High streets change, but when the old Muddy Boots butcher in Crouch End shut up shop, who would have predicted that its replacement would be a “mathnasium”?

The new business is the brainchild of Martin Heaton Cooper, 50, who has opened up a franchise of a maths tutoring club that has taken off in the US and Canada.

He told this newspaper: “The model is that it’s like a club membership. Kids come along and they do their work in a stimulating environment. The response has been great.”

Open after school and on a Sunday morning, tutoring staff at the Mathnasium in Broadway Parade – Martin was able to re-use and recycle lots of the fittings from Muddy Boots, even the awning – will assess the maths needs of children before giving them a tailored programme of help.

Martin, who lives in Muswell Hill, added: “I think ours is one of the first five in the UK. It’s a really exciting thing to be part of.”