Fluttering St George’s Flags announce English patriotism on Hornchurch High Street. On either side of those flags is international hospitality. Although I walk on the High Street daily I had no idea how blessed we are with an incredible variety in hospitality. Hornchurch is the hub of this blessing.
It’s about half a mile from Abbs Cross Lane to Station Lane. That half mile has intense activity. There are 43 hospitality businesses plying for trade. They represent a substantial part of the world’s cuisine. Twelve different nationalities can be found (see Addendum)1.
British food is far and away the biggest but doesn’t add up to half of the 43 businesses. Some of are very local. French’s café has been in Hornchurch for 80 years,2 which is the record. Hornchurch has behemoths like J J Moon, and others serving ‘pub grub’. The two Costa Coffee shops are owned by Coca Cola.3 Chains are from all nationalities. For example, the Giggling Squid is Thai and Nando’s isSouth African.
Conclusion
There is every sort of dining experience in Hornchurch from cafes with a few tables and limited hours, to full-scale dining for a special destination meal.
Addendum: The International scene in Hornchurch
British (16), USA (5), Indian and Italian (4 each), Turkish (3), Chinese, French, Japanese, and Thai (2 each), Greek, South African and Vietnamese (1 each)
Notes
1 Where it is an international chain, I’ve allocated it to the *home* country e.g. Starbucks is American.
2 See Café Society: Hornchurch – Politics in Havering
3 I’ve credited Costa Coffee as British because it started here.
Politics in Havering 
I don’t know what your own political beliefs are, and I’m not going to ask for them. I will say that I’ve been feeling increasingly depressed about the state of politics in the area lately (let alone the state of it in the country as a whole…). As you outline well, the council is run incompetently and is in dire financial straits, and it’s a near-certainty that Hornchurch & Upminster and Romford will go to Reform next election (I am quite certain the locally popular Rosindell will defect, but the Tory die-hard Lopez will stay true and lose her seat) and when you look in local community groups on Facebook and Nextdoor you’d think this place was run by the SS with how extreme the racism is.
The truth is, of course, that Hornchurch has, for as long as I’ve been alive, had ethnic/religious/cultural diversity. When I went to primary school in Nelmes in the 2000s there were brown and black kids and it never made sense to me to be racist, it was just inconceivable because they were just like me. Some of them were nice, some of them not nice, etc etc. In fact, one of them was the reason I ended up supporting who I do in football because they, one of the most popular kids in reception, said they’d be my friend if I started supporting Liverpool. Being the turncoat rat that I was (despite coming from a West Ham family, as most people here do), I promptly switched (as I didn’t care much at that point) and by the time I realised I might be called a plastic for it, I had too much of an emotional connection to go back! Anyway-today I look at the school kids and it’s more 50/50 between white and non-white vs what I guess was like 75-25/80-20 when I was in primary school (I went in exile from 8-22, lived here from 0-8 and 22-25, which is now), but I don’t really see why I should care, nor why this means “our country is being lost” as they say in the local Facebook groups. They have a different skin colour, but they act, talk, and do things the same way as the rest of us do. They’re British, they’re English, they’re Urchins, they’re Londoners (despite Rosindell’s Essex irredentism, I have always this area was London, especially after living in Essex proper for a decade), etc. This idea they’re not integrated is nonsense. I went to secondary school in Chelmsford and my year was like 95% white and there’s no difference between us and them, they’re just British teenagers, white or black. We are kin, and they are my people as I am theirs.
With that in mind, I like this post. People complain about the takeaway shops in Havering (and elsewhere), mainly run by immigrants and people from minority backgrounds, but the reality is they stay open because they’re profitable, and that’s there’s demand! Plus, with online shopping it’s just a natural consequence of capitalism that retail shops will be outcompeted by Amazon and such, whereas you cannot make food in a warehouse, even if you want it delivered. If people want to shape the nature of the high street, then they need a far more interventionist state with a more planned economy, something anathema to Reform’s free-market fundamentalism. I’d like the high streets of Havering to change from ‘place to spend money’ to something more communal, based on leisure and socialisation, to tackle the loneliness crisis, but that’d basically require moving away from capitalism, something I passionately support but that most in a right-wing area like this obviously do not. It’s also worth noting that, for all the crying about immigrants and ethnic minorities being ‘scroungers’ or whatever, these groups of people are FAR more entrepreneurial and ambitious than the White British population, the working-class portion of whom are painfully anti-intellectual and fatalistically unambitious (personal experience from being poor white working-class myself and seeing so many of my peers have this attitude). The charity sector and the SME sector in London (including Havering) are disproportionately led by the same communities people in Havering demonise, yet without them the economy would be non-existent. Not to mention so many of these racists are very old and will be needing immigrant labour to wipe their asses when they have to go into care homes, as God knows White Brits don’t want to do it, nor are there enough to fill the demand for labour anyway. I think people who are fervently anti-immigration and want ‘net zero’ or a tiny number don’t really understand why ‘mass immigration’ has happened in the whole western world. It’s not because of some conspiracy to destroy the white race or whatever, and it’s not even about wage repression, it’s simply the economic imperatives imposed onto society by capital, brought on by the low-productivity and low value-added nature of a service-based economy combined with an ageing population brought about by the hyper-individualism of the modern age (no ‘village’ to raise the kids as humans did for almost their entire existence), the double burden imposed on women, and an increasing disparity between wages and the cost of living.
Anyway, I apologise for the rant. What I wanted to ask is this: can you do a sort of introductory overview of Havering politics as a whole? Especially with local elections coming up. I only moved back here 3 years ago, and I don’t really know much about local politics beyond the MPs. E.g., who are the HRA, how did they come about, who leads them (and who leads in the other parties), and how have they performed (poorly, I presume)? What is the state of the local party branches (Labour, Tory, Green, Reform, Lib Dem, and beyond)? Are there any independent social or political notables not affiliated with a party? How are preparations for the local elections going and what are your predictions (I know through personal sources that Labour have effectively begun their campaign in some areas, for instance)? What do you think the future holds for Havering? That sort of thing.
Just an overview, a sort of ‘mother post’ that contextualises the rest of the content, which I very much appreciate and enjoy.
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Thank you for your comment
Hospitality: The point of the changing High Street experience is that shopping is dying as an activity. Retail has been transformed by Amazon but also by Covid-19. Groceries are now ordered on-line and delivered in a time slot. Stripping out the experience of shopping also strips out human contact. Isolation is corrosive (as we all found out during Covei-19 lockdowns) so what happens to the High Street?
The High Street has become a destination – a leisure activity – and this is typified by cafes and etc. The pivot towards the humanity of a destination where there is a natural interaction has created opportunities for a huge variety of hospitality experiences.
Diversity: Havering is an old borough. The Councillors appear to average 60+, with many 70+ and a handful 80+. This accurately those who turn up to vote. And the rub is this: Democracy is about who turns up to vote. Reform is looking to reify an ageist society and on the basis of a 38% turnout they will probably succeed.
My politics: This blog is apolitical. I’m a commentator.
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A parable:
I had a garden full of roses and I loved those roses, but suddenly someone decided to cut down all the roses and replace them with daffodils and I was miserable because I loved roses, but daffodils are lovely too and I now have a garden full of daffodils. Indeed I love daffodils but nevertheless I never gave permission to cut down the roses.
I should decide what flowers to grow in my garden, not someone else, a tyrant, deciding for me and insulting me or worse if I object.
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Thank you for your comment
I have no idea what point you’re making
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