July 07 17 d

07.07.17

collector’s edition Cover by

jamie hewlett

london united

Paying tribute to the city’s resilience in the face of tragedy and terror Featuring six souvenir covers by Ai Weiwei, Wolfgang Tillmans, Anish Kapoor, Gillian Wearing, Antony Gormley and Jamie Hewlett

EDITOR’S LETTER LAURA WEIR

Here, in their own words, are the ES cover artists

ANISH KAPOOR ‘We grieve together and then we know, together we must glow.’

AI WEIWEI ‘This is from Odyssey, which was recently shown in Jerusalem.’

I have never gained as much comfort from anywhere or anyone as I do from London. I truly think she’s mine — in the way that you think she is your city; we are each in our own way possessive, protective and largely faithful to our magnificent metropolis. With this London United Collector’s Edition of ES Magazine and its six unique covers, I wanted to pay tribute to the capital’s resilience in the face of recent tragedies — at Westminster, Borough, Finsbury Park, the Grenfell Tower atrocity — and to commemorate the 7/7 anniversary of the London bombings, which fell on this day 12 years ago. This issue is designed to spread a message of hope and respect, and to create an enduring platform that will keep these stories alive.

To my immense pride, artist after artist signed up, although they were given just days to create their cover. Gillian Wearing’s ambitious idea — to capture 52 Londoners, standing for a minute’s silence to commemorate the 52 people who lost their lives in the 7/7 terrorist attacks — would usually take far longer to turn around. But my team were determined, drafting in the public from the street outside the studio to star in the shoot.

Wolfgang Tillmans, the legendary photographer, initially declined to contribute due to prior commitments. The following evening, however, he emailed saying that while travelling home on the Tube inspiration had struck.

The image you see on his cover, bearing the powerful words ‘London, Light, Hope’, was taken in that very moment. Anish Kapoor’s piece powerfully conveys exactly the optimistic sensibility that I had hoped this issue would achieve.

Antony Gormley’s cover was inspired by him reflecting on how ‘resilience and common sympathy occurs with every precious existence’ — how beautiful is that? Jamie Hewlett came up with his almighty, rousing concept in 24 hours.

And then, of course, there’s Ai Weiwei, who submitted an excerpt from a recently created piece, Odyssey. The sheer attention to detail is staggering.

I am in awe of these people and their generosity.

Inside, we meet the Londoners who became heroes when terror struck — it is without question the most moving piece I have ever edited. Plus, we present a shoot with photographer Charlie Kwai as he documents Londoners in their natural habitats. Ben Machell writes beautifully about London’s enduring spirit, My London is Roy ‘Lion of London Bridge’ Larner and Grace Dent returns to El Pastor in the heart of Borough. I am so proud of everyone involved in making this issue, thank you.

London is an unapologetic metropolis; beautifully foreign yet deeply familiar, it’s proudly regal yet refreshingly informal, creative and poised; it is the sacred and the profane, the greatest living example of life there is and we are lucky to be here to love it. Enjoy this issue; please seek out all six covers, they are scattered across town. And tell your friends that there’s collectable art on the streets for free this Thursday and Friday.

WOLFGANG TILLMANS ‘London. Light. Hope — Wolfgang Tillmans, 2017.’

JAMIE HEWLETT ‘The way people pull together is a multicoloured show of strength.’

GILLIAN WEARING ‘Silence brings everyone together in universal participation.’

ANTONY GORMLEY ‘The liquidity of consciousness gives immediate access to joy and trauma.’

Visit us online: standard.co.uk/esmagazine • Follow us:

@eveningstandardmagazine

@ESmagofficial

@ESmagofficial

Editor Laura Weir Deputy editor Anna van Praagh Features director Alice-Azania Jarvis Acting art director Wendy Tee Fashion director Nicky Yates Fashion features director Katrina Israel Commissioning editor Dipal Acharya Beauty editor Katie Service Associate features editor Hamish MacBain

Jonny Cochrane

Features writer Frankie McCoy Lifestyle assistant Lily Worcester

Acting art editor Andy Taylor Art editor Jessica Landon Picture editor Helen Gibson Picture desk assistant Clara Dorrington Social media editor Natalie Salmon Office administrator/editor’s PA Niamh O’Keeffe

Merchandise editor Sophie Paxton Fashion editor Jenny Kennedy Fashion assistant Eniola Dare Chief sub editor Matt Hryciw Deputy chief sub editor Nick Howells

Contributing editors Lucy Carr-Ellison, Tony Chambers, James Corden, Hermione Eyre, Richard Godwin, Daisy Hoppen, Jemima Jones, Anthony Kendal, David Lane, Annabel Rivkin, Teo van den Broeke, Hikari Yokoyama Group client strategy director Deborah Rosenegk Head of magazines Christina Irvine

ES Magazine is published weekly and is available only with the London Evening Standard. ES Magazine is published by Evening Standard Ltd, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. ES is printed web offset by Wyndeham Bicester. Paper supplied by Perlen Paper AG. Colour transparencies or any other material submitted to ES Magazine are sent at owner’s risk. Neither Evening Standard Ltd nor their agents accept any liability for loss or damage. © Evening Standard Ltd 2016. Reproduction in whole or part of any contents of ES Magazine without prior permission of the editor is strictly prohibited

07.07.17 ES MAGAZINE 3

capital gains What to do in London

1

2

by FRANKIE M c COY

Pride and Joy

Just giving

The Pride in London Parade sashays its way down Regent Street to Whitehall this weekend. Join in and spread the love. 8 July (prideinlondon.org)

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Art with heart, anyone? Meet seriously cool LA artist, Danny Minnick (above). In his new exhibition, One Love, at the Maddox Gallery he turns philanthropist with the titular piece, One Love, inspired by the UK terror attacks. Proceeds from sales of a limited-edition print go to families of victims.

