Wharf Life - Jul 29-Aug 12

Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

+ Wharf book seller reviews a tome from Chloe Aridjis Page 4

come together

Helaine’s Fortuna has been joined by 39 other works for the exhibition

sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld on unveiling her largest ever exhibition during a global pandemic and the importance of art in connecting people Canary Wharf - Pages 8-9

inside issue 30

Three Colt Gallery - 10 George Street Greenwich And Docklands International Festival Royal Docks Team Grants - London Fermentary Truman’s Brewery - The Gun - Bankable 10 Park Drive - Aspect Apartments Dockside At Millharbour - Gallions Point Social Distancing - Puzzles

celebrating the best of Canary Wharf, Docklands and the new east London people - events - treasure - property - nonsense

Image by Sean Pollock

Fast, affordable, conveyancing services Call our team on 020 7205 4021 or email rthethy@kiddrapinet.co.uk, ypatel@kiddrapinet.co.uk or mzvarykina@kiddrapinet.co.uk

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

read

fortnightly find

this issue’s Tiger Treasure

four focus

support your local institutions WHERE? Canada Square Park Canary Wharf

feast your eyes on these

Oh yes, we have some bananas. And what a delicious bunch they look too. Forget for a minute that the capacity of this bowl is pretty small and that almost any food placed in it will apper somewhat ridiculous and simply revel in the glorious, potent yellow of the paint, the plump ripe fruit portrayed and the fact these will never go black if left out on the worksurface for too long Serving Dish, £4 (inc 50% off ) Go to uk.flyingtiger.com

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HEAR | Sunny Days Sessions Regular, distanced, al fresco gigs. Daisy Chute and Midori Jaeger, Lucy May Walker and Tristan Mackay will play on July 30, 31 and Aug 1 respectively.

Thurs-Sat, noon-5pm, free, canarywharf.com WHERE? Bank Street Park Canary Wharf

PUT | Minigolf For Free Relocated to Canary Wharf’s newest outdoor space, it’s time to go clubbing over nine holes once again as the free course opens up.

Thurs-Sun, from Jul 30, noon-6pm, canarywharf.com WHERE? Jubilee Park Canary Wharf

Welcome back to Wharf Life and thanks for having a read. As the world tentatively reopens after lockdown we’ve returned to print to play our part in celebrating the brightest and the best that Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London have to offer, championing local businesses, charities and the arts to help you get the most out of working or living in this part of the capital.

Between our covers you’ll find ideas for things to do, products to try and places to go with a strong focus on firms and organisations located in the areas we cover. Please support these institutions – unless we use what we have locally, especially at this time, there’s a real risk we might lose them.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a tough time for many and we remember all those who have been affected. Amid the darkness there have also been stories of hope that can inspire us. With more green shoots of recovery emerging every day, we’re here to work with those around us to help the Wharf bounce back and become even more vibrant. If you think you should be featured on our pages, please get in touch

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Canary Wharf on keeping the estate Covidsecure

How Eric Mouilleron believes Bankable can grow and grow

Jon Massey editorial director KIDS | Alice In Wonderland Don’t be late, for this very important date – especially as limited audience capacity means it’s firstcome, first served. Suitable for ages two-13.

Aug 8, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, free, canarywharf.com

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diary date

The founder of London Fermentary on bottling success in lockdown

the joy of six Every fortnight Wharf Life covers six areas surrounding Canary Wharf to bring you the best of what’s going on beyond the estate From Page 12 Join Ratty, Mole and Toad for Immersion Theatre’s The Wind In The Willows on August 15 at noon and 3pm in Jubilee Park. This free show is suitable for all ages. Limited capacity means first-come, first-served entry rfsk.org.uk Scan this code for more information about The Wind In The Willows want more? @wharflifelive

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Our editorial team works hard to ensure all information printed in Wharf Life is truthful and accurate. Should you spot any errors that slip through the net or wish to raise any issues about the content of the publication, please get in touch and we will investigate.

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Canary Wharf

on the radar

doing the deals

get more for less in and around the Wharf

need to know

free

Top of our must-visit list this issue is newly opened cycling apparel pop-up Rapha in Reuters Plaza. Located beneath and to the side of The Alchemist, it offers advice, rides and almost everything you need to wear when travelling on a bike rapha.cc

34

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38

Not every event is cancelled, GDIF is all set for its 25th festival

While Boisdale Of Canary Wharf might be closed, there’s every opportunity to support the venue that carries the estate’s soul with its At Home range – delivering high quality food and drink from its suppliers directly to your door boisdaleathome.co.uk

Why the Truman’s eagle isn’t leaving Hackney Wick yet

free* 12

Caffeine and culture: Three Colt Gallery director George Pringle talks art, barista-quality beverages and community as she navigates the crisis with the help of cakes

The Color Co in South Colonnade is offering to put firms’ logos on social distancing products for free with orders over £150+VAT until August 28 color.co.uk

don’t let poor marketing be a barrier to your success

email advertising@wharf-life.com to find out how we can help you reach our audience through the 15,000 copies we distribute every fortnight

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

Canary Wharf

words you don’t know you need

jenwreck

verb, fictional, from Old Norse To put the kibosh on a deal or process through one’s meetings and associations with individuals that, when seen in the cold light of day, have (at best) the appearance of bias and more than a whiff of something fishy

Don’t get cozened

book it

write me

“

Reading this made me want to wallow in 1980s synth music while eating tacos on a Mexican beach Jenn Tibbitts, Waterstones

Wharf Life has teamed up with Waterstones in Canary Wharf’s Cabot Place to offer fortnightly book recommendations from their knowledgeable staff Jenn Tibbitts book seller

cozen

ON

verb, real, from obsolete Italian To deceive or win over by artful coaxing, wheedling or shrewd trickery. Not to be confused with cousin, unless your cousin is the sort of person to cozen those around them. If so, advise your cousin not to cozen

Sea Monsters

by Chloe Aridjis paperback, £8.99 published by Vintage Publishing

Help your loved ones to help you

S

ea Monsters is about a teenage girl named Luisa who lives in Mexico City. Together with Tomas, a boy she barely knows, she hatches a plan to find a travelling band of Ukrainian dwarves who have escaped from the circus.

It’s an odd premise, but Aridjis never takes things too seriously or makes them too ridiculous.

Her prose is dreamy, yet centred on the very real soul-searching young teenagers go through.

She inventively describes the most mundane of observances – a storm is: “a punctuation mania of the elements,” a phrase that evokes a sensation of onomatopoeia. Before reading the book, I was worried the story would be nonsensical and meandering, but Aridjis plots her novel in such a way that the story moves along at a good pace while allowing the reader to savour the words and the phrases that are almost like poetry.

The author has crafted a beautiful bildungsroman –

a story of Luisa’s formative years – where it’s slowly revealed that the circus escapees are not the true quest at all.

The theme of taking the time to try and find yourself comes across as a luxury of youth and Aridjis seems to be exploring the idea that knowing what we want to do for the rest of our lives when we’re teenagers is as absurd as trying to find Ukrainian dwarves on the Mexican coast.

Set in the 1980s, Aridjis also name drops quite a few popular music groups of the time and I even made a playlist to listen to as I read the book.

This book felt like a quiet and unassuming read, but has wormed its way into my thoughts ever since.

It made me want to wallow in 1980s synth music while eating tacos on a Mexican beach. Reading this felt both like escapism as well as a chance to apply the themes to my own life and ponder who I am, what I’m doing and knowing it’s OK not to know.

Go to waterstones.com

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

secure safe and

The estate has been carefully set up for social distancing

ready and waiting to welcome residents and shoppers

W

ith the majority of shops, gyms, restaurants and cafes in Canary Wharf back open, office workers and residents both on and off the estate are encouraged to explore the area.

“What we can offer to local residents is that if you come to shop in Canary Wharf, you know it’s being cleaned properly, you know we’re sticking by the rules and that we’re going to enforce them,” said Howard.

“Everyone should be taking the normal precautions such as washing their hands, wearing masks on public transport, in the malls and in shops and maintaining one metre-plus social distancing or more where possible.

“But we’ve put in lots of extra resource into managing the estate and we’ve beefed up security and cleaning regimes to support our retailers and their customers.”

Social distancing measures include marked areas in the parks and extensive signage.

“

We have constant cleaning going on.

