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Spend a penny at one of London’s quirkiest rooftop restaurants


Jim McMahon

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 Restaurant and Bar and highlighted as ‘one of London’s Best Rooftop Restaurants’ by Time Out.

And Local Buyers Club cardholders can now save 25% off their bill at Brooksby's Walk. (See website for details www.localbuyersclub.com/clapton)

When Jim McMahon and his friend Lisa O'Hagan spotted the building, it was steeped in controversy because the much-loved community café Nana’s had recently vacated. They called on Jim’s childhood friend Nick Clough as an investor and quickly put together a business plan. Once their bid was accepted they set to work redecorating and Brooksby’s Walk was born.