Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4

Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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inside issue 21

Chris Ezekiel on how tech will change the way we hear and see things Page 38

Carluccio’s - Marcella - Flexology London Academy Of Excellence - Iqos Nakhon Thai - Cherryduck - Moonhub Baj’s Blazin Hot Sauce - Puzzles Berkeley Homes - Sushi Daily

how No. 35 Mackenzie Walk blends drink with high quality food in a winning combination

mix Canary Wharf – Page 16

in the

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

Image by Matt Grayson – find his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

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read

fortnightly find

this issue’s Tiger Treasure

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

Museum Of London Docklands West India Quay EVENT | A Docklands Christmas Carol Travel back in time to Victorian London and meet Scrooge, the Cratchits and some friendly ghosts during these immersive performances.

Dec 7-15, times vary, free, museumoflondon.org.uk

feast your eyes on these

Wear your inner salacious monster on your sleeve (or your head in this case) with this tasteful and warming headgear. Quite what he’s looking at or why it’s making him so cheeful is anybody’s guess – perhaps it’s simply the knowledge that soon he’ll be making someone’s head nice and snuggly. The design carries a subtle warning, of course. This hat will do nothing to protect your nose Beanie, £3 Go to uk.flyingtiger.com

06

Veggie Pret is here and it’s

Flexology’s co-founder on the vital importance of a really good stretch

not messing about

where?

East Wintergarden Canary Wharf

10

EVENT | Carols And Candles Service Hear choirs drawn from Canary Wharf companies sing a succession of festive favourites amid hundreds of Christmas lights and handheld candles.

Dec 10, 5.40pm, £2 (to charity), canarywharf.com

Trying an alternative for smokers as tobacco device store opens up

where?

Boisdale Of Canary Wharf Cabot Place

GIG | Frank And Dean’s Xmas From December 5, throughout the festive period Steve Pert and Iain Mackenzie take to the stage for a succession of Rat Pack classics.

Dec 5, 9.15pm, from £24.50 (no dinner), boisdale.co.uk

to do before Dec 4

Returning triumphantly following her sell-out residencies at the venue, Rebecca Ferguson is set to play Boisdale Of Canary Wharf on November 29. Music starts at 9.15pm and tickets at £25 not including dinner boisdale.co.uk

taste test

Feta and red pepper omelette, Veggie Pret, Canada Place, £3.50 The recently opened Veggie Pret store in Canary Wharf is full of labels on food indicating it made its way through the audition process to grab a coveted position on the shelves.

On balance, this oblong of an omelette, set in the bottom of a cardboard box, probably deserved to get past the judges.

At £3.50 it was never going to be a whole meal and, as with so many takeaway egg products, it suffers a little from the sweats in its packaging, but for those in search of

a protein-filled bite for breakfast, it’s a decent option.

Suspiciously white, meaning it’s impossible to visually distinguish between the egg and cheese, it’s nevertheless pleasant in the mouth and, if not filled with flavour, at least tasty enough to inspire diners to finish.

Unusually it’s the feta that cuts through – a subtle buzz on the tongue rather than a salty shock.

Go to pret.co.uk Jon Massey

get in touch

correct us

Editorial email stories@wharf-life.com call 07765 076 300

we want to hear from you

38

Why you might need VR for your next session of training in the office

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 44

need something fixed?

Bite into Mama’s Jerk at Wharf Kitchen a delicious, spicy lunch mamasjerk.com

Advertising email advertising@wharf-life.com call 07944 000 144

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.

want more? @wharflifelive

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spot check one to try

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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

Eagle-eyed Wharfers will have spotted yet another venue has opened its doors.

Vagabond in Cabot Square offers wine and beer poured by machines, activated by pre-paid cards – not to mention a selection of food to accompany vagabondwines.co.uk

50 There are bags of products to be had for those with cash to splash at the recently opened Mulberry store in Jubilee Place.

