Save The Muswell Hill Cafe!

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 181 months ago
Save The Muswell Hill Cafe!

Highgate_Wood_16Feb09.jpg
Image courtesy of septuagesima under a Creative Commons licence
OK, it's not quite Save the Clock Tower, but a bid to save a Muswell Hill greasy spoon from becoming a fancy schmancy restaurant is underway.

Developers St Ermins Property have twice applied for permission to turn the Cherry Tree Cafe on Muswell Hill Road into a bigger, more upmarket, restaurant, and been turned down twice. They're not put off though, and are now taking their case straight to the Planning Inspectorate at the end of March.

The Cherry Tree Cafe is a bit of a Muswell Hill institution. It's been there for 25 years and its big white and red sign is a beacon for residents trundling to and from Highgate on the 134 and 43 buses. More to the point, it's one of the few eateries in the area that hasn't been turned into somewhere swanky. If it goes, where will people get a proper all day breakfast?

Residents are putting together a petition, opposing extensions to both the opening hours and the cafe space itself - if agreed, the proposals would mean the cafe being knocked into the next-door unit, quadrupling its size.

We'd hate to see the Cherry Tree Cafe go. Muswell Hill denizens are already spoiled for choice when it comes to a nice dinner, but for a lovely cup of tea after a bracing walk in Highgate Woods the Cherry Tree is hard to beat.

Last Updated 16 February 2009