Layth Yousif
The Covid crisis has meant a challenging time for us all. None more so than Piebury Corner.
From its busy first shop on the Holloway Road as well as later at its King Cross restaurant, the cult pie shop has served legions of Gooners over the years while building up a loyal following.
However, the current environment and tough trading conditions - allied with the lack of matchday fans for the foreseeable future - has forced them to make a difficult decision.
Here's the latest from Paul and Nicky Campbell.
The bad news
Covid19 has put us in an impossible situation financially with landlords at both sites still demanding rent in full plus all the other fixed overheads due on top so we will not be opening back up at our existing restaurants.
The footfall at Kings Cross is currently 1 per cent of normal and doesn’t look like it will ever be the same for at least two years.
Full attendance at The Emirates looks like a full season away yet possibly longer until they find a vaccine.
We do not have the financial resources to last that long trading at a loss under the current social distance guidelines.
We are gutted as we had only just turned a corner after taking on the Kings Cross site three years ago and had planned to re-open the Holloway pie shop in March from Thursday to Sunday with our son Spencer running the day to day duties under Nicky’s guidance.
Sadly not this time. We thank all our loyal staff for their hard work over the last nine years and everyone who’s supported us making the Piebury brand name become the institution it has.
“Without people you are nothing” - Joe Strummer.
...........
The Good News
We’re not dead yet, we’re taking two steps back to where we came from with a pitch site for a pie stall confirmed and terms agreed 100 yards from the stadium concourse so you can still get your piefix on a match day.
It’ll be pies only to start with and won’t start trading until the stadium is at least 3/4 full, probably at least a year away.
Our Piebury Corner Facebook page will continue as normal with Arsenal and pie related content as always as will our main Twitter account.
In the meantime please continue to support all the independent pubs and restaurants around the stadium, they need your support more than ever now.
Thanks again everyone and bye for now till we see you again on the other side.
Paul, Nicky, Spencer and Larianna.
