Tottenham: Is This London’s Most Underrated Neighbourhood?
13 March, 2020
Forget Tottenham Hotspur, the North London neighbourhood
we know is one defined by its pop-up galleries, craft breweries and
a young, creative crowd. We’ve compiled Tottenham’s best places to
eat, drink and dance.
Is
Tottenham London’s must underrated neighbourhood? Allow us to
answer that for you: yes. If you start at Charing Cross, slap-bang
in the heart of London, then make a beeline north-east – through
The City,
Shoreditch, Dalston and onwards – eventually, you’ll hit the
red-brick breweries and pulsating warehouses of Tottenham.
You’ll find much more here than the football club that takes the
area’s name. The Tottenham we know sits in the literal and
historical shadow of the Arts and Crafts movement’s epicentre,
Walthamstow Village, and it’s underscored by the same socialist
principles. This is a borough that hasn’t (yet) been monopolised by
sky-high apartment blocks and mass-market cafés, but is flecked
with pop-up galleries and community gardens instead.
Cheap rent, unclaimed public spaces and a slick of industrial
grit have made this far-flung borough a zesty magnet for young
creatives. It might not be smooth around the edges, but that’s
precisely why we like it.
Hackney? We don’t know her.
Where to eat, drink and dance: a pocket guide to Tottenham
To Eat
restaurant
True Craft
A neighbourhood is only as good as the pizza you find therein.
True Craft has set the bar for Tottenham’s pizzerias by serving up
sourdough pizzas with locally sourced toppings in a thronging,
industrial space. Of course, the best pizza pairing is beer. Pick a
couple of pints from its extensive beer menu (plastered on a
cinematic lightbox above the counter) or stop by the Bottle Shop,
where shelves are teeming with fresh dispatches from Tottenham’s
wealth of micro-breweries.
This image is on holiday
restaurant
Latin Village
Flavours from
Columbia,
Costa Rica,
Brazil and all of the colourful nations found in between
collide in this covered warren of a food market. This isn’t one of
those curated inner-city market halls that seem to have sprung up
of late, but the real deal. We suggest hopping from stall to stall
or grabbing a table at Colombian restaurant, Pueblito Paisa. For
years, this enclave has been a hub for London’s Latino community
but it’s come under threat from investors in recent years. Vote
with your credit card… or cash, as the case may be.
restaurant
Craving Coffee
Is there any clearer indication of a borough’s creative
credentials than a stripped-back “artisanal” coffee shop? Tucked in
an industrial estate amid a hotch-potch of artists’ studios, you’ll
find Craving Coffee – a source of respite for the area’s frazzled
designers since 2014. From Thursday until Saturday, it offers up
its kitchen to a different street-food trader which means that the
dinner menu varies week on week. Just behind the café lives
Piquant, a shop and creative studio peddling vintage homewares, and
Idris Barbering Company, should you be in need of a trim as well as
caffeine.
This image is on holiday
restaurant
The High Cross
Yes, it used to be a public bathroom. Get over it. While glossy,
white tiles nod to this pub’s former life, there’s really nothing
to poo-poo about this understated but stylish “micro-pub” on
Tottenham’s thrumming High Road. The menu is scrawled anew on
chalkboards each day. It’s all about heapings of proper, old-school
London grub decorated with gourmet garnishes – think mushy peas
with wild mushrooms and spinach or cod battered in beer from the
local Beavertown Brewery.
restaurant
Five Miles
We weren’t sure in which category this bar, brewery, restaurant
and club space would best sit in this guide. It has a bit of
everything. Its on-site restaurant, Torshi, is named after the
pickled vegetables of the Levant and plates up an exciting
kaleidoscope of fruity small plates – we’re talking fried chicken
with watermelon rind, zhoug mayo and pomegranate ketchup – every
evening from Wednesday through to Sunday. It’s an industrial but
smart place to grab dinner and cocktails. If you rock up a little
later, you’ll find a different crowd: this is one of many
Tottenham-based meccas for London’s techno-heads.
To Drink and Dance
bar
The Cause
We’re reluctant to share this one. By day, you’d probably pass
by without even noticing it, but come nightfall this former car
depot transforms into a pulsing hub of electronic music – a
maelstrom of clubbers routinely spill out at 6am (or later). It’s
like a slice of Berlin in
London. DJs perform inside cages, lasers score the concrete walls
and its custom-built Core sound system attracts music nerds from
afar. The real USP of this place, however, is its charitable
underpinnings. A portion of proceeds made from ticket sales each
night goes directly to local and national mental-health
charities.
bar
New River Studios
This is still very much a DIY events space, though it has the
potential to become a more established part of Tottenham’s
nightlife scene. It sits in the shadow of the borough’s most
notorious squat, the Tottenham Pavilion – a hotbed of aspiring
creatives. By day, you’ll find musicians jamming in the studios or
recording their next EPs. In the evening, it opens up as an events
space. Grab a beer, order a crispy-bottomed, wood-fired pizza and
settle into an evening of experimental live music.
This image is on holiday
bar
Grow Tottenham
Grow describes itself as “a meanwhile use project” – take from
that what you will. In layman’s terms, it’s a community garden, a
café, a carpentry workshop and much more besides. Money made from
sales of food and drink is poured straight back into the garden’s
upkeep and is also used to subsidise a program of free workshops
and events. In summer, this is one of Tottenham’s best spots to
grab a drink and chew the fat with friends (old and new).
bar
The Drum Shed
From the brains behind Printworks, London’s phantasmagorical
electronic dance emporium, comes The Drumsheds. It’s the same
principle: otherworldly light shows buoyed by internationally
renowned DJs playing to large crowds in a conglomeration of old
industrial spaces of cathedral-esque proportions. A party here
typically starts mid-afternoon and wraps up by midnight.
Breweries (take your pick)
We couldn’t not mention Tottenham’s famous micro-breweries. Cans
and bottles from these artisanal outposts are almost instantly
recognisable for their graphic labels. Stop by for a pint in either
Pressure Drop Brewing, Beavertown Brewery or Redemption Brewing Co., each of whom has no-fuss,
no-frills taprooms which open intermittently throughout the
week.
To Do
This image is on holiday
thingstodo
Tottenham Green Market
Every Sunday morning, a bevvy of Tottenham’s most enterprising
start-ups and local food producers pop up just outside the town
hall. You’ll find natural wines, crusty sourdough loaves and
takeaway dishes from a few of the lip-smacking joints mentioned
above.
Address
Tottenham Green East
N15 4UR
thingstodo
The Cove
Don’t just turn up; this photography studio is a professional
workplace. During the day, you’ll find a never-ending stream of
photographers, models and the related coterie of arty professionals
passing through. It’s more than just a professional studio,
however. On weekday evenings it hosts events, though you’ll have to
refer to its Instagram page to keep up to date with the latest
goings-on.
This image is on holiday
thingstodo
Bernie Grants Art Centre
This cultural complex sits beside Tottenham Town Hall. Big names
such as Jeremy Corbyn and Toni Morrison have taken to the stage
here. The emphasis is on diversity, with a schedule of talks and
performances which largely revolve around race, women’s issues and
multicultural Britain. It’s pretty rad.