Bermondsey Biscuit & Rotherhithe Docker - Autumn 2019

Autumn 2019

Issue 4

e Designer Dames Zandra Rhod 0 celebrates 5 n io years in fash

A thank you to our sponsors We'd like to acknowledge all our sponsors and supporters for helping us bring the Bermondsey Biscuit and Rotherhithe Docker to life.

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autumn 2019

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Editor’s Letter Laura Burgoine

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elcome to our fourth edition. In line with the annual Bermondsey Street Festival, our autumn issue is a celebration of dogs and design.

As Bermondsey Street’s Grand Dame Zandra Rhodes marks 50 years in fashion, the Biscuit visits Zandra at her penthouse above the Fashion and Textile Museum to talk about her upcoming exhibition and the artistic neighbourhood she calls home.

Michael Holland takes a walk down memory lane with Bermondsey Community Kitchen founder Mike Donovan, and we look back on 150 years of Southwark Park.

Do come and say hello to us at this year’s Bermondsey Street festival where we’ll be giving out copies of the Biscuit.

And to all our canine competitors entering this year’s Dog Show, you’re all winners in our eyes.

About us Editor Writers

Laura Burgoine Michael Holland, Debra Gosling, Cara Cummings Photography Alexandra Seijas Marketing Tammy Jukes, Anthony Phillips, Clarry Frewin, Lorraine Wood, Samantha Ratcliffe, Katie Boyd Design Finance Directors

Dan Martin, Lizzy Tweedale, Aurelio Medina Emrah Zeki Chris Mullany, Kevin Quinn

Contact us Email Enquiry@bermondseybiscuit.co.uk Phone 020 7231 5258 Website www.bbandrd.co.uk Facebook BermondseyBiscuit Instagram @bermondseybiscuit

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Going out, out Bermondsey Street Festival returns People Bermondsey Street's first lady Zandra Rhodes Into the Woods Meet the six o’clock club History The remarkable 1900s ‘hearing’ dog Memories What’s cooking, Mike Donovan?

Food & Drink Biodynamic wines under the arches Property Luxury flats, new builds and what's up your street Our winter issue hits the streets in November.

Contact us to get involved

fe Print Printed by Ilif Published by Southwark Newspaper Ltd

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH TEAM LONDON BRIDGE

autumn 2019

London Bridge Open Kitchen is back!

20th September, Science Gallery London courtyard, St Thomas Street, SE1, 12pm – 10pm

London Bridge Open Kitchen 2019 includes…

On Friday 20th September, a selection of London Bridge’s top restaurants and bars are coming together for one day only to celebrate the vibrant food and drink culture of the area. Located in the heart of London Bridge at the foot of The Shard, London Bridge Open Kitchen will transform the impressive al fresco courtyard at Science Gallery London into a buzzing all-day event with food stalls, pop-up bars and live music.

Organised by Team London Bridge, the free to enter event celebrates the dynamic dining scene of London Bridge, cementing the area as one of the capital’s major food and drink hubs. The food stalls will bring together an eclectic mix of flavours from around the world, with esteemed neighbouring restaurants such as Santa Remedio, Bob’s Lobster, Kin + Deum and The Coal Shed showcasing their signature dishes.

London Bridge Open Kitchen will run from lunch through to dinner - making it the perfect spot for that leisurely Friday lunch break, flowing into the evening with drinks from local bars and some of the best food the capital has to offer.

For the first time, London Bridge Open Kitchen will also be teaming up with Bermondsey craft beer and skate brand, Hop King, who will be bringing locally brewed beers from their Druid Street archway as well as their very own skate ramp.

With dishes starting from £5 there will be opportunities to try cuisine from international favourites as well as from some of the best local restaurants and bars that London Bridge has to offer. FREE tickets can be ordered in advance. See atlondonbridge.com for more details.

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 BOB’s Lobster - Acclaimed fresh-seafood destination, specialising in lobster rolls  Santo Remedio - Mexican street food with a modern twist  Kin + Deum - Modern Thai restaurant with Bangkok inspired food  The Coal Shed - Rustic, coal roasted food, focussing on great quality beef  Rosa’s Thai - The Nation’s favourite authentic Thai cuisine  Temakinho - Japanese food, the Brazilian way  Savanna - The best of South African cuisine  El Vino - Brasserie serving British and Mediterranean dishes  Brigade Bar and Kitchen - Social Enterprise serving modern European food  TwoRuba - Crafted cocktails and small plates

Plus many more!

autumn 2019

going out, out

Art gallery going to the dogs Michael Holland

p Judith Carlton, Director of Southwark Park Galleries.

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udith Carlton, Director of Southwark Park Galleries (Cafe Gallery & Dilston Grove), has the sweetest Geordie accent that she combines with an infectious laugh that I heard a lot in our time together. Even when talking of her family not being able to afford the fine art degree she so wanted to do it sounded like a tale of joy and hope as she told it: “I had to find a cheaper degree that involved books,” she rallies with an upbeat smile, “so I did a philosophy degree that specialised in aesthetics - the philosophy of art.”

Judith remembers being “dragged kicking and screaming through museums and galleries” as a child but as she grew older she realised this was a world where she wanted to work.

She did a lot of drawing as a young girl but reveals that she originally wanted to be a dentist. “My dentist had a good art collection and loads of money so I thought, right, that’s a nice life… But I can’t add up or do science so that was never gonna happen,” she adds with a chuckle.

She found jobs in the once detested museums and galleries.

“I'd volunteer my time so I could be in them.” But these places that others see as destinations for their cultural aspects have other meanings for Ms Carlton. She sees free public spaces as somewhere to go for peace and quiet, an escape from the rush of life. “You can be having a dreadful day but you can enter a gallery or museum and have the choice to think, or not think, you can just stare at something, listen to something, or just sit and do nothing. It’s restorative… It’s what my mum did with me because there wasn’t many options for a single parent…

It’s why I will always fight so strongly for free places like these.” She says this with a sweep of her hand introducing the Southwark Park Gallery we are sitting in.

Judith has been in the director role for four years, taking over from Ron Henocq, who had the position since the Bermondsey Artists’ Group was founded in the early ‘80s. But she wasn’t some intrusive outsider turning up for interview; she had worked with Matt’s Gallery, a long-time collaborator

with the gallery, she had already produced several exhibitions in Dilston Grove, and it was the first gallery she had been taken to when she first moved down from Newcastle to South London. “I’m not saying this for effect, but I fell in love with it straightaway. It’s still my favourite gallery, so working here is a dream.”

Henocq’s were big shoes to step into and it wasn’t always easy, but, Judith declares, “the team and the audiences have all been supportive, there is a lovely board of trustees, and Ron’s been amazing… The Bermondsey Artists’ Group has been like a family as well.”

Changes had to be made by the new director, with more fundraising needed to commission large-scale artwork, and exhibitions extended to justify the time put in to creating the art. “More people get to see the work, the artists get longer to show their work, and more conversations are generated from the exhibitions so they live on and continue to inform.” Have the changes worked? “Our visitor numbers have climbed up and up every year,” she replies.

The gallery has always supported emerging artists who often get overlooked, plus artists of any age or background who show potential. “We don’t care a monkeys if you’ve been to art school or not. If we feel more people should see your work we’ll show ya, and support ya and fundraise to pay for new work by ya and we’ll show your older works too…” All this in her bouncy North Eastern lilt made it more real, like a revolutionary calling all artists to arms while standing on her desk with fist aimed skyward. Not really, but that pose would have been perfect.

“We want to champion people and let them shine, we want to allow them to dream big,” she continued before talking about how Jonathan Baldock benefitted from the gallery’s support, enabling him to become an internationally recognised artist.

I got a rundown on the many aspects of the two Southwark Park sites: the gardening projects, the schoolchildren that visit, the book collection to honour Ada Salter, and how dogs are encouraged to visit. In fact, that encouragement has now led to an exhibition for and about our canine companions.

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Judith has an affinity with dogs and sees certain dogs at

certain times in the park as she comes and goes, and can tell the time by their routines. She understands that clocks are set by

dogs as they have to be fed and walked at certain times. She also knows the local dogs’ names, but not of the owners - She knows them as Buddy’s mum, or Banjo’s mum.

Consequently, an idea has been simmering for some time now

since Judith decided that because dogs are such a big feature of

the park, then the gallery had to reflect that. So the big summer exhibition is Dog Show and they are the stars.

Many artists and curators chose their favourite dog-related

art; Martin Creed is included, Vic Reeves got in touch

pleading to be involved, and Lucien Freud’s Pluto makes an appearance. “It’s the most fun we’ve had putting this show together so we plan to have it bi-annually now.”

Ideas for a future dog show are afoot and a calendar of

the 12 most good-looking dogs is very likely. “We want to showcase the animals of Southwark Park so we will

have a dog photo booth, theatre for dogs and a poodle installation.”