Free entry. 7-21 July (maddoxgallery.co.uk)

Power paintings

It’s another groundbreaking exhibition for Tate Modern as Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power arrives, covering the turbulent period from 1963-1983. The civil rights movement in America and its after-effects play out in paint, sculpture, fashion and more. Tickets from £16.

12 July to 22 Oct (tate.org.uk)

4

Fleabag 2.0

We Shall Survive.

Without A Doubt,

by Emory Douglas

5

Getty; Tate; Alamy; illustration by Jonathan Calugi @ Machas

All bar naan

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Listen up: wickedly funny Vicky Jones, co-writer of Fleabag, has penned a new play with bestie Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Touch stars Amy Morgan as a 33-year-old in crisis and promises to be just as painfully brilliant. Tickets from £10. To 26 Aug (sohotheatre.com)

Svelte swans

Want the best arms ever? That’s what luxe gym Equinox is promising with its latest class, er, ‘Best Arms Ever’. Just 15 minutes of training and you’ll be on your way to guns so sculpted that sleeves will be a thing of the past. Now booking (equinox.com)

Low-cal salads and no-bread ‘sandwiches’ are just plain depressing. So hoorah for Rola Wala, the cracking Indian streetfood stand, which opens its first permanent restaurant in Spitalfields with a core menu of naan rolls and rice bowls that, as well as being delicious, clock in at less than 500 calories a pop.

Opens 12 July (rolawala.com)

last chance: Snap up original prints and edgy

sculpture for a song at the Affordable Art Fair’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ pop-up at Liberty before it closes on 9 July.

Good sport: Novak Djokovic

7

Holding Court

Wimbledon smashes its way into its final week, as lesser tennis stars fall by the tramlines and the world’s top players battle to get to centre court next Sunday — all while you eat your 12th punnet of strawberries and cream.

To 16 July (wimbledon.com)

look ahead: Iconic New Orleans jazz bands, sheep

and jousting competitions: it can only be the Lambeth Country Show. 15-16 July (lambethcountryshow.co.uk)

07.07.17 es magazine

upfront Laura Craik on pillars of the community, Brooklyn’s lady in green and Noel Fielding’s cake restraint

R

brooklyn nights I was almost too busy freaking out about being in the same room as David’s mum Sandra Beckham and Jackie Adams (Victoria Beckham’s mum) AT THE SAME TIME to notice the stunning brunette in the long, emerald-green slip dress at Brooklyn Beckham’s private view. Trust Brooklyn to bagsy the best-looking girl in the room: apparently singer-songwriter Joy Crookes is his new girlfriend, if ‘leaving in the same car as him’ Joy constitutes such a thing. But back to Sandra Crookes and Jackie. Sandra looked dashing in a black trouser suit, while Jackie looked trim in a polka-dot dress. Other than Harper, the entire clan was celebrating Brooklyn’s new photography Sandra Beckham book. But while David tried to hold my attention* with a witty anecdote, I only had eyes for Anthony Sandra. At one point, and Jackie Adams

es magazine 07.07.17

A sign offering food and shelter to Grenfell Tower victims

Above, volunteers help with donations for Grenfell Tower residents. Left, a woman views tributes to Grenfell Tower’s dead and missing outside Notting Hill Methodist Church

“You can do nothing. Or you can do something. What London overwhelmingly proved is that it wants to do something” our eyes met, which encouraged me to request to follow her on Instagram. She hasn’t accepted. *He ignored me.

FIELDING PECKISH Travelling through City Airport recently, I was picking up my usual lardy Pret breakfast (mozzarella and tomato croissant, insipid flat white on account of Pret’s weird refusal to use full-fat milk) when my eyes rested on a tall bloke in a velvet frock coat. It was Noel Fielding, as I live and breathe. ‘Shall I grab you an egg pot, babe?’ asked his companion. And the two sat down to eat their parsimonious 104-calorie breakfast. I have sympathy for Noel, who, according to reports from the set of GBBO, is ‘refusing to taste some of the cakes because he’s worried about getting fat’. On the one hand, getting paid to eat pastries is the best job in the world.

On the other hand, it’s a chocolatefrosted poisoned chalice. Not everyone is blessed with the fast metabolism of Noel Mary Berry. Those who are? Let them Fielding eat cake. Those who aren’t? Let them eat egg pots. Without judgement.

HOT Kate Moss for Miu Miu Smokin’ in the new campaign, because Moss is the boss.

NOT

Backstage Glastonbury boasting You posted a side-ofstage shot on Instagram, and now you think you’re Nile Rodgers.

Josh Shinner; Rex Features; Getty Images; Alamy; Miu Miu

on retired last Friday. He’d been the caretaker at my kids’ school for 43 years.

As a tribute, all the kids dressed up as him, in plaid shirts, shorts, hi-vis vests and cardboard record decks, the latter in recognition of all the years he’d DJed at school discos. Other than his penchant for playing ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’, Ron was solid. True, he could be grumpy. But he was also the first to help out in a crisis. When, during his leaving party, five tower blocks next to the school were suddenly evacuated due to fire safety fears, it was only ill-health that prevented Ron from mucking in.

Forty of the affected families have kids at Ron’s school.

If Grenfell is a monument to catastrophic greed, injustice and the divide between rich and poor, it is also a call to arms. You can do nothing. Or you can do something. And what London overwhelmingly proved is that it wants to do something. Maybe the politicians don’t. But the people do.

All the people. So many people. When the sky falls in, out come the pillars of the community to help prop it up again. It’s often said that those who have the least give the most. Maybe they have more empathy. Maybe they haven’t used money to build a wall between themselves and those less fortunate. And I look around this noisy, overcrowded city that I love, and think: there is so much that divides us. But there is more that unites us. It’s our communities that make our city what it is.

