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New Statesman
6 days ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Can the Great British caff survive?
Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Inside the Regency Cafe, a Westminster greasy spoon that's gone global, little has changed since it reopened under new ownership in July. The art deco style remains, as do framed pictures of Muhammad Ali and various old Spurs players on the walls, and the red gingham curtains. There's still a queue to order, filled by the same steady stream of punters – a mix of builders, politicians, civil servants and tourists. The menu still features set breakfasts, steak pies and bread-and-butter pudding. It remains almost impossible to spend more than a tenner. You still wait for your toast before taking a seat, but now instead of being barked at and potentially embarrassed by the maître d' (a thrilling yet mildly terrifying experience), a number is gently called. My regular order, liver and bacon, survives. Five slices of iron-y meat, perhaps a little overcooked, three rashers of thick-cut bacon, just perfect. Some brown sauce, a glass of orange squash. Out in 20 minutes. The Regency, first opened in 1946, is a beloved institution. And when its legendary Anglo-Italian owners announced they were selling last year, many feared it would disappear. Thousands of greasy spoons have shut this century, as tastes change and costs spiral. But, mercifully, two Turkish-born restaurateurs who own several establishments in London have saved it. Fevzi Gungor said they were committed to 'preserving the cafe's enduring legacy', before admitting to 'exploring opportunities for future growth' and hinting at franchising to Dubai. 'My aim isn't to change what people already love about Regency Cafe,' he said, 'but to enhance it, extending opening hours, refreshing equipment, strengthening our social media presence and introducing merchandise that captures the spirit of this iconic spot.' The reaction was mixed. Many who have visited have found, like me, the breakfasts as good as ever. But a celebrated British greasy spoon in Istanbul, one of the other rumoured locations? Surely not. I wonder why we are so protective of the great British caff? Like the difference between pubs and bars, caffs are not cafés. Like pubs, caffs often house a community, with a series of regulars, imprinting on the local culture. While Regency Cafe had long sailed into the realm of tourist destination, it kept its charm. A café can easily become a chain: Starbucks are built to be memetic; Nero is crying out for franchise. A caff? Its charm is precisely in its un-replicability. It is hard to run a hospitality business these days, and Regency's new owners have calculated that they must branch out to succeed. Huge queues every day are insufficient. Merchandise? Fair game for restaurants these days (a Top Cuvée tote bag anyone? What about a candle from Bao?). It's an extra income stream, and free branding. A podcast? Fellow Anglo-Italian caff institution E Pellici in Bethnal Green has one; last time I walked past on a Saturday, at least 100 people were queueing. But a franchised caff just feels wrong. Sure, there have been fry-up chains. Little Chef (RIP) and the Breakfast Club, which has 15 branches, come to mind. Although the latter is a brunch restaurant in its soul. Perhaps it is necessary: more than 4,000 restaurants shut last year, and according to one study co-authored by the trade body UK Hospitality, a third of businesses are operating at a loss and at risk of closure. Those closures have brought opportunity for entrepreneurs to buy ready-made sites – see the Gugnors and Regency – and industry analyst James Hacon reckons franchising, though not without its own difficulties, 'can be a relatively low-risk way to grow'. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe One risk is detracting from the brand, cheapening something special. I adore Da' Vinattieri, a tiny Florentine shop specialising in tripe sandwiches, but I wouldn't want it in London. Da Michele, a Neapolitan pizzeria famous for only making margheritas and marinaras, now has branches in London and Manchester with vastly bigger menus and proportionately worse pizza. Caffs are often idealised, says Richard Crampton-Platt, who founded Cafe Britaly, a short-lived homage to Anglo-Italian greasy spoons in Peckham. He argues they have to adapt and modernise. Accepting card payments, opening beyond 2pm and offering halal options are welcome ways to move with the times. But does franchising not detract from the founding essence? Does a caff cease to be a caff when it lets go of these affectations? Crampton-Platt is concerned by franchising. 'It's slightly alarming. A caff by its nature is about community.' When it becomes about margins and scaling up, community can fall by the wayside. In an insightful blog on the new Regency, journalist Angus Colwell stated that while authenticity can be a meaningless term, a restaurant should be 'real'. 'I prefer the organic restaurant over the curated, rational one: restaurants born out of love in the kitchen, not calculations in the boardroom.' Regency Cafe is real; it's hard to see its roll-out across the world being so. An expansion would chip away at what makes London special. What next? E Pellici Las Vegas? Mario's Cafe Monaco? Regency's new owners have done a stellar job merely by keeping it as it was. Let's hope they realise what a special thing that is. [See more: British food is reactionary now] Related
New Statesman
07-08-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Labour's path out of its immigration nightmare
