What SGR really needs...

vetski

For stationery, do you know Fish & Cook on Blackstock Rd, just by the junction with Seven Sisters Rd?

quince

On the subject of kebabs, I heard a whisper that the excellent E Mono of Kentish Town are setting up an outpost near the station.  

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andy

If you go to European neighbourhoods, nice shops and restaurants don't necessarily mean expensive. A bakers, newsagents or local cantina could just be good, without being expensive. <div><br></div><div>I'd like a good tapas place - a spanish Petek, basically. I'd also like a decent wine shop, but I think what I'd rather do is have jack's invest in a refit and sell wine as good as his beer. I'd like Dunns to open a little satellite kiosk selling loaves and french bread, croissants and decent scotch eggs.</div>

TheMimsy

<div><br></div><div> I used to like "La Ventura" restaurant in Crouch Hill</div><div><br></div><div>It was the kind if unpretentious and reasonably priced  bistro I'd like to see in SG.  I have had many good meals there and was gutted when they closed down</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

andy

Yep, I liked the Ventura, too. It probably would do well now. The trade wasn't really there at the time.

miss annie

So really what everyone wants is to live in Crouch End but it not to be Crouch End. They have an(overpriced) old fashioned sweets in jars place, stationers, tapas etc. All the things people have mentioned here. They also seem to have a community that uses and support these places, that's the key to it all.

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JoeV

There really aren't many empty shops on SGR, so to me it looks like the community does support the local places we already have. The shops are a reflection of the people who live here, what they like and what they can afford. Maybe some people don't see themselves in that reflection or don't like it.<br>

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kreuzkav

I think the reflection is one that you can see over a few years rather than a few months.  Businesses have come and gone on SGR but the ones people want have stayed.  I think the ones that have stayed are individual.  Even the White Lion and Tesco have their own vibe here.

tomp

<div>definitely a need for some joined up / enforced street & pavement planning.. or sarah beeny</div><div><br></div><div>the stretch from la forchetta through to new kebab place (ex Chez Liline) has become a disgrace.</div><div><br></div><div>the two pound shops' wares encroach ever further onto the pavement each day, the Post Office's awnings become ever more encrusted with Pigeon shit..  needs a constructive intervention of some sort</div>

Patso

Amen

ChangN4N6

Yes I hope the sleepy Islingtön Cllrs are reading this. That area should really be the village square but it's a toilet with druggies and a bus stop . Who took out that nice Mountain ash tree i wonder. i admit the Xmas tree sales perk it up. But that's not all year. Chang

vetski

Another mention for La Ventura - really good food, and still miss it!<div><br></div><div>@andy, have you been to La Vina on Wightman Road (opposite Burgoyne Rd, by Harringay Station)? That's tapas, and it's good.</div>

miss annie

I agree Joe V. As I said in this, or one of the other very similar threads, there isn't anything I regularly need that I can't get in SG. For things like fabric, art materials etc I expect to go a bit further. I travel around thirty two London shops for my job and the only high street I've encountered that has absolutely everything requested in this thread is Walthamstow. It's worth a jaunt.

vetski

Just had a thought for @krappyrubsnif re hardware shops. Agreed that the place on SGR is somewhat pricey - but have you been to Mix on Blackstock Road? It's opposite and a bit beyond the library, and a joyful place to spend some time if you're a hardware/ironmongery nut. And they sell knitted cakes. What more could you possibly want?!

ADGS

Misscara - I have always been very happy with the newsagent on Tollington Park, and there's a stationer's just over the road at the beginning of Blackstock (edit - see this was mentioned on the second page). With you on the sweetshop, though.<div><br></div><div>The artisan bakery and Waitrose suggestions have already been sufficiently monstered, so can I just slap down the Craft Beer Co idea? The Leather Lane one is ghastly, all the atmosphere of the departure lounge in a provincial airport. Now, a Southampton Arms offshoot would be another matter...</div>

TheMimsy

@ Misscara<div><br></div><div>I went to CE today and noticed at least 3 shops closing down:</div><div>Eden, the shoes shop, Powder (very start of Middle Lane) and another random shop on the other side of the road, next to the gift shop "The Treehouse".  I don't bemoan "Powder" at all, given its ridiculous prices, but I think that all this is pretty indicative...</div>

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Peter Crumb

Big beer fan here. Really like Southampton Arms but we're decentishly covered with OD and Spoons for real ale. Though of course the Southampton Arms is far far better. I would love to see someone that sold more interesting craft beers. I agree that Craft Beer Co isn't great but Euston Tap, Jolly Butchers and Holborn Whippet are all examples of pubs that do the concept well. Would love something like that. Not sure how well it'd do though.<div><br></div><div>A proper bakery would be nice too. But don't think I've ever seen one that has been both good and reasonably priced.</div>

Peter Crumb

Oh also, I used to love sitting outside at that Italian Cafe on the corner of Tollington. Not the best cafe in the world but I actually liked the atmosphere. The new place just doesn't seem to cut it.

vetski

I went to Jack's yesterday for a bottle of fizz for our WI speaker, and happened to mention as I peeled off the price sticker that it was a gift - and was given a free pretty gift bag to put it in. Don't get that kind of service in a supermarket!

Mirandola

A pub like the Victoria in Bristol (tiny with about 12 real ales and a cider festival) would be ace. Agree that the White Lion could be a lot worse. Jack's is an interesting one. The stock and service are great, but the shop window's awful. I'd never have gone in if it hadn't been for this website. It'd be a shame if it went all off-puttingly posh, but I'd love it if looked like this place in Brussels: http://www.cityplug.be/en/Brussels/ZO4BSTJX_Shopping_Au-nom-de-la-biere.html

vetski

@Mirandola, same re Jack's - went in for the first time last Dec, because of comments on here. Till then, I'd barely noticed it!

miss annie

Gerry's in Soho has the best drink shop window. I quite like Jack's window, they need better signage though.

Idoru

miss a, you should offer to sort their window out for them! I bet you could make it look fab.<br>

Mirandola

@Idoru - what a good idea.

dorothy

I think someone should open a lingerie shop on SGR.    The one in Crouch End shut years ago, and I think the nearest one is in Cross Street, in Islington.<div><br></div><div>I've not bought a new bra for years now.    I quickly lose heart, faced with the hundreds you have to look at in John Lewis, Selfridges or M & S.   There's always a queue for the changing rooms on a Saturday.   Rigby and Peller is ok, but you have to make an appointment and can't just pop in on a whim.  Buying a bra on-line is tricky unless it's one identical to one you already have.</div><div><br></div><div>I probably would have spent several hundred pounds in a local shop over the last few years, even if it wasn't like somewhere in Shoreditch, a part of New York, (or Hackney Wick!) sell coffee or cake, have a yoga class etc.   I think if it was a lovely friendly boutique, not too top end, doing stuff for men as well, nice tights, maybe some hair accessories, (nicer than Claires), flowers in pots and had an on-line business on the side and responded to what customers wanted, it would do alright.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

miss annie

There's a lingerie dept. in James Selby's, they sell some good brands and Wolford tights there. There is a shop on Stoke Newington High St, no idea what it's like - looks fairly racy. Rigby & Peller in Conduit St. will take walk ins on a weekday and I'm pretty sure the one in Brent Cross does too.