Then every night we have a deep clean – we’d normally do that on a monthly basis but we are doing it daily Howard Dawber, Canary Wharf Group

work has been going on in public and behind the scenes to ensure that Canary Wharf is fully prepared as people return to the estate

without too much of a queue. If people stagger their start times, there’s really no problem.”

Anyone who has visited Canary Wharf hile much of the UK in recent weeks cannot have failed to see went into almost total the efforts that have been made to make it lockdown, Canary Covid-secure. The estate is festooned with Wharf continued to hand sanitisers, one-way systems, friendly see around 2,000 of its signs and marked queueing areas. But 120,000-strong worka great deal of work is also happening force come to work – the people involved behind the scenes. in facilitating the activities of those tasked “Everything we’ve done is based on with doing their jobs at home and in someone who has no symptoms but is keeping things moving on the estate. infected coming in and touching lots of “It shows the Wharf is never completely things and asking how we reduce the risk empty,” said Howard Dawber, managing of it being passed on,” said Howard. director, strategy at Canary Wharf Group.

“Common touch-points such as lifts, “You can only work from home if there’s control panels and buttons are all cleaned a central hub where the IT is working and several times a day – we have constant so on, even in businesses where everycleaning going on. body’s been sent home, there are still “Then every night we have a hundreds of people at work.

“We’ve had that time in deep clean – we’d normally lockdown to prepare for do that on a monthly basis people returning and but we are doing it daily. spent, particularly “The cleaning is April and May, done with a stay-resworking with our ident product that tenants’ resilience gives you 30 days teams on best of protection on practice as to how pretty much all the their staff interact services.

“That’s on with the buildings and with transport. everything people are “We’ve created a going to touch – stair Covid-secure environrails and door handles, ment on the Wharf. Take for example.

One Canada Square, for “We’ve tried to eliminate Howard Dawber example – you arrive on public where possible the need to touch doors with automatic systems, people transport, come into the shopping mall, opening them or simply wedging them which is set up for social distancing with open. Refuse collection is now taking a one way system and hand sanitiser place four times a day just to minimise at the entrance. Then you come up to any chance of transmission and that’s the ground floor and we have separate happening in the businesses as well.” queues for each lift bank. There are 32 lifts In fact, much of Canary Wharf’s work in One Canada Square servicing 50 floors. in the public areas of the estate has been “You join the queue for your lift bank, taken up by tenants, keen to welcome staff if there is one, and that will be managed back to a safe, secure environment. by our staff. Once you’re through the gate, “Our estate is built to cope with more our staff will then push the lift buttons for people than work on it,” said Howard. you – these are only being touched by our “Our offices are built to house more people.

“Then you’ll be directed to the appropriate lift and you’ll go directly to your Scan this floor. At two-metre social distancing we code for more can get four people in each lift. information about “Even if 75% of people turn up in the Canary Wharf rush hour, with one metre-plus social distancing, we can accommodate them

by Jon Massey

W

4

Times a day every bin managed by Canary Wharf Group is emptied

people than work in them. Even though there’s 120,000 people here, the actual capacity is about one-and-a-half times that. The Government advice is to maintain one metre-plus but we’re sticking with two metres because we don’t need to change it.

“It’s been a really good exercise, regularly talking to the top 30 employers on the Wharf about their concerns and what they’re doing internally to accommodate staff in a socially distanced way.

“They’re letting us know when they’re intending to bring people back and we’ve shared things like suppliers for PPE, hand sanitiser and screens between desks There’s been really good cooperation.

“Inside the offices – this is what’s happening inside most of our big financial services tenants – they’ve done a thing called chequer-boarding. Very simply, if you have a block of eight desks you can get four people sat diagonally across from one another.

“Then you put in window glass screens between the desks, which is thick and reinforced, although you can see through it, so it’s very unobtrusive. It doesn’t interrupt the flow of communication and it doesn’t make people feel hemmed in.

“It just means if someone were to have Covid-19 and they suddenly started coughing and spluttering, other people would be protected.

“We’ve also been talking to TfL on a daily basis – we’ve been helping them develop their ideas about how they’re going to get people moving and back into the office because we’re one of the few places in London that can track the numbers as we manage the whole estate.

“I’ve been getting the Tube every day for the past six weeks – there’s plenty of capacity and they’re cleaning it really well – if you go on and spray, for example, a million-pound artwork, it’ll be gone by the following morning. We just need firms to stagger their start times to help maintain social distancing at peak times.

“Our message to firms is that we’ve opened the shops, restaurants, gyms and businesses and the estate is safe and clean for their staff to return to.”

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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Canary Wharf

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Lifts in One Canada Square serving 50 floors with a new system designed to allow 75% of staff working in the building to enter during peak hours without significant delay

Canary Wharf staff will manage entry for workers in One Canada Square, who won’t have to touch anything to get to their offices

Just a few of the measures Canary Wharf has taken on the estate

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

why Helaine Blumenfeld believes placing art in areas like Canary Wharf is so important

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Sculptures by Helaine Blumenfeld are currently on show across the Canary Wharf estate

Helaine stands among the three elements of her work Illusion, on show in Cabot Square in Canary Wharf

by Jon Massey

M

y whole career I’ve been involved in getting sculpture out of galleries and museums and into the street, into public places where people can react and interact and get something from it,” said Helaine Blumenfeld.

The sculptor is talking to me by phone from her home in Grantchester near Cambridge, about her largest ever exhibition, currently spread across the Canary Wharf estate. Looking Up brings together 40 of her works for the first time – 0 in the lobby of One Canada Square and 10 monumental pieces displayed in the estate’s parks and squares.

Many will already be familiar with the rearing, golden form of Fortuna, commissioned by Canary Wharf and long resident in ubilee ark. Originally intended for Wood Wharf, it’s now set to remain in place with Metamorphosis arriving to fulfil that purpose, with this major exhibition timed to celebrate its installation. ith its official launch stymied by lockdown, Helaine’s smaller works will now remain in place until November 6 indoors with the larger pieces staying until January , 0 .

“I think the wonderful thing has been that during lockdown, perhaps more so than it would have been the case otherwise, I’ve been getting reactions from people on my website saying things like: ‘I don’t know you but I want to thank you – your sculpture has been like a beacon in a dark place’,” said Helaine.

“I felt I shared perspective with

“

Taking Risks is probably my favourite – I like the sense of precariousness. Every time we take a risk we grow a little, I think Helaine Blumenfeld, Artist Images by Sean Pollock

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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Canary Wharf

other people – I’ve never had so much public response to work in terms of people writing in.

“People saying thank you and really feeling the sculptures are welcoming. I just love that – it’s amazing. We might not have had the audience we could have had, but the people who are there are really getting something from them.”

Having orginally studied philosophy, Helaine abandoned words for images and became an artist. In the 0s she first visited ietrasanta in Italy and was encouraged to try stone carving.

It proved a turning point in her career and she’s continued to split her time between the two countries ever since, creating more than 65 commissioned works for public space and private collections. A fellow of the Royal British Society Of Sculptors since 2000, she likens her talent to someone who can play music without learning an instrument.

I

think I must have had that talent with clay – the first pieces I ever did I had this most amazing sense of: ‘Oh my God, did I make that?’,” she said.

“And I still, very often, don’t look at what I’m doing for a long time. I cover it with plastic bags so it doesn’t dry out.

“If I do that, go to Italy and come back two weeks later, I couldn’t tell you what was under that bag. Sometimes when I open it up I find it isn’t really very good and sometimes it’s amazing.

“Up until a certain stage, I don’t really look, I just make the piece.

My hands communicate with my entire interior life. It’s not rational.

“The titles of my pieces are very often fairly vague so people can read into them what they want.

“The title always comes when the work is finished – when I look at it and I see what it is.”

Her Canary Wharf exhibition includes work from 1983 to 2019, with pieces loaned from public and private collections.

“The oldest piece in the exhibtion is Seascape,” said Helaine. “It’s very interesting – I was doing an interview for a film that was made about me called Hard Beauty and the interviewer was asking me how it had been to have gone to Italy and to be working away

Shadow One Canada Square

30

Of Helaine’s pieces will be on show in One Canada Square until November 6 – the 10 outdoors will now stay until January 31, 2021

shared

The earliest work in the exhibition, Seascape from 1983, has elements that can be rearranged offering to illuminate its themes of fragmentation and disconnection. It’s on show in One Canada Square

something

from my young children and my normal life. I said it was extremely painful, fragmented and insecure – I felt my own being was breaking up into sections.

