Choices Local Haringey - Nov-Dec 2018

LOCAL 

RESOURCES 

to help you 

get your 

business off 

the ground 

Issue 3 

Nov/Dec 

ways to stay 

on track when all 

hell breaks loose! 

CRAFT BEER 

comes to 

Wood Green 

on a double 

decker bus 

HAPPY CUSTOMERS 

Mark Spurling shares his secret for great customer service 

Helping you make the transition from employee to entrepreneur

Welcome... 

Welcome to another edition of Choices 

Local, your local business and lifestyle 

magazine, helping you make the transition 

from employee to entrepreneur a smooth 

one and the dream of having a business of 

your own a reality. 

I’m always going to be positive and 

optimistic in my welcome, but I have to 

keep it real. We are about building 

businesses and sharing real life experiences 

with you to help your business to grow. 

And for us, nothing can be more real than 

our own story. 

This issue is super late and we have to 

apologise to everyone for this; it’s been a 

tough year; we got into a massive fight 

with Haringey Council that has almost cost 

us our home; we learned that cashflow is 

king, when I started struggling to sell the 

advertising and that put a halt on 

production. I really had to face my fears 

to make it happen and I’ll tell you all about 

it on page 28. 

Let me tell you what else is happening in 

this issue: 

We are back in the Market Hall (The Mall 

Wood Green) speaking to more of those 

amazing entrepreneurs and letting you 

know what you are truly missing if you 

come all the way to Wood Green and this 

is not part of your shopping experience. 

Remember to keep an eye on our website 

www.choiceslocal.co.uk, Facebook, Twitter 

and our new Instagram page, plus our 

business boost radio show so that you 

don’t miss any events or special offers. 

Our interview with Mark Spurling from 

Wood Green Cobbler is an education in 

business; he shares his tips on how to 

retain happy loyal customers, simply by 

knowing the difference between serving a 

customer and giving good customer 

service. 

We also meet Earth Ale and have a chat 

with Alex Lewis, one of the businesses 

from Blue House Yard; a fantastic retail 

space in Station Road, Wood Green. 

Each issue will feature an inspirational 

quote designed to be pulled out and 

displayed however you choose (page 33 in 

this issue). Why? Because surrounding 

yourself with positive messaging is a great 

way to keep you focussed and motivated. 

Why not frame them and build up a 

beautiful inspirational wall. 

I’ve talked enough now; time for you to 

start enjoying the features in this edition 

of Choices Local. Read and enjoy and 

don’t forget to give us your feedback and 

ideas; it’s all very much appreciated. 

Along with the amazing people we feature; 

you our readers make us what we are and 

we especially love it when you interact and 

connect with us. 

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, 

follow us on Twitter and Instagram and 

keep on being incredible. 

Speak soon, 

Anthony Charles. 

Local Haringey 3

Inside this issue 

6 

Double decker taproom with 

unique beers to match 

We speak to Alex from Earth Ale 

about his craft beers served up on a 

bus in Wood Green. 

6 

11 

COVER STORY: Mark Spurling 

Wood Green Cobbler owner shares his secret 

to retaining happy loyal customers. 

11 

18 

Independent bakery injects 

some style 

Charlie Findik shares his start 

up story. 

18 

4 Local Haringey

23 

28 

33 

34 

Resources on your doorstep 

List of the many great local resources available to 

help you get your business off the ground. 

5 Ways to stay on track when all hell 

breaks loose! 

Choices Local CEO shares his personal 

struggle and how it nearly lost him everything. 

Choices Inspiration 

Quotes to get you inspired and motivated. 

Perfect for framing and putting up on your 

wall... 

Last word 

Anthony Charles 

sums up this issue. 

23 

28 

33 

Editors 


Lisa Charles 

Publishers 

Team Titanium 

Advertising & Distribution 


020 8889 5363 

ads@choicesmagazine.co.uk 

Cover Photography 

Umberto Rozzo Photography 

www.umbertorozzo.com 

www.choiceslocal.co.uk 

www.twitter.com/choiceslocal 

www.facebook.com/choiceslocal 

www.instagram.com/choiceslocal 

While every care is taken to 

ensure accuracy, Choices Local, 

the publishers, authors and 

printers cannot accept liability for 

errors or omissions. No part of 

this publication may be 

reproduced in any form. 

Opinions expressed in this 

magazine are not necessarily 

those of Choices Local or the 

publisher. All material in this 

magazine is intended to be used 

for information purposes only. 

You agree to perform your own 

due diligence and that Choices 

Local or Team Titanium will not 

be held in anyway liable for any 

consequences without limitation, 

resulting from any action you or 

any other person takes or fails to 

take, whether or not based on 

information provided in this 

magazine or on any related 

websites. 


So a bar on a bus, how did that idea 

develop? 