Dog Show is on at Southwark Park Galleries,

1 Park Approach, SE16 2UA until 8 September.

Admission: Free. Phone: 020 7237 1230. www.southwarkparkgalleries.org

autumn 2019

going out, out

The 11th Bermondsey Street Festival

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hat do Sadiq Khan, Zandra Rhodes and the presenters of Europe’s only radio show dedicated to dogs have in common? Not just the dinner party line up of your dreams: they’re all fans of the Bermondsey Street Festival, and might all be clearing their diaries for September 14th as we speak.

Because it’s that time of year again… Roll up, roll up for the ultimate village fete - right in the heart of London.

Bermondsey Street’s annual festival bursts into life once again on Saturday, 14th September, and looks set to be bigger than ever.

Whether live music, arts and crafts, delicious street-food or free dance classes float your boat, you’ll find the creme de la creme of South London showcasing their wares during the all-day bonanza.

And yes: the capital’s favourite dog show comes barking into the borough once again. We hear rumours of a celebrity appearance by the Dulux Dog himself… Selfie sticks at the ready!

Roll up, roll up for the ultimate village fete in the heart of London The Chestertons Community Stage

Get your shop on

It’s all about performing arts at the junction of Morocco Street and Bermondsey Street. The Chestertons Community Stage will be showcasing some of the best music and dance that Bermondsey has to offer - from acapella ‘80s hits courtesy of Kitsch in Synch, London’s “most fun-loving choir”, to a sneak preview of the Quay Players 2019 Christmas show and a headline set by The Homing, who “sound like Fleetwood Mac” according to Oasis’ producer Stuart Epps. Don’t forget your shimmy shoes - Salsa Oracle and Hot Rag Jazz will be laying on free Latin dance and swing jazz classes respectively, too.

From handsewn kidswear to homemade peanut butter, South London punches well above its weight when it comes to crafting.

Bermondsey Street will transform into an artisan medina during this year’s Festival, as talented local makers, designers and producers showcase their wares. Prints, homeware, jewellery, tasty treats, skincare products and even tailoring…

Better bring a few bags, as you won’t be leaving empty handed. The best part? Everything on offer is either made or potted in Bermondsey.

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autumn 2019

going out, out

Everyone loves an Underdog Bermondsey’s most eclectic arts and music gallery-bar (try saying that after a couple of their killer cocktails) are upping the Festival’s cool credentials this year, with a showcase of live music inspired by the diverse rock-funkindie nights that have earned The Underdog cult status within London’s music scene. Stop by their gallery-bar next time you’re near Crucifix Lane to take in works by some of contemporary art’s most exciting up-and-coming names, and stick around for live music that’s as interesting as the exhibitions on show...

...and everyone loves The Dog Show Stroll around Bermondsey and one thing’s for sure: we’ve got some seriously adorable pooches in residence.

The Festival’s annual Dog Show, organised with pedigree aplomb by leather collar and lathery grooming company Holly & Lil, returns to rule on the area’s best this year.

Gail Porter is this year’s celebrity judge, ably assisted by the Dulux Dog himself. Be still, my beating paint samples.

Anyone can enter their prize-hopeful pooch across a series of categories, from Best Pedigree, to Best Mash Up, to the Gus & Nelly Award for “anything goes” - and they’re really not joking - all in the hope of pawing the ultimate prize: Best in Show. At stake is a grand prize of £75 towards a Holly & Lil collar of your choice, smaller prizes for all runners up and the love of an entire borough for particularly heart-stealing furry heroes.

Crufts, eat your heart out.

WE’RE PREPARING FOR ANOTHER

AMAZING FESTIVAL! SAT 14TH SEP 2019 - 11AM-7PM For more information on how to get involved get in touch: hello@bermondseystreetfestival.org.uk

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN SEPTEMBER Remember to follow us and hashtag your visit #BermondsStFest bermondseystreetfestival.org.uk

autumn 2019

WE’RE PREPARING FO

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TANNER STR PARK

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COMMUNITY STAGE

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LEATHERMARKET GARDENS

DOG SHOW

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No Access

OR ANOTHER AMAZING FESTIVAL! SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 2019

11AM-7PM

REET

MUSIC STAGE

BERMONDSEY SQUARE For more information on how to get involved get in touch: hello@bermondseystreetfestival.org.uk WC

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN SEPTEMBER! Remember to follow us and hashtag your visit #BermondsStFest

bermondseystreetfestival.org.uk

WE ARE ON A MISSION TO MAKE #BERMONDSEYSMILE Celebrating 10 years in Bermondsey, providing our community with their dream smile.

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Wellbeing Advertorial

autumn 2019

WE ARE THE DENTISTS' DENTIST

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dvanced Dental Practice opened its doors in Bermondsey in 2009 as part of one of the biggest privately owned dental training centres in Europe.

Every month the training facility welcomes over a hundred dentists f rom all parts of the UK and Europe. We simply teach other dental professionals what we do in our clinic for our own patients.

The ADP team takes a comprehensive, holistic approach to oral health care by working together to provide all-round solutions f rom a straightforward check-up to delivering full mouth reconstructions using orthodontics, implants, composite bonding ceramic restorations and natural looking enhancements with facial aesthetic treatments.

We always start with listening in order to understand the concerns of our patients.

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We focus on minimally invasive solutions for our patients while achieving the long term objectives they have for their beautiful smiles.

Our regular patients are invited to join our Members Plan which helps them save on annual maintenance costs and gives us the opportunity to keep an eye on their ongoing care.

Our award winning team also looks after outside the mouth and provides natural looking facial aesthetics enhancements

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We love Bermondsey and you will see our f riendly team members regularly enjoying the food and drinks that Bermondsey Street has to offer with big smiles on their faces.

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people

autumn 2019

Laura Burgoine

Designer Zandra Rhodes celebrates 50 years in fashion

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autumn 2019

people

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t home in her penthouse above the Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street, Dame Zandra Rhodes is dressed head to toe in pink with a pair of pink Crocs on her feet. “I never work dressed up,” she says.

This September, the iconic designer is celebrating a career spanning five decades –from her first store, the Fulham Road Clothes Shop in 1967 to a bold move to New York in ‘69 where her garments were featured in American Vogue and later stocked in Neiman Marcus and Saks in New York. To honour the milestone, the Fashion and Textile Museum, which Zandra founded in 2003, is holding a retrospective of her designs. She’s also releasing a book, a homewares collaboration with Ikea and is starring in the 14th series of Celebrity MasterChef.

“Fifty years in fashion,” she says with a smile. “It has gone fast but it’s endless. There’s so much work to do.”

A new book, Zandra Rhodes: 50 Fabulous Years in Fashion accompanies the 78-year-old’s exhibition.

“September is the month. We have to call it Zeptember,” Zandra says. “The book is a series of photographs with about ten essays by different people.”

Some of the famous faces gracing the pages include Jasper Conran, Manolo Blahnik and Philip Treacy. “They look alright, don’t they?” Zandra says, flicking through the pages. “The exhibition is going to back up the book so we’ll be looking for the various clothes that are in the book, then we have to work out how to show them but we haven’t figured that part out yet,” she laughs. “I don’t always have full confidence –we’ve just got to pull it together.”

The designer was introduced to fashion by her mother, a fitter for the Parisian fashion house House of Worth and a lecturer at Medway College of Art, where Zandra also studied before specialising in textile design at the Royal College of Art. Her clothes have been worn by style icons including Natalie Wood, Princess Diana, Cher, Kate Moss, and Sarah Jessica Parker in HBO’s Sex and the City. Princess Anne wore a Zandra Rhodes dress for her engagement photo. “We got told to send clothes into Vogue because someone famous was being photographed,” Zandra said. “We weren’t told who, I thought it was Elizabeth Taylor.”

Growing up in Chatham, Kent, Zandra made her name first in America, something she says “was just by accident. I thought that they’d taken notice of what I did quicker.”

She recalls some of the famous faces she’s worked with throughout her career. “Angelica [Huston] modelled for me when she was 17 here in London. She lived in London.

I did shows with Piero De Monzi in the Fulham Road so that’s how that happened,” she says.

“Diana Ross came into my shop when she was doing a personal appearance and bought one of my pleated jackets and looked absolutely gorgeous. And Princess Diana wore my dresses. She became an icon for high fashion.”

Recently, Zandra designed costumes for the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. “I did the original white pleated top in ’77 that Freddie Mercury wore, and then they came back to me to make the originals for the film.

That was good to do that,” she said. “We had the original of the pleated one for Freddie so we worked off that.”

The grand dame of fashion works across time zones, dividing her life between Bermondsey Street and San Diego where, until recently, she lived with her partner, film producer and former head of Warner Brothers, Salah Hassanein, who died in June at age 98. “I work every day.