Founded in 1971, the brand says it is inspired by the “attitude of rebellion” but designs for everyday use mulberry.com

Enjoy live music with your coffee or, more likely wine, at Notes in Crossrail Place, which will be hosting free gigs every Wednesday to deliver some vibes winserlondon.com

40

London Academy Of Excellence’s head on delivering top results

Cherryduck explains why firms should be thinking about video

free 46

Condiments with a dash of family thrown in – meet the creator of Baj’s Blazin Hot Sauces ahead of her showcase at Sample market on Greenwich Peninsula

Visit Freedom Clinics in Canada Place before November 30 and get a free 15-minute consultation with selected therapists.

Booking essential freedomclinics.com

FREE WELCOME PROSECCO RECEPTION WITH EVERY PRIVATE HIRE WHEN DINING FROM THE FESTIVE MENU

Come and join Sipsmith at The Gun to try some hot ginny tipples inspired by the Thames Frost Fairs of London's past.

With space for up to 100 people and stunning river views get in touch with our events team at the details below for more information!

Have a Very Bubbly Christmas!

Book your Christmas party now! www.thegundocklands.com

27 Coldharbour, London, E14 9NS gun.events@fullers.co.uk 0207 519 0075

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

words you didn’t know you need

ftallish

buy me

this fortnight’s must-have item

noun, fictional, from Norwegian The feeling of self-conscious anxiety that everyone in the office is looking at you when using your standing desk for the first time even though you know they’re all wasting time browsing Amazon at their workstations

bucket list

write me

Mi-e Dor De Tine is on display in middle dock and translates as ‘I Miss You’

quire

noun, real, from Middle English For all those entering a paper shop determined to purchase a 20th of a ream, we bring you an essential term – speak this word to the merchant and relax as they bustle about the place organising delivery of your 24 or 25 sheets

● Bright List For those who’ve not seen it, Mi-e Dor De Tine is in place at Middle Dock – best viewed from outside All Bar One – as an early herald for Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights (January 16-25).

The installation – on show until the close of that event – is part of a cultural exchange with Lights ON Romania in Cluj-Napoca, which features reciprocal work Și Mie (Me too) canarywharf.com

Calvin Klein Trunks, £38 Waitrose, Canada Square ● Blaze List Boisdale Of Canary Wharf’s Cigar Smoker Of The Year Dinner is set to take place on December 2 at 6.30pm.

Former winners include Chris Noth, Kelsey Grammar and Jeremy Irons.

Tickets from £175 with dinner boisdale.co.uk

Source some above-average smalls ahead of the festive season and get that comfortable snug feeling only fresh underwear can bring – price is for a pack of three

● Book List Cormac McCarthy’s spare, bleak masterpiece The Road is as grim and unforgiving a stream of prose as you’re likely to read.

But it’s also a heartbreaking, beautiful portrait of the love and care of a father for his child when faced with increasing desperation in a ruined world where society has completely broken down and horror, mistrust and fear are the norms. Buy it for £8.99 waterstones.com

wear me

for all your underwater visual needs Speedo Goggles, £20 Third Space, Canada Square While exciting features such as futura biofuse flexiseal are probably reason enough to purchase these goggles in the first place, they also make swimming a great deal more pleasant. While their anti-fog properties might not be immediately obvious to the user – swimmers planning on more than 20 lengths will need to rinse them from time to time – as an entry-level eyewear option they’re an excellent proposition for those taking to the water thirdspace.london

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Canary Wharf

the freshest slices of fish

why in-supermarket stall Sushi Daily must not be overlooked

lunch time

C

hief among the attractions of Sushi Daily – located on the left hand side as you walk into Canary Wharf’s branch of Waitrose from Canada Place mall – is its convenience.

Swing by its stand, make your chosen selection and zip out through the self-pay checkouts.

It’s a winner in the rapidity stakes, and you can always grab some oat milk for your vegan tea later that afternoon at the same time.

