ILLUSTRATIONS: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
How’s your high street? Mine’s looking a bit rough. In the past year we’ve lost an Italian restaurant, a brunch place, a pottery café and a burgers-and-cocktails spot. All were independents. All are now closed down and boarded up. It’s making the main road look a bit like the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse movie. It’s a similar story in cities, towns and villages across the country. Neighbourhood restaurants need our support. But that’s only half the story: we need them, too. These restaurants are the soul of a community. They may get our custom, but we get so much more in return. A good neighbourhood restaurant is the place “where everybody knows your name”, as the song goes. Where else can you drop in for spaghetti and a glass of chianti at 8pm on a wet Wednesday when you’re too tired to cook? Where can you always tuck into your favourite lamb rogan josh, because they never change the menu (and frankly you wouldn’t want them to)? A good local restaurant offers comfort and familiarity. The brunch place I mentioned was a cycle café that closed nearly a year ago. I’m still upset. I mourn their sweet potato fries and their salted caramel flapjacks (never did get the recipe).