Bermondsey Biscuit & Rotherhithe Docker - Winter 2019

Winter 2019 - 2020

Issue 5

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Winter 2019 - 2020

iron man

Issue 5

The Surrey Docks blacksmith making history

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

contents

winter 2019 - 2020

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Editor’s Letter Laura Burgoine

W

elcome to the fifth edition of the Bermondsey Biscuit and Rotherhithe Docker.

In our winter issue, we visit blacksmith Kevin Boys at his forge on Surrey Docks Farm, Michael Holland talks to Michael Ash about the war and the book biz, and historian Debra Gosling lifts the lid on the Peek Freans biscuit tin.

We check out the latest restaurant openings, and we wrap up Christmas in SE1 and SE16 with our local gift guide, the return of Maltby Street’s December night market, Christmas by the River and plenty more.

To all our readers, sponsors and advertisers, thank you for your support throughout this past year; we look forward to telling more of your stories in 2020. From all of us here at the Biscuit, we wish you a very happy Christmas. May you honour Christmas in your heart, and try to keep it all the year.

About us Editor Writers

Laura Burgoine Michael Holland, Debra Gosling, Katherine Johnson Photography Christian Fisher Marketing Tammy Jukes, Anthony Phillips Design Lizzy Tweedale, Aurelio Medina Finance Emrah Zeki

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

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30-39

Going out, out What’s on this winter People Surrey Docks blacksmith Kevin Boys History Lifting the lid on the Peek Frean biscuit tin Memories Michael Ash on the blitz and the book biz Food & Drink Borough Market turns 21 Christmas Your festive season all wrapped up Wellbeing World-class table tennis in Bermondsey Our spring issue hits the streets in February.

Contact us to get involved

fe Print Printed by Ilif Published by Southwark Newspaper Ltd

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5 13-14 17 18-19 20-29 30-33 34

winter 2019 - 2020

going out, out

What’s on this winter in SE16 and SE1 THANKSGIVING IN ROTHERHITHE The Illuminate Rotherhithe Festival returns with a series of free events for November.

On Saturday 9 November (1pm-3pm) there’s a family barn dance at Mayflower Hall, 1 Neptune Street.

The Pilgrims Saturday 23 November at 11am Latcho Drom Saturday 23 November at 4pm In My Heart Sunday 24 November at 2pm

The Lantern Procession returns on Friday 29 November. Assemble at 4.30pm for a 5pm start at St Mary’s Churchyard Gardens (St Mary’s Park)

A Tales and Songs of Migration concert takes over Sands Films on Saturday 16 November at 7:30pm. There’s also various movie screenings at Sands Films at 82 Saint Marychurch Street, including:

Illuminate Rotherhithe Community Show is on Saturday 30 November at 7.30pm at the Finnish Church, Albion Street SE16 7HZ www.illuminaterotherhithe.co.uk

RE-CHARGE

This year’s Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll Art Show features live performances from Chelsea, support from Deptford finest The Phobics, and Bermondsey’s Spizz Energi and other special guests.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, Re brings together work by over 50 local artists, reflecting different voices and the lifelong fascinations of artists of all disciplines and at all stages of their careers.

Spizz Energi will lead the opening charge with DJ Jeff Munday keeping the crowd rocking with classic vinyl 45s, the annual art raffle and much more.

Ai Wei Wei’s Human Flow Sunday 24 November at 5pm

Writing and art group Collection Creatives meets at Canada Water Library on Saturday 9 November (5:30pm7:30pm).

TICKLED PUNK

The Punk Rock & Roll Art Show is a free exhibition showcasing original affordable artwork and an evening launch party, which takes place on Friday 8 November from 6.30pm - 1am.

PARK ART

40 Albion Street, SE16 7JQ.

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ROTHERHITHE'S DRAG RACE

The art show then runs daily from Saturday 9 November - Monday 11 November, from noon-7pm at the Underdog Art Gallery, Arch 6, Crucifix Lane, London Bridge, SE1 3JW.

Life is a cabaret old chum, every Sunday at the Brunel. Drag queen Poppycock is well-heeled for a 7:30pm start.

SURGERY AND A SHOW

climaxing in one of the most tragic scenes in cinematic history.

The film will be preceded by an introduction by Gareth Miles.

Watch Jeff Goldblum’s cult classic The Fly at The Old Operating Theatre’s film night.

While most mutant films in the insect fear subgenre of the 1950s were about atomic radiation, The Fly concerns scientists who push the boundaries of exploration too far,

Local artist Natalie Webb’s Colours of Nature are on show at Albion Street’s Deli Felice until November 30. See a selection of photos of Southwark Park as well as Natalie’s original works.

Southwark Park Gallery, SE16, from 10 October - 3 November.

47 Swan Road, SE16 4JN. Phone: 020 7237 6590.

Friday 14 November at 7pm-8:30pm.

Admission: £12. Phone: 020 7188 2679.

9a Saint Thomas Street, SE1 9RY. oldoperatingtheatre.com

IN ASSOCIATION WITH TEAM LONDON BRIDGE

A time to give - London Bridge Community Christmas

W

hat does Christmas in London mean to you? Is it the bright lights of the High Street, a pantomime at the theatre, or a winter market with obligatory mulled wine? We look forward to all these things, but the festive season in London Bridge also brings a community spirit that can be harder to find amid the Christmas hustle and bustle.

Over the past 11 years, Team London Bridge has connected businesses in the area to the local community, by collecting, wrapping and distributing a huge number of donated presents to those who may sometimes not receive anything at all at Christmas otherwise.

Each year over 2,000 gifts are received from London Bridge based businesses

and Team London Bridge identifies local organisations that will make sure they find their way to people who will appreciate something to unwrap on Christmas morning. Last year’s recipients included Bede House, South London Cares and Time and Talents, with presents coming from a huge range of organisations.

Christmas 2018 was also the greenest ever, using Cargo Bikes for deliveries to create zero emissions. Organisations donating presents include businesses in the Shard, as well as PwC, Norton Rose and City Hall.

If you work in London Bridge and your organisation would like to join the campaign, contact Sofia at sofia@teamlondonbridge.co.uk

London Bridge Community Carols Parade When does something become a tradition?

If it’s when something heart-warming happens every year, then we think we’ve found a new one in London Bridge. The London Bridge Community Carols Parade sees children from local primary schools singing carols, lighting their own crafted lanterns and switching on Christmas lights as they parade through the area, starting by City Hall and ending up in London Bridge station.

Join us on 28 November 4.30-5.30pm to sing-along beside City Hall before turning on the lights in Potters Fields Park, Hay’s Galleria and London Bridge Station.

London Festival of Architecture 2020 – Call for Entries London Bridge will again be a focus area for the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), running 1-30 June 2020. The LFA team is currently seeking entries for next year’s festival, so whether you’re an architect or artist, business or builder, or just anyone with a great idea of how we can bring to life the theme of ‘Power’ in London Bridge, contact the LFA team via their website londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/ opencall

© Agnese Sanvito. London Festival of Architecture 2019

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© Andrew Logan’s Sunshine: LFA2019

winter 2019 - 2020

music

Join the Cru at Printworks Laura Burgoine

U

K bass music giants CruCast are capping off their national autumn tour with a massive indoor festival at Printworks. The Surrey Quays event follows large-scale indoor festival shows in Newcastle, Birmingham, and Nottingham.

Leading the new wave of British bass music including drum and bass and garage, CruCast is known for developing the ever-growing bassline sound that’s fast becoming the soundtrack for a new generation of UK ravers. CruCast hit new heights this year, taking over festival stages at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Creamfields, SW4, and Kendall Calling, as well as Amnesia in Ibiza.

At the Printworks festival, the stellar line-up includes Crucast featuring Skepsis, Darkzy, Bru-C, TS7, Window Kid, LazCru and Mr Virgo in the Press Halls, with very special guests Problem Central (Logan D, Majistrate, Eksman, Evil B), Watch the Ride featuring Randall b2b DJ Die b2b Dismantle featuring Prime, and plenty more.

CruCast and TS7 talk to the Bermondsey Biscuit…

What do you have in store for your first indoor festival?

Lots of brand new music and unreleased dubs! I think the lineup speaks for itself, over 40 artists. It’s going to be incredible and potentially the party of the year, nearly 5000 ravers in one place and loving the

bass. It’s a great time for UK music and to hold it in the capital, it’s going to be a very special day!

what’s working in the dance. Always focus on the crowd and keep an eye on them to make sure they are reacting to the tunes dropped.

How do you prepare? Do you have any rituals on the night that get you in the zone?

TS7: I tend to get to the hotel of the city I'm playing at between 4-6pm generally (for night-time events). Most of the time it's to avoid rushing and the possibility of train delays. Also, this may sound strange but I feel I need to lie down for anything between 10 minutes and an hour before playing. Just so mentally I know I'm not focused on anything else apart from the show ahead. Sometimes a few press-ups before jumping in the shower help me wake up!

Lazcru: I always try and make a note of what tracks DJs have been playing, so I don't end up repeating a tune that’s been played. This also gives me a good gauge on

“The venue is incredible and you couldn't even see the back from the stage.

Such an iconic place”

Have you played at Printworks before?

Lazcru: We played there two years ago as a collective at a party with DJ Hype. The venue is incredible and you couldn’t even see to the back from the stage; it’s like a river of people, such an iconic place. That session really projected us onto so many more opportunities, so to come back and do our own show is really going to be special. It's definitely a venue the UK can be proud of.

TS7: It's going to be my first time at Printworks. I've heard so much about it, and a few of my good DJ friends have told me it's the best venue they have ever played at, so I’m really excited to experience it!

What’s the best thing about London partygoers?

TS7: I think the best thing about London partygoers is the variation in music and other things they like. They also tend to

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have a real vivid memory of things they hear on a night out; it's always nice getting messages about certain tunes you played.

Your most surreal moment to date?

Lazcru: Some of the key moments that jump out would be playing at Boomtown to over 20,000 people! To see so many people enjoying the music will remain a special memory; also recently playing to over 15,000 people on the Relentless stage at Leeds festival was incredible - the feedback was amazing. Such a sick way to end an incredible weekend!

TS7: Tough one! This summer in particular has been unreal with the festivals and shows I've been lucky enough to be a part of here in the UK, and in Europe. Touring Australia was also a real highlight. I'm currently on my headline tour. I brought my parents to the first tour date, which managed to sell out. It was my mum’s first time in a club as well, so think that has to take it.

What does 2020 hold for Crucast?

