Autumn 2012 Issue 17 of your FREE guide to everything that is anything in Covent Garden coventgardenjournal.com
COVENT GARDEN JOURNAL /17
FREE
COVENT GARDEN Journal
Autumn 2012 cgj_issue17_cover.indd 1
14/09/2012 10:03
Covent garden journal_Autumn 2012_StrandPalaceHotel.pdf 1 03/09/2012 15:38:40
C
M
Y
BOOK A ROOM ONLINE AT THE STRAND PALACE HOTEL FROM 2ND OCTOBER 2012 FOR A CHANCE TO WIN
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
A FANTASTIC WEEKEND BREAK FOR TWO AT MAZAGAN BEACH & GOLF RESORT, MOROCCO PRIZE INCLUDES: FLIGHTS, ACCOMMODATION INCLUSIVE OF BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER. AS WELL AS TRADITIONAL HAMMAM EXPERIENCE, LEISURE ACTIVITIES INCLUDING TENNIS, FITNESS & BIKING, FREE ACCESS TO NIGHTCLUB & CASINO PLUS MUCH MORE!
Book a room online through our website www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk from 2nd October until 20th December 2012. To enter our prize draw, complete our online competition form with your booking reference by 20th December 2012 for a chance to win! Terms and conditions apply, please see website for more details www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk.
cgj_issue17_BC_IFC_IBC.indd 1
14/09/2012 10:01
Autumn 2012 Issue 17 of your FREE guide to everything that is anything in Covent Garden coventgardenjournal.com
/
02 04 30 40 54 58 EDITOR’S LETTER
LIFE
TASTE
ARTS
PAST
PLACE
04—Flowers of Scotland Inside the Brora cashmere workshops. 10—Re cycled Getting the unique custom bike fitting service at Specialized. 14—Hidden gems Covent Garden jewellery. 20—Chanel Island Clare Finney spends a morning at the Chanel pop up store. 22—My fashion life Martin Franklin, owner of Foxhall London. 24—Expert eye How to tie a silk scarf. 24—What’s in a name? Tatty Devine name necklaces. 25—Diamonds are forever Karine Jackson. 26—In briefs A lingerie exhibition. 28—Offical secret’s act Mark Rothman of The Top Secret Comedy Club.
30—Blanc space Raymond Blanc on seasonality, sustainability and brasserie food. 34—The laws of fizz-ics Champagne and cheese. 37—Seventh heaven London Cocktail Week comes to Seven Dials. 38—Street fighting man Jason Faleva’ai of Urban Jungle Warrior. 39—Back to basics A beginner’s guide to coffee terminology.
40—Backing the band How Covent Garden’s PledgeMusic changed the music industry forever. 44—Art of darkness The unsettling world of Somerset House resident artist Paul Benney. 48—A warm hand The Ceri Hand art gallery arrives in London. 50—Ringing the changes The Ring Cycle. 51—From the crew room The name game. 51—From Russia, with ennui Uncle Vanya. 51—Exhibit Forthcoming exhibitions.
54—Face of a killer How a brutal murder in a Covent Garden shop was solved by the first British use of the Identikit system to create a picture of the prime suspect.
58—Up Saged How Russell Sage, the interior designer behind Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, the Zetter Townhouse and Kate Middleton’s bridal suite brought his very English expertise to Tuttons restaurant. 62—Special agents Knight Frank. 64—Directory
01 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_contents.indd 1
14/09/2012 10:04
Useful websites coventgardenlondonuk.com operaquarter.co.uk sevendials.co.uk stmartinscourtyard.com
EDITOR’S LETTER /Mark Riddaway
Covent Garden’s culinary scene was once made up of a few good restaurants for knowledgeable Londoners and a whole slew of dubious tourist traps selling crud to Americans. I remember being served overcooked spaghetti with a sauce suspiciously like Heinz tomato soup and a topping of that packet parmesan that smells like sick, priced at a level that would usually demand a hefty wodge of premium black truffle and maybe a drizzle of organic unicorn tears. The thinking was, if you scalp people sufficiently the first time it doesn’t actually matter that they never come again. Thankfully those days are gone. Covent Garden is now one of the most exciting places to eat anywhere in London. As well as the one-off stars, there are lots of places offering seriously good food at accessible prices. Many of these—Jamie’s Italian, Wahaca, Côte—are ‘chain’ restaurants, but they are as far away from the listless service and laminated menu cards of the fast food industry as it’s possible to get, with their ethos defined by food lovers rather than accountants. The fact that they have multiple branches is a by-product of their excellence rather than a threat to it. The latest to join the fray is Brasserie Blanc, which serves robust, wellsourced, perfectly balanced French fare created by Raymond Blanc, who manages the extraordinary trick of being possibly the Frenchest man on the planet while also being a British national treasure. Our interview with him shows why—he’s warm, friendly, passionate and extremely good value. Much the same could be said of Brasserie Blanc.
Editor Mark Riddaway 020 7401 7297 mark@lscpublishing.com Deputy editor Viel Richardson 020 7401 7297 viel@lscpublishing.com
F
Assistant editor Clare Finney 020 7401 7297 clare@lscpublishing.com
C la fo
Advertising sales Donna Earrey 020 7401 2772 donna@lscpublishing.com Steve Charles 0844 800 4121 steve@lscpublish ing.com
P
Publisher LSC Publishing Unit 11 La Gare 51 Surrey Row London SE1 0BZ lscpublishing.com Contributers Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Holly Cox Shannon Denny Joseph Fox Jonny Garrett Angela Holder Antonia Michel Design and art direction Em-Project Limited 01892 614 346 mike@em-project.com Distribution Letterbox Printing Buxton NEXT ISSUE: DECEMBER 2012
an
Editor of the Year, Winner 2011 Writer of the Year, Winner 2011 (Viel Richardson) Designer of the Year, Winner 2010
02 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_contents.indd 2
14/09/2012 10:04
2161 DC
Festive Celebrations to Remember Celebrate Christmas in the unique surroundings of The Bloomsbury Hotel. The perfect venue for large celebrations with up to 200 of your friends or colleagues, or for more intimate gatherings for lunch, dinner or a Christmas cocktail. Private Dining | Parties
| Cocktails & Sharer Plates | Afternoon Tea | Overnight Packages
16-22 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3NN
Contact our Events team: +44 (0)20 7347 1241 or ana_silva@doylecollection.com
For more details please visit doylecollection.com/Bloomsbury_christmas BOSTON
2161 DC Bloomsbury Christmas cgj_issue17_contents.indd 3 Ad Covent Garden Journal 250x200.indd 1
BR ISTOL
COR K
DUBLIN
LONDON
WA S H I N G T O N D C
12/09/2012 10:04 10:33 14/09/2012
Brora’s success has been built upon the quality of its cashmere products, all of which are created by highly skilled craftspeople in a Scottish town which is further from a railway station than any other in the UK. Shannon Denny spends a fortune on a taxi to pay them a visit
FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND
LIFE /17
04 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 4
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
05 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 5
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND
Scotland has got this tradition of colouring. Victoria’s colours are Scottish colours, and they’re all mélanges. Natural mixtures of colours are much more interesting. Victoria’s colours just glow, and that’s one of her secrets
06 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 6
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE Brora 42 The Market Building 020 7836 6921 brora.co.uk
In my next life I hope to return as a Brora cashmere sock. Having given my husband two such items last year for Christmas, I can tell you that to lead that life is to be cherished, coddled and adored. The ones I’ve observed at close quarters are treated to gentle paddles in soapy pools of cool water, denied the torture of drying on the radiator and praised while their cotton brethren are taken for granted and generally abused. And these little garments have quite an exciting adolescence too, as I learn when I travel to the knitting factory belonging to Johnstons of Elgin, the facility where Brora cashmere clothing is born. The factory sits in the town of Hawick, at the confluence of the Slitrig Water with the River Teviot. Many residents speak the local dialect of Border Scots. The Hawick tongue retains elements of Old English, and the distinctive vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation reflect the relative isolation of the town. The place-name seems to never be
whispered or even spoken—to pronounce the word correctly, take a deep breath and then exclaim: “HOYK!” Pristine agrarian countryside surrounds Hawick for miles around. The location lost its rail service in 1969 when the Waverley Line from Carlisle to Edinburgh was eliminated, and it’s now said to be the furthest large town from a railway station in the entire UK. James Sugden, managing director of Johnstons, greets me from his office. Textiles were once churned out on this floor, but today it’s spreadsheets and calculations that he’s been poring over. “Manufacturing is an endangered species,” he tells me with a smile before embarking on a story of what’s being done in this town to conserve it. In 1771 the first knitting machine came to Hawick, where a thriving trade in woollen carpet manufacturing already existed, but Johnstons of Elgin got its start roughly 25 years later in the North Highland town of Newmill. The Johnstons were originally weavers and became famous for their estate tweeds, which are the basis for livery worn for shooting and fishing on individual estates, distinguishing one estate’s crew from another. As far back as 1851, Johnstons pioneered the weaving of vicuna and cashmere in Scotland, but the production of wool tweeds remained the cornerstone of the business for the century that followed. Then in the late 1960s the company invested in knitwear once again, eventually taking over this Victorian factory in Hawick that has since expanded to become one of the most sophisticated cashmere knitting plants in the world. James plops down several sturdy wads of fluff in a range of muted shades onto the table. Apparently, these squishy hairballs are the stuff from which my husband’s treasured socks are made. Cashmere isn’t actually wool and it doesn’t come from sheep. The fibre originates as downy belly fleece of the cashmere goat in the remote Himalayan foothills. “The finest cashmere comes from China, from Inner Mongolia,” James reveals.
“The best cashmere thrives in fairly arid conditions where there’s not too much pasture.” When spring arrives and the goats begin to moult, the fine fibre is combed away by hand then transported by mule and lorry to trading ports. Johnstons buys its cashmere ‘in the grease’—meaning raw. “Scottish industry’s always been predicated on really good fibre, and the secret is to buy the fibre direct,” he says. This fuzzy stuff from the primitive Mongolian plateaux costs about £150 per kilo, and one sweater takes 300g. About 60 per cent of the animal’s coat is coarse and wiry, so the scratchy bits have to be separated from the down in another painstaking process unappetisingly called de-hairing. The dimensions of the cashmere strands dictate the quality and price. Longer hairs are less likely to pill, while shorter hairs are prone to producing those annoying bobbles that heartbreakingly appear in cheaper garments. Good cashmere fibre is long in length and fine in microns. James’ agenda is to buy the ‘pick of the clip’—fibres that are at least 34mm long and no more than 16.5 microns thick. The other big contributor to pricing is colour. Raw cashmere comes off the animal in shades from white to mottled brown. White is prized because it is more versatile in dyeing, while darker cashmere will only be suited to creating black or dark brown yarn. The raw cashmere arrives at Johnstons’ spinning and dyeing plant for the first stage of its transformation. By now it’s only a few miles as the crow flies from another little town important to our story: Brora, which is perched on the North Sea on the other side of the Moray Firth from Johnstons of Elgin. Victoria Stapleton—founder, owner and creative director of the Brora cashmere label —grew up in the Scottish borders. When her family became involved with the tweed manufacturers Hunters of Brora in the 1990s, she took over its retail arm, sourcing
07 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 7
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND
colour is added to the spun yarn—is an alternative, but this process compresses the fibre and diminishes its quality. “Scotland has got this tremendous tradition of colouring,” James reveals. In knitwear from other countries, colours are typically flat and uniform. “Victoria’s colours are Scottish colours, they’re all mélanges. Natural mixtures of colours are much more interesting. Victoria’s colours just glow, and that’s one of her secrets.” One colour in the Brora catalogue can contain up to seven different shades blended together to create unusual brightness and depth of tone. A cardigan in ‘artichoke’ for example is not a one-dimensional hue. Instead, separate fluffs of raw cashmere are dyed in a range of colours: one yellow, one green, perhaps a small forest green one. The separate shades are amalgamated in the spinning process, so each yarn is its own complex recipe. Once the yarn has been spun, it travels south 230 miles down the A9 to Hawick where an incredible amount of the construction of and selling clothing from suppliers all around a garment is still done by hand. In this fairly Scotland. In time she relocated to London, isolated town, skills have been passed down and commissioned Johnstons to manufacture through the generations. There are over her own knitwear designs. Nineteen years on, 50 processes that go into the creation of a Victoria and James form a powerful alliance single cashmere jumper, and Brora has been that puts the ‘buy British’ slogan through its instrumental in maintaining these traditions paces every day. “She buys from Scotland of workmanship. When Victoria first teamed not just out of altruistic loyalty,” James says. up with Johnstons, the knitwear factory had “She buys for very good reasons: we’ve got a staff of eight; nearly two decades on, more really good fibre; our system of dyeing is than 265 people clock in and out daily. superior; we’ve got a very skilled workforce.” The journey from yarn to sock begins in The colours in Brora cashmere—which the yarn store. Up to 20 tons of cashmere are inspired directly from the countryside— are kept here. It’s cool because, like wine, rely on a particular method of dyeing. yarn needs to settle and mature. The stuff is The cashmere is dyed as ‘loose stock’ in valuable enough to make a whole machine its puffball state, “because that is very called a backwinder necessary. This intricate gentle to the fibre and ensures a really good bit of kit pulls apart knitted panels containing handle,” James explains. “So the touch of mistakes like dropped stitches to be put Scottish cashmere is superior to anything back onto cones for future use. else.” Elsewhere, knitwear is often dyed ‘in James guides me into a giant space the piece’, where a garment is knitted in the where contraptions similar to massive fax original ecru state with colour only being machines are emitting knitted shapes. added afterward. Hank dyeing —where Against a soundtrack of whirring and
humming, a grey rectangle pops out near our feet. An engineer sets instructions by hand, walking up and down the aisle between two machines each with eight ‘heads’. Like a piano tuner, he tweaks and fiddles the solid steel monsters with their myriad moving parts. At any given time, 16 pieces are being generated simultaneously. It takes a human to transform discrete panels into garments though, and we proceed to another building to see how this is done. The process of joining different pieces together is called ‘linking’, where yarn is used to sew raw edges together so that the seams are more or less invisible. Forty skilled technicians sit on swivelling stools at rotating machines. A cone of yarn is strung up at the top, and rotation is controlled by foot pedals down below. Another building houses more modern knitting machines. Instead of creating rectangular sheets of fabric, these can be programmed to create complex stitches or even whole garments. With a smoothly continuous murmur, jacquard and cable knits are deftly rendered. One computerised workhorse grafts on navy hats for Brora; another efficiently creates the label’s famous lacy stole. From here we sneak a peek at where gloves come from. We stand by to watch through a glass pane as complicated mechanisms produce complete hands with fingers and thumbs roughly once every 15 minutes. Hundreds of needles in concert like a manual typewriter on autopilot. Suddenly an orange glove shoots out while a new one is started without so much as a pause. It’s socks I really care about, so James obliges me with a stroll over to a bank of individual machines bearing nametags. ‘Hazel’, ‘Mary’ and their sizeable family of sisters were born in Loughborough a very long time ago. Cast on the scrap heap, they were rescued by James for £500 each. Bedecked with chains, cranks and a screwdriver, Mary is clanking, hammering and spinning fairly furiously. “They’re good girls,” James laughs. “They’ve done us proud.” In another section, final edges, labels, buttonholes and buttons are sewn by hand, while specialists armed with tape and tweezers remove stray fibres from finished garments. Everything is washed, dried, pressed and packed. One worker is banding up pairs of Brora socks in a jaunty shade known as rhubarb. From the warehouse their journey is nearly done; it’s a 350-mile drive down the M6 into London. And it’s a 10-minute walk to my nearest Brora shop. I say goodbye to the squishy, cosy things, with a promise that—if I’m lucky—we’ll meet again someday very soon.
08 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 8
14/09/2012 11:05
www.chanelatcoventgarden.com
Untitled-4 1
14/09/2012 16:06:46
LIFE
10 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 10
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
If you’re looking for a brand new bicycle, the Specialized Store is the place to go. But thanks to its unique custom bike fitting service, it is also the place to have your old bike customised into the perfect machine for any ride—including the 269.5 miles that Jonny Garrett is planning on cycling to raise money for Jamie Oliver’s Better Food Foundation
for a bike fitting at Specialized Concept Store in St Martin’s Courtyard, where they would be able to work out the cause of the knee trouble and set up my bike to minimalise discomfort. The concept is simple—everyone is different, so every bike needs to be different too. But preventing injury is only one aim of bike fitting. Technicians can also set up your bike to put the maximum amount of power from your body through the bike and onto the road, as even the tiniest tweak can have a huge effect over a long ride—something known in racing circles as “marginal gains”. In fact, these marginal gains are often quoted as the reason for Team GB’s success in the velodromes of the last two Olympics. It means taking every facet of a rider’s technique and bike set-up, and finding an extra one per cent performance. For commuters and occasional cyclists, this one per cent isn’t quite so important. The boss will never notice your one per cent improvement in punctuality. But the There are four flights of stairs in my house. improvements I have seen are much more Not large flights, but distance is relative profound, and would be for anyone cycling when your knees feel like they are on fire. more than 80 or so miles a week. That’s how mine felt after my first 150-mile Specialized’s Concept Store isn’t of cycle. Even getting into bed became a titanic Olympic standards, but it’s impressive struggle between gravity, patience and the nonetheless. Within two minutes of being will to sleep. sat opposite my technician for the day, Aside from sleep deprivation, what really got to me was the fact that I was going Elliott Pearce, I become very nervous indeed. He kept talking about poking, pulling to have to cycle double that distance in a and prodding me, and surrounded by endless month’s time. In a moment of madness I tools, levers and screwdrivers that had had told my friends I could cycle from Jamie echoes of a dentist’s surgery I couldn’t see Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant in Cornwall to how this was a good thing. Or how pulling me Fifteen London in Islington in one day. limb from limb could help my knee troubles. A drunken boast turned into a half-baked Elliott himself confessed that he too was idea, which developed into an idiotic plan sceptical before his first bike fitting. Back and, by the time this article is published, then he was in the construction industry, it will hopefully be a reality. cycling for fun. But had been so amazed But first I had a lot of training to do. by the fitting process and the difference it While running a torturous Brighton had made to his cycling that he ended up Marathon I had learnt the cost of poor quitting his job in construction and trained preparation—in the 17th mile my IT band to become a technician himself. “All those twanged, meaning a knee muscle snagged on some cartilage sending me into spasms aches and pains I put down to long rides and wear and tear just disappeared,” he enthused. of agony—thankfully next to a paramedic. An hour later, in the same way that I hadn’t done enough stretching in my unsatisfied wives lie back and think of training, and I limped over the line in five hours. I told myself this cycle ride was going England, this thought distracted me as I lay dully on a massage bed, having my ankles to be different. But I only had three months pulled, my knees twisted and my quads to prepare, and a twanging IT band. stretched. He was testing the flexibility of Cardiovascular fitness is only half the my joints and muscles to see how close battle in endurance cycling events. It’s the he could get to the perfect riding position sheer repetitive nature, the toll it takes on your joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles for my height. Most people’s idea of a bike fitting would that will tell over 269.5 miles. As the training probably involve no more than moving the heated up, so did the pain in my knees. saddle up and down. BG Fit, as the system With every 100 miles I rode, the burning used by Specialized is known, is a world sensation got worse, until just a staircase felt like Everest—so it was suggested I went away from this. Almost every part of a good
road or mountain bike is adaptable— saddles can go up and down, back and forth, and even tilt forwards or back. Handlebars can be twisted and tilted, moved back and forth and up and down. And it doesn’t end— or even start—there. We actually started with my feet. Once my bike had been installed with the back wheel in the air, I showed Elliott my best cycling moves, pedalling like a madman and going nowhere. With a resigned grin he told me to stop and remove my shoes. Cycling seems to be the only sport in which being flat-footed is beneficial, and my “high arches” and pigeon-toed stance needed support. The solution was insoles, usually the preserve of the elderly, which can make a huge difference to the cycling action by stopping your knees collapsing inwards. Then there’s the SPDs, or clips to you and me, which attach you to the pedals. The benefits are clear—they allow you to pull with your hamstrings and glutes on the backswing of your pedal motion, as well as push down with your quads. But not everyone gets the hang of them— there’s nothing like watching cyclists wipe out at traffic lights as they fail to unclip— and they can really hurt the knees if they’re attached to the wrong place on your sole. Which it turns out mine were. The clips can be moved and attached at angles according to the natural twist in your feet and cycling action. It seems like a very exact science, and I had to do a lot of very sweaty cycling and get pulled in all sorts of directions before Elliott was happy with the set up. Using cameras trained on me while I cycled on my bike, he showed me how his handywork and the use of insoles had taken pressure off my IT band, which caused my right knee to collapse inwards as if magnetically attracted to the crossbar. The difference was startling. My lopsided, Quasimodo-like technique immediately felt and looked straighter. Next, attention turned to the saddle. I was made to sit, as if on a toilet, on a soft gel like substance. After some quick measuring, Elliott announced that the average saddle size was 130mm, but that I needed one around 154mm. My horror at being slapped with a big behind was alleviated by his (very quick) admission that most saddles are sold too small, and this is the cause of most saddle discomfort. My saddle, it seemed, was the right size, so we moved on to its height, one of the most fundamental measurements. Too low and your motion becomes inefficient, too high and you can cause yourself all kinds of nasty injuries. There are many ways to get
11 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 11
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
RE CYCLE
I’m cycling 269.5 miles, between Fifteen London and Fifteen Cornwall, in 24 hours, hoping to raise £1,500 (!) for the Better Food Foundation, Jamie Oliver’s charity. Diet-related diseases kill more people every year than cigarettes, drugs and alcohol combined. It costs governments billions every year.
