Slice of the City Winter '22/'23 by TheDoyleCollection

SLICE OF THE CITY

NEIGHBOURHOOD NEWS, INSIGHTS & INVITATIONS FROM THE DOYLE COLLECTION

ISSUE 14 WINTER 2022-23

Helen Keller said of the fifth sense, “Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived”, and in this issue we celebrate our collab with Jo Loves by speaking with renowned perfumier, Jo Malone CBE, and discovering her secrets. The scents, sights and sounds of Christmas are always evocative, and what better way to spend it than at one of our hotels, catering to your every need. Our celebration of the senses continues with our new cocktail menu for The Coral Room at The Bloomsbury, mapping a tour of Irish flavour and myth, evoked in the wonderful cocktails of Giovanni Spezziga and the artistry of Dublin illustrator, Mr Steve McCarthy.

THE CROKE PARK

Explore our portfolio of Irish family-owned luxury hotels superbly located in the centre of London, Dublin, Bristol, Washington DC and Cork

GET

IN TOUCH

Website doylecollection.com Instagram @thedoylecollection Facebook TheDoyleCollection

BRISTOL REJUVENATED

Originally built in the 1960s as a motel, the distinctive, listed façade of The Bristol Hotel feels a little like the sort of place Don Draper might have booked into in the latter years of Mad Men when he was trying to get hip with the kids. Who doesn’t love that kind of modern retro design, especially the glazed walls, fabulous views and feeling you only get from a place bathed in natural light? But, also, the location is incredible. The Bristol Hotel is set harbourside, next to the world-renowned Arnolfini Gallery, in the most vibrant destination in the west of England. We digress. The Bristol Hotel has recently been refurbished to update everything that made it

cool yet comfortable, luxurious but laid-back, creating even more stylish, tactile spaces that blend warm woods and rich fabrics with the clean, modern lines of the building’s original design. Our designers have turned their attention to 23 rooms and three of our suites, as well as The River Grille, The River Lounge and The Jessop Lounge. With strong, rich shades of berry, sage and moss, soft pinks and purples, vintage-y, checker-board tiles and carpeting; seating is sumptuous and comfort has never looked so chic. Watch this space for phase 2, including a brandnew bar launching 2023. doylecollection.com/hotels/the-bristol-hotel

ON THE COVER

‘Dublin’ by Steve McCarthy from The Coral Room’s Great Irish Tour cocktail menu

Slice of the City is published on behalf of The Doyle Collection by Rivington Bye Ltd. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. All details correct at the time of publication but may change. For all editorial enquiries: enquire@rivingtonbye.com

AULD LANG SYNE

For anyone who prefers not to spend the first day of the New Year clearing up dinner party detritus of the night before, or to risk the biggest party night of the year somewhere that doesn’t quite live up to star billing, we are experts in kissing goodbye to the old and welcoming in the New in fine style. At every hotel within The Doyle Collection - from Bristol to Bloomsbury, Kensington to Cork, Dublin to DC (as shown in the pictures below) and, of course, The Marylebone – our chefs, sommeliers and mixologists have put their heads together to conjure up a fabulous evening to welcome in 2023. And if you prefer not to take a cab home in the wee small hours, why not book a New Year dinner and room package? You’ll find them here. doylecollection.com

News & Views

BEST FOOT FORWARD

Dublin is compact, but every neighbourhood has its own distinctive spirit. Drumcondra (setting for The Croke Park) is rich in culture, a favourite with foodies and just 15 minutes from the city centre. You have boundless options to explore...

TO WALK

2 minutes

Bit of a cheat as you’re still in the hotel but without leaving the building you can sit and watch a mighty fine cocktail being shaken or stirred by a member of our talented team in The Sideline doylecollection.com/hotels/ the-croke-park-hotel/dining/ the-sideline

5 minutes

Takes you to some seriously authentic Mexican food and an immediate understanding of what draws the cult-like following of El Grito Taqueria, Mountjoy Square. facebook.com/elgritodublin

15 minutes

A Doyle team favourite, the Vietnamese cuisine at Pho Kim Restaurant on Parnell Street bursts with colour and flavour. phokim.ie

TO DRIVE

8 minutes

Discover an oasis of calm and over 15,000 plant species at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. It is as stunning in winter as every other season. botanicgardens.ie (right)

