Gail’s Bakery, Leon, and other signs your high street has been gentrified

This week, brave residents in East London banded together to prevent an outside force from entering their struggling local high street: Gail’s Bakery. Lesser-known to those outside of London, the coffee and croissant chain has become an inside joke to those in the capital.

Viewed as a middle-class haunt, a Gail’s on your street is now a tell-tale sign that the area has undergone gentrification; wherein wealthy people and businesses move into a trendy new area, making it unaffordable for locals to inhabit.

Using extensive scientific research (we asked some people in the office what they thought) we’ve outlined five other gentrification giveaways below. Can’t see your flat white through the flat caps? Let’s see where your neighbourhood sits on the gentrification scale.

1. There’s a Leon

Itsu, Paul; you name it, there’s a special group of single-name dineries that signal the time is up for your precious local kebab shop. But the appearance of a Leon, the healthy fast food chain that’s essentially a posher step-sibling to Maccies, is the real writing on the wall.

As one Brixton resident jokingly wrote on X/Twitter in 2022, the area reached its “final level of gentrification” when Leon brought its waffle fries to the birthplace of David Bowie.

x.com/audreythefinest

Known for its trendy food and drink fusions (the Korean Chicken Burger is a bestseller), Leon was purchased by the Issa brothers last year. It currently has 51 locations in London, and the Asda owners had planned to bring Leon into supermarkets.

Ironically, customers haven’t fallen for the marriage of the premium Leon and the budget Asda. The brand has struggled to do a reverse-gentrification and win over in-store shoppers.

“[Leon] has been caught between a rock and a hard place of trying to be made mainstream and acceptable to an Asda customer and forecourts but at the same time retain its place as a London City lunch concept,” Simon Stenning, a hospitality industry expert, told The Times.

2. You can’t move for BABYZEN pushchairs

One of the biggest indicators that your area has been gentrified is the arrival of the parents. Middle-class professionals who have had their first child will move to a cheaper area to afford the cost of childcare and bring with them the team mascot; the BABYZEN pushchair.

At nearly £300, the BABYZEN pushchair is a masterpiece of high-tech engineering. It’s also beloved by yummy mums and dads across the country. And, like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, they can arrive overnight; a gentrifying fleet complete with tell-tale white wheels.

The effect on the local area is subtle. You might find that the local greasy spoon is suddenly replaced by a kid-friendly cafe. That’s what happened in Balham, South London, which previously had a reputation for being rough, but is now known as ‘nappy valley’.

The change can cause tensions between younger incomers and older, often poorer, long-term residents who feel literally squeezed out. One cafe owner in Crystal Palace caused outrage in 2016 when he banned buggies, saying they took up too much space.

3. It’s drained of colour

The beige reckoning is here. Everywhere you look, there are beige toys, beige clothes, and even beige diets of oats and wholemeal bread. Beige fans will argue that their bland new colour scheme actually has a warm tint of nutmeg and cinnamon. Let’s be real. It’s beige.

Beige has also become the unofficial uniform of the middle-class in recent years. So much so that one interior designer dubbed its arrival ‘beigification’, in a nod to the signifier of wealth that these understated tones offer. And it’s starting to invade the high street.

Visit a bougie district of South Manchester or an up-and-coming road in Little Sheffield, and you’ll likely be overpowered by a palette of grey, brown, and cream. Inoffensive and neutral, the beige agenda has wiped out the displays that make independent shops so unique.

It’s not just brick-and-mortar brands. Companies such as X/Twitter and Uber are also becoming dull, switching their logos to sophisticated and ‘clean’ black-and-white designs. Could businesses stand out more if they injected a pop of colour into their shopfront?

4. Everyone’s queuing up for one café

Gentrification doesn’t happen in one push. It’s a slow process that usually results in one or two new businesses attracting a lot of attention from a very specific type of TikTok audience.

Believe it or not, these viral sensations have been scientifically studied. Academics call them specialty coffee bars (SCBs). You can usually spot them by their ‘instagrammable’ photo walls and thick glacial cocktails (the quality of the drinks being served is less of a concern).

Some are successful because they offer tasty menus and top-level customer experience. But SCBs can further gentrification by encouraging an identical row of ‘aesthetic’ shop fronts, geotagged for an affluent group of outsiders to gatekeep.

On my own street, there’s a newly-opened pub with a forest of cheese plants that’s full every evening. It’s great for the owners. Yet I can’t help but feel sorry for its excellent neighbouring taprooms that sit empty each night, while 20 people queue next door for an £8 pint.

5. You’re carrying a dog

In a viral TikTok post last November, Londoner and business owner @theplainshopuk listed the signs of gentrification that he had spotted in his local community. One, he described, was “the only cool one”; the arrival of the dogs.

Mini dachshunds and french bulldogs are common breeds in city areas. @theplainshopuk also described “those little greyhounds with the puffer jackets, those are the hardest.”

This trend is almost the millennial and Gen Z version of the BABYZEN. As more yuppy younger couples with dual incomes choose not to have kids, it seems they are instead gravitating towards urban pets that don’t need lots of space to run around in.

As a result, businesses in the UK are becoming increasingly animal-friendly. Cumbria, Romford, Edinburgh have all opened their first dog cafes this year.

The double-edged sword of gentrification

Critics say it is ironic that Walthamstow, itself a gentrified area, is protesting the arrival of a Gail’s. Still, the move must be commended as a loyal customer base supporting its local businesses. The heart of the issue lies in the complex dynamics of high street evolution.

While the allure of regeneration is undeniable, it often comes at a cost. As business rates and rent prices go up, smaller independents are forced to close. Most commonly, it is large chains looking for a cheaper lease that swoop in and homogenise the high street.

“[Walthamstow] is treasured for its local, independent, and family-run businesses”, the petition reads. “Gail’s, although respected for their quality, bring a risk of overshadowing our much-loved local stores due to their massive scale and advertising reach.

“This could lead to decreased visibility towards independently run businesses, threatening their existence and dismantling the character and diversity crucial to Walthamstow’s charm.”

The narrative isn’t entirely bleak. Offering cheaper rental options, such as pop-up shops, could allow SMEs to occupy the vacated space. Meanwhile, the government’s pledge to reform business rates offers a glimmer of hope.

To support the UK’s high street recovery, striking a balance between preserving local charm and fostering new economic growth will be the ultimate challenge for councils.