Specialized 11 Mercer Street, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7438 9450 specializedconceptstore.co.uk
And it’s entirely preventable. The Better Food Foundation educates people about food, teaches them to cook, campaigns for food education in schools, takes unemployed young people and gives them a new start in catering, and inspires people to live better, healthier lives.
This event is not going to be easy. I will have to lube my intimate areas. I will crash. I will cry. I will get cramp. I will have to cycle through Swindon. Please, please show your support and help new generations have a better life, all around the world. uk.virginmoneygiving.com/jonnygarrett
W
s
F
3
it right, but experts agree that the timehonoured tradition of sitting on the saddle and setting it so your leg is almost straight on the down stroke is not one of them. Elliott used the Holmes method, measuring my flexibility angles at the knee and hip joints. Once he had established that there are oak trees more flexible than me, he set the saddle to make sure I never over-extended my legs and recommended stretches so that, over time, I could reduce the risk of injury and also raise the saddle to a more efficient position. He also noted that my trunk-like flexibility meant I leant too much on my arms.
After two hours of cycling in a sweaty glass box I was clinging to anything for support and thought this was an unfair criticism, but I dismounted so he could make the suitable adjustments. Apparently it’s a common issue among cyclists, and one that can leave people with very sore upper backs. The easy fix would have been to bring the saddle forward so I didn’t have to reach so far and could sit more upright. Unfortunately, my saddle was now in the optimum position for pedalling, so the solution was more costly. I needed a new stem—the horizontal piece that goes between the top of the fork and the
handlebars. It can cost up to £60 for a sturdy but light one, but that’s a small price to pay to avoid cycling like you’re avoiding low ceilings. And with that sales pitch barely out of Elliott’s mouth, the fitting was over. The bike was finely turned to my every idiosyncrasy and eccentricity. The knees recovered, my speed improved, and I finally managed to get into bed without a stepladder. My bike was balanced to accommodate a large rear end, tight hamstrings and quads, a slight stoop, a pigeon-footed stance, high arches and a twanging IT muscle. My bike had come to terms with it all. Now I have to.
12 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 12
14/09/2012 11:05
D
N
F
S D D C
Covent Garden’s Newest Shopping and Dining Destination
WIN a new season capsule wardrobe with £250 to spend, a personal shopping and styling session with ST MARTIN’S COURTYARD’S THE WARDROBE CONSULTANT, and lunch for two. For a chance to win this fabulous fashion prize visit stmartinscourtyard.co.uk/prizedraw before 30th November 2012. Date for your diary – Don’t miss the St Martin’s Courtyard and Seven Dials Christmas Shopping Night, Thursday 29th November 5-9pm. 20% discount at over 100 shops, bars and restaurants. Follow us on twitter @smccoventgarden for live updates.
SHOPS - Banana Republic, Barbour, COS, The Covent Garden Academy of Flowers, DESA, DUO, Eileen Fisher, Hoss Intropia, Jack Wills, Jaeger London, Joules, L.K.Bennett, Massimo Dutti, Melvita, Pretty Ballerinas, relax, Specialized, Twenty8Twelve, The Watch Hut, The White Company, Yotopia
STMARTINSCOURTYARD
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 13
SMCCOVENTGARDEN
RESTAURANTS - Bill’s, Cantina Laredo, Crazy Bear Members’ Club, Dalla Terra, Dishoom, Jamie’s Italian, Suda.
STMARTINSCOURTYARD.CO.UK
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
HIDDEN GEMS tbc
14 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 14
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
N2 (left) N2 is the destination of choice for anyone who loves fairytales as much as jewellery. With pieces inspired by moules and frites, burlesque, cats and even gardening, this is not a place for simple lockets and signet rings. As these Hansel and Gretel necklaces and earrings clearly demonstrate, N2 is about finding that inner child rather than dazzling with ostentatious sparkle. Hansel and Gretel earrings, £42 Hansel and Gretel necklace, £63 Tatty Devine Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine of Tatty Devine made their name by using a bag of leather samples salvaged from a street corner to create wrist cuffs to sell at Spitalfields market. Today, for all their fame in the fashion world, their jewellery has not lost sight of the principles on which it was founded: innovation, initiative and bags of creative quirk. Grapes Ultra Bunch necklace, £480 Grapes brooch, £42 Grape Vine bracelet, £99 Grape Vine large necklace, £240 Grapes earrings, £48
15 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 15
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
HIDDEN GEMS
Carat Carat’s jewels, while they look like bona fide gemstones, are in reality manufactured from scratch—sawn, pre-formed, faceted and polished by hand by a single highly skilled technician. The result is necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and bangles which look a million pounds but cost nothing like it. Green Rocktail earrings, £312 Green & Yellow Rocktail ring, £140 Yellow Rocktail ring, £158 Aquamarine Rocktail ring, £338 Aquamarine & Amethyst Rocktail earrings, £194 Laura Lee (right) Laura often cites her nomadic heritage and her love of nature as her primary inspirations for her endearing charms. It’s a Wonderful World, claims the title of her new range of animal and tree pendants, silver coin bracelets and engraved gold rings. It seemed only natural to hang them from the trees. Large antiqued silver owl on 9ct gold chain, £255 9ct rose gold rabbit with diamond eyes on 9ct yellow gold chain, £485 9ct rose gold otter with diamond eyes on 9ct yellow gold chain, £525
16 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 16
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
17 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 17
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
HIDDEN GEMS
Les Néréides The romantic story behind Les Néréides is as French as its founders: Pascale and Enzo met at the Academy of Beaux Arts in the 1980s and “fell in love at first sight”. They travelled the world then founded a costume jewellery store inspired by the knick-knacks they found in it. They call this collection Sous le Châtaignier, which translates as Under the Chestnut Tree —though for simplicity’s sake we prefer “flowery jewellery”. Sous le Châtaignie earrings (blue and pink), £85 Sous le Châtaignie earrings (red and pink), £85 Sous le Châtaignie bracelet, £125 Sous le Châtaignie necklace, £230
Styling and Photography Holly Cox hollycox.co.uk Locations Hope and Greenwood 1 Russell Street 020 7240 3314 hopeandgreenwood.co.uk Dial Bar and Restaurant Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street Hotel 20 Mercer Street 020 7845 8607 radissonblu-edwardian.com/dial
18 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 18
14/09/2012 11:05
What’s On
September
October
November
7 Designers
London Cocktail Week
20% Off Shopping Night
Enjoy a visual feast as seven of London’ brightest design artists create unique artwork to be showcased in Seven Dials for London Design Festival. A collaborative project between Seven Dials and online design magazine, Dezeen.
Shake, sip and party your way through a fantastic celebration of our capital’s unrivalled cocktail culture in the UK’s biggest drinks festival, which will this year see its hub being located in Seven Dials.
Shop and be merry for less at the annual festive shopping night, which sees over 120 stores across Seven Dials & St Martin’s Courtyard offer 20% off between 5 and 9pm.
Throughout September
8th - 14th October
29th November, 5 - 9pm
MasterCard Priceless London has partnered with Seven Dials to offer MasterCard cardholders exclusive offers and discounts all year round. To get the most out of your next trip to Seven Dials and for other Priceless offers and experiences in London register at: pricelesslondon.co.uk
@7dialsWC2 Seven Dials WC2 cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 19
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
CHANEL ISLAND
20 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 20
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE Chanel Pop-Up Beauty Store 3 The Market Building chanel.com
Clare Finney pays a visit to the Chanel Pop-Up Beauty Boutique—a place that turns the choosing of cosmetics into an eye-opening experience
Chanel. For centuries this simple, disyllabic word has been a synonym for all things elegant. Its stamp—two black interlocking Cs—is, like the bitten apple of Apple, a badge that instantly communicates its class. And like Apple, Chanel’s secret is simplicity. Founded in 1909, it has been at the forefront of every trend that has come to pass since founder Coco rejected the corset (and the flouncy, structuredsilhouetted clothes that came with it) and offered instead suits, trousers and dresses. No doubt its initial success stemmed from its ability to cater for a girl’s need for elegance without comprising the flow of blood. Yet while its contributions to the world of couture are still vital, it is on the brand’s quietly blossoming range of luxury cosmetics that the more canny fashionistas have been training their keen eyes—and it is this that, in a small subterranean room in Covent Garden’s Market Building, I’m about to experience for myself. The place is the Chanel Pop-Up Beauty Boutique—one of the very few Chanel stores in the world to offer manicures on site, and the only one to do so in the UK. Upstairs on the ground floor, the nail polish and make-up counters sparkle as the white-washed walls of the building offset their classic Chanel black. The choice of nail polish is overwhelming. Ever since 2008 saw the arrival of Peter Phillips as global creative director, the range of colours available has exploded in a way it was hard to imagine when the choices basically boiled down to either red or a slightly darker red. “Nail polish was really his thing,” explains Chanel representative Amy Berkery. “He did the sort of colours that people wouldn’t necessarily have picked but which they loved once they used them, and every collection has been run down to the last few bottles ever since.” First there was Jade—a revolutionary offering that changed forever the assumption that green nails were for Halloween only—then a blue of almost heretical brightness known as Blue Rebel. Then there was a bright orange (officially called Holiday but dubbed ‘traffic cone’ by me and my friends) and suddenly the
impossible had happened—what was once the preserve of very young teenagers had become cool. At least that’s what I tell myself as, entering the beautiful airy cellar, I decide to eschew my pale pink comfort zone and follow my leader. “Orange Fizz?” I exclaim dubiously, as my manicurist presents it. “Just try it on one nail,” she insists. “You’ll see what I mean.” I do see, as with infectious enthusiasm Maria takes me through the stranger shades. Particuliere comes first: “It’s grey,” I grimace. “It goes with everything,” she enthuses. “It’s my favourite at the moment—well, next to Orange Fizz.” Maria seizes my finger and, to my unexpected delight, five seconds later I’m thrilled. Though admittedly and indisputably orange, the nuances of pink within Orange Fizz match my skin tone perfectly. Yes, you can get varnish for a fiver in Superdrug, but I defy you to find anything like this in there. We get going—Maria chatting happily about how she managed to land a job here after arriving from rural Austria with a 100 CVs—“I ended up having to work part time at Peter Jones, then I got a phone call from Chanel saying they’d like to call me for an interview, which I still can’t believe”)—while I just enjoy the privilege of having my hands massaged while ostensibly being at work. Maria is indulgent, as her willingness to run through colours for me demonstrates—but she is also efficient and effective, a sign that this is a service as much for ladies of business as those of leisure and lunch. Nor is this all Chanel’s pop-up does. Though the dimensions of the former fruit cellar necessarily mean you have to book ahead if you want a manicure, the spacious first floor is more than capable of offering make-up consultations to several people at once. They can show you classic styles, or ways to refine your own look—in my case, smudge-limitation techniques—yet by far and away the most exciting part of all this is the programme of educational workshops with which the brand has promised to keep you ahead of breaking trends. I look a few up before I arrive. Red Lips, Pink Cheeks and even Morning-After Eyes (no, me neither) are among the most sought
after ‘looks’ this season, although the latter is not often requested at Chanel. Sadly I’m a tad too early for the make-up counters to be properly open—yet come midday they’ll welcome you with open compact cases and a level of service you’d struggle to find in a salon, let alone at our mobbed department stores . “Chanel is just so much more professional, more qualified—and friendly” Maria enthuses—a remarkable turnaround given that her first thought upon entering the head office for her interview was of The Devil Wears Prada. “I was really scared. I’d never been in an office like that before. But everyone was just so sweet that I felt really at home.” My nails are almost complete. One gleaming lick of topcoat, and I’ll be ready to flaunt my fingers to the outside world. Attentive to the last, Maria picks up my bag and coat, adamant that for the next five minutes I shall do nothing to invite a scratch. Following her reluctantly upstairs, I catch a whiff of the fragrance room—“we do consultations there. We have a large number of perfumes at Chanel now, but we always manage to narrow it down to one or two by the end”—before facing the least appealing part of any manicure: payment. Here again, though, I am in for a surprise. Like almost every woman who has come here, I’m tempted into buying the polish Maria used in the manicure for £18, but instead of charging full whack for both nails and nail polish, Chanel deducts the price of the pot from the deposit you place when booking. “It means you can easily touch it up, and do your toenails too”, Maria explains warmly. Indeed it does—yet as I leave, Orange Fizz in hand and on fingers, I can’t help but wish I could bottle the store. There’s still plenty in the pipeline to look forward to—classes, talks, even a mysterious Christmas event— but come the end of the year the entire Chanel pop up store is—fittingly for a nail polish specialist—set to be removed. The only option is to get there while you can.
21 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 21
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
MY FASHION LIFE /Martin Franklin, owner of Foxhall London
CGJ: What’s the story behind the name? MF: Over 800 years ago the area of London which was known as Faulke’s Hall, became, through mispronunciation Fawke’s Hall, Fox Hall and finally Vauxhall, as we know it. I lived there for seven years, so that’s where the inspiration for the brand came from. The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which reflected the pleasures of urban London for three centuries, is this little bit of the capital’s hidden history. The reasons London was loved back then were the same as today, and our brand reflects that. There is a dirtiness and sexiness to the capital, as well as a sleekness and luxiness.
How did it all begin? I began seeing a gap in the market in menswear, in terms of really high quality basic wardrobe staples. You could find them in high-end luxury brands or in the faster fashion high-street brands, but nowhere in the middle or upper-middle market. I asked my friends, “Where would you go to find a really great quality navy blue t-shirt?” That question became the impetus, the beginning. Do you have a background in fashion? I come from a big corporate background. I worked for Procter & Gamble for 13 years
22 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 22
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE Foxhall London 20 Earlham Street 020 3142 6248 foxhalllondon.com
and for about 10 of those I worked with the Sassoon team. That was a brilliant experience and what I realised was that I loved being on the business side of a creative process. At the beginning, I did a lot of research and I spoke to a lot of people. I have no pretentions as a designer and our design team have been crucial in realising the vision. We’ve worked with some really outstanding people to bring Foxhall to life. Tell me about the range. It’s really conceived as a wardrobe for modern London. There are items and styles for a guy’s daily pursuits around town, as well
You learn so much as you go along. With every item in the collection it’s almost like a pregnancy. As it develops and evolves you hope it’s going to come out exactly how you want
as his night time pleasures. We have tried to provide a wardrobe for everyone—clothes that guys can come back to season after season. We have some really great pieces— and, of course, the perfect navy blue t-shirt, which is made out of a fantastic jersey cotton. One of the big features of our clothing is that we have got a tailored fit but without being too overt or obvious. What staples should the urban London gent have in his wardrobe? A white shirt is absolutely crucial. For me, classic salvage denim jeans, an outstanding leather jacket, a beautifully tailored, wellfitting blazer and a great belt. I think guys often underinvest in belts but accessories for men are limited so they are an important piece. And your favourite piece from this season’s collection? The piece I’m probably most excited about is our Anvil winter coat. If there was one piece that could define Foxhall, that would be it. Outdoors and sportswear brands think a lot about the functionality of their clothing, so why hasn’t that thinking gone into an urban menswear brand? We have really considered practicality. The Anvil coat, for instance, has a little pocket on the right hand sleeve for your oyster card. That way you don’t need to pull your wallet out, just swipe your sleeve, which feels a little James Bond. The top inside pocket fits a smart phone, Blackberry or iPhone and the bottom pocket, a Kindle. The opposite inside pocket fits a small umbrella. It’s a coat you look really sharp in.
something slightly rougher and urban in this area. I love that, it produces something really quite interesting. Who’s your client then? The 30 to 45-year-old guy. Something like that. Some products will definitely appeal to guys in their twenties but that market is much better served than the 30-plus. With Foxhall we want to acknowledge the guy that’s a little bit older and perhaps looking to graduate out of those youth orientated brands. It’s a little bit more sophisticated, whilst keeping that urban edge. What other brands might the Foxhall client wear, with that staple navy-blue t-shirt? I think our client will shop above as well as below us. Brands like Acne and APC have a great aesthetic and they are beautifully well judged. Uniqlo also does a fantastic job of providing that clean, basic, wardrobe staple although at a different level of the market. I think we see ourselves a little bit in between those two. The entry point to high end menswear, where luxury starts. The great thing about the way guys dress today, especially in London, is that they love to mix things up. They may be wearing a very distinctive high-end jacket and mix it with a plain white t-shirt and a pair of indigo denim jeans. We want to provide both those staple and statement pieces.
Were there any dramas? You learn so much as you go along. With every item in the collection it’s almost like a pregnancy. As it develops and evolves you How else does Foxhall make itself distinctly hope it’s going to come out exactly how you want. With some products the first samples about London? look great and the final product looks Well, we have got our fantastic unicorn monogram. We obviously wanted to have an great and you think, wow, this product just happened. Then there are some which we icon which symbolised some of the energy of urban London and on a lot of buildings you sample again and again. With these we really feel a sense of accomplishment because we see the royal coat of arms—the lion on one side and the unicorn on the other. Mythically have got there in the end. the unicorn was a wild, untameable creature Where do you see the company going? which is why you always see it chained up. Our intention is to make the store as much Our unicorn has a broken chain around its neck because we have essentially set it free. of a destination as we can and bring people in. The online launch will happen in the next couple of weeks, so we are just putting the Why Covent Garden? Why Seven Dials? finishing touches to that. Then as far as the Seven Dials is this great little urban immediate future is concerned, we plan epicentre of London. From a business to open a second London store in the next point of view you get lots of tourists 18 months. We are interested in creating a and lots of locals. Earlham Street was dialogue with our clients and learning what particularly exciting for us because it’s such they want, what their wardrobe needs are. a thoroughfare between Soho and Covent I mean, we have done a fair bit of research Garden. In the very early days I bumped but we are very open to learning. We are also into a lot of people I knew here—effectively interested in doing more accessories and the brand’s target group—and saw a lot of footwear, so building the collection up to be people I thought would be our kind of client. The chic, sophisticated and gentrified meets a total capsule wardrobe.
