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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Tags for Forum Posts: Ball, ChickenT0wn, Loan, Tottenham

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Maybe so. They know their market: white, middle-class hipsters. Saw the boss in Tesco's the other day - making a grab for Tesco's finest in Tesco Value

Oh yes, if it looked more run down it would definitely attract more custom.

WHAT??

I've been to Chickentown at least six times since it opened, and I don't even eat chicken. If you want a greasy spoon or a grimy chicken shop there are plenty, but you won't find me there.
I found the posted comments on this article to be far more enlightening than the article itself. The same old critics.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could celebrate and support new local businesses, especially ones with a community focus.  Chickentown provides healthier food and training to local youngsters.  They are also a drop point for Crop Drop.

My blog is still in its infancy but it will be a good news only zone (if I don't love it, I won't write about it) and I plan to write about Chickentown as soon as possible. 

I thought we had already supported this one, to the tune of £300,000 ?

Perhaps in that case it is in our interest to help them pay back the loan?

I'm happy to do that since I've just realised they're across the road from my Spanish conversation class. Henceforth, Wednesday evenings are chicken evenings

That's my (non-) chicken evening too. Though we've made it a once a month thing now. I can recommend the fish burger. I don't have a favourite side, I love them all!

There isn't even a secondary school nearby! What's the take-up with young people? Stats, please.

Justin, If you're calling for an independent evaluation of Chicken Town as a health experiment, I would favour that. Though properly independent as I doubt that either of us would have much trust in figures cooked up and simmered in the usual Haringey propaganda sources.

As you know, not all the food places along Tottenham High Road and nearby are the same. So, if there is such an evaluation, it would be interesting to know if it includes and compares other restaurants. Including some which are local family-run businesses which put in their own money and labour. And have to borrow from the bank at commercial rates; not get a soft loan from the Council.
I'd also like to know if all of the restaurants and takeaways locally are selling chicken which - to quote Ben Rymer from Chicken Town in the Guardian - "... will be the cheapest of cheap. It’ll be this nasty, frozen stuff which is imported from Brazil. It’s pumped full of hormones. Ugh. It’s revolting.”

If Mr Rymer is accurate, I'd like to know. So we and other residents can choose to be more discriminating. Though I rather think that Turkish grills, salads and stews might be both healthier and less "Ugh"  than the greasy spoon caff Mr Rymer took a Guardian journalist. Curiously, she wrote that it was:
"... the first ever time I have tried any sort of fried chicken and it’s true, it is pretty revolting". 

And aren't some other chicken places thinking along similar healthier lines? Chiquen in Wood Green for example. They tell us their birds come from "happy little chicken farms in Suffolk". 
Nandos says that: "chicken welfare is of utmost importance", and that their suppliers operate to "Red Tractor" standard. (I've no idea if their birds have led happier lives than all the others.)

Even closer to Chicken Town, the last time I went to the cafe in Tottenham Green Leisure Centre they had some healthier options and a lot more food information on their menus. Is that working to change eating habits?
Which brings us back to the main and far more vital issue - the Council's intervention in prevention of ill-health with what could be seen as a well-intentioned Nudge initiative. Though I have no information which suggests that it was properly thought through or is being properly evaluated.
It may be. But  as I recall, the Council report which supported it simply had a long list of references.

Every time I go to the cafe in the leisure centre it's closed. I looked at the menu on Wednesday though and I wouldn't mind trying the fish finger wrap. But I can really only make it out for a meal in the evenings.

Update - I worked from home today but have a meeting near Tottenham Green soon so took myself out in search of coffee and wifi this afternoon.  Sadly Tri Prana was closed (despite their published opening times, but they're new so I'll cut them some slack) and I've found myself in Bickel's Yard.  Despite sitting in they've given me a paper cup - I don't think they have crockery.  And it's Costa coffee.  I will not pay £2.15 for average coffee in a paper cup - I will not be back.

Probably should have gone to Chickentown!!

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