A beigel shop professing to be the oldest on London’s Brick Lane that is famed for never closing its doors has been shuttered – with confusion over the reason for the sudden and unexpected pause in trading.
The Beigel Shop at 155 Brick Lane – known fondly as the ‘yellow one’ for its bright, sunset-hued sign – suddenly closed on Tuesday, with a notice pasted on the inside of the shop that appeared to be a repossession order.
The official-looking notice, with a named solicitors’ office and contact details, was then covered up hours later with another poster seemingly put up by shop bosses.
It claimed the shop was closing in order to ‘conduct essential electrical maintenance’.
It was stuck to the door with thick black duct tape. The yellow poster was also shared on Instagram from the official account of the Beigel Shop.
The Beigel Shop on Brick Lane, London, has been dishing up chewy baked goods for decades
An official-looking notice on the door, dated yesterday, appears to suggest the building has been repossessed
A notice later posted on the outside of the shop and shared on Instagram claimed the store was closing for ‘electrical maintenance’, and made no reference to the court order
Social media users shared their reactions to the news of the shop’s closure – including one meme of a poster of the Gerard Butler action flick London Has Fallen
‘Dear beigel family, We will be closed for a short period to conduct essential electrical maintenance,’ the poster reads.
‘Stay connected with us on social media for updates and news about our reopening.
‘Thank you for your support. We’ll be back before you know it, ready to bake and serve our beigel family with love.’
contacted Thirsk Winton, the solicitor named on the official-looking notice, for further comment. It could not immediately say whether it was involved in any legal action involving the repossession of the property.
The news could herald the end of one of London’s oldest bakeries, which claims to have been selling beigels – the spelling both a nod to its Yiddish origins, and to distinguish the chewy bakes from breadier bagels – from the street since 1855.
Social media users shared their reactions to the news of the shop’s closure – including one meme of a poster of the Gerard Butler action flick London Has Fallen.
Another wrote: ‘Omg rip yellow bagel shop. You will always be famous.’
A third user said: ‘This is a sad day. The promise of that yellow sign after stumbling out of a club, when all around was closed and shut up, felt like home.’
And in a nod to its rivalry with a shop two doors down, another user said: ‘Devastating if true. The better bagel shop.’
Open 24/7, the Beigel Shop has existed in some form or another from its current site since at least 1987, when a pair of Israeli brothers bought the then-Evering Bakery business.
It specialises in salt beef beigels, slathered with mustard and gherkins, as well as salmon and cream cheese bakes garnished with pepper and lemon drizzle.
However, it has since diversified into New York-style rainbow beigels and sweet treats, such as beigels filled with Nutella, Lotus Biscoff spread and Marmite.
The shop’s controlling firm, Beigel Shop Brick Lane Ltd, is currently owned by Ellis and Ashley Zelman, both named as persons of significant control in Companies House filings.
The most recent hygiene inspection of the Beigel Shop conducted by environmental health inspectors gave the shop a rating of 2/5, meaning ‘improvement necessary’.
Conducted on January 23 this year, the survey found improvement was needed in hygienic food handling and the cleanliness of facilities – while food safety was found to be ‘generally satisfactory’.
The shop has, in fact, closed before – in 2014, when a row between family members saw another legal notice slapped on the door for a short time before it reopened.
The Evening Standard reported at the time that a ‘writ of possession’, not dissimilar to the notice posted on the door yesterday, had been posted on the shop door.
Its closure may also mean the end of one of London’s classic ‘rivalries’ between two beigel shops – the ‘yellow one’ and the ‘white one’, Beigel Bake, just two doors down.
Beigel Bake was opened by Jonny Cohen in 1974 – after allegedly opening the bakery that went on to be acquired in order to become the ‘yellow one’.
Over the years, both have plied their trades round the clock, from rushed breakfasts in the morning to clubgoers spilling out into the streets in the wee hours, with just a few doors separating them.
Despite this, according to Time Out, the shops are actually not rivals – but friendly neighbours, going as far as to lend one another supplies if they run out of vital ingredients like flour or yeast.
Beigel Bake told the listings magazine costs for bakery essentials like flour had gone up 40 per cent in recent years.
has contacted the Beigel Shop and its directors for further comment.