23 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 23
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
LIFE IN BRIEF
Tea & Tying Afternoons Tuesdays, from 4pm Eileen Fisher 4 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard eileenfisher.co.uk
Tatty Devine 44 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 2685 tattydevine.com
EXPERT EYE
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Barbara Power, store manager at Eileen Fisher, outlines the many and various ways you can tie one of the designer’s sumptuous scarves.
Having watched their Name Necklaces soar in popularity (even Cheryl Cole has got one, and she of all people needn’t worry if people know who she is), the endlessly inventive designers at Tatty Devine have brought the machine that makes them to their Covent Garden store. Customers can now make their own necklaces, allowing them to choose the colour, lettering, style and charm on the spot. According to managing director Rosie Wolfenden, “being able to show the customer how their necklace is made is a fantastic way of being very honest about how we make jewellery, how skilled the work is, but also shows how much love goes into every piece”. Conscious that internet shopping is increasingly making store visits unnecessary, she and co-founder Harriet Vine felt the necklace machine would be just the ticket to those looking for something slightly more distinctive. With its abundance of colour and quirkiness, Tatty Devine aims to blur the boundaries between art, fashion and culture. So far, it seems, they’re succeeding—and a named necklace making machine can only further that ambition.
/How to tie a silk scarf
Scarves are the new jewellery. Why wear a necklace when you can get so many more looks from the type of scarf you buy, and the way you choose to wear it? Just one scarf can complete an outfit or change an existing one according to the type of fabric, knot or style. It offers so much more in the way of styling. In Eileen Fisher you can choose from wool , silk or linen—whatever is your favourite— and each one can come into its own depending on the way it is worn. Of course, certain styles work better than others, but that is where the fun begins as your scarf allows your creativity to come into play. Your scarf is not just an accessory, but a piece to fall in love with: how you tie it, be it the Pretzel, the Magic Loop or the Necklace, can give your outfit that unique finish. Follow the step by step guide here, and if you want more options (and fancy a cuppa) join us for our Tea & Tying afternoons on Tuesdays. Magic Loop 1—Take your scarf of choice, think about your outfit/occasion, what statement do you want to make, how much time do you have? All of these are important questions to think about before you decide what way you will tie your scarf. 2—Fold your scarf in half and loop around your neck. Make sure the scarf you have chosen is long enough for this particular style. 3—Create a shorter open loop on one side.
/Tatty Devine
If you need to position yourself in front of a mirror so that you can get a full view of what you are creating do so. 4—Take the loop and ends and tie around the neck. Take your time, practice makes perfect. 5—Pull the loop through with hand and open. Keep your hands free—sometimes this bit can be a bit fiddly. 6—Grab loose ends and pull through the loop. 7—You can always get a friend to help and help each other to get that end result. 8—Fluff and adjust at the shoulder. It’s all about the finishing touches now, you are nearly there. 9—It’s the Magic Loop. Take a look at your handy work and see how amazing that scarf now looks and how different your outfit is!! 10—Well Done, now take another scarf and practice a new technique.
24 Covent Garden Journal Issue 16 Summer 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 24
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE Dial S for Shopping From 5-9pm on Thursday 29th November, Seven Dials and St Martin’s Courtyard will be holding an exclusive one night shopping event. Over 120 stores and venues will open their doors to late night shoppers, who will receive 20 per cent off purchases.
Karine Jackson 24 Litchfield Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 0300 karinejackson.co.uk
Many venues will be giving away gifts, makeovers, food and drink as well as hosting DJs and bands. As part of Seven Dials’s partnership with MasterCard’s Priceless London, the first 200 shoppers who spend over £100 on their MasterCard will receive a luxury goodie
bag worth £50. A pop-up bar in St Martin’s Courtyard will also be serving ticket holders complementary drinks. Shoppers should download a free Seven Dials and St Martin’s Courtyard Shopping Voucher, available one month before the event at: sevendials.co.uk
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER /Karine Jackson
For Olympians, gold represents the perfect colour—the tone for which they live, breathe and sweat. But for Karine Jackson— celebrity hairdresser, organic colour specialist and hairstylist for the Covent Garden Journal—gold alone is not enough. No longer content with the way traditional highlighting colours the hair but leaves little room for the more complex subtleties of lights and colour required by certain styles and particular skin tones, Karine and her team at the Litchfield Street salon have come up with a product known as Gold Diamonds. And it’s hard to think of anything more precious than that. Gold Diamonds is a new colouring technique which involves the application of a subtle blend of shades, created by repeating the same diamond-shaped section pattern but gradually switching the colours across either six, nine or 12 sections. “The more sections you have the softer the finish,” says Karine. “The sections are always the same but it’s the tone we use that changes, making this a couture colour that can be tailored to suit everyone. As well as gold, it also works with coppers, reds, and browns.” Exactly how this creates the difference between the bog-standard blonde highlights which carpet Sloane Square these days and the soft shimmering looks you see pictured here is beyond us—probably because Karine’s a hairstylist and we are not. Proof that it does, though, lies in the calibre and class of Karine’s loyal clientele. And while many stylists use ammonia-based dyes, her salon’s Organic Colour Systems steer well clear of this infamous irritant, leaving the hair shiny, soft and free from the itch and smell of a chemical best kept for fertilisers and cleaning products. Now, if only hair colouring were an Olympic sport, Covent Garden might have a gold diamond medal to its name. Just imagine how good that would look. 25 Covent Garden Journal Issue 16 17 Summer Autumn 2012 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 25
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
LIFE IN BRIEF
Give us some credit Free gift with purchase, up to 25% off, free treatments and services from your favourite Seven Dials retailers? What are you waiting for? Well, in our case, it’s a newly ordered MasterCard. With six stores and venues in Seven Dials offering special
deals for MasterCard card holders, Seven Dials’s partnership with MasterCard’s Priceless London is a chance too golden to be missed for the sake of filling out a form—not least because this is only running until the end of December. mastercard.co.uk/priceless-cities/london
Lingerie Française London Film Museum 2nd–8th October 2012
IN BRIEFS
/Lingerie Française
RINGING THE CHANGES
/St Martin’s Courtyard
To describe an exhibition as a complete load of pants would usually be derogatory, but in this instance it is just a statement of fact. And the exhibition happens to be amazing. Showing at the London Film Museum, Lingerie Française looks back at over a century of French lingerie, including collections from some of the giants of stylish Gallic undercrackers—Aubade, Barbara, Chantelle, Empreinte, Implicite, Lejaby, Lou, Lise Charmel, Passionata, Princesse Tam Tam and Simone Pérèle. The exhibition includes 260 pieces of lingerie—corsets, girdles, bras, bustiers, slips, panties, thongs—dating as far back as 1880 and finishing with a look at the shapes and fabrics of the future. As well as the underwear itself, visitors will be able to peruse video installations, photography and advertising imagery, all of which will bring to life the inventiveness, craftsmanship and aesthetic power of the great French lingerie producers, and will explain the context of the social values which helped to shape them. Most exhibitions seek to offer visitors a glimpse beneath the surface of a subject—this one manages that in every sense.
Were it any other year, this would not be the season for large gold rings—it’s not any day of Christmas, and there’s not a partridge in sight. But this is 2012, the year of the Olympics, and as such rings of any kind are entirely appropriate, especially gold ones. Three cheers then for St Martin’s Courtyard’s decision to install just such rings throughout the cult shopping and dining destination. Fashioned by James Glancy Design, the rings hang proudly above Slingsby Place —a wide pedestrianised street lined with boutiques—and at the Upper St Martin’s Lane entrance between Jamie’s Italian and Cantina Laredo. At night, they are lit from within to create an even more entrancing effect. They were initially designed for the Olympics—yet with the games over and no plans to take them down as yet, they remain a perpetual reminder that even if the flame has left London, a little bit of a glow remains.
26 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 26
14/09/2012 11:05
ADVERTISING
Award winning, winning team and Award patient-centred dental care care patient-centred dental
McClintock is different to the average opticians, we source beautiful hand made eyewear. Our exclusive spectacles and sunglasses are from some of the greatest innovators of the glasses world.
Established since 1996
Summer promotion
cosmetic and orthodontic care •• general, Free Invisalign consultation and complementary whitening with • treatment of fine lines and wrinkles Invisalign treatment serene, friendlyon ambience •• 10% reduction most dental treatment friendly ambience with guaranteed guaranteed painless delivery •Serene,
61g Odhams Walk London WC2H 9SD t. 020 7836 9161 www.cgdp.com
painless delivery
29 FLORAL STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON WC2E 9DP
For first class dentistry and aesthetics why not give us a call: 020 7836 9161
T: +44 (0)207 240 5055 E: HELLO@MCCLINTOCK_EYEWEAR.CO.UK
www.mcclintock-eyewear.co.uk
Invisalign Treatment ®
CGDP Press Advert_CGJ May 09.ind1 1
from only
£
97 a month
t 020 7836 9107
dentalSpa
68a Neal Street, Covent Garden London, WC2H 9PA
www.coventgardendentalspa.co.uk
6/5/09 12:24:17
A PUBLIC MEMBERSHIP CLUB FOR A NATION COMPLETELY OBSESSED BY THE WEATHER TO RECEIVE theWeather MAGAZINE AND A HOST OF OTHER BENEFITS, JOIN TODAY AT
27 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 27
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE
NIGHT LIFE
OFFICIAL SECRET’S ACT
/Mark Rothman, founder of The Top Secret Comedy Club Working in an office is very stressful. It’s just all internal, which is the most horrible kind. But it’s great when you get stressed as a street performer, because you can rip your clothes off. You can’t do that in an office—you’d get sectioned
28 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 28
14/09/2012 11:05
LIFE The Top Secret Comedy Club The Africa Centre 38 King Street thetopsecretcomedyclub.co.uk
CGJ: What attracted you to stand up comedy? MR: I’ve been a street performer for many years and a few stand ups have come out of street performance—Eddie Izzard, of course, and some of my mates from Covent Garden, including Windsor, Paddy Bramwells, Sam Wills and Stuart Goldsmith. Eddie Izzard sometimes came down to the Covent Garden pitch and once invited a load of us to his gig at the O2. It was like: “Oh my God! Look at that.” It kind of inspired me. And then Pete Dobbing, who has a great street show, started doing stand up, and I thought: “Oh bloody hell! I’ve got to do some stand up now, because otherwise I’ll watch another person get famous and just feel bitter. So you decided to open a comedy club. I started doing open mics and was unbelievably bad, but tenacious, so I carried on. One of the nights was Five Minutes of Fame at The Queen’s Head on Denman Street, Piccadilly. You pay four quid to get in, put your name down and do five minutes. You get a few people who are really good, but most are awful—I was one of the awful ones. The guy running it asked me to take over. I offered to split the money, which was pennies, but then changed it a bit. Rather than us keeping the money, I simply used it to get a decent headliner, so at least there’d be something good at the end of the night to keep everyone hooked in. After a few months the guy who’d given me the gig got a bit fed up with not making any money and said maybe I should start thinking about finding somewhere else. And so I found The Africa Centre. When did The Top Secret Comedy Club open? We did our first Friday in July 2010. Loads of our mates came to support the first few nights and the comics were really good, but the set up was shambolic and very amateurish. There was a bar space, but we had nothing to sell. We bought some beer, cheap spirits and bottles of coke from Tesco. It was pathetic, but kind of funny—it had something about it. We’d sell everything at almost the same price as Tesco, so it was a cheap night.
What’s it like now? We’re doing seven nights a week. Monday is new material night, where some of the best acts in London come to do new material—it’s free. On Tuesday we have the improvisation group Shoot from the Hip, who are sometimes joined by Jigsaw, a sketch group from the BBC. We’ve got straight stand up from Wednesday through to Saturday, and Sunday is urban comedy, so mostly black British acts. What’s your role in all this? I compere pretty much every night except Sunday and Tuesday. I really only opened a club to get stage time, and being a street performer I’m good at hyping up the crowd, though I’m not very good at doing jokes. But I’m learning some jokes and trying new bits and bobs, which sometimes die on their arse. But it’s kind of funny watching someone die horribly—well I think so anyway. Describe the atmosphere. I don’t know why, what, or how, but we’ve got a really culty thing happening here. Many of the comics say this is the best club to work in the whole country. It’s very intimate. Nobody ever wants to sit at the front, so I’ll get up and pull everyone forward, which I’m good at, because I’ve been doing that for 20 years as a street performer. Do you get heckled? God yeah, heckled all the time, especially when I’m shit. It’s pretty upsetting when you get booed off, but, you know, that’s okay.
Some of the bigger clubs have a reputation for being just horrendous. The comics always complain about working them, because they can’t get any focus. They get a decent fee, but really it’s not a comedy club in the theatrical sense—it’s more like a mosh pit. Tell me a little about your street performance act in Covent Garden. I do a chainsaw finale with no clothes on. I strip down to these little pink hotpants and then mount a guy. I beg your pardon. I mount him. I mount a volunteer and sort of press my front parts into his face and do, you know, that kind of stuff, get him to push me up by my bottom onto a unicycle. It’s all very Carry On, the traditional English sort of comedy. And then I finish off with a chainsaw juggle. Have you ever worked in an office? Yes, I worked for Greenpeace and found it so stressful. I’d get to about five o’clock and would still have stuff to finish. My brain started going mental. Working in an office is very stressful, and stress you can’t put out into the world. It’s just all internal, which is the most horrible kind. But it’s great when you get stressed as a street performer, because you can rip your clothes off, for example, and put that stress into physicality. You can’t do that in an office—you’d get sectioned.
How do you deal with heckles? Just go with it. I mean it depends on the situation. Heckling can be really intelligent, cool and funny—absolutely brilliant—and that’s to be celebrated. But sometimes it’s just somebody being really stupid and really pissed, shouting something that has nothing to do with anything, just because they want to impose their worldview on everyone. That’s just annoying and has to be stomped on. And is it? We don’t get much of that at all, and because we’ve got such a lovely audience, generally the crowd will turn on somebody doing that.
29 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp04_29_life.indd 29
14/09/2012 11:05
TASTE
TASTE
/17
C N A L B CE SPA
t restauran ip h s g a fl s c opens itnd culinary legendut n la B ie r e As Brasst Garden, owner a l Richardson abo es in Covend Blanc talks to Vied sustainable valu Raymon d, local culture an good foo
30 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 30
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE
31 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 31
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE
BLANC SPACE
“My affection for Covent Garden goes back many years,” Raymond Blanc tells me. “I had a very cheap old Renault when I first came to England. It kept losing water and breaking down. It took me three days to find Oxford because nobody could understand a word I said—I was lost all the time. One of the places I parked one of those times was in Covent Garden. It was the days of the fruit and veg market. As I entered the Piazza I saw a restaurant with people dining on top of this giant illuminated terrace. I thought, Ah! This is the most charming spectacle I have seen in London. One day I’ll be a waiter here.” Waiting in a fine dining restaurant is considered a secure and respected career in France, so the young Raymond was showing no lack of ambition. But never in his wildest dreams could he have foreseen the glistening future that lay ahead, one that has indeed allowed him to go to work on that giant illuminated terrace—the main difference being that as he looks across towards the Royal Opera House from the elegantly redesigned terrace, he is not just part of the service team but the man with his name above the door—Brasserie Blanc. Having eventually found his way to Oxfordshire, Raymond started as a waiter at The Rose Revived restaurant. Then one day the chef was taken ill and the selftaught young Frenchman took over. He has been in the kitchen ever since. In 1977 he and his wife Jenny gathered their savings, mortgaged their house and opened Les Quat’ Saisons in Oxford. It was an overnight success, winning him the first of his Michelin stars. Then in 1984 Raymond fulfilled a personal vision of creating a hotel and restaurant in genuine harmony when he opened Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Bray, which has maintained two Michelin stars for almost two decades. In 2006 Raymond began to spread his wings with the launch of the Brasserie Blanc chain, with the flagship branch now open in the Piazza. “Originally in France the brasserie was somewhere you could drink beer and get restored on very cheap but good food,” explains Raymond. “Their purpose is to provide food which is affordable, beautifully cooked and served quickly in a friendly and welcoming environment. The brasserie is very much based on my mother’s approach of simple food, beautifully cooked.” That means a warm smile and a welcoming atmosphere as you enter the restaurant. It is really important to Raymond that everyone from the chefs to the front of house staff understands the meaning of brasserie culture. “It is about being welcoming and caring and providing really superb food,” says Raymond. “The waiting
staff are as important to this as the chef. We were the first to actively encourage children—it is about making people welcome.” This warmth will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Monsieur Blanc from his many television appearances. His charming, if slightly eccentric, persona has led many people to try cooking the kind of dishes that would seem hugely intimidating in the hands of another chef. Over the last couple of years, in The Hungry Frenchman, he has been travelling his native land showing regional French recipes to the British while cooking them with a slightly contemporary twist for the locals. It is a tricky line to tread in both instances, and the fact that he has managed it so successfully does him much credit. Raymond recalls his father telling him that you had to earn the right to carve the meat at the family table, and talks about the love he saw Maman Blanc pour into every family meal. For Raymond, sitting down to eat goes far beyond the satisfying of a rumbling stomach. It is about building and maintaining bonds of family and culture. Spend any time watching Raymond and it becomes obvious that it is not just the food itself that he wants us to experience, but the emotional and cultural joys that come with it. Good food should help you to connect with your family, friends and locality, without destroying the environment that has produced it. A glance at the menu reveals such temptations as steak tartare, beef stroganoff, Toulouse sausages, king scallops, lamb’s liver and dressed crab. But you may need to be quick if you see a well-loved favourite here—things are about to change. “Seasonality is paramount,” says Raymond. “We change our menu every season, and no other large group does that. This requires a tremendous amount of work—training and re-training people. Our menu changes four times a year. Why? When something is in season it has better taste, better texture, better colour, there is a glut of it, so it is less expensive. A strawberry imported from New Zealand in January costs three times more than an English strawberry bought in June and has a third of the taste.” It becomes clear during our talk that the world beyond the table is never far from Raymond’s thoughts. For him, any restaurant involves a contract between the chef and the consumer on one side and the environment on the other, with each being equally important. When it comes to sustainability, there are signs of progress in the food industry— “At last some consumers and chefs are no longer behaving like scavengers devouring the whole world without asking a single
sserie e of a bra d s o p r u p foo The ide good d is to provaffordable, serve s i h c i a wh nd well in quickly aand welcoming lanc friendly ent. Brasserie B environmuch based on myple is very m approach of sim mother’s utifully cooked food, bea
question,” he says—but it is still an uphill battle, and Monsieur Blanc is fighting hard to change the situation. “The problem, as with so many things, comes down to money. Many places see the only way to attract customers is the ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ principle of large portions and low prices. This places enormous pressure on the costs paid for ingredients, pushing them ever lower with inevitable results. Take farmed salmon, for example. Many farms produce Frankenstein monsters full of antibiotics, packed in cages, which are cheap but taste of nothing. They are hugely polluting to the environment. Also there are many escapes, letting fish get into the wild population, creating fish that are new genetic monsters.” Raymond’s answer is to focus on small local producers. “We are connecting with local values, connecting with the real values of gastronomy. What is in the food? How is it being grown? How far has it come? Is it in season?” he asks, with a real sense
32 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 32
14/09/2012 13:27
TASTE Brasserie Blanc 35 The Market Building 020 7379 0666 brasserieblanc.com
of purpose in his voice. “The impact of the restaurant on the wider environment has to be considered. So 90 per cent of our food comes from free range produce, it is mostly organic, and we make sure that any fish we get comes from sustainable sources.” Raymond sees his brasseries as part of a fully integrated social and economic system. By buying your produce locally you are helping your local producer, which helps keep his or her craft alive. You are also promoting freshness, supporting local values, helping to sustain those local communities that depend on these crafts remaining viable. When it comes to the nature of the menu itself, the fact that the dishes are not as complex as some fully fledged fine-dining masterpieces does not, insists Raymond, let the brasserie’s chefs off the hook—quite the opposite. Creating familiar, classic dishes has its own pressures—you can’t hide behind complex sauces and technical
flamboyance, so any flaws in ingredients or execution will be spotted at once. “This is why the skill level is so important, the knowledge of the crafts. We train and train our people. We take great pride in this. Twentyseven English Michelin star chefs have come out of our kitchens, and hundreds of craftsmen. While Brasserie Blanc is a chain, there are only a tiny percentage of things that are done outside of each restaurant.” An important aspect of the local ethos suffusing the menu is the level of freedom enjoyed by each of the brasseries. Under Raymond’s overall control, each restaurant can develop its own local specialities. It encourages the chefs to use their knowledge of the local produce and culture, and gives each location its own identity. Raymond believes that good food should not be reserved for the elite—it should be available to as many people as possible. “I wanted to make sure our prices matched this ideal. So we have two courses and a glass
of wine for under £16 and three courses for under £20. We don’t want it to be a place you come here once a year,” Raymond tells me. “We have some very special wines for around £90 for those who have a celebration and want to splash out on something special. But here is the important thing—all our wines are available by the glass and not many people do that. They only sell the less expensive wines by the glass. For us it is about making everyone feel welcome because the whole menu is available to them.” So with so much financial, managerial and philosophical energy expended on each brasserie, how would Raymond like a customer to feel as they are handed their coat at the end of their visit? “I would like them to feel warm and a sense that they had been made welcome. I would like it to be a place where you could take your mother, your wife or your child.” It is an aspiration of which Maman Blanc, whose food inspired Brasserie Blanc venture, would doubtless approve.
