I’ve lived in Harringay in the borough of Haringey for about 15 years, starting in what Google now calls the ‘warehouse district’. Since then I’ve moved twice within the area. I now live with my wife and two-year-old daughter.
Clearly I like it because I’ve stayed put despite all that London has to offer. It has a deeply embedded neighbourhood feel while still being much more accessible than nearby areas like Crouch End, so you don’t have to be a two-car family to live here.
Eating and drinking
This section of Green Lanes is best known for its Turkish-Kurdish restaurants, which are all great but everyone knows about them already. There’s been an interesting revival of Greek places, although most of the Greek Cypriot families have since moved to Bounds Green. Athens Grill on Wightman Road is really good as is Mykonos Gyros on Green Lanes.
On the other side of Turnpike Lane there’s Puraan, a South Indian place that’s already really busy even though it just opened. It does amazing dosa, paratha and chilli paneer. It’s kind of dangerous the amount of great takeaway pizza we’ve got. L’Oasi does panzerotti, which is deep-fried calzone. It only costs £6 so I order it as a side dish with a pizza and then look at my plate and think ‘what have I done?’
Finally Durak Tantuni, which I walked past and never stopped at until I read Jonathan Nunn’s book London Feeds Itself. They sell only one thing — lamb roll with a massive portion of pickled chillis and slices of lemon. It only gets busy from about 11.30pm.
Where I work out
Despite all those places I’ve just mentioned and the deep-fried pizza, I don’t actually work out at all, but my wife does so I can tell you second-hand that Downhills Park is great for a run. We’ve also managed to steal Finsbury Park as an official part of Harringay. It feels like a cheeky land-grab.
To commune with nature
Off Finsbury Park is the gorgeous Parkland Walk that runs up to Archway along an abandoned-to-nature railway. It’s fabulous and really surprising. There’s also a lovely bit of the New River that you can access off Wightman Road; there’s barely ever anyone there apart from skiving schoolkids.
For a culture fix
I’ve got a book out so I have to mention All Good Bookshop, which is a co-op, you can buy shares in it. The Art House Cinema over in Crouch End shows independent films and does baby cinema.
Grocery shopping
This is one of the things that’s kept me in the area — we have these amazing grocers all the way down Green Lanes. They are all really reasonable but sell wildly esoteric things depending on the season, anything from cobnuts to persimmons and medlars, which my daughter, Lil, thinks are just a normal London fruit because we fed them to her all last summer.
Yasar Halim is one of the oldest and it has a lovely bakery for bread and savoury pastries, although the baklava at Antepliler is unimpeachable. There’s also a somewhat hidden Italian grocers crammed into a store called All Stars — a plethora of Italian meats and cheeses and all different types of bronze die pasta really crammed in at the back like they don’t want you to know.
Getting around
You can get everywhere but the depths of south London within an hour. I’m just about closer to Turnpike Lane station than Manor House but they’re both on the Piccadilly line. We’ve also got Harringay Green Lanes and Harringay stations on the Overground. There’s also the number 29 bus, which goes basically everywhere, and the 141.
Dream street
I love our street partly because of what it’s not. It’s close to the ladders and the gardens, which are either side of Green Lanes, but because it’s neither of those it doesn’t carry the price tag.
SOMETHING YOU ONLY SEE IN HARRINGAY
The Salisbury, my absolute favourite pub. It’s huge but feels cosy at the same time, there’s a brilliant back room that not enough people use so you can have it at no notice for parties. They’ve got lots of great beer, the landlord’s really nice...
What’s the catch?
People moan about crime but I don’t think there’s notably more here than elsewhere in London.
In three words
Till I die.
Of Cabbages and Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food, is out now
Schools
There are five primary schools in the immediate area of Harringay, all rated good by Ofsted. These include North Harringay, South Harringay, Chetsnuts, West Green and St John Vianney RC Primary School.
Buying in Harringay
Average flat price: £470,680
Average house price: £877,450
Renting in Harringay
Average flat price, pcm £1,680
Average house price, pcm £2,790