But Sushi Daily, a brand that sounds like a tabloid news sheet for the raw fish world, is no mere dash and grab.

The quality of its fish is excellent and its boxes are put together with thought and care, providing everything from top-grade sashimi to a multitude of options for those who fear raw seafood.

An order of salmon sashimi, £11.20 for 13 pieces, spicy cali roll, £4.45 and classic tempura sushi, £5.45 is more than enough for two and presents a delectable variety of textures and tastes.

The fat slabs of salmon are butter-soft in the mouth, while the breaded prawns at the heart of the tempura are crisp and crunchy.

Better still is the hot panache of the Cali roll, drenched generously in a hot, spicy mayo that completely dominates the avocado and cucumber filling.

At £10.55 a head it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find a better deal locally – especially one against a backdrop of chefs busily slicing up fish in the background.

Lunching at Sushi Daily is a near-perfect experience apart from the single-use plastic packaging involved.

Perhaps Waitrose should be pumping its cash into solving this more energetically rather than part-funding a promotional movie about a dragon prone to accidental pyromania all-but ruining Christmas and traumatising kids up and down the country as a result.

Just something to consider #edgartheincinerator.

Go to waitrose.com/sushidaily Jon Massey

At Capeesh we excel ourselves in embracing the Christmas spirit unlike anyone else and we would love nothing more than to share it all with you! Christmas is the best time of year to get together with friends, family and collegues to share the festivity.

We cater for any style of party; whether it be a sit down meal to enjoy our specially curated Chistmas menu or drinks rececptions with a selection of canapes, we are more than happy to host you whatever the occasion may be. The more the merrier!

WWW.CAPEESH.CO.UK 020 7538 1111 - events@capeesh.co.uk instagram/facebook @capeeshlondon

The highlight of the dishes we tried at Sushi Daily was the spicy Cali roll, well soused in hot mayonnaise

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

by Jon Massey

S

find that

minutes he attends to my trapezius and then my biceps. There’s no pain, some tingling and a burst of pins and needles, but I stand up filled with a sense of release.

Throughout the whole experience, Brandon maintains a cheerful calm, informative patter that both explains what I need to do, how my body should be feeling and the benefits of the various movements.

It’s a brief, but effective taster of what Flexology is all about.

Recently opened in Canada Place, to the left of Waitrose’s main entrance and up the corridor opposite Chop’d, the studio offers a range of guided stretch sessions aimed at everyone from athletes seeking recovery to seized-up office workers desperate to free up their limbs.

Founded by sisters Alina Musienko and Anna Epeykina, Canary Wharf is their first branch – a literal test-bed for their ideas developed over more than a year of research.

“We’re both from Russia and we were doing lots of stretching when we were younger – we did lots of difference sports,” said Alina.

“I used to be a ballroom dancer and stretching was a big part of our lives. When we came here we noticed people did Hiit exercises

flex

why Flexology’s co-founder wants Wharfers to build some serious stretching into their busy lives

at upright on the clean white upholstery of a bench that closely resembles a massage table, my eyes are closed and my head is in the hands of a remarkably tall chap called Brandon Hitchman.

With surprising gentleness, given his stature, the basketball player turned flexpert is pushing my shoulder down while gently easing my neck away from it.

Intermittently he asks me to push my head against his hand before relaxing again so he can effect an even deeper stretch as I loosen up.

Then it’s time for the other side.

Over the course of the next 10

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15

Minutes a taster session at Flexology lasts, charged at £1 per minute

Flexology co-founder Alina Musienko has her neck stretched by a flexpert in Canary Wharf or Yoga and there was nothing in-between. Typically at the end of an intense exercise class there would be a five-minute stretch but many people would leave before that. We thought people probably didn’t understand the benefits of stretching so we decided to do a lot of research and find out about all the different methods available.”

Alina, who briefly dabbled in banking after completing a degree at the London School Of Economics, teamed up with older sibling Anna, who had a background in the children’s clothing industry and embarked on a year of work to create their brand.