33 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 33
14/09/2012 10:36
TH EL
TASTE
Z I F Z-ICS F O S W A
34 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 34
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE French Bubbles 22 Wellington St reet frenchbubbles.co.uk
Clare Finney gorges on champagne and cheese at French Bubbles, while pretending it’s work
In 2008 Maud Firobe and her husband Stefano established French Bubbles, one of the only champagne businesses in the UK to stock limited-production champagnes. And just then, the economic bubble popped. It was “challenging”, she confesses mildly, in a fine French lilt. “2009 was the worst year for champagne in its whole history. It went down by price, by quantity, by everything—yet the people who did come loved it and, most surprisingly for us, really wanted to know more.” Three years later, this thirst for knowledge has culminated in Champagne & Fromage—a small shop on Wellington Street dedicated to the selling of French charcuterie, French cheese, but not, I should point out after being told firmly myself, French champagne. “Saying French champagne is like saying French Paris,” Maud explains. “Champagne is enough by definition.” Here, amid the seductive, musky smells of cheese and charcuterie, Maud and Stefano host a variety of tasting evenings: some with charcuterie, some with cheese and all fuelled by plenty of champagne. Tonight I’ll be trying four champagnes, paired with food, in the company of a dozen wide-eyed folk thirsty for enlightenment and bubbles. The setting seems appropriate— from the kitchen, the smell of toasting tartines trails tantalisingly past while a chandelier almost entirely made from champagne flutes hangs from the ceiling. Our flutes, which were full upon arrival, are already being topped up—and unlike every other tasting I’ve been to it’s a promising amount. Maud begins by telling
us how Great Britain, as a nation, drinks more champagne than any other country outside of France. “Here you are, celebrating all your Olympic golds, and you already have one as the biggest export market for champagne.” Before we’ve a chance to toast this victory, in comes a caveat of some significance—of this consumption 80 per cent is concentrated solely among the big champagne house of Bollinger, Laurent-Perrier, Moët & Chandon and so on, which together use only 50 of the 15,000 independent producers in the Champagne region. “We said to each other, ‘Wow. Something is really wrong here’,” Maud recalls. “Not that the French are complaining— we keep the small producers for ourselves.” Their concern was that while we guzzled the stuff, we didn’t appear to really know what we were drinking. Maud asks us which grapes are used in champagne and there’s a brief flurry of suggestions—“Chardonnay?” “Good one.” “Pinot noir?” “Good one.” There follows a protracted pause. “Pinot Meunier?” “Hands up those of you who like chardonnay,” instructs Maud. Two hands go up. “Well, that’s actually a chardonnay you are drinking now.” She grins. “I don’t blame you for saying so. Chardonnay has had a bad press in this country recently because we’ve been covered with bad Australian versions—but the reason why you like it in this Champagne Colin Blanche de Castille Premier Cru Brut is that it’s more like an Italian Chablis—dry, refreshing, with a touch of minerality, and you have a lovely green apple taste.”
The upshot? Each grape tastes differently according to how it’s treated, so while the grape type might be similar, the drink will vary enormously according to the grower, the house and how long it was kept for. Then there’s the colour—blanc de blanc (white champagne from white grapes), blanc de noir (white champagne from black grapes) and rosé (produced either by leaving the clear juice of black grapes to macerate for a brief time or by adding a small amount of still pinot noir red wine to the mix), not to mention the fact that every house has its own style. With the Champagne appellation comprising over 34,000 hectares, the scope for variation is limitless. In the course of our tasting, we travel over 100km from Epernay in the middle, northwards to Montagne de Reims, then back down south to the city of Troyes—and with each new bottle comes an entirely new experience. The Champagne Lacroix Cuvee Anthony Blanc de Noirs Brut replaces the green apple taste with white fruit. “The character is different, the soil is less choppy. Remember we tasted minerality in the last one? This won’t have it at all.” Sceptical as I have always been of the idea that wine can taste of something other than wine, as I swill it round my mouth (a technique Maud actively encourages: “I know it looks ridiculous, like you were washing your teeth, but it really does give you so much information”) I am forced to agree with her. It really is rounder, and it’s different on the nose. Next, I find myself tasting champagne with my eyes closed. “I always ask people
35 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 35
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE
THE LAWS OF FIZZ-ICS
Imagine arriving home ecstatic about your longed for promotion, only to find there’s no champagne chilling, nor any cheese. Your feelings of jubilation would deflate rapidly. What’s a celebration without champers? What’s a raise without Roquefort? But wait. What in Saint-Félicien’s name is this? Well, ladies
to taste blanc de noir with their eyes closed. Can we do that?” Maud chuckles. “I’m not going to steal anything. But when you taste it with your eyes open then your brain is telling you, ‘It’s white wine, this is what you should taste.’” Now they’re shut, the change is extraordinary. What sweetness there was evaporates instantly, leaving the distinctive tang of red wine to emerge. This is the second of the three grapes we will be sampling this evening. The first was the floral, almost mineral taste of chardonnay. “Chardonnay brings an elegant minerality to the drink because it grows on the chalk—chalk you can really taste in champagne—and Pinot Meunier is the more fruity of the three. Pinot noir, meanwhile, gives structure to the champagne. You can have strong things with it: it will bear it.” So saying, she beckons her assistant laden with trays of charcuterie that are swiftly followed by champagne of a radiant ruby hue. “Look at this amazing colour. This is Champagne Michel Furdyna Rosé Brut, a 100 per cent Pinot noir—and I want to warn everyone before tasting it you might not like it.” As a sales pitch, her comments are unusual, but it doesn’t take us long to see what she means by it. One sip, and the idea of rosé as a sweet, even sugary experience is washed clean away to be replaced by something so dry you wonder if someone’s swapped your glass over. More than with any other champagne so far, this demands you leave your expectations at the door. It’s complicated: three levels deep, with layers of earthiness and acidity as well as the raspberries you’d expect from rosé.
and gentleman, it is in fact Champagne & Fromage’s 30-minute take away service. Champagne is slow to chill, and quality champagne from small independent French producers hard to come by. The same is true for really sumptuous cheese. By having such things but a phone call away you can conjure a party
Reluctant as I am to condone high-flown descriptors, when Maud says this is “less easygoing” and “more passionate” than most rosés, I don’t even snigger. Maud may be a wine buff of the highest order, but her language is entirely accessible. When she talks about wine, she uses words like ‘handsome’, ‘wise’, ‘lively’, drawn not from the sommelier’s handbook, but from her passionate appreciation of what a champagne born of a local grower actually stands for. “It is something with character, with heritage, something frank which you might not like, but is true to itself.” Wine and food, she says, are like people in a happy relationship. “A good couple not only go well together, they make each other better, and the same can be said of wine and the food you eat with it.” It’s why the Lacroix Cuvee Anthony Blanc de Noirs Brut tasted better with blue cheese, the Michel Furdyna Rose Brut with salami, and bringing a crate load of “that amazing wine we had on holiday in Crete” only works if you bring the Dolmades back with it—an observation which prompts laughs of recognition round the table. Nevertheless, the best analogy, and the best champagne, is yet to come. Champagne Lacroix Vintage 2005. “It’s a vintage, so it’s more expensive because it takes so much time to make” admits Maud, “but think of it as a mature gentleman versus a handsome young man. He’s older, but he has experience, complexity, length.” Made of all three grape types blended together, six years lying in a cellar has created a fine, 24 carat golden hue and suppressed its bubbles into fine, glittering threads. The taste is extraordinary,
within minutes of receiving good news, unexpected visitors or even (if you’re feeling flush) an expensive craving. After all, it makes a change from the Chinese.
but it is the length that really takes you by surprise. Five minutes later, and it’s still there, “talking on your tongue”—a parley of grapefruit, red fruits and, a few minutes later, something candied like orange rind. Not for nothing has Maud kept this to the end. The champagne is not only the most valuable of Maud’s collection, but it is the last she’ll have of that type until at least 2020 thanks to the terrible weather France experienced in spring. Because vintage wines consist of a single year’s harvest, the threat of freak weather patterns is even greater to them than to the non-vintages, which draw on a number of years. We finish, as is appropriate, with dessert. This is Fondant au Chocolat with a blue cheese base—an addition that in many ways exemplifies the evening. It stimulates. It challenges our expectations, and our taste. And while it oozes with unashamed luxury, in it’s commitment to originality, damn fine flavours, and education, it leaves snobbery far behind it. If this is champagne socialism, I’m in.
36 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 36
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE
TASTE IN BRIEF
Truffle hunting Dalla Terra, the St Martin’s Courtyard wine bar (or ‘enoteca’, meaning ‘wine library’, to be more precise), will be hosting a special Truffle Week from Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th October, designed to demonstrate the power and
versatility of this very special fungus. From 7:30pm each evening of the six day event, Dalla Terra will be serving a four course white truffle dinner. The set menu will begin with mashed black salsify, salt cod, poached duck egg and white truffle and end, via risotto, guinea-fowl and
pumpkin brûlée, with coffee and grappa. Each course will be served with white truffle and accompanying wines from Tuscany and Plemonte are included in the dinner cost of £140 per head. The table seats 12 guests at a time, so booking is essential.
London Cocktail Week 8th—14th October sevendials.co.uk
SEVENTH HEAVEN /London Cocktail Week
There are so many awareness-raising days and weeks in the calendar that most of them pass by with barely a ripple of interest—National Bed Month, National Salt Awareness Week, World Town Planning Day. Here, though, is a special week of celebrations that we can all get behind— London Cocktail Week, from 8th-14th October. What’s not to love? This city’s cocktail scene is currently the most vibrant and interesting in the world, and spending seven days celebrating that fact will be an absolute pleasure. Although by the end of the week of intense activity, the idea of a National Bed Month might well start to appeal. Based around Covent Garden’s atmospheric Seven Dials area, the week consists of a programme of seminars, pop-up bars, tastings, parties and masterclasses, showcasing the excitement, innovation and sheer quality of the capital’s cocktail culture. Among many other planned activities, erotic emporium Coco de Mer will host its own inhibition-melting Cointreau bar, while the gentlemen’s barbers Murdock will be presenting an evening of microdistilling wizardry from one of London’s most prestigious new gin producers, Sacred, on 10th October. A pop-up shop at 15 Shorts Gardens will act as a hub for the festivities. As well as the scheduled events, there will be loads of bars all around Covent Garden participating in the celebrations, and all of them will be offering special £4 cocktails from 6pm til late to anyone wearing a London Cocktail Week wristband. To register for a wristband, sign
up at londoncocktailweek.com before 8th October—registration costs just £4. In honour of this special event, London Cocktail Week has created a special cocktail celebrating Seven Dials—an area which has gone from being a notoriously ginsoaked den of iniquity in the 18th century to being a haven of quiet sophistication where the consumption of spirits is highly unlikely to leave you either blind or robbed. The Seven Dials cocktail is created using seven key ingredients. The gin and apple juice base is inspired by the area’s rich heritage, while the striking red colour is a nod to its current status as a fashion destination with a wealth of independent boutiques. Ingredients 25ml gin 35ml freshly pressed apple juice 10ml Campari 10ml grenadine 10ml Monin pure cane sugar syrup 20ml lime Top with champagne Method Shake the gin, apple juice, Campari, grenadine, sugar syrup and lime with lots of ice. Next, fill a tall glass with more ice and pour over the liquid until it comes to about 3cm from the top. Finish off by topping with champagne.
37 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 37
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE
TASTE IN BRIEF
STREET FIGHTING MAN /Jason Faleva’ai of Urban Jungle Warrior
Why the name, Urban Jungle Warrior I was born and grew up in Auckland, but I’m of Samoan descent. My mother’s Samoan and was adamant about keeping the culture alive in me. I wanted to portray who I was—trying to be Samoan in a big city like London. The South Pacific people are warriors by nature and in London the best way to describe that is as a warrior in an urban jungle. Didn’t you once live on an island? Yes, after leaving home I moved onto Waiheke Island and spent a bit of time enjoying island life. Waiheke Island is half an hour by ferry from Auckland and has a population of 7,000. It’s a wonderful community and everybody knows everybody. I never once locked my house and would leave my keys in the ignition if I drove into town. I worked in my cousin’s café. It had a view out into the ocean, and during my lunch breaks I would run down to the beach for a swim. Waiheke Island is amazing—everybody shares everything. I’ve even come home to find someone in my house, who had got there early and decided to cook me dinner from just going through my fridge. What on earth made you want to leave? You can only appreciate paradise if you see how the rest of the world lives, and as amazing as it does sound you can get quite complacent about appreciating it. Cultures are quite a big part of my life, and the greatest thing about being in London is that you’re two hours from a completely different country with a completely different language and culture. I look at London as the world’s transit lounge. You come here to experience the city, but it’s also a stop on the route to the next adventure. How did the move to the UK come about? I started managing an English pub in New Zealand, which was great, because I got to meet lots of people from over here and began to get interested in coming over and seeing it for myself. I moved to the UK in November 2003. I spent time in Gloucester, Manchester and Edinburgh, which I absolutely loved, and then moved to London a year later.
Tell me about your working life in London. I spent five weeks couch surfing, just sleeping on a friend’s couch and looking for a job, until I found one polishing cutlery at Fishworks in Marylebone. Then the head fishmonger decided to leave. Nobody really wanted the job because of all the strange hours you had to do, so I put my hand up and said I’d like to give that a go and learn how to be a fishmonger. And a week later I became head fishmonger. It was fantastic—I absolutely loved it. Every Tuesday a huge, 70 kilo yellow fin tuna would be delivered and I’d have to lift it onto a chopping board and carve tuna steaks, which was quite an eye opener for all the locals. I then became an oyster wholesaler with Wright Brothers, which was an amazing three years because I love oysters. After that I joined the Arabica Food & Spice Company. That gave me my love of working on food markets, and I learnt a lot from them.
When did you decide to set up a stall selling South Pacific themed food? I decided about a year and a half ago. I thought that maybe I could raise a bit more awareness about the South Pacific—apart from the islands that most people know about, being Fiji and Hawaii. The South Pacific is full of so many more islands than just those two. It’s a beautiful, beautiful place and the culture’s amazing. And the culture around the food— sharing seems to be the biggest thing about it. Sharing the food and music and laughter is what I grew up with. The preparation of their food is unique, their cooking techniques, like the Maoris of New Zealand who bury their food in the ground and cook it for hours. The men start preparing the hole the night before, fill the bonfire and sit around drinking and laughing. The women then prepare the food, which is buried and cooked for hours, before being shared together with song, prayer and laughter. It’s a little difficult to dig a hole up in Covent Garden, but I’m working with a very close friend of mine, Aaron, who has developed a technique, taking a rubbish skip, filling it with soil and turning it into a kind of hangi earth oven. It’s more the techniques that they use to cook rather than the actual cuisine—obviously they don’t have too many resources on the islands apart from coconuts and fresh fruit—but I just want to bring that culture of eating. What do you sell on the stall? I started doing coconuts. On the islands the coconut tree is known as the “tree of life”, because they use everything, from the trunks to build their traditional huts and the leaves to thatch their roofs to using the shell as a ceremonial drink cup. They use the water to drink and the meat to feed their chickens. Coconut oil is used for moisturising the skin, to comb through hair and to cook with. So the coconut is a big part of life throughout the South Pacific. They even use the palm leaves to make into baskets and mats. In the Caribbean, they take a machete and just chop the top off and insert a straw, which is fantastic, but I wanted to showcase the way that my heritage uses the coconut. They take the green coconut and using a big spike sticking
38 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 38
14/09/2012 10:36
TASTE Little Italy Look once along Monmouth Street these days and you will notice Café Pasta is no longer. Look twice, and you will see a burnished green restaurant of modest size and promising aroma now stands in its place. Its name is Wildwood Kitchen.
Its aim is to serve “freshly prepared food, delivered by friendly staff in a relaxed, homely environment”. There’s still pasta on the menu, but it’s a significant step up the scale. Sauces are homemade, and there‘s stonebaked pizza, salads, grills and daily specials—two of which
are homemade tarts—on the extensive menu. All in all it’s just another in a growing list of reasons to go to Seven Dials to eat. wildwoodkitchen.co.uk
Urban Jungle Warrior The Real Food Market Every Thursday (11am-7pm) East Piazza
out of the ground completely remove the husk, right down to the brown nut that everybody sees in the supermarket. There are two eyes and a mouth to every coconut, and we hollow out the soft mouth and insert a straw—it’s a lovely little sealed cup. There is also a myth and legend behind the coconut that I like to share with the kids, which is a nice introduction. And so I started with the coconuts. But a cold drink isn’t always going to sell well during the winter, so a friend suggested we do a pig on a spit. Tell me about that. There are lots of fantastic hog roasts out there and so we wanted to do something a little different. I was lying in bed one night and came up with the idea of changing the condiments that people are used to having with the hog roasts—the traditional onions and apple sauce. So we’ve done a twist by adding in slices of fresh kiwi fruit, which gives it a lovely tang. Another iconic food from New Zealand is Manuka honey, which we use to caramelise the onions. And how does London compare to life on Waiheke Island? They’re like chalk and cheese. Going from London where everything is so fast paced and hectic, back to an island where everything stops, the transition is quite a shock. When I arrive I go running around trying to do things, and everybody’s like: “Hey chill out. Take some time. There’s no rush. Nothing’s going anywhere.” But it’s just so tranquil out there and it usually takes me a couple of days to relax. The one thing that does slow you down is looking up at the night sky, which is milky white with stars. You don’t get that in London because of all the lights, so you forget to look up. But then you are back on this little island. I remember when I first went back, saying to my cousin: “I can’t believe how I’ve seen three shooting stars tonight.” And he just replied: “Get over it. They’re up there—just look up.”
/Coffee column
BACK TO BASICS
/Angela Holder comes to the aid of bad baristas with a guide to the espresso coffee menu I’m heading home from the airport and I’m desperate for a coffee. So I go into a petrol station cafe (I know, I know...) and ask for a macchiato. The barista pushes some buttons on a beans to cup machine (a glorified vending machine really). The milk runs for a long time, so I point out that I want a macchiato not a latte. He looks at me askance and says that’s what he’s doing, then hands me a cup of milky coffee. “Clearly,” I say, “you don’t know what a macchiato is.” The barista says, “Yeah, it’s a shot of coffee and a shot of milk, no hot water. Don’t you know anything about coffee?” True story. The specialty coffee industry has an on-going, long running debate about how to get ‘the message’ across to the public about quality coffee. I would suggest that making drinks to a universal standard would be a start. So in the interests of customer awareness, here’s my guide to the espresso coffee menu: Espresso—brewed using an espresso machine, this is a short, intense coffee without milk. The terms single and double shot espresso refer to the quantity of coffee brewed. As with liquor, a double shot is not stronger than a single, it’s just a larger amount. Macchiato—meaning ‘stained’ in Italian, this is an espresso with just a drop of steamed milk, so the coffee is literally stained. Sadly, since the quantity of milk used is open to interpretation, it is one of the most abused drinks on the menu. See above.
