Slice of the City - Winter Edition

SLICE OF THE CITY NEIGHBOURHOOD NEWS, INSIGHTS & INVITATIONS FROM THE DOYLE COLLECTION

ISSUE 18 WINTER 2023/24

Winter’s a funny old time. On the one hand there’s December. Fun, festivities, family and, for many, industrial over-indulgence. Then New Year, brimming with largely unattainable intentions for monk-like self-denial.

Whatever your resolutions, the mind will need feeding. So, we’ve focused on reading matter. We’ve told the little-known tale of James Hoban - the Irishman that built The White House, been whisked behind the scenes at the Donmar Warehouse’s hot-ticketed Macbeth, and met Irish writer du jour and Cork Curator, the wonderful Caroline O’Donoghue.

Plus, we’ve shared seasonal treasures from our very own shop.

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

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A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

ON THE COVER

Festive season out and about in the city can be something of a bunfight. Perched at shared tables, clutching shopping bags, craning to check nearby coat hooks, waving down waiters, raising voices to project news, waiting ages for service – it’s exhausting. Especially as it’s often when we’re catching up with the seldom seen but much loved of our acquaintance. But, unless you’re in the mood for a sticky floor and a midnight group rendition of Fairytale of New York (and, frankly, we’ve all been there), there is another way. While it’s no surprise we celebrate throughout December with festive menus, seasonal cocktails and so on,

Warehouse. See feature p.14

what is easy to forget is how effortless seasonal socialising can be. Whether you’re after the full Christmas lunch, you’re catching a cocktail with friends, you’re taking a break from the serious business of shopping, you’re treating yourself to a tower of Afternoon Tea or you’re organising private dining… come on in. In Dublin, London, Washington, Cork and Bristol, you’ll find destinations with their own style, yet the same warm welcome, convivial hubbub and pleasing alchemy of cocktail whispering and cheffingwith-a-heart – a delightful escape from the world outside. Sadly our secret is out, so book ahead.

Set design by Rosanna Vize for Macbeth at the Donmar

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

COCO GOOD At The Kensington we’re still celebrating

Gabrielle

Chanel.

Fashion Manifesto, the V&A’s sell out show of the season, in so many ways. Most recently with a

Chanel-inspired

Afternoon

Tea (with quilted black iced opera cake, if you please) and a

heavenly

Chanel-inspired

Cocktail Menu in The K Bar. Catch them both while you still can.

Book at townhousekensington. com/chanel-at-the-kensington

Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque is coming to The Bloomsbury by way of Dalloway Terrace to celebrate the festive season with a fabulous winter installation, It’s a Kind of Magic.

News & Views FIRST AMONG EQUALS We’ll cut to the chase. The Westbury was voted 2023’s Best Hotel in Ireland, by the discerning readers of Condé Nast Traveller. Over half a million of them voted, based all over the world, so to say this is an absolute honour is no exaggeration. It’s not the first time we’ve been so honoured, but each occasion feels like it must be the last, so we are more grateful than ever this time. The years postPandemic have been tough for everybody, and hoteliers have been no exception. But we have really tried to use the unwelcome downtime to get forensic all over the hotel, on a quest to find, within the margins, even greater creativity and better ways to serve. Thanks to our brilliant team at The Westbury, voters seem to feel we have really risen to the occasion. Never comfortable blowing our own trumpet, here’s what one of them had to say, “there’s a reason Dubliners love The Westbury – this is unbridled Irish luxury at its finest, and the service is always exemplary”. So, thank you all. doylecollection.com/hotels/the-westbury-hotel

MURPHY’S LORE The River Lee regulars will know Tom Murphy as Manager of The River Club. But, today, he has crossed the Atlantic to take over as GM of The Dupont Circle’s Doyle Bar, where his decade of hospitality experience and 2023 Munster & Ireland Hotel Manager of the Year Award will have set him up nicely for the glamour of one of DC’s buzziest bars.

doylecollection.com/

hotels/the-dupont-circle.

SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE At The Marylebone we love being part of the village’s artisan community and are huge fans of Pierre Marcolini and his marvellous truffles, treats and hot chocolates. So we’re delighted to launch a new list of decadent choc-tails, created in collaboration with Pierre’s chocolatiers and our own cocktail maestros.

Featuring four fabulously indulgent confections, infused with whisky or rum, seasonal spices, candied fruits, gingerbread, even espresso, they’re choctastic. There’s one for kids and all are offered alcoholand caffeine-free – launching just in time for the Marylebone Village Christmas Lights. 108brasserie.com

If you were glued to Netflix’s starstudded romcom, Love at First Sight, you might feel the need to give your head a wobble on arrival at The Coral Room. Because, yes, it did do double duty as the fictitious Spitalfields Hotel. thecoralroom.co.uk 3

DAUGHTER OF CORK Discover literary Cork with one of the city’s best young writers, the novelist (and University College Cork alumnus) Caroline O’Donoghue, our second Cork Curator

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ccording to Wikipedia there are 51 writers from Cork City. And Caroline O’Donoghue isn’t yet one of them. We’ll leave that to sink in. Perhaps it’s a page that was created by one of those fabled pipe-smoking academics, stroking his beard and making wry remarks about popular writers. A colleague, even, of Dr Byrne, tweedy professor crush of Rachel Murray, titular heroine of Caroline’s 2023 absolute smash of a novel, The Rachel Incident. (Fun fact, Marian Keyes gave it 13 out of 10 on publication - yet having read it even that score feels a bit like Keyes - like a Strictly judge unwilling to get out the 10 paddle until week 6 - might yet be keeping something more in reserve for later, even bigger, better things).

Anyway, Caroline herself would be very relaxed about such an oversight. Despite the usual jet lag, exhaustion and general disorientation following a recent promotional tour of Australia for The Rachel Incident (book signings, ‘in conversations’ and a live, Spring Fling Festival recording of Sentimental Garbage, Caroline’s podcast that celebrates defiantly

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un-guilty pleasures, and won her London Book Fair’s Podcaster of the Year), she was funny, friendly, relaxed and delightfully easy to talk to. We were charmed.

Despite being six novels in (not to mention quite the body of journalism and five years of podcasting behind her), Caroline is still only 33. Yet, 13 years’ ago, arriving at University College Cork to study English Literature she felt like everything was over before it had begun. Ireland had barely relaxed into the tailwind of the Celtic Tiger – the economic boom of the late 90s and early noughties – before it was all snatched away, followed almost immediately by the same old story, the drain of youth – as young people from all over the country chased work abroad, in London, New York, Australia and many places in between.