Lazcru: We are currently working on shows in some cool new venues in the UK, which we have never been to before. Also hopefully announcing an Australia / New Zealand tour, big Ibiza summer show and some new European dates. Maybe a trip to America and even a Crucast Festival. Not forgetting some of the big UK festivals, we ain’t slowing down just yet!

Crucast is at Printworks, Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7PJ, on November 23 from 12 noon-11pm. Tickets: £25-£40. printworkslondon.co.uk

Theatre

winter 2019 - 2020

Joseph and his amazing housecoat Laura Burgoine

I grew up with the Alastair Sim film of A Christmas Carol. That’s the version in my head and I just love it. I haven’t seen it lately. I will see it, probably when I finish this. Michael Caine doesn’t really register with me as much – I probably remember the Muppets more.

This Christmas, Paterson Joseph leads the Old Vic’s production of A Christmas Carol as iconic miser Ebenezer Scrooge. © Robert Day

This production is a machine. It’s one of those jobs where I feel like, this could be one of the easiest, most fun jobs of my life. Because what you’re not doing – you’re not in rehearsals asking if this works, what the pace should be. There’s no nervousness whether the actual part, the dialogue, the way it’s structured, works. We all know it does. It’s really just a matter of me not getting gin the way of what they’ve choreographed. And then having some of my own fun within it. And I am having a lot of fun.

A lot of blokes are to blame for Scrooge’s condition. A lot of men messed him around, like his dad, and didn’t accept him as he was and needed him to change. It’s a very bloke-y story. Everybody can relate to it. It’s very black and white. There’s only a certain way of living your life and if you don’t tick that box, you’re a failure. I don’t think that’s too far away from our modern story.

Scrooge says: you do not understand debt until you’ve been in debt. I know people in modern times who I couldn’t get my head around why they’re so uptight about money and one of them told me when they were 14-years-old their Dad got into serious debt. If you haven’t experienced it, you can’t understand what it does to you to not have money. I’ve always made sure I earned money. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was a kid but I don’t have that attitude to money. That fear isn’t there. So your sympathy with Scrooge is not forced.

out of that I can choose the light, and be a person who’s generous, who has gratitude, and all those things we seek in our best mood.

That story of second chances, that’s the part of the play that it very difficult not to be really emotional within. If I could have another go would I be able to fix this? It’s such a powerful question. The effort is so great. There’s darkness to this story, there’s a lot of death but there’s a juxtaposition of death with life. What do you choose? Do you choose to focus on the darkness and ending and the past and things that are cruel and hard? Or do you choose to say,

You get taught how to be an actor but you very rarely get taught how to come out of character. I’ve written this book Julius Caesar and Me about the RSC version of Julius Caesar I was in and I talk about debriefing in it because it’s such a powerful thing and I demonstrate what it can do to you if you don’t. You do it in a very simple way. It’s what counsellors do when they do their role play. After you’ve finished, you say to the rest of the group that’s

Thailand with the most beautiful people in the world and a great director, Danny, who I’ve worked with several times. Leo was just a great joy. He was having fun.

He really enjoyed being away from all the Hollywood schmoozing, and Tilda (Swinton) and I became very good friends in that brief time. We spent loads of time together playing cards. We were on Koh Phi Phi and there was no one else on it but us because the mafia made sure of that –I’m not even joking. And the beach had been swept clean of all debris and there was tonnes of it: syringes and condoms and fag packets, bottles. They cleaned it and suspended these palm trees all along, they CGI-ed some cliffs on the horizon. It was very beautifully done. And it was paradise.

I’ve never been fitter. We did exercise in the morning in the heat, and just after lunch in the heat. We were looking like people who lived off rice, vegetables and fish. And we did. Some of us were trained to spear fish, some of us were trained as I was to make huts out of bamboo and willow strands.

It couldn’t have been a better job. Then my next job was on a roof in Croydon in a student film in a loin cloth and angels wings with one tiny light shining on me. It rained, the light went out, and I thought, yeah you’re definitely back to earth.

I like things like Scrooge just starting a sentence with ‘what is Christmas time?’

And you just know what he’s going to say. It’s going to be so horrible. ‘A time for paying bills without money. A time to realise that you’re a year older and not an hour richer.’

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watching ‘sorry, my name’s not Peter, my name’s John and I don’t have a father who abused me and I’m not an alcoholic who beats his wife.’ It’s very prosaic, but it just reminds you of who you are and separates you from who that person is. And it’s really important. In acting, the skill is in the craft.

Not in the being. I don’t think actors are meant to be dysfunctional human beings.

Most actors I know are absolutely sane.

There’s a mythology we’re meant to bury ourselves somehow in our work.

In Danny Boyle’s film the Beach (2000), I’m the only black guy in it. It was the best shooting that film. It was four months in

I think we’ve come to a time when we are cynical about charity and about festivals. And we’ve got that way because we’ve been over-commercialised. There’s something about doing a show like A Christmas Carol that is about the story of the truth behind the need for Christmas.

And the need to stop, check out how other people are living and if you can help, to help. It’s about human kindness and generosity of spirit.

Paterson Joseph stars in A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic, the Cut, SE1 8NB, from November 23.

Phone: 0344 871 7628.

Tickets: £12-£67.50.

A message from the Canada Water Masterplan team On the evening of Monday 30 September, Southwark Council’s Planning Committee resolved to grant planning permission for the Canada Water Masterplan. This is the first step in the approval process for the project and comes after five years of extensive consultation and input from the local community in shaping the proposals. The masterplan proposals will deliver a new town centre for the area with workspace for around 20,000 people, a new high street and around double the amount of retail and leisure including a new leisure centre, plus new homes including 35% affordable of which 70% would be for social rent. You can find out more about the plans on our website www.canadawatermasterplan.com.

We look forward to continuing to work with the local community to bring forward the plans, and create a place which benefits the whole community across different ages, incomes and life stages – bringing among other things, new jobs, opportunities for social connection, and investment to Canada Water.

Below is a round-up of just some of the exciting activities and programmes coming up in the local area in the next few months that we are delighted to be a part of, which you can get involved in.

Aged 11-18 years and interested in the environment and improving your leadership skills?

Global Generation is recruiting for the next cohort of its youth leadership programme for 11 to 18 year olds at the Paper Garden. The free programme, starting in the new year and lasting six to nine months, will provide support to local young people to develop new skills and learn to work together with others, whilst working in the local community. Many past generators have also gone on to become mentors to young students. Activities include free weekly after school sessions, design training, practicing public speaking, working with world-class companies, and attending a free residential activity trip in the summer to Pertwood Organic Farm in Wiltshire. If you would like to register your interest, or know someone who would be interested in the programme, please email emma@globalgeneration.org.uk.

Help to improve customer experience for disabled people at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre Purple Tuesday is an international event focused on changing the customer experience for disabled people. To mark it, Surrey Quays Shopping Centre will be putting on awareness and training sessions with Time and Talents in T&T2 opposite Tesco at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre on 12th November to help local businesses and their staff understand various types of disabilities. Sessions include: • Sign language training

Career opportunities at British Land Apprenticeship opportunity at British Land closing soon

We are recruiting for a new level 3 Business Administration apprentice within the Canada Water team. The role will support the team day-to-day and will incorporate general business tasks such as creating presentations and organising events, with structured learning via White Hat. Applications are open until 11th November and you can find out more information on how to apply by visiting https://platform. whitehat.org.uk/apprenticeships and searching for ‘Business Administration’ role.

Graduate scheme opportunity at British Land

Applications are now open for our Commerical Property and Strategy graduate scheme. For more information about the scheme, please visit our website at www.britishland.com/careers/ opportunities/early-careers. Applications are open until 13th December with the scheme commencing in September 2020.

• Recognising signs of stroke • Understanding autism • Visual impairment awareness training.

For more information on sessions and talks, visit the What’s On page on www.surreyquays.co.uk/news-events.

Activities are open to all - we hope to welcome you there.

Illuminate Rotherhithe – 9th to 30th November 2019

Illuminate Rotherhithe is back again from Saturday 9th November. The annual free local festival celebrates the anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Rotherhithe in 1620 to the New World, and the theme of this year’s festival is Trade. There are lots of exciting events planned from a family barn dance to the popular Lantern Procession.

We’re pleased to be supporting this year’s festivities through the Mayflower 400 Fund with Southwark Council and United St Saviour’s Charity. For more information, visit www.illuminaterotherhithe.co.uk.

If you have any questions regarding the project or would like to get in touch then please don’t hesitate to contact Canada Water Masterplan team: Email us on: team@canadawatermasterplan.com Freephone: 0800 470 4593

MUSEUMS

winter 2019 - 2020

From fear and medicine to Victorian circus freaks and flesh Laura Burgoine

A

fter a sold out events programme in 2019, where the Old Operating Theatre dedicated the year to fear and medicine, 2020 is set to be their most engaging and thought-provoking year yet. The museum’s events programme is themed around Flesh: more than skin deep. Besides being the part of the body that is made out of muscles and fat, the word flesh has been used to refer to the physicality of the human body in general, and the images that it evokes have shifted depending on its perception from a historical, social, moral, religious, political, or economic point of view, among others.

Whether metaphorical or literal, the word flesh will allow visitors to explore concepts surrounding the history of the body and the changes, uses, and abuses that have been made to it as well as the possible reasons behind those transformations.

Major highlights of the programme include talks

by Victorian specialist, Dr. John Woolf, author of The Wonders, who will talk about circus freaks in the Victorian Era; Dr. Amy Matthewson, research fellow at SOAS University, who will introduce people to Choo Ling Soo, the great Victorian magician, and his trick of disguising flesh; Dr. Sasha Garwood Lloyd, research associate at the University of Nottingham, who will focus her talk on disappearing flesh or how women in the Victorian era took control of their bodies; Dr. Bill Maclehose examines medieval flesh, while Dr. Kathleen Walker-Meikle will discuss the concept of diseased flesh in the early modern period. Education and access manager, Julie Mathias, will focus her talk on common flesh or prostitution in the Victorian era.

The Old Operating Theatre’s film nights will add a bit of horror to the line-up. Not to mention their special events like having the Cabinet of Living Cinema to perform the score for the 100th anniversary of the screening of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in the operating theatre, or the performance of the award-winning Two Body Problem by I Swear I Saw This. The museum is also running a licensed Apothecary Wine Bar for 45 minutes before the event starts.