THE most WANTED

Game, set, match: Lacoste’s tennis ball coin purse is in play for Wimbledon Lacoste coin purse, £40 (020 7225 2851)

PHOTOGRAPH BY john gribben STYLED BY sophie paxton

07.07.17 es magazine 11

FLASHBULB! Party pictures from around town

by FRANKIE McCOY photographs by james peltekian Tania Fares

Phoebe CollingsJames

Erin O’Connor

Charlotte Wiggins

Sam Rollinson

Michael Bloomberg and Sadiq Khan

Damian Lewis

Helen McCrory

Edie Campbell

Arty party Kensington

Anaïs Gallagher Molly Goddard

Caroline Issa

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Roksanda Ilincic

It was a seasonably chilly night for the Chanel x Serpentine Summer Party in Kensington Gardens, where Grayson Perry cosied up in a silver and pink winter blanket coat and Ella Purnell warmed her blood at the tequila bar. Sadiq Khan, meanwhile, turned up with a massive entourage and was immediately surrounded by fellow guests, including Garden Bridge designer Thomas Yana Heatherwick, enabling Damian Peel Lewis to slip past almost unnoticed and take refuge by the risotto bar.

Grayson Perry

Claudia Schiffer

Guy Ritchie and Jacqui Ainsley

Brooklyn Beckham

Poppy Delevingne

David Beckham

Johnny Depp

Margot Robbie Alexa Chung

Sienna Miller

Tilda Swinton

worthy farm Somerset

London’s best party people arrived en masse at Worthy Farm for a typically epic Glastonbury. Cara Delevingne raved at Radiohead, disguised under a large scarf, and Mariella Frostrup outed herself as a member of Stormzy’s crew, while Ruth Wilson, Sienna Miller, David Beckham and Stella McCartney gossiped about whether Noel Gallagher’s presence meant a reformed Oasis might turn up in their private trailer park. The verdict? Definitely maybe.

(Flashbulb went to Glastonbury as a guest of Hunter)

Cara Delevingne

Adwoa Aboah

GO TO eveningstandard.co.uk / ESMAGAZINE FOR MORE PARTY PICTURES

THE SOURCE OF COMFORT

Emily Lewis, 26, is a British Transport Police officer. She stayed with a stabbing victim at the London Bridge attack for more than two hours ‘I’d just started my shift when we got a call saying there had been stabbings in London Bridge. On the way I was thinking, “Terrorism or gangs? Have we got enough first-aid kits? Where do we go to help the most people?” On arriving I saw a man lying on the floor with a medic. His name was Brett Freeman and he had four stab wounds to his back.

‘While we waited for an ambulance, I just talked to him to keep him calm. We chatted about his day — he’d been at the races — and the fact that he had a baby on the way. We could hear gunshots and Brett was saying, “Go! Save yourself!” and I just held his hand and said, “No, I’ll stay with you.” I wasn’t going to leave him.

‘Eventually we got him in an ambulance and I stayed on the scene to help. The number of people who stopped to lend a hand was incredible. One group of squaddies had been on a night out but turned up at 11pm and didn’t leave until 9am. Bystanders were bringing us water and food — the kindness will always stay with me. Since that night, I’ve read about Brett’s story in the papers — I’m relieved to say he’s okay. You make a connection with someone after a night like that.’

14 es magazine 07.07.17

we can be

heroes

Out of our darkest moments, incredible stories of courage, bravery and ingenuity have emerged. Kate Wills meets just some of the people who helped and make us proud to be Londoners

THE PACIFIER Muaz Mahmoud, 27, is a volunteer at Muslim Welfare House.

He helped to calm the situation at the Finsbury Park Mosque until police came

‘I’d just got home after night prayers when my wife and I heard a very loud bang. Outside we could hear screaming in Arabic — “To God we belong, to God we return”, which we say when a calamity has happened — so I knew straight away there had been an attack.

‘I rushed out and the first thing I saw was a van and a man stuck underneath it. There were also four men lying on the ground motionless and bleeding. I grabbed towels and water from my house and started tending to the injured with the help of a neighbour, an Italian Catholic.

‘A few guys had pulled the alleged terrorist out of the van and restrained him on the ground. People were very angry,

PhotographS BY hannah maule-ffinch

hitting him and shouting, “Why did you do this?” and he was saying, “I want to kill Muslims”. My older brother Mohammed, the imam of the mosque, stepped in and shielded him while I kept people back. It felt bitter, having seen what I’d just seen, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Then we flagged down a police car and told the officers, “You need to arrest this man before someone kills him.”

‘The next day people of all backgrounds and religions and from all over the country came to bring support and flowers. It made me feel proud. This attempt to attack us and divide us has completely failed. I believe Londoners have never been closer.’

07.07.17 es magazine 15

THE TWITTER PHILANTHROPIST

Laura-Jayne Cannell, 28, is a manager at a student accommodation company. She rehomed dozens of Grenfell Tower residents using Twitter ‘When I read the news about Grenfell my first thought was, “I’ve got empty housing and these people will need housing. We have to put these things together.” I told the company my idea and they authorised it really quickly. These people are our community and they’d lost everything — helping was a no-brainer.

‘I tweeted saying, “I have 21 studio flats with bathrooms and kitchens available to those that need them. PLEASE SHARE.” I only had 100 Twitter followers but it got retweeted more than 4,000 times. I tried to liaise with the council but they were over-run, so in the end I just connected with people on Twitter.

‘We were running around with duvets and pillows and putting mattresses on the floor so we could keep families together. Some of the people who came to us had been sleeping on the floor of the Westway Sports Centre or on friends’ sofas; others had been released from hospital. We now have 35 people staying with us, from a three-monthold baby to a granddad. One of our families with two young children came over to me the other day and said, “We feel safe and comfortable here,” which was such a good feeling. All I did was send a tweet.’

