Chicken Town

Assemble worked with Chicken Town to create a not-for-profit social-enterprise restaurant serving healthy fried chicken to Tottenham.

Built inside a grade-II listed, former fire station on Tottenham Green, the interior is a playful reimagining of the ubiquitous chicken shop.

In the area around the restaurant by the time children reach year six, one in three of them is obese, and within a mile of the new restaurant there are 34 fast food outlets, Chicken Town was devised by a team led by CREATE in order to provide a healthier alternative. Assemble were commissioned to design the restaurant and also delivered several of the items including bespoke light fittings created especially for the project in collaboration with Michael Grubb Studio.

All of the profits from evening trade go towards subsidising the £2 Junior Specials, providing young people with a healthier lunch or after-school meal. Combining yellow Robin Day chairs, green through-coloured MDF, and lots of brass, our design aims to make an environment in which both of these groups can feel comfortable and claim as their own.

The project was initially funded by Haringey Council, and the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund, as well as receiving additional funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Time Out London and a successful Kickstarter campaign.