Greek family businesses in London rarely get painted in oils. This weekend four independent shopkeepers are hanging in the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, painted by the artists who paint the royal family, and it got us thinking about the Greek and Cypriot owners who open the shutters every morning on our own high streets. Here is the free exhibition to catch before Sunday, and a short tour of Greek List members who deserve a frame of their own.
You walk into a cafe, a deli or a clinic, someone says kalimera, and for ten minutes you are not an immigrant with a to do list. Families who work six days a week in the same spot build that feeling. The four portraits in Local Royalty (a fish and chip shop, a village pub, a Glasgow cafe opened by an Italian grandfather in 1918, a corner shop in Catford) could just as easily be Greek stories from Palmers Green or Paddington. Around eight in ten people, says the research behind the show, think independent owners are underappreciated. We agree, so we are naming names.
The show is called Local Royalty and it runs at the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road until Sunday 1 November, free, doors from 10am. Four painters with royal commissions behind them (Nicky Philipps, Jamie Coreth, Gareth Reid and Nick Bashall) painted four independent business owners with the grandeur of a state portrait. The paintings hang next to the artists’ sketches, and the show marks 175 years of the British high street, counted from 1851. Time Out picked it as one of the best free things to do in London this weekend.
Getting there: Sloane Square station (District and Circle lines), two minutes on foot. Piccadilly line closed all weekend. Address: Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY.
Greek stop nearby: Chill House Coffee on 10 Shepherd Street, Mayfair, is the nearest Greek coffee to the gallery, a 25 minute walk up Sloane Street and past Hyde Park Corner.
Shepherd Market is the village hidden behind Piccadilly, a few lanes of old pubs and small shops. Right there, Chill House Coffee at 10 Shepherd Street is an independent specialty coffee house with a Greek heart: freddo cappuccino done properly, Greek coffee, pastries, and doors open from 7am on weekdays. One counter, a lot of regulars.
Getting there: Green Park station (Jubilee and Victoria lines), five minutes on foot.
Store Street is a short Bloomsbury street full of independents, two minutes from Goodge Street station. The Life Goddess at number 29 is a Greek deli, cafe and restaurant in one: shelves of Greek products, a counter of pies and sweets, and tables for a long lunch of Greek classics. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30pm and closed on Sundays. Of all the greek family businesses in London, this is one of the closest to the British Museum, handy if you are doing the Parthenon Marbles on the same day.
Getting there: Goodge Street (Northern line) or Tottenham Court Road (Central and Elizabeth lines). Address: 29 Store Street, WC1E 7QB.
Greek stop nearby: The Life Goddess on Store Street, Bloomsbury. Deli, cafe and Greek restaurant in one.
Greek family businesses in London are not only cafes and restaurants. The 175 year story of the high street is really a story about places like Chipping Barnet, a market town at the top of the Northern line with shops on the same street since the Middle Ages. Just off the High Street, in Church Passage, Dr George Papadakis at Armonia Dental is the Greek dentist of north London, a certified Diamond Invisalign specialist who treats patients in Greek and English, open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm. Families from Southgate, Cockfosters and Enfield make the trip up the hill.
Getting there: High Barnet station (Northern line), ten minutes uphill on foot. Address: 3 Church Passage, Chipping Barnet, EN5 4QS.
Greek stop nearby: Dr George Papadakis, Armonia Dental on Church Passage, Chipping Barnet. Greek speaking dental care and Invisalign, Monday to Saturday.
Not every high street has a roof. Westfield Stratford City is the shopping centre version of one, and down in the Food Hall on the lower ground floor EPIC has been feeding east London gyros, souvlaki and proper Greek salad for years. It is open from 10am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and until 6pm on Sunday, the easiest Greek lunch in London if you are shopping or walking the Olympic Park. Among greek family businesses in London it is one of the busiest.
Getting there: Stratford station (Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, DLR and Overground), then follow the signs for Westfield. Food Hall, lower ground floor.
Greek stop nearby: EPIC in the Food Hall at Westfield Stratford City. Souvlaki and gyros, seven days a week.
A good portrait is not out of reach. Manos Photography is a Greek wedding and portrait photographer in London who works with natural light and real moments, and Aneliza Photography, led by Eirini Gianni with more than fifteen years behind the camera, specialises in family, newborn and portrait sessions. If you run a shop or a practice, a portrait of you behind your own counter is the best thing you can put on your Greek List listing. Every one of the greek family businesses in London in this article started with one person behind a counter, and that person deserves a decent photo.
Greek stop nearby: Manos Photography and Aneliza Photography, Greek portrait photographers available across London.
Urban Food Fest takes over Islington Square on Saturday with independent makers and street food, the London Literature Festival ends at the Southbank Centre on Sunday with a free book swap, and the ice rink in Leicester Square opens on Saturday with a Christmas market next to it. The Piccadilly line is closed all weekend, so check your route.
The Greek List events page is the most complete list of Greek events in the UK. Tonight, Saturday 31 October, it is the Greek List Halloween Party at The Elysée Rooftop Bar. The Fernweh exhibition at the Hellenic Centre runs until Saturday 7 November. On Wednesday 4 November there is a poetry evening from the Orpheus Series in Crystal Palace. On Thursday 5 November Evangelia brings the Parea Tour to XOYO and Georgia Metaxas gives a talk at the Hellenic Centre. On Friday 6 November Gidiki play Brixton Jamm. Listing an event is free.
The greek family businesses in London featured in this article are Greek List members. More than 100,000 Greeks and Cypriots in the UK read Greek List every month on the site, in the newsletter and in the Ellines sto Londino Facebook group, and Greek List listings rank first on Google. A listing puts you in front of the people already looking for you.
Which Greek family business in London would you hang in the Saatchi Gallery? Tell us in the Facebook group Ellines sto Londino.
