the cáfe in the park

The imposing Queen Anne style mansion Clissold House, built in 1793 for the Hoare family – Quakers, merchants and anti-slavery campaigners – has new occupants. Now owned by Hackney Council, the tenders for use of the ground floor were formally invited in April this year and various business plans were discussed by the Council over the summer. They found in favour of Ayhan and Nur, owners of the nearby, popular New River Cafe on Church Street and, after extensive refurbishment, the new Clissold Park Cafe opened in July.

The cafe comprises two large, airy rooms featuring work by local artists – paintings of Clissold Park by David Britten and abstracts by Sara Downham Lotto on our last visit – with atmospheric French boulevard music playing quietly in the background, Very mellow, and a huge improvement on the old place, which had a rather ramshackle, temporary air about it. The back room (‘it was in a terrible state’) hasn’t been available to the public for years. It is now open again and has a pleasing aspect over the park gardens and the old church of St Mary’s. Older visitors have commented to Ayhan that they recall visiting the room when they were kids.

The menu is a fairly standard one – burgers, omelettes, breakfasts, panini, baguettes and so on – but the food is well presented, satisfying and affordable. The menu will change with the seasons. What more do you want from a park cafe (aside, perhaps, from an alcohol licence)? The staff are friendly and helpful and, although the hot days of summer have now gone, you can sit in the front garden and watch the locals stroll by, as well as monitor the leisurely progress of the terrapins on the New River banks opposite.

The new owners are pleased with the general public response to their new venture. ‘So far, so good’, said Ayhan when we asked him about progress but, on our visit, the place was lively, busy and the prospects look rosy.

The park is Stoke Newington’s back garden and deserves a cafe of this quality.