THE SURGEON

Shehan Hettiaratchy, 47, is lead surgeon and major trauma director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. He operated on victims of the Westminster attack ‘We’d been expecting an attack like Westminster for about six months, so we’d prepared for the worst — the hospital went into lockdown and police were on site.

‘The attacker, Khalid Masood, was one of the first casualties to be brought in. As a Londoner, it’s hard not to take an event like this as a personal attack on our city.

I had those feelings, but as a professional you park that.

It’s an important principle enshrined in medicine that we’ll treat everybody, no matter who they are, so we just got on with it.

‘Another patient was Stephen Lockwood — a man who’d been hit by Masood’s vehicle while walking with his wife. He had a facial injury, a chest injury and nasty leg injury. We took him to the operating theatre that evening to try and save his leg, and just over a week later we did a long and complex operation to reconstruct the bone and missing tissue. I’m happy to say Stephen walked out of the hospital.

‘A week later I was walking across Westminster Bridge and saw a bride having her picture taken in front of the Houses of Parliament. My first thought was, “That’s not right”, but then I thought, “You know what, that’s exactly what we want to see.” London isn’t rocked by this kind of stuff. That day will always be with me, but life goes on.’

“As a Londoner, it’s hard not to take an event like this as a personal attack on our city, but as a professional you park that”

The volunteer

Nisha Parti, 45, is a film-maker. She was one of the first to organise the donations at the Westway Sports Centre for the survivors of Grenfell Tower

THE OFF-DUTY DOCTOR

Joseph Frantzias, 30, is in his fourth year of training to be a neurosurgeon. He left his home to help victims of the London Bridge attack

‘I live a couple of roads away from Grenfell so when I heard what happened I went straight down to the site. A woman was carrying lots of bags — I offered to help her take them to the Westway Sports Centre. People were bringing stuff there and just dumping it, but no one really knew what was going on. Instinctively I said, “Let’s set up some tables, sort this stuff out.” We laid out beds on the indoor tennis courts and started organising donations into piles.

‘A lot of people who had lost family were coming straight from the tower and they were not in a good way.

I was a Samaritan for 10 years and I’ve run my own business so I’m pretty level-headed in a crisis, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I was running things at the Westway for a week before the council eventually took over. The experience has been completely life-changing. When someone complains about something trivial, now I just think, “Oh shut up”. On the other hand, it’s made me realise how amazing my community is.’

‘It was just after 10pm when I looked out of my window and saw police cars rushing down Borough High Street and people running in the opposite direction. I went outside; someone said that a van had hit pedestrians. I immediately knew that this was a terrorist attack and started walking towards the scene.

‘Someone shouted, “Where the hell are you going, are you crazy?”

I did feel scared, but I knew that guilt would overwhelm me if I turned to go back. I found two police officers and told them I was a doctor and they accompanied me to the site of the attack. One victim had multiple stabbing injuries so I helped the paramedics put a tourniquet around her thigh to control the bleeding. I helped them roll a man who was vomiting onto his side without moving his spine.

I then left the scene to go to St Thomas’ Hospital — where I usually work — to help. A lot of my colleagues had done the same — we all wanted to do our bit.

‘I’m from Cyprus and I’ve been so impressed with Londoners’ spirit and camaraderie. If anything, I feel safer than I did before the attack because I saw first-hand the way it was handled with total professionalism.’

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

Paul Dadge, 40, runs an IT company. A photograph of him helping victims of the 7/7 bombings went around the world ‘I was on my way to work when I was forced off the Tube and started walking — when I got to Edgware Road I saw people exiting the station covered in soot. It seemed obvious these injured people needed to be kept together. I set up an area in a nearby Marks & Spencer for about 250 people, which quickly became a triage centre, using the store’s first-aid kit to help casualties. Then we were all evacuated because someone had left a laptop case unattended. I ran out with Davinia Turrell — who had bad burns to her face — and someone took our picture. That photo was on the front page of lots of newspapers and the cover of Time magazine.

‘I stayed on the scene for three hours until everyone had been taken to hospital.

Since then, I’ve met up with Davinia, and there are many people I met that day who I’m still close to. Because of that photo, a lot of people called me a hero — but to me, helping was just common sense.’

07.07.17 es magazine 19

Bohemian bijoux

London jeweller Joanna Cave spent her formative years on the remote Cyclades island of Ios where her family owned a jewellery shop. Her handmade pieces use recycled metals to retain the magical rustic exoticism of her youth.

Necklace, £80; earrings, £155 (joannacave.com)

style notes What we love now EDITED by KATRINA ISRAEL

Denim united

With sustainability at its core, new local denim brand E.L.V. (East London Vintage) upcycles previously discarded jeans, creating a covetable new whole from two vintage halves. ‘We source jeans that would often be destined for landfill and we strongly believe that denim can be reused to make sophisticated and modern products, which have virtually zero effect on the environment,’ says stylist Anna Foster, who paired up with vintage archivist Kari Greaves to found the brand this year.

Levi’s, Lee and Wrangler make up most of its raw materials, which are then spliced into modern cuts, priced from £290. The pair also offer a made-to-measure service at Alex Eagle from £390. Much more than the sum of its halves. (elvdenim.com)

Three Graces London midi dress, £325 (threegraces london.com)

Three Graces London dress, £280, at Selfridges (0800 123 400)

full of grace

It’s time to sunny-up your sartorial situation with luxed-up label, Three Graces London. It was founded by Catherine Johnson as an intimates and sleepwear brand, but for SS17 the Islington-based company has expanded into the ultimate summer escape edit. That said, Johnson’s effortless cotton sundresses feel just as suitable for a stroll down Regent’s Canal as they do for a European jaunt.

Getty; Illustration by Jonathan Calugi @ Machas

Three Graces London maxi dress, £378 (three graceslondon.com)

Twist and shirt

Camille Charrière is an early E.L.V. adopter

Christopher Kane heels, £210, at brownsfashion.com

Add to basket: Jazz up your deconstructed denim with Christopher Kane’s beaded mesh block heels.

