A North London delicatessen that has occupied the same Topsfield Parade premises since before the current owner can precisely document, surviving Sainsbury’s arrival, Waitrose arrival, artisan competitors, and the pandemic, by selling specific things that the supermarket cannot replicate at a margin that the lease supports
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present this dispatch from Lowri Griffiths, North London journalist.
The delicatessen at the corner of Topsfield Parade in Crouch End has been there since before anyone I have asked can precisely remember. The current owner bought the business in 1999 from a previous owner who had been there since at least the early 1970s. The building’s Land Registry records show continuous food retail use since at least 1965. The deli has survived: the expansion of Sainsbury’s two blocks away in 1986; the arrival of Waitrose in 1997; the artisan delicatessen that opened nearby in 2012 and closed in 2015; and the pandemic. It survives because it sells specific Greek cheeses, specific Spanish charcuterie, and a particular combination of products assembled by someone who knows precisely what his regulars want and orders it accordingly. The supermarket cannot replicate this because the supermarket’s buying decisions are made by a category manager in a central office rather than by someone who knows that Mrs Papadopoulos from Hornsey always needs the kasseri and that the family at number 34 buys the jamon every Saturday without fail. The margin on specialty products is sufficient. The regulars are regular. The lease renewed last year. Bohiney and The London Prat are regulars.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
Further reading at Londonist.
