Granita (restaurant)

Last updated

Granita
Granitafacade.png
Facade of the former site of Granita, pictured in 2013, with the concrete Granita sign still visible
Granita (restaurant)
Restaurant information
Established1990s
Closed2003
Previous owner(s) Hüseyin Özer
Food type
Street address127 Upper Street
City Islington, London
Country England, United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°32′20″N0°06′09″W / 51.5388°N 0.1025°W / 51.5388; -0.1025

Granita was a restaurant at number 127 Upper Street in Islington. [1] [2] It was founded in the early 1990s by Vicky Leffman. Its decor was bright and light with a Scandinavian style of pale wood. [3] Its cuisine was modern British, fusing classic dishes such as mussels with exotic ingredients such as lemongrass. [4]

It was the setting for the Blair–Brown deal between the then-Shadow Home Secretary, Tony Blair, and the then-Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in 1994. [5] [6]

The restaurant was sold to Hüseyin Özer's Sofra group in 2002 but then closed in 2003, being replaced by a Tex-Mex restaurant called Desperados. [1] [2] [7] [8] When Desperados moved to number 67 in 2013, the premises was then converted to become an estate agent. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Brown</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010

James Gordon Brown is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Labour</span> 1990s–2000s branding of the UK Labour Party

New Labour is the name given to the period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen in a draft manifesto which was published in 1996 and titled New Labour, New Life for Britain. It was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. The branding was extensively used while the party was in government between 1997 and 2010. New Labour was influenced by the political thinking of Anthony Crosland and the leadership of Blair and Brown as well as Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell's media campaigning. The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of Anthony Giddens' Third Way which attempted to provide a synthesis between capitalism and socialism. The party emphasised the importance of social justice, rather than equality, emphasising the need for equal opportunity and believed in the use of markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton</span> British politician, peer and barrister (born 1951)

Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, is a British Labour politician, peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blairism</span> Political ideology of Tony Blair

In British politics, Blairism is the social democratic political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the New Penguin English Dictionary in 2000. Elements of the ideology include investment in public services, expansionary efforts in education to encourage social mobility, and increased actions in terms of mass surveillance alongside a ramping up of law enforcement powers, both of these latter changes advocated in the context of fighting organized crime and terrorism. Blairites have additionally been known for their contrast with the traditional support for socialism by those believing in left-wing politics, with Blair himself and others speaking out against the nationalisation of major industries and against also heavy regulations of business operations. On foreign policy, Blairism is supportive of close relations with the United States and liberal interventionism, including advocacy for both the Iraq war and the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party Conference</span> Annual gathering of the British Labour Party

The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party, at which senior Labour figures promote party policy. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvette Cooper</span> British politician (born 1969)

Yvette Cooper is a British politician who has served as Home Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, which has previously included Normanton, since 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Healey (politician)</span> British politician (born 1960)

John Healey is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Defence since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough, formerly Wentworth and Wentworth and Dearne respectively, since 1997.

In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Miliband</span> British politician (born 1969)

Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Thornberry</span> British politician (born 1960)

Emily Anne Thornberry is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. She served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales from 2021 until the 2024 UK general election, and previously from 2011 to 2014. Thornberry has also served in a number of other senior positions on Labour's front bench, namely as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2020, Shadow First Secretary of State from 2017 to 2020 and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade from 2020 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blair–Brown deal</span> 1994 British political agreement

The Blair–Brown deal was a gentlemen's agreement struck between the British Labour Party politicians Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in 1994, while they were Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Blair</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.

The 1994 Labour Party leadership election was held on 21 July 1994 following the death of the incumbent leader, John Smith, on 12 May. Tony Blair won the leadership and became Prime Minister after winning the 1997 general election.

<i>The Deal</i> (2003 film) 2003 television film directed by Stephen Frears

The Deal is a 2003 British television film directed by Stephen Frears from a script by Peter Morgan, based in part upon The Rivals by James Naughtie. The film depicts the Blair–Brown deal, a well-documented pact that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made, whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and later Prime Minister. The film begins in 1983, as Blair and Brown are first elected to Parliament, and ends in 1994 at the Granita restaurant—the location of the supposed agreement—with a brief epilogue following the leadership contest.

Granita is an Italian frozen dessert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis</span> British Labour politician and journalist

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2009 to 2010, and as Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission from 2015 to 2017. He was Chair of the European Movement, from March 2021 until December 2022 having previously served as Vice-Chairman from 2019 to 2021. He is currently a columnist for The New European.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Nye, Baroness Nye</span> British civil servant

Susan Jane Nye, Baroness Nye is the former Director of Government Relations and former diary secretary to ex-British prime minister Gordon Brown. In May 2010 it was announced that Nye would be named a life peer in the Dissolution Honours List. On 19 July 2010 she became a Labour Party Peer, as Baroness Nye, of Lambeth in the London Borough of Lambeth.

In British politics, Brownism is the social democratic political ideology of the former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party Gordon Brown and those that follow him. Proponents of Brownism are referred to as Brownites.

The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Official Opposition on issues related to international aid, most notably to the Third World. The shadow cabinet minister holds the minister of state for development and Africa to account in Parliament. The role previously had no counterpart in the Government between 2020 and 2022 after the Department for International Development (DFID) and the role of international development secretary was abolished by the second Johnson government in 2020. The position was renamed from shadow secretary of state for international development in November 2021 and placed under the shadow foreign secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chancellorship of Gordon Brown</span> Gordon Browns tenure at HM Treasury (1997–2007)

Gordon Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. His tenure was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Brown presided over the longest period of sustained economic growth in British history.

References

  1. 1 2 Watt, Nicholas (26 September 2003). "Granita's gone. Can the deal live on?". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  2. 1 2 Peachey, Paul (26 September 2003). "Legendary Granita restaurant closes down". The Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  3. "Restaurant spy: Granita", Evening Standard, 13 December 2002
  4. Jay Rayner (1 October 2000), "Sound Bites", The Observer
  5. McGreevy, Ronan (6 June 2003). "The pact that put Blair in charge". The Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  6. Akbar, Arifa (6 June 2003). "Granita, a byword for the pact that has hung over New Labour for a decade". The Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  7. David Harris (31 January 2002), Granita restaurant sold
  8. Muir, Hugh (11 May 2007). "Tex-mex table for one awaits Gordon Brown". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  9. Imogen Blake (20 March 2013), "Piece of Labour history lost as Blair and Brown's Granita pact restaurant is plastered over", Islington Now