For kids starting college in 2010 the outlook was especially gloomy and nowhere more so than in the arts. Having conjured a fine novel from the spirit of those uncertain times, Caroline is a million miles away from the 20-year-old who simply couldn’t see a road in front of her. Since

she graduated she really hasn’t stopped, absolutely determined to write by any means necessary.

“I started my blog at 19 but obviously there’s no money in that. I traded reviews for gig tickets and with no work in Ireland and friends leaving every week, I moved to London at 21 – initially for an eight-week film writing internship, which was unpaid but incredible. Then it was odd jobs for a really long time – and it was several years before I got paid £100 for a small piece on the Sky website making me really feel I’d made it. Today, despite all the book deals and so on – none of it feels quite as amazing as that first proper payment.”

Taking a staff job at digital magazine, The Pool, secured a salary and Caroline then did what every apparently effortlessly successful person does – work like a dog.

“I pitched and wrote articles every single day at The Pool, as well as creating all their social media content. I actively built up my following online and pushed my articles out everywhere I could think of. On top of all that I wrote religiously every morning, from 6am until I had to leave for work.

“I was really grateful that the sheer number of brilliant Irish women writers meant there was a rising tide and a pigeonhole of sorts to put me in.”

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Finally, my now agent noticed something I’d written online and contacted me. She sold my first work-in-progress manuscript for £15,000. To Virago! So I chucked in my job, and I’ve done this ever since.”

‘This’, being Caroline’s debut novel, Promising Young Women, published in 2018, her young adult Gifts Series (a three-book deal, translated into 10 languages), 2021’s Scenes of a Graphic Nature and, in 2023, The Rachel Incident (currently in development for Universal, with Caroline getting to explore every character’s own story as she develops scripts for the small streamed Overleaf The quad at University College Cork. Caroline recommends taking a full guided tour of our historic campus.

Above You’ll have to go to our Cork Curator’s page to see Caroline’s full trip down memory lane, but city natives will recognise the view over the city, the English Market and, as Caroline can testify, the joy of tasting local oysters at The River Lee.

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.

screen, typing furiously despite her crossed fingers that it goes ahead).

While Caroline lives in London these days, she always popping back to Cork to visit friends and family. “I’ve never been part of the Dublin writer set, but I was really grateful that the sheer number of brilliant Irish women writers meant there was a rising tide and a pigeonhole of sorts to put me in – it helps to have that kind of shorthand – and ‘young Irish woman writer’ is definitely a good one to have.

So, I embraced it. But ironically it was my English husband that made me see Cork and life in Ireland with fresh eyes. He adores coming over here and has made me fall in love with it all over again”.

While the team at The River Lee invited Caroline to become the second of our Cork Curators because she is literally the hottest literary prospect to come out of the city for some time (and a great friend of The River Lee), what they may not have known

is that she plans every weekend break like she would a plotline. “When it comes to mapping out a story – you need to know where you’re going and make some kind of a plan – but you also need to allow for the stuff that happens unexpectedly – as the characters start doing things for themselves. I have the same strategy for a long weekend away. I’ll map some of it out, like, ‘we’ll stay in the old town’. I hit up some recommendations too – then I have a safety net – and from that I’ll see what opens up in front of me.”

We suggest you check out Caroline’s recommendations for Literary Cork and use them as your jumping off point for a few days discovering this great city. And if you find yourself at a loose end something really has got to be done about that Wikipedia entry… doylecollection.com/hotels/the-river-leehotel/slice-of-the-city/weekends-in-cork/ meet-our-curators

INSIDE STORIES

WINTER IN STYLE

Dalloway Terrace dressed up for this season’s most glamorous events.

It’s a Kind of Magic with Perrier Jouët 7

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hen you need to unearth the details of a White House story blurred in the mists of time, or you’re after a littleknown fact or you’re simply in quest of some excellent First Lady intelligence, you need Stewart McLaurin. Historian, preserver and purveyor of knowledge and, since 2014, President of the White House Historical Association (WHHA), in 2021 Stewart also published the definitive book on its origin story: James Hoban: Designer and Builder of The White House.

It’s a fascinating read. Not only is the life of a man compellingly conjured from precious few facts, but, also, his life and times are clearly evoked in eight excellent essays by the world’s most knowledgeable Hoban scholars, each committed to telling as full and frank a story as possible. From James Hoban’s humble origins and what life would have been like back then, to the eternal stain of using labour including enslaved peoples to build The White House, it presents an unflinching window into a pivotal time in American history and the triumph of building a city on a swamp in record time. Stewart explains.

“Early on, the American Government was operating out of New York, then in Philadelphia. In 1790, the Congress of the United States, then meeting in Philadelphia, passed The Resident’s Act, which gave the then President, George Washington, just ten years to build a federal city, including a home for Congress (the Capitol building) and the president’s house. That’s a pretty short order of time”,

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Stewart concluded in a masterclass of understatement.

But why Washington for a federal city? Why not New York? “Post civil war, naturally there were differences of perspective between the northern and southern states – largely between federalists and those in favour of State’s rights, and allocating responsibility for post-war debt. And so, relocating the capital to a more southern location was part of a grand compromise to reunite the country. Land was taken from Virginia and Maryland to create this new District of Columbia (the DC that follows Washington).”

THE MAN WHO BUILT THE WHITE HOUSE “Our two nations, divided by distance, have been united by history… and nothing exemplifies this bond more than this building. It was designed by an Irishman named James Hoban” President JF Kennedy addressing the Irish Parliament, 1963

According to Stewart, the commission started with happenstance. “George Washington was on a southern tour of the new country. And he was in Charleston, South Carolina in 1791 when he happened to be introduced to this young, Irish-born builder, (Hoban) who had come first to Philadelphia, then to Charleston. Hoban had trained in Dublin, then opened a design school in Charleston.”

“George Washington saw stone buildings in Charleston that Hoban had been involved in, reminiscent of great Irish Country homes. Not unlike Desart Court Estate, where Hoban grew up in County Kilkenny. And that’s what Washington wanted - a great stone house. Not a Europeanstyle palace. But a stone home that would be respected in the capitals of Europe and that would be distinctive and different from what was happening in America at the time. So, Washington selected Hoban personally.”

For George Washington, Hoban simply understood that fine balance of stately yet sober, imposing yet workmanlike - a place designed for a President that has been elected for public service rather than a seat of pomp and circumstance suitable for crowned heads. The choice he made was uniquely en-point for the elected leader of a youthful, democratic nation. And, like so many spaces, places and creations considered quintessentially American today, immigration was central to the making of it.