Cappuccino—an espresso with foamy steamed milk. It should have a good head of thick foam. The ‘classic’ brown ring encircling a foamy white centre supposedly resembling a monk’s tonsure isn’t necessarily the sign of a well-made cappuccino. Whipped peaks of meringuelike milk are also not a good sign! Latte—also an espresso with steamed milk, but closer to a coffee-flavoured milk drink. It differs from a cappuccino by the texture of the milk used, resulting in a wetter drink with a smaller layer of foam on the top. A colleague likened the difference in the foam layer between a latte and a cappuccino to the difference in foam texture and quantity seen on an English beer versus a Guinness (where the beer is the latte and the Guinness is the cappuccino). Flat white—a relatively new addition to the menu brought in by our Australasian cousins, it’s best described as a small, strong latte. Usually a double shot of espresso with latte-style milk in a smaller cup. Often presented with a latte art flourish to show off the barista’s skill, which is a little design ‘drawn’ in the milk, using the darker espresso to draw lines as the milk is poured into the cup. Filter coffee—fake out! It has never been made with an espresso machine! Petrol station ‘baristas’, take note!
39 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp30_39_taste.indd 39
14/09/2012 10:36
ARTS
/17
What happens when you mix together some technology, some music, a lot of caffeine and maybe a vial or two of blood? In the hands of Benji Rogers, the result is an entirely new way to fund creative expression. Shannon Denny investigates Covent Garden start-up PledgeMusic
BACKING THE BAND
40 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 40
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
41 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 41
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
BACKING THE BAND
Internet start-ups are now so thick around Old Street that people are calling that corner of the capital—home to one of London’s ugliest traffic schemes—the Silicon Roundabout. But one booming tech enterprise has set up shop closer to the guitar specialists of Denmark Street, the stages of Theatreland and the rehearsal rooms of Soho. Tucked down a little Covent Garden street not far from The Strand, PledgeMusic is a fan-funded investment platform that harnesses the power of the internet to help musicians make records. It’s the brainchild of Benji Rogers, a musician whose father, mother and stepfather were all band managers (you’ll find Genesis and Pink Floyd on their CVs). After getting the UK office of PledgeMusic off the ground, Benji shifted his sights to the States, so he now lives in Brooklyn and works in his company’s offices on Broadway. Today he’s just off a flight and fighting jet lag to keep his eyes convincingly open. While he wants to load up his system on his favourite coffee—Monmouth of course—I insist that his condition calls for the double hit of Monmouth coffee plus Caribbean cacao found in the drinks served at Roast & Conch. Over turbo-charged on flat whites, Benji—who toured for nine years and made five albums in his time as a performer— explains where the idea for the enterprise began. “I was in a show in 2003. A drunk guy came up to me after the show with 10 single dollar bills and said, ‘I wanna buy a CD. You guys are awesome!’ I said, ‘Amazing! Are you a stripper or a bartender—why do you have 10 singles?’ And he said, ‘We all chipped in two bucks and we’re going to burn the CD so we all can have copies.’ Here’s the thing: he had no concept that was bad. There was a moment where I was like, ‘That’s the wave, and I’m standing here trying to turn it back, but it’s not going to happen.’ So I gave him a big hug, signed his CD and then said thank you. He bought every other CD I ever made, so his intention wasn’t to rip me off—it was to share.” The experience spoke to a perennial conundrum: how can emerging musical artists get a fair price for their current work while raising enough capital to fund future work? From here Benji hits fast-forward to 2008. “I was 34 years old on an air mattress in my mother’s spare room. I gave my last £50 to my wife. I was flying to play a gig in Amsterdam. Suddenly I saw in my head: Artists! Fans! Charities! And each piece of that triangle’s ecosystem would win if we brought them all together on a single platform. So I got up at 3 o’clock in the morning, started to build it on my laptop and came up with a name. It was like, ‘PledgeMusic’—let’s go.’”
Once the 3am vision had been roughly jotted down, Benji had the semblance of a plan for using digital media to reinvent the way music is funded and made. Through PledgeMusic, artists and bands could design tailored fundraising campaigns to collect investment for their next release. In exchange for a bit of funding from a fan, artists could interact with their supporters in unique ways via exclusive content and experiences. As a fan, there would be no risk—because money would only be taken once the artist’s target amount had been raised—and there would be an option to build a charitable donation into a campaign too. In any event, a fan could follow the status of the album every step of the way, and once the record was complete they’d get to download it in exchange for the pledge they’d initially put forward. “Within about five minutes of sketching it out, I saw where it could go,” he says. In Amsterdam a few hours later, Benji got to talking about the idea with one of his own fans. “He was like, ‘Stop! I’m an intellectual property rights lawyer specialising in the internet. Don’t tell me this idea without an NDA—I want in!’” After the non-disclosure agreement had been duly signed, Benji had the first of several supporters who knew a great proposition when they saw one. “The idea was really contagious,” he admits. By early 2009, the team had a prototype in place and the first campaign—for Benji’s own fifth album—launched in July that year. “It funded six days later, we went into the studio six days after that and made our last album. And the rest is history.” So far PledgeMusic has helped make several records that have landed in the top 20. Geographically they’re on the march too, with artists not only in the US and UK but also in Australia, Canada and Germany. But back in London, Benji’s promised the team steaks at the Hawksmoor tonight if the current campaigns hit their targets. The Seven Dials restaurant is only one of many reasons he’s enamoured with the area. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. When I was 15 years old my band used to rehearse where Belgo is now.” These days he likes strolling the historic streets and retracing the steps of his non-music heroes, who includes Samuel Pepys, Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens and William Blake. It was the latter in this list whose quote “I must create my own system or be enslaved by another man’s” inspires Benji’s own guiding principles. “First, we’re not subject to what was, only what works,” he says. “Second, because it can be excellent, it has to be. It means you set yourself as the highest standard. Third, our job is to get as
The Subways and (previous spread) Charlie Simpson: Two of the acts whose careers have been rejuvinated by PledgeMusic
much money into the hands of musicians in the shortest possible time. We built it so we tied our fates to them.” The invention is especially appealing to musicians because they retain their rights, which means after an album is made, nothing is stopping them from inking a deal with a record company. “Ultimately, in the era of music streaming and social media, the message ‘Buy my album, then come to my show’ isn’t working. So we flipped it on its head and said, ‘Be a part of the making of my new album.’ From day one you get access to a special part of the site in which you get rough mixes, live tracks, demos and video
42 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 42
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS PledgeMusic pledgemusic.com
blogs from the studio,” Benji explains. “The irony is, you can do all that and still sign to a label; the difference is you’re a lot wealthier.” As it happens, it’s not at all a bad setup for record labels either. “They used to basically go into a club, see someone and give them lots of money,” he observes. “It was hit or miss, whereas what we do is prove the viability. We’re actually making it easier for a record label than it was before.” It’s also worth remembering that fans are committed people—fanatics in fact. “A record label doesn’t need to sell to an artist’s hardcore fan base. So we empower the artist to sell to their hardcore fans and let
In the era of music streaming and social media, the message ‘Buy my album, then come to my show’ just isn’t working. So we flipped it on its head and said, ‘Be a part of the making of my new album!’
the label sell to everyone else. So the fans have an incredible experience direct from the band, like pictures from the studio, an acoustic version of a song or backstage videos.” The minimum amount for a pledge is £8 (or $10 in the US), which gives you access to this exclusive content and the resulting album. But plenty of fans are happy to throw more financial backing at their favourite artists than the required minimum. “If you’re a fan of a band would you rather them say to you, ‘We’re going to take you along on the journey,’ or not? And how much would you pay extra for that? The answer is, fans will pay a lot more money for extra,” Benji reveals. “When we first envisaged the platform it was thousands of people pledging a small amount each. But actually it turned out to be hundreds of people per campaign pledging large amounts each.” As a way to generate more investment, bands regularly offer up incredible menus of limited editions above and beyond the album they’re making. For example, Luscious Jackson are currently selling rare fanzines collected over the course of their career. You can get signed artwork from one band or a concert at your house from another. In exchange for a pledge of $50, you can ask Rachael Yamagata 20 questions on Skype. Gang of Four’s Ultimate Content Can included not only their music, but illustrations of events in world history and vials of the band’s blood. Yep, their own blood. With its £100-plus price tag, did the unusual offering sell? “Oh absolutely,” Benji assures me. “It flew. The thing about dealing with artists is they’re incredibly creative—that’s the point. And if you offer real fans a part of something, they want in.” So forget all this talk about £8 and $10; the average fan spends $64 per transaction on Pledge. And the highest so far? One person spent $28,000. Surely that netted them an entire blood transfusion? But no—the pledge secured for them a whole collection of “amps, guitars, all kinds of stuff”. A sum like that is all the more impressive in the context of music streaming services that have proliferated in the last decade. Consider this: if you buy a subscription to a streaming service and pay £9.99 a month, the artists you listen to don’t get a penny. And with so much music now being streamed, music sales have slumped to the same levels they were in 1976. “I don’t judge anyone who streams music,” says Benji. “That’s their call. We stepped in there to provide an option for the fan so they can get an experience that can’t be streamed.” And he’s right you know. At least until someone figures out how to stream a vial of blood over the internet.
43 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 43
14/09/2012 13:26
ARTS
ART OF DARKNESS Clare Finney gets up close to the eery, otherworldly paintings of Paul Benney, the resident artist at Somerset House
44 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 44
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
45 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 45
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
ART OF DARKNESS
I thought I knew Somerset House. A fan of its architecture, its events and its exhibitions, I had even enjoyed the privilege of being shown around by the institution’s director Gwen Miles earlier this year. We had roamed everywhere—up stairwells, down light wells, around halls, back offices and galleries, leaving no stone unturned—or so I thought. Then I met Paul Benney, the House’s resident artist—a tall, softly spoken, down-to-earth Londoner with a twinkly smile and a plaid shirt—and I realised I hadn’t just left one stone ignored but two valuable buildings’ worth: his studio, and the dark, damp, subterranean Deadhouse in which his work will be showing this autumn. “Not many people come over here to the studio. Even Gwen doesn’t, unless I ask her to,” he says. And having just followed Paul down the lift, outside, along an alleyway, down a corridor and then up some stairs, I can kind of see why. It’s an unsettling place—an old, tunnel-like Naval engineering room filled with unfinished paintings of half-spirits and hinterlands. Set variously in landscapes that transcend air and water, earth and flame, Paul’s paintings tackle spiritual concerns— who we are, where we’re going and what we’ll find on the way. His approach to spirituality, he says, “is a hotch potch of stuff picked up over the years”, which refuses to be too rigid. “I think that’s how most people are really. They have a name for their spirituality, say Christian or Jewish, but deep down they have unclear thoughts. They are just casting around for things that make sense to them, and that’s how I am. It’s a contradiction in terms to have orthodoxies, and that’s why we’re in all this trouble—because the very things that people are ready to die for are things that are untenable, that you can’t prove except on a personal level.” Few images are so illustrative of this idea than the figures found in Paul’s paintings: allegorical and mythical beings which stand or hover in shadows and refuse to be identified, partly the result of a technique he uses which involves coating the finished painting with polyurethane resin to give it a slick, shiny surface. “For one thing, it makes it more difficult to see the image that’s been painted because it’s reflective, so it forces the viewer to do a bit more work,” Paul explains. It’s an interesting effect. “You’re aware of it being a painting, and it’s a dark and gloomy painting too, but at same time it’s a slick surface like a sweet wrapper, almost tasty.” When it comes to paintings of disciples receiving the holy spirit in the forms of flame on their heads the juxtaposition is disorientating indeed. “It’s weird isn’t it?” he muses. “It’s almost a spectral flame,
Far right: Pissing Death Right: Levitation Previous spread: Snow in Jerusalem
something magic. It’s not a hot flame at all.” Several times in the course of our conversation Paul talks like this, as if he’s never even seen his paintings before, let alone painted them. Coupled with his insistence that they be taken solely on their own terms, the effect of this genial modesty is to empower you to be able to speculate about them. He asks me for my interpretation of a piece: a pan-like figure suspended in what appears to be half sky, half water, above a dark forest of pine trees. It’s alternately scary and reassuring, I tell him, because the figure looks like the devil until you realise he has the goat’s hind legs, and then it looks like he’s drowning until you realise there are trees below him, and it seems he’s not really part of any of it at all. “The other day one of my regular customers came in and more or less said the same thing,” says Paul. “She said it was so indicative of my work—and when I asked her why, she said it was because my work always seemed to hover in these transient worlds where it’s not water and not quite air and not in sunlight, nor complete darkness. Thinking about it, nearly all my work is on the cusp of being night and day.” For the most part this stems from his love of dream imagery. “I don’t want it to be completely surreal—I don’t like the
surrealism tag—but there is perhaps some symbolism in there. I think dreams often have something completely odd happening which in the dream seems natural.” Looking around I see many paintings that fall under that category. Water and air interchange and meld, a woman levitates above a whirlpool, a Jesus-like figure walks along a path with a tightrope walker’s pole, but “not a tightrope, for some reason”, observes Paul, again as if he’d just noticed it. “Tightrope walkers crop up a lot in my work it seems.” If Paul’s objectivity about his work seems strange, it can perhaps be accounted for by the fact that, having worked as a painter for 30 years despite never having been to art school, he sees himself as constantly learning. “The benefit of getting older is that you can see what it is you were trying to do all that time. In the first decade you’re just blindly heading in all directions—you don’t really know whether there’s a pattern, or if you have your own style,” he reflects. “Then they coagulate and it becomes clearer.” For Paul, it was not that he had been painting more spiritual things deliberately— but that, by deciding to let himself paint exactly whatever and however he wanted, that was where he ended up. “I just get into a frame of mind, where I go with something that interests me and it
46 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 46
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS Night Paintings 4th October—9th December Somerset House somersethouse.org.uk
develops into something else,” he says. “I never just paint something I’ve seen or like. It’s merely the springboard that propels me and becomes something a bit more than what it was.” On his whitewashed walls I can see the photo that originally inspired his levitating lady—a picture of a whirlpool, black and white, cut out from a magazine. Under Paul’s touch however, the innate eeriness of this natural phenomenon has been raised tenfold. In the exhibition hall, the works will hang with neither caption nor name beside their frames. “There’ll be a leaflet with titles and thumbnails, which people can pick up—and if you want to read more there’s a big book that’s coming out at the same time,” he says simply. “There’s a big, long essay by Adrian Dannatt in it. He’s writing about my work for a while it seems—he goes back to the 80s, and I didn’t even know he existed then.” ‘Then’ Paul was living in Manhattan’s East Village, in a derelict ghetto area with a bunch of other artists. “It was wild: in the space of three years it went from no galleries at all to 60 in a square half mile,” he grins. Now it’s part of art history—Paul has had art students emailing him asking about the East Village movement of the 1980s and if they could interview him for it.
But rather than dwelling on the past, Paul is forward looking—first to the Night Paintings exhibition in Somerset House’s Deadhouse space, then to an exhibition of his Disciples. He particularly enjoys the growing popularity of holding exhibitions in interesting spaces. “My own places have always been pretty unusual actually; the last place before this was a ‘last resting place’ where they used to store the bodies before burial.” The general public, he says, are getting fed up of the “white cube and simple blank white walls”. “Gallery owners say the work should stand on its own, and they’re right—but we want experiences now. These days it’s actually quite unusual to find somewhere old like the Deadhouse that hasn’t been used for exhibiting art before. They’ve all been done up.” And the Deadhouse isn’t? “No, it’s still kind of grimy and damp down there.” The Deadhouse is a fitting environment—a dusky series of light-wells and tiny chambers beneath the Fountain Court, containing the graves of 17th century noblemen. With the paintings suspended out on stalks from the walls (“they’re too old and damp to hang things on”), the venue will provide the sort of eerie halfway-ness they demand. “It will seem like I’ve done them specially for it, springing out of the gloom like
that. I’m looking forward to it,” he grins, while assuring me that the risk of him invoking the Deadhouse’s real spirits remains slim. “It’s pretty still in there. I mean, you can see the headstones—but it doesn’t feel strange, and I’m more sensitive now than I used to be.” On that intriguing note we draw reluctantly to a close. Paul has his house and girlfriend in Primrose Hill to get back to (he’s done his time in East London/East New York warehouses, thanks) and Somerset House must throw its courtyard open: outside in the dusty sunlight they are warming up for the last few Summer Screens. It’s quite a contrast—yet as Paul chats happily about the delights of Regent’s Park and coffee shops and delis on the labyrinthine way back to the entrance, I am reminded of something Rachel Campbell Johnstone noted—an insight too beautiful not to end on: “Benney shows us our lives as they balance on that fragile boundary between the perfectly ordinary and the profoundly otherworldly. He seeks to capture that mystery which redeems us from the mundane. He sets out to show us that life can be precious.”
47 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 47
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
A WARM HAND Antonia Michel has her cynicism defrosted at the Ceri Hand gallery 48 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 48
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS Ceri Hand Project Space 71 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials cerihand.co.uk
There’s something about contemporary art that can often leave me a little cold. My response, rather than a raised temperature, tends to be a raised eyebrow. Sometimes it’s the setting—the stark white walls, the chilly minimalism. Sometimes it’s the coolness of the attitude or the shallowness of the work. But if there’s one accusation that can’t be levelled at the Ceri Hand art gallery, a pop up exhibition space in Seven Dials which specialises in conceptual and performance art, it’s a lack of warmth. The gallery’s bright cherry red façade is as welcoming as its owner and curator Ceri Hand. As I arrive she is talking animatedly to a group of visitors who are effusively singing the praises of the exhibition. “Literally everybody who has left a comment has been incredibly positive and that’s unusual because art is so subjective,” beams Ceri. “It’s probably the first show I have done which has had a unanimous good reception.” The show, with which the gallery opened in mid-July, consists of a combination of film work, photography and installation by artist Mel Brimfield. Entitled Between Genius and Desire, the collection explores the self-destructive nature of the godlike artist. The pieces reference a plethora of prominent cultural figures—from Ovid and Mary Shelley to Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock via the somewhat less predictable presence of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Brimfield’s references are so well chosen that it’s hard not to engage with this sharp and witty work. Brimfield uses the story of Pygmalion, the most familiar version of which comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as a pivotal theme. This myth tells the tale of a sculptor who falls in love with the statue of a beautiful woman he has carved. Brimfield walks the fine line of tragicomedy with a lightness and ease, and the whole exhibition, which is staged across two floors, hangs together beautifully. If I raise an eyebrow, it’s from cheerful surprise rather than exasperation. With 15 years of experience as a curator and director of museums behind her, Ceri decided in 2007 to set up her own gallery in Liverpool. When it opened a year later, it was the only contemporary commercial art gallery between London and Scotland that didn’t receive public funding. Covent Garden is now serving as the gallery’s temporary home after Ceri relocated to London a few months ago. If all goes well, a permanent space will be opening in the capital at the start of next year. Originally hailing from Shropshire, Ceri lived in London for a decade before heading
north, and she plans to stay for at least a couple of years this time around. “I love it,” she declares. “London is my spiritual home and if you are involved in the arts, there’s nowhere quite like it.” With Tate Modern less than a 10 minute walk away, and with Ceri having been on the Tate Liverpool members’ committee for a long time, she obviously takes a keen interest in all those who are invested in the arts ecology. When I ask her which contemporary artists she most admires, John Baldessari, who had a major retrospective at Tate Modern a couple of years ago, gets dwelt on most. The next artist to exhibit at Ceri’s gallery will be S Mark Gubb, whose latest body of work will be on show for the whole of September. Entitled Third From the Sun, his show explores the legacy of history, control and flawed communication, through a social and political lens. “Mark explores the stuff of life, I suppose,” muses Ceri. “He is really interested in the social, political and cultural world he lives in and is inspired by everything, from religious billboards to music.” The exhibition takes its name from a song by the American industrial-metal band Prong. The song was itself originally written by seventies rock group Chrome, who in turn took it from an episode of the popular 1950s American TV series the Twilight Zone. Reference layered upon reference, influence upon influence. Other important allusions in this show, as with Brimfield’s, come from literature. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel plays an important role. “It was one of the starting points, so Mark made a series of prints, sculptures and
photographs that examine our own role in society, as much as other people’s,” says Ceri. Quite a significant part of the exhibition revolves around the novel. One piece, entitled One in the Same Flesh is a video depicting William Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence being burnt, mirroring what happens in the opening scene of Truffaut’s 1966 adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Gubb then burnt the book himself, this time a first edition, took the ashes and transformed them into a new print. “There is a lot in that, in terms of our knowledge, consumption of culture and the destruction of the things around us.” Other literary references in the show include John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and Uruguayan-born French author Comte de Lautréamont’s Maldoror. I am intrigued to see how the gallery will be transformed to accommodate this new body of work and will be returning, dragging some of my fellow contemporary art cynics along with me, in the hope that this second exhibition will prove as fascinating and unpretentious as the first. Defining her Gallery as “friendly and transparent”, Ceri actively encourages anybody to drop in. The exhibition will be fascinating. The warmth will be palpable.
