Niall Flynn

A post shared by @psemekstylist on Mar 27, 2017 at 12:55pm PDT Love ’em or loathe ’em, the chicken shop is a cornerstone of London living: just ask the Chicken Connoisseur. But much like weekday markets or uberPOOLs, it’s a hotbed of strange, social interaction. When you stumble towards the counter with a fiver in your hand, hangry and slurring after a long old night at a bar, pub or club, you’re very rarely alone. Here are the five characters you might meet during the late-night London chicken run. The acquaintance They occupy that horrible no man’s land between knowing them too well to completely ignore and nowhere near well enough to enjoy any kind of conversation that goes beyond ‘hiya’. The maverick ‘vegetarian’ Because they don’t eat chicken, the nonconformist veggie has been forced to a concoct wild, daring, strictly carb-based equivalent. ‘So I get chips, right, with cheese, and gravy, and onion rings, with more gravy, and mayo, and a fish finger – cos I eat fish, but only the weekends – plus ketchup, and a bit more gravy. Delicious. Can’t recommend it enough.’ A post shared by Road Chicken (@theroadchicken) on Feb 22, 2017 at 6:40am PST The scrounger ‘Chuck us a couple of extra bits in mate,’ he says, already 20p short of his original order. ‘Don’t suppose you can put a bit more meat in that?’ It never works, but he doesn't give up on his drunken hunt for the perfect freebie, pausing only to ask fellow punters if they can spare him a quid.  The figh