10 minutes

Uncover the immersive experience of 14 Henrietta Street, which documents the evolution of this historic street from affluent to tenements and beyond. 14henriettastreet.ie (right)

12 minutes

Make a splash at Dublin’s only heated seawater swimming pool then take in the view from the pool’s café, bar and restaurant (brunch through to dinner). We’re talking The Baths in Clontarf - booking online is essential. thebaths.ie (right)

SPIRIT OF AN AGE

Inspired by the spirit of the roaring ‘20s and that decade’s heady mix of prosperity, liberation, determination to seize life with both hands, and jazz, our new cocktail menu at The Sidecar at The Westbury perfectly evokes those extraodinary times. In a celebration of the bar’s Art Deco design and unapologetic glamour, we have invoked Anne Harriet Fish, illustrator and satirist of the day, and married her brilliant drawings with quotes from the era’s most dazzling wits. Sidecar Bar Manager (and award-winning mixologist extraordinaire)

Oisín Kelly has paired it with some fabulous new cocktails which bring it all to life. They. Are. Heavenly. doylecollection. com/hotels/the-westburyhotel/dining/the-sidecar

HEAVEN SCENT

As we celebrate the launch of an aromatic new collab with Jo Loves, we took some time to speak with Jo Malone in person on all things aroma…

Nothing is more primal than smell. We are all one waft away from being spirited into another dimension, another time, another place. Who hasn’t fleetingly caught the scent of a former love and immediately felt their arms around us? Damp rubber and wet grass and we’re right back on a childhood bike, while the scent of the sea, the smell of home cooking – they are always visceral.

Smell feels that powerful because it is. From olfactory neurones, smell is transmitted as an impulse to the brain, along the olfactory nerve into the limbic cortex, centre of mood, memory and

emotion. There primal memories are roused, as if from slumber, to become as immediate as can be. While most of us live at the mercy of this profound connection, for renowned perfumier Jo Malone, it’s a superpower. She doesn’t just get hijacked by the occasional nasal footprint, she thinks, dreams, remembers, creates and communicates in smell.

Jo’s incredible story, from council estate to CBE, is one of hardship, drive, learning, success and, of course, challenges. Jo has come from very little to (thanks to talent and business acumen) global renown. We asked her to share her secrets.

Q. This collaboration is all about travel. Do you always associate scents with specific places?

A. I could take you round the world. New York is Green Orange and Coriander, Paris is Pink Vetiver, London is Cobalt Patchouli and Cedar. For me, travelling is like swimming in a pool of creativity, fragrance is everywhere, in the home, on the body, I feel regenerated. One of my most incredible fragrance experiences happened in Petra, Jordan, many years ago. Right in the desert there’s an opening in the rock - it’s pink, yellow, turquoise, green and blue. It was an explosion – I smelled salt, amber gris, oud, marine blue, a kind of

dusty, hay-like tobacco. I didn’t create a fragrance from that but that is how I pick up ingredients to bring into fragrances later.

Q. You have synaesthesia – but do colours always smell the same?

A. Many people have synaesthesia and associate colours with musical notes or scents. For me, colours don’t always smell the same but all of them always come with a smell. Today I’m wearing red joggers and looking at them I immediately smell eucalyptus, amber, red chilli, cinnamon and white rose petals. That doesn’t make a fragrance, but if I wanted to capture this moment, I could instinctively layer it

with those, respray, see how they rise, fall and balance. I’m self-taught and I create fragrances completely instinctively. It’s like an orchestra – thousands of notes but they need to work perfectly together, and I make them tell a story. I love combining unexpected notes, too. It’s always been in my work, but today I feel so free to create. I never stop. I even dream in fragrance. I’ve been formulating for Zara recently and it’s such a great challenge to create wonderful perfumes on a budget. I mean it’s easy for me to achieve that with the very best ingredients, but when you have limitations, it gets really interesting and it is such a thrill creating an amazing fragrance that lasts all day, for less.

Q. What are the scents that take you to your happy place?

THE GOLDEN AGE

“The great thing about collabs is you take two brands and create a third life – they’re so entrepreneurial and vitally important. I love working with other brands – big and small - to create something completely new.” Jo Malone

This collaboration is a sensory journey inspired by the Golden Age of Travel – a meeting of minds, scent and taste, all set in the luxurious comfort of The Town House at The Kensington.

together into a formula. When I created Pomelo (my first for Jo Loves), it was a very emotional time. I hadn’t created fragrance for five years and I went to Turks and Caicos, I saw a stingray in crystal water and the smells were just so clean - wild mint, geranium, beach towels, sand dollars, citrus. It’s all there in Pomelo.

