I love my neighbourhood in London. It’s a 45 second walk from the Piccadilly line, has a Waitrose grocery store 5 minutes away, and Upper Street with all of it’s cute boutiques, fun bars and restaurants is just a short walk down the Holloway Road.
However, it can’t be denied that my immediate neighbourhood is slightly dodgy. My building is surrounding on one side by a counsel estate and another by the borough of Islington’s refuse and recycling centre. Spattered nearby is a “Tennessee Fried Chicken”, an assortment of kebab shops, and an exorbitant amount of stores selling Tupperware, mops and stale candy (together).
The fairly recent influx of a Tesco Express has been a nice touch for picking up the basic grocery essentials. However, the neighbourhood still has a ways to go to change it’s ghetto-fied image.
There are a number of retail spaces in my flat complex that they’ve been trying to fill in the 2 years I’ve lived here. To start I think most retailers weren’t as impressed with the neighbourhood as the property owners had hoped. That combined with our current economic situation (in the gutter) meant that it was going to be a while before anything opened up in the retail space in my building.
I’m going to make a wager that they’ve negotiated some sort of free rent for the first few months, but regardless - a new café has just opened in my building. And like the name “Sacred” it really is a gift from above.
Sacred Café has an outpost on Carnaby Street and as soon as I walked in it was love at first sight.
However, it can’t be denied that my immediate neighbourhood is slightly dodgy. My building is surrounding on one side by a counsel estate and another by the borough of Islington’s refuse and recycling centre. Spattered nearby is a “Tennessee Fried Chicken”, an assortment of kebab shops, and an exorbitant amount of stores selling Tupperware, mops and stale candy (together).
The fairly recent influx of a Tesco Express has been a nice touch for picking up the basic grocery essentials. However, the neighbourhood still has a ways to go to change it’s ghetto-fied image.
There are a number of retail spaces in my flat complex that they’ve been trying to fill in the 2 years I’ve lived here. To start I think most retailers weren’t as impressed with the neighbourhood as the property owners had hoped. That combined with our current economic situation (in the gutter) meant that it was going to be a while before anything opened up in the retail space in my building.
I’m going to make a wager that they’ve negotiated some sort of free rent for the first few months, but regardless - a new café has just opened in my building. And like the name “Sacred” it really is a gift from above.
Sacred Café has an outpost on Carnaby Street and as soon as I walked in it was love at first sight.
The interior is cool, with religious icons, interesting black and white portraits, and some curious kitsch (a monkey on a surfboard?) splattering their walls. They carry a basic brunch menu like free range scrambled eggs, spring onion and feta cheese on wholemeal toast or a paté of the day with toast and caramelised red onion chutney. They also bake some of their pastries, and on that first visit I decided to sit in with my coffee instead of taking it away – just so I could spend 15 minutes in the sweet scented bliss of butter and sugar coming out of their kitchen.
With the credit crunch in full effect it will be hard to justify the Sacred jaunts when my own stocked kitchen is literally next door – but it’s fantastic as a treat or when friends come visit. Plus it’s such a great addition to the neighbourhood.
With its cool vibe and friendly wait staff it’s just the love that this forgotten spot on Holloway Road needs.
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