49 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 49
14/09/2012 13:26
ARTS
ARTS IN BRIEF
Berenice Born in 1639, Jean Racine is French, dead and described as one of the most influential tragedians in Western literature. Born in 1954, Alan Hollinghurst is English, alive, and a Man Booker Prize-winning author. What this means
for their new joint venture—Alan Hollinghurst’s rewriting of Racine’s “perfect tragedy of unfulfilled passion” —remains to be seen, but with the always wonderful Anne-Marie Duff in the lead, the highly promising new artistic director Josie Rourke behind the scenes,
and a tale of agonising love in the Roman Empire at the heart of it all, it seems unlikely that it will be anything less than great. donmarwarehouse.com
Der Ring des Nibelungen Royal Opera House 24th September—2nd November roh.org.uk
RINGING THE CHANGES
CLIVE BARDA
/Royal Opera House
Dark forests. Mythical creatures. A ring so evil it must be destroyed in order for the world to be redeemed. Sound familiar? Well, you won’t be the first to assume that the operatic saga of Der Ring is just a musical version of Lord of the Rings. But to do so would be an injustice, not only to its writer, who famously dismissed the idea, but more importantly to the composer, Wagner, who wrote his opera cycle almost a century earlier and who pioneered a whole new style of drama in doing so. Fifteen hours might seem a long time to sit still for, but with Keith Warner at the directing helm this marriage of myth and music is not to be missed. The first opera in the cycle, Das Rheingold, commences on 24th September. In it, we get our first glimpse of what Wagner’s world—and Warner’s epic-come-contemporary version of it—is. The dwarf Alberich steals the Rhinegold, guarded by the daughters of the Rhine, and forges a ring that brings him infinite power. Wotan, ruler of the gods, plans to seize the dangerous ring—but to what end? You’ll find out if you follow up with Die Walküre, which starts two days later, in which Wotan’s voyage of self-discovery reaches consummation, then Siegfried from 29thSeptember, the third and funniest of the sagas, then finishing off with the Götterdämmerung, in which the world’s order is restored at a price.
50 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 50
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS Julius Caesar There is something peculiarly gratifying about an opera by Handel being performed in Covent Garden. Not only can he be claimed to be British (he became a naturalised British subject in 1727 after 25 years of living here) but he
was also the composer behind the first opera ever to be shown at the Covent Garden Theatre—then the humble home of an eclectic mix of pantos; now, thanks partly to that performance, the world-famous operatic establishment we know as the Royal Opera House. He
also had a formative influence on the London Coliseum. In 1979, the ENO’s staging of Julius Caesar at the Coliseum established the company’s reputation as the ‘House of Handel’. This autumn, Olivier Award nominated director Michael Keegan-Dolan and expert Baroque
conductor Christian Curnyn are bringing this historic opera back home. The story is well known of course—you don’t see Caesar for surprises. But for great music and an example of Handel at his finest, this is hard to beat. eno.org
Uncle Vanya 24th October—13th February Vaudeville Theatre nimaxtheatres.com
FROM THE CREW ROOM/ THE NAME GAME
FROM RUSSIA, WITH ENNUI / Vaudeville Theatre
/Inside Story Our anonymous West End insider gives a backstage view of life in Theatreland Genghis Nige, Minty Fresh, Cable-tie Phil and Uncle Nasty. This splendid collection of monikers, nom-de-plumes and AKAs are just a selection of nicknames I have had occasion to use in the course of my life behind the velvet curtain. There can be no doubt that whenever two men gather together—alas the back stage world is still predominantly male—a nickname will be born. However it does appear that the backstage clan have taken a cue from their more flamboyant onstage cousins when it comes to apportioning nicknames. I can barely recall a Jonno, Stevo or Jacko in the LX box or the fly tower. While some are obvious in their origins ‘Cable-tie Phil’ for instance arose when a charming if boisterous young tecchie was cable tied to a flying bar and flown up to a height which would have the health and safety rep running for cover. Others are more clouded in their origins. I never have and never wish to know how one not particularly culinary electrician came by his nickname of ‘Spoons’. One of the funniest moments I have ever had among the tribe was occasioned by an improbable alias. It was during the early days of a fit-up, which is that period where the set is arriving at the theatre and being built. A van arrived driven by the usual cheerfully burly type who asked for the Chief LX—the person in charge of lighting. “Tell Vera the lights are here!” the call went out as the driver headed for the rear of the truck to open up. I will wish until my dying day that a Tom Stoppard or an Alan Ayckbourn had happened by to witness the driver’s reaction when Vera turned out to be a six foot three
inch Afro-Caribbean chap with a shaved head and the kind of build you wanted on your side in a heated debate. The sight of a usually talkative van driver groping his way from utter speechlessness to babbling confusion in front of a spectacularly unsympathetic audience was priceless. It was a beautiful microcosm containing discomfort, humour and just that hint of cruelty that would inspire any great humourist with ideas for years ahead. Having worked with ‘Vera’ on several occasions I can attest that while he occasionally unleashed a stare that could freeze the unwary at 50 paces, he generally proved to be delightful company, and of course you are never going to forget who he is. Which is of course the point of all this. Nicknames primarily engender a sense of belonging, a sign that you have been accepted as part of the group. But in a world of ever shifting colleagues where a theatre may see five or six shows in a year, flamboyant nicknames are memorable. Mistakenly attracting the attention of Steve the stagehand instead of Steve the fly-man could have genuinely unfortunate consequences. No-one however is going to mistake Bunny for Boss-Man. So the Wicked Witch, Hovis, Mr V and all the rest go about their business safe in the knowledge that they can be reached if needed, even among strangers. In case you are wondering, I have acquired the odd nickname during my time. However I fear they must remain between myself and the editor. But if you feel the need you could add Anonymous to the not inconsiderable list.
Moody, largely driven by dialogue, with names that look like something Boggle coughed up—when it comes to the plays of Anton Chekhov interpretation is always key. Get it right, and you’ll be blown away. Get it wrong, and you’ll be as stricken with ennui as the eponymous Uncle Vanya, for whom life is but a series of missed chances. Set in rural Russia, this bitter-sweet comedy of love and idealism tells the story of the Serebryakovs, two urbanites who live the life of Riley, and the farm that supports them out of town. It’s run by Vanya, who was the brother of Professor Serebryakov’s late first wife, and the play opens with him bringing his new and vastly younger wife Elena to see what it is like. As events unfold, the professor’s intentions becomes clearer—he plans to sell the estate. But in the meantime the plot has thickened in a far more clandestine way. Vanya loves Elena. The local doctor loves Elena. Elena loves neither of them, nor her elderly husband. Sonya, Serebryakov’s daughter from his first marriage, loves the local doctor, but he seems unaware. “A woman can only become a man’s friend in three stages,” says the doctor. “First, she’s an agreeable acquaintance, then a mistress, and only after that a friend.” Sonya Serebryakov is none of these to him, and the play ends with her telling Vanya— whose love is also unrequited—the afterlife promises better things. It is a comedy, in spite of this—and with Ken Stott, Anna Friel and Sam West set to star it’s one worth seeing. Just don’t expect to be laughing as you leave.
51 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 51
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
EXHIBIT SEVEN DESIGNERS FOR SEVEN DIALS 14th September—5th October /Seven Dials London Design Festival londondesignfestival.com
As part of this year’s London Design Festival, Seven Dials has teamed up with seven designers who have produced a variety of installations, all of which draw on the area’s rich history. The project, which has been curated by the design, architecture and interiors magazine Dezeen, features the work of seven diverse and highly talented young designers. All seven installations are being exhibited outdoors in the Seven Dials area. 1—Vic Lee has created a range of flags (one of which is pictured here), each of which incorporates an old Seven Dials street name and captures something of the area’s shady past. 2—Faye Toogood’s collection of 49 oversized overcoats strung out over Monmouth Street draws on the wide variety of trades found in the area, dating back to 1740. 3—Inspired by the 18th century system of cellars and vaults which linked the rows of slum houses in Seven Dials, Gitta Gschwendtner’s Ariel Escape consists of seven interconnecting ladders linking two windows on Earlham Street. 4—Paul Cocksedge’s Dial installation consists of a large floating telephone number suspended between two buildings, tempting the public to call it. 5—Philippe Malouin has erected a giant installation of 60 bunting lines made from transparent PVC, which point the way to the Seven Dials monument. 6—Catchpenny Quackery by Aberrant Architecture consists of 18 large metallic coins hanging above the street, advertising fraudulent pseudo-medicines offered by the quack doctors of Seven Dials. 7—Dominic Wilcox has created an arch across Neal Street made out of empty bird cages, referencing Charles Dickens’s description of Seven Dials as a place full of bird shops and bird cage makers. 52 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 52
14/09/2012 10:15
ARTS
MIND THE MAP
THE LOST PRINCE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HENRY STUART
PETER LELY: A LYRICAL VISION
London Transport Museum Covent Garden Piazza ltmuseum.co.uk
National Portrait Gallery St Martin’s Place 020 7306 0055 npg.org.uk
The Courtauld Gallery The Strand 020 7848 2526 courtauld.ac.uk
When Harry Beck first created his tube map in 1931 he didn’t just make a useful contribution to public transport—he inspired a whole new genre of art. With its bright colours and clean lines, Beck’s tube map became one of the most recognised, imitated and celebrated pieces of graphic design ever created. His original draft— dreamt up while he was working as an engineer in a signal office—is one of the treasures on display in this exhibition of art and design inspired by the tube map. Other exhibits include posters, pocket maps and paintings, both historical and contemporary, some predating Beck’s paradigm shifting diagram, but most of them owing it almost everything.
Brave, handsome, clever, athletic and noble—had Henry Stuart not died so horribly young Britain’s history books might tell a very different story. Born Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales, in 1594, he was the elder son of King James I and Anne of Denmark and was due to inherit the newly joined thrones of England and Scotland. However, thanks to a nasty outbreak of typhoid fever he died at 18. He left the nation bereft, but more importantly he left his throne under the behind of Charles I—and you don’t need a master’s in English history to know what that came to mean. Lest this briefly brilliant prince be forgotten, the NPG has laid on an extraordinary array of artifacts illustrating the creativity that flourished under his patronage, including major loans from the Royal Collection—paintings by Isaac Oliver, masque designs by Inigo Jones, and poetry by Ben Jonson in his own hand.
It was never meant to be like this. Arriving in civil war-torn England in the early 1640s, Peter Lely’s plan had been to devote himself to narrative art depicting tales of classical mythology, the bible and contemporary literature. He knew he might have to do some portraits as well, but he certainly didn’t expect that painting “dull counterfeits” of wealthy upper-class gents and their mistresses would become his full time job. But this was exactly what happened. After a few months he found he had underestimated the extent to which his patrons enjoyed looking at themselves—so, after finishing no more than 30 narrative paintings, he gave up to focus on portraits. The result is an artistic legacy which glorified the great and the beautiful of Charles II’s court, but which left Lely’s own art by the wayside. Thank goodness then for the Courtauld’s efforts in uncovering a choice selection of his narrative paintings—among the most beautiful and seductive of the entire era.
Until 28th October /London Transport Museum
18th October—13th January /National Portrait Gallery
11th October—13th January / The Courtauld GalleryHouse
53 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp40_53_arts.indd 53
14/09/2012 10:15
PAST
/17
Bush did not make a purchase. He returned to the shop shortly afterwards, and this time he spoke with Meier’s assistant —59-year-old Elsie May Batten —as the owner had gone out. The following day, a 15-year-old apprentice signwriter called Peter Albert King entered the shop looking to buy a billiard cue. He found the place empty, but saw that the rear curtain was partially Over the centuries Covent Garden open and that what he thought was has had more than its fair share a dummy was lying on the floor. of lawbreakers, and finding and He promptly left the shop but was identifying the guilty was once a shaken by the experience and told truly daunting task. Long before many people about it later. When CCTV and DNA swabs, unless Meier returned later that day he the perpetrator was caught discovered the body of Elsie May red-handed the police would Batten and promptly called the be forced to rely upon coherent police. Dr Keith Simpson, the witnesses giving detailed pathologist who attended the descriptions of suspects. scene of the crime, declared that However, in 1961 a murder was the victim had received three committed in Cecil Court, Covent very deep stab wounds—to her Garden which would change the back, her neck and her chest. The way police forces across the dagger in her neck had penetrated country came to identify criminals. nine inches and an ivory handled On 2nd March 1961 21-yeardagger in the chest had reached a old Edwin Bush walked into an depth of eight inches. antiques shop in Cecil Court and The hunt was on to find the told the proprietor Louis Meier brutal killer and Detective Sergeant that he was looking to purchase Raymond Frederick Dagg of Bow a gift for his girlfriend. He took an Street station was faced with immediate interest in a curved this daunting task. Dagg’s first dress sword which was on sale for breakthrough came when he £15, as well as several daggers. interviewed Meier, who recounted Bush went on to tell Meier that his seeing a suspicious youth of father was Indian and that it was Indian appearance in his shop a common thing to carry a dagger two days previously. The same in India. Despite his interest, youth had also been seen at a Donna Earrey on how a brutal murder in a Covent Garden shop was solved by the first British use of the Identikit system to create a picture of the prime suspect
gun dealer’s in St Martin’s Lane, where he had attempted to sell a dress sword to the owner, Paul Roberts. While these witnesses provided Dagg with valuable information, it was not enough for him to apprehend the killer, so he turned to America for help. Dagg knew that police in the US were using a new system called Identikit, which had been conceived by Hugh C McDonald, a detective in the Los Angeles Identification Bureau. McDonald had begun working on the project shortly after the Second World War, building on the work done by the French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879. Bertillon, who had been working as the chief of the criminal identification department for the Paris police, had invented a system known as ‘anthropometry’ or ‘Bertillonage’ which had since been widely used both in France and in other European countries. There were three fundamental principles surrounding Bertillon’s system: 1—The precise measurements of specific parts of the body can be easily obtained. 2—These measurements tend to remain constant in a fully grown person. 3— The same measurements will never be seen in two human beings. McDonald used the principles created by Bertillon and refined the technique by painstakingly
54 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp54_57_past.indd 54
14/09/2012 10:17
PAST
FACE OF A
KILLER 55 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp54_57_past.indd 55
14/09/2012 10:17
PAST
FACE OF A KILLER
FACE OF A
KILLER 56 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp54_57_past.indd 56
14/09/2012 10:17
PAST
dissecting approximately 50,000 photographs and then reducing them to 500 basic types. From the initial raw material a kit was created which comprised 37 noses, 52 chins, 102 pairs of eyes, 40 lips, 130 hairlines and an assortment of eyebrows, beards, moustaches, spectacles, wrinkles and headgear. McDonald’s system now meant it was completely unnecessary to sit down with a witness and sketch a drawing of the suspect— which was not only incredibly time consuming but often proved an ineffective method of identification. Instead, the Identikit compiled a portrait which was compiled from these basic components using transparent sheets. This method was much faster and, more importantly, far more accurate. It was a bit like putting a jigsaw together, with the completed image being the face of the perpetrator. Using McDonald’s Identikit system, Detective Sergeant Dagg set to work compiling a picture of the suspect by processing the information supplied by Meier and then repeating the process independently using the description given by Roberts, the gun dealer. The two pictures were photographed side by side and there was such a striking similarity that they were immediately circulated internally throughout the police force. They were also
circulated in the media in the hope that the suspect would be identified by a member of the public. On Wednesday 8th March, Hilton Cole—an officer from the West End Central police station—spotted an Indian youth with a female companion in Old Compton Street, just off Shaftesbury Avenue. Cole recognised the man from the Identikit pictures and arrested him on suspicion of murder. The youth was identified as Edwin Bush and was found, upon his arrest, to have stashed in his pockets copies of the Identikit pictures cut out from a newspaper. During the police interviews Bush acknowledged that the pictures looked a bit like him, but he vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Bush’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Janet Wheeler, was also interviewed but was later released without charge. Bush protested his innocence, but was immediately picked out as the culprit by Paul Roberts in an identification parade. Bush was then charged with the murder of Elsie May Batten and finally confessed to his crime. In a full statement, after declaring his girlfriend completely innocent, he said: “I am sorry I done it. I don’t know what came over me. Speaking personally the world is better off without me.” Although Bush had come from a troubled background
and had spent time in borstal for entering and stealing, these were not considered mitigating circumstances in his defence. Bush stood trial at the Central Criminal Court on 10th May 1961. At the conclusion of the trial on 12th May he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by Judge Stevenson. He was executed at Pentonville prison on 6th July 1961. The detective in charge of the investigation said: “This case is of particular interest because the arrest of the murderer was achieved as a direct result of the use of an American system, known familiarly as Identikit, for building up the facial likeness of a suspect. This was the first time this equipment had ever been used in this country, but so skilfully was it operated and so effective was the resultant ‘picture’, that a C Division Police Constable , PC341E Cole was able to recognise the wanted man Bush and detain him.” The Bush case marked a sea-change in British policing, with technological innovation becoming an essential part of the fight against crime. Identikit ultimately paved the way for the Photo-FIT system and the computer age development of today’s E-FIT, which has become an essential tool of our justice system. Identifying the guilty had got just a little bit easier.
57 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp54_57_past.indd 57
14/09/2012 10:17
PLACE
/17
58 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 58
14/09/2012 10:18
Russell Sage, the interior designer behind Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, the Zetter Townhouse and even Kate Middleton’s bridal suite talks about bringing his very English expertise to Tuttons restaurant
UP SAGED
PLACE
59 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 59
14/09/2012 10:18
PLACE
UP SAGED
CGJ: You seem to have developed a reputation for taking old, iconic London buildings and bringing their interiors into the 21st century. How has that come about? RS: I never know why we win projects exactly. I think it’s because we throw in a huge amount of passion and excitement and we present in quite an unusual way. We’ve been really lucky. We’ve done The Goring, the Royal Automobile Club, the Savoy Grill and most recently the Lansdowne Club, and when we pitch we really do thoroughly research a building. We go in and present lots of different routes, get engaged with the people involved and, unlike many other interior designers, roll our sleeves up—as I found when I was unloading a van at 9pm last night. How do you go about revamping a building while still paying tribute to its past? In the case of Tuttons we didn’t know which way to go. Here it was, a big old empty building, and it needed a lot of work—not just physically, but also because there were so many stories behind it. Early on, we had to make a decision with the owners as to whether we went really historical or went with what the name Tuttons means to people now. There were the interiors upstairs, which had been used for William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress series. There was the fact that this building was called Hummums Hotel. Hummums was a bastardisation of the word ‘hammam’, meaning bath—potentially because it was a gay Victorian brothel—and I was all in favour of going with that. Nothing sells like sex, really, and to have some kind of notoriety would have been fab.