Q. Do you create on the move?

A. This year, I’m in Dubai. So, I’m drinking in the incredible sights, sounds and scents, being inspired and learning. But I always travel light and keep things simple, so I work wherever I am. I have my bottles and notebooks with me. I might have 300 papers lined up in my hotel room. Every day I do what I call ‘Pilates for my nose’. Although I was born with this ability I always practice for a couple of hours. I’ll smell 10 notes, twirl them together and see what naturally partners. Then I’ll work

A. For me happiness is orange blossom. She gives you everything - the bloom, the leaf, the twig, she is like the fragrance matriarch. I love the sense of hope, the new beginnings you get with citrus. I love the sensual feel from vetiver. Strangely, I have never liked vanilla. Though I do love the black seed vanilla in tonka, regular vanilla feels fake.

Q. What do you consider the most perfect fragrance ever made?

A. When you’re completely driven like I am the most perfect fragrance is always the next one you’re going to create. The next one I’m working on is called Ebony Cassis – and when I have finished, I’ll want to find the next most perfect fragrance again. I don’t really rate myself against other perfumiers – I’ve always worked in my own space, and I love to see other people being creative. Outside my world, I have always been in love with Chanel. For me, especially 19 - but the House of Chanel is really the pinnacle of perfume making. I would absolutely love to create a Chanel fragrance...that would be the dream.

Being a neighbour (Jo Malone has lived and worked in Kensington since the 1980s) we’ve always been fans of Jo’s work and shops and, of course, we all adore her fragrances. Our inspiration was to focus on destinations that chime with Jo’s signature evocative, crisp, aromatic scents.

We started by seeking out a brand to build our cocktails around. That would add a twist more glamour to our travel theme. And what better partner in evening time than the iconic Parisian aperitif brand, Lillet.

Our mixology team then imagined, measured, shook, stirred and tasted until they’d captured that indefinable spirit of freedom and discovery into four heavenly cocktails, all featuring Lillet and each evoking a glamorous destination.

Provence is sparkling and fruity, English Estate is dry with aromatic bitters, Tuscany is zesty and fragrant, and Mediterranean Nights is floral and refreshing. A limited edition for autumn/winter, each cocktail comes paired with a sample fragrance from Jo Loves. Check doylecollection.com and our socials for more information about the cocktail collection and our seasonal dining/room packages.

Every day I do what I call ‘Pilates for my nose’. Although I was born with this ability I always practice for a couple of hours.

N E W Y O R K

PARIS LONDON

GRAPEFRUIT CEDAR VETIVER GREEN ORANGE CORIANDER PINK PEPPERCORNS

‘TIS THE SEASON TO TAKE IT EASY

Whether you’re a large family who divides and conquers with several celebrations, a small one that enjoys the chance to relax, or you prefer Christmas with friends instead, spend it with us

Even as an adult there are few things more blissful than waking up on a cold, crisp, Christmas morning and pausing to listen in that silent moment when the world seems to hold its breath before acknowledging, collectively, that today is the day. And, so it begins.

Kids run in with stockings, bounce on beds, chocolate-fuelled at the crack of dawn. A quick shower, on goes the kettle, the radio, and the business of preparation begins.

A bird the size of an oven has to be prepped, stuffed and got going. The vegetarian, vegan, gluten- or lactose-free alternatives made in advance. The hob is crowded, the oven filled, emptied and

filled, again and again, with military precision. Bread sauce, done. Cranberries, done. Potatoes next. Wash, peel, parboil, put to one side. The carrots and parsnips, wash, peel, marinade, arrange on roasting tin. Red cabbage and apple, slice, spice and get it on. Sprouts prepped, don’t forget the pancetta and chestnuts.

The kids need breakfast. Buttered toast – that’ll do. Juice. A pot of tea. Three hours to go. Tick tock. Set the table – the kids will do napkins and decorations. Fizz in the fridge. Where did we put the cheese? OK. Dog needs walking – a short one is fine. NO chocolate remember. Alarm pings yet again. Arrggh. Foil off the roast. Red cabbage, done. Time to warm roasting tins on the hob. Roast is ready.