IRISH HERITAGE While it may surprise many that an Irishman was designer and builder of The White House, it probably shouldn’t.

After all, 23 of those 45 sworn into the highest office in the land themselves claim Irish heritage (yep, that’s a fraction over half). As do 31.5 million American people – six times the population of Ireland today and source of vast, global soft power and influence.

In fact, the surprise is more that the man in question wasn’t a well-born American citizen with Irish ancestry, but a working class, Roman Catholic, Kilkenny-born son of a farm labourer, who very likely grew up in a dark, poky, smoky estate cottage on the land his father worked.

One might not recommend boyhood apprenticeship to rural woodworkers and wheelwrights as the best start for a stellar career in architecture, but James Hoban was clearly inspired by the finery and elegant proportions of the estate (home to British Baron John Cuffe). Plus, he was clearly extremely talented.

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Hoban’s early ability as a draughtsman met an aspiration that took him first to the Dublin Society’s School of Architectural Drawing, on a scholarship for poor boys. It was here that he won the Duke of Leinster Medal for Drawing and, upon graduation, found employment as an apprentice in the practice of the school’s head and grand Dublin architect, Thomas Ivory.

MEDALS OVER MONEY Stewart tells a fascinating story about James Hoban and his medals. “Twice in his life, once in Ireland and once over here, he won a prize for his designs.

In Ireland he was offered the choice between money or a medal. Despite his poverty, he took the medal. Wisely, because he could show it, using it as credentials of sorts. The money would be spent but the metal would remain. And the medal is here in the National Museum of American History today.”

Dublin opened doors (pardon the pun) to James Hoban; and the Georgian architecture of the day and the city’s Palladian masterpieces clearly made a lasting impression on him, as reflected in his designs for The White House.

Overleaf Attributed to German sculptor and specialist in wax portraits, John Christian Rauschner, this is the only likeness existing of James Hoban, acquired by the WHHA in 1976.

Above Top Leinster House Dublin, Hoban’s chief inspiration for The White House. Centre James Hoban’s final design for the north front of the President’s House, made in the autumn of 1793.

Bottom The White House today showing the portico added to the North Front in 1829 designed to shelter those arriving in carriages or on horseback. Opposite Map of Washington DC. A capital city built by decree for the purposes of appeasement (and unification) of both sides after the civil war. Previously Government was in Philadelphia and, before that, New York.

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After a recent visit, Stewart commented, “As you walk up under the façade of Leinster House you can see it is so reminiscent of The White House. And the Old Newcomen Bank. Designed and built by Thomas Ivory, Hoban would have been very involved with it.

In that building there are three oval rooms that feel just like the blue room and the yellow oval room in The White House.

The Oval Office is actually a 20th-century creation but

Hoban built three oval rooms in the centre of The White House, so clearly Newcomen was where he drew his inspiration”.

While Dublin certainly inspired Hoban, there wasn’t room enough to match his ambition.

And the reality is, Dublin was a city where faith counted. Over to Stewart. “Here to me is one of the most compelling things about James Hoban. He comes to America because the laws in Ireland at the time, Roman Catholics could not attain the highest levels of any profession.

And he was a Roman Catholic born and bred. So to continue to evolve and be successful he had to leave Ireland.”

SOCIAL MOBILITY Hoban required a larger, wider world to conquer. And to America he sailed – at the age of just 25. Never to return.

Hoban arrived in Philadelphia in 1785 before moving to Charleston, where he would later meet the President.

Records show that his younger brothers took the same journey, and also enjoyed a degree of success and comfort unlikely for their class and faith back in Ireland – adding up to a show of social mobility from which we could all continue to learn, a full 240 years on.

Anyway, having been forced to seek opportunity in a place of meritocracy, unbound by religious discrimination, it feels a pleasing irony that James Hoban’s abiding achievement was down to a patronage equation of the oldest kind – possession of talent, charisma and charm, and access to the ear of President George Washington, the most powerful man in the land.

THE FIRST GENTLEMAN It took astonishingly little time from Hoban’s first tentative steps off boat and onto land, to actual arrival - bossing hundreds of builders, craftsmen and artisans all working together to articulate his and his patron, George Washington’s vision of a house fit for a president. Or as George Washington put it at the time suitable “not for a monarch but for a gentleman. The first gentleman, to be precise”. From foundations to finials, columns to carvings, balustrades to budgets, plastering to personnel, every minute detail was overseen and managed by James Hoban.

While we know that it was in Charleston that Hoban met George Washington, most likely socially, possibly through freemasons, there is no formal documentation of the meeting.

However, when Washington was tasked with constructing the President’s house from scratch he immediately sent for the young builder from Ireland and in less than two years, taking in an open competition and two rounds of drawings, Hoban was formally hired.

MANY DESIGNS “There were many designs” Stewart told us. “Even Jefferson submitted his own design.

Some wanted a more palatial setting for the President. There was one drawing that included a throne room of all things – counter to everything we believed in after what we had been through in the American revolution.” According to Stewart, Hoban’s commission was a long one. “What is amazing to me about young James Hoban is that he spent 29 years working on that house.

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He initially built it from 1792 to 1800, when President John Adams, the first to live in The White House, moved in.

Then from 1814–1817 he rebuilt it after it was burned down. He subsequently added the South Portico for President James Munroe and constructed the North Portico for President Andrew Jackson. So, from 1792 until he died in 1831, 29 years of his life had been invested in this remarkable house.

Yet, though his life’s work is encapsulated in three words, The White House, nobody knows who he is.”

AMERICAN SYMBOL “Today The White House is perhaps the most familiar structure in the world. There are billions of people, the vast majority of whom will never visit America, never see The White House – but when shown an image of it, they recognise the symbol of America and our President”.

While notable exceptions to this might include the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower and the Parthenon, we’d certainly agree there isn’t a presidential palace more widely identifiable than the colonnaded façade of the home to the just 45 men to have been anointed President of the United States of America.

Top The State Dining Room in 1963. The table is set with the Truman dinner service and Kennedy glassware for a large state dinner. Centre left The Queens’ Sitting Room, photographed in 2000 during the Clinton administration. The décor was overseen

by Jacqueline Kennedy – the tea table was originally hers, she left it behind in The White House for posterity. Centre right The spectacular iced gingerbread White House, the first to include gardens, made by the White House Pastry Team using 385lbs of dough, 25lbs of chocolate, and 25lbs of Royal Icing, November 2020. Bottom The Diplomatic Reception Room, also designed by Jacqueline Kennedy, in 1987, during Reagan’s presidency.