“Seascape was one of the works I did in that time. It’s lots of pieces that fit together, which could be my family, my own identity and they’re fragmented, broken off.

“There’s a sense of incompleteness but also that the pieces could all come together. In fact there are ways of placing Seascape where all the pieces are one. “ ou have an almost infinite number of ways of placing those pieces. My view is social life is about engaging, about changing positions and about how we

Taking Risks Westferry Circus

see something from a different perspective as we move any of the pieces.”

Placing work is an essential component of Helaine’s art with many of her sculptures, including Illusion in Cabot Square, able to be rearranged. She said she hoped her pieces would “bring something spiritual that will distract people from looking at their phones” to Canary Wharf.

“This is a show I’ve been working on for three-and-a-half years,” she said. “ hen we first unveiled Fortuna, Canary Wharf executive chairman Sir George Iacobescu said: ‘here’s a real synergy between our vision to make Canary Wharf a lifestyle destination for everyone to enjoy and Blumenfeld’s passion for making art accessible to the general public’.

“I think that’s true. I have spent my whole career wanting to do it and doing it. In a normal year millions of people go through Canary Wharf and that’s

Metamorphosis in Wood Wharf

where we need art that can affect people. It’s a way of participating with a very large audience.

“Beauty is something we’re moving away from in our society but it’s something that can create a sense of shared values. I’ve been feeling very concerned about isolation, a lack of empathy and divisiveness in society.

“I think we were moving in that direction and a lot has changed because of Coronavirus. People are sharing things, actually phoning instead of sending a message.

There’s a huge awareness of how empty communication is without touch. We have to reimagine the future and I think we’re not going to go back.”

As for her favourite, Wharfers can see it in Westferry Circus.

“It’s Taking Risks,” said Helaine.

“I like the sense of precariousness.

I believe without taking risks there’s no growth. Every time we take a risk we grow a little.”

Scan this code for more details or to see the art online

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

bank take it to the

how Bankable provides financial institutions and firms with top services

by Jon Massey

T

here’s something different about ric ouilleron. In contrast to many in the fintech world, the ankable C O isn’t out to tear down the financial world and build it anew. e’s spotted a niche working to provide banking and payment solutions to traditional banks, corporates and vigorous fintech pioneers with the aim of allowing such organisations to overcome problems within their own businesses.

An entrepreneur with a proven track record, having taken I consultancy altech from nothing to a company worth .5billion in si years, ric’s current venture is aimed at providing compliant, rapid, fle ible infrastructure that transcends the large, monolithic, immovable systems built by the banks in the 0th century. ased at evel in Canary harf, with offices in russels and ubai, ankable is in profit and continuing to grow having received investment from and partnered with isa in ebruary.

Speaking ust before lockdown, ric said “I come from a software background. In the old days, to build software for firms, there were two options. ither you were building it internally or you would get vendors who would buy a licence, get a consultant and get something done. “ hat we’re proposing is an alternative to that – it’s a platform so there is no software to install, no consultant to invite – we ust configure the platform to our client’s needs so we can build a service very quickly. “ hat we really do is modular banking – our view is that we should build banking infrastructure on the side so banks are attracted to create new proposi-

Scan this code for more information

tions for consumer corporates. ack in 0 , we were branded the friendliest fintech.

“At that time, it was all about banks disappearing and fintech coming though to win the world. “ e came with a different story because we’re an enabler. e enable disruption so traditional companies can perform those services. hy do that e have innovation, our clients have distribution and we work hard to be in partnership with these large clients today, not in 0 years.

“I don’t believe you can get 0million clients in a few quarters – it takes time. hat most of the banks ask us to do at the moment is to be like a challenger bank and we can – we do a multiple currency account with cards. “ e can support any kind of account – savings, current – whatever you want. e have made a platform that is agnostic so we can serve thousands of business cases with a single asset.” ith an e pected valuation of 0million in 0 0 and 5 employees, ankable is e panding sustainably in response to demand.

“I think we’re understaffed,” said ric. “ hat’s good because we’ve made a profit – we’re one of the rare profitable fintechs but that’s because we need to recruit more to cope with the growth we have.

“It’s always difficult to create a company irrespective of your background. he quality you need as an entrepreneur is resilience and probably being able to laugh at things and deal with bad news. “ e all know what to do with good news, but bad news is more comple so you need to not lose faith despite all the things coming your way.” he company has been based at Canary harf since 0 , with offices currently on the nd floor of One Canada Square. aving relocated from space in otting ill between a pub and a butcher’s shop, the location has been a boon for his firm both from a business and lifestyle perspective.

“One of my team members said I should come to Canary harf, that the ecosystem was there,” said

7

Years since Bankable relocated to Canary Wharf as an early arrival at Level39

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

11

Technology - Innovation

Bankable’s Eric Mouilleron waiting to deliver one of his trademark elevator pitches in the pre-Covid era at One Canada Square

“

Canary Wharf is not what I thought it was – it’s vibrant – it’s getting friendlier and friendlier.

In terms of business it definitely works

Eric’s company offers banking solutions to its partners via a flexible, modular platform that can serve thousands of business cases

Eric Mouilleron, Bankable

Eric, who in pre-Covid times was well known to deliver elevator pitches to those sharing the 40-second lift journey with him up the tower.

“I was happy to be in Notting Hill, but she was completely right.

Since arriving we’ve worked with a few of our neighbours, Level39 is a very original place. You feel you’re at the centre of the global fintech world and there’s only one landlord like Canary Wharf Group.

“The estate is not what I thought it was – it’s vibrant, there are great restaurants and a big shopping centre with everything you want that’s a cashless environment. I’ve never been to an ATM here. It’s also getting friendlier and friendlier, warmer and warmer as time moves on.

“You are in a forest of buildings but they’re all top quality and that’s not something you see in Europe usually, it’s like New York.

“In terms of business it definitely works. You’re in a top level international environment and they have a global vision to mix residential with business.

“We are fans of Canary Wharf. I had to be sold – and that was a big job – but it’s really great.”

As for the future, Eric said two areas in the fintech world were especially exciting for him.

“Some of our clients are addressing the SME banking market very profitably,” he said. “ ou can always find pockets of innovation that serve a niche. The market is wide open and you can’t say it’s saturated but you need strong financial support.

“The other thing is we’ve just launched a real-time disbursement solution for British Red Cross – we’re working on expanding that to other charities and even insurance companies where we will displace cheques and cash with something trustable – something digital. he benefit is quite straightforward – it’s so that when an organisation is giving funds they know who they’re giving them to and we can do so instantly.

It’s not cash so it can’t get stolen or lost. Our solution is a payment instrument with Visa, so we can provide cash to victims quickly and efficiently.”

A timely innovation, perhaps, given the current crisis.

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12

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

Wapping - Limehouse - Shadwell

how Three Colt Gallery served coffee and solace to Limehouse during lockdown and beyond

by Jon Massey

I

t might be the sharp contrast between the pillar-box red geraniums in their silver buckets and the dusky azure blue of the plasterwork surrounding the shop front, but Three Colt Gallery in Limehouse exudes a colourful optimism in the face of the pandemic.

Director George Pringle founded the business in December, 2018, as a space to exhibit and sell work and products created by artists, as a place for people to gather socially and as a cafe for customers and the wider community to procure suitable refreshment.

“Coffee is ust as important as the art,” said George, a writer, artist and music producer, known for her poetry and prose delivered over digitally developed backing tracks.

“Initially people were a bit dubious about this and perhaps wondered how it was working. hey can’t process it. Is it a coffee shop? Is it a gallery?

“But you know what? People can say whatever they like, coffee has saved us during the pandemic.

“It has fed the community here and it’s kept us going as a business, so when things are less hard we can get back to normal.

“Without it, we might well have gone under. It turns out it was very smart, if I say so myself even if I didn’t think about it at the time.

“It turned out because we were the only place open locally in the early part of lockdown, it was a way for people to break up their day. We had lines around the block because they were practically crying ust to get a barista-standard coffee.

“We opened in 2018 with the aim of making a creative space to support artists. The idea was for it to be a really nice social space, which it was, before Covid-19.