It actually just sparked into my mind 

when we started the box shop as a joint 

venture with a few other guys. The bus 

was empty, basically, it was just sitting 

here, they were trying to get someone to 

come in to do a cafe set up here, but 

unfortunately it just wasn't set up 

correctly for the company to just come 

straight in. They obviously had to spend a 

lot of money just to hook up electricity 

and things like that. And so we held a 

couple of events here just for the launch 

of the box shop where we just had four 

taps of all our beers on and they were 

really successful and a lot of people came 

down. It was the night there were 

fireworks at Ally Pally that we managed to 

get the whole yard packed. So that was a 

really great feeling and I sort of pitched 


to the guys for us to take over the bus and 

set up our own thing and then turn that 

into a bar. They were unfortunately tied 

into responsibilities elsewhere, but I just 

saw it as too good an opportunity to miss 

really and I just thought Earth Ale needed 

a tap; it needed something to make it a lot 

stronger and avoid just being only 

wholesale trade to everyone. We wanted 

that direct connection with the public; it's 

a lot more rewarding that way. 

So yeah I just decided let's turn that into 

our own taproom and something really 

funky and perky and different and just 

thought why not. And it was at a price 

point that was attractive for it to actually 

work as well and we were prepared to take 

the risk because we could see the 

potential of making the space really cool. 

Fortunately Cakes and Ladders 

approached me around February or 

March time this year [2018] and wanted to 

find out if there was a possibility of 

sharing the space. I was already planning 

Thursdays to Sundays and I thought, yeah 

fantastic, it meant that the bus will be 

constantly open which I thought would 

be a positive because it means that people 

can trust coming here any time and not be 

disappointed that it's closed. So it's really 

fantastic that they're here and it boosts 

the bar even more. 

Cakes and Ladders do coffee, cakes 

and they do games as well right? 

Yeah. Essentially they're a board game 

cafe concept, they attract a lot of people 

that are fanatics and really keen on playing 

those games. There's a huge following and 

obsession for that as well which is great. 

There are a lot of people that will travel 

to places like Southampton, or Croydon, 

places that are quite far away and they're 

just blown away that it's now on their 

doorstep, so it's really cool for them to 

offer that as well and people come in and 

get a lot of choice. 

I've heard of cafes whereby they've 

got draughts or chess. But this is every 

board game you could dream of... 

Yeah, I don't know even know what half 

the board games even are, I've never even 

played them, but I look forward to it. I 

think what we're going to try and do is an 

Earth Ale and Cakes and Ladders board 

game night which will be really nice and 

we'll serve our beers to people playing 

their board games and we’ll certainly want 

to push the food concept of it as well. 

You’ve mentioned the term ‘taproom’ 

some people may not know that term, 

what does it mean? 

It's just a very old school traditional word 

for pub essentially, it's become very 

common to use in America. And I think 

the word has naturally travelled over to 

the UK now. I believe it's more associated 

with craft beer which is great as it’s a huge 

focus on what we're delivering and what 

we're offering. 

Of course I'm going to ask the 

question I always ask, what have you 

found difficult in getting this moving? 

Haringey Council, definitely for sure, it 

took a long time, a long time to get things 

confirmed up with those guys. They'll give 

you essentially like four weeks heads up 


on how long things take and then it takes 

anything between two and three months 

maybe four months just to give you an 

answer. 

And I think the frustrating thing is we're 

obviously trying to boost this yard, we're 

trying to energize it into something more 

and give a lot of choice to the public and 

just spread the positivity. You get the 

council freaking out about things like the 

pizza oven, so it's about trying to get 

them to understand what you're trying to 

create in a positive way. Unfortunately it 

does take a very long time, so things like 

that do really affect your business because 

you're not making money, you have to 

wait for these things to happen, but we 

got there in the end. So the positive is at 

least we have our premise license now and 

things like that, I would say it's the 

planning department that is probably the 

hardest one to actually get an answer 

from. 

Sounds like a really challenging time. 

There are just so many people that you 

have to talk to, to just deal with one 

solution and it can be very costly and time 

consuming. But the great thing is that 

Meanwhile Space is very much on board 

with what we're doing here and they do 

really support us in great way, so they 

certainly offered a lot of assistance and 

help on making sure that we were going 

the right way. So hats off to Meanwhile 

Space as well really. 

There was one lady from the council that 

I don't think understood what we were 

trying to do. We had a crowd funding 

campaign. There was everything there to 

see and we were all confirmed up with 

Meanwhile Space, we had the funding, we 

started building on it and then pretty 

much when I received my alcohol 

premises licence, one of the other 

departments were now contesting that 

because it's alcohol related, we shouldn't 

be allowed to operate the bus and it's not 

on the cafe terms that they agreed. They 

had since January to understand that and I 

was finding out six months after that, so 

it's things like that and poor 

communication that makes the whole 

system very dysfunctional. I think you 

learn a lot, you really do learn about the 

system and you understand how to tackle 

it. So the great thing is we are trading now 

and we're just pushing hard trying to 

make this place a success. 

And for those reading this, who are 

getting ready to launch their business 

and have to approach and deal with 

the council, what advice would you 

give them? 

I say just stay positive first of all and stick 

to that vision that you're trying to achieve 

and patience probably. Patience is 

definitely one of the most important 

things because it can be highly frustrating. 

And I think the best way is just not to 

react to them and just understand that 

things unfortunately do take a long time 

and as long as you stay positive then you 

will succeed and don't give up. There's 

certainly a few situations where we were 

questioning whether we were going to be 

able to do this, so I think surround 

yourself with some positive people that 

can keep you, that can supportive you at 


the same time. That's really important so 

the morale stays high. 