And if I sit still I fall asleep,” Zandra says. “I live here half

“I’m working when I’m here. I might take enough time off to see how my cactus is"

and half there but my partner whom I was living with just died. So I’ll probably be here more of the time now,” she continues. “The travelling has been exhausting. I land and I come straight into work.”

It was the designer’s friend: sculptor, jeweller and performance artist Andrew Logan, who enticed Zandra to Bermondsey Street. “My great friend Andrew lived around the corner and he saw this building and said ‘Zandra you’ve always wanted to do a museum, why don’t you get this building?’ and I said ‘what do you think I am, made of money?’ Then I worked out that I could get the building, convert it and then I’d turn that into part of a museum and the penthouse.”

The now trendy, high-fashion high street is unrecognisable from when Zandra arrived. “There was only one shop and one pub then,” she said. “People moved in and they’d go ‘is it alright to move round here?’”

The Fashion and Textile Museum was the first European building Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta designed. “It’s now his second. He died about two years ago and they have now done one of his buildings in Spain,” Zandra says. “I liked what he did. I worked out that his buildings were quite simple and what made them really look different was colour,” she continues. “I was worried if I got an architect like Zaha Hadid it would be too extreme and it wouldn’t be passed. And through my boyfriend I got to know someone who lived in a Legorreta house so I entertained him, then flew him to this country first class on my American mileage tickets and said ‘this is an up and coming area and would you design it?’”

From her rooftop garden, Zandra looks out across a horizon now dwarfed by the Shard. “Gradually they’re all going up,” she says. “The Shard came after my building so it meant my building was cheap until they built it!”

Zandra points out her artist friends’ houses in the neighbourhood. “Norman Ackroyd has got an etching studio and he’s been there for 50 years. Norman is England’s modern day Constable. He’s got a whole building that he bought for a quarter what I would’ve paid for mine…And there’s Natalie Gibson over there; she teaches textiles at Central Saint Martin’s and she’s been here…well I left college in ‘63…she must have been here since 1959.”

Does Zandra hang out on Bermondsey Street? “No. I only walk to the tube station. I get the tube if I need to get somewhere quickly. Or drive other times. Or they send a car,” she said. “I’m working when I’m here. I might take enough time off to see how my cactus is,” she says, gesturing to an extensive collection of plants.

The penthouse is a haven for artists and Zandra regularly has interns staying. “If a student stays here, their job is gardening,” she says. “If they’re not here, then it’s me.

I come up here first thing on a Sunday morning, check the plants, check they’ve got fed, and then I get on with my work again.”

Fifty years on, what is the secret to Zandra’s success? “I suppose don’t give up. Stagger along and keep going really,” she says. “If you try and fit in with everyone’s trends and try and be, say, Philip Treacy or someone else all you’re going to do is give people a second hand version, so it might as well be you and what you’re like.”

Zandra Rhodes: Fifty Years of Fabulous is at the Fashion and Textile Museum from September 27-January 26.

83 Bermondsey St, SE1 3XF. The accompanying book is £30. Phone: 020 7407 8664. www.ftmlondon.org

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Custom Media Console autumn 2019

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Ten Years on Bermondsey Street

Celebrating Glass

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park life

autumn 2019

The

Peopleʼs Park

Laura Burgoine

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s Southwark Park celebrates its 150th year, we look back on its long and winding history. The urbanisation of Bermondsey had polluted the area through industry like the leather trade while the outbreak of cholera in the 1840s, combined with the poor water supply drawn from the Thames, meant that people’s health was threatened. Green space was proposed as an antidote to living in London.

Southwark Park was inspired by Victoria Park, where 30,000 petitioned the Queen to create the green space. Pat Kingwell, a volunteer at Southwark Park Association 1869, said: “It set a precedent for local people who united and wanted something, and made that happen.”

After WW2 and the extensive bomb damage Rotherhithe and Bermondsey endured, politicians wanted to improve the area and in the ‘50s they cleared out businesses and knocked down houses and out of this came the King’s Stairs gardens, which were planned as a continuation of Southwark Park, like how Central Park in New York carries on across public roads.

“Today we’re used to being able to see the river and walk along the riverfront but you weren’t able to do that when that area was just lined with warehouses,” Pat said.

In the 1970s, the park was handed over to the local council. It fell on hard times during the ‘80s and ‘90s, mirroring the social problems created by the closure of the Docks. 20 years ago, the park was awarded £3 million for improvements with plans to reopen the Lido, bring back the bandstand (which stood from 1889-mid ‘50s), and fix up the Ada Salter garden.

The oldest park in Southwark and the first municipal park opened in London (Finsbury Park opened just two weeks later), originally Southwark Park wasn’t allowed to have music because working people only got Saturday afternoon and Sunday off and the powers that be decided music might interfere with the holiness of the day.

Football was also banned. After WW2, there were over 60 cricket clubs, every one of them based in a pub.

Now, a new café is opening in the park, and a time capsule is being buried to commemorate the occasion.

Southwark Park through the years, as told by Pat Kingwell 1855-1864: there was a campaign for a park to serve the South East of London. After much debate and delay the first London-wide authority: the Metropolitan Board of Works, agreed to build a park in Rotherhithe, in the parliamentary constituency of Southwark.

28 April 1864: The Southwark Park Act was passed by Parliament and shortly afterwards the Board of Works approved plans for a 60+ acres land purchase from the principal landowner, Lord of the Manor of Bermondsey, Sir William Maynard Gomm. The park was to be created on a site previously used for market gardening with Gomm getting around £56,000 for it (the equivalent of about £3.2 million today).

Due to bureaucracy and disputes over financial compensation for the various leaseholders and small landowners on the market gardens, more than five frustrating years elapsed before the park was opened to the public on 19 June 1869.

The day began brightly but at 2pm – just one hour before the commencement of the official ceremony - it began to rain heavily. The public were not allowed in the

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park during the opening ceremony, a decision which drew much criticism at the time and was reported on in the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Advertiser.

Thousands congregated around the main gate on the Jamaica Level (known today as Southwark Park Road).

Several streets were lined while houses were adorned in bunting. At the time, the London Standard recorded “no one could have driven from London Bridge to Southwark Park through the crowded streets where every instant the driver had to check his horse to allow the swarming children to get out of the way, without feeling how great a boon an open play space will be in this locality.”

It is a curious fact that in the years that followed the various authorities responsible for Southwark Park never celebrated its silver, gold, diamond or centenary anniversaries. Now in 2019 that will be put right as Southwark Park Association 1869 has joined with Southwark Council, other organisations and individuals, to put on community events and activities which celebrate the 150th anniversary of an historic day.

The Southwark Park Association 1869 started with 30 members last year and has since grown to over 200.

For updates or to get involved, contact ourpark@live.co.uk

A message from the Canada Water Masterplan team Since 2014 we’ve been working with Southwark Council and the local community to set out plans to create a new town centre for Canada Water that will knit sensitively and carefully with the existing local area, and makes a pro-active, positive, long-term contribution to local life.

The Canada Water Masterplan covers 53 acres and will bring new employment and career opportunities, homes, workspace, shops and restaurants, and leisure and community facilities, all set in a network of streets and new public spaces. It is a 15 year project and British Land is here for the long-term. This is an exciting point for the project as we look ahead to a planning decision after summer. For updates and to find out more, please visit our project website – www.canadawatermasterplan.com.

Below is a quick round-up of just some of the fantastic things that have been happening locally over the past few months as part of the project and more widely, as well as a quick look ahead at other upcoming events.

A quick look back…

Thrive’s Futures for All project

This summer, Tree Shepherd partnered with Rotherhithe Primary to run the Futures for All project. This delivered a range of enterprise activities for children and parents, to help inspire them to turn their passions into a business. The events were held at the school and at Thrive, a business support hub and low-cost workspace in Surrey Quays Leisure Park for local residents and small businesses which we’ve established in partnership with Tree Shepherd. For more information contact Thrive@treeshepherd.org.uk.

Rotherhithe Festival

The annual festival returned for a another day of free entertainment, music, food and much more. We sponsored the free children’s rides again and the team had a stand and plenty of free goodies for all ages throughout the day.

A few of the things coming up…

National Literacy Trust (NLT) events

NLT held a number of free events at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre in early July. These included free storytelling for local young people in July, with a professional storyteller and free face painting for kids. These were part of our Young Reader’s Programme partnership with the charity, now in its 7th year in Canada Water. This year over 200 students from Peter Hills, Rotherhithe, and St John’s RC Primary Schools took part in the term-long programme and book giveaway, which aims to inspire a love of reading.

Summer Solstice at Canada Water

Earlier this summer, Global Generation hosted its highly-anticipated summer solstice celebrations in the Paper Garden, with local children participating from Redriff, Albion, St John’s and St Joseph primary schools.