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret is located in the attic of St Thomas’ Church in London Bridge up a narrow 52-step spiral staircase. The church was constructed in the eighteenth century as part of the rebuilding of Old St Thomas’ Hospital. The timber-framed attic of this church was used by the apothecaries of Old St Thomas’ to dry and cure herbs for patients’ medicines. Later on, in 1822, the space was transformed into a surgical theatre for the women’s wards before the introduction of anaesthetics and antiseptics. After closing down in 1862 and forgotten, it was rediscovered in 1956 and opened as a museum in 1962. Since then the museum has become an important educational and cultural centre dedicated to the history of medicine. Under the care of the Lord Brock Trust (a registered charity), the Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret is committed to creating unique, educational, thought-provoking, and entertaining events in their space to raise the museum’s profile, as well as funds to keep it running. Follow the museum on social media to learn more about them.

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The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret is at 9a St Thomas Street, SE1 9RY. Phone: 020 7188 2679. oldoperatingtheatre.com

winter 2019 - 2020

Bound by Bermondsey Street Laura Burgoine

books

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n M Studio architects, just off Bermondsey Street, you’ll now find a bookshop and café.

Peckham local Jonathan Dransfield, 61, runs Morocco Bound Books, which hosts poetry readings but is primarily a co-working creative space.

The lead architect of Waterhouse Architects, which designed a number of buildings around Bermondsey Street including the Sarson’s Vinegar Factory, Jonathan is also an author; his debut novel The Other Things can be found on the shelves at Morocco Bound Books. “I figured I can be the bestselling author in my own bookshop,” he laughs.

“I suppose that’s how we got into the book side of the

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business,” he continues. “I was told it’s more difficult selling books than writing the thing!”

The bookstore has room for 300 titles. Jonathan’s business partner, Natty Whitney-Low, a 22-year-old creative writing student, helps him select titles.

Selling Old Spike Roastery coffee, the shop is open 5pm-9pm in the evenings during the week and 12pm9pm at weekends. There’s plans for regular literary events, workshops and a bookclub.

M studio, Ground floor, 1a Morocco Street, SE1 3HB.

p Jonathan Dransfield and Natty Whitney-Low

PORTRAIT OF A LONDON ROAD: 1904, 1975, 2019

30.10.2019 15.01.2020

An exhibition of archive photography documenting Elephant and Castle’s London Road at three points in its history – revealing not just a road but a community facing change.

Launch Night: 30 October 2019, 4-8pm Curator tours: 5 November, 11am-12pm / 11 December, 2-3pm / 15 January, 6-7pm Free and open to all, booking essential

photography and the archive research centre

Book at arts.ac.uk/lcc

winter 2019 - 2020

people

Laura Burgoine

The Surrey Docks blacksmith making history

B

lacksmith Kevin Boys is in his own “little world” in his forge on Surrey Docks Farm. “I get up at six o’clock every morning, I get in here for seven or half seven, and I stay for as long as possible ‘til about six in the evening, much to my wife’s consternation and patience,” he says. “This is my little world in here, my kingdom where I can control everything.”

Locally, Kevin is known for creating the Bermondsey Lion which stands in pride of place in the market square down the Blue on Southwark Park Road. His next local commission is a sculpture of the red Scotch Derrick crane on the Rotherhithe peninsula. “Hollybrook, the developers, took out the red crane and they agreed to pay for a sculpture to go back. I’ve got the steel from the original crane, not all of it but enough of it to make a sculpture,” Kevin says. “That crane was made in 1968. It’s lovely steel.

We’ll heat it up, forge it, put it through the power hammer, strengthen it up…There’s been a crane on that side of the river since before 1500, easily 500 years. It was a meeting point, a real landmark.”

Kevin’s grandfather and his brother were both blacksmiths. His other grandfather was a stonemason.

“We had it in the family,” Kevin says. “I learnt off of my

grandfather when I was younger, quite a lot of stuff. Then I went to college on the basis of becoming a painter.”

While studying fine arts at Canterbury College of Art, followed by a Masters in America, Kevin discovered sculpture. “Interestingly, when I was at college they said ‘less than one percent of you are going to end up being artists.’ You can see why parents think fine art isn’t a good thing to study. But the principles and processes you learn in fine arts are transferable to other things,” he says.

“One day I’ll go back to painting,” he continues. “I paint my sculptures. And I do a lot of drawing. I can’t stop myself really. If, and when, I do ever slow down from blacksmithing, then I can paint.”

Kevin Boys Blacksmiths specialise in industrial, architectural and decorative sculpture, and business is showing no signs of slowing. “I crushed four or more discs in my vertebrae from lifting stuff that’s too heavy… and playing rugby,” Kevin says. “You get burnt and cut and scratched. We’ve got two power hammers and they’re hugely dangerous. They can deliver a 30kg hammer blow 180 times a minute.”

Continues on page 14

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winter 2019 - 2020

people

“I’m quite glad to say I used to injure myself quite a lot when I was younger but as I’ve got older I don’t. I’m not rushing around so much.”

Now based in Shooter’s Hill, Kevin lived in Peckham from 1985 and set up the forge on Surrey Docks Farm in 1991, back in the days when the area was “like the Wild West.” “Gangs would hang around the YMCA in Rotherhithe and wait for the tourists to come out so they could nab them,” he says.

The blacksmith set up the forge in 1991, next to what would later become the urban farm. Historically, the site was used by the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a Receiving Station for their River Ambulance Service, to transfer smallpox and fever patients to isolation hospitals downriver.

“There was this building, which was an inspection room for people suspected of having smallpox, and there was a jetty that went out 300 foot,” Kevin says. “I’ve seen old black and white photos of children and babies in wooden cots on boats at the end of the jetty, stuck out there.”

Kevin has amassed quite the regal CV throughout his career, creating sculptures for the Tower of London and signs in Kensington Palace’s Princess Diana memorial garden. “I’ve been working for the Tower of London for 20 odd years,” he says. “I made six archers for them; the two English bowmen on the top, the crossbow men. They’re 6 foot; they took about six months per man to make.”

Last year, he hung a 13th century-style, two metre chandelier on the vaulted ceiling of the Beauchamp Tower

in the Tower of London.

“I remember I got a phonecall from the constable of the Tower one day saying ‘we’ve been compelled by the Yeomen of the Guard and the general public to investigate and display torture at the tower. We’re looking to recreate the original stretching rack,” Kevin says. “The best picture of the original rack was in a first edition Shakespeare play, on the inside cover. You have to be able to research in this job.”

Kevin made the stretching rack. “In order to show the Tower what it was going to look like, I made a scale model that fitted Action Man. I got the ninja action man because he’s got a hood. We discovered Action Man’s a bit weedy but Strike Force man is much tougher,” the blacksmith laughs. “If you go to the Clink Prison Museum, they’ve borrowed that model.”

Currently Kevin is in talks with Hampton Court about making mobile signage. “Because signs are going to be wheeled in and out of the front gates they need to fit in

“Blacksmithing is like playing the violin. You practise and you get better and better”

16

with the front gate, otherwise they look like Tesco trolleys,” he says.

But Kevin doesn’t just specialise in historical projects.

“Years ago I did a project for a British Airways flagship hotel at Gatwick airport and it was a sleek modernist interior and so I decided to contrast them with something rococo and flamboyant. We did chandeliers and big candelabras,” he says. “Steel is such a plastic material; you can do anything with it.”

Blacksmithing, Kevin says, is a profession where you never stop learning. “It’s like playing the violin, you practise and you get better and better. We make our own tools – that’s why they call it the king’s craft. Once you get into tool making, you can start designing tools and with that kind of control and flexibility it means you can make whatever you want.”

“It’s a nightmare me walking around London,” he laughs. “I can be with people and we can be deep in conversation and I’ll wander off to look at a sculpture.”

Kevin Boys Blacksmiths is at Surrey Docks Farm, South Wharf, Rotherhithe Street, SE16 5ET. Phone: 020 7237 1408. www.kevinboysblacksmiths.org.uk Kevin holds blacksmithing classes every Saturday morning from 10am-12pm. Admission: £25.

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winter 2019 - 2020

history

Lifting the lid on Peek Frean's biscuit tin Debra Gosling

P

eek Frean was known for its decorative biscuit tins.

The contents were quite delicious but the tins, well, they were something else. The firm employed fine artists to design them, in all shapes, sizes and colours of the rainbow. Every coronation, celebration and historical event was depicted on a PF tin. Many are very collectable and very few people threw them away. Once every custard cream, every bourbon, every crumb had been removed from them they were put to other uses.

A tin of buttons is an inheritance and one tin can be passed and added to through the generations. Normally once the elder relative passes away the next female in line takes charge of the button tin. Opening one is a wonder to behold; colours and textures spill out into the light once more, glinting and shining like treasure. They can go back generations and each has a story to tell.

You can trace a whole family tree through the button tin. There are the pearly, decorative ones that perhaps adorned a special wedding dress. Imagine the tiny little pictorial buttons that decorated baby’s cardigan as she giggled in her pram or the big, distinctive shiny brown cracked leather ones that fastened the reluctant schoolboy’s duffel coat, keeping him warm on a foggy November day.

There are the creased old cards of buttons that home workers threaded to make a few pennies and were sold at the haberdashers' shops in The Blue. Delve a little deeper and unearth a Brownies badge, a union badge, or a badge with strange initials conjuring up secret societies (which will remain just that!)

It is common to find the odd military cap badge in a button tin but whose was it?

You can find no uncle or grandfather in the services so where did it come from? Was it a maiden aunt’s lost love, a token from some clandestine affair? Not so exciting, it could have been found on the pavement, mistaken for a coin and stashed away!

The age of the flapper, the dancing girl twirling her pearls, is represented with the cheery coloured glass buttons and, for the more mature lady, Art Deco creations. Those geometric designs echo the glamorous cinema architecture of the time.

The Astoria or the Regal down the Old Kent Road reflected this age of glamour and girls done up to the nines in new coats with glittering buttons would queue up with their beau for the latest 'flick'.

Sometimes the material still attached to a button gives an idea of the type of garment to which it once belonged.

Remember there were many haberdashers in Bermondsey (and Deptford). Was that green swirly fabric a frock bought in Hobbs

or maybe Pomeroy’s emporium?

We will never know, unless an old photo turns up with said frock in it.

Glinting beneath all the everyday buttons you find a black, shiny nugget; a Victorian Whitby Jet boot button. These would have been attached to little leather ankle boots and the wearer would have purchased a button hook to aid buttoning up the stiff leather eyelets.

