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Friday lunchtime and the dining room at Chutneys is in full swing. Happy customers, many longtime regulars, are tucking into the buffet, returning for many helpings of mild, sweet matar paneer, dark-green, minerally sag aloo, freshly cooked parathas and – of course – housemade chutneys. At £9.95, it’s a steal.
Things look rosy, but for manager Abdul Mubin, the opposite is true. Trade is down 60% since the pandemic, says Mubin, who grew up in London’s Euston area and has worked at Chutneys and Diwana Bhel Poori House, the landmark sister restaurant on the other side of the road, since 1987.
Fewer commuters and students, a decrease in parking spaces and rapidly rising prices (oil and onions have more than doubled in the past few months) have left Drummond Street’s business owners fretting about their future.
The biggest factor, however, has been HS2. The controversial high-speed railway’s London terminus is Euston, on Drummond Street’s eastern end. For decades, this short road has been considered one of the best spots in town for good, cheap, filling Indian food. Now the Euston entrance is partially blocked by an obstacle course of barriers and fences.
Several buildings have been demolished, though there is no current threat against the remaining strip. Drummond Street is quieter than it has been in years.
Earlier this year it was announced that construction on an HS2 tunnel into Euston would be paused, a further blow as dwindling trade was partially offset by construction workers. “The way I see it, they need to finish the station and give us our lives back,” says Oli Uddin, owner of i-Optix opticians and chair of the Drummond Street Trader Forum.
This historic row of townhouses, restaurants and shops, barely 200 metres long, is home to one of central London’s earliest south Asian communities. Since the 1960s it has housed restaurants, sweet and savoury snack shops, grocery stores and butchers. The beloved confectionary chain Ambala opened here in 1965, the founders of Patak’s ran a local store, and many cite Diwana, established in 1971, as the country’s first south Indian vegetarian restaurant. Several spots, such as sweet shop Gupta’s, have been around since the 1970s, and many chefs and waiters have worked here just as long.
“It was completely different then,” says Mubin. “It was very busy, alive in the evenings, with customers flowing. People would come from Wembley and Southall, it was known as Little India with only south Indian shops.”
Another hit in trade has come from the growing availability of south Asian restaurants and products in suburbs like Southall, Wembley and Tooting. Before HS2 and the pandemic, Chutneys would feed 100 or more during a weekday lunch.
“Now it’s 30,” says Mubin. Evenings are falling too. “Everybody on the street is saying the same thing.”
It’s a marked contrast to Brick Lane in the East End, where the Bengali restaurants are perennially rammed, benefiting from proximity to the City, Shoreditch’s heaving nightlife and being a spot on the tourist trail.
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Uddin grew up in nearby Covent Garden and regularly visited Drummond Street with his family. “It was a great place for businesses. It was very, very lively, at lunch and in the evenings,” he recalls. “We had great pubs.” Today, only the Grade II-listed Crown and Anchor remains, though one boozer was converted into the Camden People’s Theatre.
For Uddin, authenticity is Drummond Street’s main draw. “Dishoom [a restaurant group with several outlets] is modern and completely different, but people here wouldn’t eat there,” he says. “People here want the real taste of Indian food.”
Mariam Hassan, local programmes manager at the Old Diorama Arts Centre on the far western side of the road, remembers the thriving street of her youth. “I’d come for a samosa at Ambala, cross to the supermarket for a mango Rubicon, then come to Chutneys for masala dosa. My dad’s favourite was Raavi Kebab, as they do Pakistani food. From a young age I really believed this street is so important. There’s so much culture, so much positive history. It’s important to keep this going, it’s the livelihood of so many families.”
Hassan is involved in the Regent’s Roots festival on Saturday 29 July, an event promoting local dance and art during South Asian Heritage Month.
The evening will see the Drummond Street Spice Sundowner, part of a series of events leading to Diwali and organised by the Drummond Street Neighbourhood Forum, a collaboration between Euston Town Business Improvement District (BID) and Drummond Street traders.
The event will see £5 dishes at many restaurants, Bengali DJs and Islamic calligraphy.
“It’s about reviving interest in something special and unique, but easy to overlook when all around we have development,” says Georgie Street, Euston Town’s head of projects. Euston Town BID is also working with Jan Kattein Architects to redesign shop fronts and lighting and promote green infrastructure.
The road’s main entry point is from Euston Station, but for Street a key goal is to attract custom from other directions. “People are more drawn to Tottenham Court Road, and here feels inaccessible. If commuters are coming once a week, we want them to come here.”
The local MP, Sir Keir Starmer, may have grand ambitions but, according to locals, he’s often spotted dining. Street says he “worked closely” on Euston Town BID and, for Uddin, he’s been “110% supportive” of local businesses. Uddin hopes to open his first food venture early next year. “Drummond Street is all about food,” he says. “I’m toying with the idea of an Indian-fusion sandwich bar.”
It’s a sign that local businesses are intent on continuing the area’s rich culinary legacy.
For Hassan, “it’s really important to celebrate what we’re about, that we’re still here, celebrating the eight south Asian countries, and the more than 40 cultural backgrounds in the community”.