You're set up and trading now. What's 

the game plan now as you move 

forward? 

We really want to turn this into a 

destination, into a space where people are 

hearing about this, even internationally 

and we would love to attract 

tourists that come here and 

experience something quite 

unique. That certainly is the 

avenue we're trying to go to, 

promote the quality aspects 

and building something here 

in Wood Green. Definitely 

connecting with the 

community as well, showing 

them some support in other 

ways, especially employment. 

We'd like to take someone on 

in terms of a social enterprise, build them 

and educate them in the whole brewery 

scene and get them involved in making 

the beer with us and then knocking that 

on to working with the tap so they can 

understand how to talk to people, build 

social skills and also understand the whole 

concept of how it works and what we're 

trying to achieve. Especially with the fact 

that we use wild ingredients for foraging 

and things like that, it's a great education 

that we can pass onto others. 

So you're going to take some people 

through your whole process step by 

step? 

Yes exactly. Work with raw ingredients 

and understand flavors, smell, taste and 

see the patience of the fermentation 

process and see the final product. And 

then hand that to the consumer. 

Brilliant! So for someone coming here 

for the first time, what are they going 

to get. What should they expect? 

Essentially a great experience, where they 

can see something different and enjoy 

delicious products available that certainly 

for the beer side are unique and then in 

the daytime the option to enjoy the Cakes 

and Ladders setup. I think the great thing 

is there is a good energy here; the energy 

is young and positive and it's a great place 

to hang out, that's the idea that we're 

creating. 

Thanks Alex. We’ll speak again to see 

how you’re progressing and hopefully 

it's going to be a roaring success. 

Yes that's the plan. Keep spreading the 

word! 

www.earthale.com 


Mark 

Spurling 

Wood Green 

Cobbler owner 

shares his 

secret for great 

customer 

service 


Ok, so what do you do here at Wood 

Green Cobbler? 

We repair shoes, cut keys, do watch 

repairs; mainly changing batteries and 

engraving. We also do engraving on 

Zippos. 

How long have you 

been doing it now? 

I started when I was 17, 

doing it on Saturdays 

and then I moved away 

from Monday to Friday 

doing a warehouse job. 

Then I realised I wanted 

to do it full time, so I 

moved into the city 

doing it full time and 

then I took over the 

shop about 3 and a half 

years ago. 

Talk to me around the 

circumstances of 

taking over the shop, 

how did that come 

about? 

Well the guy I was working with, the guy 

who had it before me, I used to work with 

him on Saturdays and we used to meet at 

Springfield cafe in Bounds Green and 

then one Saturday morning I went in and 

he literally said "I'm selling it, do you want 

to buy it?" 

And when you said years ago you were 

doing it part time, what was it about 

"I want to see people 

happy, customers happy, 

there are not many people 

around now that want to 

see their customers happy; 

they just want to take 

their money and go! But 

with me, I want 

satisfaction, I want you to 

come back and I want to 

give you 100% of my 

skill." 

the business itself that attracted you 

to make you want to go full time? 

It was mainly doing the shoe repairing 

because I wanted to do stuff accurately, I 

don't want to give anything that is bodged 

up rubbish or nothing like that. I want to 

see people happy, 

customers happy, 

there are not many 

people around now 

that want to see their 

customers happy; 

they just want to 

take their money and 

go! But with me, I 

want satisfaction, I 

want you to come 

back and I want to 

give you 100% of 

my skill. 

You seem to be 

really well known 

in the area and I'm 

sure it's because 

of good customer 

service, is that 

something you have really worked 

hard at doing? 

Yes definitely. I go in to another shop, get 

served by them, see how they serve me 

and build on it. Nine times out of ten 

you will get bad customer service, so you 

build on it. Here you always get a "Hello", 

you always get a "Goodbye" and "How 

are you doing?", "Have a nice weekend" 

or "Have a great evening" because that's 


what makes people feel good, makes them 

feel better and they will hopefully come 

back. 

Fantastic. On average, how many of 

your customers are return customers 

compared to new customers, if you 

had to break it down? 

The majority are new customers that say 

"Oh my friend said you were good". 

Friends and family recommend but I still 

what's happening round here in the next 5 

years to see if I want another shop round 

here before branching out. 

When you say another shop, would 

you move or open up another branch? 

Another branch, hopefully. You don't 

know, the guy who had this before me just 

had this, I most probably will just have 

this but if something did come along then 

you've got to look at it. 

have regular customers that come back 

and they sometimes come back with gifts. 

So if they have been on holiday, they will 

bring me back a bottle of something, or a 

key ring (which are on my machines). 

Many of them are happy to return with 2 

or 3 pairs of shoes. 

Where do you see yourself in let's say, 

the next 5, 10 years or so? 

Still here. There is a chance of moving on 

to different shops but I would want to see 

And what sells the most? Because you 

do the shoes, you do the keys and then 

the engraving, what turns over the 

most for you? 

Both keys and shoes because that's what a 

cobbler is known as, a shoe repairer and a 

key cutter. So both of them, both of 

them stand side by side of each other. 

You've been in the Market Hall for 

some time now, I've been in and out 

of the market and I've seen people 


come and go. In your opinion, what 

makes a business successful? What's 

the key? What do you see some 

people doing wrong? 

