A long talk with Kazim in the grocers this morning.He has started to sell bread and I askeed where he got it from.

Apparently there is a local man who travels a lot and he spends his spare time baking bread in his basement. Kazim doesn’t make much money from it but it is good to sell.

He went on to talk about his vague plans for expansion and the premises next door. If he expanded he could sell jams and pickles and other food and maybe even open a small cafe round the back. He is starting to draw in customers who drive down to pick up there groceries for the week. He reckons he has a thousand or so regular customers and if there were other good things on offer then more people would come.

We went outside and looked down Oxton road into the centre of Birkenhead. Although a few shops were open the majority were shuttered and closed. He bemoaned the Council and the difficulties he has experienced in trying to get anyone engaged in doing anything that might improve the area.

He had suggested planting trees but was rebuffed and told that their roots would damage the services. All it needed was a few small changes that would help people feel better about where they lived.

I suggested a small temporary cafe open for just over the weekend. we discussed what food people would want to eat.People would have. I reassured him that if the food was good then people would eat it.