded as passive consumers. 

Is there a Council that isn't and what should be done about it?

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