CONGR ATU to all th LATIONS eS win E16 ners at this and comme year’s nde Busine Southwar d k ss Awa rds!

The London Bubble Young Theatre Makers programme is back for another year

The programme run by Bubble Theatre includes performance and leadership training for young people (aged 16-24) with time on their hands, which is geared towards preparing them for the next steps in their lives. Bubble is currently recruiting for the next cohort, starting in the September this year, which you can find out more about by emailing Natalie Clarke at natalie@londonbubble.org.uk.

Surrey Quays Shopping Centre has opened its Little Explorers HQ

Remaining open until Sunday 1st September, the Little Explorers HQ offers children a chance to nestle themselves inside a Giant Adventure Tree and learn about bugs and nature. In addition, the Shopping Centre will also be offering free family workshops, games and more, hosted by various local businesses and community groups every Tuesday and Thursday until 29th August from 11am-4pm. To find out more, visit www.surreyquays.co.uk and check out the news and events page.

To get in touch with the Canada Water Masterplan team, you can: Check out the website: www.canadawatermasterplan.com Email us on: team@canadawatermasterplan.com Freephone: 0800 470 4593

albion street

autumn 2019

Strong Finnish Laura Burgoine

T

he Finnish Church on Albion Street is a Scandi haven of delights with a traditional Finnish sauna, a 20-person hostel, a café, and a Finnish shop selling everything from salted liquorice to Scandi socks.

The church’s service manager Mervi Mattila says the church’s charity work, including sales from the shop, keeps the sauna running and aids all the work it does with the community. “Everything is free. We have clubs for kids, after school clubs, a choir, book clubs, activities for pensioners…” Mervi said.

One of the shop’s best-sellers is chocolate. “Finnish people are obsessed with Finnish chocolate because it’s superior to all other chocolate,” Mervi said. The country’s chocolate industry dates back to the 1800s but has been somewhat overshadowed by its Swiss neighbours.

The café is open from Tuesday to Sunday when the church is open.

The next Finnish Christmas Fair is on November 20-24.

The Finnish Church is at 33 Albion Street, SE16 7HZ. Phone: 020 7237 1261. lontoo.merimieskirkko.fi

20

p Salmiakki liquorice: £3.50, barley groats: £3.50, Arctic power berries: £4.99 (small), Helena Halme four set of books: £25

Do you live in a council home or block?

We want to involve you more in decisions that affect you We’re making it easier for more people who live in council homes to have a say about their home and estate and to hold the council to account. We call this resident involvement.

Have your say on our proposals, by 10 October 2019, at www.southwark.gov.uk/residentinvolvement

dog Life

autumn 2019

No longer in the dog house Laura Burgoine

A

t PAAW House, mi casa es su casa. And that includes four-legged friends. Pets Are Always Welcome (PAAW) is the UK’s first self-styled members' club for pets.

The club is the brainchild of Gabby Kuehn, who recently moved to Bermondsey with her dog Vinnie.

“I was inspired to create PAAW House after a very public court battle which lasted almost three years, when we were the victims of legal action to evict our beloved family pet dog Vinnie,” Gabby said. “Despite having a licence to have our dog from the freeholder and winning all our legal arguments we sadly lost our case on a factual matter.”

Throughout the ordeal, Gabby received “amazing support from dog loving communities and animal charities all over the UK and even had messages from as far away as Australia.”

Here, the seeds for PAAW House were sown. “I wanted to say thank you and acknowledge a gap in the market for an online community where we can all join together, share our stories, have fun and support each other,” she said.

The club is free and open to anyone who has a pet, loves pets and/or is passionate about animal welfare and the environment.

“There has been a huge shift in attitudes towards pets in the UK recently with a large percentage of establishments now dog friendly including some of the leading department stores and restaurants,” Gabby said.

PAAW House currently has over 1000 dogs, cats, rabbits and hamsters signed up, all eagerly awaiting the launch at the end of the summer.

The website will feature the UK’s best pet services, including groomers, vets, insurance, pet friendly accommodation, legal experts, local brands and services.

“We will also be featuring our PetsNet forum, a safe place to chat, meet other members, ask questions and share information, news, gossip, photos and fun features from the PAAW world,” Gabby said.

“We remain hopeful that our experience was not in vain and will lay the ground work for any similar future court challenges,” Gabby said.

“Our case was already referenced in a change of the law in Australia which bans landlords from enforcing no pets’ clauses, so it has already led to something good on the other side of the world.

For more information, visit: https://paaw.house

E tanD ou rom th res 22

urbanfox.london

autumn 2019

Into the woods with the six o’clock club Michael Holland

The Rotherhithe dog owners' group that fights crime and plans parties for pooches

Y

ou often hear people say there’s no community here anymore but the canine crowd has never been closer, according to Fiona Taylor, founder of Walking in the Woods, a WhatsApp group for local dog owners.

An animal lover from way back, Fiona, who works for Goldsmiths University’s Open Book project, spent years of her childhood at Surrey Docks Farm feeding the chickens, milking the goats and grooming the horses. Her inspiration for Walking in the Woods came while taking her old fashioned basset hound, Banjo, for a stroll around Russia Dock Woodland where she got to know several other dog owners.

“I was quite isolated at the time, caring for my mum with dementia, so meeting people was good for me,” she remembers. “Bumping into these new friends in the woodland was a bit hit and miss and I knew some of them didn’t like walking alone in the dark winter months so I suggested a WhatsApp group so we could stay in touch and all meet at the same time.”

“I kept hearing people say “there’s no community any more” but there is community,” Fiona continued. “The dog-

russia hour

walking community is very friendly and very helpful; it’s people saying hello to one another, which is nice.”

The group started five years ago with six founding members. Today, there are 92 dog lovers, plus their partners.

Some former Rotherhithe dwellers are now living in China and Hawaii but still keep in touch with their old friends. The members call themselves the six o’clock club; they always meet at the same time before setting off down the many paths that crisscross the woods.

On an average day, the group chat includes local conservation news, photos celebrating the birth of cygnets and chicks, crime alerts and party invitations. “We’ve had birthday parties for dogs and people on the field,” Fiona said. “One member set up an agility event for dogs, jumping over hurdles and through hoops.”

Members are also a force in local housing issues.

“Information will be shared to the group about when meetings are on and what they can do in order to fight against new developments,” Fiona said. “Many members lobbied against a tower block going up and it wasn’t built.”

The Walking in the Woods group even built a shelter to honour their friend Bobby Honeyman, who loved being out with his pet but would always go home if it rained.

“He always said that it would be nice to have somewhere to sit if it rained so when he died a local man, Steve Cornish, raised funds to have something built by volunteers. Now we have Bob’s Shed,” Fiona said.

And when it’s six o-clock somewhere, the group also gathers for social outings. “Some of us meet at dog-friendly pubs, we go out for dinner (without our dogs), we have a night out at Christmas,” Fiona said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without them when my mum passed away;

23

being out there with other people just watching the dogs playing together takes you away from all your problems and sadness.

“It is a sharing, caring community whose main aim is to come together to do loving things with animals and help others, and that to me is really important.”

Incidentally, Fiona’s canine companion Banjo is the only dog that’s ever been in the studio for the BBC Radio London programme, Jo Good’s Barking Hour. “He got in because he’s a therapy dog on the staff at Goldsmiths in his role of helping people from challenging backgrounds with stress problems,” Fiona said.

These days Walking in the Woods attracts people from all walks of life, linked by their love of dogs: “We’ve got roofers, fish market porters, an opera singer, children’s nannies, project managers, office workers, teachers, keep fit instructors, TV producers, journalists, gardeners…”

Fiona said.

As for the future of the group… “You have the little kids with their parents who have formed their own WhatsApp group and hang around together, so they will be the next generation. I really love that,” Fiona said.

Some local children have even overcome their fear of dogs thanks to the Walking in the Woods gang. “Some members tried to take the fear away by showing these kids how to approach dogs, how to handle them, the signs to look for in a dog - to see its mood by its tail, its ears or fur,” Fiona said.

“And now they all hang out with us and they ain’t even got dogs.”

If you’re interested in joining Walking in the Woods, just go to the field in Russia Dock Woodlands at 6pm.

F.A.A.

F A ALBIN & SONS Family Run Funeral Directors

020 7237 3637

Serving the people of Bermondsey & Rotherhithe for over 200 years

ROTHERHITHE 52 Culling Road, London, SE16 2TN OUR OTHER BRANCH ADDRESSES ARE:

www.albins.co.uk

DEPTFORD 164 Deptford High Street, LONDON, SE8 3DP WALWORTH 88 Brandon Street, LONDON, SE17 1ND

autumn 2019

history

Hello Dolly!