Check temperature. Cover and rest for 45 minutes. Get the veggies in. Run upstairs to change. Light the candles. Put the pud on to steam, set timer. Hair, check. Face, check. Apron back on. Ding Dong! They’re here! Presents under the tree. Open the fizz. Let the festivities commence.

We love a good, home-cooked family Christmas as much as anybody. And 75% of British people surveyed do exactly that on the big day. In a slightly frightening statistic one million people said they’d happily eat Christmas lunch as a weekend breakfast too.

But even those who absolutely adore hosting and entertaining during the festive season will be feeling spent as they squeeze

yet more leftovers into the fridge, load the dishwasher for the fourth time, wash the good glasses and silverware by hand and put the baking trays in to soak. Another pot of coffee? Yes, more the merrier. Cream or milk? Yes, of course I can get the cheese and crackers out again. Wine anybody? Tea? Coming!

As a family-run group, The Doyle Collection has always welcomed every member of the family – even pooches to some of our hotels. We love to entertain generations of the same family at the same table – and we have a reputation for hotels that feel effortlessly, luxuriously like home. Perfect for family celebrations.

Right across the world we’re all heading back to normal after the pandemic, and many of us are spending our first proper Christmas with friends and family in several years. Entertaining at scale can be challenging when you’re a little out of practice, and after so much time apart we want to spend time together rather than in the kitchen. Every hotel within The Doyle Collection is offering a range of Christmas packages for those of you that wish to enjoy the magic of the season without any of the stress, whether you seek a venue for festive dining or you’d like to join us for a seasonal mini-break.

As part of our seasonal campaign, Coming Home to Magic this Christmas, there are also many pre- and postChristmas offers for special days and short breaks with family and friends all through the festive period, not just on the day itself. Every hotel has slightly different plans – summarised here – and you are warmly invited to join us for all manner of festive treats.

Family-friendly packages, Afternoon Teas, seasonal cocktails, shopping events, theatre tickets, choral performances and, of course, good food, wines, cocktails and partnership activities with like-minded local businesses. While we’ve captured some of the headlines here, go to doylecollection.com for full details as they are finalised and released.

Join the festivities …

The Westbury

Our festive family package includes a one-night stay for a family of four, pre-theatre dinner, tickets to Beauty and the Beast at The Bord Gáis, exclusive access to the theatre’s Gold Circle Lounge for dessert and drinks, and a delicious breakfast. Our Cultural Package takes two to the Long Christmas Dinner at The Abbey Theatre with pre/post theatre dinner, bed and morning after breakfast. Across the hotel you’ll find festive tipples, winter warmers, afternoon tea, spiked hot chocolate, the Balfes winter chou chou cart, Christmas menus, and all manner of gift shop goodies.

The Marylebone

To experience Christmas in Style, join us for bed and breakfast, champagne and a Selfridges voucher. Our set Christmas menu will be served in 108 Brasserie throughout December, along with a number of private dining set menus, as well as the full feast with all the trimmings on Christmas Day. The Marylebone Village Christmas Lights are especially atmospheric and we recommend some magical shopping at dusk while they shine. We will be working with local charities – look out for more details as they are released – and guests can enjoy Christmas candle painting with the wonderful Bable Candles.

The Bloomsbury

Throughout December we’re serving festive spritz, complimentary winter warmers, a set Christmas menu in our restaurant and terrace, special Afternoon Tea, our Christmas in Style package (bed and breakfast, shopping in Covent Garden and champagne) and a competition to win soughtafter family tickets to Elf the musical, at London’s Dominion Theatre. On the day, our chefs, sommeliers and mixologists are at your service, with a champagne breakfast followed by a full Christmas lunch. All you have to do is choose between private dining or the convivial atmosphere of the restaurant, complete with music and entertainment.

The Croke Park

If you wish to come to The Croke Park, why not try our Christmas in Style festive package – with bed and breakfast, mulled wine, mince pies and complimentary parking? Recently refurbished, in The Sideline Bar we’ll be serving a festive drinks menu, including wines, spirits and seasonal cocktails. We’re hosting choral performances to make our sumptuous new spaces feel truly festive with a charitable bent, in aid of Dublin Simon Community. And, of course, we’ll be welcoming family groups, large and small, to dine with us before and immediately after Christmas.