“It’s remained a sociable space to the best of our abilities and a cafe too. Having worked as a music producer and a poet I guess I understand how important it is to support creative people because I’ve had that experience myself.

“If you can be that place that helps people sell work, meet people, connect, then that’s a really nice thing to do.

20

Months since Three Colt Gallery opened in Limehouse

colt culture

Artist, writer and music producer George Pringle opened Three Colt Gallery to support creative people and serve up some damn fine coffee

“

You know what? People can say whatever they like, coffee has saved us during the pandemic. It has fed the community and it’s kept us going George Pringle, Three Colt Gallery

The multifunctional space in Limehouse was previously an estate agency Images by Matt Grayson – find more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

“I also wanted to make my own ob. After having had a career in music you sort of slip through the net a bit. You end up working in hospitality a lot, which is really where I learnt about coffee.

“I really came to en oy the sociable aspect of those obs because you meet lots of people and have some brilliant conversations – you become part of a community.”

With a steady stream of customers, some who’ve discovered the gallery since lockdown, there’s little doubt George is achieving her aims, helped in part by her mother’s baking.

“Sugar and caffeine, a very smart business plan,” said George.

“My mum bakes the cakes. She’s a full-time architect and she bakes exceptionally good cakes in the evenings. I like the family business Continued on Page 29

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Wapping - Limehouse - Shadwell

£1.50

The cost of an espresso at Three Colt Gallery

“

With Covid-19 one of the questions is how to keep businesses going – buying something that actually means something is one way

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support your local institutions VISIT Tower Of London Tower Hill

George Pringle, Three Colt Gallery

One of Zoe Benbow’s larger works on display Images by Matt Grayson – find more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Family value: George’s mum bakes Three Colt’s cakes

from Page 12 aspect of it – me doing the coffee and my mum doing the cakes. I think that’s what people want at the moment, it feels quite homely.

I’m not sure the neighbourhood is really thanking me at this point though – some people have developed a relationship with her macaroons.

“We’ve had a very diverse crowd coming in – I’m very interested in Tower Hamlets and I really want to work with the area to be involved in the community.

“There are various things I’ve deliberately done. I haven’t put my prices up because I don’t want to be an e clusive coffee place charging £3 for a drink. We want everyone to be welcome here.

“I’ve really enjoyed having everyone coming here and I’ve got to know the community. People

Scan this code for more information

in the neighbourhood who didn’t know each other before now stop and gossip in the street.”

The art has been moving too, albeit not as swiftly as the sugary treats.

“The pieces on display at the moment are from Zoe Benbow,” said George. “She’s just an incredible landscape painter – she’s amazing. We’ve sold a couple of her big works because they’re just that beautiful. The exhibition has been here a while – the art hasn’t really been our focus but I’ve been getting her to interchange work.

“We’ve made quite a few bigger sales, though, perhaps because people have had the headspace to make decisions. They’ve been in their homes and have decided they would like a splash of colour.”

Three Colt also sells prints and more affordable pieces and products as well as ceramics in its shop.

“With Covid-19 one of the questions is how to keep businesses going even in a small way – buying something that actually means something is one way to do that,” said George. “The smaller pieces are our bread and butter – all that money is going to people who actually deserve it.

“We stock cards from independent stationers so when you buy one the cash goes most likely to an individual who has a small creative business. I think that’s really nice because so much is mass produced nowadays.”

The plan is to change the main exhibition in the autumn with a further three artists already lined up for shows.

“The idea of being a gallerist is you do the hard work,” said eorge. “ ou find stuff that’s got evident quality but that’s also interesting conceptually.

“It’s one thing being able to paint something efficiently and another to have an artist who creates a level of intrigue around what they do. You don’t always get it right but it’s good to be a bit discerning. That can be tricky because there’s a fairly rapid turnaround of exhibitions but you quite often get lucky. You meet artists who know others that are ama ing. his is a great, fle ible space for them to do whatever they want with.”

BOOK | Explore The Palace Head to the Tower without the crowds, support the Beefeaters and see the Crown Jewels, the ravens and the White Tower like never before.

Weds-Sun, from 10am, from £25, hrp.org.uk SUP Champagne Route Wapping

DRINK | Pop A Few Corks The bar and restaurant dedicated to the consumption of growers Champagne (well off piste from the big houses) offers cremants and top fizz aplenty.

Daily from noon, champagneroute.co.uk LISTEN Jamboree Limehouse

STREAM | Ewan Bleach’s Sunday Serenade While static Jamboree at Three Colt Street may have ended, this is an opportunity to revel online, donate and support this excellent community.

Sundays, 8pm, donations, jamboreevenue.co.uk

on the tongue

Sometimes all you need is a bacon sandwich, served on a bed of salad in a perfectly distanced garden at The Yurt Cafe. Sometimes that’s enough to be convinced that everything is going to be OK. No booking needed rfsk.org.uk Scan this code for more information about The Yurt Cafe and its food want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

50%

Off food and non-alcoholic drinks, Monday-Wednesday until August 31 thanks to the Government’s Eat Out To Help Out Scheme

The right thing in the right place: Comforting, creamy mussels overlooking the Thames at sunset

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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back

Isle Of Dogs - Poplar - Blackwall

why it’s good to be

how a postlockdown trip to The Gun confirms the pure pleasure of dining on good food with a view

by Jon Massey

T

he moment I taste the subtle, creamy flavours of the averstoke ark Mozzarella, carefully jazzed up with peas, pistachio nuts and a hint of lemon, rela ation washes over me. It’s uly and he un in lackwall has reopened its doors for the first time since lockdown. hile the Covid- crisis has revealed much about the world – not least that cooking at home can be both rewarding and economic – it has also e posed the magic that can happen when high quality produce intersects with skill in the kitchen and a perfect location. rue, you can get delicious ingredients delivered to your home. ou might even cook them pretty well. ut you can’t sit overlooking reenwich eninsula with the faint scent of salt in your nostrils from the ebbing waters of the brackish hames as the sun sets while someone brings you

wine and does all the prep. rue, some things have changed. It’s table service for the moment, there’s hand sanitiser everywhere, a one-way system and the menu is somewhat reduced.

Covid-security has necessitated a rearrangement of the tables, but sitting facing out at the river turns out to be an excellent way to spend an evening, supping on food from head chef att Colk.

Suitably fuelled by the fresh green flavours of the cheese and sourdough starter, my companion and I opted to share a main course of Cornish mussels mariniere with fries. hese plump, orange crustaceans came bathed in a luxurious, rich bowl of the creamy, potent steaming liquid with plenty of bread on the side for soaking up. here’s something about eating seafood by the water. As we dine, the tide drops at an imperceptible rate causing beaches to appear. e look for seals and watch the Thames Clippers blasting past – still pretty much the only boats on the river.

The food is warm, delicious and completely appropriate to its setting, set off perfectly by the crisp dryness of the chilled white icpoul in our glasses 0 for a bottle . he implication as clear as the wine, that a meal out at The Gun is much more than the sum of its parts.

Scan this code for more information about The Gun or to make a booking

On the wall of the terrace a plaque offers a little history – reminding us that sometime near neighbour, ord oratio elson, once frequented the place in the late th century.

With the future uncertain for many reasons, there’s undeniable comfort in sitting somewhere and reflecting that for more than 00 years humans have done something similar on the same spot. hat, as a species, our ingenuity has enabled us to handle crisis after crisis as time has passed.

So, as the set Vahlrona chocolate arrives with its dome of raspberry sorbet and garnish of lemon balm and honeycomb, my glass of oyal oka i is raised at an optimistic angle to the days ahead.

With its tables busy and a steady flow of diners and drinkers incoming, there seems little doubt that, events permitting, he un is well-placed to weather another two centuries or so.

In the meantime, those living locally can play their part by booking in and indulging themselves – the dedicated, faultless staff certainly deserve it as they adapt their operation so we can continue to en oy an evening out. he un is taking bookings for tables of up to six people with tables available for dining on its terrace. Its e tensive gin garden is also open, offering an ideal spot for open-air refreshment. he pub is participating in the overnment’s at Out o elp Out Scheme offering 50 off food and non-alcoholic drinks up to a ma imum of 0 per diner. he offer is available onday- ednesday from August - .

four focus

support your local institutions PUB The Ship Isle Of Dogs

BOING | ZapSpace Soon to be joined by sister pub The Waterman’s Arms on August 8, this Isle Of Dogs stalwart is back serving drinks and pizzas. Dine in or takeaway.

