Emma Brand thinks twice about food touts.
‘Chicken curry and poppadoms, only £5’.
If you have ever walked down Brick Lane you will know what this is all about.
You can’t go more than 50 metres without someone trying to convince you to buy their food – either straight from a street stall, or a sit-down meal inside a restaurant.
This isn’t Mayfair or even Soho. This is not food for people who need to know they are the only ones in the know. This is touting for anybody’s, everybody’s custom in time honoured East End style. But is it a style that has done its time? What do today’s customers think of the touts coming on so strong?
Student Claire Watson (19) believes that the Brick Lane touts should be banned from approaching potential customers because ‘they are pushy and over the top.’
If you’ve been before, and you already know where you want to eat, other vendors vying for your attention can be very annoying, says Callie Preston (20).
But dancer Anna King (19) disagrees: ‘I don’t think it should be banned. If you are a tourist and not in a hurry I can’t see a problem with it – only if you’ve already said you’re in a hurry and they still try and stop you.’
Visiting from Cambridge, Emma Cliff (20) didn’t want a ban on touting, but thought there should be tighter regulations to stop the touts being so persistent.
Listening to these comments, I can’t say I was entirely convinced. Touting might be something of a nuisance, but surely it’s a little rich for people to go to Brick Lane because it’s supposed to have a bit of an edge; and then get edgy when a few guys try too hard to sell us something.
After all, if you don’t want ‘edgy’, we all know where not to go.