It was not just women wearing Jet buttoned-boots, they were also put onto children's shoes but only Sunday best.

Those who could not afford Jet made do

19

© Peek Frean Museum

with French Glass ones.

All sorts of material were used for buttons: the scrap ends of leather, bone, shell and wood were all local products that could be turned into something fabulous.

However, there are no button firms in Bermondsey so they must have been transported from elsewhere. As an aside, did you know there are people frightened of buttons?

The name for this phobia is Koumpounophobia. So now you know.

Every button tin could tell similar stories. Once there were haberdashers on every street corner but they have disappeared, along with all their ribbons, trimmings and bows.

Now, buttons are not so interesting.

Mass produced in China or replaced by zips and Velcro, they have lost their allure, which makes those treasures kept in that Peek Frean tin so very special.

memory lane

winter 2019 - 2020

The Ashes Michael Holland

Michael Ash looks back on the Blitz, hopping holidays and a life in the book business

K

athleen Ash would have had her baby in Eugenia Road if it wasn’t for Hitler. The family were hopping in Kent when their street was bombed, so Mrs Ash booked herself into Pembury Hospital to give birth to Michael. They then evacuated to North Devon while dad Albert stayed and worked in Woolwich Arsenal until that got bombed and he got his call-up papers.

On rare trips back to London young Michael vaguely remembers searchlights raking the sky, air raid sirens and dashes to the shelters. Sometimes “you got in the cupboard under the stairs.” He was too young to remember the farm they evacuated to but does remember vividly the day his dad was demobbed. “I sat outside waiting for him to come home, and when I saw him come round the corner I ran towards him, tripped over and got two black eyes!”

After the war, Mike went to Rotherhithe New Road School and then Greenwich Central. Boyhood pastimes included boxing and cricket, which Michael still follows today. He was also altar boy at St Katherine’s, the church in his street, where services were held in the vicarage after the church was bombed.

“My mum used to speak of when I was christened there during an air raid!” he begins. Hence, two neighbours were quickly drafted in as godparents to ensure baby Michael’s ticket to heaven was secured.

Hopping was an annual holiday for the Ash family. “We went to Whitbreads Farm until the 1953 floods, and after that we picked at Frittenden… Then my grandmother bought an old coach, which got stripped out, converted into rooms, then towed down to Sheerness where she parked it in a field. We holidayed there a lot -it’s where I quickly learnt to swim after a wave swept me off my feet,” he claims.

“My mum, Kate, was a wonderful pianist,” Michael remembers. “She played regularly in the St Helena Tavern on a Saturday night, and when down Sheppey she played in the Minster Hotel where the boss thought it was wonderful how she attracted big crowds.”

This reminiscing led to Mike recalling meeting his wife Jackie in the Tiger’s Head in Catford in the ‘60s. “55 years later we’re still going strong,” he says.

Michael’s first job was at The Star as a messenger boy for £3 2s 0d a week. “I loved it!” He went to work in a suit

20

winter 2019 - 2020

and tie while other messengers turned up in jeans, and this made him stand out because over the coming years he would be chosen for special duties. Most of his bosses had fought as officers so would recognise a willingness to work. Eventually, Michael was moved to the publishing department which produced the I Spy books, where he learnt all you needed to know about production. One job was taking copies of new books to the bosses. “Even though I was just a little cog, those directors still made me feel important, and I took that all the way through my business life.”

At 20, Michael decided he needed to improve his education so enrolled at night school. He enjoyed the studying, comparing it favourably to his schooldays and the horrible environment created by spiteful teachers. Plus, he was able to stay in employment.

Because National Service had stopped, Mike moved steadily upwards until he could earn no more or go no higher. At 29, with the skills and knowledge he had acquired, he felt it time to move on so put feelers out to his contacts. A buyer at WH Smith put him in touch with a children’s books’ publisher where Michael talked himself into a Sales Manager’s job, travelling all over the country and coming home at weekends. Business boomed so much the company couldn’t supply his demand for books so, against his boss’s wishes, Mike bought up ‘remainder’ stock wherever he could so he always had something for clients. He saw money to be earnt, and that became the catalyst for him branching out on his own with a business

memory lane

“I was christened during an air raid. People were terrified of not having their children christened in those days" in Greenwich that expanded to selling toys as well as books, with Michael doing the selling, the packing and the delivering.

In the mid ‘80s, while his business grew, Michael was introduced to the Rotary Club and saw a chance to give something back to Bermondsey when he realised more could be done for the OAPs’ Christmas party. “When I joined they were sat in a cold mission hall and given a box with a sandwich in and a gift worth 50p! I thought that was really poor so took charge for the next 25 years,” he says. The party improved with good food, sherry, proper entertainment and a bag of essentials to take home.

By now his firm had grown. Michael employed family members and people he had met in his career, and it moved to Camberwell. Eventually more staff were taken on as the company expanded and he was able to buy the old Garnar’s Leather Factory near Abbey Street where his business, which had now moved into publishing, located to.

“It mushroomed. We were exporting to Asia, America,

21

New Zealand, Australia and the turnover was now just over £10 million a year… It was the best 40 years of my life,” says the man who looks like he has enjoyed every minute of it.

Michael Ash says he was lucky, but he made every bit of that luck himself to achieve what he did. Nowadays the Ashes don’t holiday in a converted coach in a field but in their home in Spain, on cruises, and pretty much anywhere the fancy may take them.

FESTIVE FAMILY SHOWS AT THE UNICORN THEATRE Ages 7 and over

A Unicorn Production

OSCAR WILDE’S THE

CANTERVILLE

GHOST Adapted by Anthony Weigh Directed by Justin Audibert

Ages 3 – 7

Ages 6 – 18 months

A Unicorn and New Perspectives Production

A Unicorn Production in association with Sarah Argent

THE WOLF, THE DUCK

AND THE MOUSE

By Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen Adapted by Jack McNamara

SCRUNCH Created by Sarah Argent and Kevin Lewis

winter 2019 - 2020

food & drink

Borough Market turns 21 Laura Burgoine

21

years after its rebirth as a retail market, Borough Market is celebrating its coming of age with a brand new look. From early November, over 20 new traders are opening in an expanded produce zone, while a new communal dining space, Borough Market Kitchen, is serving up dishes from 20 stands, including Mei Mei, JUMA Kitchen, Mimo and Brindisa Kitchen.

A range of new and existing traders are set to move into the Green Market area, as well as maintaining their current location at Three Crown Square. The new Borough Market Kitchen – a plastic-free zone - will allow locals and visitors to sit down at communal tables made from

recycled materials.

Over 1000 years old, Borough Market was predominantly a wholesale market for many years. The Market, in its current form, was born in November 1998 when pioneering traders Turnips, Brindisa and Neal’s Yard Dairy started to sell their produce directly to the public, and the Market cemented its position as a world class iconic food destination.

New traders at the market

The Borough Market Kitchen is open between 10am and 5pm from MondayThursday and on Saturday) and 10am-6pm on Friday.

JUMA Kitchen Iraqi food

Brindisa Kitchen Dishes from classic regions of Spain Mei Mei Singaporean street food

La Tua Pasta Fresh artisan pasta dishes

The Borough Market Kitchen opens in early November.

Horn Ok Please Indian street food

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Shuk Modern Israeli menu

Scotchtails Scotch eggs and salads

Mimo San Sebastian pinchos

Khanom Krok Thai Street food

Pochi Authentic Japanese Soboro style rice bowls The Bath Dairy Traditional tartiflette, baked cheese

PADRE Mexican food

Joli Traditional Malaysian dishes

Oroshi Japanese Robata grill

Nana Fannys Jewish deli menu

Gujarati Rasoi Guajarati Street food Applebee’s Fish Fish and seafood dishes Nero di Parma Small plates Italian food Rudie’s Jerk Shack Traditional Jamaican dishes

food & drink

winter 2019 - 2020

We come from the Green-land down under Laura Burgoine

Australian-inspired Pear Tree celebrates its third birthday

I

n this neighbourhood restaurant in Greenland Place, you’ll find jars of Vegemite on every table, Pavlova on the menu, and an Aussie couple at the helm - and behind the stove.

The Pear Tree is an Australian inspired eatery nestled between Deptford and Surrey Quays and owned and run by husband and wife chefs TzeMay Ng and Matthew Lloyd.

“Australian cuisine is really multicultural and really fresh, and that’s what our menu reflects,” TzeMay tells the Biscuit.

TzeMay was born in Malaysia and moved to Australia at 15, where she worked in some of the top restaurants including Altitude, in Sydney’s Shangri-La. Matthew is from Queensland and worked in kitchens all over the East coast, including the Whitsundays. The pair met while working at Quay, one of Sydney’s most star studded restaurants.

After settling in England, they married, moved to Surrey then moved to Surrey Quays, had a couple of kids and opened the Pear Tree. The restaurant turns three this month.

“We lived in Canada Water for eight years and there wasn’t really anywhere to eat,” TzeMay said. Filling the gap in the market, the Pear Tree now does 200 covers at brunch on Saturday and again on Sunday, in addition to Deliveroo orders. They go through a thousand eggs a week, while Friday nights are busy with a two-course and three-course set menu featuring “good value, seasonal produce.”

The dynamic duo have put their own twist on breakfast classics like the Royale, with smoked salmon fish cakes and paprika, as well as black, buttermilk pancakes made with activated charcoal and served with the ubiquitously Australian adornment: the smashed avocado.

“Our customers are very adventurous,” TzeMay says.

With two chefs for parents, it’s perhaps not surprising TzeMay and Matthew’s children, aged six and eight, also have daring palates and will eat oysters and escargot.

Open six days a week, with all-day breakfast, the Pear Tree is a neighbourhood place where customers are on first name terms with the staff of around 15. Their meat is sourced from family-run Walter Rose and Son in Wiltshire, they stock beers from Bermondsey craft brewers Anspach and Hobday

(the owner lives near the café), Partizan and Kernel, and get produce from Natoora on Spa Terminus. Coffee is courtesy of Caravan while tea is from Jing.

For Antipodeans, the Pear Tree is also a one-stop shop for Aussie delights including Tim Tams, Cherry Ripes, Chicos, and a fridge full of Solo and Bundaberg. You can get a Coopers pale ale, craft beers from Oz, a Down Under cocktail mixed with Green Ant fin from Adelaide Hills distillery, and there’s an impressive list of Australian wines including a range from the Thistledown Wine Company.

“We don’t have a specialty wine shop around here so we have takeaway wines at our deli,” Matthew said.