Debra Gosling

In the early 1900s, this deaf couple relied on their canine companion to be their ears

S

idney and Martha Stow were engineering. How did they know "During the war, quite remarkable individuals. when someone was at the door? There Both were profoundly deaf but was a pull at the street door attached when the air raid still managed to hold down to string, which threaded into the jobs, raise two children and survive room. It had on the end of it a pingwarden pulled the the Blitz! pong ball, which sat on a platform.

Sidney was born in 1879 in When a visitor pulled it, the string doorbell, it released Aspinden Road and initially took up lifted the ball off the platform and it a bale of straw employment as a junior tea packer swung across the room. Even if they before buying a chisel to train as a missed it Dolly would soon be up hanging above the wheelwright. He was always a very to tell them! The same principal was fit man and in his youth he played applied during the war when the air bed to wake sports at the Bermondsey Settlement raid sounded. A straw bale was hung in Farncombe Street. In fact, his above the bed with string, and when them up." woodworking skills came in very the air raid warden pulled the doorbell handy - the family still have a pair of wooden clubs he it released the bale, which fell on top of them to wake made to use in weight training at the settlement! them up. Ingenious!

Martha worked in a laundry but also carried out close When Sidney retired from the wheelwrights he work as a seamstress, working her stitches from home. supplemented his pension by collecting old newspapers She made intricate and very detailed crochet work which and bottles which he'd sell on for a few coppers. He was was used in mantle covers - a Victorian invention that a familiar figure in the area and people admired his work covered the mantelpiece. Both of the jobs required little ethic and presumed he was too poor to stop working. communication skills, which must have been a relief as Despite his disability, Sidney lived to the ripe old age of 86. this was long before the days of tiny, technological hearing In 1965, Knox Brothers of Rotherhithe New Road aids. They both learned sign language and attended what conducted his funeral, where he was conveyed to Nunhead they called 'the deaf and dumb church' in Evelyn Street, and reunited with Martha, Doris and dear old Dolly. After Deptford (Deptford Methodist Mission). the service, the family began the sad and final process of The couple had two children, Sidney Jnr and Doris, clearing out Sidney's house. As they lifted the mattress off but there was also another loved and very valuable family the old iron bedstead it came as a surprise (and a delight) member: Dolly, their pet dog. In Sidney's words, she was to find a whole wad of old-style white five pound notes their ears! Dolly is pictured outside the family home in stuffed beneath. They added up to a thousand pounds and Slipper's Place (around ten years old when the photo was Sidney had been saving them for decades - that's a lot of taken). The doorbell behind was a real piece of innovative old newspapers!

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autumn 2019 AUTUMN 2019

PROPERTY ADVERTORIAL

Alumno and the local Southwark Community

t

he Alumno team, responsible for several notable student housing schemes in Southwark over the past 5 years , have been working with Kintore Way Nursery School and Children’s Centre to explore areas of collaboration.

Incredibly this nursery school has been running for 80 years. It is one of the first five nursery schools to be built in London. It is also one of the largest in the country, it was originally set up to help the deprived children living in pre war London, providing lots of simulation and fresh air with its large outdoor play area. Young children even had their afternoon nap outdoors with cots lined up outside.

Unfortunately a lot of the social problems and issues being addressed all those years ago are still relevant more than ever today. The nursery continues to help children and families living in small, crowded accommodation with little or no outside space and is a key part of life in this part of London.

With this in mind Alumno visited with landscape consultants Turkington Martin to have a look at the outdoor space. Over the years there have been

improvements made but the space is now looking a little worn, tired and in need of repair. The inspirational head teacher Rebecca Sherwood is full of enthusiasm and ideas about the space. One of those ideas is for it to become more accessible to children with mobility issues.

A pathway wide enough for wheel chair users would just be the start.

Another issue to consider is the changing climate. The nursery would benefit greatly from professional advice on plants and shrubs to provide shaded and sheltered areas and effective drainage. There is also the ever increasing problem with pollution in the inner city, effective planting can actively draw in the polluted air.

The community spirit at the nursery is inspiring and during our short visit we met several staff members who either had had their children at the nursery or had even attended themselves. Being a fixture in the local area for so long, it is unsurprising that families keep coming back to share this wonderful institution with their children. The nursery staff were kind enough to show us archive material

“Alumno has submitted a planning application for a student housing development just over the park from the nursery. Alumno are therefore working on preliminary plans to assist the nursery with the playground and the book.”

26

they have maintained detailing the social history of the area and documenting the many changes. These included photos of the children enjoying the facilities, with an interesting lack of health and safety constraints! There was also a letter from Violet Attlee, the wife of the then Prime Minister requesting to bring some ladies from Rhodesia to visit the nursery. Also an amusing letter which included a gift of some butter from Australia (used up a long time ago we hope).

It may be that in the future, and funding permitting, these wonderful snap shots of the past can be collated into a book so it is more widely available to the public. Alumno has submitted a planning application for a student housing development just over the park from the nursery. Alumno are therefore working on preliminary plans to assist the nursery with the playground and the book. Initial thoughts and ideas have been put together in both areas and with the councils potential agreement we will be able to report back with positive news in the near future. www.alumnogroup.com

Have an idea for a business but not sure where to start? Self-employed or working from home? Need low-cost workspace?

Then come down to THRIVE and see how we can help!

Thrive is a new business support hub and low-cost workspace for Canada Water’s small businesses and local entrepreneurs, run by Tree Shepherd.

Thrive offers SE16 residents free business advice support and training, as well as low-cost flexible co-working and maker space, to develop and expand their businesses.

Drop in or get in touch to find out more!

M: 07803097532 E: Thrive@treeshepherd.org.uk Or simply drop by Monday-Wednesday 10-6pm: Thrive, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, Redriff Road, London, SE16 7LW Formerly the Flaming Grill restaurant opposite Hollywood Bowl

WAR HEROES AT SEA Acrylic paintings by MARIT MOLIN

Opening night 12th September at 7pm (displayed until 11th October) Norwegian Church in London, SE16 7JB FREE ENTRY

Funded by

memories

autumn 2019

The making of a Bermondsey boy Michael Holland

mike donovan looks back on hopping HOLIDAYS, the docks and the RYDAL BOYS' CLUB

1

M

ike Donovan is famed for dishing up some of the best ham, egg and chips in London. The man who cooked up the idea for Bermondsey Community Kitchen continues to reinvent himself.

Mike is one of eight children, born to hard-working Tom and Flo Donovan in Wilson Grove. His parents won the house in a council lottery for large families and Mike spent his childhood there, plus the first two years of married life until he and wife Susan were given their own place.

Since then they have always lived locally, and their three daughters, Alexis, Ashleigh and Shannon.

Michael had a conventional Catholic upbringing: St Joseph’s School, Paradise Street, with Latin Mass under the beady eye of Father McKenna, and the Procession around Rotherhithe once a year, followed

by St Michael’s Secondary School.

“All me brothers went there except Tommy, who won a scholarship and went across the river to school, and Kevin who said he wasn’t Catholic and went to a Protestant school… There was murders over it!”

St Peter’s Church, adjoining the school, looms large in Mike’s life: he and his

siblings were christened there, he attended mass there every Sunday, his daughters were all christened and confirmed there, and his father played the piano for church functions. “The Old Man was a great piano player,” reminisces Michael. “He used to play in the old picture houses - The Trocette in Tower Bridge Road - And he couldn’t read a word of music!” claimed the

proud son, who also told of his dad playing in local pubs: “It was a bit of bunce for him, weren’t it?”

A big part of life was the annual trip to pick hops. The Donovans always went to the Guinness hop farm. “One of my earliest memories,” he starts, “is getting in a lorry to go hopping - It was such an adventure, a real family affair with aunts

28

and uncles… I’ve got hundreds of hopping stories, and some I shouldn’t tell…”

Besides the adventures to be had hopping, Mike remembers an early holiday on the Isle of Wight, “a caravan in Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park,” he recalls.

“Neither mum or dad drove so we got there by train, then ferry, and then we walked. I always remember that walk - it was like a thousand miles!”

Having a garden, the Donovans kept chickens and rabbits, and many times their livestock provided Christmas dinner to less fortunate family members. Michael heard tales of how his parents helped those in need, even one of his mum buying extra drink for a cousin’s wedding when the young couple found themselves short.

Mike’s childhood was spent playing Tin Tan Tommy and getting up to no good on old bombsites that scarred the area in the years after the war “Also,” he remembers, “as I was within walking distance of several youth clubs, I went to the Rydal Boys’ Club in the Bermondsey Settlement, and they used to take us camping every year, usually two weeks in Lyme Regis. For some that was the only holiday they got… The workers there also got a couple of my mates

autumn 2019 on apprenticeships at Enid Garage.”

With eight children life was never going to be easy. “I always remember my mum having at least three jobs,” says Michael.