Not doing deals. We 

round it off, so they 

are saving a pound or 

£1.50, that goes a 

long way. Deals, 

offers and again, 

smile. Be happy. 

I see that your 

answers always 

come back round to 

customer service. 

Yeah definitely 

customer service. As 

I say, people who are 

reading this interview, 

just go in to shops 

and listen to the 

customer service you 

get, watch what you 

get, judge it by that. 

That's all I can say. 

A lot of people who 

are going to read 

this interview are 

thinking of going 

in to business for 

themselves. What 

would be your 

advice to people 

setting up, starting 

out? What should they look out for? 

What should they really pay attention 

to? 

I’ll be honest, I didn't set up, I came in to 

a business which was already running, but 

I looked closely at our offering; I took on 

"...people who are reading this 

interview, just go in to shops 

and listen to the customer 

service you get, watch what 

you get, judge it by that. 

That's all I can say." 

more things, doing door entry fobs, doing 

a wider range of keys because the guy 

who was here before me just got stuck in 

his shop. I wanted to do more because I 

had worked in 

other shops so I 

could offer more 

and got it in here. 

Like now, shoe 

laces, pet discs, key 

rings, I just went 

for more stuff. 

Padlocks at the 

back wall, you may 

have a padlock 

sitting there for a 

year that's £100 

but it will sell one 

day, someone will 

come along and 

have it. Get your 

range of stuff in, 

it will sell. 

And when you 

came in and you 

started to look at 

the other ranges 

of things you 

were going to 

do, was it 

people's ideas or 

was it you 

thinking 

strategically and 

thinking well I 

can add this to it? 

It was more of what I had when I worked 

in other shops. So what I would do is if I 

choose something or if I see something I 

write it down, then the next week I act on 

it and get it if it's reasonable. 


Even if I am down on holiday in Bath 

and I see a shoe repairer down there, I say 

hello to him and we will have a chat, if he 

has something I like, I bring it back here, 

I look at it, if I can afford it, I stock it. 

You've just got to keep looking, you will 

learn something every day. 

Is it difficult keeping that repetition 

and keeping customers happy? 

It can be because when you give a bad 

service, a customer will tell 8 people, but 

when you give a good service, you very 

rarely get mentioned. So yes, you have to 

keep pushing with good deals. 

So you are always on the ball, you are 

not going to sit back and say "Well 

look, this is working for me now" You 

are always looking for a new 

opportunity? 

Yeah definitely. There was going to be 

something happening in Market Hall this 

year, but it's not going to happen and we 

are all staying. So we are changing the key 

boards in here to a new style of key 

boards, like a little refit. I want to do a 

little mini refit on the shop to make it 

look nicer because people do need to 

change, you can't keep looking at the 

same stuff. 

So Mark, what has been your biggest 

business challenge since you have 

been running the business? 

Trying to keep our customers focussed 

with good deals. Changing the deals every 

six months and basically being here, 

keeping the shop open 9am until 6pm 

every working day and always giving good 

service. 

So it's just about being consistent all 

the time? 

Yeah, just change one deal and then 

maybe a year and a half later go back to 

another deal and just swapping them 

around and whatever deal works, try and 

keep that deal going. 

Wood Green Cobbler, The Mall Wood Green, 

Unit 21 Market Hall, High Rd, Wood Green, 

London N22 6YE. Opening hours: Mon to Fri 

9am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm. 


Tell me how it all started off, where did 

the inspiration come from? 

To be honest we were looking for a 

restaurant and this space popped up and we 

thought the area needed some good coffee 

and fresh food, so that's how it started. 

What kind of restaurant were you 

looking at first? 

Well, Mediterranean, Turkish, but there's a 

lot of it in the area, so we thought maybe 

not and kind of stayed away from that. 

Made it more fresh pastries, cakes and good 

coffee. All made in house, besides our vegan 

stuff. 

And as far as the bakery is concerned, 

did you have a background in this field? 

Never done this before. I ran a sales and 

marketing company for 12 years. This was 

totally random. 

And what made you feel that you could 

take on something completely different? 

Obviously it's challenging but to me it's all 

about people. If you can deal with people 

they will come back and I have been in sales 

for 12 years, so for me that was my 

strongest point which I didn't think I would 

have a problem with. When I go into Costa 

or Pret, sometimes they are rude in there 

and I don't want to go back and I know 

that's not me, so I knew I could lure people 

in just from that alone. 

So basically your strategy was, get the 

people in, give them good service, treat 

them properly and they come again? 

That's it, exactly that! 

Brilliant. And the area, what made you 

choose Wood Green? 

I didn't choose Wood Green, Wood Green 

chose me [chuckles]. I think it's a busy high 

street and then the location popped up so 

we thought we'd give it a go, but Wood 

Green was not my first choice to be honest. 

How long did it take you to get it all 

started from when you saw the building 

and made the decision, to opening the 

doors? 

We put the offer in September 2016, we 

opened the doors 1st of July 2017. So 

about 7-8 months. 

What was the most difficult thing you 

found in getting the shop set up? 