The Bristol

At The Bristol we’re celebrating our recent refurbishment in festive fashion, with our seasonal Afternoon Tea, a special menu in the River Grille, festive drinks and a special cocktail with donations to a local charity. In room, Christmas cards will be accompanied with wine, chocolates and delicious mince pies. The hotel will, of course, be festooned with decorations, and we’ll be offering mini mince pies throughout the season with every tea and coffee served in The River Lounge. Festive feasts will be hosted in The River Grille, with its backdrop of wonderful harbour views.

The River Lee

Christmas comes to Cork with mulled wine and mince pies and a special seasonal drinks menu conjured by our expert team at The River Club Bar. A festive Afternoon Tea will be served with champagne in the Cocktail Bar. Though The River Lee is closed over Christmas, a warm welcome at The River Club Restaurant for a delicious Christmas Dinner awaits on either side. Throughout December we are delighted to announce a programme of evening piano recitals in the Cocktail Bar every Friday and Saturday.

The

Kensington

Christmas in Style at the Kensington includes bed and breakfast, champagne and a Harrods voucher, while Kensington Tales features Christmas carols at the Royal Albert Hall. In the Town House we will be serving a set Christmas menu throughout December, and hosting groups large and small on Christmas Day. If you prefer private dining, be our guests. The K Bar team has been busy creating festive spritzes and winter warmers for our Christmas drinks and cocktail list, while our Golden Age menu (created with Jo Loves and Lillet) pairs unique cocktails with a complimentary mini fragrance.

The Dupont Circle

We’ve some very festive Holiday offers including Christmas Eve Dinner, Christmas Day brunch and Christmas Dinner, our Suite Celebration with bubbles throughout December and An Irish Carol, including seasonal cocktails and theatre tickets. And we’re delighted to share our tasty winter warmers, featuring such delights as the classic Irish coffee, spiced mulled wine, Tom & Jerry, hot apple cider, special hot chocolate (with Frangelico, Cointreau and tahini), and hot buttered Bourbon. Workshops include wreath-making (in support of veteran memorial non-profit, Wreaths Across America) and ‘paint and sip’ (clue’s in the name!).

A VERY IRISH ALCHEMY

We meet the man behind the artistry and get an insider’s look at the creation of The Coral Room’s latest cocktail concept, The Great Irish Tour

Giovanni to create a new cocktail menu that maps an authentic flavour journey, while celebrating the gift of poets and

Above Starting in Dublin, the tour takes a clockwise circular route through many Irish counties. Right 14 Tribes of Galway from ‘The Great Irish Tour’ cocktail menu. Subsequent pages Illustrations of Malin Head and Leitrim.

artists nourished by the same spirit. The menu is a visual feast, brought to evocative life by renowned Dublin-born illustrator, Mr Steve McCarthy. You might recognise his illustrations from such films as the impossibly beautiful (and Oscar-winning) Song of the Sea. Or from the wonderful book (and Bord Gais Children’s book of the year), A Sailor went to Sea Sea Sea. Or his many other literary projects.

Though this cocktail journey began with Giovanni’s idea of foraging for Ireland’s best provender, it wasn’t long before it evolved into a celebration of the flavours of each county in a trip around the island. From strawberries of Wexford to oyster and stout of Galway, umami of Sligo dulse to creamy buttery pastures of Kerry, Carageen Moss of Malin Head to wild cherries of Leitrem. From Tipperary cider and whiskey from Cork, Wicklow gin and apples of Armagh, Dublin Guinness, Irish coffee from Clare, and Yellaman candy (yep, it’s a thing) from Tyrone, we’ve travelled the Emerald Isle from top to toe. Once decided, it made sense to create a character to guide us.

It was a true collaboration, drawing many different threads together; two creative endeavours (Giovanni’s cocktails and Steve’s illustrations) and, in true Irish spirit, literature.

We worked with Steve, tennis-style, pinging ideas to and fro. We wanted the poetry to be true to the spirit of the piece, inspring and in support of Steve and Giovanni’s artistry. We spoke originally about creating different characters for every page as there’s all sorts that come into a bar - and every county has its own people, and stories. But Steve’s way of working is instinctive storytelling and this Leopold Bloom-esque character emerged quite naturally.

“He came loosely from Joyce, of course. But not in a literal way, just in the way that his characters are so often an ‘everyman’. That’s what makes the stories Joyce tells epic, like Ulysses, but satirical too, never serious. And this character became a landscape as he embodied giant themes in an everyday way.

