Kmflett's Blog

Lunch with the Financial Times is a long running feature in the Saturday edition of the paper. The 2016 lunch with Nigel Farage (which last time I checked was free to access) is a classic.

On July 4th it was Morgan McSweeney’s turn. Usually the feature draws out some interesting thoughts but its McSweeney so it doesnt.

However the location for the lunch was of interest. Its fair to say that the FT does not usually go looking for lunch in Tottenham. However McSweeney’s chosen venue was the Elmhurst Pub, Lordship Lane, N17. Owned by Heineken Stars and Bars, its a nice pub architecture wise but drinks wise it was not worth a visit. It’s about 10 minutes walk from my Tottenham abode.

McSweeney arrived in London aged 17 in 1994 and worked at the Elmhurst, living in the flat above. While he is not noted for a close relationship with the truth he is correct to say that the pub has gone considerably upmarket. A chef is in residence and special food menus are a regular. Not however on the day the FT is there so they have to fall back on ordering Yard Sale pizzas, familiar to any north-east London reader of this post.

McSweeney went to the relatively nearby Middlesex Poly (now University)and became associated in the New Labour years with Barking and Dagenham (Fords at Dagenham was a major source of employment for Tottenham people).

Not mentioned in the FT article but relevant is that McSweeney was living in Tottenham in the Bernie Grant era, something that can hardly have failed to make an impression on anyone who was however vaguely on the left.

Further on in the piece McSweeney denies that he had anything to do with Sue Gray’s departure from Downing St seemingly unaware of another Tottenham angle. Ms Gray was born and brought up in Tottenham and her late mother worked the bar at the Oakdale pub in Hermitage Rd (south rather than central Tottenham)which sadly no longer exists.

2027 will mark Haringey as a Rebel Borough (not entirely without foundation) so perhaps its time for a McSweeney plaque at the Elmhurst..