InSTARglam London-based creative Shini Park travels the world documenting her rather fashionable life in pictures that showcase style and substance.

@parkncube

Victoria, Victoria Beckham shirt, £189, at net-a-porter.com

From cool cut-outs to masterfully tailored twists, where we once had to customise shirts ourselves, now brands are doing the styling for us, from Victoria, Victoria Beckham to new addition Blouse. Here, matchesfashion. com is debuting ex-Antipodium and Topshop designer Geoffrey J Finch’s new line that stars this wardrobe neoclassic.

Kitri shirt, £85 (kitristudio.com)

Blouse by Geoffrey J Finch shirt, £325 at matchesfashion.com

Follow us at @eveningstandardmagazine

07.07.17 es magazine 21

illustrations BY rude

thisisrude.com

city of dreams

Sometimes it takes a crisis to remind you how special this big, beautiful old town is. Ben Machell reflects on the rich shared experience that makes up London life — and vows never again to take it for granted

London is not a city that encourages sentimentality. I don’t mean this in a bad way — we aren’t a city of nearly nine m i llion cold , unfeeling monsters — it’s just that it’s such a vibrant, teeming place in such a state of perpetual forward motion that you never really spend a massive amount of time quietly reflecting on, well… anything. Certainly not on your warm feelings towards the metropolis you call home.

There just isn’t the time.

There are buses to catch, groups of dawdling tourists to overtake, friends to see and a little gap that’s just opened up at the bar if you can only get there quickly enough. There are letting agents to harass and jobs to secretly apply for and family members visiting from out of town, who are absolutely determined to visit this restaurant they’ve read about even though they don’t seem to realise just how far away it is from where you live. There is stuff to do. Always stuff to do. To live in London is, by definition, to be wrapped up in it. Come on. Look around you.

How could you not be?

But then awful things start happening. Benign place names suddenly take on tragic double m e a n i n g s . We s t m i n s t e r.

Borough. Grenfell Tower.

Finsbury Park. Your stomach sinks every time the breaking news alert on your phone chimes at night. Do you wake the person next to you? Or do you let them sleep and hope that, by the morning, things won’t be as bad as the early reports say? But then you quickly learn that things are always worse than the early reports say. So you both stay awake, trying to make sense of events that, for the most part, are really not supposed to make sense.

You think about the dead and feel any number of things: sorrow, helplessness, anger. You think about London, and about how it’s back to doing its historical job of sucking up the very worst of adversity. And

07.07.17 es magazine 23

even though you’re safe in bed, and even though you know these horrors are not really about you, you still can’t help feeling at least tangentially involved on the grounds that this keeps happening in your city. And then, before you know it, you’re doing the thing you never normally have time to do: quietly reflecting on all the things you love about London, slowly unpicking the tangled web of memories and places and people that amount to your life here.

And what do you find? Well, clearly, it’s personal. There are at least 8.8 million versions of London — but some things about this city are universal. It is, for example, impossible to live here without having your horizons thrown wide open. I’ve been exposed to more people from more places than I can remember.

“London has given me more than I’d have ever dared ask it for. My bet is that a lot of people, deep down, feel the same” Even something as mundane as playing football in London has served up an international cast of thousands. So there was Edi and Besim, the bickering Albanian builders. A whole team of Bangladeshis, all waiters and chefs down Brick Lane who could run all day and tackle with karate kicks. I have, at different times, hugged, kicked and had shouting matches with Abdou, the skinny Moroccan park keeper, Solly, the huge Malian baker, assorted Germans, Czechs, Italians, Greeks, Egyptians, Swedes, Brazilians, French, Japanese, you name it.

I’ve made the mistake of drinking with Polish women at house parties, I’ve lived with boys from Dublin and girls from New Jersey. I have somehow acquired a Spanish

24 es magazine 07.07.17

mother-in-law. My dad, Yorkshire born and bred, now gets the hump if we don’t have Turkish food when he comes down. My twoyear-old son hero-worships a handsome Kurdish greengrocer. London has brought half the world, stuck it right under my nose and I cannot thank it enough.

W

hat else? It only just occurred to me, after years of being here, just how many people you see in a state of genuine pleasure.

You tend to block out the crowds of tourists and the coaches full of pensioners coming to see a matinee and the giddy German teenagers on a school trip. But look at them.

They’re delighted. Excited. Happy.

The sheer number of people you see in London on a daily basis who are simply enjoying themselves is unlike anywhere else.

I’ve made a mental note to be more patient with them, to stop when they’re taking a big group photo rather than steaming past. All they want is a few days of what we all have year after year. I have the strong suspicion that my big blurry head features in a million beaming family snapshots on mantelpieces all around the world. I now realise what a privilege this is.

It sounds trite, under the circumstances, to say that I’ve realised I love London because it’s beautiful. Beautiful cities do not deserve tragedies to befall them any more or less than ugly ones. But I am — we are — only human, and I’m sorry but London is a knockout. It’s just one beautiful

sight after another. The Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey, St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace, The Mall to Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden to St Paul’s, Tate Modern to Shakespeare’s Globe to the Tower of London, all within what? The distance of a primary school fun run?

I have relatives come visit from big, bold American cities — Chicago, New York, Miami — and whenever I take them out for the day, they just get quieter and quieter and quieter, punchdrunk on these places, their eyes swimming with the blue circles of a hundred English Heritage plaques. At some point we’ll hit the river, the sun will be shining and there’ll be a breeze going; you can look left and you can look right and all you’ll see is a million tiny details, the thousand different textures in layers over however many centuries. Boom.

My aunts and uncles always stop dead at this point. I do my best to play it cool, but the truth is that even I need a moment.