On a side note, Ulysses is an incredible book, but it truly came to life for me when I listened to it. (The Irish actor) Jim Norton did an amazing audio book and although I’d read Ulysses years ago, listening to it transformed the experience.”

To root each illustration in the county of inspiration, Gio and Steve researched food, drink, legends and myths. So, in County Wicklow the lush green of the land evoked by Edward Lear in a limerick, became manifest in Steve’s fabulous botanical man. In Donegal you’ll see him in the Northern Lights that flash above Malin Head, inspiration for Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s wonderful verse. In Tipperary ‘our man’ emerges from Alice Kinsella’s poem into a bespectacled warrior/hurler hybrid, whereas in Mayo and the words of JM Synge, he becomes a surrealist Mariner, pipe akimbo.

“The idea was not to take any of it too seriously, to be playful both in the drawings and in the cocktails. In Ireland there’s a softness, some whimsy about the place that we wanted to capture the essence of. I think we got it from Joyce’s writing, but also in my head I kept remembering a saying we have, ‘It’s fierce mild’ when it’s aggressively mizzling – soft, misting rain but with real intent”, said Steve.

“You get the same feeling from the drinksthey’re uncommon, very experimental but subtle with the same softness, and it feels like a real art capturing every county in such a way. The essences and flavours are incredible – I’d like to go back and taste the whole menu.”

“For the drawings I worked with pencils and paints, and they just took shape on their own. I didn’t do formal sketches or plans, apart from the original ideas. In a way that’s the difficult bit – finding what I call the gag to hang the drawing on. But that’s how I always work –it’s all about the story and of course there has to be wit and it has to be honest. And there’s a real feeling of life to this.”

Come to The Coral Room at The Bloomsbury for The Great Irish Tourexperience some mixological mastery and a flavour journey unlike any other. thecoralroom.co.uk

Events & Happenings

Step out of your hotel and into our pick of this month’s most captivating events

The Bloomsbury

COOLER THAN COOL

The Thames doesn’t freeze as it did in the days of Dickens, but there are plenty of other places in London to get your skates on. Glide with grace around Hyde Park, stumble and slide through the courtyard at Somerset House, or take a chilly tumble aside the towers of Canary Wharf - whatever your skating skill, there’s fun to be had on ice all over the capital.

Outdoor Skating in Somerset House, Hyde Park, Canary Wharf & elsewhere in London

Through December & January visitlondon.com

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

What exactly was so Great about Alexander? Figure it out at this fascinating British Library exhibition, which explores how storytellers across the ages have retold Alexander’s myth to create the hero they need - and how they are still doing so today.

Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth The British Library Until 19th February bl.uk

DO NOT PASS GO

Hop, step and jump your way to Tottenham Court Road for Monopoly Lifesized, a new immersive experience based on the classic board game. Roll giant dice, move around the 15-metre board, puzzle your way through minigames - and try not to end up in jail. So

Top Alexander the Great reexamined at The British Library. Left Monopoly comes to life in the Tottenham Court Road.

Top right Lynette YiadomBoakye’s powerful portraiture at Tate Britain.

Right: From sensation to euphoria at The Design Museum

much fun you’ll want to roll doubles so you can go again.

Monopoly Lifesized Tottenham Court Road

Until March 2023 monopolylifesized.com

OF ROPE AND THREAD

Lose yourself in a forest of looming fabric sculptures: organic, flowing forms suspended dramatically throughout the 64 metres of the Blavatnik Building gallery. These are the Abakans, the pioneering creations of Magdalena Abakanowicz, who reimagined what sculpture could be in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Magdalena Abakanowicz Tate Modern

Until May 2023 tate.org.uk

The Kensington

CONJURING STRANGERS

There’s something strange about seeing the face of someone you don’t know, in an old photo perhaps, or a dream. Lynette YiadomBoakye captures peculiar intimacy in her portraits, whose subjects are drawn from her imagination. This celebration of almost 20 years’ work was cut short by lockdown in 2020 - don’t miss the chance to encounter her enigmatic figures on its return.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night Tate Britain

Until 26th February tate.org.uk

ASMR IRL

Hairbrush on a microphone. Knife through watermelon. A gentle whisper in your ear. Artists and creators have explored the potential of

sensations like these to induce the “low-grade euphoria” of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) online. Now a pioneering exhibition brings

these sensory experiences into the physical world, in a unique acoustic environment.

