* UPDATE January 2018: Marks and Spencer applies to Hackney council for a licence to sell wine, beer and spirits between 6am and 11pm
* UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018: Pickles, mentioned below as likely to be affected by the arrival of Marks and Spencer, closes
MARKS AND SPENCER is returning to Dalston. A Marks Foodhall is opening on the ground floor of FiftySevenEast, the flats-and-shops tower rising up next to Dalston Kingsland station.
The opening comes three decades since the closing of the Marks department store a few blocks south in the High Street, opposite Abbot Street.
Gentrification worries have been raised anyway by the 15-floor development of 83 flats and suites built by Taylor Wimpey in a shape that has led to its being dubbed “the Dustbin”.
The arrival of a multinational will, however, be a blow to Ridley Road Market, Harvest E8, Pickles and other quality and independent provisioners. Marks and Spencer declined to comment on that but Jayne Saunders, the company’s London region head, told Loving Dalston: “Plans for our new Foodhall in Dalston are progressing well. We look forward to returning to the area and being part of the local community.”
![Pickles: Nicholson Boyd in just opened Pickles pizza-grocery 43 Kingsland Hi St Dalston Hackney London E8 2JS 140416 © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com](https://i0.wp.com/lovingdalston.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PicklesB-e1486837718977.jpg?resize=300%2C204)
Hamish Scott 110217
* Backstory: Racing to M and S Hackney; Dirty deals in Dalston; Hackney eateries to love, some to loathe; Dalston Peacocks site is sold on; Pickle of the crop
* All pictures on this page © David.Altheer [at] gmail.com, and all for sale for reproduction.
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained. A link in no way expresses support for any site.
![DK16: Modified Dalston Kingsland station Kingsland Hi St Dalston London 041116 © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com](https://i2.wp.com/lovingdalston.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DK16.jpg?resize=640%2C383)
If my memory serves me right, the old Marky Benders in Kingsland High Street didn’t sell any nosh whatsoever. Allegedly they shut down (along with Woollies and British Home Stores) because of all the ’arf-inching.
A chat with any local food retailer will confirm that, gentrified or not, our light-fingered friends are more prolific than ever in Dalston.
I wonder how a Marks and Spencer Foodhall will cope with that? Panelle padlocks? Tags on tagliatelli? Keys on koji and quinoa? Locks on leucaena and lapsi?
Now I’ll go and lie down.
* You are correct that there was no Foodhall. Kingsland High Street was then a gourmet-free zone. And you are probably correct about the reason for the closure.
As for security: the answer is key-iche. — Editor