Most mornings, around nine, James Harvey – with his ever-present poodle in tow – has breakfast at his favourite café in Walthamstow Village in north-east London.
A more unlikely looking rabble-rouser, you’d be hard-pressed to find.
‘He’s always arguing, usually about politics,’ said Sam Davis, the likeable and no-nonsense owner of the establishment in this bijou corner of E17.
In the past the bone of contention was Brexit, among other things.
Gail’s bakery is famed for its cinnamon buns, almond croissants and sourdough loaves
The site of the new bakery set to open on Orford Road in Walthamstow, north-east London
Mr Harvey, in his fifties, a passionate Remainer, would sometimes clash with fellow customers over his bacon sandwich or sausage roll.
It was one of the reasons Ms Davis put up a sign outside which read: ‘No Brexit talk – or anything to do with politics.’
But James Harvey – Walthamstow’s answer, in some ways, to Citizen Smith, the would-be revolutionary in the classic 1970s sitcom of the same name – has now found a new cause which has already attracted hundreds of supporters.
What do you think it could be? Is it:
(a) launching a campaign to stop Nigel Farage setting up a branch of his Reform party here in Labour territory;
(b) establishing a charity to help asylum seekers;
(c) fighting tooth and nail to prevent the opening of a Gail’s branch in the heart of the neighbourhood?
The answer, as counter intuitive as it may seem, is the last one.
Surely few at Gail’s, which serves iced lattes with cute red-and-white paper straws, could have imagined the decision to move to E17 would have triggered such a furious backlash.
The arrival of the artisan bakery, famed for its cinnamon buns, almond croissants and sourdough loaves, would normally be welcomed with open arms by the local community because it is perceived as a marker of an area’s upmarket credentials and often the precursor, say estate agents, to a rise in house prices.
What’s not to like then, especially if you own a property in the area, except maybe paying £3.80 for one of those almond croissants.
Plenty, it seems, according to Mr Harvey.
He ensured Walthamstow Village – an enclave of artisan restaurants, independent shops, pubs and expensive period town houses – made headlines last week by starting a petition entitled: ‘Prevent Gail’s from establishing a store on our High Street.’
Underneath, two baguettes formed an ‘X’ across the Gail’s logo.
The bakery chain, with 130 shops across the UK, Mr Harvey claimed, is an existential threat to the ‘uniqueness’ of the ‘vibrant local neighbourhood’.
The company, with ‘massive scale and advertising reach,’ could ‘overshadow much-loved local stores,’ lead to ‘decreased visibility and pedestrian traffic’ which, in turn, could ‘threaten their very existence’ and ‘dismantle’ – yes, there’s more – ‘an iconic space reflective of Walthamstow’s spirit’.
Quite a shopping list for a company which simply bakes fresh handmade bread, pastries and cakes every day, not to mention bite-sized pistachio, lemon and rose cakes beloved of middle-class women.
Local independent Bern’s and the Beans only opened on June 6 and owner Cathy Scanlon has said the arrival of Gail’s may see her cafe lose business
The new Gail’s bakery will occupy a shopfront next to the local Labour Party office
Gail’s even inspired the Liberal Democrat’s general election campaign.
The party faithful were told to ‘get out the Gail’s vote’ – a strategy which gained the nickname ‘Operation Cinnamon Bun’ – by targeting leafy commuter belt seats which had a branch of the bakery chain and where people were also turning to the Lib Dems.
In urban Walthamstow, however, more than nearly 800 residents – and counting – have already joined James Harvey and signed his petition. The anger is almost visceral.
‘I am from Walthamstow and have lived here most of my life,’ wrote one woman who epitomised the quiet fury of many.
‘This would be the final straw in the gentrification of the area and its knock-on effects would be catastrophic for businesses and for local people. We need to fight this!’
You could be forgiven for thinking Orford Road, the famed main artery through Walthamstow Village with around 20 stores, cafes, restaurants and gastropubs, with names like Bern’s & the Beans, Eat17 (house speciality: chicken burgers doused in award-winning bacon jam) and The Village Bakery, where Mr Harvey has his breakfast, is about to be razed to the ground.
The reaction, many might think, is also compounded by a hint of hypocrisy.
The proposed site for the new Gail’s, which occupies two shopfronts – No 25/27 at the end of the street – is next door to a Nisa Local.
There are 4,000 Nisa convenience stores nationwide. True, they are independently run but, at the same time, they are all supplied by grocery wholesaler Nisa, a subsidiary of the Co-op.
Ben Hills, pictured with friend David Emery, right, has lived in Walthamstow Village since 2013 and dismissed fears that the new branch would lead to ‘over-gentrification’
But Village Kitchen owner Billy Smith has signed the petition and said the area does not need Gail’s because of the abundance of local independent businesses
Further up Orford Road is the so-called ‘poshest Spar store in London,’ with its own high-end pizzeria inside, which is run in partnership with the same people who run adjoining Eat17.
Nevertheless, it is one of 2,600 Spar outlets in the UK operating under the same global brand name. There are also two other Eat17 branches, incidentally, in Hackney and Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.
But not once has a baguette, or even an artisan breadstick, been drawn in anger against these stores.
And underneath all this is a worrying subplot which has become an all-too familiar story in Britain in 2024.