Open daily, theshipcanarywharf.co.uk DINE Capeesh Isle Of Dogs

BOOK | A Taste Of Italy Another great example of a restaurant offering something you just can’t get at home, Capeesh at Pan Peninsula is packed with delicious flavours.

Open daily from 11.30am, capeesh.co.uk DRINK Trinity Riverside Bar Trinity Buoy Wharf

VISIT | Social Distancing At Its Best Online ordering, oodles of space, the Thames, the cable car, Trinity Buoy Wharf, Fat Boy’s Diner, need we go on. This new pop-up is an exciting arrival.

Open Thurs-Sun, trinitybuoywharf.com

and in the arts

It’s fair to say The Space has a lot going on, with virtual theatre such as 2.0 Fest (Jul 31-Aug 1) to the regular Space Theatre Club.

With no reopeneing date set, there are still plenty of ways to get involved digitally space.org.uk

Above from left, Laverstoke Park Mozzarella with English peas, pistachio and lemon, £8, Cornish mussels mariniere, £32 (for two) and set Vahlrona chocolate with honeycomb and raspberry sorbet, £8

Scan this code to find out more about what’s going on at the Westferry Road arts centre want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

future

fermenting the

12

Months fermented food remains edible on average

the founder of the London Fermentary, Elena Deminska, tells us why this ancient method of preserving food is more popular than ever

by Laura Enfield

W

hen Elena Deminska’s husband told her she should ferment and sell leftovers from their fruit and veg business, she thought he was crazy. Born in Russia and raised in Latvia, she grew up eating sauerkraut from barrels. To her it was nothing special.

“I laughed and said ‘Who wants fermented food? This is England,” said the 43-year-old. “In my childhood, we had this food half a year because it was the way of preservation. It was poor man’s food and not really exciting, you would get bored with it.”

Five years later, she is eating her words and thousands of customers are consuming the products she makes at London Fermentary in Bermondsey. In fact, Elena is struggling to keep up with demand – especially as lockdown created a massive boom in interest.

Based under a railway arch in Spa Road her business remained open during the crisis, continuing to supply Selfridges, Planet Organic and other shops in London as well as expanding to retailers in Leeds, Manchester, Bath and Cambridge.

The company has also launched an online shop and extended its public opening hours so customers can browse fridges packed with jars of zesty lemon and dill kraut, Japanese radish and seaweed and tarragon-infused vegetables.

Sales of water kefir have tripled and fermented products have doubled in the last few months with lena bringing in more staff and equipment at a rapid pace.

It has been a heady time for the former fashion designer, who moved from Riga to the UK with husband Paul in 2000.

“We didn’t plan to start as a business,” she said. “At the end of 0 we did the first batches of kraut and fermented fennel and

put it up for sale – people met it with great excitement.

“Three months later we had done really well with sales so we bought our first dedicated fridge and then another.

“Early on, we started to get requests from people like Fortnum & Mason and we weren’t ready.

Only last summer we decided to look at it seriously because there was so much opportunity.”

The rise of gut-friendly food and drink in the last few years has seen Pret start selling kombucha, aitrose stocking kefir, ohn ewis selling a DIY set and fermented cocktails gracing bar menus.

But Elena is taking things a step further by combining science with a passion for creating her products.

“It might be another trend but it is a healthy trend and supported by science,” she said.

“There is new evidence every day. I had an email from a professor in Toronto who has been researching cancer and depression in women for 25 years and wants to collaborate because there is much more to research.

“I look at fermentation as the future. This ancient technique is being reborn as a base to play on.”

The mother-of-two has evolved far past the beige cabbage she ate as a child. “ he normal stuff is boring to me,” said Elena.“We do pineapple and turmeric, spicy beetroot with a hint of chilli and then our amazing luscious leeks fermented with garlic, chilli and chickpea flour.

“It’s very smelly but bloody hell it’s really good with blue cheese, a slice of ripe pear and toasted walnuts on top.

“Carrot kraut is so easy to eat and is really nice on avocado toast or in any salad bowl.”

The idea to ferment came about through the couple’s other business Puntarelle & Co in Bermondsey, which sells seasonal

The Bermondsey entrepreneaur learned about food working at Borough Market for 15 years and about fermentation from her grandmother Images by Matt Grayson – find more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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Rotherhithe - Deptford - Bermondsey

Bermondsey, which sells seasonal fruit and vegetables and saw business quadruple during lockdown.

They set it up in 2014 after Elena spent 15 years working for the “legendary” Tony Booth in Borough Market, supplying produce to the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

“We were looking at ways to be zero waste,” said Elena. “We tried things like chutneys, jams, sauces.

“My husband kept asking me: ‘Why don’t you just ferment because it’s something we know how to do?’.”

Fermentation has been used for thousands of years to preserve food, usually using salt and water.

Rochester resident Elena started off doing it at home in two-litre jars, just like her mother “She lives with us and was monitoring all of it and telling me if I was doing something against the rules, like the wrong moon or if I have a headache I can’t do it,” said Elena. “We quickly moved to 10-litre jars and then 25-litre crocks and then 65-litre plastic barrels in my dining room.

“It was like a production line with 10 of them – my husband said stop.”

Today, London Fermentary is a separate business with a growing team and production set-up.

Elena creates her concoctions in a line-up of 20 stainless steel commercial fermenters imported

from Italy that can each hold 300 litres and she recently bought another set of fementers to keep up with demand for water kefir.

Business just keeps on growing, with Elena now on the hunt for a head of production and stepping up further expansion plans. efore 0 0 the firm had actively tried to stay off the radar as it couldn’t keep up with demand, despite expanding to a second arch. Elena said it was “scary” to be expanding so rapidly in a time of such uncertainty.

“We don’t know what the future will be like,” she said. “Are we going to have a recession? Will people spend? How will they eat? But we can’t just sit here and wait.”

So far they have funded the business themselves but Elena said they needed “big money” for filling and labelling machines and were nervous about taking on investors.

“People want to be part of it because they can see where it is going,” she said “But we need investors who can be useful to us such as helping us understand kefir production.

That person doesn’t exist, because kefir production doesn’t e ist on a scaled-up level in this country. So we have nowhere to get advice.”

For Elena, the heart of the business is still about experimenting with new flavours and techniques.

“This process of preservation can’t go wrong in a way,” she said.

“It is very hard to make it go bad in the first place but if the te ture, colour or something else isn’t right it is still very good and edible and you can always create something else – a sauce or paste – and it is always packed with probiotics.”

She has also been experimenting with water kefir which under certain conditions transforms into a new substance that Elena believes could turn out to be a drinkable vinegar.

“We need to do lab tests but potentially it holds the benefits of kefir as well, the lactic acid bacteria so it is probiotic,” she said.

However, she stressed fermented food was not a miracle product and people should be careful about mass-produced versions.

“Nothing can be cured by fermented food only,” she said.

“

I look at fermentation as the future. This ancient technique is being reborn as a base to play on. The normal stuff is boring to me Elena Deminska, London Fermentary

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support your local institutions

“We have to be realistic here and know that good food, sleep and health, in general are important.

“Fermented food is a great benefit for our gut but, because it is so trendy, people try to jump on it. But fermentation is a really slow process.

“Our products have to be sitting for at least two months before we can jar them and we have to have it at different stages of fermenting so we make sure we don’t run out.

That’s why we can’t take large clients just like that – we have to plan for them.

“In the old days my grandma would get together with people at the end of September because of the cabbage harvest and ferment big barrels and not touch it for two months. hey wouldn’t finish eating it until May and it would still be fantastic and good.

“The lab tests show lactic acid bacteria continues to grow up to six months into fermentation. It just doubles and doubles. Then it starts to reduce slightly, but very little, and after one year you can still eat the kraut.

“What we have now is new businesses emerging who only ferment for four weeks. While it is OK to eat fermented food tomorrow, for people with gut concerns it is dangerous because there are still starches and sugars and carbs and the process is still active so they feel bloated and worse, not better.”

To contend with the time scales and demand, Elena has cut her product range from 50 to about 10 But she still loves experimenting and said London Fermentary had finally brought together her love of design and food.

