On the Shelf With Londis N16

A family-run Stoke Newington grocery shop championing local food, independent producers and its community.

For our newest series, On the Shelf With, we’re turning our attention to the shops, delis and grocers that Honest Toil calls home. We’ll be meeting the people behind some of our favourite stockists, taking a closer look at how they curate their shelves and discovering the products, producers and stories sitting alongside our oil.

For our first visit, we headed to Stoke Newington to spend some time with Priyesh at Londis N16, a family-run grocery shop that has been part of the neighbourhood for almost five decades. Londis N16 has been in Priyesh’s family since 1979, when his grandparents first bought the shop. It has since passed through three generations, with each adapting and modernising the space to reflect the changing neighbourhood around it while maintaining a strong connection to the community.

Today, Priyesh and his brother Alpesh have taken on more responsibility for the family business. “The best thing about being part of a family business is being able to manage yourself and your time,” Priyesh tells us. Sharing that responsibility has also made room for something new. Their mum, Anju, now cooks for the shop three days a week, with a changing menu shaped by whatever looks good at the fruit and vegetable market. The food is predominantly Gujarati, drawing on the cuisine of the western Indian state, but also reflects the family’s diasporic upbringing. Non-traditional vegetables might find their way into the dishes, but the core spices and methods remain rooted in Gujarati cooking.

The addition of Anju’s food has given the shop a whole new character and brought a new group of customers through its doors. It also sits naturally alongside the increasingly unexpected selection you’ll find on the shelves. Alpesh leads much of the buying, and there isn’t an overly rigid formula for what earns a place. “We’re always looking out for new products or people to work with, and we try to rotate items as well so we can offer our customers something new to look at.”

That curiosity started within their own neighbourhood. The shop stocks honey harvested by Keisha from nearby community space Boiler House, alongside Growing Communities’ Hackney Salad, made up of leaves grown on allotments in Clissold and Springfield Park. Everyday essentials sit next to products from independent producers and local growers, turning a trip for one thing into an opportunity to discover something completely new. Priyesh and Alpesh give themselves plenty of freedom to experiment, bring things in and occasionally make mistakes. Their biggest limitation is simply finding somewhere to put it all. “Our only limitation is space – that’s why you’ll often find things stacked behind one another.”

Sitting opposite Stoke Newington Common, between Stoke Newington High Street and Upper Clapton, Londis N16 is firmly rooted in the residential neighbourhood it has served for generations.

“The shop has a lot of friends!”

Some customers remember Priyesh and Alpesh’s grandparents running the shop, while others have grown up coming through its doors themselves. Customer-facing work can be challenging, Priyesh admits, but having people stop by who are open to conversation makes all the difference. Almost fifty years on, products have changed, shelves have become more crowded and each generation has brought something of its own to the shop. But the relationship between Londis N16 and the people around it has remained at the heart of everything.

Priyesh also filled a basket for us with some of his favourite things currently on the shelves – a mix that says quite a lot about the way they approach the shop. There’s Papo’s Bagels, Mama Yu’s chilli oil and Honest Toil, alongside gazpacho and Taybeh beer for the particularly hot London summer, and chocolate mousse simply because it’s his favourite dessert.

“It’s fun for us at the shop to work with food companies where we know the people behind the product, like Papo’s Bagels, Mama Yu’s chilli oil and Honest Toil! Connecting with people making exciting, delicious things in the food scene makes me feel more connected to the city.”

“We love Stoke Newington!” And after three generations on the same corner, it seems Stoke Newington rather loves them too.