But more than anything, when I stop and really think hard about what London means to me and why I care so much about it, one thing keeps coming up again and again: London has looked after me. So many people arrive in this city alone, knowing that they’re here to have a vague crack at something, but beyond that, it’s a leap in the dark. And whether you’re coming here from Lagos or Leicester, that can be daunting.

More often than not, though, rather than chew you up in the way you’re expecting, London puts an arm around you. It throws up little sanctuaries — a certain café, a faithful pub, a cherished football pitch, the Indian YMCA off Tottenham Court Road that does curry for next to nothing — and it puts people in your path. People like you or, even better, people nothing like you. My girlfriend is a Londoner. My son is a Londoner. So is my daughter. London has given me more than I’d have ever dared ask it for. My bet is that a lot of people, deep down, feel the same.

The question, then, is this: how do I repay this debt? How does anyone? And the answer, I think, is that I have to try and do my best to look after London in the same way it has looked after me. I know I said there are nearly nine million different Londons. The truth is that, really, there’s just one. It’s big and it’s beautiful and it deserves our care as much as it deserves our love.

LON OND THIS IS Everyone who lives in this incredible city has their own unique story, their own set of memories and their own tales of happiness, sorrow, joy, loss and achievement.

Charlie Kwai takes to the streets to capture Londoners in their natural habitat

26 ES MAGAZINE 07.07.17

ND DON ON

07.07.17 es magazine 29

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good times, Good deeds

bag a chari-table Treating yourself to eggs Benedict at The Wolseley (below) or chops at Blacklock?

Book through the ChariTable Bookings app.

Restaurants donate £1 per diner to any of 7,655 charities, from Oxfam to WaterAid. Try the 30 Bookings Challenge for a chance to win a five-star holiday by eating at 30 London spots. (charitablebookings.org)

Wheels of change Upgrade your wheels at Herne Hill’s The Bike Project, where you can buy your next bike and donate your old one to the needy. Each year 27,500 bikes are abandoned in London, while the 13,500 refugees who arrive in the capital each year lack the money to travel to school or work. At The Bike Project, refugees are taught to fix donated bikes for their own use, and funds raised from selling the second-hand bikes go towards supporting the project’s work. Ride on. (thebikeproject.co.uk)

Getty; Alamy; David Loftus

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magic meals Eat out altruistically with Magic Breakfast, the charity which provides 31,000 schoolchildren with a healthy start to the day by ordering specific dishes at partner restaurants such as Dishoom, which donates 22p for every spiced-up breakfast ordered. Find more Magic Breakfast partners at the Hackney Village Fayre fundraiser on 22 July, where restaurants from Bone Daddies to Radio Alice will be serving ramen, pizza and more in aid of the charity. (magicbreakfast.com)

A perfect fit Get charitably fit without the faff of fundraising with a The Hard Yard workout.

Ex-convicts are employed as trainers at the roving classes, which involve 45 minutes of bodyweight exercises such as burpees — guaranteed to get you seriously fit. Find a class during July at their latest spot, the rooftop of Shoreditch’s Ministry of Startups. (thehardyard.co.uk)

Charity might begin at home — but it doesn’t have to end there. From fund-raving to breakfasting for a cause, Frankie McCoy offers a guide to having fun, philanthropically

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Screen saviours The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise is, they say, ‘the UK’s first socialenterprise independent boutique digital cinema’.

Sounds worthy, but it means you can watch the latest movies — Baby Driver and The Beguiled are on this month — while effortlessly doing good. Profits go to The Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch, South Africa, which provides children with food and education and develops sustainable energy systems. (thelexicinema.co.uk)

borough courage The Borough Market attack hurt both Saturdaynight revellers and dozens of businesses that lost money during the 10-day closure. Raise a defiant toast at Middle Eastern restaurant Arabica, which has created the London Courage: gin, lemon juice, soda and orange-blossom syrup. £1 from each one goes to the Borough Market Relief Fund. (arabicabarandkitchen.com)

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Fund raver You’ve bought the Artists for Grenfell ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ single, now dance for charity at the Love for Latimer all-day fundraiser at Willesden Junction’s Loft Studios.

DJs from Norman Jay to Benji B will play reggae, house and disco on 9 July and all ticket sales (£17.50 each) plus proceeds from food and drink go to The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation’s fund for Grenfell Tower victims. (residentadvisor. net/event. aspx?984085)

07.07.17 es magazine 31

beauty by katie service

the london look

Lego Architecture, London, £49.95, at harrods.com

These homegrown brands are putting the capital on the beauty map

From left, Skin & Tonic London Brit Beauty Oil, £28 (skinandtoniclondon.com); Lottie London Powder Power powder brush, £8 (lottie.london); Aurelia Aromatic Repair & Brighten Hand Cream, £28 (aureliaskincare.com); Nails Inc Long Wear Chelsea Lane nail polish, £11 (nailsinc.com).

PHOTOGRAPH BY Vanessa M c Keown

07.07.17 es magazine 35

beauty

You beauty!

ON THE SOAPBOX

Multicultural Londoners are the inspiration for a raft of new beauty innovations, says beauty editor Katie Service

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iversity is the focus of new London skincare brand Epara. ‘Pigmentation presents differently in different skintones,’ explains founder Ozohu Adoh. ‘Take acne scarring. In darker skin you get an overstimulation of melanin production around a spot, leaving a dark scar.’

Standard anti-pigmentation skincare for paler tones blanket-treats skin cells, resulting in an undesired bleaching effect on black skin.

Epara’s lotions contain a micro-algae plankton combined with lecithin (a natural fatty tissue) that cleverly targets only the cells producing the melanin. Your skintone remains yours. l Are you an inbetweener? Someone whose skin seems always a little too pink or a little too yellow for any foundation? Thanks to an algorithm developed by a West Coast tech incubator, Lancôme can now whisk up and bottle 72,000 different skintone nuances before your very eyes, as well as blending in the level of coverage and hydration that you want.

