The caffeine curse, the Guardian dramatically tells us has ‘always signalled urban change’, the newspaper teamed up with a coffee Historian from Oxford to substantiate these claims.
Harlesden High Street now has a Costa.
Ethnic cleansing pending.— ∅ (@apjama) May 15, 2016
I knew this was gonna happen after they opened Costa in Harlesden https://t.co/XLTzBv2WLc
— 미미 (@_Hershey_27) May 14, 2016
Harlesden having a costa coffee shop is like Kensington and Chelsea having a SAMs
— lauren (@laurencrowley__) January 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/YusssRAWR/status/699611361790324736
Coffee shops have become accepted as being synonymous with gentrification, “There are a lot of coffee shops opening up around there” has become a precursor for: “There goes the neighbourhood.”
The Guardian says that coffee shops are misunderstood as a force that pushes out original residents and instead people should see them as a much needed place for people to push out and vent their opinions on things.
The last 350 years has seen three distinct coffee moments of urban change, according to the Historian.
17th century
London’s coffee shop bygone era, was seen as an alternative to pubs, where the so-called coffee house politicians would rant and voice their opinions. This isn’t too dissimilar to today in your coffee chain or independent, except the expressions are often made on Twitter and Facebook via their i-devices.
Swinging 60s
In the swinging 60s, coffee shops were the place for youth and counterculture:
“For the youth who frequented them, these were identity-forging spaces, where changing ideas of fashion, gender, and politics were formed, and the likes of Jimmy Cliff and Tommy Steele were discovered among the young and diverse clientele.”
The last decade
‘The third boom is the past decade’s massive growth in speciality coffee shops, spawning barista competitions, dedicated coffee magazines such as Caffeine, and the London Coffee Festival’.
So the Guardian is saying, that those who come in harm’s way from the effects of gentrification, should just accept it because it’s been going on for 350 years, The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change.
Image credit https://www.instagram.com/thepubgeek/
I strongly disagree.
We have at least four cafes that offer a good service are VFM in the hood.
If loads of chains followed then maybe a problem could occur but the Harlesden community tend to support are local shop owners who add a little love to there service and support community groups.
I disagree. The Harlesden Costa always has dirty and untidy tables. The place is poorly managed with rude staff and they regularly run out of non-dairy milks eg.oat milk. No fear of gentrification here, just unemployed men spending all day over a coffee.