Before learning Time Out had ranked Blackstock Road as being up there with ‘cool corridors in Buenes Aires and Cape Town’, I’d always seen this shabby street near me in north London as a place to avoid, if possible.

Not because it feels unsafe. But because – how can I put this? – it’s a bit of a dump. It’s no more congested or litter-strewn than many other streets in many other cities, but has little to recommend it. (Definitely best avoided if walking with a beagle obsessed with discarded chicken bones.)

Perhaps less surprising than the Time Out accolade is one of Blackstock Road’s other claims to fame from around the same time. It was where the prisoner wrongly released in November 2025, Brahim Kaddour Cherif, was picked up by police. When footage emerged of his arrest opposite our local Sainsbury’s, one son cheerfully pronounced it ‘the most Blackstock Road thing ever’. (‘Well, obviously you’d head to the world’s coolest street if you only had a few hours of freedom left,’ responded his brother.) A few days earlier, another wrongly released prisoner had been arrested just a short distance away in Finsbury Park.

Having lived in this area of north London for approaching 40 years, I can see why it’s such a magnet (and not just to escapees). It has brilliant transport links – ideal for getting home for those of us brave enough to venture into central London after 9pm (in our jewellery); it has many parks and green spaces within a short walk. Plus, of course, its proximity to the Arsenal football ground. As the Telegraph put it in September 2025 the area (which it designated one of the top 10 coolest neighbourhoods in London): ‘has received a hip shot in the arm with the rise of Arsenal’s women team, who now play all their matches at the Emirates.’

When I walk down Blackstock Road now (with Time Out’s words ringing in my brain),  I find myself laughing out loud as I gaze upon the chicken shops, nail bars and bookmakers.

I was almost hysterical when a friend told me last December she’d had to dissuade a group of visiting Americans from heading there for their Xmas shopping after they’d read Time Out. (She diverted them to Broadway Market.) As I crossed Blackstock Road later that evening, heading home from Arsenal tube, I stopped to take pictures of its various delights so she could show her American friends what they’d missed (what even was Fizzy Popz?). (See Whatsapp screenshots.)

After a bit, I put my phone away. Suddenly aware that the prospect of having my phone snatched (for the first time ever) while I was on Blackstock Road taking photos of Blackstock Road to take the piss out of Americans for wanting to visit Blackstock Road might be too much for the gods of karma to resist.

As Timeout says, many of the businesses are family run: C&H Pharmacy, which bent over backwards to sort out my mum’s prescriptions when she came to stay during the pandemic; stationers Fish & Cook (now threatened with being replaced by a slot machine arcade). Not so long ago, the owner reminded my 30-year-old son that I used to take him (son) in there in his pram; JNF (close by on Mountgrove Road), home to two generations of barbers. I once met someone in Clissold Park who still got his haircut there despite having moved to Southend.

The independent bookshop/winebar/cafe Book Bar is truly wondrous; Finks (just along from JNF on Mountgrove Road) does great (if pricey) sandwiches and cakes. Its ice creams rightly warranted a mention in The Times ’41 best places for ice cream in the UK’ Yard Sale’s TSB (tender stem broccoli) pizzas are consistently good and its home delivery remarkably speedy. Baban’s Naans are excellent (and did us proud when we held a party at home for our son’s 30th).

The locals I’ve spoken to share my bewilderment that somewhere to us so non-descript should be singled out for such praise. One who works on Blackstock Road concluded the journalist must be trying to sell a flat in the area.

She laughed as hard as I did when I told her about the Americans, then asked: ‘Were they wanting to buy hash?’