Martin McKenzie: Big Issue seller

Everybody has a story. Martin McKenzie can often be seen selling the Big Issue outside Tesco and Sainsbury’s on Stroud Green Road. But his dream is to run a mobile bike repair business. Interview by Nicola Baird

“I was looking for the Big Issue office, in Finsbury Park, and then found myself in Islington, not really knowing where else to go,” says Martin who is originally from Scotland where he got out of foster care aged 16.

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Here on Stroud Green Road he’s wearing a face shield, disposable gloves and able to take contactless payment, so hopefully will stay safe while making plenty of sales.

“I have a long history with the magazine around the country and it’s always led to better things,” says Martin selling me Big Issue’s 31 August 2020 issue (1452), for £3, which has fellow-Scot, David Tennant on the cover.

Currently based in a customer’s place in N4, Martin is saving up to buy a rickshaw and create a mobile bicycle repair shop where he comes to your broken or unloved bikes and puts them back into working order. He’s clearly great with bikes as I’ve read his column on bike maintenance in the Big Issue a few times. However, he’s not impressed by how easily bikes are stolen in the area. “I’ve gone through three bikes in London and I’ve only been here a year,” he says, “so now I’ve switched to an electric skateboard.” It’s certainly easier to park and store, tucked under his Big Issue branded backpack while he’s selling his magazines.

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Places Martin McKenzie loves in Islington

• “I love Finsbury Park when it’s quiet in the morning at about 6am. I’m an early riser and can’t function if I’ve had a late night. I’d go to the gym and have a shower.”
• “There’s a nice place by the clock tower further up Stroud Green Road near Vagabond coffee shop. I like the community there, where everybody knows everyone.”
• “I come to Sainsbury’s on Stroud Green Road all the time – and not just when I’m selling the Big Issue here. I quite often buy my bargains at the Pound Shop on Seven Sisters road and my bakery items in Lidl.”
• “When I want a hot meal I go to Eden’s Cottage chicken shop on 264 Seven Sisters Road – I switch between chicken and a quarter pounder.”

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Although he’s lived around the UK, adapting to London was a bit of a struggle. “I’d just lost my flat to a slum landlord who took the deposit and a month’s rent then changed the locks and reported tenants to the council as absconding. It got me down, so last year I came here to work as a litter picker at an event, the Taste of London in Regent’s Park.” When that job finished he sought help from Big Issue and the rest is history… According to an in interview he did with the Big Issue recently he has big plans for his cycle business: “I’m saving up for a rickshaw from Dubai so I can start a business. The idea is to be a mobile bike mechanic with a rack on the back so I can either fix the bike or take it away if the damage is heavy, and take cyclists to their destination. I’ve got mechanic skills, electronic skills, plumbing, joinery… I’ve got trades coming out of my ears. The rickshaw’s a hybrid and it’s got a big plastic body rather than a silly piece of fabric over your head and the driver has a seat rather than a saddle. They are really fancy. I’m using my Big Issue earnings to save and my sales are picking up now because the locals are getting used to me. They know I’m a good egg.”

It was lovely to meet Martin selling the Big Issue – one of Islington Faces’ favourite magazines – so very good luck to him turning his cycle business dream into reality. He’s also already made plenty of friends in the area because as we were talking at least four people said hello and gave him a wave.

• If you’d like Martin to check out your bike for repairs and services then contact him on 07543 686554. He hopes to offer an all-London service eventually, but for now is best-placed for work in the Finsbury Park area.
• Martin’s interview in the Big Issue can be read here https://www.bigissue.com/vendors/martin-mckenzie-39-stroud-green-road-tesco-london/
• You can buy the Big Issue very week from vendors at their favourite outside pitches, such as Stroud Green Road, or you can subscribe via selectmagazine.co.uk or in WHSmith, McColl’s, Co-op and Sainsbury’s. Buying the magazine supports vendors.

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com.  If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola