Paul Childs/Reuters
LONDON — Standing outside the Lilly Whites Sandwich Bar, Ali Demirci pointed, proudly, to the fresh paint on the window frame. Its color was one of those on-trend grays from an upscale catalog, with a name like Elephant’s Breath or Slipper Satin. “The club came and did it,” Demirci said. He glanced upward to the other minor alteration to the shop he owned until a few weeks ago: a bright white sign. “But I installed that myself.”
On the other side of the road, the change has been rather more drastic. The window seats at the Lilly Whites Sandwich Bar now offer a view of the gleaming glass frontage of the $1 billion, state-of-the-art stadium that — starting Wednesday evening, when it hosts its inaugural Premier League game — Tottenham Hotspur will call home.