“She worked at Guy’s, cleaning from four in the morning, come home and get everyone ready for school, then worked in the kitchens of St Michael’s School. About 3 o’clock she’d come home, get the dinner ready and then go back out cleaning again, in offices.” He paused to let that sink in.

Living just yards away from the Thames the river was a big employer in the Donovan household: “Dad was a docker, Terry was a lighterman, brother-in-laws were crane drivers, Uncle Charlie was a Union Rep… My brother Tommy was also in the docks but fell down the hull of a ship, got seriously injured and was invalided out; a charity paid for him to do The Knowledge, so he became a black cab driver. By the time it came to my turn to go in the docks they were closing down and I didn’t fancy going all the way to Tilbury!”

At 14, Mike’s first job was in a mail-shot firm near Victoria, where a big sister was supervisor and got him a shift there: “I used to run home from school, change, then run to Rotherhithe Station, get two trains to St James’s and then run to the

memories office. I was never late,” he says proudly.

At 15 he was offered a job as a motor mechanic in a Volvo dealership in Ealing, which he accepted. But when he handed in his notice his boss counter-offered with a job in the mail-shot printshop and three times more money than Volvo was willing to pay. “I nearly fainted!” he says, looking as shocked as he must have 50 years ago.

That happy employee was sent to printing college and had five good years at the firm, even meeting his wife there.

“I queued up all night for our first house Downtown,” he declares. “I slept on the pavement in Shipwright Road, and in the morning I went in the office and bought the plot where they built the house for us.”

After those early years in the print, Mike, changed career to cleaning, then got into security and on to waste disposal until the congestion zone arrived, which meant he would have to find thousands of pounds “just to collect a bin at the Elephant for six quid!” It was time to move on.

There was then a few years making a go of The Old Justice pub, by the Bermondsey riverside, which he says was just a hobby, a sideline to other work. “We did a great Sunday lunch, which would be fully booked three weeks in advance,” he begins

“but you wouldn’t see a soul from Monday to Friday… As good as the Sundays were at paying all the bills, it wasn’t enough.”

After that came Dun’s Deli, which many people say served the best ham, egg and chips in London. Michael calls it a “semiretirement plan because I liked cooking, but it was the hardest I ever f**king worked!” Open six days a week from 7 o’clock in the morning, then Sundays spent at the cash & carry; the long hours meant a lack of quality family time.

But while Mike was cooking in the deli he would see the bored young people in the square outside and thought of how to utilise the empty space above the deli.

Along with a big developer, he got local charities to support his idea, and soon that space was fitted out with 8 work stations to create the Bermondsey Community Kitchen where the young could be trained up to Level 2 City & Guilds in cooking.

With deserved pride he lists restaurants where former BCK students are working: “Tate Modern, Marco Pierre White’s, Tower of London, Pont de la Tour, and one in the new Dixon Hotel.” Michael’s reward is when the families of these young chefs thank him for turning their children’s lives around. “It’s not just me,” he stresses, “it’s

the trainers, the funders, and the young people themselves who make it happen.”

For the Donovans there doesn’t seem to be a day for rest. “I like to fish but I ain’t been for ages now; we’re always on the go, always have something to do with the charities we work with or some catering to organise…”

Michael and Susan Donovan don’t look like they are going to slow down any time soon. I asked what kept them motivated.

“There’s a lot going on now and our 22 year old Shannon’s enabled us to embrace the changes in Bermondsey and move with the times.”

Opposite: 1 First Holy Communion at Paradise Street Church

Below: 2 Wilson Grove Cottages 3 Rydal Boys' Club, Camping 4 Left to Right, Brother Kevin, Aunt Rose, Mum, Flo, Dad Tom and Me sitting on the end. Hopping.

5 Me relaxing at Wilson Grove Cottages, where I was born

“I queued up all night for our first house Downtown. I slept on the pavement in Shipwright Road."

2

3

4

29

5

wellbeing

autumn 2019

Fit for purpose

J

Laura Burgoine

ust when you think you’ve seen it all down the Blue, a CrossFit gym moves in and charges up the whole strip with super-human energy.

Starting in the US, CrossFit is a strength and conditioning programme combining aerobic exercise, calisthenics (body weight exercises) and Olympic weightlifting. The workouts change daily and as one member tells me “it’s different every day but it’s always hard.”

The sole goal is about creating functional human beings.

Following a set of tailored Workouts of the Day (WODs), CrossFit transforms bodies plagued by sedentary modern lifestyles and desk jobs into functional human beings.

Owner Ian Duvall says “when you train at CrossFit you’ll be able to do all the things you’re meant to be able to do as a human. You’ll be able to run, jump and lift.”

On the Saturday I joined in the fun, it was a team workout where we started with a run around the block and then followed a circuit with one minute on the exercise bike, the rowing machine, and lifting a very heavy sandbag or kettlebells. This relay loops around for 40 minutes until you’re at pure exhaustion level. High-intensity is the name of the game here and it’s clearly what keeps this group coming back for more.

CrossFit Bermondsey is at 183-187 Southwark Park Road, SE16 3TX. Phone: 020 7394 8561. www.crossfitbermondsey.com

30

wellbeing

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

autumn 2019

W

hen it comes to the fitness industry, Bootcamp SE16 is a breath of fresh air. Led with military determination by Stephanie Janatti, bootcampers train in Rotherhithe’s Stave Hill Park.

Stephanie has been a personal trainer for 13 years, working as a Nuffield Health trainer while whipping Canary Wharf ’s bankers into shape. She moved into specialising in training mums, specifically focusing on women with pelvic floor issues, and started Bootcamp SE16 six years ago.

The bootcamp journey begins with a consultation, then Stephanie will recommend a class or a programme depending on the person’s goals. She has something for everyone, whether you’re

32

looking specifically for weight loss, a social group to make exercise fun, or both.

“The bootcamp is a community in itself,” Stephanie told the Biscuit.

“We have a core group of members and a lot of them have stayed friends –we’ve had members meet up on holiday in Japan and Australia.”

The PT also runs an online home training program for mums. “It enables mums to log on at home and workout. We have Pilates, barre, and some low impact classes.”

Bootcamp SE16 runs on MondayThursday from 7pm and Saturdays at 10:30am. For more information contact 7803 721 620 or visit: bootcampse16.co.uk

wellbeing

autumn 2019

Let down your hair at the Lounge Laura Burgoine

O

nay Medmed has been running Lounge Hair on the Jamaica Road piazza (as we like to call it) for almost 20 years. “I always wanted my own boutique salon,” he told the Biscuit. “This area is so diverse and the clientele has quite a quick turnover as people move in and out of the area so much.”

While the hairdresser has observed great change in Bermondsey over the years, the key ingredients of good hairdressing remain the same. “The most important skill in being a hairdresser it listening to the client,” Onay said.

“Things can get lost in translation and that’s why clients can be nervous about going to the hairdresser. You have to understand what it is they really want.”

Lounge Hair prides itself on busting salon stress and hair anxiety. So what’s the current trend? Kardashian extensions? Highlights? Lowlights?

“At the moment, people are looking for low maintenance,” Onay said. “That’s why you have colouring trends like balayage and hombre; it’s more natural and cost efficient.”

He recommends bringing in photos to illustrate your desired cut or colour. “It’s good to bring in pictures from online for inspiration, but equally photos that have lots of filters can take your expectations away from reality.”

“The most important skill in being a hairdresser is listening to the client”

Lounge Hair, 200 Jamaica Road, SE16 4RT. Phone: 020 7237 2624. www.loungehairbeauty.co.uk

34

Are you looking for the

PERFECT COLOUR salon, a RESTYLE or a simple TRIM?

£25 OFF (Spend over £90)

£10 OFF (Spend over £35)

Book with one of our LOUNGE HAIR EXPERTS The Lounge Salon. Hair & Beauty Ladies & Men’s 200 Jamaica Road, SE16 4RT • Mention this offer upon booking.

• Free car park for clients • Close to Bermondsey tube station (Jubilee Line) • Not to be used with any other offer • Valid until 31 October 2019

020 7237 2624

OPEN 7 DAYS Monday: 9.30am- 6.30pm Tuesday to Friday: 9.30am - 8.00pm Saturday: 9.00am - 6.00pm Sunday: 10.00am - 4.00pm

w w w. l o u n g e h a i r b e a u t y. c o . u k Lounge Salon Hair & Beauty, London

loungehairbeauty (Lounge Hair Beauty SE16)

LoungeHairBeauty

food & drink

autumn 2019

Stirring up West Lane Laura Burgoine

C

reative couple Jonas and Amy’s new coffee shop is serving up Scandi style in West Lane. In an old taxi booking office, you’ll now find eco-friendly coffee shop NoNo, which is also the base for the couple’s graphic design business, Work till Late. Having been passionate about coffee for some time, Jonas and Amy decided after they moved from Shoreditch to Bermondsey to get into the business.

