Cereal Killer cafe damaged in Shoreditch anti-gentrification protest

So I wouldn’t personally, even as a well paid person, spend £5 on a bowl of cereal, imported from USA or not. But others can if they wish….

What I don’t get us how this place has become the focus of anti-gentrification protesters because it is located near to some poor bits of London. Are there no other places to get a more reasonably priced breakfast? Nowhere to buy a box of Shreddies?

I just don’t get it. Could someone enlighten me?

I dunno but whilst hanging out at brick lane trying to spot my stolen bike , the queue for that place of post clubbing kids was running down the street

Just a bunch of thugs out looking for an excuse to vandalise something and picked on the cereal guys because they are a bit new.

Their alleged reasoning was that none of the locals could afford to eat there.

Other than all the locals queuing outside every morning….

Lol at ‘we don’t want brioche buns’! It’s like something out of the daily mash. Can see why people on low incomes in London get annoyed but surely there is more variety for everyone now ranging from cheap and cheerful to uber expensive? Ps I may have had a locally sourced, 35 day aged burger in a brioche bun whilst visiting an Apple festival today…if that’s gentrification bring it on!

“They had torches and pigs’ heads”

So old Etonians then.

like overpriced coffee shops and wine bars its the place to be seen at, both wine and coffee are available at cheaper outlets.

Other than all the locals queuing outside every morning….

Locals or interlopers?

35 day aged burger

Was it not mouldy? 😉

Someone went out on a limb and opened a business, something different, maybe something fashionable. But someone is working for their living.
Some idle dickhead is jealous and tries to make some stupid point to look clever.
Just arseholes, that’s all they are.

I also couldn’t care less if someone wants to spend their hard earned on over priced nonsense but I think the reason it’s been targeted is because;

a) its on the high street and therefore an easy access target. Protesters like everyone else love convenience.

b) The owners couldn’t be more ‘hipster’ if they spent all day trying. This make them symbolic of the changing community.

c) The cereal cafe itself has no connection or usefulness to the established residents. Which again marks it out as symbolic of gentrification.

Can’t say I find any of those three points a good reason to try and wreck their business but that’s my best guess at understanding the targeting.

Some idle dickhead is jealous and tries to make some stupid point to look clever.
Just arseholes, that’s all they are.

Yep. Shame they only arrested one of them, should have thrown them all in jail for a few weeks…..

Gentrification is something that’s been happening in large cities for decades – New York leads the world in it, areas that were ‘no go’ for wealthy people 20 years ago, became ‘up and coming’ 10 years ago and ‘high end’ now. London is going through the same process and the ‘hipsters’ lead the charge, they make the unpalatable ‘cool’ and ‘cool’ makes cheap expensive in months not years and with most poor residents renting it means communities are wiped out when rents double or more.

I can’t condone violent protests but I can understand the anger – Hipster cereal bars really are the epitome of gentrification and people are being priced out only out of thier imeadiate area but much further afield, because if you can’t afford to live some rough bit of East London the greater London suburbs aren’t going to hold much for you either – where the hell do you go?

“trash a bank if you’ve got real balls”

What P-Jay said. Alternative cereal is available. Alternative housing, not so much.

Don’t blame the protesters at all, I would do similar if these types of hipster **** and their customers started infiltrating my area.

Really?

started infiltrating my area

What’s your area?

Hipster cereal bars really are the epitome of gentrification and people are being priced out only out of their immediate area

Presumably people who own their own property are quite happy to see gentrification as the value of their houses goes through the roof?

if you can’t afford to live some rough bit of East London the greater London suburbs aren’t going to hold much for you either – where the hell do you go?

Sell your cupboard in London and buy a castle in the North?

Presumably people who own their own property are quite happy to see gentrification as the value of their houses goes through the roof?

I’m sure, but for people struggling to pay the rent, that is a benefit they don’t enjoy.

Don’t blame the protesters at all, I would do similar if these types of hipster **** and their customers started infiltrating my area.
Really?

Have you been the victim of a ninja edit? I can’t see where that has been said.

I’m sure, but for people struggling to pay the rent, that is a benefit they don’t enjoy

I wonder how trashing a niche restaurant is going to help them pay the rent?
If you want cheap coffee/tea/cereal then buy the cheapest in bulk and eat it at home and find something more worthwhile to rebel against.

Really?

Yes, someone needs to take a stand against these overcharging cereal selling scumbags.

What’s your area?

A nice rough area where property prices are low and people are skint.

Presumably people who own their own property are quite happy to see gentrification as the value of their houses goes through the roof?

Yes, I imagine the selfish and self centred ones would be.

I’m sure, but for people struggling to pay the rent, that is a benefit they don’t enjoy.

Absolutely. I understand that. Just making the point that, contrary to the protests, I imagine quite a few of the residents will be over the moon with the idea that their crappy flat will quadruple* in value in the next few years.

* (made up figure)

Presumably people who own their own property are quite happy to see gentrification as the value of their houses goes through the roof?

They might have children who eventually might want to set up home in the area, “through the roof prices” won’t help them.

And unless you sell and move out of the area it really doesn’t matter how much it’s worth.