Paperwork with the solicitors and the 

shopping mall, that took a couple of 

months and then the really hard bit was 

probably the builders delaying things and 


fridges not arriving, so mainly the interior 

part of it, the building part of it. That was 

probably the hardest, most challenging part. 

Who came up with the design for the 

shop? It looks excellent! 

We designed it ourselves. I was working 

with an architect, however, we gave her all 

the ideas and she kind of implemented it. 

But she didn't design any of it, she just put 

it together. 

Basically, she interpreted what 

you thought? 

Yeah, exactly that! We 

went for more of a 

modern cosy look, for 

me it's definitely 

missing in this area, 

and I think we got it. 

And the customers 

like it? 

Yeah definitely! A lot 

of customers think it's 

out of place for the area 

but yeah, they like it. 

That's one of the things that I have 

heard myself, people have said that they 

have looked at it and they think it's a 

chain. So is that a good thing? 

I guess it's a good thing, we are not a chain, 

there's only one branch but yeah, I think it's 

a good thing, yeah definitely. 

What's your long term plans? You've 

just started; you are in your first couple 

of years, where do you see this going to? 

To be honest, I don't know. It's a lot harder 

than what I thought that's for sure, I'm here 

7 days a week, I don't even get a day off, the 

odd week I get a day off. At the moment 

potentially we open a second one, not for 

another year I'd say, but potentially, yes. 

What would you say is one of the 

biggest challenges, the hardest thing 

you have to deal with when starting a 

business? 

There's loads [chuckle]. Dealing with the 

public isn't easy, but I guess, you got to do 

your homework, especially with food. 

Sometimes you have ideas but then it 

doesn't work so you've got to kind of 

swallow your pride and do what 

customers want; it's not about 

what you like; it's about 

what your customers 

like. I think that's the 

hardest part. 

Getting people to 

adapt to your style 

doesn't always 

work so you've got 

to compromise. 

But you've 

definitely got to do 

your homework; 

you've got to be patient. 

For this kind of stuff, people 

are used to the norm, they always 

go to the same places, so for them to come 

to your shop, you’ve got to do things 

differently, you’ve got to treat people 

differently, give away free stuff, I think that's 

the most challenging part. 

A lot of people go in to business and 

they fail in the first year. The failure rate 

in the UK alone is over 80% and that's 

being pretty conservative. What do you 

think a lot of people do wrong? 

It's hard to tell. Everyone's different, 

everyone has different ways of dealing with 

things, I think you got to set your 

expectations right. A lot of people 

sometimes don't make money so they put 


their prices up thinking they are going to 

make money but that has the opposite 

affect. So I think you got to be patient, it's a 

long game, you can't just expect to walk in 

and go "Hey ho, I'm going to make loads of 

money", it doesn't work that way. Other 

than that I don't know, everyone's different, 

it's a difficult question to answer. 

Everybody's got a USP and there are 

some similar businesses in the area, 

what makes you stand out from the 

others; what's different about 

Charlie's? 

I mean, not to brag, but I 

think by far the shop 

looks the prettiest on 

the outside and on 

the inside, the 

coffee is freshly 

roasted, it's graded 

at over 90%, so 

anyone who knows 

anything about 

coffee will know. All 

our cakes, all our 

sandwiches, all our pastries 

are made daily, fresh, we don't 

keep anything. It all goes either in the 

bin or we give it to the homeless, so it's 

constantly fresh and it's baked throughout 

the day, which I don't think a lot of people 

do in this kind of business, unless it's a 

restaurant and then it's different. It's fresh 

basically. 

When you first started you weren't doing 

breakfasts, now you are. Was that part 

of a long term plan or did you just see 

an opportunity? 

Bit of both really. I think we should have 

maybe started off with breakfast but we 

didn't, we lured customers in gradually for 

the coffee and then the cakes and then the 

sandwiches and then the pastries. A lot of 

people were asking for breakfast and now 

we put the breakfast/brunch in and that 

menu got bigger in February of this year. I 

think it's about constantly adding new stuff, 

you can't just stay stale, you’ve got to 

constantly do new stuff, or people get 

bored. I didn't want to put it all in at once 

and then have nothing to add at a later 

stage, where as now I'm gradually adding 

more and more stuff every month or every 

two months. 

And lastly, what advice 

would give to people 

who are looking to go 

into business. Our 

readers are people 

who are moving 

from being an 

employee to an 

entrepreneur, what 

advice would you 

give them? 

You've got to take 

risks. If you don't take a 

risk, you're never going to 

know. You don't want to be 50 

years old and look back and think "Oh, I 

should have done this and I should have 

done that". Yeah it may not work, it may 

work, but the only way you are going to 

learn is to do it. I'd never been in this 

business ever, but its food, and especially in 

this industry people always need to eat and 

drink. So you got to take that risk and just 

do your homework. 

Charlies Cafe & Bakery, 169 High Road, Wood 

Green, N22 6BA. Opening hours: Mon to Sat 

7am-8pm. Sun 8:30am-7pm. 


Available to restore 

coppice, fell trees and 

lay hedges. Greenwood 

craft demonstrations, 

training and woodland 

walks also available. 

