Bargain bard to bag poetry cornershop

Last month, we reported that Budgens owner Andrew Thornton was on the lookout for a poet to immortalise his Crouch End store in verse joining a roster of bards that includes the designated laureate of his Belsize Park store.

Blogof can reveal that a decision at Crouch End has been put off until October, when the people will ­decide at a reading during the store's harvest festival.

Veteran poet Joan Michelson is surely a front-runner with her haunting series of 'Vegetable Sketches'. Meanwhile, political firebrand Dave Cohen laments the demise of the independent stores in Crouch End, mournfully bemoaning when "proletarian Woolworths became Crouch End Waitrose" and noting "the new M&S didn't make joy immenser".

But an outside bet comes from the amateur ranks with the avant-garde stylings of Anne Ballard, whose 'Shopping List' submission is precisely what it sounds like.

That poem certainly captures the spirit of Crouch End, with Ballard (perhaps a relative of the great JG) including ciabatta, sun-dried tomatoes, chorizo and saffron on her weekly 'essentials'.

Eat your heart out, Allen Ginsberg.