©Michele Monticello Essay  all photos ©Michele Monticello  

There has been a lot of discussion about what might replace the Fish & Cook on Blackstock Road. People care about the future of the area, and that’s understandable. It’s a visible site on a busy street, and change like this always brings opinion but I think something important has been missed in the way this conversation has developed. Raj has been part of Blackstock Road for nearly fifty years. Alongside his wife, he ran Fish & Cook as a small independent business that became part of the everyday rhythm of the street. They have been there, opening up each day, serving local people, and providing a steady presence through decades of change in Finsbury Park.

That kind of continuity is rare now and it deserves recognition.

What also needs to be said clearly is this: Raj is not totally responsible for what happens next to the building. The future use of the site is shaped by the proposals that come forward from investors and businesses, and by the planning decisions that follow. Those processes determine what ultimately replaces a previous use. Raj is not the driver of those outcomes. He is simply stepping away after decades of service to the community. It is also worth remembering that Raj has not simply waited for whatever proposal came along. He has been in negotiations with both a psychotherapist clinic and a firm of accountants about taking on the premises. Those discussions did not progress because the prospective occupiers raised concerns about the level of loitering outside the shop, an issue that has long been recognised as affecting Blackstock Road more generally, rather than being specific to this premises. This shows that genuine efforts were made to find alternative uses for the site before the current proposal came forward.

That distinction matters because much of the frustration being expressed is being aimed at the wrong place. He is the most visible person in this situation, but not the one shaping the decisions behind it, and when visibility gets confused with responsibility, the picture becomes distorted. There is also something else that often gets overlooked in conversations like this which is how we recognise contribution. If someone works for a company for fifty years, there is usually formal acknowledgement, a retirement, a speech, a mark of long service. Independent traders rarely receive that same recognition, even when their presence in a community has been just as long, and often more visible. Raj and his wife didn’t just run a shop. They were part of the continuity of Blackstock Road for nearly half a century. That is not something that should quietly disappear into the background because a planning discussion has begun.

This isn’t really about one building or one application. It’s about how we understand long term contribution, and how easily that gets lost when attention shifts only to what comes next. Raj isn’t asking for anything more than to step back after nearly fifty years of work, alongside his wife, who shared that journey with him and if there’s one thing worth holding onto in all of this, it’s that.

Before we argue about what replaces Fish & Cook, we should recognise what it already was and before we turn this into a debate, we should remember what was actually given to this street. Whatever happens next, Raj and his wife have already earned their place in the story of Blackstock Road and that shouldn’t be forgotten.