They were looking for an office with a shop front for their six-year-old graphic design agency, and thus an idea was born. Now NoNo is the HQ for both sides of their business portfolio. They’re also renting out desk space to other creatives. Jonas, who hails from Denmark, was interested in the idea of combining a co-working space for creatives with a coffee shop. “Our ethos

is to have a simple and carefully curated selection, and to offer products which are local and socially responsible,” Jonas said. The duo is also aiming to make the business as eco-friendly as possible; the shelves are made from recycled water bottles and the coffee machine requires hand pumping. “We wanted to embrace the space as it is,” Jonas said. At £2.80 for a white coffee (made from Redemption Roaster beans), NoNo also offers a Shakerato (an espresso martini without the hooch) and Lecce coffee, a Puglian mix inspired by the Arabic way of making coffee with almond syrup.

NoNo is open Wednesday-Friday from 7:30am-12 noon, and Saturday-Sunday from 8:30am-1pm.

Third Space Canteen A place to enjoy sustainable food & meet people in your area

Book in advance online

www.thirdspacecanteen.com

Every Monday from 5.30-9pm at St. James’ Church, Bermondsey, just 3 minutes from the tube station

Get 20% off with Code: BISCUIT1

autumn 2019

food & drink

Our own Little Italy in Canada Water Laura Burgoine

P

lough Way café’s European style flows right from the all-Italian kitchen to the al fresco dining area.

During the week it’s busy with office workers and locals alike sipping lattes and eating Paninis. On weekends, it’s famed locally for its brunches (which run from 10am-3pm). The Canada Water institution, owned by Anthony Wilson and Nigel Spalding, is a local hotspot now spread across two spots.

There’s the Italian deli: a shop and cafe with tables and chairs out front, then its other half is a modern restaurant about a 100 yards away, which also boasts an impressive terrace. Dogs are very welcome.

The food is superb. The service is warm and accommodating – they cater for allergies and intolerances and offer glutenfree options. And the lavish décor? Well it’s in a class of its own.

On weekdays, pizzas are currently half price, and there’s a happy hour with two-for-one cocktails, from Monday to Friday from 4pm until 7pm. It’s happy hour somewhere. And that somewhere is Plough Way. We’ll drink to that!

Plough Way, Seafarer Way, SE16 7UD. Phone: 020 7237 1327. www.ploughwaycafe.com

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autumn 2019

food & drink

A new green party for Bermondsey Laura Burgoine

I

t’s a dinner party fit for Leonardo DiCaprio and David Attenborough at Bermondsey’s new supper club. Now, eco warriors can start the week off right with a sustainable dinner every Monday at Third Space Canteen.

Bermondsey local Nicola Hearn is tackling food waste and eco-anxiety with her new club. “It’s so complicated and can be overwhelming to change your shopping and eating habits,” she said. “I don’t expect people to do it all themselves. This is a service that’s needed.”

Running for two months now, the supper club serves up dishes like lentil Bolognese, broccoli and bean salads, Jerusalem artichokes, and lasagne made from black beans, aubergine, tomatoes and nutritional yeast. The menu always features a vegan favourite, like puff pastry pie with peas, asparagus, lemon and herbs.

“I’m guided by what’s in season. There’s usually a theme. It’s all about low waste,” Nicola said.

When changing consumption habits, it’s all about eating seasonal, local and organic

food and not using plastic packaging where possible.

“The most vital thing is changing what you eat,” Nicola said. “There’s not one principle to apply to everything; policy needs to change but half of the country’s food waste comes from consumers.”

The environmentalist hasn’t been on a plane since 2015 and has no intention of flying again.

Nicola recommends Naked Larder in Herne Hill for plastic-free grocery shopping; you pre-order online and they

have collections once a month in someone’s garage where you take your own containers.

It’s also cheaper than supermarket prices.

Third Space Canteen prides itself on bringing like-minded people together to share nutritious food. “Interestingly, environment and health go hand in hand,” Nicola said.

Supper clubs run every Monday from 5pm until 9pm at St James’ Church hall, Thurland Road, SE16 4AA. Dinner is £15. www.thirdspacecanteen.com

A slice of heaven Michael Holland

O

n the quest for pizza perfection, we found ourselves basking in the glow of Perfetta’s wood-fired pizza oven on Albion Street. It’s a cosy atmosphere if you’re dining in; we watched freshly made pizzas slide into a flaming oven while the Sound of Music played on the TV. As I observed the human traffic of SE16 pass by, I couldn’t help noticing how many were coming in to collect pizza or how busy the moped delivery boy was.

Perfetta is evidently more of a takeaway place but if you are in the sit-down restaurant, it’s BYO and service is friendly and efficient. The parmigiana starter (£5) was the size of half a brick and the Alette di Pollo: marinated chicken wings coated in a BBQ sauce with a chili kick (£4.50), could have easily been a main course. I can see why pizza is the main attraction.

My dining companion’s Siciliana (£10.50) was a riot of vegetarian colour -the thin

p Owner Abdul Shaker took over Perfetta Pizza in January

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base hidden beneath mozzarella, tomato sauce, sun dried tomato, roasted aubergine, roasted courgette and olives. The spice of the pepperoni in my Il Padrino (£10.50) made it a fiery, tasty dish.

Even though there didn’t seem to be many people coming in to partake in the warm welcome at Perfetta Pizzeria, the Rotherhithe locals are definitely aware of - and enjoying - its Italian comfort food in the comfort of their own homes. And because the first course had filled us up, we took half of our pizzas home to enjoy the same way.

Perfetta Pizzeria, 34 Albion Street, SE16 7JQ Phone: 0207 237 0777 www.perfettapizzeria.co.uk Open seven days from 11:30am- 11:30pm.

autumn 2019

food & drink

Spirit Level

Heard it through the Bermondsey grapevine

Laura Burgoine

T

rinity25 is a lighter style of gin. In fact, because it’s 25 percent ABV (under the required 37.5 percent proof ), it can’t even call itself gin.

It’s created by branding expert Nick Johnson, under the company the Spirit of Bermondsey. Nick, who’s also a Lib Dem councillor for Surrey Docks ward, wanted to go “back to basics” with the recipe. The tipple is made from 100 percent English grain spirit and infused with juniper and a trinity of botanicals: cardamom, black pepper and coriander seeds.

Nick made the very first version at home in his kitchen.

Today, it’s made in Clapham by Thames Distillers and it’s based around Bermondsey’s rich history of spice warehouses.

“I wanted to celebrate the history of Bermondsey with this drink,” Nick said.

“It has a very simple taste. It’s also lower in alcohol. You can have a night on the town with this.”

Trinity25 is available at www.spiritofbermondsey.com

Laura Burgoine

W

hatever your artisan heart desires, you can rest assured you’ll probably be able to find it under an arch in Bermondsey. For those with a taste for biodynamic wines –look no further than Dynamic Vines.

Sommelier Frederic Grappe created the company 14 years ago. As a Frenchman in London, he was bored by the wines he found on the market locally and started importing his own.

“I found modern winemaking techniques lacked a sense of identity,” Frederic told the Biscuit. “Biodynamic winemaking means no additives in the cellar, no pesticides, helping the plants when necessary, and recreating the right ecosystem for them,” he said. “It’s about listening to what nature can do.”

The company moved to Bermondsey in 2012 and then to its current HQ in Spa Terminus in 2015. “We came here by luck,” Frederic said. “I lived nearby and was used to shopping on Rope Walk, and had done a wine tasting with Mons cheese.”

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Dynamic Vines works with 60 producers who follow biodynamic principles. Around 85 percent of the wine importer’s business is supplying to restaurants with the team of nine distributing all across the country.

All their wine is European, with around 70 percent from France and 30 percent from Italy, Spain, Greece and Austria. Dynamic Vines store most of their stock in the Bermondsey warehouse where they also have a warehouse for events, a tasting room for clients and a shop that’s open to the public on Saturday mornings.

Frederic and his team travel a lot in the UK as well as to France and Italy: the heart of biodynamic farming.

“I’ve been to visit every producer many times,” Frederic said. “If I’m talking about a wine’s sense of place and identity then I need to know that myself.”

Dynamic Vines is open every Saturday from 8am-2pm at Dockley Road Industrial Estate, Dockley Road, SE16 3SF. www.dynamicvines.com

autumn 2019

LOCALLY SOURCED Seasonal pickings

45

interiors q Oak day bed. All items are custom made in Bermondsey from reclaimed wood.

Unit 2, Iyz House, 7 Spa Road, SE16 3QP. Phone: 020 7237 7831. https://goldfinchfurniture.co.uk

T RADITIONALLY

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A DEVELOPMENT BY HADSTON SOUTHWARK LTD. A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN GOLDMAN SACHS INTERNATIONAL AND URBANWISE DEVELOPMENTS PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINT. PLEASE NOTE ALL IMAGES ARE COMPUTER GENERATED AND ARE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.

