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If the walls of The Queens Crouch End could talk they’d tell colourful stories of Victorian workers, falling bombs, bar brawls and calmer times of community hubbub. The grand Victorian Pub with its stunning art nouveau stained glass was built as a hotel at the turn of the century and sat alongside the Queens Opera House, which was demolished after heavy bomb damage during the Second World War. Yet despite its grandeur the Crouch End pub has always had a down to earth vibe. Ca

Few former public toilets evoke such local nostalgia as those now housing Clapton’s popular restaurant Brooksby’s Walk. Boarded up, derelict and a focus for antisocial behaviour, the loos overlooking Chatsworth Road were threatened with redevelopment until six years ago when the Clapton Improvement Society mounted a public campaign to save them. Today the 1930s building, which is owned by Hackney Council, has been transformed. It was recently crowned Best Neighbourhood Restau

A sliding-doors encounter in Newington Green with a former school friend from Macedonia reignited a friendship through which one of Stokey’s most special restaurants was born. Childhood friends Jana Miseva and Elena Smileva launched The Lacy Nook a year ago after raising £22,000 through a Kickstarter campaign – they also ploughed in all their savings and carried out much of the building work themselves. It was a complete change of career for the pair: Jana ditched her life wo

(Picture credit: Marcus Duran) One determined East London woman has rallied traders, saved small businesses from closing and taken on the establishment. When Krissie Nicolson read about paper bag seller Paul Gardner, whose landlord had u-turned on a crippling rent rise due to huge negative publicity, she realised there was scope to help other small businesses. Paul introduced her to other traders, they began meeting regularly and, with Krissie at the helm, in 2012 they set up

London’s most-loved café (as crowned by Time Out) is the latest business to offer discounts to Local Buyers Club members. Highness Café and Tea Room in Highbury Barn is offering 10% off (Monday-Friday) to members of the club, which celebrates and promotes the best local and independent businesses. "My staff are mostly family, and we treat customers that way too" Basil Fansa, a founder of the Local Buyers Club, said: “We’re thrilled Highness Café and its sister business Little

A chance trip to South America was all it took for Hedie Howells to quit work as a perinatal psychologist and pursue a new-found passion for granola. The 29-year-old from Stoke Newington took up an offer of a long weekend in Brazil with her friend who worked for British Airways and ended up staying a month and falling in love with granola. When she returned, she couldn’t find anything to match its quality and set about making her own. Now, the young entrepreneur, who runs Hus

The Local Buyers Club is giving £10 from the sale of every new membership between now and Friday (September 15th) to a charity helping Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims. The tragedy unfolding in Myanmar has been described by aid agencies as “the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.” More than 270,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled for Bangladesh, 400,000 are trapped in conflict zones, hundreds have been killed and villages are being burned to the ground. We’ve been researching which c

Visitors to this Sunday’s Hackney One Carnival can enjoy a taste of West African food courtesy of highly-acclaimed local chef Nima Owino. Hailed by the Guardian as one of “the African cooks to look out for on London’s streets”, Nima’s stall Cham Cham has been making its mark in East London. She’s the latest business to join the Local Buyers Club, with a 15% discount to members. Jenna Fansa, a founder of the Local Buyers Club, said: “We’ve been huge fans of Nima for years and

Actors Michael Camp and Eaton James love their nanas. So much so that, when they launched their café in Crouch End they made it a homage to their nanas’ homes and named it Edith’s House. Few cafes offer as much character, charm and humour as this wonderfully quirky place. Stepping over the threshold is like arriving at your nana’s house. The colour scheme is beige, magnolia and orange, old family pictures adorn the walls and the furniture is suitably twee. Eaton said: “We wer

A new independent business has launched to help householders switch energy suppliers and saves customers an average of £313 per year. Glow Save was launched by lifelong friends Rory Bate-Williams and Rob Hemms after Rob tried to switch his parents’ gas and electricity provider and became frustrated at the “confusing and complicated” switching process offered by price comparison websites. Rory said: “When we looked beyond the price comparison websites and did our own research