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“In our country this one building is the home to the President and his family, the office to the President and his staff. It’s the ceremonial stage on which our nation receives its most important guests – when Heads of State come to visit that’s where they come. It’s also an accredited museum – every year about half a million guests take the opportunity to visit.

And it’s a symbol of American Freedom and Democracy.”

THE GREY HOUSE At this point Stewart drops a fun fact. The original building wasn’t white. And nor was it called The White House.

“The core stone under the paint today was a dark grey colour. A stone that would have been familiar to the Scottish stonemasons that helped build it. So when this grey stone was used the stonemasons had it whitewashed to seal it, so water wouldn’t seep in, then freeze and crack the stone.

That was a process from their homeland. After the house was rebuilt following the British fire during the second War of Independence, they started to paint it white. And so it became informally known as The White House, but it was not the formal name until President Teddy Roosevelt in 1901 decided to use those three words on his presidential stationery, making it official.”

SENSE OF HISTORY As President of the WHHA, Stewart has spent countless hours in and around The White House, but it never ceases to arrest. “No matter how many times I visit I am struck with awe at the sense of history. By those that have been before.

And one of the privileges that we have as the White House Historical Association, is to write books like these to tell the stories, to teach the good and bad. We have six years of research now on the history of enslaved people who built The White House. And not only that. Nine of our early American presidents either owned slaves or they hired slaves to work for them in The White House. This is an under-

The WHHA was founded in 1963

by Jacqueline Kennedy after discovering there was no consistent conservation of the interior or the arts and crafts in the house.

told story as well, and we’ve done a huge amount of research on that. I would encourage anybody interested in the history of The White House to delve into this dark side of our history, as well as telling the story of James Hoban.”

To find out more about James Hoban, the near insanity of building a Presidential house from scratch in just eight years, the visceral reality of a vast encampment of builders complete with kilns, saw mills and so on, and the times in which he lived, read Stewart McLaurin’s excellent book, James Hoban, Designer and Builder of the White House.

Guests should also visit the White House and the Historical Association – both are a short walk from The Dupont Circle.

STEWART MCLAURIN AND THE WHHA Stewart McLaurin built his career in

discreet. Though he did share that along

leadership roles in national non-profit

with the day-to-day business, they all had

and educational organisations. President

their pet projects. Injecting modernity

of the WHHA since 2014, today Stewart

and diversity into the art collection

works very closely with each First Lady.

(Michelle Obama), the less glamorous but highly pressing restoration of scores

The WHHA was founded in 1961 by

of wooden doors (Melania Trump) and,

Jacqueline Kennedy after discovering there

of course, education (Dr Biden).

was no consistent conservation of the interior or the arts and crafts in the house.

We should mention here that the WHHA is

Stewart says of Mrs Kennedy, “She was just

officially a non-profit educational association

31 years old when her husband was elected.

founded for the purpose of enhancing the

She had every reason to believe that they

understanding, appreciation and enjoyment

would be in The White House for many

of the Executive Mansion. And it’s not just the

years. But JFK’s presidency was tragically

glamorous stuff the WHHA is concerned with.

cut short. In that time, she was a woman on a mission. She established the WHHA

As Stewart points out. “It’s important for us

and the ‘friends of’ The White House group.

at the WHHA to share the stories of White

She hired the House’s first curator and she

House history – good and bad. So, just in

created the advisory board that still exists

front of the building is historic Lafayette

today, composed of prominent heads of

Park. Thousands of people cross that park

museums, galleries and historic homes. In

every working day without the awareness

fact, everything Mrs Kennedy put in place

that beneath their feet is the construction

back in 1963 is still operational today”.

grounds from which the house was principally built by enslaved labour. At the WHHA we

The WHHA has since developed a close

have done a great deal of research – the

Above Distinguished guests

relationship with the 12 successive First

James Hoban book features a chapter on

attend a reception in the Red

Ladies. We can’t help but wonder how

this, but our website goes even deeper – and

Room following the State

that partnership might differ were we to

approximately 200 enslaved labourers lived

Funeral of President John F

be treated to a First Gentleman one day?

in and around Lafayette Park to build this symbol of freedom and democracy. The irony

Kennedy, November 25, 1963.

Hosted by the former First Lady

Stewart himself has worked closely with

in that is an important part of the story. And

with her brother-in-law Senator

Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and,

our role is to tell the full story of The White

Edward Kennedy, Mrs Kennedy

currently, Dr Jill Biden. Unsurprisingly, given

House. Not just the glamorous elements like

shakes hands with Prince Georg

his rare access and strictly non-partisan

state dinners and ceremonial occasions.”

Valdernar of Denmark.

status, Stewart has proven utterly

whitehousehistory.org

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VOICES ALL ARO

W

ith David Tennant and Cush Jumbo bringing Macbeth to the Donmar Warehouse’s mere 251 seats, of course it’s going to be the show of the season. And this 2023 production announcement certainly didn’t disappoint, selling out in minutes. Something for which this tiny, not for profit, central London theatre has quite the track record.

It probably started when Sam Mendes (the theatre’s first Artistic Director) cast Nicole Kidman in 1998’s The Blue Room (David Hare’s retelling of La Ronde). She was already a huge star, known from her

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Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards for To Die For, not to mention the very famous Mr Kidman (for those born this century, Mr Tom Cruise) - the play was a triumph and transferred to Broadway.

While this was a pivotal moment in the history of both the Donmar and, arguably, the London stage (which has welcomed Hollywood stars from Matt Damon to Gwyneth Paltrow, since), it wasn’t just about them. Theatre is a team sport and the Donmar’s success is more about the people it chooses – in every role – as the stars that carry it.

ROUND

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Whatever happens at the Donmar, it’s always going to be a super creative production put together by a team just right to tell the tale. (Their actual mission is ‘to create thrilling, unmissable theatre in our intimate auditorium’). And Macbeth is doing that with bells on.

We’d heard rumours, of course. Of a completely original retelling, of pushing boundaries. But when you’re reinventing an experience you don’t want to spoil it with, well, spoilers. Luckily the team at the Donmar were able to introduce us to one of the four key people bringing the production to life, the acclaimed international set and costume designer, Rosanna Vize.

We sat down for our chat with Rosanna during technical rehearsals for her Christmas production at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse of Ibsen’s Ghosts.

Opening just weeks before Macbeth – she’s busy – with a very different set - the playhouse is like being inside a warm wood organ, and faux fur carpets the stage.

