£3.20 for a bowl of cereal - is there anything left out there that hasn't been wankified?

[Neverbuyheliumbalonz]

So the new cereal cafe has opened in East London, with a bowl of cereal going for £3.20. Apparently there are over a hundred types of cereal and 30 different types of milk.

On the opening day the owner got a bit of stick from a channel 4 reporter who questioned whether they should be selling cereal at £3.20 a bowl, considering they were in one of Londons poorest boroughs
www.channel4.com/news/cereal-cafe-opens-in-london-but-can-it-survive

Now I actually thought that that reporter was quite unfair because there are tonnes of places in that area selling overpriced shit that are 'not accessible to the poor' so I don't think these guys are doing anything different to anyone else in that respect. However the owner handled it terribly, especially when he said 'this isnt one of Londons poorest boroughs is it?' and when asked why the cereal was so expensive he said 'its imported from America' as if that justified it? He just epitomised the 'out of touch hipster'.

But AIBU to think that £3.20 for one bowl of cereal is just a hilarious rip off, regardless of whether you can afford it or not? Yes I know, people who go there are total mugs can spend their money how they choose and its 'an experience' or whatever.

But it's.........breakfast cereal

Plus they keep using the word 'source' when talking about the cereals (if we can source it, we will sell it) which automatically puts them into wankdom anyway.

I guess time will tell on this one...

Are you their mum?

Lol, no I just think good on them for opening something a bit different, and making a go of it.
It might not be to everyone's taste but there'll be loads of people who will like it! There's some nostalgia nuts out there including myself and I'd like to visit just to see what it's like.

You have to wonder about the agenda of some media types.

What do they want?

Some system by which commercial property is allocated by Authority to "socially useful" purposes and it fixes the rent?

I don't know whose these people's lessor is - but most commercial freehold belongs to pensions funds and insurance companies - its all our savings and don't anyone forget it.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the frankly insane and heartbreakingly misguided poster who called the salt beef bagels disgusting.

I weep salty tears for you, you poor, wrong, non salt beef bagel loving poster.

I live in Tower Hamlets. There are parts of it that are quite deprived. This is absolutely NOT one of those parts, and I don't think it's at all surprising that the cereal guy was a bit taken aback when that was brought up. Brick Lane is PACKED with places selling food and drink and shitty tshirts that some people in Tower Hamlets might not be able to afford. Does that mean nobody should open a shop unless everyone in the borough can afford to go to it? Because if so, Islington is going to start having some problems too...

Yes, men who think cereal is important and express this by dressing in what looks like childrens pajamas is a bit annoying. But, yknow, live and let live. And these silly men and their silly shop is NOTHING to do with the deprivation in parts of tower hamlets.

I actually suspect that the markup will be bigger on some items in some of the curryhouses. And yes, if people want to get upset about markups, do a little research on coffee. Even fancy coffee. That be true madness.

SomethingOnce that is amazing. I prefer G. Kelly's but it would be awesome to have that if I ever have the cash. I'd have to pay the bloody surcharge too for delivery to the highlands. You'd think we lived in the middle of nowhere ffs

I'd make my own but there isn't a great demand for eel stock up here so fuck knows how I'd manage the liquor

YANBU, especially wrt 'source'. That phrase is one of my pet hates.

Well, yes it is quite deprived Shaksa. The bits immediately around it might be okay. But the back streets and estates around Columbia Rd are very deprived.

How is no-one mentioning the film 'flakes' throughout this whole debate?

Has anyone said cereal is shit in a box yet?

Our South London pies not quite up to yer East End standards, eh Jamaican?

I'd love to know how many pie-deprived exiles they courier to each week.

What do they do with all the free toys they must get through?

nokids...... Sorry to disappoint but they stopped giving free toys away in cereal boxes about ten years ago!

Cereal boxes don't have toys in anymore nokids . I guess your name suggests a lack of recent experience?

So - how do you expect the business owner to pay rent/rates/wages/overheads/ etc all this has to be added into the cost of the item supplied soit is NOT just a bowl of cereal with milk is it ?

Well it's no worse than charging a couple of quid for a teabag dunked in hot water.

aermingers - don't get me wrong, I know, I really do. But I just think that to get upset at these guys specifically is a little off, given that Brick Lane is essentially a theme park of frivolity. It's not as though they've opened it up on one of the estates and are bemoaning the lack of custom.

And also I don't think this is an issue specific to Tower Hamlets - it's an issue that arises throughout London. In my opinion one of the things that is (increasingly WAS) best about London is the fact that you have estates next to million pound houses, and so people have to mix. It has its downsides, and I'm not saying it's good that people are living in poverty, but I think the answer would be helping people get out of that, rather than getting het up about the other end of the scale.

Of course you're going to pay more for food when eating out than what you'd pay in the supermaket. Absurd to expect they'd charge any less, they have rent, staff wages, tax and other business costs to pay.

The publicity against them is ridiculous. Yabvvvvvvu.

There is a sweet shop near me that sells American sweets drinks and cereal

A 300g box is about £12 a small bag of hard fruit candy (jack some thing or other) is £7 and a can of fizzy pop is £3 they are almost constantly heaving busy.

SomethingOnce its not that at all
I grew up in St Stephen's Rd so G. Kelly's was literally round the corner in Roman Rd market and there's just something about it that reminds me of happy times and my nan

I have tried Other Pie Shops but they never quite managed to do it for me, nuffin to do wif it bein from the saaf

(You should hear me now, I speak cockney with a Scottish lilt and Scottish words. Nothing quite like it )

differentnameforthis
On the coffee subject, whilst I personally don't drink coffee from coffee shops I can understand why some people do. I don't think the coffee you could prepare for yourself compares to the stuff they do with their fancy machine. Cereal on the other is just ducking cereal

Jamaican, I live in Bethnal green, and it's widely known amongst locals that Kelly's in Roman road is the only place to get pie n mash

tethersend I can't tell you how jealous I am of folk that live around there. All of my happiest memories are from dawdling down the market and playing in vicky park and getting Rrrrrrrrockio from the cypriot chippy round the corner

(do the squirrels still live in that circle bit in the park and can you still feed them? dh thinks im kidding when I tell him we used to buy monkey nuts and feed all the squirrels by hand )

I can't afford to move back there unless I win the lottery! And that would be top of my list if I did too. I miss London so much, I never wanted to leave but I was a minor still so had no choice but to go where my folks went

"a small bag of hard fruit candy (jack some thing or other) is £7 "

Jolly Ranchers!

I swear all you city dwellers are crazy! Cat café, a place to eat in the dark, now a creal cafe! I wonder if it is the population density-not enough oxygen getting to your brains! Kind of reminds me of the capital city in the Hunger Games.....

I'll crawl back to my hovel in the country surrounded by fresh smells of pig shit now

Brick lane has been trendified for ages. When I was at art school, the uber trendy tutors had houses off there, and its a hop away from the city. Are Gilbert and George and tracy emin still working around there?

I was quite shocked at how posery it had got last time I was there.