Well-versed in the medical world as the daughters of doctors, they sought the expertise of a movement specialist to create Flexology’s method.

“Our flexperts really know what they’re doing,” said Alina, who once achieved a third-place finish at the world-famous Blackpool Dance Festival as a ballroom dancer. “Our sessions are a difficult thing to explain to people, but when they try it, they say: ‘Now I understand what it is’.

“We’re the first studio of our kind in the UK although we’ve noticed there are some other similar ones coming through and it’s a popular field in the USA. “We have a method we properly researched. We partnered with a movement specialist with 15 years experience in the industry.

“He’s a sports scientist and a physiotherapist and helped us research the method to ensure what we’re doing is backed up by the science. He helped us to train the team and now we have a supervisor who trained at a stretching institute in Arizona.

He helps us ensure the quality is maintained and consistent.

“We did a month of training for our team and that continues on-site so they will learn and develop.”

One of the flexperts’ main jobs is to simply tell those asking what Flexology actually does.

“Mostly when people come in, they ask whether we’re doing massage because the tables look quite similar,” said Alina. “But

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Canary Wharf

“

We focus a lot on our clients’ goals and people often ask us to really push them so the sessions can get really intense Alina Musienko, Flexology

Clients are seen one-to-one in cubicles

The studio also sells a wide range of products

that’s not what we do. We stretch people – this is the challenge for our flexperts because they really need to educate everyone.

“We stretch muscles, but also nerves and fascia – connective tissue that encloses and separates muscles and other internal organs.

“Doing this can create a longterm effect so people can see an improvement and actually feel better. With massage, there are lots of benefits but it tends to be shortterm as you are mostly working with tissue.

“When clients come in, we start by asking them what their goals are, because we have a menu of stretches for example you can stretch in the morning for a more energising session where you work more and breathe more.

“Then we have a relaxing session to help people unwind – we hold the positions for a long time so it can get quite intense.

“We also have a performance stretch for athletes or people who do crossfit or run a lot aimed at efficient recovery.

“We focus a lot on their goals and people often ask us to really push them so the sessions can get really intense.

“One of our flexperts was telling me about one of her clients and saying that when he first started coming, he couldn’t touch his toes at all. He said that was one of his goals so they started working towards it and I think it was his fifth session he came and at the start for the appointment he was already able to do that.

“At the start of a session we check our clients’ range of motion with front bend and back bend, for example. Then we do it again at the end and people often see an improvement.

“While initially the change is temporary, if you come regularly, you will see lasting results.

“If you’re going to the gym our sessions can help improve performance too because if you can recover properly you can train more effectively as the lactic acid build-up is released when you stretch.

“If you play golf, run or engage in crossfit, you will be able to do more if you stretch as your safe range of motion is increased.

Continued on Page 9

42

Parkour head trainer Alex Pownall on how the discipline can be beneficial for mind and body

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Canary Wharf

from Page 7 “You can also work on your muscles to balance out your body and make sure you don’t have injuries. Most of us have imbalances in our bodies that can cause back or neck issues, for example, and it’s much better if you can work to avoid that.

We’re not saying this is a replacement for your exercises.

It’s all about balance and sustainability. People can come for a session before or after their workout or as a independent activity.”

While Flexology is clearly hoping to tap into the bustling workforce of the estate, its changing nature was also a factor in deciding the location of the first studio.

“It was really difficult to find a space in London,” said Alina. “We thought Canary Wharf would be an amazing place because you have all the offices around we met with the estate and they told us all about the Wood Wharf expansion with residential arriving on-site and it seemed like a great community, so when a space became available, we decided it would be perfect because you have the footfall during the week.

“But our weekends are doing quite well too, which wouldn’t have been the case in the City speaking to studio owners there, they just say it’s dead and there’s nothing going on.”

