Meet the Locals

Short profiles of Harringay locals. (A bit of an opus interruptus at the moment, I'm afraid)

Know someone you'd like to profile - or you'd like us to profile?

Irfan Tastemur, Joint Proprietor of Cafe Lemon

Irfan's an interesting guy. As a young university student studying mechanical engineering at one of Turkey's top universities, he entered a writing competition. He not only won the competition, his writing was good enough for one of Turkey's newspapers to call him up and offer him a job as a journalist. Irfan accepted and started on a career which saw him become one of Turkey's leading journalists for a top Turkish newspaper. After a spell as the paper's London correspondent, he decided to settle in the UK.

He had, surprsingly for me, a remarkably clear vision about what he wanted to create in establishing the Cafe Lemon. He set out to blend the best of Turkey with the best of Brtish. The design concept expresses this vision with flourish and stakes the cafe's place in 21st Century London.

Irfan is also a great advocate for Harringay. He wasn't blown here with the wind. "This area has a real mix of people from many differnt places. What's remarkable to me is the harmony that exists between them all. This is very rare", he explains. "Harringay is a very special place. I really value it"

Go and say hi to Irfan and his business partner, Cem. I can vouch for the coffee and some of our other members have given the thumbs up to the food too.