If what you need can be made with sticks, get in touch. 

www.rivenwoodcoppice.com info@rivenwoodcoppice.com 

Blue House Yard, River Park Rd, London N22 7TB

Resources on your 

doorstep 

Your start-up business journey doesn’t have to be a lonely one. If you’re juggling your 

finances on a shoe string, there are plenty of free resources online for budding 

entrepreneurs like yourself, but nothing beats face to face interaction and there are plenty 

of free resources you can access right on your doorstep, well, maybe a short bus ride away... 

To help you take your business to the next level, here are a few places in Haringey that are 

either free or available at low cost for start-ups / small businesses: 

The Business Lounge, provided by the 

Haringey Library Service, located on the 

ground floor of Wood Green Central 

Library, offers information and inspiration 

to help you start your business or plan for 

growth. 

Research your market and competitors, get 

help with developing your business and 

marketing plan and get information on key 

financial and legal issues. 

There are free advice sessions, workshops 

and seminars and networking events to get 

to know other local businesses and widen 

your network. There is also a free open 

workspace offering flexible hotdesking and 

a glass room that can be booked for 

meetings. 

WEEKLY FREE ADVICE SESSIONS: 

Every Wednesday 1pm-5pm Free business 

start up and growth advice drop-in with 

Choices Local CEO Anthony Charles. Get 

help with your business plan, business start 

up and growth, marketing and advertising. 

Drop in or email Anthony to book a 

guaranteed slot - 

anthony@choicesmagazine.co.uk 

Every Friday 9am-5pm Free Friday Business 

Advice sessions are provided by Enterprise 

for London with Mike Williams. Book on 

020 7101 0696 or email 

enquiries@enterpriseforlondon.com. 

The Business Lounge is free to use, just fill 

out a form from the library customer 

service desk on arrival to become a member. 

You’ll need to bring proof of your signature 

and address from the last three months. 

Alternativey ontact them for more info 

Location: Wood 

Green Central 

Library, High Road, 

N22 6XD 

Opening Hours: 

Monday to Friday: 9am to 7pm, Saturday: 

9am to 5pm, Sunday: 12 noon to 4pm. 

business.lounge@haringey.gov.uk 


A disused clothing factory in Manor House has had a makeover, now a quirky coworking 

community space offering a flexible, comfortable and creative place where people in the area 

can go, relax and work without any hassle, with the space designed to inspire you to think 

differently and encourage collaboration and productivity. 

This coworking space also hosts regular meet ups, coaching to grow your business and 

workshops. And for some good community fun and bonding, get togethers indulging in 

wine and cheese, film nights and painting and creative evenings. Prices for use of the open 

workspace start from just £9 per day. 

Location: Unit 5, Overbury Road, Manor House, N15 6RH 

For more information visit: www.areaworks.com 


This new business hub for small enterprises, entrepreneurs and creatives opened in April 

2018. The 13,000sq ft workspace combines flexible and affordable workspaces, co-working, 

training rooms and creative spaces and offers access to grants and business advice from 

Nwes, the country’s largest enterprise agency. 

Wood Green Works also offers fixed desk membership, meeting rooms, conference facilities, 

various office space sizes and will run events and workshops. 

Location: 40 Cumberland Rd, London N22 7SG 

For more information telephone: 0845 4374 465 or 

email: workspace@nwes.org.uk 


639 is a visionary space for business, 

employment and volunteering in the heart 

of Tottenham. Run by local charity the 

London Youth Support Trust (LYST), the 

639 building has been developed as a centre 

to help local people aged 18 – 30 get started 

in business and gain employment skills. 

rooms, a cafe and a free-to-hire space for 

charities and third sector organisations. The 

Centre provides free business advice, free 

business mentoring, volunteering and 

mentoring opportunities and training 

opportunities via other organisations based 

in the building. 

Facilities include; affordable office space, 

shared workspace, conference and board 

Location: Tottenham Green 

Enterprise Centre, Town 

Hall Approach Road, N15 

4RX 

For more information visit: 

www.lystbusiness.com 

The North London Chamber of Commerce 

(NLCC) is an independent membership 

organisation offering a range of support services 

to help businesses raise their profile and generate 

new opportunities. Regular networking events, 

seminars, business advice, directory listings and 

discounted meeting room hire. The Chamber also 

provides advertising and sponsorship 

opportunities to strengthen business profiles as 

well as access to a legal HR advice and support 

line. 

To access the full range of benefits, membership 

starts at £99 per annum, but anyone can book to 

attend a networking event and pay the non 

members price. 

For more information visit; 

www.nlcc.co.uk 


ADVERTISE 

YOUR 

BUSINESS 

HERE

Ways to stay on track 

when all hell breaks loose 

I was a bit apprehensive when I started 

writing this piece; I’m not one to get into 

great religious or political conversations, 

because people can get really 

judgemental on what is essentially your 

personal beliefs and convictions. And 

although this article is about neither of 

the above subjects, I guess my 

apprehension came from 

the fact that sharing 

personal issues or 

experiences always leaves 

you open to the 

judgement of others. 

Producing a magazine 

that is all about helping 

people to start up and 

run successful businesses has always 

filled me with a desire to share our own 

success story with you the readers. The 

problems is, when you don’t 

automatically turn your business into a 

roaring success or when you hit those 

obstacles in the road, your story mainly 

consists of putting out one fire after the 

other. 