“Fermenting is the way I can express myself,” she said. “I gave up fashion – living here my world values changed. Clothes don’t matter as long as we are all kind and healthy and I’m glad I didn’t choose that path. ”But I needed to express myself.

If you have something creative in you, it needs to come out.

“I wanted to have a certain look with the product, not hide the colour under the label because the beauty is inside. It’s my expression of me. Making the product attractive and interesting is a big part for me. Delicious, no doubt, but they almost look like jars of candy in the fridge. I hope that by making them colourful and interesting people will want to try them and maybe become addicted – it is a good addiction and it might change their lives.”

The London Fermentary is open Thursdays-Saturdays, 9am-2pm.

DRINK Little Nan’s Deptford

VISIT | Al Fresco Boozing Dominating the Costa Del Deptford, the kitsch wonder has added numerous outdoor tables to the mix to accommodate revellers – book or walk up.

Open daily, littlenans.co.uk DINE The Full Nelson Deptford

TAKEAWAY | Veggie And Vegan Treats While a few tables are available, this tight space is ideal for take out. Expect a small but perfectly formed menu of plant-based junk food.

Thurs-Sat, thefullnelsondeptford.co.uk BOOK Leadbelly’s Bar And Kitchen Canada Water

BITE | Drinks, Workspace, Food Support this cavernous, quirky star of the brunch bar scene – expect mostly gluten-free treats and breakfast staples. Bookings taken for up to six.

Open daily from 10am, leadbellysbar.co.uk

and in the arts

From Aug 5-7, The House That Slipped will offer time-travelling online theatre for a very limited audience coordinated via The Albany in Deptford and created by Teatro Vivo. Aug 8 promises an in-person finale, tickets £10 thealbany.org.uk Scan this code for more details about this production that connects 2070 with the here and now want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life July 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

as GDIF marks a milestone in extraordinary times, organiser aims to make the community smile

by Jon Massey

W

ith calendars still sparsely populated and many cultural institutions still closed, beacons are beginning to appear on the horizon. Brightest at present is the very prospect of the 25th anniversary programme from the Greenwich And Docklands International Festival (GDIF).

With theatres and indoor entertainments largely hobbled by Covid-19, GDIF’s long-time model of outdoor, largely free events, promises to be just the right thing in the right place – a shot of culture in the arm for this part of London.

We’ve scoured the festival’s vast programme, which runs from August 28 to September 12 – and selected a few highlights from Greenwich and Woolwich that are well worth cementing in your diary. l GREENWICH Gaia Luke Jerram Greenwich Park TBC Aug 28-31, 7.30pm, 8.30pm, 9.30pm See Luke’s illuminated 3D installation depicting Planet Earth with surround sound from composer Dan Jones. he work offers a vision of our world floating in space, with detailed NASA imagery of the earth’s surface, offering a unique contemplation on the interconnection and fragility of life on earth.

Free entry, timed tickets

Luke Jerram’s Gaia installation Chorus Ray Lee Old Royal Naval College Aug 28-31, 7.30pm, 8.30pm 9.30pm Expect giant metal tripods with rotating arms replete with

coloured lights and spinning speakers designed to deliver an uplifting sonic spectacle.

Ray – an award-winning artist and British Composer Of The Year 2012 – follows up last year’s Pastyre With Cows with this spectacular installation against the backdrop of Sir Christopher Wren’s Old Royal Naval College.

Free, ticketed

Gravity And Levity will perform Why? at St Alfege Park, Greenwich

25

Years since the first Greenwich And Docklands International Festival

show on with the

In Memoriam Luke Jerram Greenwich, location TBC Aug 28-31, 2.30pm-8pm Created as a memorial to those lost in the Covid-19 pandemic, Luke’s work has been made in tribute to S staff and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to care for so many during the crisis.

GDIF will present a programme of local performances specifically for employees of Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Trust.

Free, ticketed My Heart, My Heart Live Poetry Jukebox (part of On Your Doorstep) St Alfege Park Aug 31, 2pm-6pm Audience members are invited to step into a magical library of jars, each containing a miniature artwork expressing a feeling or an idea.

After selecting one, they can then listen to the corresponding live performance of a poem inspired by the jar’s contents.

Calm, contemplation and reassurance in a turbulent world.

Free, check for ticketing information FeelPlay Christopher Green (part of On Your Doorstep) St Alfege Park Aug 31, 2pm-6pm FeelPlay promises innovation in playing for adults complete with an app designed to help those over 18 to remember how to have fun.

Free, check for ticketing information Smashed2 Gandini Juggling (part of On Your Doorstep) St Alfege Park Aug 31, 2pm-6pm This circus ensemble manipulate “forbidden fruit” in a bid to skewer their audience’s assumptions about the relations between men and women.

We’re promised the performance

Jeanefer Jean-Charles will present Black Victorians at St George’s Garrison Church in Woolwich as part of the festival

Wharf Life July 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

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Greenwich - Peninsula - Woolwich

Gandini Juggling will perform Smashed2 in Greenwich and also at Royal Arsenal Riverside on August 30 from 1pm-5pm

aims to examine and highlight the concerns same-sex couples can still face when holding hands or showing affection in public.

Free, ticketed l WOOLWICH The Weavers Of Woolwich Bernardine Evaristo General Gordon Square August 28, 6pm-9.30pm This specially created piece of prose poetry from Booker Prize Winner Bernardine Evaristo will be unveiled for the first time in a collaboration with Gijs van Bon. Conceived as an epic people’s history, this piece celebrates the spirit and resilience of the diverse communities who have made Woolwich their home.

Free, check for ticketing information

will confound the expectations of traditional juggling and circus.

Free, check for ticketing information

the backdrop

adapting to the new GDIF 2020 takes place in a setting that’s at once familiar and completely different to previous years. As such, the organisers have adapted the events to cope with the current climate.

GDIF artistic director Bradley Hemmind said: “The recent hard months have shown in sharp relief our need for equality and community, while reminding us of the resilience that comes from looking after each other.

“As a free outdoor festival, GDIF has always tried to play an active role in local civic life.

“As we start to reimagine the future, this 25th anniversary programme has been designed to offer an inclusive moment for reflection, while hopefully providing something we all desperately need – a time to celebrate and smile together again.

“The safety and wellbeing of our artists and audiences is our number one priority and we have worked hard to put in place extensive measures to ensure a safe festival for everyone.”

Dulce Compania present Rainbow Ballet

Why? Gravity And Levity (part of On Your Doorstep) St Alfege Park Aug 31, 2pm-6pm This aerial duet from Gravity And Levity is a re-imagining of their 2004 debut show, exploring grief, the passing of time and how people move forwards.

Performed on a free-standing vertical wall and featuring the original cast with new sound and music, this performance harnesses 16 years of experience in a gravity-defying tour de force.

Free, check for ticketing information Rainbow Ballet Dulce Compania (part of On Your Doorstep) The Tide, Peninsula Sept 6 This technicolour performance takes inspiration from the Bauhaus movement and the Triadic Ballets of the 1920’s, which imagined movement as geometry.

Rainbow costume, colour, stilts and formation choreography come together as two trios of dancers conduct a public space takeover.

Free, ticketed L’Uomo Lo-Giudice (part of On Your Doorstep) The Tide, Peninsula Sept 6 This intimate performance explores the impact of small gestures between two men.

Caught between a place where delicate e changes of affection and moments driven by the heartfelt become entangled with the discomforts of prejudice, L’Uomo

.

GDIF’s On Your Doorstep will bring afternoon performances to Woolwich Common Estate on Aug 29, Royal Arsenal Riverside on Aug 30, St Alfege Park on Aug 31 and The Tide on Sept 6.

Check full listings online

Black Victorians Jeanefer Jean-Charles St George’s Garrison Church Aug 29-30, 2pm, 3.30pm, 5pm This dance performance by artistic director and choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles is inspired by 19th century studio photographs of black men, women and children. Exploring a complex, but often forgotten black presence in pre-Windrush Britain, this performance calls attention to previously “hidden figures” and aims to challenge historical and contemporary perceptions.

Presented in the ruined Victorian St George’s Garrison Church, this is an opportunity to experience history as told through movement.

Free, ticketed the Covid-19 bit and a diary date Performances and installations will have capacity for between 50 and 250 audience members.

