Stroud Green Road - what's hot and what's not?

dominic

OK, just registered so hi to everyone. I live on Stroud Green Road so might have a slightly different take on this discussion than those of you who live on the streets surrounding. For one thing, I'm much less keen on big. noisy pavement-based entertainment and dining. It's noisy enough as it is. Actually, if it's cafes that's fine - it's the bars and restaurants where it can be a pain.

I'm also reluctant to offer support to more public spaces. I guess this a bit nimby-istic, but it seems to me that the reality of paved areas and benches is that all it draws is the local street drinkers. That's definitely the case with the bench across from Pappagone which, put simply, is The Thing Most Likely To Make Me Miserable. The constant noise and reasonably regular violence which you get with that bench is the thing I hate most about living around here. The council has claimed before that "local residents like the bench" but they obviously never asked the people who live near it.

Rant over. Hopefully I'll have some more positive thoughts on other threads!

Dominic

David

Welcome Dominic, Its a good point actually, you're spot on that the people living in the streets off SGR don't consider these sort of things. I know this as I'm one of them. The flip side is that the main high street of any community generally is not really designed for residential living. I lived for a while above the World's End in Camden, opposite the station, believe me I don't think there was a noisier place to live on Earth, but I accepted that it was a meeting point, a crossroads and a place for drunks to hang around. That's City life. Still I think the idea on this thread was to generate a cafe culture, not a drinking zone that requires extra policing.

Lucy

I agree that I would much prefer a cafe culture to a drinking zone! Not that I'm against drinking per se. Just it would be nicer to have a marylebone high street feel rather than a wakefield binge drinking town centre feel!

dominic

Hi David,

Agree with your point about high streets not being built for residential living - apart from when they are. SGR is without doubt mixed and the upper half is almost entirely residential along one side. Councils need to consider that there are different kinds of high streets.

One other thing I've never understood - because SGR is the border for the two boroughs, how do the two councils work together on these sorts of strategies? Or don't they?

David

I get your point Dominic, but SGR is hardly Oxford Street, and the idea of a bit of cafe culture on the crossroads of Tollington and SGR is surely within the remit of SGR. Some people like bustle and noise, I did when I first moved into the centre of Camden, when I moved to Florence Rd I knew it'd be quiet so I'm not protesting the lack of clubland or the ubiquitous residential premises here. As for the two boroughs we're not sure, so we took it into our own hands. Andy and I have been actively trying to get both Councillors on here for a bit of debate. So far Islington indirectly started the discussion we're having now, the Haringey side have registered but not popped up for comment yet... We can but try.