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The World of ASMR

Design Museum

Until April 2023 designmuseum.org

LOVERS’ CRUISE

The sparkle of light on water has a magic all its own. Artist Leo Villareal’s Illuminated River project, currently in its second year of ten, brings that magic to the Thames across nine bridge installations. For our money, a dinner cruise with Bateaux London on a long winter evening is the perfect way to take in this extraordinary sight. Also, great Valentine’s date! Bateaux London Cruises

Victoria Embankment Pier Year-round, with special cruises for Valentine’s Day bateauxlondon.com

TO BOLDLY GO

The historic Hampton Court Palace hosts the world’s largest flower show once again this summer. Explore the joys of wellness, mindfulness and inclusivity in the show’s centrepiece garden, discover the delights of the Food Zone

and River Cottage Market Garden, and get your dancing shoes on for Flowers After Hours as the sun goes down.

Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination Science Museum

Until May 2023 sciencemuseum.org.uk

The Marylebone

TERMS OF ART

A highlight of our cultural calendar, the London Art Fair brings works and curators from over 100 leading art galleries together. Witness some of the world’s most exciting modern and contemporary art, including immersive performances and installations, and hear unique insights into the art world from those who make it at a cracking program of talks.

London Art Fair Business Design Centre, Islington 18th to 22nd January. londonartfair.co.uk

HOP TO IT

The Year of the Rabbit begins in January 2023, and the biggest Chinese New Year celebration outside Asia returns to London to mark the occasion. Experience the tastes, sights, sensations and sounds of Chinese culture, traditional and modern, culminating in some famous pyrotechnics in Trafalgar Square.

Chinese New Year Celebrations Central London & Chinatown

On and around 22nd January visitlondon.com

LUCIAN IN PROGRESS

A larger-than-life figure in 20th century art, Lucian Freud’s personality sometimes

overshadows his extraordinary work. This new exhibition, the first major showing of Freud in a decade, cuts through the noise to focus on his development as a painter through over 60 works, from the iconic to the little-known.

Lucian Freud: New Perspectives National Gallery Until 22nd January nationalgallery.org.uk

THE BIG SHORTS

As its mischievous logo suggests, London Short Film Festival is a proud showcase of some of the weirdest and most wonderful short-form cinema you’ll see anywhere. Whether comedy, horror or drama, the festival’s 20th edition delivers the goods - in perfect packages of 45 minutes or less!

London Short Film Festival - 20th Edition Institute of Contemporary Arts 20th to 29th January shortfilms.org.uk

ART AND SOUL

It’s rare to find such exciting new artwork as you will at the RWA’s prestigious Annual Open Exhibition. Almost every inch plays host to a canvas or frame, with plinths and hangings mixed in for good measureand all for sale. Whether you take home a new piece or simply marvel at the incredible variety on show, there’s enough to engross for hours.

169 Annual Open Exhibition

Royal West of England Academy (RWA)

Until 8th January rwa.org.uk

2039: AN ARTISTIC ODYSSEY

In 2010, leading contemporary artist Bharti Kher started a 30year project she called Virus. Each year, she creates a new installation centred around one of her distinctive textured Bindi drawings, accompanied by text documenting world events and her predictions for years to come. The latest edition - at times prescient, at times absurd - appears alongside a series of drawings made locally during a 2019 residency.

Bristol

BIBBIDI-BOBBIDI-BOO

You shall go to the Hippodrome this festive season! Bring your boos for Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood’s devilish Wicked Stepmother, and your cheers for local panto legend Andy Ford as Buttons. An evening of fun for all the family - just make sure you’re home before the stroke of midnight… Cinderella Bristol Hippodrome

Until 31st December atgtickets.com/shows/ cinderella/bristol-hippodrome

Bharti Kher: The Body is a Place Arnolfini Gallery

Until 29th January arnolfini.org.uk

AGE OF EN-LIGHT-ENMENT

Breaking up the darkness of winter with displays of light is a tradition as old as humanity. Last year’s Bristol Light Festival featured such highlights as a giant disco ball, city trees brought to life and a monumental glowing slinky. No doubt this year’s installations will be similarly de-light-ful!

Bristol Light Festival

Throughout Bristol 3rd to 12th February bristollightfestival.org