2018 was a particularly rough year for us; 

nearly ten years ago when we were in 

severe financial hardship we approached 

the council for assistance with our 

council tax; they misinformed us telling 

us that we were not eligible, which not 

only resulted in years of financial 

struggle, bailiffs, stress, etc... It 

culminated in the council taking us to 

court to obtain charging orders against 

"This court case came bang in the 

second year of the launch of our 

magazine. Needless to say, the stress 

of dealing with it took its toll both on us 

personally, and the business." 

our property; eventually applying to the 

court to force the sale of our home. 

This court case came bang in the second 

year of the launch of our magazine. 

Needless to say, the stress of dealing with 

it took its toll both on us personally, and 

the business. We were already in a bad 

place with some of our main advertisers 

pulling out; we struggled to get the 

magazine out and get in more advertisers, 

making it tremendously difficult to run 


the business, while fighting to save our 

house. 

On April 13 2018 we attended 

Edmonton County Court and got the sad 

news that after all of our hard work the 

Council had been granted permission to 

sell our property and we were to hand 

over the keys on 13 July 2018. 

In the midst of this battle, I remember a 

friend of mine asking me how I managed 

to cope, much less get anything done 

under these circumstances. I’d like to 

share some of my answers with you: 

1 

DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE 

This is about the most important thing I 

could say. As embarrassing as our 

situation was I didn’t try to hide it, not 

only did we go everywhere for advice and 

help (C.I.B at the Royal Courts of Justice, 

applying for legal aid, etc...) I also spoke 

openly to friends and colleagues about 

what had happened. I got a lot of really 

good help and advice and found that 

many people had faced similar situations 

and managed to find solutions. 

As the business came to a virtual 

standstill, we had to let all of our clients

know our situation and what we were doing 

about it and the majority were fine, 

understanding and supportive. 

2 

SEPARATE BUSINESS 

AND PERSONAL 

My close friends were very sympathetic, but 

when I messaged one of my clients who had 

paid for advertising, explaining what had 

happened, I got the reply ‘seems like I’m 

being spun a yarn’. I’ve got to admit, it 

completely took the wind out of my sails; it 

felt like a gut punch. I felt gutted that after 

being 100% honest, I was being accused of 

being a liar. 

value to other businesses, they are not going 

to do you any favours, do business with you 

or take you seriously. 

It’s really important not to take this 

personally; people do business with people 

they know, like and most importantly; 

people who are of use to them. If you have 

one and two, but not three (being of use to 

others); your only option is to add value to 

yourself and not take any rejections 

personally. 

3 

KEEP YOUR FOCUS 

There were two things on my mind through 

all of this: 

This feeling went on for ages and 

continuously brought me down every time I 

was up. Eventually I had to really pull 

myself together, reminding myself that my 

clients (particularly the new ones) didn’t 

know us personally and could only go on 

the reputation we were 

building with them. It was 

nothing personal; it was 

business. I’m big on 

customer service and 

satisfaction so we have 

some bridges to mend and 

we won’t stop until 

everyone is happy. It’s not 

great when you slip up and get something 

wrong; the most important thing is what 

you do about it. 

When you don’t start off with a good 

reputation, you have no credibility and with 

none of those qualities going for us it was 

hard to get clients. And when you are of no 

1. We were not going to lose the house. 

2. We were going to make a success out of 

the business. I sat down and read over our 

business plan; made some adjustments and 

began to take action. 

"...when you don’t automatically turn 

your business into a roaring success 

or when you hit those obstacles in the 

road, your story mainly consists of 

putting out one fire after the other." 

I had to energise myself so I could get and 

keep the focus to keep me on track. I began 

to listen to more self development material; 

I started getting up early in the morning to 

meditate and I started running; I set myself 

mini goals in all of these areas to help with 

my focus. 


One of the things that I gain a lot of joy 

from is helping people, so I decided to use a 

section of my radio show to share some of 

the exercises that I use to help me to focus 

and succeed. I shared a concept that I call 

‘Titanium Thinking’ on the air; I was very 

apprehensive at the beginning as, again, it’s 

something personal to 

me and although I was 

used to sharing general 

motivational content 

during the part of my 

show called ‘The why 

hour’, I wasn’t used to 

talking about my 

personal beliefs' in the 

area of psychology and 

metaphysics. The response was amazing; so 

great was the response that I decided to 

record this philosophy over 12 shows and 

now I’m getting ready to share them on my 

podcast; much to the anticipation of my 

listeners. 

was affiliated with in some way, looking for 

pieces of work or joint ventures. Three 

organisations came back to me with work 

that brought in thousands of pounds. 

In my business plan, 2018 was the year I 

was due to launch a number of free events 

"Believing in yourself is crucial; life can be 

tough, and adversity will always introduce 

a man or woman to themselves. At the 

end of the day, it’s not what happens to 

you, but how you deal with it." 

in the Business Lounge (Wood Green 

Library). Launch I did and we had a great 

response; in fact it was in one of these 

events that I was recommended a book on 

sales called ‘The inner game of selling’ by 

Ron Willingham; I’m working through it as 

I write this and it has been extremely useful. 