Side note: while Shakespeare aficionados are gearing up for the 400th anniversary of

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the publication of the first folio (folio400. com) - there’s a timelessness and modernity in everything the Bard wrote inviting endless re-settings. From the RSCs 1930s staging of Richard III to Jamie Lloyd’s post-apocalyptic Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios, there’s always a fine line between the ‘telling’ and the play.

But for this Macbeth the big idea is to make the telling an act of absolute purity, opening space for the tale to unfold. Over to Rosanna.

“Max (Webster, the Director) and I had wanted to work together for a couple of years. He’s not a director who always hires the same team. He picks people based on what he is going to make. He knew me for building plays around one bold gesture, and I was intrigued because the Donmar is a really intimate space and Macbeth is a very big play. So, we knew it would have to be very different.”

soldier that survived battle and the loss of a child. There’s a line in the play (‘I have given suck and know/How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me’) but there’s no child mentioned in their story, so it’s assumed they lost it – like Shakespeare did.

So, that was our starting place to make it about the psychological space between the two of them and their trauma response.”

“At the beginning Max was really interested in using ‘binaural stereo’ to create a 3D landscape. Gareth (Fry, Sound This page and overleaf Portraits: David Tennant as Macbeth (overleaf), Rosanna Vize, designer (left), Cush Jumbo as Lady Macbeth with Jatinder Singh Randhawa as the Porter with a binaural head to create three-dimensional sound (right). Rehearsal shots together with Rosanna’s early design concepts presented to the cast at the readthrough; these include: types of masks, how to dramatise the approach of the forest of

“Instead of a historical, contemporary political setting like people so often choose, Max wanted to focus on the psychology of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – a warrior

Dunsinane, and re-thinking performance space - be it the candelit banquet table at which Banquo’s ghost appears, or encasing it within a glass box.

Macbeth rehearsal photographs: Marc Brenner

Designer) specialises in spatial sound and had used binaural microphones and headphones in Theâtre de Complicité’s, The Encounter. But it’s never been used for such a big play. Max started by asking us and Bruno (Poet, Lighting Designer) if we thought it could work. What it does is enable you to really change and control the sound. So, an actor could speak from anywhere in the theatre. Literally right behind you making you jump. Or the sound of the cast can be heard in your head, even whispering in your ear. Max thought we could really make it feel like you’re in Macbeth’s head hearing a cacophony of voices as if they’re telling him what to do.

It could be really spooky but also connect you with the actors in such an emotional, intimate way.”

“David and Cush were already cast before Max had decided to go with this approach – but once we’d workshopped it intensively with actors (several went on to be cast in the play) – we knew it could be really incredible. The tech is amazing but the point is people won’t even think about it because of the experience it creates – you’re

so connected with the actors you don’t remember you’ve got headphones on.”

“For the staging we wanted to physically embody that feeling of being totally alone with your thoughts, at the mercy of your mind. The first thing to land was a very stark white platform in a dark space. And Macbeth stands there, the bloodied soldier.

Then behind this we created a glass box where the rest of the cast is, except for Lady Macbeth. In the box they act and though they do come out of the box, the actors are mostly contained and voiced in a psychological space, direct to the audience. As far as making goes, in light of the climate crisis, we wanted to use recycled materials, so the glass box is made using the set from a production of Phaedra at the National Theatre – we had to fit their panels together to make our new box, which was pretty challenging.”

“It takes a lot of work to make such a simple seeming set. There’s a sound booth on stage too – where it’s all mixed live – the musicians are in there, making a mix of 10th Century Scottish music and electronica. The costumes are

monochrome with a very minimal aesthetic – Medieval Scottish warrior meets high fashion modern power look – it’s mostly genderless. Everyone except Lady Macbeth wears a dark kilt with wraparound suit jacket, long socks and boots. It’s really simple but so powerful.”

There’s a real buzz around this production of Macbeth. Rehearsals are in progress, and it runs 8th December-10th February.

Tickets are sold out for every performance.

However, we have managed to secure a handful for guests that wish to book a suite at The Bloomsbury. The offer includes dinner, a bottle of champagne and, of course, the hottest tickets in town. doylecollection.com/hotels/thebloomsbury-hotel/packages/macbeth-atthe-donmar Find out more about Macbeth at the Donmar Warehouse donmarwarehouse. com. And listen to Rosanna talk about her career to date on the Donmar podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ donmar-on-design-rosanna-vize/ id1309523893?i=1000426960585

17

IT’S A GIFT Christmas comes but once a year but the gifts we give and, just as importantly, receive, should be for keeps...

E

verybody knows somebody that’s intimidating to buy for. It can be so hard to find gifts glamorous and covetable enough for even the most discerning on your list. Time to visit The Doyle Collection Christmas Shop at The Westbury Mall (it’s online too, of course!)

Curated by our Chairman, Bernie Gallagher (supported by The Doyle

18

Collection Gift Team) each collection starts with a conversation and a brainstorm in quest of a big idea. For 2023, The Westbury’s Art-Deco-Bright-Young-Things Sidecar Cocktail Bar Concept, was a shoein for inspiration – and so we began.

Of course creating a Collection comes with its challenges. And though they tend to be mostly of the first world variety (does

that candle smell heavenly enough? can we handcraft enough wreaths in time?), they can also be complex (how do you hand paint a detailed illustration on the inside of a hand-blown glass bauble – in reverse, by hand, using a miniscule brush, it turns out.) Detail aside, serious glamour has to be a given. Impeccable quality and sustainable, ethical sourcing another.

Is it exquisite? Is it made to last? Is it

Left and below Wonderfully witty illustrations of society at play painstakingly hand painted inside hand-blown glass baubles. Below left Solid lacquered brass coasters, hand etched. Right The Sidecar Martini and Coupe glassware with the menu that inspired our Christmas Collection.

19

Left The legendary Westbury Hotel Wreath weaves Irish fir, eucalyptus, seasonal blooms, pink pepper berries, herbs and spices. A smaller table-top variant wraps around one of our heavenly scented, sustainable wax candles hand poured into a glass jar, which burn for 60 hours straight.

Below We worked hard to source the sleekest 22 momme silk, making our mask super-soft on skin and beautifully boxed for gifting. Hand moulded, painted and gilded, and thrice fired, bandbox stripes in Tiffany Blue and a gold rim give our china a Georgian meets Art Deco spirit.

irresistible? Do we want it ourselves? Have we been known to tussle over the samples to take away with us? Unless it’s a yes, yes and yes again, you won’t find it in our shop.

