Kentishtowner Weekly.
A bank holiday Highgate special, an outdoor party at the Bandstand, the reinvention of Kentish Town Stores and Trade on Swain's. Plus, readers' favourite Kentish Town pub revealed.
Welcome back to a bank holiday special issue of North London’s longest-running cultural title. How’s your August been so far? We’ve been mostly on the south coast, flitting between Brighton, St Leonard’s, Deal and Margate. Today we mark the rebirth of Kentish Town Stores, celebrate Highgate’s independent boozers, tip you off on a couple of free Friday night parties and reveal NW5’s most-loved boozer. See you on September 5th.
Kentish Town Stores reborn as The Good Mews
Rewind to early Jan 2020 and the charming Kentish Town Stores instantly became arguably the best place for coffee when it opened on the cusp of Covid. Combining artisan products with high quality food and coffee, along with evening wine nights and supperclubs - not to mention daytime co-working upstairs - was an impressive balancing act.
So it was a surprise to read owner Luci Noel’s (pictured above) recent post on social media. “This game ain’t easy,” she wrote, “and the last five years have really laid on some excellent twists and turns, but I had hoped to create something that would become part of the community, and these excellent humans, alongside all of our courageous customers, have really made it that.”
She is relocating the retail side of the business to Hampstead. “We’ll continue to offer functional homewares to elevate the everyday by British makers,” she says. “And we’ll also develop this into the future.”
The new owner of Kentish Town Stores - now rechristened The Good Mews, and focusing on “coffee, cake and sandwiches” - is Ross, “who I’ve had the pleasure of working with for some two years now,” says Luci. “He has a vision. For the good of the mews, his tenure as custodian of our plot in Kentish Town is just beginning. And we can’t wait to see where this glorious new era takes us. Sad for me. Exciting for him. A tale of two halves, like all the very best love stories.”
The new Stores is located in the old Antiques Emporium (Unit 3, 12 Heath St), opening Sunday 8th September. Follow @thegoodmewslondon for the latest on the Kentish Town cafe.
Bank Holiday special: Three to try in Highgate
Is Highgate blossoming? It would seem so, at least from an independent outlet perspective anyway (we know actually renting or owning there is beyond almost everyone’s budget these days). With long embedded memories of the area being home to chains like Cafe Rouge, Caffe Nero and Pain Quotidien, now it’s gently reinventing itself with a more captivating range of cafes, pubs and stores.
Last Sunday we swung by three very different boozers to see what was going on. That former Pain Quotidien is now independent pub The Crown, the latest from the small Northern Pubs Company, who also run the Haverstock in Belsize Park, the Old White Bear in Hampstead and the Prince Albert in Primrose Hill. It’s a nice 360-degree turn for a building that long housed - you guessed it - The Rose & Crown.
The Crown’s sunken back garden (below) proved a surprisingly shady oasis on a hot lunchtime, while its simple single main room lets the afternoon sun in at the front, with cosily crepuscular corners at the back. It was almost empty, which was fine for us, but we did worry that, if the denizens of Highgate don’t support their lovely high street, who will? They also serve excellent Yard Sale Pizza (read more on that here) and host live music.
After a couple of pints in the garden - and an impromptu chat with a friendly local dog owner or two - we decided to visit that slither of a boozer, N6 favourite The Duke. Highgate game-changer when it opened in 2013 as a craft beer bar, nowadays, as self-styled “Country Honky Tonk Bar”, its quirky interior is crammed with framed photos and posters, with servers in stetsons behind the bar and punters channelling fifties Americana in their sartorial style.
Rack City Ribs is the kitchen residency much raved about by none other than Jay Rayner - so for us it was a no-brainer to demolish a few dishes (pictured above). The six-hour smoked pork ribs on applewood were stickily moreish, the dark glaze lick-the-plate-clean delicious, sliced chilli and spring onion adding bite. And a brisket bap was so packed with eight-hour slow-cooked short rib (on beechwood) that it was piling out of its demi-brioche bun, especially when we tried to cut it into two to share. Special mention goes to exceptional chips - both crunchy and fluffy - while a cooling slaw proved a gentle antidote to the richness of the meat.
Of course we now needed to walk all this off, so our last stop before descending the hill back to our urban reality was The Wrestlers on North Road, a pub I hadn’t been to for years. Dating (astonishingly) back to 1547, its atmospheric panelled interior, candlelit even by day, not to mention original 16th century fireplace, still feels unpretentious. Even the roasts, which we watched fly out at around the £15 mark, looked huge and well-priced for this most affluent corner of London.
