Photos of the former Labour leader as a young man and on the campaign trail were so prominent on the walls of Gadz café on Clifton Terrace that some customers walked away rather than staring at the Independent member for Islington North.
But the Lebanese coffee bar, which was known by some as ‘the Corbyn Cafe’ is now shuttered and the dedicated Corbyn fan who once ran it is struggling to make ends meet.
Eventually it became uneconomic and Hussein has called time on a cafe that sold Lebanese falafels, salads, homemade cakes and good coffee.
“Jeremy Corbyn particularly liked my cappuccino,” he said.
“When I first met him fourteen years ago, I served him a cappuccino and he came back again and again. I didn’t know who he was and we joked. When a friend told me he was on TV and the local MP, I joked with him even more.
“I didn’t care who he was. He was a humble man who didn’t drive a fancy car. He left the café each time and got on his bicycle.”
Over the years, Jeremy Corbyn has been filmed and interviewed at Hussein’s café by Finsbury Park station.
“The café used to be known as the Jeremy Corbyn café, not the Gadz café,” remarks Hussein, who founded his coffee bar 24 years ago.
His roots are in war torn Beirut which he left in 1981, after he was threatened for playing for a football team which had become embroiled in local politics.
Husain, 61, says he was not identified with any political group and his interest was purely in playing football. But one day, some thugs appeared at his mother’s house to threaten his life and that was enough for him to leave his country.
He took a passage on a boat to Cyprus, then decided to try to get to the UK with just $50 in his pocket. Officials were initially reluctant to give him passage on a plane to Britain.
“They said ‘look what you are giving up, sea, sand, nature, the sunshine, the food’. But I said, ‘Beirut is dangerous and I don’t feel safe there. I don’t mind the clouds of England.’”
He was eventually allowed on the plane was given political asylum in the UK.
“I love and respect the British people. If I hear anyone criticising Britain and saying their own country is better, I say to them, ‘Habibi, if you so like your own country, go back to your country and see how it is. I respect the British people.”
Hussein has not only been forced to close his café, but is now struggling to find accommodation and is reliant on friends for a roof over his head.
Appeals to Islington council have fallen on deaf ears, and despite a letter from Jeremy Corbyn, he still has no place to live.
He cannot hide his disappointment: “The letter was not enough,” he said.