Btw I hope you realise that by discussing the issue you are helping the vandals to succeed in what they presumably set out to do. Just saying like.

“trash a bank if you’ve got real balls”

Every time I get fed up here the rubbish posted on stw, someone quotes the dead kennedys and everything is OK again. 🙂

I wonder how trashing a niche restaurant is going to help them pay the rent?
If you want cheap coffee/tea/cereal then buy the cheapest in bulk and eat it at home and find something more worthwhile to rebel against.

Are you making an unsuccessful attempt at humor, or have you just entirely missed the point?
Clue: it ain’t about cheap corn flakes.

Absolutely. I understand that. Just making the point that, contrary to the protests, I imagine quite a few of the residents will be over the moon with the idea that their crappy flat will quadruple* in value in the next few years.

Indeed, though as Ernie says, they still have to live somewhere. The really happy ones will be the landlords who will see their rents sky rocket without having to do a thing.

Funny old thing social mobility isn’t it?

Sounds like a good thing, but turns out people really want everything to stay the same.

Not sure that putting up poor people’s rent to middle class levels represents social mobility.

Cereal Killer was probably targeted due to the fact previous media attention would guarantee the protest appeared on the news. Attacking a bank is pointless, high street branches are insured and the banks would rather be without them anyway. I blame Harry Enfield for the “I saw you coming” sketch for promoting the idea that overcharging adds value.

Frankly, if you’re protesting that the opening of a cereal shop is evidence of creeping gentrification you’re probably at least 5 years too late.

I’m going out on a limb here as I don’t know the area but I’m betting that off-licenses nearby probably sell bottles of whiskey and wine that are many times more expensive than 2ltrs of Strongbow, and probably sell cigars that are the equivalent to the cost of a packet of fags.

I don’t think the anti-gentrification crowd would have much support if they started trashing offies. The hipster cereal bar is an easy target as it represents a lot societies ills, but for this mob to decide what people can and can’t spend their money on is fascism.

Funny old thing social mobility isn’t it?
Sounds like a good thing, but turns out people really want everything to stay the same.

This quote made me chuckle.

People want social mobility when it is them being mobile, what they don’t want is for them to be stood still whilst all around them (and in this case, their area) move upwards.

The hipster cereal bar is an easy target as it represents a lot societies ills, but for this mob to decide what people can and can’t spend their money on is fascism.

Whatever are they thinking about? A strongly worded posting to their favourite mountain biking website will surely bring everyone to their senses!

People want social mobility when it is them being mobile, what they don’t want is for them to be stood still whilst all around them (and in this case, their area) move upwards

They won’t be stood still though. They’ll be evicted.

footflaps – Member
Just a bunch of thugs out looking for an excuse to vandalise something and picked on the cereal guys because they are a bit new.

Certainly the point IMO.

Having been around “this place” for a few years now, certainly in the last 3 years that Brick Lane place has changed dramatically… for the better.
It really used to be one grotty street with a few shonky clothes stores and about 40 curry houses, all with blokes hanging around outside and harassing you to go in.. bloody horrible, certainly not “trendy”.

As the whole of the area became the place to be and hang out, pop-ups appeared in run down low rent closed down shops and voila! trendy place… Property shot up in value, the chain stores have moved in and it’s all going the way of a trendy village theme, almost a parody of itself.

I’m rather glad TBH. Folks taking care and pride in where they live and how they decide to work, looks far cleaner, tidier, more bloody civilized.

And so a bunch of drunken tossers, not even locals, start a fight with a vendor selling cereal…

You really couldn’t make this thing up.

London is going through the same process and the ‘hipsters’ lead the charge, they make the unpalatable ‘cool’ and ‘cool’ makes cheap expensive in months not years and with most poor residents renting it means communities are wiped out when rents double or more.

As you say it has been happening for decades, the hipsters are merely a very identifiable grouping in one area, a successor to the Sloane Rangers regenerating Clapham and Battersea in the 80s.

Commercial property prices are restricting social mobility, it is virtually impossible to open a retail establishment in London (or most major towns and cities) with just an idea and the fabled work ethic, it is really just dominated by people already cash rich and established businesses increasing their share.

Gentification? That happened in the 1980s and 90s.
What’s happening in London now is not gentrification. Thanks to crazy neo-liberal economics, London has allowed its housing stock to become a reserve currency for the globalist uber-rich and their offspring.
Why Londoners put up with it, I don’t know, but then again the show-of-force during the London riots and incredibly harsh jail sentences probably put most people off standing up for themselves.
Why anyone puts up with this crazy economic situation, infact, is very depressing.
Things the other 99 percent should take to the streets over:
– the bank bailouts
– Quantitative Easing
– mass immigration and the transformation of us all into a servant class again
– continued political interference in the housing market through things like help to buy
– overpriced cereal
Right, back to my servitude.

Why Londoners put up with it, I don’t know, but then again the show-of-force during the London riots and incredibly harsh jail sentences probably put most people off standing up for themselves.

Standing up with a TV on their backs, if you can’t make your point without smashing windows and stealing stuff before burning down random businesses including those that did loads for the local community then you probably shouldn’t bother.