We hate to overuse the word but our Christmas Wreath (only available in The Westbury shop), is something of a Dublin Icon – hand woven to order by our wonderful in-house florist. We can never make quite enough, so we’ve created a table wreath, too - scaled-down. Crackers come in white and gold, hand-tied with blue ribbon. And our Eye Mask, in the smoothest silk, softly padded (with pure silk filling), almost guarantees a good night’s sleep. A glamorous Sidecar Cocktail and Coupe Glass Gift set marries a handblown crystal coupe with hand-painted gilt rim, and a choice of cocktails to pass off as your own – The Vesper (grown up gin, vodka, aperitif wine and orange bitters) or High Sobriety (bone dry grape vodka, bergamot liquer, elderflower, frozen grapes and citrus bitters). For those preferring to take their tea from Staffordshire Bone China, our hand-gilded cup and saucer set is a classic. Last but emphatically not least, our Fragrance Collection. Created in collaboration with a renowned Galway boutique fragrance atelier and aromatic storyteller, Donegal Turf is smoky with whiskey and cedarwood. Bergamot, meanwhile, envelops the home in crisp citrus over earthy vetiver and frankincense.

20

Below For deeper sleep, choose your shade of grey, pristine white or oyster pink sleek silk eye masks. Right Both our signature scents are poured into hand-blown glass jars for hours of aroma and can be wafted using our Home Fragrance Diffuser.

Bergamot is our signature scent and the warm welcome greeting guests as they step into every Doyle Collection hotel – while Donegal Turf is quintessentially Irish – a fireside chat in a hand-blown glass jar, glamorous room spritz or endless diffuser.

21

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

The Kensington WIPE OUT For anyone who spent their t(w)eens honing 360s and perfecting an ollie, Skateboard is a nostalgic must see. Featuring amazing boards and assorted hardware - from nostalgic classics to the highest of high tech - plus pictures of the impossible things skater god/esses make them do.

Skateboard Design Museum 20th October – 2nd June designmuseum.org CIRQLE OF LIFE According to UK Artistic Director, Michael Smith, “Alegría is the soul of Cirque du Soleil, it’s what put us on the map”. So what more rewarding endeavour, while shut down for the pandemic, than to reimagine such a classic.

was a two-Tony smash on

to props. It’s magical.

5th October – 25th February

And now, Cirque’s dancers,

Broadway and is now making

Re:Imagining Musicals

tate.org.uk

contortionists and high-flyers

its UK Premiere at The Royal

V&A South Kensington

are bringing it to London for

Court Theatre.

Until 4th February

ICE, ICE, MAYBE?

the new year.

Dana H

vam.ac.uk

We’re unsure who decided that

Cirque Du Soleil

Royal Court Theatre

ice skating and mulled wine

Royal Albert Hall

16th January – 9th March

were natural bedfellows, but

11th January – 11th

royalcourttheatre.com

February 2024 cirquedusoleil.com

22

The Bloomsbury

CRAFT OF MUSICALS

you really can’t beat a shivery skate followed by warming spices. Most atmospheric?

There are few things more

WITH GUSTON!

Somerset House and Hampton

DANA H

fabulous than a cracking

Born in Canada to a Jewish

Court. Best for the weather-

An extraordinary production of

musical, but it’s easy to

immigrant family, Philip

averse? Indoor rinks at Queens

a harrowing happening, Dana

overlook the complex and

Guston is one of the most

and Ally Pally. Thrill seekers

H is lip synced by veteran New

interwoven skills that bring

celebrated abstract painters

should head to Tobacco Dock

York theatre actor, Deirdre

the artform to life. In this

of the mid-20th century

for rooftop skating.

O’Connell, to the recorded

fascinating exhibition, the

and Tate Modern is holding

Festive Ice Skating

words of Dana Higginbotham

V&A celebrates the crafts

his first major retrospective

All over the city

herself. Created by Dana’s son,

and creativity that support

in 20 years. Go see!

December and January

theatre director Lucas Hnath,

the performance, from

Philip Guston

freetoursbyfoot.com/ice-

the play started off-Broadway,

sets to costumes, posters

Tate Modern

skating-in-london

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

The Marylebone

If the Postal Museum sounds

to forget that it evolved out of

London’s panto scene today is

16th Century Italian Commedia

in fine fettle, and arguably at

like something for stamp

OH YES THEY ARE!

Dell’Arte. After decades of

its most rumbunctious in the

collectors, think again. The

Panto is so uniquely,

ubiquitous Biggins, production

majestic Clive Rowe’s Hackney

mail rail takes passengers

quintessentially British, it’s easy

highs (and a few lows),

Empire 2023 outing, Aladdin.

on a teeny tiny train through

We say, go!

underground tunnels retracing

Pantomime Season

the routes of yesteryear - a

All over town

century of deliveries via narrow

December into January

gauge rails. Supplemented

timeout.com/london/

by installations, first person

theatre/christmas-

accounts of life in the mailroom

pantomimes-in-london

and gadgetry from times past, it’s quite the day out.

SING!

Postal Museum

Few things give you

Every Wednesday - Sunday

goosebumps like a Christmas

postalmuseum.org

concert with soaring acoustics.

Photocall for the production of A Chorus Line, London Palladium, 2013. ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London. London Palladium Philip Guston, Female Nude with Easel , 1935, Private Collection. © The Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth

St Martin-in-the-fields and the FACE TO FACE

Royal Albert Hall boast the

Following a three-year

starriest line-ups, Battersea

refurbishment, The National

Dog’s & Cat’s Home’s festive

Portrait Gallery is back and

fundraiser features furry friends,

along with the wonderful,

carols at Fulham Palace take

reimagined permanent

you back in time and Trafalgar

collection, exhibitions include

Square hosts a right seasonal

David Hockney, Drawing from

singalong.

Life and the Taylor Wessing

Christmas Music

Photo Portrait Prize Exhibition.

Throughout December

National Portrait Gallery

visitlondon.com/things-to-do/

Open daily

whats-on/christmas/best-

npg.org.uk

christmas-carols-in-london

Left One Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line revisited at Re:Imagining Musicals at the V&A. Right, Top Female Nude with Easel (1935), from the Philip Gaston retrospective at Tate Modern. Right Inspired

by California’s skate heritage, visitors are invited to skate on a bespoke mini-ramp installed as part of Skate Exhibition at The Design Museum.

23

KEW WONDER

Bristol

Every winter glorious Kew

as ‘serene’, EREGATA እርጋታ is

(2022) and a major group

Ethiopian artist, Elias Sime’s

exhibition touring North

Gardens is transformed. You’ll

EREGATA እርጋታ

first European solo show.