Vienna which has this great coffered ceiling. There’s another interior designer I admire called Adolph Loos, who did lots of European So what stopped you? grand cafes, and that gave rise to the idea Well, I was always 50:50, and in the end of loose fabric on lamps which you see here. the owners decided to stay with the name I didn’t consciously make the style Tuttons. It’s been its name for 25 years, it’s European, but I did want it to have an appeal got a little bit of local awareness—this has to anyone of any nationality, and for them to always been a meeting place for locals as recognise it as a meeting place. That said, much as for tourists. There’s a lot happening I’m a great believer in the battle to make here—we have Balthazar opening next door, sure that locals use it, because when I was and so many other restaurants and bars— first put up for this job I thought Covent and I just wanted it to be a venue where you Garden was a place where only tourists go. think, if you’re going to Covent Garden you have to go to Tuttons, because there’s that What was the most challenging element? feeling of it always having been on the trail. Just trying to make it as practical as possible. It’s a relatively small interior, but How was that manifested in the design? there’s so much space outside. Working Well, it started off as an old fashioned dining outside is different to working inside: you room, a bit like Dean Street Townhouse— have to consider things like bringing food but as we were developing it and talking out, getting hot food to the tables, and more about iconic signature details, catering for what could be 200 extra seats I kept thinking about the American bar in on a nice day when people can sit outside.
That’s why there is such a big machine behind the bar, and why the kitchen upstairs and downstairs is huge. It was important to get it right. There is so little outdoor space in London it’s actually pretty difficult to get the good stuff to design outside, and it’s even rarer to find a restaurant with such a view as Tuttons has—even Balthazar won’t have it. We were all adamant that as many Tuttons customers as possible should have a view. Any other practical considerations? Oh yes, I’m 99.9 per cent function— because unless we get all of that right the fun stuff doesn’t work. If a hundred people arrive like you just have, spreading their coats and bags everywhere, then it doesn’t matter how nice your interior is. You won’t see it. So while doing the Savoy grill for Gordon Ramsay was all about having cosy banquette seats with two to three covers each for luxury service, here it was more trying to do something to facilitate the fact
60 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 60
14/09/2012 10:18
PLACE Tuttons 11-12 Russell Street 020 7836 4141 tuttons.com
then I got caught up in fashion. I loved it, but eventually I realised it’s a young person’s game. There is a big difference between just doing what you want to do, as I am, and spending the majority of time doing stuff you don’t want to do—collections for Topshop, Debenhams and so on—just in order to do the stuff you actually enjoy. Besides, fashion is like the film industry—you have a dozen or so at the top and everyone else is down below working for nothing their whole lives. But surely there must be a good deal of cross over? People put the two together in their minds and think interior design and fashion are the same thing. They’re not—fashion is entirely disposable, and that is the problem with mixing the two. The speed of fashion is such that I used to see my stuff go down the catwalk and the second it was finished it was over. We were onto the next collection. In interior design it’s about ensuring things don’t go down the catwalk, and avoiding that cycle of boom and bust. So many places get it so fundamentally wrong—the W hotel in Knightsbridge for example, all fashion fashion fashion when it opened six months ago and it already looks dated, when actually if you think about why the Wolsey works it’s because the designer went out of his way not to be cool. At the end of the day, when you’ve spent £12 million on an interior the last thing you want is for it to be last season’s next big thing.
that everyone is going to arrive at the same time, bookings are quite low here because of the tourist trade, and there will always be an inordinate number of coats and shopping bags. What vintage features should we look out for? Well, it’s an interesting question because it’s such a tight venue. Normally I’d have quite a few antique features in an interior— probably about 75 per cent of what we do is reclaimed and antique—but in the case of Tuttons we had to get so many seats in I didn’t have a lot of room for other things. There’s a few cupboards, and the light fittings are antique,hence the slightly different sizes, but that’s about it. I like that cosy corner seat in the main restaurant though—you could have a cheeky affair there—and the part of the restaurant we always refer to as the railway carriage because it’s long and narrow. I think that is a
great asset because you can so easily push the banquettes together when a big party arrives. Then there’s the ceiling, the way it glows in the evening, and the brass steps up to the restaurant we got from the same company that makes them for the tube. I’m pleased with the layout here. It works.
What is your own house like? I haven’t got a house. I’m very happy not to have a house. I mean, what do you need in London, really? A bed, a few books, a TV and maybe a microwave and toaster, so you can make baked beans on toast. Besides, it seems a bit weird having an interior designer do your flat, like you’re manufacturing your own good taste or someone else’s. I’ll get a house one day, of course, but I won’t do it up.
Do you think the movement away from minimalism toward more characterful interiors is a sign of the times? It certainly seems to come and go in waves. When the economy is booming, interiors tend to be quite minimal and hard, but when times are like they are at the moment people want a sort of enduring homeliness, which suits me perfectly. I need the economy to not boom, really, so I can keep going with my antiques! You were in fashion before coming to interiors. What prompted the move? Actually the secret is I was in interiors first,
61 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 61
14/09/2012 10:18
PLACE
PLACE IN BRIEF
Knight Frank knightfrank.co.uk
SPECIAL AGENTS /Knight Frank
No. 1 Kingsway
L
Kate Townrow, an associate at Knight Frank, talks penthouses, loft-style flats and why the Covent Garden has become a real destination for those looking to move into the heart of London. CGJ: Where do you operate? KT: While Knight Frank as a whole operates in 47 different countries, our Mayfair office covers the area of central London south of Oxford Street—so you’ve got Mayfair, St James, Soho and Covent Garden, right down to Kingsway and The Strand. I do love Covent Garden, though! Why is that? There’s just so much culture, so much going on and it’s become a really desirable area for people buying and renting. Previously I don’t think it was seen as such a residential destination—you’d think it was more retail and restaurant based—but if you look above the shops, there are a lot of beautiful apartments you might otherwise miss. Any examples? We’ve got a great property called No. 1 Kingsway, just off Drury Lane—a big building with six apartments. The penthouses have 360 degree views and balconies off each one, and all the flats are also situated above The Delaunay, the brilliant new restaurant owned by Jeremy King and Chris Corbin.
Where are the residential hotspots? To be honest, most of the properties that go up for sale or to rent in Covent Garden are fairly sought after, but the best-selling streets tend to be anything close to Seven Dials—Macklin Street, Shorts Gardens— or the areas close to the Piazza, like Floral Street or Henrietta Street. We’ve also had quite a lot of interest in loft-style apartments, having taken on quite a few on Macklin Street that are really popular. People in general are starting to balance Covent Garden’s centralitywith actually loving the area itself, and seeing it as a great place to live. Why do you think this is? It’s got fashion, lifestyle, great food, nightlife and it attracts a whole host of varying people. Yes, there are tourists, but also so much variety, from big name restaurants to tiny boutiques and bistros—there’s something for everyone. It’s also not too loud but not too quiet—like a village amid the city. The opening of the Apple store really boosted Covent Garden as an attractive place to be. It’s the biggest store in Europe, so a lot of people are going to hear about that and go: “Well if it’s good enough for Apple, I’d better check it out!” What’s the best way to go about snapping up these in-demand properties? It’s about having an agent you can trust and who will work with you throughout your search—property hunting can be stressful
in London! Knight Frank has properties online but, if you come to us directly, we can talk through some places we’re unable to list for whatever reason. On top of this, we can also let you know of properties coming up on the market before they’re actually advertised online, so you can get in there extra quickly! How would you describe your clientele? Quite frankly, I couldn’t. It’s really varied. We do get a lot of overseas property hunters—American, French—Asian, and this rising international interest shows how Covent Garden is becoming more and more desirable. Any famous customers? We had some interesting lets over the Olympics, and quite a few actors want to be close to the West End for obvious reasons, so we get a fair few well known faces letting in Covent Garden.
K
Finally, what’s your favourite aspect of Covent Garden? I love the amount of restaurants that opened in early 2012—Jamie Oliver’s Union Jack’s, for example. and The Delaunay. I’m also a bit in love with Jo Malone, browsing in the Apple store, and I think it’s great that Chanel has opened here. There are more and more high end brands coming to Covent Garden—which is great, because I have quite expensive tastes!
W
62 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 62
14/09/2012 10:18
KF autu 258992
PLACE
Why use Knight Frank?
500K LET
LET
Portman Square, W1H
Blandford Street, W1U
£625 per week
visitors per month visit our Global Residential Search
209
offices in 47 countries across 6 continents means your property has a global audience
£675 per week
Lexington Street, Soho W1F
‘World’s Best Real Estate Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden WC2H ★
5
Agency Website’
Offered in excellent condition, a recently renovated contemporary apartment in the heart of Soho. Bedroom, bathroom, reception room with dining space and wooden flooring and modern kitchen. Approximately 50 sq.m (538 sq.ft).
An exceptionally spacious warehouse style apartment in International Residential Property one of Covent Garden’s most sought after Awardslocations.Double 2009 bedroom, 2 bathrooms (1 en suite), open plan reception years asplentiful trusted advisors room/kitchen with separate dining area, and built in our clients storage. Approximately 102 sq.m (1,093tosq.ft).
Available furnished.
Available unfurnished.
Guide price: £425 per week
LET KnightFrank.com/Lettings
LET
£775 per7499 week 1012 020
£795 per week
coventgarden@knightfrank.com Dorset Street, W1U
Harley Street, W1G
115
6,800
Guide price: £850 per week
KnightFrank.com/Lettings coventgarden@knightfrank.com 020 7499 1012
Whether you are buying, selling, letting or renting, the Knight Frank Marylebone team is ready to help. Please contact us for expert advice on your local property market.
LET
LET
Weymouth Mews, W1G
Great Cumberland Place, W1H
£850 per week
£1,000 per week
Wardour Street, Soho W1F
A contemporary split-level penthouse with balcony and panoramic views across the London skyline. 2 double bedrooms, 2 en suite bathrooms, open-plan reception/ kitchen, utility room, guest WC, private balcony, communal courtyard, lift. Approximately 149 sq.m (1,604 sq.ft)
Available furnished. Montagu Square, W1H £1,150 per week Guide price: £1,600 per week
KnightFrank.co.uk/Marylebone marylebone@knightfrank.com 020 7483 8349 WORLD CLASS PROPERTIES ON THE KNIGHT FRANK APP FOR IPHONE.
Kean Street, WC2B LET
Applicants are looking for a new home to buy or rent in London
LET
Picton Place, W1U £1,400 per week
MAGNIFIQUE
A stylish duplex penthouse with outstanding views, balcony, and the W Hotel’s signature Download the FREE KnightWhatever/Whenever Frank iPhone Application instantly by visiting the2App Store on your iPhoneopen or for more information services. 2 double bedrooms, bathrooms, plan please visit www.knightfrank.com/iphone. reception room/kitchen, balcony, concierge and lift. Approximately 146 sq.m (1,573 sq.ft). Available furnished. Guide price: £2,500 per week
KnightFrank.com/Lettings KnightFrank.com/Lettings coventgarden@knightfrank.com With 19 sales and lettings offices across London, Ascot,coventgarden@knightfrank.com Cobham and Esher, Knight Frank has it covered. 020 7499 1012 020 7499 1012 KF autumn lettings 12.indd 3 2 cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 63 258992_KF_MJ_FEB11.indd
12/09/2012 09:55:00 14/09/2012 10:18 24/01/2011 17:23
SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
Devonshire Street, W1G
Montagu Mansions, W1U
Picton Place, W1U
£240,000
£725,000
£995,000
Exceptional results in MARYLEBONE SOLD Barrett Street, W1U £1,500,000
SOLD
Let our knowledge, experience and successes help generate the best result for your property in 2011. Please call us for a free and discreet market appraisal. KnightFrank.co.uk/Marylebone marylebone@knightfrank.com 020 7483 8349
Blandford Street, W1U £1,850,000
SOLD Bolsover Street, W1W £1,575,000
SOLD Bryanston Square, W1H £2,750,000
Savoy Court, Covent Garden WC2
Contemporary fourth floor two bedroom apartment
A meticulously refurbished apartment located in a secure portered building adjacent to KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair the renowned Savoy Hotel. Optional services provided by the Savoy include housekeeping, coventgarden@knightfrank.com concierge services and membership to the Savoy fitness centre. Master bedroom suite, further bedroom, further bathroom, reception room, kitchen, SOLD SOLD SOLD 020 7499 1012 air conditioning. Harley Street, W1G Wimpole Street, W1G Montagu Square, W1H111 sq.m (1,195 sq.ft) Approximately £6,555,000 £6,950,000 £2,750,000 Leasehold 92 years approximately Guide price: £2,200,000 * Asking prices quoted - many agreed at asking price or above
KF sales CGJ autumn 12.indd 2 64 cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 258992_KF_MJ_FEB11.indd 1
W 12/09/2012 10:01:15 14/09/2012 10:19 24/01/2011 17:22
KF sale 258992
Why use Knight Frank?
500K LET
LET
Portman Square, W1H
Blandford Street, W1U
£625 per week
visitors per month visit our Global Residential Search
209
offices in 47 countries across 6 continents means your property has a global audience
£675 per week
5★
‘World’s Best Real Estate Agency Website’ International Residential Property Awards 2009
115 LET
LET
Dorset Street, W1U
Harley Street, W1G
£775 per week
LET
Weymouth Mews, W1G
Great Cumberland Place, W1H £1,000 per week
Savoy Court, Covent Garden WC2 Refurbished fifth floor two bedroom apartment
com
6,800
Applicants are looking for a new home to buy or rent in London
£795 per week
LET £850 per week
years as trusted advisors to our clients
This beautifully finished property in a secure portered building comprises master bedroom suite, further bedroom, further bathroom, large reception room and kitchen, and further benefits from air conditioning throughout and under floor heating in the bathrooms. of properties in this desirable buildingLET have the opportunity to enjoy services provided LETOwners by the adjacent Savoy Hotel. Montagu Square, W1H Picton Place, W1U Approximately 111 sq.m (1,195 sq.ft) £1,150Leasehold per week £1,400 per week 92 years approximately
Whether you are buying, selling, letting or renting, the Knight Frank Marylebone team is ready to help. Please contact us for expert advice on your local property market. KnightFrank.co.uk/Marylebone marylebone@knightfrank.com 020 7483 8349 WORLD CLASS PROPERTIES ON THE KNIGHT FRANK APP FOR IPHONE.
MAGNIFIQUE
Download the FREE Knight Frank iPhone Application instantly by visiting the App Store on your iPhone or for more information please visit www.knightfrank.com/iphone.
KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair coventgarden@knightfrank.com 020 7499 1012
Guide price: £2,200,000
With 19 sales and lettings offices across London, Ascot, Cobham and Esher, Knight Frank has it covered.