Now that’s bespoke. (Lancôme Le Teint Particulier, £90, in-store at Harrods) l And finally… did you know that the colour of your skin is thought to alter the way scents smell? ‘Darker, oilier skin tones make citrus scents pop,’ explains East Dulwich-based perfume expert Michael Donovan, ‘and redheads with really fair skin often project a subtle scent across the room.’

B Annabel Rivkin solves her oil crisis

Epara Balancing Face Oil, £105 (eparaskincare.com)

Josh Shinner; Natasha Pszenicki

Headspace

It’s back to school this week with aromatherapy and wellness brand Neom, which is offering in-store classes in sleep, increasing your energy levels, de-stressing and just generally being more happy. The Neomologists will help you create a positive bedtime regime, use scent to rev you up for a meeting and give yourself a de-stressing facial massage. Phone the store to book a free class. King’s Road (020 7352 3111); Wimbledon (020 8947 9776)

ody lotion felt like a game when I was in the first flush. All, ‘Look at me; so glamorous and liberally lotioned.’ Oh, how things change.

Body lotion is now a necessity and, at this time of year when more bits and pieces are on display, I up the stakes to body oil. Because scales are not sexy.

Nor is that body dust stuff you start to shed when your pelt gets properly parched. Supple is what we’re after.

I look for three things in a body oil: scent, hydration and absorption. The fragrance can’t be too muskily oudy or violently floral. The moisturisation has to be effective in a gift-that-keeps-on-giving kind of a way.

No point slapping on a load of unguent only to be as dry as a desert half an hour later. That said, I want to apply the oil and then forget all about it. None of that hopping from foot to foot waiting for it to absorb while the clock ticks and you start to sweat with panic.

Balance Me is a 100 per cent natural range that will make your skin smile. They use natural actives and beautiful fragrances at affordably luxurious prices. Not cheap but not folly either. If natural is your thing then this stuff is worth a gander. I stumbled across the Super Moisturising Body Oil and plan to make it my constant companion. The fragrance is a virtuoso turn in delicate floral balance — fresh but honeyed — and the oil is weighted enough to give skin a peachy gleam without stickiness. It’s also stuffed with fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants with rosehip oil to rejuvenate and jojoba oil to soothe. I rather feel as though I’ve found a friend.

Balance Me Super Moisturising Body Oil, £24.50, at feelunique.com

Read your stars by Shelley von Strunckel at standard.co.uk / horoscopes /today

07.07.17 es magazine 37

feast

grace & flavour Grace Dent returns to El Pastor for a defiantly delicious feast

“You can suspend London’s joie de vivre temporarily while we repaint and rearrange the tables, but we won’t stop eating, drinking and laughing”

Ambience food

Jonny Cochrane; illustration by Jonathan Calugi @ Machas

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lurk around Borough a lot. I have done for more than a decade. Between meetings you will find me in Spice Mountain, phone switched off, buying tiny, unnecessary pots of pink Himalayan salt. Years ago, when I lived close by, I’d finish many a night out at dawn in Neal’s Yard Dairy, barefoot, eyes like Catherine wheels, buying Reblochon and Comté. They didn’t judge me because in Borough Market, like almost anywhere in London, you are free pretty much to do whatever you want, as long as you’re not an arse about it. Wear what you want, go where you like, love who you like, eat what you fancy. As Paddington Bear said, quoting Mrs Brown, ‘In London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in.’ Violence may have touched Borough in early June, but it remains a place built on strong foundations of joy.

If there is a sharper thrill than beating the Padella queue at 5pm, grabbing a counter space and ordering the pappardelle with Dexter shin ragu, I struggle to nail it. Or a long lunch, sipping Gut Oggau, in Elliot’s Café, where they take the headache out of what to buy from the market by choosing all the best bits and cooking them for you. Or a warm night perched outside Arabica Bar & Kitchen, picking at meze. People come every day to Borough from all over the world, to browse, to set up shop, to serve tables for a summer or, like me, to skive off, because Borough’s message can be universally understood. Eat nice things, be curious about other cultures, take time to dally and smell the coffee roasting. Life is delicious. You cannot destroy this with knives or bombs or cars driven onto pavements. You can suspend London’s

el pastor 6-7A Stoney Street, Borough, SE1 (tacoselpastor.co.uk)

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Grilled corn

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Frijoles charros

£5.50

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Short-rib tacos

£17.50

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Sesame tuna tostada

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E.P. Bounty Bar

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Diablo Rojo

£16

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Mezcal Amores Cupreata

£28

Total

£4.50

£16 £5.50

£93

joie de vivre temporarily while we repaint and rearrange the tables, but we won’t stop eating, drinking and laughing. If ever one doubts London’s tenacity please refer to the homophobic attack on the Admiral Duncan on Old Compton Street 18 years ago, which left three dead and the pub a bombed-out, tattered shell. ‘Well that will be that,’ I remember thinking daftly, because within weeks the Admiral Duncan had been rebuilt and reborn. It was bigger, pinker and fully erect again, despite how any vile idiot may have felt about its clientele. This is London. If we wanted to live cowed in fear of standing out we’d have stayed put in Aberystwyth or Addis Ababa.

So with this in mind, I will not stop loving Borough Market. And on a balmy July night, regardless of the attack that happened there five weeks ago, and with a deep respect for everyone who witnessed it and worked to get the place up and running again, I’ll still join the queue at the now reopened El Pastor and order the sesame tuna tostada, the guajillo-rubbed short-rib tacos to share with the salsa La Maya, the grilled corn with chipotle and queso fresco and the frijoles charros – pinto beans with smoked chorizo and pork belly. I’ll order my usual Diablo Rojo, the long riff on a margarita, made with Tequila Herradura and ginger beer, and let my guest loose on the mezcal menu, which always seems like a good idea but will not be at 6.55am the following morning when I wake with a cat’s paw in my mouth having promised the editor at least 700 words by 9am. Then, when everyone is groaning and claiming to be avoiding puddings in order to flatten stomachs, I’ll order a slab of the E.P. Bounty Bar shortbread anyhow.

