Lynne Featherstone

It was a good experiment - holding an advice surgery in Budgens in Crouch End - to see if putting myself where people are enabled those who normally might not get round to making an actual appointment to see me as their MP - bring their worries to my attention.

First thanks to Budgens - who placed me in the vegetable and fruit department (warm thank goodness - unlike the cold cabinets) - right by the entrance so highly visible. Excellent position.  We had chosen Budgens because Andrew Thornton and the staff are so involved in the community that we thought they might agree - which they did. We chose Crouch End so that the vast majority of shoppers would be local.  There was one woman who came to chat who I couldn't help because she lived in Islington - so referred her to her own MP. We want to do this in other areas too - but it gets trickier the nearer to the constituency boundary you go - as inevitably a higher and higher proportion of people will not be from the constituency.

Anyway -  in the two hours about 13 or 14 people came to sit and bring one thing or another to my attention. It was interesting to see how people made that decision to voice something that had been on their mind. Mostly - they came in, noticed the table, fact sheets on recycling and how to burglar-proof your house, walked on to do their shopping but came back when they remembered something they had always meant to raise with me.

Most of the issues, as expected, were not as heavy duty as those that are brought each week to my advice surgery where it is by appointment, as lengthy as is needed generally (although 15 minutes is the allotted time) and are generally about the most serious of cases - along with lobbying and local more general issues.

For a couple of people who came to talk - we agreed to make a surgery appointment where we could have proper and more private time - so that will happen. But for the rest - it was a good place to hear peoples' concerns on a variety of issues which I will take forward as normal casework.

And it was also jolly nice just to say hello to people who seemed very pleased to see me sitting there - in the middle of the store - accessible.