Photo by Justin Tallis/Politics is raging this August. I cannot recall a political battle being played out with such intensity in a summer recess as the one being fought now. The cause of the noisy conflict is connected in a thousand highly charged ways to asylum and migration. Nigel Farage launches various grenades at his weekly press conferences. He knows how to stop the boats. He wants the police to tell us more about the ethnic origins of those they arrest. Robert Jenrick is on the airwaves and complaining about a lack of reliable, transparent data on sex crimes committed by migrants, all while appearing to know the precise degree to which asylum seekers are causing mayhem. Keir Starmer wants the police to be more open. The agreement with France to return some of those on boats is being implemented this week, accompanied by a media blitz. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, leaps from the Today programme to Tik Tok to put her case. On one level this amount of political engagement is extraordinary when many politicos are on holiday and a general election is years away. Yet the stakes could not be higher. Reform leads in the polls, an unpopular government desperately needs to be seen as effective, and Jenrick wants to lead a Conservative Party that is currently nowhere to be seen. But urgency goes well beyond politics and polling. The sense of crisis in relation to boats, asylum seekers, crime, the use of asylum hotels and all the rest of the explosive mix has been in place for years. Without resolution the divisions deepen. There have been two crises of globalisation, the financial crash of 2008 and the ongoing movement of people. The first was an abrupt crisis, the latter a continuous and accelerating trend of our age. But in a way that is overlooked – and its lessons overlooked too – the international response to the economic emergency was entirely different to what is happening in relation to the monumental challenge of migration. The crash was met with formidable collective hyperactivity from governments across the globe. There was a co-ordinated fiscal stimulus on an epic scale. Interest rates were cut by various countries at the same time. Even fiscal conservatives such as President Bush in Washington and Germany's Angela Merkel joined in. The coming together was marked by the G20 in London in 2009 when Gordon Brown hosted countries from around the world to focus on the consequences of the crash. By then President Obama had replaced Bush and was a key participant. This week in an interview the former Conservative Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, acknowledged that he had formed a much more positive view on Brown as he reflected on how the then prime minister responded to the events of 2008. That crisis had a long tail, and many of its consequences are still being played out. But the immediate emergency was addressed. There was no global depression as seemed possible at the height of the drama. International co-operation, the recognition that unilateral actions by individual governments would not be enough, had guided the global economy away from the cliff's edge. What Brown described as the first crisis of the global economy was relatively short. This is not the case with the global movement of people. On it goes with every government and populist politician hailing their own meretricious semi-solutions. Send them to Rwanda! But that breaks the law! We'll send them anyway! Send in the navy! They're all criminals and mad people – so we won't take them! Where will they go? That's not our problem! This is a form of international anarchy compared with what followed the crash. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The course was set ten years ago when the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, assumed that EU countries would agree to take in Syrian refugees escaping the hell of the Assad regime. Her thoughts echoed the leaders at the time of the financial crash. If countries co-operated there would be a manageable way of dealing with a humanitarian crisis. Fearing electoral slaughter other governments refused to do so. Ironically most of those governments were defeated anyway partly over the issue of border control. But Merkel's failed attempt at co-ordination triggered the era of largely ineffective unilateral posturing. The crisis has endured much longer than the one sparked by the financial crash. Merkel's instincts were the right ones. Even more than the crash, the movement of people demands co-operation. The crisis is literally around borders between countries. Unilateral action is close to meaningless without involving those that share borders. More fundamentally asylum seekers are not going to disappear however tough one country might be. If they have the means to escape from tyrants, war, famine, climate change they will take them. They may include Trump's criminals and 'mad people', but there will be plenty of others too. If Trump kicks them out of the US they will try to go somewhere else. The reasons for the contrasting response to the two global crises are depressing. With the economic emergency the politics and policy requirements were neatly aligned. Governments could not allow more banks to collapse or to ignore the fragilities of the global economy if they wished to survive. They had to act together. The movement of people is even more challenging as a policy dilemma, but there is much to be gained politically by pretending the solutions are simple and can be applied by mighty individual leaders alone. For Farage or Jenrick to acknowledge complexity would be to deprive them of their appeal, men of action who could deal with a global crisis with a click of their mighty fingers. Trump has openly acknowledged that he won the election last year on his plans for border control. He has never admitted that his ideas were sweeping and simplistic in the global context in which people will keep moving. Such a challenge needs the equivalent of Brown's G20 