America, Sime’s key works are

see magical floating canopies,

Translated by the artist from

Having recently featured in

showcased here in testament

luminous floral installations,

his mother tongue, Amharic,

the 59th Venice Biennale

to his extraordinary vision and

UV feathers hovering on light

craftsmanship.

breezes and a sensational

Eregata እርጋታ

light installation on the lake

Arnolfini

– sparkling into the water.

21st October – 18th February

Christmas treats abound, but

arnolfini.org.uk

be warned, tickets are popular, so book ahead..

UP MARKET

Christmas at Kew

With over 40 stalls featuring

15th November - 7th January

crafts, gifts, live music, and,

kew.org

of course, festive food and drink, Bristol Christmas

MAKE AN IMPRESSION

Market is something of an

There’s something about

institution. Christmas lights

drawings on paper that’s

sparkle and there’s a grotto

more immediate than layers

for little ones too, complete

of paint on canvas. And this

with Santa and elves.

exhibition is a riot of pastels,

Bristol Christmas Market

watercolours, temperas and

City Centre

gouaches on paper, courtesy

3rd November –

of leading Impressionists and

23rd December

Post-impressionists, most

bristolchristmasmarket.com

notably Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Morisot.

SYMPHONIA

Impressionists on Paper:

Bristol Beacon is showcasing

Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec

an incredible line up of visiting

Royal Academy

orchestras from UK and

25th November – 10th March

Europe, joining orchestra in

royalacademy.org.uk

residence, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - in a six month musical celebration.

Expect everything from brand new drama with classical accompaniment to film scores, a symphonic celebration of Pink Floyd to opera and the classics. Highly Recommended.

Orchestral Season 2023/24 Bristol Beacon 19th December – 7th June bristolbeacon.org SEE THE LIGHT In the darkest month of the year, you can see the light in Bristol as some of the world’s best international and local digital artists flood the city centre with colour, light and optimism. Every year sees new commissions

24

but expect anything from the

and lively bar – but we also

Christmas Markets

BEHAN RETOLD

ethereal to the spectacular.

like an indoor craft market,

All over Dublin

For anybody who’s ever

Bristol Light Festival

especially the Botanic Gardens

Through December

wondered how Brendan

City Centre

Eco one. Ask your concierge

theirishroadtrip.com/

Behan’s classic, The Quare

2nd – 11th February

for recommendations.

christmas-market-dublin

Fellow would work if all the

bristollightfestival.org

The Westbury ON THE SELF! New year is a time for reflection and on a long grey day, when we’re all thinking “what next?”, mind and spirit are ready for this exhibition - a ‘culmination in a three-year research project Federico Zandomeneghi, Study of a Woman from Behind, 1890-97, Pastel on cardboard. 48 x 38 cm. Galleria D’Arte Moderna, Milan. Photo: © Comune di Milano

focusing on the new nationstates that emerged in the wake of the First World War’. Dust off your thinking cap and pop it on.

Self-Determination, A Global Perspective IMMA 28th October – 21st April imma.iww OFF TO MARKET While Dublin doesn’t do the classic Welhnachtsmarkt, there are always some lovely Christmas markets to choose from. You can’t go wrong with the Dublin Castle affair

parts were played by women

with its fairy-lit walls, carousel

and non-binary actors instead of men, The Abbey Theatre is celebrating a century since Behan’s birth by subverting (as was his way) his masterpiece with a radical recasting. It’s what he would have wanted.

The Quare Fellow Abbey Theatre 24th November – 27th January

Left, Top Impressionists on

abbeytheatre.ie

Paper at The Royal Academy.

Left Flooding the city with

TAKE SIVE

colour, Bristol hosts top digital

For 2024 the Gaiety theatre is

artists in the first week of

creating a contemporary re-

February. Right, Top Christmas

imagining of Irish playwright,

market at Dublin Castle.

John B Keane’s masterpiece,

Right A radical recasting of

Sive (rhymes with ‘five).

Behan’s The Quare Fellow at

The play, first performed in

The Abbey theatre

March 1959, is a tale of greed

25

The Dupont Circle

and bitterness, a scheming

finished with, is The Drifters

matchmaker and the unsuitable

Girl – a travelling West End

marriage of a girl to a much

production packed with

SHAKESPEARE EVERYWHERE

– here’s Time Out’s top seven.

older man. Casting is currently

Drifter’s hits and nominated

Shakespeare is everywhere in

Jazz bars and clubs

in progress for a limited run.

for Best New Musical at

Washington right now, with

Around the City

family can’t agree on what to

London’s 2022 Olivier Awards.

twelve world class productions,

Open daily

do, there are few things more

The Drifters Girl

including interpretations in

timeout.com/washington-

delightful than winter skating.

Bord Gais Energy Theatre

ballet, opera and music, over

dc/music-nightlife/

There are four locations in

30th January to 3rd February

twelve weeks, all around

best-jazz-clubs-in-dc

and around the city, so pack

bordgaisener

DC. We’re especially excited

your gloves (ideally leather)

gyetheatre.ie

about Shakespeare Theatre

ROTHKO ON PAPER

Company’s summer of love

While better known for his

clubs and the live gigs within.

Everybody has their favourites

Sive Gaiety Theatre Opens 27th January gaietytheatre.ie

The Croke Park HANG HIM ON MY WARHOL When the Hugh Lane Gallery puts on their first Andy Warhol exhibition ever you know the 20th-century icon is in good hands. But when you hear the exhibition features 250 works including collaborations with Francis Bacon and photographer Peter Beard, you know it’s a must-see.

Andy Warhol Three Times Out Hugh Lane Gallery 6th October – 28th January hughlane.ie SKATE AND SLIDE Whether you’ve just been overindulging and fancy a spin in the bracing breezes, or the

and make an afternoon of it.

Family Ice Skating

MR PRESIDENT

retelling of As You Like It.

vast, atmospheric canvases,

Around Dublin

In its first ever co-production

Shakespeare

Rothko also made 1000

December and January

with Sydney Theatre Company,

Everywhere Festival

paintings on paper, some of

mykidstime.com/ireland/

this Gate Theatre retelling of

All around the city

family-ice-skating-

The President – an intimate

Closes 31st December

dublin-around-ireland

story of abuses of power and

shakespeareeverywheredc.com

the paranoia of privilege feels

26

TREAD THE BORD

as relevant today as it ever

JAZZ, ANYBODY?

Above In the Shakespeare

The Bord Gais Energy Theatre

did. Directed by Tom Creed.

