"'Two years ago, we were more isolated. Everyone was scared'
Turks in Green Lanes
Leo Benedictus
Friday January 21, 2005
'I like it here' ... staff behind the counter in the Yasar Halim bakery in Green Lanes. Photograph: Martin Godwin
The 29 bus route tells the story of Turkish London. From Trafalgar Square, it rolls up past grimy Camden, where the first Turkish Cypriots opened small businesses in the 1950s. On through Islington to the Seven Sisters Road, clipping Stoke Newington, where the prosperous Turkish families were quick to set up shop.
Then into Haringey, swinging hard left on to the middle section of Green Lanes. Few parts of the city have been so absolutely colonised as Green Lanes, one of the longest roads in London. At its centre is the confusingly named Harringay district, where the Grand Parade section of the street has been revivified by its settlers. Officially, out of 200,000-250,000 in London, there are 30,000-40,000 Turkish-speaking people in Haringey. All but a few shops are conspicuously Turkish, and all bar none are doing brisk business on a wet Saturday afternoon. "
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