The Pear Tree offers catering, takeaway Sunday roasts, and even take-away turkey on Christmas Day. “We did 200 meals last year for Christmas Day,” Matthew said. “People can put in their order up to the week before, and we have turkey, goose, lamb, beef, vegetables, all the trimmings; we made some orders for couples last year and can cater for smaller families of four.”

For winter, the pair at Pear are looking forward to cooking lots of braised dishes, curries, and home cooked comfort classics, including their famed Sunday lunch.

The Pear Tree at Greenland Place is at Yeoman Street, SE8 5ET. Phone: 020 7237 6171. www.thepeartreekitchen.co.uk

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winter 2019 - 2020

food & drink

From the Blitz to the Spritz The Bermondsey signature cocktail created for Tooley Street’s flagship Honest Burger store has proved so popular, it’s now a regular fixture at all branches across London. Fancy making it yourself at home? Here’s how:

Bermondsey Spritz 35ml Aperol 35ml Sauvignon Blanc 1 Build over ice in a highball glass.

2 Top up with Bermondsey Grapefruit tonic 3 Garnish with a slice of lemon

New Arrivals Chef Tom Cenci, of Duck and Waffle fame, has launched the Loyal Tavern on Bermondsey Street, on the site formerly home to Village East. Here he’s dishing up seasonal British produce in a relaxed neighbourhood environment with a menu featuring Cornish mackerel with apple, pine nut and truffle, Venison tartar with beef dripping, and daily specials of rib of retired dairy cow or gurnard with crab bisque, carrot and seaweed.

The owner of Michelin-starred Mayfair hotspot Murano is venturing south of the river with a new restaurant on Bermondsey Street. Angela Hartnett is planning to open her third Café Murano (following outposts in St James’ and Covent Garden) on the former site of Italian eatery Zucca, which closed in 2015. Planning documents have been submitted for the café to open at 184 Bermondsey Street so the air in SE1 should soon be rich with aromas of rustic Italian ragù and radicchio.

Heading up the bar is Antonio Del Monte, from The Ned –who’s getting onboard with wine flights, which you can have with or without the food - in 50ml, 175ml, 500ml measures. There will also be a new cocktail list with sharing punch bowls.

There’s a new closing time of 1:30am with late night cheese toasties on the menu.

171-173 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UW. www.loyaltavern.co.uk

26

Crol and Co has opened its second café at 66 Newcomen Street, SE1 1YT. The neighbourhood spot is open 7:30am5pm from Monday to Friday. www.crolandcocoffee.com

26 Grains comes to Borough Market after sowing their wild oats in the breakfast biz at Neal’s Yard. They open at 2-3 Stoney Street, SE1 9AA with a seasonal menu adapting breakfast through to dinner.

The lovechild of Heston Blumenthal’s chef and sommelier from Fat Duck, Trivet is taking over the space formerly home to Londrino. 36 Snowsfields, SE1 3SU.

winter 2019 - 2020

food & drink

The olive grove under the arches Laura Burgoine

H

ailing from the Peloponnese, Marianna Kolokotroni started Oliveology as a stall in Borough Market in 2009. She joined the foodies of Spa Terminus with a warehouse in 2014.

The company imports produce from small, artisan farmers who use minimal intervention and natural methods to ensure high quality. All the products are vegan and most are organic. “We’re very proud of our produce,” Marianna, who has lived in England 20 years, says. “When I started out, Greek produce was really under-represented in England. Farmers in Greece are not that organised, and you could only find very basic Greek foods in supermarkets, from large suppliers.”

Oliveology originally specialised in importing olive oil, olives and olive leaf tea. Now they’ve expanded their range to include honey, pulses, pasta, herbs and

27

olive oil soap. They’re also holding cooking classes and events in their warehouse space.

Olive oil is generally “cold pressed” at 27 degrees Celsius but the colder pressed, the more nutritious it is. Oliveology stocks oil made from as low as 17 degrees Celsius.

“There’s a myth you can’t cook with olive oil but in Greece we use Extra Virgin olive oil on everything,” Marianna says. “The average Greek person consumes 25 litres of oil per year!”

Oliveology is open Saturdays from 9am2pm at Unit 4, Voyager Business Estate, Ness Street, SE16 4RP. oliveology.co.uk Lida Papamatthaiaki hosts a Christmas Cooking workshop on December 7, from 10am-3pm, where you can prepare a Greek vegetarian feast of Cretan pastries with galomizithra cheese, honey and aromatic orange. Price: £120 per person.

food & drink

Leave the gun, take the cannoli Laura Burgoine

winter 2019 - 2020

A

new neighbourhood Italian restaurant has arrived in Shad Thames just in time for autumn. Legare is the first solo restaurant venture of Jay Patel (previously GM at Barrafina Adelaide St and Koya City) and young chef Matt Beardmore (previously senior sous chef at Trullo).

Focused on seasonal ingredients, fresh pasta and a small, well-curated low intervention wine list, the broadly Italian menu at the 35-seat restaurant reflects the best in seasonal and locally sourced produce, featuring a short, changing menu of antipasti and fresh pasta dishes.

The chefs are sourcing supplies from The Ham & Cheese Company, Neal’s Yard Dairy and Kernow Sashimi, while fresh pasta is hand-made daily in-house, using rich egg based pasta doughs to create delicious dishes such as tajarin with ‘burro e salvia’ (butter and sage); handmadesemolinabased pastas from southern Italy including orecchiette with fennel sausage and swiss chard ragu, and stracci with crab, chilli, garlic, saffron and pangrattato (pasta dishes from £9).

There will also be an indulgent whole large Scottish lobster taglierini

The speakeasy of Maltby Street Laura Burgoine

U

nderneath a Victorian railway arch in Bermondsey is London’s newest vermouth bar. Vermouth 49 is influenced by the vermouth bars of Spain with its culture of drinking straight vermouth as an aperitivo.

Co-founder Zac grew up as the son of a deli owner in Monmouth and worked his way up to running meat and cheese counters in Brindisa, Selfridges and Union Street. He co-founded Bar Tozino with Chuse Valero - an authentic bodega in Maltby Street Market, which they established in 2012. When the arch next door became available Zac’s long-held idea to open a vermouth bar suddenly became more real. Within the setting of Maltby Street Market, he envisioned a bar where vermouth is imbibed on the rocks, neat, with a nibble of cheese, charcuterie or cured fish.

This vision of vermouth naturally included El Bandarra vermut, which Zac encountered through his connections with Moreno Wines, first a supplier for his father and now

him. Over the years Zac has become part of the Bandarra familia with visits to the vineyard in Penedes, Catalonia and many a vermouth party under his belt.

There are all sorts of vermouths available – not just Spanish. Currently the team uses the Gay Farmer olive oil, the Snapery bread, beers from FourPure and charcuterie from Cannon and Cannon. Much of their wine comes from Fingal-Rock Wines, an importer specialising in Burgundy.

As the only vermouth bar on the Bermondsey beer mile, it has a speakeasy atmosphere, enjoying close ties with its sister Bar Tozino next door and Castro’s Barbershop upstairs.

Vermouth 49 is at Ropewalk, Maltby Street, SE1 3PA. Open Wednesday-Saturday 11am-10pm, and Sunday 11am-5pm. Vermouth from £4.50, dishes from £5.

28

dish created for two to share, that diners will need to preorder (priced at £50).

In addition to pasta, the menu features antipasti options including fett’unta of goats curd and sobrasada and a daily crudo offering dictated by day-boat fishing and seasonal oysters (from £4).

Rounding off the menu is a concise dessert list including fill-to-order, signature homemade cannoli with seasonal fillings (desserts from £5).

For drinks, there’s a short and carefully curated drinks list, developed by notable sommelier and good friend Cameron Dewar (currently at Elystan Street and previously at Londrino). The drinks list features natural and low intervention wines from small producers who follow ethical farmingpractices, with a focus on Italian production and some interesting bottles from neighbouring countries.

Ahead of the opening, Jay said: “Our aim has always been to find the most delicious produce, farmed in the most sustainable ways, from various farmers across Europe - and use those ingredients to create our version of the Italian food we love to eat. Having lived in south London all my life, I feel a sense of pride in opening Legare south of the river.”

Legare opens this autumn in the Cardamom Building, 31G Shad Thames, SE1 2YB. LegareLondon.com

Untitled-5 1

usical ayhem

Theatre Academy

Musical Theatre term time after school and weekend classes and holiday workshops for children aged 2-16.

Join us at Musical Mayhem Theatre Academy and learn how to sing, dance and act.

We regularly perform in concerts and theatre productions and have so much fun!

Various locations across London

Christmas at London Glassblowing

Limited Spaces available! Enrol NOW!

FREE Trial for all NEW Students

15 Nov - 24 Dec Tree decorations, Phil Vallentin

www.musicalmayhem.org 07842259387 info@musicalmayhem.org

01/11/2019 12:12

Collectors’ Studio open every Saturday 11am - 6pm Ground Floor, 54-58 Tanner Street (Entrance on Pope Street) London SE1 3PH T: +44 (0)20 7407 6561 E: info@eamesfineart.com W: eamesfineart.com

winter 2019 - 2020

food & drink

Room with a view Laura Burgoine

T

he Hoxton Southwark has opened its doors on Blackfriars Road, boasting 192 rooms with all-day eatery Albie, and seafood rooftop restaurant Seabird.

The eighth property in the series, The Hoxton, Southwark sees the brand back on familiar ground with its third hotel in London, the city where it all began.

The Hoxton first opened its doors in Shoreditch in 2006, followed by Holborn in 2012, and has since been rolled out globally, with creatively designed openhouse hotels in neighbourhoods around the world including Paris, Amsterdam, New York, Portland, and Chicago. The Hoxton, Downtown LA will follow later this year.

A 14-storey new build, The Hoxton, Southwark is located on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge in an area that was a thriving trading hub for London through the industrial revolution. Today, the former factories have been converted into galleries, bars and restaurants, and the neighbourhood is home to some of the city’s best galleries, museums, theatres and food markets.

The hotel’s 192 rooms come in five categories: Shoebox, Snug, Cosy, Roomy

31

and Biggy, and are full of natural light with large Crittall-style windows showing off views of the city. The signature industrial aesthetic comes through with concrete ceilings and bare brick walls.

Perched on the 14th floor of the hotel, rooftop restaurant Seabird, inspired by Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, is a destination in itself, boasting London’s longest oyster list, a marble raw bar, and sprawling city views.