gathering on a regular basis. There may well be a case for the equivalent of the Rwanda scheme but one that is run on behalf of several countries with international supervision. The arguments for revising the European Convention on Human Rights are strong, but only with all signatories agreeing to amendments out of mutual self-interest. The post-crash assumptions that triggered co-operation between countries are needed urgently now. This is why the agreement between the British administration and French governments this week is more significant than it might seem. The numbers are small but the deal at least represents a recognition that the issue is so demanding countries must work together. It is closer to the mindset that addressed the immediate crisis after the crash. There are bound to be fragilities. Political agreements are dependent on the strength of elected leaders. Few are robust in the current climate of angry disillusionment. But the French deal is not dependent on the authority of President Macron alone. The key figure in the lengthy negotiations with Yvette Cooper was the interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, on the centre-right and from a different political background to Macron. Retailleau is not 'soft' on asylum but sees the difference between macho posturing and working as effectively as possible with other governments to address the problems. As far as the British government sees it, Macron's significant influence was more to secure the backing of the EU, support that was by no means guaranteed. The deal might not last long but also has the potential to be built on rather than collapsing pathetically. The political battle of this August will continue up to the next election. Some of the language and claims will fuel the anger in what Jenrick calls 'the tinderbox', a situation that he threatens to spark every time he mentions it. Beyond the electoral clash the Labour government has a much deeper motive for addressing the challenge of the borders. One of the ideas theoretically propelling the government forward is a belief in an active state. The voters will not share this faith if the state cannot control the borders. The effectiveness of that control depends on states working together. Look at what happened in 2008. Steve Richards presents Rock N Roll Politics at the Edinburgh Festival from Sunday 10 August. [Further reading: The problem with Robert Jenrick's migrant sex crime claims] Related
New Statesman
05-08-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
How anti-migrant politics came for Deliveroo
Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP There was a time when Deliveroo riders were invisible. Smudges of turquoise in the cityscape; helmeted droids handing you your dinner; a dot on a map. So invisible that two years ago I reported on the case of one who collapsed outside a block of flats, only for the customers to step over him to retrieve their Thai meal – even trying to ask the unconscious man where a missing part of their order was. Now they are a target. A month ago, the Home Office shared the location of hotels housing asylum seekers with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, to encourage the companies to identify people working illegally for their apps. This was accompanied by a sinister poster depicting a courier as a black silhouette casting a shadow, captioned: 'Delivered by who?' The shadow home secretary Chris Philp filmed himself at an asylum hotel car park, pointing out the Deliveroo and Uber Eats bikes parked there. The real-world consequences of this were predictable: the public targeting couriers, rather than big corporates bothering to weed out illegal workers signing up to their apps or sharing accounts. And so it transpired outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, east London, which has been a site of protest since the news of asylum seekers moving in last month. Protesters filmed and tried to block two drivers on motorbikes with containers attached to the back leaving the hotel: 'Tell me these ain't delivery drivers, guys,' says one voice in the footage. They weren't: they were members of staff working at the hotel, according to the Metropolitan Police. The following afternoon, an Uber Eats cyclist was surrounded by protesters, including men in balaclavas, outside the hotel. In the footage there are audible shouts of 'illegal'. It turned out he was delivering food to the hotel, not staying there. The police had to escort him to safety. The political and protest focus on illegal working is, in a way, curious. It runs counter to a lot of the complaints and arguments I've heard from people opposing the asylum hotels lately, which mainly centre around asylum seekers getting something 'for nothing'. While reporting in Diss, a Norfolk town where a recent asylum hotel protest turned aggressive and resulted in public order charges, I had a conversation that felt key to the resentment building up in such places. A factory worker in his thirties explained how hard life was for locals – earning low wages, unable to afford housing, their town centre losing its soul – in comparison to the experience he saw as one of free food and comfortable accommodation afforded to the asylum hotel residents. He pointed to a mustard-fronted Turkish takeaway called Istanbul and told me: 'I respect them, they came here, they've been here years, built a business and give something back, contributing, paying tax.' Asylum seekers are not allowed to work. This ban was introduced by Tony Blair's government in 2002 to try and deter new arrivals. Yet a side effect of this is the frustration that builds up in communities where asylum seekers are housed – they are seen as a drain on the state with free shelter and support when they pay nothing back. In reality, they have very little choice. Asylum seekers are demonised as scroungers receiving preferential treatment while giving nothing in return, and at the same time demonised for trying to work. I think every asylum seeker I've interviewed over the years has expressed their desire to work. The result is they move into the black economy, which is also seen as a 'pull factor' for asylum seekers making the journey to Britain. From reporting on these tensions, I would argue the antagonising factor is anyone acting outside of official channels, and the lack of control this suggests – as with the small boats. Yet politicians insist opening up legal options for work while asylum seekers await a decision on their claims would incentivise more to make the journey. Their alternative, casting couriers as shadowy unknown figures, risks exposing the most precarious workers even more. