The Gail’s backlash continues: Businesses left ‘trembling with worry’ over plans for bakery big’s new department in leafy London suburb

Businesses have been left ‘trembling with fear’ amid plans to open a new Gail’s bakery in the centre of a south London suburb.

Cafe and restaurants say a store at the top of Crystal Palace hill could ‘brain-wash’ customers into buying elsewhere due to the influence of the corporate giant.

It is the latest in a string of controversies to rock the cafe chain as locals all over the UK raise concerns the stores are a mark of gentrification and skyrocketing house prices.

A post shared by independent coffee shop Brown & Green cafe in the Crystal Palace ‘triangle’ – the middle of the town centre – has now amassed thousands of likes on Instagram as it warns of the potentially dire consequences of Gail’s’ arrival.

It read: ‘I think we’d all be lying if we said we weren’t worried about this giant moving in.

‘For all us independents, day-to-day trade isn’t a granted. We graft. We make changes. We number crunch. We cut hours. We reduce menus. We work. We get up and we do it every day. And, to be clear, it’s hard.

‘Our café in the triangle doesn’t make a profit. Yes, we are busy on weekends but this doesn’t cover our weekday losses. It’s tough out there and we are all fighting to stay afloat. Our friends and neighbours and all the small cafes on the triangle are trembling.’

In a final plea, it added: ‘Please think where you buy your coffee, your pastries, your bread, your lunch, brunch, breakfast… us local businesses appreciate you immensely.’

Crystal Palace’s Gail’s is due to open its doors next month – adding to the already more than 100 stores in London.

A Gail’s spokesman told the Daily Mail the chain ‘wholeheartedly supports independents’ and is ‘one of many businesses, only a small part of the retail picture’.

However, Laura Tilli, who runs the cafe with her twin sister Jess, told The Standard: ‘Since covid, everybody is struggling to stay alive and keep afloat. People don’t understand the expense and cost of running a café. Yes, we’re busy at the weekend but on weekdays it’s dead in the triangle.

‘The main concern with Gail’s coming in is that they’re going to be operating out of a huge site – it used to be a big pub.

‘We are worried it’s going to blow everybody out of the water. We are all selling pastries and coffees but they brainwash people. The Crystal Palace triangle is very diverse. Some cafes only have eight or 10 covers.’

The post shared by Brown & Green cafe elicited a number of supporting comments.

One person said: ‘Very well said. It’s the beginning of the big giants coming in.. very sad and worrying.’

Another added: ‘You’ll still be my choice for coffee – I love the coffee and the service is great.’

Gail’s said: ‘In each neighbourhood we open in, we’re one of many businesses and only a small part of the retail picture. 

‘A healthy high-street is a diverse one where people in the community have choice. We wholeheartedly support independents, demonstrated through the suppliers we choose to work with. 

‘With every bakery we open, we take over unused shopfronts giving them a new lease of life, create new jobs, and partner with local charities sharing any bakes left at the end of the day; all of which make good food more accessible to more people.’

Earlier this year, locals and business owners on a street in Stoke Newington expressed fears their unique row of shops would be ‘ruined’ and ‘turned into Oxford Street’ following the announcement of a new Gail’s bakery.

It came as Church Street has more than 80 independent businesses operating as cafes, bakeries or shops.

Local couple Jay Karim and Malin Sonesson said they would not visit the new bakery when it opens.

Mr Karim said: I’m not too happy, there are bakeries that have been here for 20 years. It is very much the peak of gentrification when a Gail’s opens.

‘It does de-value the street a little bit but the people who come here regularly will stay local, they know their places. I’ve got nothing against Gail’s but this is the wrong place.’

Ms Sonesson added: ‘I think it is terrible. It ruins the street. I think part of the soul of the street is going. Church Street is all about independent, bespoke little shops and boutiques.

‘Gail’s and Pret-A-Manger are just another coffee shop, it is all the same.’

Previously, hundreds of residents in Walthamstow, north-east London, also signed a petition to stop the company opening on their High Street amid fears it could run independent cafes out of business.

The East London borough is famous for birthing 90s music icons East 17 and the Arts and Crafts designer William Morris.

But decades of regeneration has seen a fresh demographic of younger, more affluent people arrive – buying up properties and trendifying a once working-class corner of the capital.

According to the British Baker website, Gail’s intends to increase its stores across the UK from 180 to 300.

Brown & Green first began trading at Gipsy Hill train station.

It now has six branches in south London, including at Crystal Palace Station, in the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace and in Crystal Palace park and in Sydenham and Norwood Junction.