To create Seabird, the Hoxton partnered with Premiere Enterprises, founded by award-winning duo Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka of New York’s Brooklyn hotspot, Maison Premiere, celebrated for the cocktail menu that earnt them a coveted spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list.

The Hoxton is also hosting a series of talks, craft workshops, plant swaps, DJ sets, art exhibitions, pop-up shops, and more as part of an ongoing cultural programme.

Rates from £209. The Hoxton, Southwark, 32 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8PB. www.thehoxton.com

Christmas

winter 2019 - 2020

A ermondsey Christmas Carol Ghosts of christmas past During World War One, one of the Peek Frean salesmen, a Mr Pearson, was called up and whilst away fighting, his wife -in an unusual move for the companywas allowed to take over his round. She was known by the shopkeepers as "Mrs Peek." From all accounts, this doesn’t appear to be linked to the iconic pudding of the same name, as the Mrs Peek’s Christmas Pudding originally went under the name of the "Santa Claus Pudding."

In the Bermondsey Biscuit Factory, puddings were stored in the railway arches that run along the edge of the factory as the arches kept the puddings at a cool, even temperature.

At the museum, you can see a Mrs Peek's Christmas Pudding and a bottle of Mrs Peek's Christmas Pudding Wine on display as well as a sweatshirt from the company’s Christmas Pudding Race, where employees raised money for cancer research.

Visit the Peek Frean Biscuit Museum at 100 Drummond Road, SE16 4DG. peekfreansmuseum.co.uk

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winter 2019 - 2020

WINTER WARDROBE This festive season, the portal into the magical world of Narnia is opening via Tower Bridge. Based on the novel

by C. S. Lewis and directed by Sally Cookson, the Leeds Playhouse production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe lands at the Bridge Theatre.

Step through the wardrobe into the magical kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to a talking Faun, an unforgettable Lion and the coldest, cruellest White Witch.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is at the Bridge Theatre, 3 Potters Field Park, SE1 2SG, from November 9-February 2, 2020. Phone: 0333 320 0051. www.bridgetheatre.co.uk

Christmas

We wish you a meze Christmas

Christmas by the river

In a hands-on cookery class in Borough Market, learn to whip up festive meze, courtesy of the chefs at Arabica.

Located in the Cookhouse in the heart of Borough Market, the morning session starts with warm pastries and single origin Workshop coffee at Arabica Bar and Kitchen while the afternoon session kicks off at the cookhouse with some baklava and mint tea.

You’ll produce an array of seasonal meze dishes featuring some of Arabica's herbs, spices and larder essentials like Freeke, preserved lemons, wild sumac, pomegranate molasses and Za'atar. The sessions conclude with an informal meal, enjoying the food you’ve cooked, served with Lebanese wine.

London Bridge is lighting up as the picturesque festive market Christmas by the River returns. Boasting over 70 stalls, creative workshops, a stunning array of boutique gifts, and delicious world cuisine, this is a unique Christmas shopping experience with unbeatable riverside views.

Voted the best Christmas market to impress a first date in the UK, this year’s Christmas by the River is sure to set hearts racing once more with a vintage ski theme. The ski themed bar at the Scoop is the ideal London hot spot to stave off the cold and enjoy a hot toddy. During the festival’s six week run, there’s live music as well as festive crafts at The Pier’s pop-up winter workshop, including wreath making and Christmas jumper decorating.

December 7 from 9:30am-1:30pm or 2:30pm-5:15pm.

Meet at the Cookhouse located above Three Crown Square, next door to the Borough Market reception.

Price: £100 per person. shop.arabicalondon.com

Christmas by the River runs from Tuesday 26 November through to Sunday 5 January.

London Bridge, SE1 2DB

‘TIS THE SCANDI SEASON

All’s fair at the farm

Sail away on a Christmas sleigh

Scandi style descends on Albion Street this festive season with the return of the annual Christmas market.

There’ll be an array of stalls selling Scandinavian food, drinks, design, crafts, clothing and jewellery. The Norwegian church and the Finnish church are hosting their own stalls, alongside the local charity shop, the florist and the What's On in Rotherhithe Group.

Get in the festive spirit at the Farm with carol singing, donkey rides, children's activities, craft stalls, mulled wine, Santa’s grotto and more! The popular wreath-making workshop returns and you can buy beautiful real Christmas trees throughout the day.

Kids can meet Santa on the River Thames this festive season. With City Cruise’s Sail with Santa, children receive a present, along with a soft drink and a cookie, while grownups get a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie.

Friday 22 November from 12pm-7pm, Saturday 23 November 10am-6pm, and Sunday 24 November 10am-5pm.

Surrey Docks Farm’s Christmas Fair is on December 7 from 11am-4pm. www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk

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Departing from Tower Pier for one hour, four times a day on Saturdays and Sundays on December 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22. Prices begin from £28 per person for adults and £16 for children. Under ones free. www.citycruises.com

Maltby Street after dark The gourmet street food market at Maltby Street is holding its first run of seasonal after-dark markets at Ropewalk.

From November, 30, and then each Friday until Christmas, market-goers can sample the gastronomic delights of winter feasts and flavours under the Dickensian setting and twinkling lights of London's most picturesque railway arches.

Do a spot of Christmas shopping in the modern salvage mecca that is LASSCO, pre order an exclusive Maltby

Street Christmas hamper packed to the brim with eclectic foodie treats, and cosy down in one of the enclave bars Tozino and Little Bird Gin. All this will be accompanied by the magical sounds of carollers from local primary school Snowfields, responsibly sourced Christmas trees to take home and adorn, and the smell of hot mulled wine wafting through the crisp night air.

November 30, December 7, 14, and 21 from 4pm-9pm.

Christmas shopping

winter 2019 - 2020

Shop local

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The homemade, the handmade and the artisan, south of the river 1 Bamboo toothbrush: £2.50 bermondseybits.co.uk 2 Bermondsey Street vowel-free tote bag: £15. www.neoposition.bigcartel.com 3 Fourpure 9% Maple Imperial Stout, Lost at Sea from £2 www.fourpure.com 4 Trinity25, available at spiritofbermondsey.com 5 Glacier Baubles by Peter Layton: £90 each. 62-66 Bermondsey St, SE1 3UD. londonglassblowing.co.uk 6 Blenheim Forge Oyster knife: £180. Available at the Christmas Open Studios at The Arches in Peckham on December 2-3 and December 9-10 at The Arches Studios, 48-50 Blenheim Grove, SE15 4QL 7 Bermondsey tea-towel: £9.95 from Lovely and British, 132a, Bermondsey St, Bermondsey, SE1 3TX 8 Matthew Calvin Earrings, Lovely and British, 132a, Bermondsey St, SE1 3TX 9 Uppercut Deluxe Field Kit £30 from Castro's Barbershop, Upstairs at Arch 49, Ropewalk, Maltby Street, SE1 3PG. www.facebook.com/ castrosbarbershoplondon 10 Animal Mask from Surrey Docks Farm shop: £1 Rotherhithe Street, SE16 5ET.

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wellbeing

winter 2019 - 2020

Having a smashing time Laura Burgoine t John Dennison in action

I

n the world of competitive table tennis, it’s illegal to use any bat that isn’t red and black. On a rainy Tuesday night, in a sports hall opposite the Den in south Bermondsey, Fusion founders John Dennison and Martin Smith are cutting foam to make bats for the players in their club.

Some of the highest ranking table tennis players in the UK are volleying back and forth along the row of 12 tables. Players at the club range from age six to 78. Fusion, which started in 1989, has been going for five years in this location and is renowned as one of the biggest table tennis clubs in London and the South East.

“We have people who are complete beginners to the top in the country,” Martin said.

John played table tennis internationally in Jamaica and competed in the Commonwealth Games in 1985. He started his career aged 16, playing at youth clubs and adventure parks. Starting off in Kilburn then Hackney, he travelled around the capital playing in competitions, training in East London where the top Essex players competed.

Martin, a social worker who lives in East Dulwich, describes himself as self-taught and still plays in veteran competitions all over the world; Las Vegas last year and recently at the European veteran tournament in Hungary where there were 3500 players over 50, as well as a tournament for over 90s.

“Table tennis was a dying sport when I

was coming up,” Martin said. “It’s not on TV, schools weren’t really teaching it; the only time you’d play at school was on a rainy day.”

While now top players compete in the premiere league, John says: “The pinnacle back then was to play for your county.”

Fusion has a team in the British premiere division; the number 4 in England plays at the club. The coaches adhere to the 10,000 hours rule when it comes to the sport. “But it’s the quality of the practice that’s important,” John said.

There’s also specific styles of “starter” bats. “You don’t start with a Porsche bat,” Martin says. The most expensive bats weigh in at £500. “The most important thing is having someone proficient to guide you and find a bat that’ll help you improve.”

“Parents bring their kids and they come in with bats from JD Sports that are not even legal. They need to be red and black to

be legal,” Martin said.

The club runs classes for adults and children alike; when you come in to learn, they assess your levels and ask you what you want to achieve. “Some pick up quick, some end up coming seven days a week,” Martin said. “We have people coming from as far as Kent. It’s a good set up for kids along with the quality of our coaching and the standard of the players we have here.”

“We develop the kids to be part of a community,” he continued. “There’s different levels and they find their part in the club.”

“Our philosophy is we’re here for everyone, no one’s a VIP. Everyone gets equal treatment. We look after the elite, and build their character."

The matches draw spectators of around 30-40 people; there’s seven home matches this season and anyone can attend.

Fusion is a labour of love and

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considering there’s not the sponsorship and funding that exists in other sports, it’s hard to remain viable. Most of the staff are volunteers. The club’s bills are £30,000 a year; Martin and John lay the flooring themselves to save money, and even changing light bulbs requires renting a cherry-picker because the ceilings are so high. Kings University use the space for their practices and matches, and on evenings and weekends it’s full up with regulars - but they’re encouraging groups to get in touch about using the tables during the day. Any businesses looking to support a local, social initiative, would also be gratefully welcomed.

After decades of devotion, John and Martin are still very much in the game.

“I don’t really play now, I just coach, but my favourite thing about the game is the competitive aspect and the physical aspect,” John said. “It’s a sport; it’s not a game.”

Martin chimes in: “I love how table tennis is like chess. It’s my brain against my opponent’s. It keeps your reflexes sharp, your brain sharp, and you can still play up to a late age unlike other sports.”

Fusion offers coaching for adults and children from beginner to advanced.