All events will have free, allocated access for local residents with further free and paid ticketing arrangements to help the organisers manage audience capacities and to ensure a safe, secure experience for all.

Tickets will be available for general booking online from August 6 at noon.

Scan this code for more info and listings across Docklands

four focus

support your local institutions SWEET The Fudge Patch Greenwich Market

BUY | Vegan Slab Fudge Patch is back working the slab having spent the pandemic delivering fudge to NHS workers via his feet. Try the Sherbet Lemon for some zing.

Open daily or order online, thefudgepatch.co.uk SAVOURY Greenwich Grind Greenwich

DINE | Brunch Visit the vast, naturally-lit restaurant in Nelson Road to partake of its all-day breakfasts, cocktails, coffee and other delectable beverages.

Weekends, 9am-6.30pm, up to six, grind.co.uk SHOP Made In Greenwich Greenwich

PROCURE | Locally Made Items Shop for products produced by local makers or members of Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency from art to coffee, soap and ceramics.

Open Weds-Sat, from 11am, madeingreenwich.shop

and in the arts

Catch Dame Helen Mirren in Greenwich Theatre’s online production of Steven Berkoff ’s The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia, streamed on the venue’s YouTube channel from 7.30pm on July 31 until August 14 greenwichtheatre.org.uk Scan this code for more information of Greenwich Theatre’s upcoming shows want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

Creative Space

this space is yours

show off all those lockdown drawing talents here or use it to develop some post-lockdown skills – share it with @wharflifelive or #keepittoyourself

working title

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

37

Royal Docks - Canning Town

four focus

support your local institutions TRY Wakeup Docklands Royal Victoria Dock

SPORT | Wakeboarding And Paddleboarding The cables are running and the waters of Royal Victoria Dock are open once more for those keen to get moving on them. Online booking is essential.

Weekends, wakeupdocklands.com Creative playground: The Royal Docks Team is urging local organisations to

bounce

SUPPORT NASSA Royal Docks

apply for its funds

investing in the

GIVE | A Little Love It’s been a tough time for charities. Newham All Star Sports Academy has just launched a new website detailing its vital work – check it out.

Online, nassasports.org.uk SPICE Nakhon Thai Royal Victoria Dock

how the Royal Docks Team is delivering funds to help the area get back up and running and thrive in the future

by Jon Massey

R

oyal Docks feels a little like a flywheel at present.

Covid- may have applied the brakes, but all the energy is there, waiting to be released. o help unleash that potential, there’s no shortage of cash available. hile ayor Of ondon Sadiq han mulls a move for the reater ondon Authority to he Crystal at oyal ictoria ock – potentially saving ta payers 55million over five years – he’s also put pen to paper on a oint initiative with ewham Council.

The Royal Docks Good Growth Fund, launched in uly, is a million reservoir of cash, designed to cover up to 50 of pro ects conceived by public, private and third-sector organisations.

A total of million has been ring-fenced for schemes led by local community organisations and the fund will offer capital grants up to million to deliver

place-shaping and development pro ects. Applicants must either be based within the oyal ocks or be engaged in activities that benefit the area.

A session for community groups interested in applying will be held on August from am. hose wishing to attend or who have any other queries about the fund should email ggf royal docks.london. here is no deadline for applying as the fund is operated on a rolling basis. he arts have generally taken a pummelling during the pandemic, but creative types may find some cheer in the forthcoming Join The Docks festival.

Scheduled to run from September to ecember online and in person this year, with a 0-day debrief in ebruary 0 , the annual celebration of culture is

Scan this code for more information on both funds

open for submissions. rants from the oyal ocks eam of 500 up to ,000 are available for artists, organisations and local collectives to create activities that e plore the people, heritage and places of the oyal ocks in a Covid-secure manner. uilding on the success of last year’s festival, which saw more than 50 creative and cultural events, applicants are invited to “think of how you’ll use the oyal ocks as your creative playground and to connect with local people as audiences or participants”. rants are also available for si research and development pro ects to be developed in preparation for the ebruary phase of the festival. hese range in si e from 5,000 to ,000. he oyal ocks eam is made up of officers from the reater ondon Authority, ewham Council and the ondon conomic Action artnership and is tasked with delivering a million investment programme in ondon’s only nterprise one. It was created in 0 .

ORDER | Purchase Some Purple Visit if you can, or simply order from this longserving Royal Docks establishment, known for its purple interior and plentiful portions.

Open daily, nakhonthai.co.uk

train for it

At present, the 2020 Dock2Dock swim, complete with Covid-secure measures, is still on for Sept 12. Participants, who should have open water experience ,can tackle 1.5k, 5k and 10k distances with entry starting at £35 dock2dock.co.uk Scan this code for more information about the Dock2Dock swim or to book a place want more? @wharflifelive

38

Wharf Life July 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

four focus

support your local institutions BOUNCE ZapSpace Stratford

the beer from Truman’s keeps on flowing in Hackney Wick for the time being as the firm grows and evolves

By Jon Massey

BOING | ZapSpace The trampoline park and cafe is set to reopen on July 31 with a host of Covid-19-secure procedures in place to allow guests to bounce with confidence.

Daily from 10am, zapspace.co.uk VISIT Roof East Stratford

BASK | Book A Space Reserve a plot for up to six people atop a multistorey car park festooned with bars, food stalls and activities for all. Expect to play a few games.

Open Tues-Sun, times vary, roofeast.com SAVOURY Gotto Trattoria Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park BITE | Pick Up A Pizza Founded by three brothers and a friend, visit this beautiful canalside spot at Here East for an Aperol Spritz and a pizza hot from the oven, eat from £8.

Open daily from noon, gotto.co.uk

and in the arts

P

re-pandemic, the Truman’s eagle was all set to take flight from its seven-year perch in Hackney Wick, bound for a journey north up the River Lea to a fresh, more expansive eyrie at Blackhorse Road in Walthamstow. But circumstance has seen the great bird alter course mid-air, descend the thermal it caught and fi its talons on premises ust round the corner from the site that saw the brand properly reborn into the east London of 2013.

Things have changed a bit since then, of course. The eagle had taken to the skies from its Stour Road home on Fish Island in July because of the relentless march of local property development. The company’s original plan was to brew under contract until its new home was ready in north east London.

Instead, it moved swiftly to purchase the brewing facility of fellow Wick-resident Crate Brewery after the crisis saw it become available unexpectedly, allowing Truman’s to stay in the area for at least another 12 months via a short hop to Queen’s Yard.

“From our perspective there are multiple benefits, one of which is that we continue to be in charge of our products, so the brewery team is the same guys making our beers, rather than trusting someone else to make it,” said Truman’s head of marketing Frank Maguire.

“If we did contract it out, obviously you have watertight contracts, but you’re not going to get the same

Truman’s Social Club in Walthamstow is now taking bookings

Playwright Roy Williams brought 14 black and Asian British writers together to respond artistically to the killing of George Floyd, commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The result is three-episode audio play 846 stratfordeast.com Scan this code to stream the three episodes of 846 on Theatre Royal Stratford East’s website want more? @wharflifelive

passion for your beers out of someone working for another brewery. Also it maintains employment for our guys, and economically it makes sense.

“The opportunity to purchase what we’re now calling the Brewhouse in Queen’s Yard literally came a few weeks ago, so we’ve had to move really quickly. For the long term future of Truman’s, it is the best thing, so we’ve done it.”

A successful pivot to a stopgap location during a global pandemic might be seen as a significant triumph on its own, but Truman’s has been busy elsewhere too.

With somewhere to brew its draught offerings such as unner, Swift and Zephyr as well as the craftier Roller IPA, Pale Ale, Raw Lager and Bow Bells, the company has also been quick to spruce up its Walthamstow for the current climate.

With a blank canvas to play with it launched the Truman’s Social Club at the beginning of July, branding it the “world’s largest socially distant pub”.

Quite whether that claim would stand up to scrutiny is a moot point – the vast beer garden has been set out with a gold standard of Covid-security in mind, serving as a beachhead for the firm before full invasion of its new home in 2021.

“One of the huge challenges in growing a brewery business is to move spaces, because you need to future-proof yourself – it’s not something you can do every year and get a return on your capital,” said Frank.

“You do have to get a crystal ball out and try to work out where you want to be in 10 or 15 years’ time, and take a proper view on where you want to move to, but sometimes you’re quite limited on what you have available and what your next step is.

