Neeli Malik
IMG_2978.jpg

100 Days of Groceries - Original 2020 Photoblog

100 Days of Groceries is a photography project, exploring the aesthetics of buying groceries, documenting mostly independently owned stores in which people can buy food; greengrocers, corner shops, newsagents, markets, butchers, bakeries, fishmongers, etc. Each post will document a different establishment. Some of the photographs are taken in passing, but some of them I visited specifically. Some documentations will be accompanied by text, either conversational interviews with the workers in the shops, or simply my own observations of the shop at the time. Read more about the project here.

Parlour Kensal (May 2020)

Parlour Kensal, Regent Street, Kensal Rise, London, May 2020

I went and spoke to Jesse – the owner, and normally, chef – of Parlour Kensal, a gastro pub which has been turned into a pop-up shop.  

“We turned the pub into a grocery store firstly for business survival; adapting to changing situations, keeping people employed, keeping money coming through the business, give me something to do, serve the community – that probably should be number one – to keep the conversation going about Parlour, and to keep the spirits up, somewhat, locally, but also, the supply chain of suppliers, customers, all of our suppliers are dying because they’re not supplying any restaurants because none of them are open. So, they’re thankful for the business and that’s a really important part of it, actually. 

It’s hard work because there wasn’t really very much warning. So, we had to take a decision and just act on it without any real preparation or planning. We’re just making it happen. 

The hours are different. We don’t do evenings anymore. But we do seven days a week when we normally do six days. Understanding a retail business rather than a hospitality business is quite a different situation. A restaurant environment versus a retail environment is very different. Organising displays and highlighting things throughout the layout in order to attract people’s attention and all the rest of it, that’s been quite important. 

As for staff, well, we did have thirty-five staff and now we have seven. We’re trying to keep the people motivated who are working here, who are exposing themselves to all these people who are coming in.
It’s been a really interesting experience of flipping things over. We might continue in some form in the future, but we shall see as the situation develops. 

As happens when the pub is open, I’ve really enjoyed interacting with the customers, but in a different way. Supporting the customers throughout this situation has been an important part of this process. Everyone slightly freaking out in the first few weeks and then everyone becoming more relaxed as they are now and just evolving with it. It has really gone up and down as the government guidelines change, people’s reaction to that, people’s awareness about social distancing and food shopping habits, and no online slots for online delivery, we just need to keep moving in this changing situation.

Come visit we’re open 10-4 every day. You might be surprised what you’re might be able to find here. Toilet paper to fillet steaks. Alcohol and fresh bread. We’ve just been discussing a little sushi pop-up with a local Michelin-star sushi chef. So that’s to look forward to. And keep in touch, things are changing all the time. Normally with business you interact with they’re much the same and that’s why you keep going back. But in this ever-evolving situation that we’re in now we just need to keep in touch with each other and see how things progress and, we’ll see you soon.”
 
 

Neeli Malik