Banners, Crouch End

There are many people who live in London who don’t know about Crouch End. Indeed, there are many people who are from London who are completely unaware of this little patch of our capital. It’s not even really an area. Start off in any direction from the central clocktower and within ten minutes, you’ll find yourself in Hornsey, Muswell Hill or Finsbury Park. Yet for its miniscule size, it packs a lot in. Whilst some areas of London are synonymous with celebrities, Crouch End is home to a higher class of well-known figures. You can find Downton Abbey‘s Dan Stevens having a cup of tea outside The Blue Legume. Peter Bradshaw, the film critic from the Guardian, is often seen coming out of Waitrose and Caitlin Moran lives in the area.

The area itself has a village-y feel to it and at night, it’s completely quiet save only for the passing night buses which are the only means of getting to a place that prides itself on not having a tube station. There is a variety of restaurants with different styles and away from the artisan cafes filled up with gossiping mummies, there is one place that comes more highly recommended than any other. This place is called Banners.

The reason why Banners has a certain cache is that when Eurythemics co-founder Dave Stewart owned the well-known Church Studios, he invited Bob Dylan to come and record. Whilst there, he visited Banners and enjoyed his experience so much, that he praised it in a magazine piece. As a tribute, you can find a plaque on the very table that his Bob-ness ate at.

But there is much more to the restaurant than previous dinners. It’s the type of place that you can go for a quick bite or a huge meal. People coming for lunch swear by the jerk chicken sandwich whilst my own particular favourite is the Jamaican prawn roti, with rice n’peas and coleslaw.

Dessert-wise, if you’re looking for something truly idiosyncratic, go for the Glastonbury mud pie, which features a crushed biscuit base with a baked chocolate and coffee filling with cream.

It’s not possible to state that Banners is worth scrambling your way across London to visit. But if you’re in the area looking to just touch Dan Stevens’ hair, it is well worth stopping by.

Banners
21 Park Rd
Crouch End
N8 8TE

Image by Simon Welch courtesy of Flickr