“From our side we’ve also got the brand story, which is so heavily integrated into east London.

“If you go back to the 1960s and

Scan this code for more information

“

The opportunity to purchase what we’re now calling the Brewhouse in Queen’s Yard literally came a few weeks ago, so we’ve had to move really quickly Frank Maguire, Truman’s

1970s Truman’s employed 2,500-3,000 people and owned nearly all of the pubs in east London. It was the major employer and the main focus where people would socialise.

“The old brewery in Brick Lane was massive – you don’t realise that you’re in it when you are.”

T

hat institution, founded in 1666, enjoyed great prosperity, becoming the biggest brewery in the world in the 1800s, but going on to fall foul of Margaret Thatcher’s Beer Orders in the late 1980s that split off ownership of its pubs and saw it close in the early 1990s.

Former employees and beer enthusiasts James Morgan and Michael-George Hemus re-established Truman’s in 2010, opening the Eyrie brewery in 2013. Its ongoing success has resulted in its forthcoming move to larger premises following the unexpected stop at a second Hackney Wick location.

‘It’s important for us to stay in east London and that’s why we looked to Walthamstow,” said Frank.

“From an economic perspective, you might say it doesn’t make any sense – you could move way out of London, and save so much on your fi ed costs, but for us the location is such an important part of the story, that the only way to make operating a brewery in London work is to make the retail side of the brewery a tap room or something similar and work really hard – then you can justify being inside the M25.

“We’re still looking to open a real state-of-the-art brewery in July 2021 in E17.

“At our first ackney ick site, we weren’t suited to public access because we were so packed in, but over there we will be.

“We can have a visitor centre and brewery tours. It is an enormous space so we’ve split off a fair amount of it for the retail side of it, because it’s more than we need.

“We’ve been looking into a business model where we would have done more contract brewing to help us bridge the gap.

“We’ve changed strategy in the past 12 months to focusing more on ourselves, so that means our requirements change in terms of what we put there. We want our brewery to be the central point of the area.”

Wharf Life July 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

39

Stratford - Bow - Hackney Wick

at home

Roller IPA - £44 for 24

Frank’s top tip for a barbecue beverage is Truman’s Roller IPA, a fruity, citrusflavoured beer brewed with hops from the US and Australia

brew room for a

Truman’s head of marketing Frank Maguire says the team has been working flat out to organise relocation in Hackney Wick and the creation of the Social Club at what will eventually become the brewery’s permanent home Images by Matt Grayson – find more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Part of that mission – to establish itself fully in E17 – is the creation of the Truman’s Social Club. Intended as a showcase for the brand’s beers as well as a place for a decent bite, Frank hopes it will also play its part in introducing people to the area around Blackhorse Road.

He said: “It’s very well connected on the Overground and the Victoria line. You’re quick into central – it’s sort of an undiscovered spot.

“For us it’s all about the community.

We want to build back into the community a lot more than perhaps we have in the past.

“Having moved to Walthamstow a year-and-a-half ago myself, one of the big things I was taken aback by was how much community there is there – just stupid things like people saying hello to you, which just didn’t happen when I lived in other parts of London.

It’s got that unique feel to it.

“Because we’ve got such a big space for the brewery, we can be fle ible – there’s a lot we can do to bring the community into the space.

“Initially for the Truman’s Social Club we will be doing food – we’re working with local street vendors on a rotating or semi-permanent basis.

“We’re also talking to a local independent cinema about doing film screenings and to charities and community groups about them using the space for fle ible events.

“We’d like to have live music once it’s allowed – there’s a whole host of things we can do, and I think we’ve only really scratched the surface. “ or e ample, as we’ve got a huge garden, I want to see groups involved in that – gardening has huge mental health benefits. e’re keeping an open mind for the space. We want to talk to as many people as we can; we don’t want to set limitations on it and miss something special.”

But what of Hackney Wick? Well, Truman’s will be in place at Queen’s Yard for at least a year but admits it hasn’t any concrete plans long-term.

Frank said Crate’s name would live on in the nearby bar and restaurant in the White Building, and Truman’s might look at producing some of their beers in consultation with its owners.

“Obviously it’s sad that another brewer has gone under, but it’s been fortuitous for us,” he said. “The bar and restaurant is a different side to the business anyway and that’s nothing to do with us – that’s continuing. It’s just the brewery side that isn’t.”

So, for a year at least, Hackney Wick gets to hang on to an east London brewing stalwart.

40

Wharf Life Jul 29-Aug 12, 2020 wharf-life.com

SUDOKU

Crossword - Sudoku

2

Previous solution - Tough

8 3 2 6 5 1 9 4 7 Sudoku 9 a6break 4 from 7 3 that 2 phone 8 5 1 Take 5 7 1 4 9 8 2 6 3 How 1 to9 play 8 5 4 3 7 2 6 To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 6 such 1 8 5 row, 3 4column and 3x3 box one7 to2nine that9each contains every number uniquely.

4 5 3 2 6 7 1 8 9 8 find 9 strategies, 3 7 5 hints 4 and 1 2tips online You6can at sudokuwiki.org 2 4 7 8 1 6 3 9 5 3 to 1 play 5 9 2 4 6 7 8 More

3 8 6

7 8 3 5 4 8 3 4 9 2 6 1 1 6 5 7 4 1 9

You can find more Sudoku puzzles and a wide selection ofTo others available in apps and books at str8ts.com. This complete Sudoku, fill the board Sudoku is supplied by Syndicated Puzzles. by entering numbers 1 to 9 such

that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

Notes

© 2019 Syndicated Puzzles

5

Very Hard

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org If you like Sudoku you’ll really like ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps and books. Visit www.str8ts.com

crossword 1. . .

11.

12. .

15. .

18.

20.

22. .

Prince Henry’s journey by air in semidarkness (4-5) ight fish ittle time offered by brief announcement (5,6) Let peer make full reform (7) It’s bighead’s turn to produce an animal (5) akes a meal of it A gathering of willing spirits arker goes by the clock 5 Exaggerate on stage because of deed (7) Does he look at incontrovertible evidence 5Cobbler’s tool in legal mi -up orm-catcher 5,

Notes

Down . .

4.

5.

6.

7.

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11.

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19.

21.

ree left after fire urner writes articles in French and English (5) Fifty go to a wood to humble themselves (6) ake him belt for finger-tip protection Reporters in hospital keep going (5,6) Permission given, as everybody agrees (2,7) Rip no pencil in accordance with one’s personal code (2,9) Immediately write article in the correct manner (5,4) Do spies arrange things thus 100 put forward a treasure-chest (6) In this scene, my adversary is revealed (5) This mark is a sign of ownership

Quick Across 1. .

9.

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12. .

15.

17.

18.

20. . .

Sparkling (9) otal Praiseworthy (11) Obscurity (7) Clear (5) Abrade Spin (6) Perfect (5) Nominate (7) Instructive (11) onkey nd piece

Down . .

4.

5.

6.

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egret Supple 5 Halt (6) Truck (7) Union (11) Correction (9) Cruel (11) The sack (9) efile Empty (6) Balance (5) Suitable

Across: 1 Brilliant; 8 Sum; 9 Meritorious; 11 Dimness; 12 Lucid; 13 Scrape; 15 Gyrate; 17 Ideal; 18 Appoint; 20 Educational; 22 Ass; 23 Extremity.

Down: 2 Rue; 3 Lithe; 4 Arrest; 5 Trolley; 6 Association; 7 Amendment; 10 Remorseless; 11 Dismissal; 14 Pollute; 16 Vacant; 19 Poise; 21 Apt.

Across

whether you’re cryptic sleuth or synonym solver in it for quick wins, this should satisfy

Cryptic Solution

Cryptic

beating the

Across: 1 Half-light; 8 Ray; 9 Short notice; 11 Replete; 12 Bison; 13 Grinds; 15 Seance; 17 Ticks; 18 Overact; 20 Proof-reader; 22 Awl; 23 Early bird.

Down: 2 Ash; 3 Lathe; 4 Grovel; 5 Thimble; 6 Press onward; 7 By consent; 10 On principle; 11 Right away; 14 Dispose; 16 Coffer; 19 Enemy; 21 Ear.

The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

Quick Solution

No. 218