Open sessions are on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm-10pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-6pm.

Fusion is at 2 Stockholm Road, SE16 3LP. Phone: 07958 713002. www.fusionttc.co.uk

p John (left) and Martin (right) at the club

wellbeing

winter 2019 - 2020

From small wins comes big success

Tower Bridge trainer Harry Thomas gives his tips for working out through the winter

T

he weather is colder and our days become a lot shorter but this is something that we cannot get away from, so one of the best things you can do at this time of year is to focus on yourself. It’s very easy to use the winter months as an excuse to stay cooped up in bed with a Ben and Jerry’s in your possession. If the weather gets you down, you need to take your attentions elsewhere, and one of the best things we have found is doing something that is good for your wellbeing and health.

This is where exercise comes in. Exercise will have a positive impact on all areas of your life. Many people don’t actually realise what exercise can do for them until they give it a go and stay consistent. For those who hate the gym, don’t worry, exercise comes in all forms: yoga, swimming,

cycling, hiking, classes, even walking.

Taking time out of your day to exercise will allow you to divert your thoughts from the day-to-day stresses to what you are doing. This is a great way to be present.

At No1 Fitness, we aim to make the hour personal training session the best hour of our client’s day.

Exercise will help improve your sleep, which means you will be happier throughout the day, you will have more energy, and your recovery will improve. This

time of year always sees a rise in colds and illnesses; exercise is one of the best ways to improve your immune system, which will help fight off any of the nasty colds flying around.

Motivation is the main thing that people say they are lacking at this time of year.

Creating successes in your daily and weekly schedule is a great way to stay motivated.

What I mean by this is setting small goals to create a sense of achievement. Rather than chasing the longer term goal, like

losing 20kg, focus on what you can do right away. We call them the action or ‘doing’ goals. Let’s start with getting out of bed for an early workout. If this is booked in the diary and you have agreed with yourself that you are going to get it done, then once you have completed this you have already had a successful day. I’m sure you have all talked yourself out of getting up in the morning, choosing to spend an extra 30 minutes in bed; if you can get past those thoughts, you are already winning, and you’ll feel so much better for it later in the day.

Start by looking at the upcoming week.

Plot in your diary the days that you can exercise and that should be the goal. No need to worry about anything else initially.

Once you have completed this goal, repeat it again for the following week, and then see what else you can add into your diary.

Slowly but surely, you will start noticing that you get more and more done. You can do this with other things like the amount of steps you are doing. Track your step count for the day and then see if you can do more for every other day going forward in that week. What else in your life can you do right away and achieve? The small wins make the big successes.

If you’re lacking motivation and need to re-discover your mojo, come on down to No1 Fitness and let us show you how exercise will help you finish 2019 off in the right way.

Harry is the co-owner at Number 1 Fitness is at Unit 1, Maltings Place, 169 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 3JB. Phone: 020 7403 6660. www.no1fitness.co.uk

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winter 2019 - 2020

wellbeing

The final stretch Chris Mullany

I

was a week away from running the Budapest Marathon, and congratulating myself on my first injury-free training schedule, when I felt something in my lower back go ‘ping’.

Worse than that, two days before I had been bragging to a friend about how I’d run over 400 miles in preparation, hit most of my time markers, and had ‘just a final ten miler’ on Sunday and a few gentle jogs. Yet I ended the run with sharp spasms of pain radiating down through my lower back into my buttocks – an old disc problem that had suddenly decided to rear its ugly head again.

The following day, after a panicky discussion around my office about where to go, a quick phone call to Bodytonic clinic in Canada Water soon saw me in one of their consulting rooms, being asked detailed questions about my fitness regime, past injuries and whether I had any events planned for the near future. Indeed I did…

My therapist was a keen long distance

runner himself, so I felt in safe hands - and of course he immediately identified that I had been putting the stretching part of the training on the backburner, in pursuit of my weekly mileage target.

The clinic, tucked away in the old Dock Offices at Canada Water, is easy to get to, smart and clean, and their team offer a comprehensive array of treatments for injuries, health and beauty. For massage alone they offer sport, aromatherapy, deep tissue, pregnancy, reflexology, lymphatic drainage, hot stone and Indian head massage. Add in pilates, yoga, beauty treatments, osteopathy and acupuncture, to

name but a few of their services, and the chances are high that you will find what you need here.

My 45 minute sports massage cost me £50 - I've paid a lot more elsewhere - and the entire treatment was spent in discussion about how to avoid such types of injury and how to strengthen my core.

So I felt I was getting treatment for my injury as well as advice - a useful way to spend 45 minutes.

The organisation is growing - it has clinics in Stratford and Wapping as well as Canada Water - but clearly doesn't want to change its winning formula as it expands.

A Southwark Business Award winner this year, 2018 Osteopathy Practice of the year winner and most loved Canada Water business in the 2018 TimeOut awards are all testament to that.

Ultimately, I didn't get to run my marathon - the injury just came too close to the event - but my series of treatments has put me back on the road to recovery - and hopefully the road to next year's marathon...

Bodytonic Clinic Dock Offices, 11, London SE16 2XU Phone: 020 3606 0496 bodytonicclinic.co.uk

Never miss an issue Subscribe for a year (four issues) for just £12

Upstairs at Arch 49, Ropewalk, Maltby Street, London. SE1 3PG.

07376 523067 castrosbarbershoplondon@gmail.com castrosbarbershoplondon

enquiry@bermondseybiscuit.co.uk 0207 232 1639

architecture

winter 2019 - 2020

WILDE THINGS Laura Burgoine

p Whitman Wilde Architects Alex, Frances and Anthony

W

hitman Wilde Architects on Bermondsey Street have been going for two years, run

by Anthony Cowan, Alex Bauman-Lyons and Frances Whittingham.

The trio design across the board: houses and domestic projects, commercial spaces, workspaces and co-working spaces and food and drink fit-outs.

They recently designed a taproom and tasting room for a craft brewery. A larger project like a house can take a year from start to finish. “It’s a big emotional investment,” Anthony says.

With bigger projects, usually developers have the land and employ the architects to design for the “end users.”

“Getting the brief right is often the most important part of the job,” Anthony says. “We talk to the client and listen to what they want, and then we present various design options.

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The architects look “to add value, look at things like the quality of light, and all the technical stuff,” Anthony says. “We also help through the whole planning application process, particularly on listed buildings.”

Most of the design process is done on computer now but the architects always welcome the chance to draw by hand, Anthony says.

Prior to starting their own company, Frances and Anthony worked at Stanton Williams Architects, while Alex worked on London Bridge station for five years from a site office in the Vinegar Yard.

Anyone interested in working with the architects can call up or email for a free consultation.

Whitman Wilde Architects, 40 Bermondsey St, SE1 3UD. Phone: 020 3488 4066. www.whitmanwilde.com

Bespoke plywood kitchens and wardrobes, designed and manufactured in London

uncommon_projects

268 x 345_Uncommon Projects_advert_October_REV.indd 1

uncommonprojects.co.uk 30/10/2019 12:26

PROPERTY

winter 2019 - 2020

Homeward Bound

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

K

ALMARs, the leading South London estate agents, are pleased to announce the launch of 196 Southwark Park Road, known locally as the Blue, a scheme situated in Bermondsey by London developer Orchard Homes Group.

Providing ten homes, inclusive of eight apartments and two houses, an additional three commercial units and one office unit, 196 Southwark Park Road was originally the site of the former pub, ‘Colleen Bawn’ originally built in 1869 and now represents the shift towards Bermondsey becoming one of London’s most up-and-coming areas to live and work.

Continues on page 42

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PROPERTY ADVERTORIAL

winter 2019 - 2020

H

aving an adequate roof over your head is a basic need and a human right: a place to come home to at the end of the day and unwind, to feel safe and secure, to spend time with friends and family, and to express your identity. But in London, for a wide range of reasons, many struggle to meet these needs and often feel exploited.

Urban Patchwork is an SE16-based ethical estate agent aiming to raise professional standards, humanise estate agency services and to use profit for social good.

London’s residential property is worth approximately £1.5 trillion, yet at the same time, there is a lack of social housing and various types of intermediary housing (between social and open market housing), as well as high property values for both renting and buying, leading people to spend an ever-increasing proportion of their salaries on where they live. There is also a national homelessness crisis becoming progressively worse. And alongside the huge demand for sales and lettings services, a widespread frustration with the industry.

These contradictions led South London siblings Tessa and Toby Gooding to set up Urban Patchwork in SE16, an estate agency run as a social enterprise – the majority of profits will go to help meet local housing need or will be reinvested to increase their social impact over the longer term.

A better service The brother and sister duo have 18 years’ industry experience behind them and a key aim: to give the best sales and lettings service possible. Toby Gooding has worked as an agent for 16 years, and his younger sister Tessa has a more varied background including in urban planning, residential sales, social enterprise, and marketing. Pooling their expertise, Urban Patchwork (UP) is a certified ‘business for good’ and member of the Property Ombudsman, NAEA and ARLA Propertymark and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

‘Business should be about getting people together to meet society’s needs in a financially sustainable way,’ says Tessa Gooding.

‘It seems we’re increasingly moving away from this in the push to maximise company profits for shareholders at all costs. It also used to be the norm for estate agents to be rooted in their communities. We need to get back to basics.’

Urban Patchwork aims to give customers the best experience possible through offering a transparent and professional service with no surprises or hidden costs. They also aim to create more civic value from property transactions through how they use their profits, demonstrating a level of integrity that instils confidence in the service they provide.

They have five-star ratings from sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants on Google and AllAgents.

Urban Patchwork – an SE16 estate agency run as a social enterprise A five-star rating The firm is one of the few London agents to provide floorplans for both lettings and sales. It uses a leading property photographer and writes detailed descriptions to display properties in the best possible light, and advertises on the major portals: Rightmove, Zoopla and OntheMarket.

Because they take pride in doing the basics right, and give evidence-based property appraisals (valuations), landlords and sellers are more likely to get their property let and sold speedily. At the time of writing, Getagent.co.uk finds that for a property in the area, they sell properties the fastest (much quicker than the average) and are the most accurate valuer, achieving 95.7% of original asking price.

A landlord said of her recent experience of Urban Patchwork: “Exceptional service.