4 

TAKE MASSIVE ACTION 

5 

Meditating, running, reading and helping 

others is great, but when it comes down to 

getting the results that you want; you have 

to plan, prepare and then take massive 

action. Every day is not the same in 

business and when one door closes, you 

have to start opening more doors like crazy. 

I struggled with getting advertising in for 

the magazine, so I pushed myself harder, 

and again, wasn’t scared to admit the areas 

that I needed help in. 

The magazine was on hold, so I started 

speaking to all the other organisations that I 

KEEP ON BELIEVING 

I guess one of the toughest things to do 

when it comes to taking massive action and 

keeping your focus is to continue believing. 

Here I am fighting to keep my business 

afloat and to save my house; I’m running, 

meditating and listening to motivational 

material; is all this really going to make a 

difference in my results? If I wasn’t taking 

massive action the answer would be no; but 

those exercises and rituals provided me with 

the energy to take massive action again and 

again until I got results. 


Belief is crucial when you are taking massive 

action and things still seem to be going 

wrong. Prior to going to court, we wrote to 

Claire Kober (the then leader of the 

Council), her reply shut us down and backed 

the council 100%; that was followed by the 

decision on 13 April 2018 in the councils 

favour. What I haven’t mentioned is that 

our case was originally meant to be heard in 

January 2018; however the council’s 

representative did not attend court and the 

matter was struck out. We knew it would be 

relisted, but what we 

didn’t figure was that the 

delay bought us enough 

time for the local 

elections to take place in 

May 2018, resulting in a 

new regime taking over 

the council with a 

completely different 

outlook to their 

predecessors. All of a sudden, we had our 

local MP and councillors on our side and 

things began to take a turn for the better. 

to the close of this article, sharing this part 

of our story has been somewhat cathartic. 

I hope that this episode in our story gives 

you the courage to know that you can get 

back on track, even when all hell breaks 

loose. I hope, if nothing else, it will 

encourage you to set your goals, follow your 

plans, make the necessary adjustments, keep 

your focus, believe in yourself and take 

massive action to make your business work. 

Believing in yourself is crucial; life can be 

"Failure is only failure when you stop 

attempting to do better. Sometimes 

you just have to fail your way to 

success. Wishing you all the success 

you can dream of and work for." 

tough, and adversity will always introduce a 

man or woman to themselves. At the end 

of the day, it’s not what happens to you, but 

how you deal with it. 

TO CONCLUDE 

So here we are; with our latest edition of 

Choices Local; we are already working on 

our next two editions and I’m getting better 

at sales. We are looking forward to an 

exciting 2019. We are still in our home; we 

managed to get an extension to January 13 

2019. I don’t intend to hand over my keys 

to the council, but they are not going to give 

up without a fight (I’ll keep you posted). 

I wasn’t expecting this, but as I am coming 

Failure is only failure when you stop 

attempting to do better. Sometimes you just 

have to fail your way to success. Wishing 

you all the success you can dream of and 

work for. 


Twenty years from now you 

will be more disappointed by 

the things that you didn't do 

than by the ones you did do. 

So throw off the bowlines. Sail 

away from the safe harbour. 

Catch the trade winds in your 

sails. 

Mark Twain 

CHOICES INSPIRATION

Last word... 

The next time I write for Choices Local will 

be in 2019, a new year and new beginning 

for all of us. I would like to leave you with a 

wish that you have a Merry Christmas and a 

prosperous new year. 

A new year brings new beginnings for many 

and the opportunity to reflect on the last 12 

months. Looking back you can see what has 

been, what might have been and sometimes 

what you wish hadn’t been. 

I’m sure looking back on 2018 for many of 

you; it was a time of great uncertainty; well 

at least politically as far as Brexit is 

concerned. Perhaps your year was shaped by 

some defining event; I know ours has been 

(see page 28). Even though we still have a 

major fight ahead of us I am looking 

forward to 2019 with great optimism. 

Not everyone may share my optimism and I 

understand that; this may be due to business 

or personal challenges that you are facing, 

but I hope as we go forward with Choices 

Local we can provide help, support and 

solutions for 2019 and beyond. 

No matter what has happened in the past 12 

months, you can’t change it; but you can 

change your perspective of it. Take some 

time to assess what has happened; the good 

and the bad; what could you have done 

differently? What can you improve on? 

We are coming to a new year and we’ve set 

our goals bigger than ever. As we take time 

to reflect on the past 12 months, we are 

focusing on our achievements; one of which 

was to make the magazine bigger; did you 

notice the extra four pages? We have big 

plans for 2019 and we realise that we can do 

so much more with this magazine and the 

resources that we have. We want to see 

businesses grow and thrive in Haringey and 

we want to play a part in this success. 

My encouragement to you for the upcoming 

year is to set bigger goals; look for more 

solutions and don’t get stuck in the past. 

We’ve learned for things to get better; we 

need to be better; and to paraphrase 

Ghandi; ‘we need to be the change that we 

want to see’. 

Wishing you the very best for 2019 and 

beyond. 

. 

Anthony. 

Sign up for the Inside Choices 

newsletter at: www.choiceslocal.co.uk 

You see; everyone is self made; but only the 

successful are willing to admit it.

Choices Local Haringey - Nov-Dec 2018

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