Birthplace of Duke Ellington

Everywhere Festival

is the only venue in Dublin on

The President

himself, Washington DC has

Washington hosts every take

a scale to put on big musical

Gate Theatre

always been a draw for the best

on his work. Right, Top Mark

productions – often for just

Previews from 2nd, opens 8th

jazz musicians on earth and

Rothko at the National Gallery,

a few days. One such, once

February.

is home to quite the number

Washington. Right Cork glows

the festive family fair is safely

gatetheatre.ie

of atmospheric jazz bars and

in Bishop Lucey Park

which were practice runs, but

225,000, Cork is a small city by

seem to be putting on a panto.

everymancork.com

many considered by Rothko as

any metric. But what it lacks in

Go. Sing. Shout. Roar.

corkoperahouse.ie

complete paintings. Regardless,

numbers it makes up for in arts

Pantos in Cork

over 100 of them are now being

venues, and in the months of

Various thatres

BY THE BOOK

shown, many for the first time.

December and January they all

December into January

Son of a Church decorator, Harry

Mark Rothko, Paintings

Clarke made his name in the early

on Paper

20th century as a stained glass

National Gallery of Art

artist and story book illustrator.

19th November – 31st March

He has a bridge named after him

nga.gov

in Dublin, and in Cork is being

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1969, acrylic on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.275. © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

celebrated once again with a AT HOME

delightful exhibition of his work at

Unsurprisingly you have to book

the Crawford Art Gallery.

way ahead to visit the White

Harry Clarke: Bad Romance

House or The Pentagon. There

Crawford Art Gallery

are also rules and regulations

2nd December – 18th February

that differ for US citizens and

crawfordartgallery.ie

currently both are not open to visitors from abroad. However,

FRANKIE, MY DEAR

everyone has access to The

It is safe to say that Frankie

Capitol Building. Just turn

Boyle isn’t for everybody. But

up on the day and bring your

when Scotland’s second most

passport for a timed-entry tour.

garlanded comic (bar Billy, of

The White House:

course) is coming to a theatre

Book a slot, Tues-Sat

near you with their award-winning

whitehouse.gov/visit/

show for a fortnight, it’s an

The Pentagon:

opportunity not to be missed. So

pfpa.experience.crmforce.

book ahead, buckle up and enjoy

mil/PortalTour/s

the ride.

Frankie Boyle: Lap of Shame Cork Opera House

The River Lee

15th - 29th January corkoperahouse.ie

LET IT GLOW Few places feel as festive as Cork City during Glow festival.

Trees in Bishop Lucey park are entwined in fairy lights while twelve days of Christmas are re-enacted – drummers drum, dancers dance, and so on.

There are fairground rides and a festive craft market and, with Cork’s gourmet reputation, fine food and drinks aplenty.

Glow Cork Bishop Lucey Park and Cork City 1st December – 7th January corkcity.ie/en/glow-a-corkchristmas-celebration IT’S BEHIND YOU… With a population just shy of

27

24 HOURS

FOR TEENS IN LONDON Teenagers can really feel like in-between-agers on family holidays, but give them a transport map and an itinerary and let them navigate you all from A-Z. 8.00 ROOM SERVICE! Sometimes the only way to get a teen out of bed is to have something (delicious) delivered, by somebody else. Breakfast in bed at The Bloomsbury it is then. doylecollection.com/hotels/the-bloomsbury-hotel 9.00 UP AND AWAY Head out towards Battersea Power Station (direct, Northern Line) and take lift 109 to the top of the chimney stack. Admire the view. (Shop, snack, drink – if you must). Then take any boat from Battersea to Bankside Pier (Tower Bridge). lift109.co.uk/ thamesclippers.com 10.30 RIDE A ROCKET Hop on a Rocket Rib (book ahead) - it’ll spin you down river at the highest of speeds. Whooping is encouraged. Get the combo ticket and take a break to scale the O2 on Greenwich Peninsula. thamesrockets.com, theo2.co.uk/up-at-the-o2/climb 13.30 AND, RECHARGE Back at Bankside you’ll need some serious sustenance. We’ve a soft spot for the culinary delights of St Katherine’s Dock. Emilia’s, perhaps? emiliaspasta.com 15.00 THIS WON’T HURT A BIT Cross Tower Bridge and follow The Queen’s Walk west to check out the creepy delights of Europe’s oldest operating theatre. oldoperatingtheatre.com 16.30 NOVELTY ITEM Take the 133 bus from London Bridge to Holborn, and get stuck into the eccentric delights of artist Tim Hunkin’s one-of-a-kind slot machines. They’re absolutely bonkers. novelty-automation.com 18.00 WILL YOU START THE FANS, PLEASE? A shortish walk away to Shaftesbury Avenue takes you to the epic Crystal Maze LIVE Experience where the Maze Master’s challenges await team teen across four fabulous zones. the-crystal-maze.com 20.30 HOME, JAMES Walk or crawl back to The Bloomsbury and treat your teens (and their grown-ups) to a well-deserved (and really rather glamorous) supper on The Dalloway Terrace. dallowayterrace.com

28

INSIDE COVENT GARDEN MARKET, 1880

THEN Originally (1200AD) the garden of St Peter’s Convent (hence the name), Covent Garden Market was but a few stalls in 1656 but swiftly grew into London’s premier fruit and veg hub, occasional disembarkation point of a lost hairy spider secreted in tropical fruit and home of the all the chatter and patter you’d expect. Cheek by jowl with the Royal Opera House, the

& NOW

Today, like a Dick Van Dyke-esque reimagining of ‘cockerney’ London, the veg market hall is perfectly preserved but, with its immaculate paintwork, exposed brick, vintage lighting, hollowed out vaults, fancy stores and eateries, it couldn’t be further in spirit from the original.

Purists will enjoy the impeccable restoration, the ‘gasworks blue’

juxtaposition of chattering classes and costermongers scandalised grand local residents. By 1910, when this picture was taken, the market had very much outgrown its 1830 structure with scuffles breaking out in entrance arches as vendors jostled for morning position. Yet the market continued trading until its move to current home Nine Elms, Battersea in 1974.

ironwork and whitewashed upper balcony, but, with perfectly clean flagstones, and the soft hubbub of lunchers and shoppers, it’s almost impossible to imagine this was a place where a legendary female porter, for a dare, once carried a ‘large man’ from Covent Garden to Elephant & Castle in 25 minutes fuelled only by a flagon of gin.

INSIDE COVENT GARDEN MARKET, 2023