When my flat became vacant it needed refurbishment. Toby helped me refine my specification of work needed, found excellent contractors and supervised the work. I was delighted with the result and appointed Toby to find me new tenants, now in occupation, and to manage the flat. His professionalism, knowledge of the industry and hard work impressed me and I would not hesitate to recommend him, Tessa and Urban Patchwork. This new agency has brought a breath of fresh air to the letting scene…”

A genuine interest in tenants and landlords Unlike many agents, Urban Patchwork submitted their support for ending upfront tenant fees through the Tenant Fees Act, to support people in affording quality accommodation. They also are transparent about their landlord fees, always wanting to provide value for money in terms of the service they provide. Their Tenant Commitment is based on Mayoral guidance for the private rented sector, offering the reassurance of a quality property

management system and membership of the Client Money Protection Scheme.

Here’s what one recent tenant says: “Very personal and professional service. Urban Patchwork is a gem in the world of letting agents. With only having a few weeks to find a property, Toby and his team were nothing short of perfect, and if I decide to move again, I will be staying with Urban Patchwork.”

An inspiring model The UK’s largest housing association, Clarion Housing Group, has shortlisted Urban Patchwork for the William Sutton Prize for Social Innovation. They are one of seven organisations shortlisted for the £20,000 prize (out of 84 applicants). Clarion are looking for, “ground breaking new ideas which will make a positive impact.”

The winner will be announced on 20 November.

As far as they are aware, Urban Patchwork is London’s only private social enterprise agency dealing with sales and lettings (according to Social Enterprise UK’s definition of the term). They won the Cecil Jackson Cole Award for Social Responsibility in December 2018, and co-director Tessa made it on to NatWest’s WISE100 (Women in Social Enterprise 100) in recognition of their business model.

The firm is already fundraising and raising awareness for Deptford-based homelessness

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charity 999 Club, which provides advice and support for homeless people, match-funding customer donations up to £25. Both directors have also taken on sponsored challenges. In their first 19 months, Urban Patchwork has helped raise over £8000 for the 999 Club.

Long-term impact As well as becoming an example of good practice in the residential sector and helping raise standards, the business aims to make a meaningful difference to both tenants and people who are homeless. Long term, Tessa says one idea is using profits to help provide better quality temporary accommodation to meet urgent local need, another is looking to do something specifically for the in-work homeless, whom the 999 Club say they find the hardest to house (of those with recourse to public funds).

Get in touch Call 0207 043 2348, email enquiries@urbanpatchwork.co.uk or visit www.urbanpatchwork.co.uk – they’d love to hear from you whether you’d like a property appraisal, help with your property search or an initial chat.

Also feel free to pop by. Their office is

by Greenland Dock in Ensign House on Rope Street, a short walk from Surrey Quays & Canada Water Stations and also from Greenland Pier.

property

Behind its contemporary brick façade, 196 Southwark Park Road provides 10 homes over the space of five floors.

The scheme consists of one one-bedroom apartment, three two-bedroom apartments, four three-bedroom duplexes and two three-bedroom houses. Each home in the development offers residents a combination of style and sophistication; the spacious and contemporary interiors are masterfully designed to exceed residents’ expectations.

The ground floor of the scheme provides three commercial units with the first floor providing office space, which are expected to be very popular given the area’s thriving commercial centre.

Located on the site of the ‘Collen Bawn’ pub, which first opened in 1869 and was most recently a solicitor’s office, the scheme is moments from ‘The Blue’, a vibrant market square which has been operating for over 230 years. Now transformed by the developer, Orchard Homes Group has used green construction techniques throughout which includes highly efficient use of resources to minimise waste, with the ethos of remaining as environmentally friendly as possible.

The apartments and houses have been built with meticulous attention to detail and a high specification.

With an interior design scheme focused on exposed brickwork, pops of rich colour and sleek finishes, the homes are set to appeal to a wide audience. The designer fitted kitchens in each apartment will feature engineered oak wood flooring, fully integrated Bosch appliances, soft close drawers and Quartz stone worktops.

Bathrooms in each unit will provide residents with ceramic wall and floor tiling, baths with chrome bath fillers, wall mounted hand basins with chrome mixer taps, exposed thermostatic chrome showers, slim line shower trays and chrome glass sliding doors and Grohe and Roca fittings.

Each home has triple glazed external windows and doors with aluminium or timber, chrome finishes to

winter 2019 - 2020

switches and sockets and LED down lights throughout.

Houses will also feature Ring Video doorbells and secure bicycle storage.

Following the release of the Old Kent Road Area Action Plan, the area surrounding 196 Southwark Park Road has received huge investment and is set to improve exponentially. 196 Southwark Park Road will therefore appeal to investors as an exciting investment opportunity for the future, as well as being a stunning home or office in a prime location.

Voted one of the Sunday Times ‘Best Places to Live’ in 2018, Bermondsey has morphed into a trendsetter’s playground and cultural hotspot due to its established travel links, chic warehouses and cosmopolitan streets.

As well as being located in one of London’s most upand-coming areas, 196 Southwark Park Road has superb transport links with Bermondsey underground station just half a mile away, providing easy and quick access to the

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Jubilee line.

Marc Faure, Head of New Homes at KALMARs, says: “The apartments and houses at 196 Southwark Park Road will provide residents with a lifestyle of luxury. The charming interiors on offer are ideal for home owners who value attractive design and layouts, while the commercial units are a savvy investment opportunity as Bermondsey is on its way to becoming one if London’s most up-andcoming commercial areas. With the scheme just moments away from Bermondsey underground station, residents will also profit from excellent connectivity.”

At 196 Southwark Park Road, one-bedroom apartments are priced from £450,000, two-bedroom apartments are priced from £600,000 three-bedroom apartments are priced from £750,000 and the threebedroom houses are priced from £965,000.

For more further sales information contact KALMARs on Tel: 0207 403 0600 or visit www.kalmars.com

PROPERTY ADVERTORIAL

winter 2019 - 2020

Independent London Avoid fines, get a tax break, and prepare for the new landlord laws with this Bermondsey estate agency

I

f you’re a landlord you need an informed and cost effective agency. Independent London set up a Central London office in 2008 to try to bridge the gap between High Street agents and Internet advertising options. Since then they’ve established themselves as a landlord friendly, knowledgeable and reliable Estate Agency using a fair fee structure and the latest technology to enhance the landlord’s experience. They stay on the edge of technology and were using online signing back then in 2008 when nobody else was.

As of June 1st the Government is banning all fees to tenants. This means that your estate agent will no longer be allowed to charge administration fees to tenants moving into a property. They cannot charge for references or a check in or a check out.

Do you know exactly what the Tenant Fee Ban means to you? Is your letting agent passing on the fees to you?

Has the Government relabelled Tenants Fees and called

them Landlord Fees? Independent London is taking a pragmatic approach to the Fee ban. If you are confused by what your agent is telling you then call Independent London now for free advice and information regarding the ban.

Does your property need an additional House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence? Southwark council requires a licence for a property with three unrelated tenants. Even a couple and a single person living in a two-bedroom property would require an additional HMO licence.

Are you legal? Is your tenancy legal? Ask the experts at Independent London and you could avoid a large fine.

The agency is also experienced in winding down HMOs and finding families to rent larger properties, thus avoiding the requirement for an HMO Licence.

Do you know how to set up a Special Purchase Vehicle to buy your investment property with a Limited Company so you can claim mortgage interest back in your tax return? Could you qualify and incorporate your property portfolio? This could save a landlord with five properties or more thousands in tax and stamp duty.

Giving landlords expert advice is what Independent prides itself on. There are plenty of low fee charging run of the mill agencies out there taking fees for with little or no experience in the industry.

Independent London backs up their experience with: · A legal mentor · Cast iron contracts · Up to the minute paperwork backed by software

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providers Goodlord and Painsmith Solicitors.

This provides peace of mind for the agency and its clients. Everything is done online to save time and money.

Tenants are given all legal documents at the start of the tenancy including the gas certificate, Energy Performance Certificate, the Deposit Scheme Prescribed Information, all of which they’re required to sign as part of their Tenancy Agreement.

Independent London currently has no rent arrears on their whole managed portfolio. They provide an online log in portal for landlords at no extra cost, which means landlords have access to their accounts and paperwork at the touch of a button. No need to call or chase for a missing invoice. Independent London can also provide an end of year tax roundup for your accountant.

The agency understands the challenges facing landlords in the modern lettings industry because they are landlords.

Their objective is to save landlords money at every turn while guarding them always against punitive aggressive litigation from current or former tenants.

If you feel like you are not being properly advised or that you are paying too much tax or you simply don’t understand recent legislation or how it will affect your property or your income then give Independent London a call.

Independent London charges 5 percent for a letonly service and an additional 5 percent monthly for management service.

Independent London is at Studio 1, 197 Long Lane, SE1 4PD. Phone: 0207 940 7303 Or email: info@independentlondon.net

Lalalalala

WHAT’S ON at Morley

SHINE 2019 Discover our Intermediate and Advanced Jewellery students’ exceptional work.

Some items will be for sale.

13 November 11 December

PENNY LECTURES

PENNY LECTURES THE ORIGINAL TED TALKS

CHARITY COFFEE MORNING Enjoy cake and coffee while helping us raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Thursday 5 December, 10:00-12:00

CLARA SCHUMANN: THE ARTIST AND THE WOMAN Cardew Space, Morley College London, until 14 December

Our oldest tradition dates all the way back to when we were first founded! Listen to a lecture on an interesting and unusual subject, delivered by an expert, for just a penny.

Berlioz 150 Years Later 29 November, 19:30-21:00, 1p

LUNCHTIME CONCERTS Join us every Tuesday for a FREE concert, featuring performances by our staff and students.

Every Tuesday until 10 December, 13:05-14:00

MORLEY CHAMBER MUSIC MORLEY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CONCERT: HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869) CONCERT OVERTURES Morley College London, 19:30-21:00, £5 A CHRISTMAS TALE Featuring the Morley Chamber Choir, the Morley Choral Society, and the Meridian Choir St Peter’s Church, Vauxhall, 19:30-21:00, £8

SILENT FILM: PICCADILLY (1929) with live accompaniment 14 February, 19:30-21:00

To find out more about our events or book tickets, visit our website: www.morleycollege. co.uk/events

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

FREE MORLEY ENTRY COLLEGE LONDON

WINTER FAIR CRAFTS MARKET & FOOD STALLS

2019

CREATIVE TASTER SESSIONS

MUSIC AND DANCE PERFORMANCES

Sunday 1 December 2019, 11am–3pm Browse our crafts market and food stalls, watch live performances, and take part in creative tasters at our FREE Winter Fair!

61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT

www.morleycollege.ac.uk