020 3151 8602 ENQUIRIES@BRIGADECOURT.LONDON BRIGADE COURT, 94 SOUTHWARK BRIDGE ROAD, LONDON, SE1 0EG

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autumn 2019

Homeward Bound

New builds, luxury flats, affordable housing and what’s up your street

A collection of duplex townhouses has launched at London Square Bermondsey in the heart of SE1.

These are part of the first phase of the new £220m regeneration at The Tannery, designed by Coffey Architects, comprising a striking new building, and the restoration and conversion of the original Tannery warehouse building, which dates from the 1920s and is a fine example of industrial architecture. The site was also the home of a Crosse & Blackwell factory. London Square Bermondsey will include galleries and studios for Bermondseybased Tannery Arts plus co-working spaces for start-ups, in a collection of heritage and contemporary buildings.

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Continued on next page u

autumn 2019

property

grange road Apartments from £610k +

T

he townhouses comprise a one-bedroom ground floor and mezzanine duplex in a refurbished warehouse at The Tannery, 765 sq ft in total, for £695,000 with its own ground level front door accessed through the courtyard garden, plus a two bedroom townhouse for £1,140,000 in the warehouse, and a selection of new build three bedroom townhouses from £1,250,000, all with private terraces.

Apartments start from £610, 000 and include a selection in the restored warehouse building featuring industrial styling and also contemporary new build from one to three bedrooms. Kitchens feature Siemens integrated appliances and sleek cabinetry and spacious open-plan living areas, perfect for entertaining or relaxing. Apartment features include underfloor heating and audio systems, with speakers in the living room and master bedroom. All apartments have private outdoor space, either a balcony or a private terrace. Video entry and a CCTV system is integral, as part of a Secure by Design initiative. An on-site gym, equipped with the latest cardio and conditioning machines, is also provided. The development will feature communal gardens and green spaces, providing a haven away from the bustle of the capital.

The development is the showcase scheme in a major regeneration plan for the wider Old Kent Road area, set to bring thousands of new homes, schools, jobs, parks, public areas and two new tube stations for the Bakerloo Line extension. Bermondsey Street is close by, where fashionable bars, restaurants, the iconic White Cube art gallery, the Fashion and Textile Museum, and independent shops can be found in spectacular, restored former industrial buildings, from quirky to designer. London Square Bermondsey is a short walk from Jubilee Line stations

Bermondsey and London Bridge, alongside the main national rail station. It is also close to excellent cycling routes to the West End and City and good bus links.

Bermondsey has some fascinating open spaces, including Bermondsey Spa Gardens, with a playground, games area and picnic grounds. Tabard Gardens and Leathermarket Gardens are other hidden green pockets to discover. Just over a mile away, Southwark Park has 61 acres, with a bandstand, boating lake, tennis courts and rose gardens.

SE1 is one of the few London postal districts where prices are rising, according to latest Land Registry figures which showed a 6.3 per cent growth last year – good news for buyers looking to buy in an area where there is growth to be achieved and yet already offers a great lifestyle.

Rebecca Littler, Sales and Marketing Director, London Square, said: “Buyers are attracted to Bermondsey because it has such an authentic atmosphere and a real buzz for people who live in the area, for those who work here and for

49

the people who just love to enjoy all it has to offer. London Square Bermondsey captures the essence of SE1, with a great mix of new and warehouse style homes and a cultural element with galleries and studio for emerging artists and spaces for start-ups. There has been a high demand from buyers who want to be at the heart of this district and be able to walk to highly rated restaurants and bars in Bermondsey, as well as embracing the arts and cultural vibe in the area.

“We love being part of the local community and will be taking part in the Bermondsey Street Festival on September 14 and are looking forward to a great day. We hope visitors to the festival will come and take a look at our sales suite where we have a range of show homes by three interior designers.”

Call developer London Square on 0333 666 4343. www.londonsquare.co.uk The London Square sales suite: 58 Grange Road, Bermondsey, SE1 3BH

property Advertorial

Kalmars reveal local buyers help to sell 94% of homes at New Pier Wharf in Rotherhithe

9

4% of apartments and penthouses have now sold at New Pier Wharf with sales generated by local agents, namely leading South and East London estate agents KALMARs. The Thameside development located at the edge of the capital’s financial hub in Rotherhithe, on Odessa Street, was developed by Hollybrook Homes and has secured an unparalleled number of sales from local SE16 buyers since its launch in 2018.

New Pier Wharf, set for completion in Q2 2019, will provide a collection of 53 one, two and three-bedroom luxury riverside apartments and penthouses. 50 out of 53 units have now been sold at New Pier Wharf, with approximately one-third of the sales through the Help to Buy initiative for first time buyers.

The ten-storey building offers views across the River Thames towards the financial district of Canary Wharf. The Thames Path, which comes all the way from the Cotswolds and winds past New Pier Wharf, offers easy access into the City.

Marc Faure, Head of New Homes at KALMARs, says: “The sales success at New Pier Wharf identifies a micro market in the SE16 area with a significant percentage of sales stemming from local buyers. The uninterrupted riverside views and high specification has ensured popularity with a local buyer demographic.”

Rotherhithe has swiftly become an area of regeneration proving popular with both local buyers and investors, with British Land also announcing a new 56-acre site for residential development.

Rotherhithe is now undergoing a steady redevelopment, since the renovation of the industrial docks in the 1980s. Once an area renowned for industry, Rotherhithe is fast becoming a desirable

autumn 2019 residential suburb. Easy access to Canary Wharf, and views of the River Thames have ensured increased residential demand.

Final apartments at New Pier Wharf are still available to buy through KALMARs and start from £600,000.

The apartments at New Pier Wharf provide a high specification and exceptional design. The individually designed kitchens include handleless matt finished doors, integrated AEG appliances comprising a fridge/freezer, a ceramic electric hob, an oven, dishwasher and a microwave. Each kitchen offers timber veneer wraparound soffit and side panels and a stainless steel under mount sink.

The luxury family bathrooms are finished with a contemporary single ended bath with overflow bath filler, Duravit semi recessed wash hand basin with chrome bottle trap, Hansgrohe thermostatic chrome shower mixer, a glazed bath screen, bespoke mirror cabinets and White Calacatta marble effect porcelain floor and wall tiles. The en-suite shower rooms also have marble effect porcelain tiles covering the floor and walls, bespoke mirror cabinets and Hansgrohe thermostatic chrome shower mixer.

The apartments are finished with engineered wide board oak flooring to their hallways; kitchens and living/dining areas and bedrooms will be fitted with carpet. Master bedrooms will feature smooth white finish wardrobes.

Located in an area that was previously known as ‘Down Town’, the New Pier Wharf site was once a well-known restaurant called Downtown Restaurant. Also on this historical site was the ‘Rotherhithe Red Crane’, a preserved crane from Rotherhithe’s shipping past, which will now be made into a new scale model artwork piece, using some famed pieces of the old crane for the residents.

By train, New Pier Wharf is just four minutes away from London Bridge, three minutes from Canary Wharf, eleven minutes from Stratford and eleven minutes to Green Park, leaving the development in the ideal position for commuters to these areas. This is evident due to the fact the penthouses have been sold to people in their early 40s who work in the City or Canary Wharf.

Prices for the final units for sale at New Pier Wharf start from £600,000. For further sales information contact KALMARs on Tel: 0207 403 0600 or visit www.kalmars.com

Now complete and ready to move in

A vibrant new mix of 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments located in a prominent position on Peckham Road.

• 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments

Peckham Rye Station is just a short walk away, providing direct links to Central London in under 10 minutes. A simultaneously bustling and quaint location that is renowned for its fashionable mix of food and drink choices, Peckham offers a wide array of local shops, cafés and restaurants right on your doorstep.

• Private outside spaces (all apartments)

• Underfloor heating throughout • 10 year warranty

• Communal courtyard garden

Available with just a 5% deposit on Help to Buy To arrange viewing, call 020 7089 6566 or visit acorngroup.co.uk/newhomes

• Panoramic views of London (selected apartments)

1 beds from £415,000 / 2 beds from £475,000 / 3 beds from £625,000*

*Prices correct at time of print

HOMEOWNERS & LandLords WE HAVE APPLICANTS  DESPERATELY SEEKING PROPERTIES TO BUY & RENT IN & AROUND SE1.

!



THIRTY ARRANGING A FREE VALUATION TAKES JUST

SECONDS

at acorngroup.co.uk/valuation

OR GIVE US A CALL TODAY ON

020 7089 6565

116-118 Bermondsey STREET, SE1 3TX

The Acorn Group, also incorporates:



autumn 2019

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