‘Love local independent bakeries and hate Zionist moguls,’ one woman gave as a reason for adding her name to the ‘stop Gail’s’ petition.
Another signatory made defamatory and utterly unfounded allegations about the same ‘Zionist moguls’ adding: ‘We do not want them in our borough.’
We emailed both women via a message facility on the petition but neither responded.
Their comments were presumably aimed at Luke Johnson, the former chairman of Bread Holdings, Gail’s parent company, who has previously described Israel as ‘an astonishing country, buzzing with energy and confidence, a magnet for talent and investment – a cauldron of innovation’.
His investment company sold Bread Holdings in 2021 but Johnson retained a minority stake in the bakery chain, which was founded by Israeli baker Gail Mejia and businessman Ran Avidan when they opened the first Gail’s in Hampstead High Street in 2005.
Johnson, one of the country’s most successful businessmen who turned Pizza Express into a household brand, also holds pro-Brexit views and has spoken out against ‘woke universities’ and climate ‘alarmists’, opinions at odds with many in Walthamstow.
Politics, admit some residents, has played a part in the decision to oppose Gail’s.
In the 2016 referendum, nearly 60 per cent of the population of the borough voted to remain in the EU.
Walthamstow, described as a hipster haven at the end of the Victoria Line and regularly featuring in lists of London’s ‘coolest’ neighbourhoods, is a Labour stronghold.
Only last month, the local council agreed to withdraw pension investments in firms linked to Israeli arms supply following pressure from local campaign group Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine (WF4P).
Lucy Barnes referenced the decision in her comments on the petition. ‘We’ve only just managed to get the council to divest in the arms trade which are in turn arming Israel,’ she fulminated. ‘And now we’re inviting in Gail’s.’
Before the petition Cathy Scanlon, the 60-year-old manager of Bern’s & the Beans, a café which opened on June 6, was oblivious to the fact a new competitor was about take over the empty premises which was previously Italian restaurant Nuovo Mondragone.
‘I think I was first to sign the petition,’ said Ms Scanlon. ‘Gail’s do similar food to us for a similar price so we would probably lose business’, she said, but insisted: ‘Their smoked salmon bagels won’t be as nice as ours.’
Over at the Village Kitchen, manager Billy Smith is a kindred spirit. ‘Yes, I’ve signed the petition,’ he declared. ‘We just don’t need Gail’s here. We are all small independents. It’s very friendly. We’re all in a WhatsApp group, so we talk things over with each other.
‘If they [Gail’s] go ahead, then what next? A McDonald’s or a chicken shop? There’s a good chance people just won’t go there.’
Mr Smith says Gail’s Israeli links and the pro-Brexit stance of Luke Johnson has not helped because, he says, it is out of step with an area which prides itself on its Left-wing stripes. The new Gail’s would be sited next door to the Walthamstow Labour Party office.
‘But really, it’s more about the fact that it is a chain and about the businesses who are going to suffer when Gail’s opens,’ he insisted.
From the furore you’d think Walthamstow is united in its anti-Gail’s stance, but that’s not the case.
The new Gail’s, they said, would provide a boost for an area of the street which has been struggling.
‘The rumour mill began a few weeks ago and I saw one of the contractors outside who confirmed there would be a Gail’s there,’ said David Emery, a photographer who lives on Orford Road and uses the cafes and pubs on his doorstep.
‘The space has been empty for around two-and-a-half years, so Gail’s will put some much-needed life back into that end of the road which used to be lively and fun. Anything that gets the area buzzing again is a good thing.’
Would he patronise Gail’s himself and risk the ire of this neighbours? ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I have no problem with Gail’s at all.’
Walthamstow, like many other places, has been undergoing intense ‘gentrification’ for the past 14 years, according to a 2021 report, which found the average price of a house sold here soared from £165,000 in 2010 to £445,000 in 2016 and that 60 per cent of residents left the neighbourhood.
‘I get why people are concerned,’ said Ben Hills, 41, who works in finance and has lived in Walthamstow Village since 2013, where property prices are now in the stratosphere, but he dismissed fears that Gail’s would lead to ‘over-gentrification’.
‘I don’t know how much more gentrified we can get,’ he added. ‘Gail’s will bring new people to the village and new customers for everyone. The site has been sitting empty, doing nothing.’
In fact, there is little anyone can do, petition or otherwise, to stop Gail’s because the site is being privately let. It is a done deal.
Back at the Village Bakery, owner Sam Davis tells us that James Harvey sent her an email urging her to boycott Gail’s when it opened.
She signed the petition but wouldn’t be joining any boycott, she said, adding: ‘It’s not personal and it’s not about politics. I don’t have anything against Gail’s. Everyone is independent here and we just don’t want a chain.’
Mr Harvey himself did not turn up for breakfast on the day we were there, and at the time of writing, he had not responded to a message left at the café asking him to ring us.
In a recent interview, Gail’s chief executive Tom Molnar revealed deciding where to open a branch was ‘half maths, half art’.
‘Meeting local people, listening to the emails.’
The company also uses an algorithm that shows how residents in each post code behave.
James Harvey, metaphorically speaking, has now crashed the computer.
Additional reporting: Tim Stewart