Highgate? In short, I think she’s still worth that steep climb, or, if you prefer, a post-prandial roll back downhill, not forgetting to gawp at the panoramic view of London unfurling beyond.
Bank Holiday special: continue to Abney Park Cafe
Let’s say you’ve refuelled in Highgate and want to continue walking over the long weekend. In that case, head down from Highgate along the shady oasis that’s the Parkland Walk (read about that here) and you’ll reach Finsbury Park in an hour or so.
Cross the park diagonally and follow the New River towpath down to Clissold Park - and voila, you’re in buzzy Stoke Newington. At the far tip of Church Street in the adjoining cemetery is the new Abney Park Cafe. If you’ve walked this far, you definitely deserve a good sit-down.
It’s here that the new cafe is located (pictured, top) with its beautiful alfresco dining area. With a menu courtesy of East London’s Sabel Foods, filter coffee is a reasonable £2.50 while lunch plates looked delicious - well-thought combinations like tomatoes, peaches and almond cream, or a galette of grilled aubergines with goat’s curd and smoked almonds. Afterwards stroll in the lightly spruced-up early 18th century cemetery, with its shady paths and sun-lit tombs, before a pint at the Auld Shillelagh. Follow @abneyparkcafe
Just a little note (I’d love you to read this)
Kentishtowner turns 15 soon - which (sorry to brag) isn’t too shabby for an independent food & culture site run on almost zero resources. And, as usual, a billion thanks to those who donate. But to put it into perspective, that’s just under 5% of readers in the last year. As some of you know, Substack thrives on paid subscriptions but we’re still trying to resist it if possible so everyone in the area can read this for free. If you’re sitting on the fence a bit, maybe just ping over a couple of quid? After all, that’s cheaper than a coffee almost anywhere these days. And if just 10% of the readership donated £2 each month I wouldn’t even have to do the cap-in-hand thing. Make a donation here. Thanks so much - Stephen, editor.
Bank Holiday free parties - and one for the diary
You want to start the last bank holiday of the summer with an almighty bang? Well, there’s a pre-Carnival party with Caribbean food by Vibe ‘n’ go at Tapping The Admiral tomorrow (Fri 23rd) from 6pm.
Meanwhile, up on the Heath, once again it’s Dig It Sound System’s annual beano on the Bandstand. Just for good measure, here’s how the rural idyll looked back in the day: lovely, eh? Anyway, there’ll be tunes from 5pm-ish til sundown, when the team and their myriad followers be decamping for an afterparty in the cosy Dartmouth Arms. Hopefully the weather gods will be smiling still - although the forecast is a little, er, uncertain. Brollies at the ready. Follow @digitsoundsystem
And if you’re a music fan, one for the diary: Camden Music Festival takes place right on the high street over three days from 12th-14th September, with six outdoor stages and a line-up of DJs and artists including Camden legends Soul II Soul and Jazzie B, Norman Jay and legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold. Follow @camdenmusicfestival
Pub poll: and the winner is…
A whole decade ago in summer 2014 we asked readers what their favourite local boozer was - and so it seemed timely to fire the question again in our last Weekly Substack at the start of August. After all, the neighbourhood has changed significantly in the last ten years.
Back then Camden Brewery had just opened, and both The Grafton and Tapping the Admiral were relative newbies. But what’s astonishing - at least in our minds - is that the top two remain in exactly the same position even in 2024. Yep, we can guess who’s number one and also who’s number two. Here are the results:
Trade: Swain’s Lane busiest new spot
Speaking of Highgate-Dartmouth borders, look at newcomer Trade on Swain’s Lane. Passing by on a weekend lunchtime, it was the only venue on the otherwise laidback curve of street to be absolutely jumping: so much so that the serving staff hovered at the entrance waiting to deliver the bad news that there were no tables. It’s the latest of a small London chain with branches in Old Street, Commercial Street and Essex Road.
But it’s good to see a buzz on a parade that’s had mixed fortunes. The new Duke Of St Alban’s is lovely - though was very quiet on Sunday - while the excellent London Shell Co was justifiably popular: read our rave about that here.
Speaking of London Shell Co, their big news this week is they’ve teamed up with hot gastropub The Parakeet for a one-off end of summer “Fish Supper” (around ten courses, £85 a head) on Wednesday 18th September. “As we're both Camden-based North London Legends, a percentage of the profits are going to local charities,” they said on social media. “The Queens Crescent Community Association & Kentish Town Farm.”
Next year we turn 15! If you value what we do, the easiest way to keep our independent food & culture publication going is to donate less than the price of a coffee (£2, or more if you wish) here. Thanks so much again for your support.
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