Oh dear, it’s happening again.
Dear Big Food, please don’t open here as you will spoil the oh-so-individual ambience of the high street.
Yesterday north west London, today Walthamstow where residents have heard that a Gail’s bakery is coming to town and they just don’t want it. “Hundreds sign petition opposing Gail’s Bakery plans to open in Walthamstow Village” screamed the Evening Standard’s headline. The petition’s organiser says the “vibrant local neighbourhood” is better served by existing “local, independent and family-run businesses”.
Enough already. This is so bad on so many levels.
First, if Gail’s does open in Walthamstow, how exactly is that going to damage the tone of the place? Is it actually displacing a “local, independent and family-run business?” You can layer on top of that, with a huge dollop of cultured butter, the irony of young professionals moving into a once less affluent area, as they have been over the past decade.
Second, take the longer view. Is Walthamstow, even with a Gail’s there, a better, more enjoyable place to eat, drink and shop than it was, say, 20 years ago? The answer, as with pretty well every Zone 2 London high street, is yes.
Third, you don’t have to eat at Gail’s when it opens. You can still enjoy your sticky buns from “local, independent and family-run businesses”. Chances are you won’t, though, because Gail’s stuff is good. Yes, you will pay £4.10 for a sausage roll, but that’s because you can be confident about the quality of the meat and the fat that goes into the pastry.
On top of all that, the history of middle-class London railing against The Man invading their locale is embarrassing to say the least. As Sathnam Sanghera wrote in The Times several years ago, everyone frequents a new indy outlet opening, promising to come back. Then never does.
And be careful what you wish for with your sentiment-drenched petitions, especially if they succeed. In 2016, howls of rage greeted the attempt by the Benugo chain to take over the rather dismal café on Hampstead Heath at the foot of Parliament Hill. Rather than fight a losing battle, Benugo pulled out. Today the café remains dismal, serving up sloppy breakfasts and sad salads. Take a look at the photos on Google if you don’t believe me.
So my message to Mr and Ms Angry of Walthamstow? Chill out and go with the flow. You’ll be fine. If my own eyrie of West Hampstead is anything to go by, you’ll survive Gail’s – we have. We also have Chipotle, Costa, Starbucks, Caffe Nero, and other exemplars of Big Food, with Five Guys coming soon.
But we also have more thriving indy coffee shops, restaurants and bars today than in the 40+ years I have lived there. Best of all, we have the Bridge Café, home of the perfect fry-up and bacon sandwich. Indeed, the Bridge is the only outlet on West End Lane where you can get toast rather than brioches and cinnamon buns.
And soon we will also get a prime example of slow capitalism, as La Crêperie de Hampstead opens its second branch on West End Lane – just 47 years after it set up just up the hill in what the locals like to call old Hampstead.
Richard Lander has been at Citywire “since dinosaurs roamed”. Follow him on X/Twitter. Support OnLondon.co.uk for just £5 a month or £50 a year and get things for your money too. Details here. Photo from Gail’s West Hampstead website.