10:01:15 17:22
KF sales CGJ autumn 12.indd 2 3 65 cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 258992_KF_MJ_FEB11.indd
12/09/2012 10:01:48 14/09/2012 10:19 24/01/2011 17:23
PLACE
DIRECTORY/17
FASHION
7 For All Mankind 11b King Street uk.7forallmankind.com Womenswear Accessorize The Market at Covent Garden 22 The Market Building 020 7240 2107 monsoon.co.uk agnès b 35-36 Floral Street 020 7379 1992 agnesb.com Womenswear & menswear Albam 39 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 9391 albamclothing.com Menswear All Saints 5 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7179 3749 57 Long Acre 020 7836 0801 allsaints.co.uk Womenswear & menswear Aubin & Wills 12 Floral Street 020 7240 4024 aubinandwills.com Banana Republic 132 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7836 9567 bananarepublic.gap.eu Womenswear & menswear Barbour 134 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard barbour.com Womenswear & menswear Base 55 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 8914 base-fashions.co.uk Womenswear Ben Sherman 49 Long Acre 020 7836 6196 brand.bensherman.com Menswear Betsey Johnson 4-5 Carriage Hall, 29 Floral street 020 7240 6164 betseyjohnson.com Womenswear Birkenstock 70 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 2783 birkenstock.co.uk Shoes Brora 42 Market Building 020 7836 6921 brora.co.uk Womenswear Burberry Brit 41-42 King Street burberry.com Womenswear
Calvin Klein 120 Long Acre 020 7240 7582 calvinklein.com Womenswear & menswear Camper 39 Floral Street camper.com Shoes Carhartt 15-17 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 1551 carhartt.com Womenswear & menswear Cos 130-131 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7632 4190 cosstores.com Crazy Pig Designs 38 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 4305 crazypigdesigns.com Jewellery Crocs 48 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 2505 crocs.eu Shoes Desa 6 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7836 6055 desa.uk.com Leather & womenswear David David 36 Earlham Street, Seven Dials daviddavidlondon.tumblr.com Womenswear & menswear Diesel 43 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7497 5543 diesel.com Womenswear & menswear Dune 26 James Street 020 7836 1560 dune.co.uk DUO 21 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard duoboots.com Footwear East 16 The Piazza 020 7836 6685 east.co.uk Womenswear Eileen Fisher 4 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard eileenfisher.com Womenswear Energie & Killah 47-49 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 7719 energie.it Menswear Fat Face Clothing Thomas Neal’s Centre, 35 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7497 6464 fatface.com Womenswear & menswear
Formes 28 Henrietta Street 020 7240 4777 formes.com Pregnant womenswear Foxhall London 20 Earlham Street 020 3142 6248 foxhalllondon.com Fred Perry 14 The Piazza 020 7836 3327 6-8 Thomas Neal’s Centre 020 7836 4513 fredperry.com Womenswear & menswear Freddy 30-32 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 5291 freddy.it Womenswear & menswear G-Star 5-11 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 3707 g-star.com Womenswear & menswear Hoss Intropia 124 Long Acre 020 7240 4900 hossintropia.com Womenswear Jack Wills 136 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7240 8946 jackwills.com Jaeger London 2 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 3328 9441 jaeger.co.uk Womenswear and menswear Joules 3 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard joules.com Womenswear & menswear Kabiri 18 Market Building 020 7794 0754 kabiri.co.uk Jewellery Karen Millen 22-23 James Street 020 7836 5355 karenmillen.com Womenswear Kurt Geiger 1 James Street kurtgeiger.com Laird London 23 New Row lairdlondon.co.uk Hats Laura Lee 42 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 9050 lauraleejewellery.com Jewellery L K Bennett 138 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7379 9890 lkbennett.com Womenswear
Lollipops 55 Neal Street, Seven Dials lollipops.fr Women’s accessories Lyle & Scott 40 King Street 020 7379 7190 lyleandscott.com Massimo Dutti 125-126 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7935 0250 massimodutti.com Womenswear & Menswear McClintock 29 Floral Street 020 7240 5055 mcclintock-eyewear.co.uk Eyewear Monsoon 5-6 James Street 020 7379 3623 monsoon.co.uk Womenswear Nicole Farhi 11 Floral Street 020 7497 8713 nicolefarhi.com Womenswear & menswear Oliver Sweeney 14 King Street oliversweeney.com Shoes Orla Kiely 31-33 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 4022 orlakiely.com Womenswear and homewares Original Penguin 8 North Piazza orginalpenguin.co.uk Menswear and womenswear Pandora 23 Long Acre pandora.net Jewellery Paul Smith 40-44 Floral Street 020 7836 7828 9-11 Langley Court 020 7240 5420 paulsmith.co.uk Womenswear & menswear Pop Boutique 6 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7497 5262 pop-boutique.com Vintage womenswear & menswear Poste Mistress 61-63 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 4040 postemistress.co.uk Shoes Pretty Ballerinas 7 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard prettyballerinas.com Shoes Rabeanco 25 Long Acre rabeanco.com Bags
66 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 66
14/09/2012 10:19
PLACE
Replay 32 Long Acre 020 7379 8650 replay.it Rugby Ralph Lauren 43 King Street rugby.com Womenswear & menswear Q Menswear 10 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 4365 Menswear Size? 37a Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 7853 Shoes Skechers 2-3 James Street uk.skechers.com Shoes Sole 72 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 6777 sole.co.uk Shoes Stone Island 34 Shelton Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 8402 stoneisland.co.uk Menswear Superga 53 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 6935 superga.co.uk Shoes Super Superficial 22 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7287 7447 supersuperficial.com Superdry 24-25 & 28 Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials superdry.co.uk Womenswear & menswear Tatty Devine 44 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials tattydevine.com Jewellery Ted Baker 1-4 Langley Court 020 7497 8862 tedbaker.com Womenswear & menswear Topman General Store 36-38 Earlham Street, Seven Dials topman.com Menswear Twenty8Twelve 8 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7042 3500 twenty8twelve.com Womenswear Tzar 15 King Street 020 7240 0969 Womenswear UGG Australia Long Acre uggaustralia.com Accessories
UNCONDITIONAL + 16 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 6931 unconditional.uk.com Womenswear & menswear Urban Outfitters 42-56 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7759 6390 urbanoutfitters.com Womenswear & menswear Vilebrequin 9 King Street vilebrequin.com Men’s swimwear Volcom 7 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 3353 volcomeurope.com Surf and skate fashion WeSC 35 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 4473 wesc.com Skate fashion Whistles 24 Long Acre 020 7240 8195 whistles.co.uk Womenswear
HEALTH & BEAUTY
Adee Phelan 29 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 3777 adeephelan.com Hair & beauty salon Bare Escentuals 40 Neal Street, Seven Dials bareescentuals.co.uk Skincare and cosmetics Benefit 19 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7379 0316 benefitcosmetics.com Cosmetics The Body Control Pilates Centre 35 Little Russell Street 020 7636 8900 bodycontrol.co.uk Covent Garden Dental Practice 61g Oldham Walk 020 7836 9161 cgdp.com Covent Garden Dental Spa 68a Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 9107 coventgardendentalspa.co.uk Covent Garden Physio Ground Floor, 23-24 Henrietta Street 020 7497 8974 coventgardenphysio.com Physiotherapists The Covent Garden Salon 69 Endell Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 8362 thecoventgardensalon.com Hair & beauty salon
Crabtree & Evelyn The Market at Covent Garden 3 The Piazza 020 7836 3110 crabtree-evelyn.co.uk Erno Laszlo 13 Market Building 020 3040 3035 ernolaszlo.com Skincare Good Vibes 14 -16 Betterton Street Goodvibesfitness.co.uk Yoga, Pilates, Power Plates Hair By Fairy 8-10 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials 020 7497 0776 hairbyfairy.com Hair & beauty salon Karine Jackson 24 Litchfield Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 0300 karinejackson.co.uk Hair & beauty salon Kiehl’s 29 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 2411 kiehls.com Skincare L’Artisan Parfumeur 13 Market Building 020 3040 3030 artisanparfumeur.com Perfume L’Occitane 6 Market Building 020 7379 6040 Lush 11 Market Building 020 7240 4570 lush.co.uk Mac 38 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 6820 maccosmetics.com Cosmetics Melvita 17 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard uk.melvita.com Skincare Miller Harris 14 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 9378 millerharris.com Molton Brown Emporium 18 Russell Street 020 7240 8383 moltonbrown.co.uk Skincare & cosmetics Murdock 18 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 3393 7946 murdocklondon.com Barbers Neal’s Yard Remedies 15 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials 020 7739 7222 nealsyardremedies.com Natural remedies & skincare
Nickel 27 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 4048 nickelspalondon.co.uk Men only spa Pro Health Store 16 Drury Lane 020 7240 1639 pro-healthstore.co.uk Sports nutrition and health supplements relax 7 Mercer Street, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7871 4567 relax.org.uk Beauty and massage centre The Sanctuary 12 Floral Street 0870 770 3350 thesanctuary.co.uk Women only spa Sanrizz 4 Upper St Martin’s Lane 020 7379 8022 sanrizz.co.uk Sassoon 45a Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 6635 sassoon.com Hair salon Screen Face 48 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 3955 screenface.com Cosmetics Shu Uemura 24 Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 7635 shu-uemura.co.jp Skincare & cosmetics Space NK 32 Shelton Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 6384 spacenk.co.uk Skincare & cosmetics Stuart Phillips 25 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 5304 stuartphillips.co.uk Hair salon Thai Square Spa Thai Square Spa 25 Shelton Street 020 7240 6090 thaisquarespa.com Toni & Guy 4 Henrietta Street 020 7240 7342 toniandguy.com Trevor Sorbie 27 Floral Street 0844 445 6901 trevorsorbie.com Hair salon Walk in Back Rub Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials 020 7836 9111 walkinbackrub.co.uk Massage Yotopia 13 Mercer Street, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 3405 8888 yotopia.co.uk Yoga and pilates studio
67 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 67
14/09/2012 10:19
PLACE
DIRECTORY/17
RETAIL
Aram Designs 3 Kean Street 020 7240 3933 aram.co.uk Furniture Artbox 14 Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials 020 7240 0097 artbox.co.uk Fun accessories Berghaus 13 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7379 9313 berghaus.com Outdoor clothing and accessories Cath Kidston 28-32 Shelton Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 4803 cathkidston.co.uk Homewares Coco de Mer 23 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 8882 coco-de-mer.com Womens erotic boutique Covent Garden Academy of Flowers 9 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7240 6359 academyofflowers.com Flower design courses The Dover Bookshop 18 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 2111 doverbooks.co.uk Design books Ellis Brigham 3-11 Southampton Street 020 7395 1010 ellis-brigham.com Mountain sports Field & Trek 64 Long Acre 020 7379 8167 42 Maiden Lane 020 7379 3793 fieldandtrek.com Outdoor pursuits Frances Hilary 42 Market Building 020 7836 3135 franceshilary.com Gardening Kathmandu 26 Henrietta Street 020 7379 4748 kathmandu.co.uk Outdoor pursuits Kidrobot 19 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 4074 kidrobot.com Designer toys London Marathon Shop 63 Long Acre 020 7240 1244 londonmarathonstore.com Running equipment The North Face 30-32 Southampton Street 020 7240 9577 thenorthface.com Outdoor pursuits
Patagonia 6A Langley Street 020 3137 6518 patagonia.com Outdoor pursuits SJ Dent 34 Great Queen Street 020 7242 6018 sjdent.com Sporting memorabilia Slam City Skates 16 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials 020 7240 0928 slamcity.com Skateboarding equipment Specialized Cycles 11 Mercer Street, St Martin’s Courtyard specializedconceptstore.co.uk Bikes and cycling equipment Spex in the City 1 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 0243 spexinthecity.com Eyewear Stanfords 12-14 Long Acre 020 7836 1321 stanfords.co.uk Maps The Watch Hut 128 Long Acre 020 7292 1247 thewatchhut.co.uk Watches The Tintin Shop 34 Floral Street 020 7836 1131 thetintinshop.uk.com Tintin memorabilia The White Company 5 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 8166 0200 thewhitecompany.com Homewares
FOOD RETAILERS & CAFES Battersea Pie Station 28 Market Building 020 7240 9566 batterseapiestation.co.uk Pies Ben’s Cookies The Market at Covent Garden 13a The Market Building 020 7240 6123 benscookies.com Candy Cakes 36 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 30 Market Building, Lower Courtyard 020 7497 8979 candycakes.eu Bakery Crème de la Crepe 29 The Market Building, Lower Courtyard 020 7836 6896 cremedelacrepe.co.uk Crepes
Double Shot Coffee Company 38 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 9742 doubleshotcoffee.co.uk Ella’s Bakehouse 20a Market Building ellasbakehouse.com Euphorium Bakery Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials, 020 7379 3608 euphoriumbakery.com Bakery French Bubbles 22 Wellington Street, Opera Quarter frenchbubbles.co.uk Champagne Gelatorino 2 Russell Street, Opera Quarter gelatorino.com Italian gelato Hardy’s Original Sweet Shop 25 New Row 020 7240 2341 Traditional sweet shop Hope and Greenwood 1 Russell Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 3314 hopeandgreenwood.co.uk Sweets Kastner & Ovens 52 Floral Street 020 7379 6428 Bakers Ladurée 1 Market Building laduree.fr Macarones La Gelateria 27 New Row 020 7836 9559 Italian gelato Monmouth Coffee 27 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7379 3516 monmouthcoffee.co.uk Coffee Neal’s Yard Dairy 17 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 5700 nealsyarddairy.co.uk Cheese New Row Coffee 24 New Row 020 3583 6949 Coffee New York Deli The Market at Covent Garden 24 The Piazza 020 7379 3253 Notes Opera Quarter 36 Wellington Street, Opera Quarter 31 St Martin’s Lane notesmusiccoffee.com Wine, coffee and music Patisserie Valerie 15 Bedford Street 020 7379 6428 patisserie-valerie.co.uk Patisserie Primrose Bakery 42 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter primrosebakery.org.uk Cakes
Roast & Conch 4 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials Chocolate Scoop 40 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 7086 Italian gelato Sweet Couture 23a New Row sweetcouture.co.uk Cupcakes, cakes and small bites The Tea House 15a Neal Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 7539 Tea Tea Palace 12 Market Building 020 7836 6997 teapalace.co.uk Tea Whittard The Market at Covent Garden 38 The Market Building whittard.co.uk 020 7836 7681 Yu-foria Frozen Yoghurt Co 19a Market Building, Lower Courtyard 020 7240 5532 yu-foria.com Frozen yoghurt
RESTAURANTS
Axis at One Aldwych 1 Aldwych 020 7300 0300 onealdwych.com Modern British Belgo Centraal 50 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7813 2233 belgo-restaurants.co.uk Belgian Bill’s 13 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7240 8183 bills-website.co.uk Cafe & deli Boulevard Brasserie 38-40 Wellington Street 020 7240 2992 boulevardbrasserie.co.uk Modern European Busaba Eathai 44 Floral Street busaba.com Thai Café des Amis Bar & Restaurant 11-14 Hanover Place, Long Acre 020 7379 3444 cafedesamis.co.uk French Cantina Laredo 10 Upper St Martin’s Lane, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7240 0630 cantinalaredo.co.uk Mexican
68 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 68
14/09/2012 10:19
Pata_Lo
Seven Dials
London Partner Store
er
St
erc
M
y le ng
La St
ng
Lo
Covent Garden
re
Ac
et
tre
lS lora
F
et
tre
gS
Kin
Covent Garden Piazza
Leicester Square
Pata_London_CVJournal_S12.indd691 cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd
11/06/2012 16:02:20 14/09/2012 10:19
PLACE
DIRECTORY/17
RESTAURANTS CONTINUED Carluccio’s Garrick Street 020 7836 0990 carluccios.com Italian Chez Gerard 45 Market Building 020 7379 0666 chezgerard.com French Christophers American Bar & Grill 18 Wellington Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 4222 christophersgrill.com Modern American Clos Maggiore 33 King Street 020 7379 9696 Quality food French Côte 17-21 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter 020 7379 9991 cote-restaurants.co.uk French bistro Dalla Terra 25 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard dallaterra.co.uk Italian wine and food Dishoom 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7420 9320 dishoom.com Bombay cafe Le Deuxieme 65a Long Acre 020 7379 0033 ledeuxieme.com Modern European The Forge 14 Garrick Street 020 7379 1432 theforgerestaurant.com Modern European Great Queen Street 32 Great Queen Street 020 7242 0622 British Hawksmoor Seven Dials 11 Langley Street 020 7856 2154 thehawksmoor.co.uk Steak and cocktails Hi Sushi Izakaya 27 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter restaurantprivilege.com Japanese The Ivy 1-5 West Street 020 7836 4751 the-ivy.co.uk Modern European Johnstons Brasserie 2 Burleigh Street 020 7497 4185 strandrestaurants.co.uk Brasserie
The Marquis 51/52 Chandos Place themarquiswc2n.co.uk Pub classics J Sheekey 28-32 St Martin’s Court 020 7240 2565 j-sheekey.co.uk Fish and seafood Jamie’s Italian 11 Upper St Martin’s Lane St Martin’s Courtyard 020 3326 6390 jamieoliver.com Kitchen Italia 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 020 7632 9500 kitchen-italia.com Kopapa 32-34 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials kopapa.co.uk 20 7240 6076 Fusion food L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon 13-15 West Street 020 7010 8600 joel-robuchon.com French Les Deux Salons 40-42 William IV Street 020 7420 2050 lesdeuxsalons.co.uk French Loch Fyne Restaurant & Oyster Bar 2-4 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 4999 lochfyne.com Fish and seafood Masala Zone 48 Floral Street 020 7379 0101 masalazone.com Indian Mishkins 25 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter mishkins.co.uk Jewish deli with cocktails Mon Plaisir 21 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 7243 monplaisir.co.uk French Opera Tavern 23 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter 020 7836 3680 operatavern.co.uk Tapas Palm Court Brasserie 39 King Street palmcourtbrasserie.co.uk French PJ’s 30 Wellington Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 7529 pjscoventgarden.co.uk Bar and grill Porters English Restaurant 17 Henrietta Street 020 7836 6466 porters.uk.com British
70 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 70
Restorante Aurora 3 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter 020 7836 7585 Italian Rossopomodoro 50-52 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials 020 7240 9095 rossopomodoro.co.uk Italian Rules 35 Maiden Lane 020 7836 5314 rules.co.uk British Sagar 31 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter 020 7836 6377 gosagar.com Sarastro 126 Drury Lane 020 7836 0101 sarastro-restaurant.com Turkish/Mediterranean Simurgh 17 Garrick Street 020 7240 7811 simurgh.co.uk Persian Sitaaray 167 Drury Lane 020 7269 6422 sitaaray.com Indian Sofra 36 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter 020 7240 3773 sofra.co.uk Turkish Sophie’s Steakhouse 29-31 Wellington Street 020 7836 8836 sophiessteakhouse.co.uk Steak Souk Medina 1a Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials 020 7240 1796 soukrestaurant.net North African Strada 13-15 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter 020 3077 1127 strada.co.uk Pizza Strand Palace Carvery Exeter Street 020 7497 4160 strandrestaurants.co.uk Carvery SUDA 23 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard 020 7240 8010 suda-thai.com Thai Square 166-170 Shaftesbury Avenue 020 7836 7600 thaisquare.net Thai Wahaca 66 Chandos Place 020 7240 1883 wahaca.com Mexican Wild Food Café 14 Neal’s Yard wildfoodcafe.com Raw food
CULTURE
Arts Theatre 6/7 Great Newport Street 020 7836 2132 artsheatrelondon.com Theatre Cambridge Theatre 32-34 Earlham Street, Seven Dials 0844 412 4652 reallyuseful.com Theatre The Courtauld Gallery Somerset House Strand 020 7848 2526 courtauld.ac.uk Gallery Delicate Mayhem Gallery 3 Russell Street, Opera Quarter delicatemayhem.com Gallery Donmar Warehouse 41 Earlham Street 0870 060 6624 ddonmarwarehouse.com Theatre The Funny Side 33-35 Wellington Street 0870 446 0616 thefunnyside.info Stand up comedy Grosvenor Prints 19 Shelton Street, Seven Dials 020 7836 1979 grosvenorprints.com Antique prints London Coliseum St Martin’s Lane 020 7632 8300 eno.org Opera London Transport Museum Covent Garden Piazza 020 7565 7298 ltmuseum.co.uk Novello Theatre Aldwych 0870 950 0940 novellotheatre.com Theatre The Poetry Cafe 22 Betterton Sreet 020 7420 9887 poetrysoc.com Poetry Royal Opera House Bow Street 0207 240 1200 royalopera.org Opera Somerset House Strand 020 7845 4600 somersethouse.org.uk Tenderpixel Gallery 10 Cecil Court 020 73799464 tenderpixel.com Visual arts Vaudeville Theatre 404 Strand vaudeville-theatre.co.uk Theatre
14/09/2012 10:19
PLACE
MS
ST XFORD NEW O
H HIG
PIAZZA
ow New R
LONDON COLISEUM
rd dfo Be
ST
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM
e an nL e d i Ma
St
D
L
TIN’S LANE
nr He
St
AN
R ST
P ER ST CA LAN
t kS c o t vis Ta
ST PAULS CHURCH ta St iet
TO N
OPERA QUARTER
H YC W LD
G
St
MARKET
THEATRE ROYAL
Ca the rin e
N LI EL
R ST MA
t gS n i K
W
t lS ra o l F
St
G ON
RE AC
es m Ja
L
SH AF TE SB UR Y
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
St
RD SS RO
ST MARTIN’S COURTYARD
COVENT GARDEN
yL an e
Ru ss ell St
ley ng La
SEVEN DIALS
on elt h S
ST
ne La
Dr ur
St
St al Ne
t am S Earlh
N EE U Q
Y WA GS KIN
y ur Dr
GT
THOMAS NEAL CENTRE
Gar rick
LEICESTER SQUARE
ST RE ET
t rS ce er M
MONMOUTH ST
t rS we To
GC R IN CHA
Lichfield St
s en rd a G ts or h S
EN DE LL St s al al’ Ne Ne ard Y
AV EN UE
ST GILES ST
L HO
HOLBORN
RN BO
A
OO BL
Y WA Y R BU
KM EN T
William IV St
EM BA N
CHARING CROSS
EMBANKMENT
71 Covent Garden Journal Issue 17 Autumn 2012
cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 71
14/09/2012 10:19
r at i n g c e l e b2012
Three Cups Yard WC1R £875 per week
Whitehall SW1A £825 per week
Great Queen Street WC1B £725 per week
Monmouth Street WC2H £650 per week
A stunning duplex apartment set within this highly sought-after development. Comprising a reception room with floor to ceiling windows & a mezzanine study area, kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms & a private garden.
A newly refurbished duplex apartment set within the heart of Covent Garden. This contemporary apartment comprises a reception room, kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, modern bathroom with bath & shower & hard wood floors.
Lettings 020 3040 8400 cgj_issue17_pp58_72_place.indd 72 Che 3010 Covent Garden J 250x200.indd 1
A bright newly refurbished 2nd floor apartment situated within this prestigious portered development in Whitehall, just off Trafalgar Square. Benefiting from a reception room, kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, bathroom & wood flooring throughout.
A newly refurbished 1st floor apartment set within a converted building on this desirable street. Featuring a reception room, open plan kitchen, double bedroom, bathroom & built in surround sound system.
lettings.coventgarden@chestertonhumberts.com
chestertonhumberts.com 14/09/2012 10:19 03/08/2012 22:42
St Martins Place WC2N £1,650,000 leasehold
John Adam Street WC2N £1,500,000 leasehold
Villiers Street WC2N
Shorts Gardens WC2H £495,000 leasehold
A beautifully presented 2 bedroom apartment in an elegantly refurbished period block with views towards St Martin in the Fields & Trafalgar Square.
£950,000 leasehold
A contemporary apartment with 2 double en-suite bedrooms, situated within a refurbished period building just off Embankment Gardens.
A bright & spacious apartment with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a private terrace & underground parking. Located within close proximity to Victoria Embankment.
A ground & lower ground floor flat offering a 24ft reception room, dining room, kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, parking & 24hr porterage.
Sales 020 3040 8300 sales.coventgarden@chestertonhumberts.com cgj_issue17_BC_IFC_IBC.indd 1 Che 3010 Covent Garden J 250x200.indd 2
chestertonhumberts.com 14/09/2012 10:01 03/08/2012 22:42
cgj_issue17_BC_IFC_IBC.indd 1
14/09/2012 10:01