This neighbourhood incorporates part of one of London’s longest and busiest stretches of road, along with the Victorian streets that make up a section of the desirable Harringay Ladder. A Turkish, Kurdish, and Greek Cypriot enclave, the area’s amenities reflect this diverse community, with rows of Turkish restaurants, supermarkets, and bars, interspersed with trendy coffee shops and locals’ pubs. Harringay Green Lanes station offers the community a handy Overground service into town, and the numerous bus routes make commuting very simple, even if you do have to sit in the heavy traffic that occasionally builds up. Finsbury Park makes up much of the neighbourhood’s southern edge, and provides a calm getaway from the hustle and bustle further north. The Warehouse District in the eastern section has become something of a hotspot for young people as its reasonably detached position and large warehouse conversion communal living spaces lend themselves to an extensive nightlife. The strong community spirit and diversity of rental prices, as well as the assortment of conveniences on offer, have all made this area popular with a broad range of Londoners, from well-off families to students.

Green Lanes was once an ancient thoroughfare that took travellers and drovers from Hertford to Smithfield Market. Green Lanes began its development in 1821 with the building of a large house at the spot that would later become a junction, and more large estates followed suit over the next few decades. Finsbury Park was laid out between 1857 and 1869, encouraging the construction of more housing for the relatively well-off. As the neighbourhood became more urbanised it began to wane in social status, houses were split up into flats, and many of the wealthy residents had been replaced by students and the working poor by the early 20th century. The Warehouse District developed around this time and became a key centre of employment for locals, and later in the 1940s and 50s there was an influx of immigration from the Mediterranean and the initial formation of the strong community that remains to this day.

The Harringay Warehouse District was once the centre of piano manufacturing in the UK, and was home to the plants of famous names such as Challen, Boyd, Barrett & Robinson, and Eavestaff. The area was also the location of the confectionery manufacturer Maynards, as well as of plants for flexible tubing, printing ink, radio valves, cathode ray tubes, shoes, and even early photographic slides.

This part of Green Lanes is often associated with pollution, crime, and a general dog- eared feel that puts off a lot of people looking for a place to move. The road is also rife with roadworks in part due to its early origins, but mainly because it is so busy, which also poses its own problems.

The whole borough of Haringey has been singled out as a key area of development over the next decade, with the first of the Mayor’s flagship housing zones located to the north in Tottenham. 10,000 new homes are being built in the area, which will bring lots of new faces to Green Lanes and its local amenities. Crossrail 2 is also scheduled to pass through nearby Wood Green and Seven Sisters stations, which will help with congestion at the area’s many busy stations and encourage investment into the local neighbourhoods. Yet despite £1.8 billion being invested in the scheme in 2020, it is unclear when the line will materialise as plans have been underconsideration in different forms since the 1970s.