Am I a chicken-shop lefty? Here’s what a French fast food row taught me about politics | Coco Khan
In a comment piece, journalist Coco Khan reflects on a row in France over Master Poulet, a halal rotisserie chicken chain, after it opened its first UK branch. The controversy began when Karim Bouamrane, the Socialist mayor of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine near Paris, tried to block a Master Poulet branch near the town hall, initially using concrete blocks before switching to large plant pots after a court ordered their removal. Khan uses the episode to explore how chicken shops, long associated with immigrant communities and working-class British culture, have become an unlikely lens on class, identity and politics within the left.
Bouamrane says his objection is about quality of life, citing late deliveries and cooking smells, but critics link the move to wider gentrification in Saint-Ouen, driven partly by Paris Olympics-related regeneration and rising property prices. They note Master Poulet sells a chicken drumstick and potatoes for €4 (£3.40), cheaper than McDonald's, which has faced no similar action, prompting accusations of double standards. Politicians from the further-left La France Insoumise party, including MP Éric Coquerel, have visited the shop in solidarity and questioned whether Islamophobia and classism underpin the mayor's stance.
- French mayor tried to block a halal chicken chain, Master Poulet, opening near his town hall
- Critics say the row reflects gentrification and possible Islamophobia in Saint-Ouen
- Writer uses the dispute to explore class and identity within left-wing politics
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of the mayor's position argue that local authorities have a legitimate duty to manage practical nuisances such as noise, cooking odours and late-night deliveries near a town hall, regardless of what kind of business is involved, and that raising these concerns is not inherently discriminatory. They point out that a Socialist mayor is entitled to prioritise residents' quality of life and orderly town planning without being assumed to harbour prejudice, and that scrutinising a fast-food outlet's operational impact is a normal, unremarkable exercise of municipal authority rather than a coded attack on halal food or immigrant-run businesses.
The case against
Critics argue that singling out Master Poulet while McDonald's and other fast-food chains face no comparable obstruction suggests the objection is not really about smell or delivery times but about which communities and cuisines are deemed acceptable in a rapidly gentrifying town. They see the episode as part of a broader pattern in which affordable, halal, immigrant-associated businesses are treated as disruptive or downmarket even as rising property prices and Olympics-driven redevelopment push out the working-class residents such shops serve, and view solidarity visits from La France Insoumise politicians as a legitimate stand against classism and Islamophobia dressed up as neutral planning concerns.