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: How Britain lost the status game] Related
IOL News
29-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Bryan Mbeumo looks forward to Bruno Fernandes link-up at Manchester United
Big move French-born Cameroonian striker Bryan Mbeumo has completed his move from Brentford to Premier League giants Manchester United. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP Image: Justin Tallis/AFP Bryan Mbeumo says he is excited about linking up with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes as he prepares for life at Old Trafford following his move from Brentford. After weeks of drawn-out talks, the 25-year-old finally joined United last week for £65 million ($87 million) plus a potential £6 million in add-ons. The Cameroon winger, who scored 20 goals and provided seven assists for Brentford in the Premier League last season, has signed a five-year deal with United, becoming their third signing of the summer transfer window. Mbeumo told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast that Fernandes was the player he was most looking forward to playing with. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ "Everyone sees in the past years, he can shoot, he can cross, he can do crazy ball," he said. "Yeah, for a striker, you just enjoy that." Mbeumo is hoping to benefit from the experience of the Portuguese midfielder, who said last month he had rejected a huge offer from Saudi Arabia to stay at United despite their struggles last season. "On the pitch, when you're smart like he is, I think you don't even need to think a lot," he said. "You just need to make the run and he's going to play you in the right space every time. "But of course, you can have a little discussion to make him know how I prefer the balls and how I'm feeling the best to have the ball. "But at a certain point, there is only one way, even if it's not the one you like, you have to do the run and he's going to put the ball in a good position." Mbeumo's arrival follows the signings of Wolves forward Matheus Cunha and Paraguay left-back Diego Leon, from Cerro Porteno. United have recently been linked with Ollie Watkins – RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko is also a reported target – and Mbeumo described his former Brentford teammate as the "complete striker". Mbeumo said of Watkins: "He's like a complete striker. He can do a lot of things." United are currently on a summer tour of the United States, preparing for their Premier League opener against Arsenal on August 17. AFP Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
IOL News
22-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Bryan Mbeumo thrilled to follow in Ronaldo's footsteps at 'biggest club in the world' Manchester United
Big move French-born Cameroonian striker Bryan Mbeumo has completed his move from Brentford to Premier League giants Manchester United. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP Image: Justin Tallis/AFP Bryan Mbeumo says he is excited to be following in Cristiano Ronaldo's footsteps at the "biggest club in the world" after signing for Manchester United. After weeks of drawn-out talks, the 25-year-old finally completed his move from Brentford on Monday for £65 million ($87 million) plus a potential £6 million in add-ons. The forward has signed a deal with the "club of my dreams" until 2030, with the option of a further season. "From the start I wanted to join this club, this massive club, and now I'm here and I'm just really happy," the Cameroon international told club media on Tuesday. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ "For me, it's the biggest club in the world, in England as well. I think the fans are crazy, the stadium is amazing, and I think every player wants to play here. "I think my first top was a Manchester United top with Ronaldo behind. It's just such a big club and I'm really happy to be here." Mbeumo is manager Ruben Amorim's third signing of the summer transfer window after the arrivals of forward Matheus Cunha and left-back Diego Leon. The right-winger, who scored 20 Premier League goals for Brentford last season, has been signed to boost United's firepower. The team managed a paltry 44 goals in 38 Premier League matches last season as they finished an embarrassing 15th in the table. Mbeumo played at Brentford under Thomas Frank, who has since moved on to Tottenham, and he believes Amorim has a similar approach. "I think they have similar values," he said. "He seems really close to his players and his mentality, his winning thinking every time. This is a thing that I need. "It seems to be a really good group. I think the spirit is really important for winning and with the gaffer I heard only good things about the team." United head to the United States for their pre-season tour on Tuesday. Their first Premier League game of the season is at home to Arsenal on August 17. AFP Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
