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> Editorial
> What's the Story?
> Mrs. Fixit
> Desperately Seeking Ingredients...
> Passionate about Mill Road
> Caribbean Masterchef
> Everything is Possible!
> A Sanctuary on Mill Road
> Boat People
> Going Green with Al-Amin
> The Akashi Project
> Open All Hours
> Mesmerised by Meze
> Come Together
> The Girl from Arapau
> Still Sweet and Spicy
> A Real Neighourhood
> Lei Si Fan Mei?
> Flight from Baghdad
> Streets of Revolution
> Stepping up the Ladder
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Passionate about Mill Road
Suzy Oakes is one of the driving forces behind the Mill Road Winter Fair, now in its third year.
She also runs www.mill-road.com: a site which tells you pretty much everything you could need to know about Cambridge’s most vibrant, bohemian neighbourhood.
“Mill Road is an extraordinary street on which it is possible to drink Arabic coffee or fine wines; where you can worship in a Mosque, a Hindu shrine or a Baptist church; where you can eat foie gras or fish and chips, tom yum or chicken tikka lababda; where you can stock up on herbs and spices from aam to zedoary…” |
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So begins the Mill Road website which i4ce set up with Suzy Oakes in 2005 and which gets 50 hits a day from people wanting to know anything about this street, from shop opening times to where they can buy free range lamb chops or have their nails styled. We are sitting in Suzy’s back garden, a surprising oasis of greenery and calm a stone’s throw from the bustling street she is so passionate about.
‘We set up the website to publicise the first Winter Fair we ran in 2005 and it’s grown from there really’, says Suzy. ‘The first year we had an attendance of about 8,000 and last year closer to 15,000. The aim is to make the Winter Fair a regular neighbourhood celebration without any commercial feel to it. Our budget is tiny, only £3000, and a lot of that goes on insurance.’
The one-day winter event which takes place on the first Saturday in December runs the entire length of Mill Road on both sides of the railway bridge and involves most shops and eateries in one way or another. ‘People pop in to The Nip In grocery with their children to have their hands decorated with beautiful henna designs, while Café Adriatic serves a cheap Croatian lunch - tripe stew! The Seoul Plaza gives out free kimchi (fermented cabbage) and sushi, while at Kymmoy’s Noodle Bar you can warm up with a glass of green tea while having a handy lesson in how to use chopsticks! Over the bridge Cutlacks’ often has a Christmas grotto and you can have a ringside seat at an Insect Circus in Hope Yard.’
For many, the highlight of last year’s Winter Fair was the exotic Chinese dragon in the street with drummers, or the Arco Iris samba band with its 70-strong anyone-can-join core membership, which attracted crowds on Donkey Green outside the swimming pool.
‘The Fair came about because some people had stopped coming to this part of town to shop or eat’, Suzy explains. ‘The road gets a bad press and some people associate it with the disadvantaged one does see here, what the authorities sadly call “street life”. It’s true, we have our problems. The cemetery just beyond my garden can be noisy at night when dealers gather there. I’m a Friend of Mill Road Cemetery and we organize regular needle pick-ups. But the presence of the disenfranchised is in itself a sign of the generous, cosmopolitan, accepting nature of the street’s businesses and residents. We wanted to attract families back with the Winter Fair, so they could stroll along and see the stunning variety of what’s on offer. And it’s working. Incidence of anti-social behaviour has dropped sharply and now it is fair to say that Mill Road is as safe as anywhere in Cambridge.’
‘It takes constant effort and vigilance to keep a unique neighbourhood like this functioning. For instance, this month we’ve seen the closing of a very special independent bookstore, Brownes. It’s been a part of what Mill Road is all about for over 30 years. Why has it had to close? Students ordering their books on Amazon, or buying from the giants in the town centre. In a way, we’re all responsible for Browne’s closure. We all have to think local and buy local. If we don’t, a unique neighbourhood is at risk.’
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