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£55-a-head ‘school club’ pops up in impoverished Hackney

COMMUNITY activists blew the whistle on a posh hipster dining club yesterday following revelations that it planned on serving £55 “school meals” in an impoverished borough.

Reclaim Hackney activists launched a campaign to shut down the Art of Dining’s pop-up “After School Club” hosted in the London borough from July 22.

Less than a day after campaigners started protesting against the event on social media, Art of Dining announced it would be donating £5 per meal to children’s charity Magic Breakfast.

Reclaim Hackney spokeswoman Marie Lloyd told the Star local campaigners were “disgusted that this expensive ‘school dinners’ event is being put on in one of the areas with the highest childhood poverty in the UK.”

Ms Lloyd added that Hackney had “specifically very high levels of child food poverty, with tens of thousands of kids going to school hungry.

“Those people who are foolish enough or rich enough to flaunt their wealth in one of the poorest boroughs of London need to learn the harsh realities many families in Hackney live in.”

Campaigners pointed out that the shamefully expensive £55 for “five courses of posh school dinners” would be enough to buy around 30 children’s meals — an entire class’s worth.

Reclaim Hackney will hold regular community picnics with free food until the “school club” pops up.

The Art of Dining has since apologised to Reclaim Hackney for “offence caused” and agreed to meet campaigners.

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