A London-based Laine Pub Company site, The Candlemaker, has launched a new campaign, Battersea MyStreet, with the aim of bringing the Great British High Street back to the local residents of the south west London borough.
New manager Michele Cremona, of Soho pop-up cafe The Full English fame, aims to make it possible for locals to head to Battersea High Street for their weekly food shop, rather than the supermarkets in the area.
Launching this month, the campaign has already received backing from Jane Ellison, MP for Battersea and president of the Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce.
As part of the project, Cremona and the pub will be calling on local suppliers – including butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers – to partake in the weekly weekend market along the high street. Here residents can visit with their families, see the produce first hand, while speaking to the suppliers and purchase their food for the week.
They will also be seeking to fill the empty shops along the street with three to six month pop-ups from local artists and designers, as well as the aforementioned food suppliers.
Since opening its first pub – Brighton’s influential Mash Tun in 1996 – The Laine Pub Company has expanded to 47 creative, individual pubs, 39 of which are in Brighton, making it the dominant operator in the city.
Lately the company has expanded rapidly into London, with sites including press favourites The People’s Park Tavern, Four Thieves and The Aeronaut, all of which have Laine’s breweries onsite.