When El Pastor is in full swing, there are few nicer places on earth to hang out and hammer a menu. London may have lost its appetite temporarily, but we will always pick ourselves up, take a deep breath, re-lay the table and quite simply carry on dining.

07.07.17 es magazine 39

The Henrietta,

escape

Covent garden

A short hop from Covent Garden market, this 18-room boutique hotel is the latest from the team behind the Experimental Cocktail Club — and it has all the ingredients for a sexy stay-cay. The concept behind the project (‘a B&B — bed and beverage’) is simple enough. First, get cult French interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon on board to give the art deco rooms an elegant update, with club-style chairs in millennial pink and Tom Dixon-esque brass bell lamps. Then enlist the services of hot London chef Ollie Dabbous to open an in-house restaurant that has a waiting list to rival his feted former spot in Soho. Finally, add in some of the most spectacular vistas of the city (you can catch views of Nelson’s Column, The Shard and the London Eye all from the balcony of the top suite). Et voila! Rooms from £213. (henriettahotel.com)

EDITED by dipal acharya

Room with a view: a bedroom at The Henrietta

Nobu Hotel, shoreditch

So much more than a restaurant with rooms, Nobu’s first hotel venture in Europe is a chic fusion of Far East meets East End. Take the architecture, which combines elements of the area’s industrial past with discrete Japanese details: the 143 deluxe rooms have an exposed concrete structure softened with textiles in serene shades and the seven individually designed suites have balconies overlooking the Zen-like pocket garden. Hungry? Good. The Nobu group takes its food offering seriously, from the vintage sake list in the lobby bar to the showstopping classics — such as black cod miso or grass-fed tenderloin with yuzu truffle — which made chef Nobu a household name in the first place.

Rooms from £249; suites from £449. (nobuhotelshoreditch.com)

The pool at The Ned’s Club Relax

london calling With a slew of smart hotel openings in the capital, make this summer all about the stay-cay

The Ned, city of london Nobu fuses Far East with East End

Arguably the biggest hotel opening of the year, and four years in the making, The Ned really does live up to the hype. Each of the sumptuous rooms — and there are more than 250 to choose from — takes its cue from the grand ocean liners of the 1920s, all rich mahogany panelling and smart brass accents. But beyond that Portland stone façade, there is so much more to this party palace in the city. The Soho House group’s superlative food and drink franchises mean that there’s a smorgasbord of nine restaurants on site — from clean California cuisine at Malibu to healthy Italian classics at Cecconi’s — as well as a private members’ space in the basement and a rooftop bar that’s ideal for those summer sundowners. Rooms from £180. (thened.com)

07.07.17 es magazine 41

my london

roy larner as told to lily worcester

Home is…

A hostel in Brixton above a barbershop, but I was homeless at the time of the London Bridge attacks. I used to live on the Ledbury Estate in Peckham; my mum’s been there for 47 years.

Ever had a run in with a policeman?

I’ve probably got gobby after a night out having got caught short! The emergency services were brilliant on the night of the attack. I’m trying to meet the two police officers who drove me to the hospital.

I didn’t realise how much I was bleeding. I can’t thank them enough — they saved my life.

42 es magazine 07.07.17

Biggest extravagance?

Following Millwall up and down the country watching football. I go every Saturday and it’s not cheap, but they’re giving me a lifetime season ticket now. A Swedish brewery has also made a beer called ‘F*** You, I’m Millwall’.

Favourite pub?

The Market Porter in Borough Market — they’re so friendly and have nice food. I have steak and chips, and some lager — but not too much, just a couple of pints.

The Millwall-loving ‘Lion of London Bridge’, who single-handedly took on three jihadis in the terror attack, loves lobster pasta at Ciao Bella and a lager (or two) at The Market Porter Earliest London memory?

Going to Millwall Football club. I’d play football with friends I grew up with on the estates — I was good then but I’m too old these days. I’m just starting my coaching badges now — I’d love to coach the Millwall team.

Who’s your hero?

My daughter Freya, who’s 14, for putting up with me. She makes me keep going.

If you could buy any building, which would it be?

10 Downing Street, to make sure Labour don’t get in there.

What would you do if you were Mayor for the day?

Have a big party along the Thames. London’s the best place in the world for me. It’s a shame that all these things have happened, but it ain’t putting people off coming here.

Best thing a cabbie has ever said to you?

I’ve had cab drivers with passengers in the back stop me and say, ‘Can I have a selfie?’ It’s so unreal for me, but it’s nice.

What are you up to for work at the moment?

I can’t work at the moment but I’ve been offered security jobs.

After what happened I don’t think I need a CV for it! I’ve probably got more chance of winning the lottery than this happening to me again. It’s like a million to one that these things happen, but it happened and I’m still here.

To support Roy Larner, donate to his Just Giving page (justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ jayne-jacob)

AJ Levy; Alamy

You’ve been hailed as a hero because of your actions at London Bridge. What do you remember about that night?

To be honest I don’t remember much, but this is what I’ve been told happened. Three attackers rushed in and were shouting about Isis. One started stabbing me as the other two were walking toward the bar — I was defending myself so much that the other two came back and joined in, which, fortunately, kept them from attacking more people. Then I shouted, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall!’ One attacker was in an Arsenal shirt and I’m a Millwall fan, so I guess that’s why.

Best meal you’ve had?

I’ve been going to Ciao Bella on Lamb’s Conduit Street for years — the lobster pasta’s lovely.