Flexology plans to open further studios in the capital and the range of branded products on its shelves speaks of a brand keen to lay claim to what it sees as a fresh market. Wharfers can already purchase fascia balls (inset, 5 , foam rollers, stretch outfits, mats, water bottles and health and beauty products. The studio also serves food and drink designed to complement its stretch sessions.

“We have XLAB, which is our healthy cafe,” said Alina. “We developed each range to match with what we offer. Everything is colour-matched so it’s clear and

BOOK YOUR CHRISTMAS PART Y Flexpert Brandon Hitchman assists a client with a stretch at the Canada Place studio the Fortitude, Energise, Flexor, and Unwind all include hot and cold drink options, a raw cake and a bite option.”

But it’s the stretching that’s the core of the business and Wharfers can choose from three different lengths of session.

“We have 15 minutes, 25 and 55,” said Alina. “The first is an introductory stretch for people to experience it or for pre or postworkout stretching.

“With that you can focus on one area so your hamstrings, for example, if you’ve been running or doing barre exercises.

“The other sessions offer deeper stretches going into all areas of the body.

“The first time you come in it’s 1 per minute. We also offer packages and memberships.

“If you really want to see the results we recommend coming twice a week.

“People are starting to understand being healthy isn’t all about burning calories, it’s about looking after your body and there’s a greater focus on mindful practice.”

Go to flexologystudio.com for more information and prices

Some of the colour-coded food on offer at Flexology

BOOK YOUR CHRISTMAS PART Y FOR THE ULTIMATE BASH AREA BOOKINGS FROM 10 PEOPLE UP TO EXCLUSIVE VENUE HIRE FOR 700 PEOPLE

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Canary Wharf

why Iqos may be worth looking at as an alternative for smokers who aren’t looking to quit the habit

muted shades of paint – a neutral backdrop for the brightly coloured devices themselves. These are the focus of the place, with the Iqos 3 Duo front and centre.

It’s little surprise, after looking at the high-end Apple-style white boxes that these tobacco stick heaters come in, that there isn’t much clear blue water between the sound of Iqos and, say, iPhone.

Coincidence, perhaps.

In the store every surface is spotless. Even spent tobacco sticks are placed in receptacles that look more like golden-topped spittoons at a high-end wine tasting than anything that might have evolved from an ashtray.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI), arguably best known for Marlboro cigarettes, is the company manufacturing and selling Iqos – distinct from a vape in that it uses an electrical element to heat up solid tobacco.

From the carefully put together look of its Canary Wharf store, it appears much has been done to realise a space that communicates PMI’s brand message – that there are certain advantages for smokers in using a product that heats tobacco rather than burning it and generating smoke.

Everyone I spoke to from PMI at

by Jon Massey

W

alk past the recently opened Iqos store in Canary Wharf’s Jubilee Place and you’d be forgiven for failing to realise that it sells tobacco sticks and electronic devices to heat them so that users can suck the chemicals they emit into their lungs in the form of an aerosol.

Design-wise, the shop is deliberately airy – aesthetically a blend of gadget retailer, luxury leather goods store and optician with products bathed in bright, white light. Its surfaces are covered with pale woods or smooth,

Provide a service & support experience your customers will

LOVE

£89

Cost of an Iqos 3 Duo. Boxes of 20 Heets sticks for the device work out at £5 per pack The Iqos 3 Duo gifted to my companion to try out the heated tobacco system

the launch event was keen to stress these are not products intended for non-smokers, that they are addictive and will damage the health of the user and that they are not designed to help anyone quit tobacco use.

So why bother? The smart answer is obviously not to. People should stop consuming tobacco.

But people should also stop drinking alcohol and eat a great deal more fibre. We don’t always do what’s good for us.

Tobacco may be hidden away behind sliding doors, sold without branding in packets that are rightly covered in health warnings. But for the moment it is still legal to smoke and that means the whiff of cigarettes remains a dwindling but significant part of public life irrespective of the smoking ban.

Iqos attempts to mitigate or remove some of the more unpleasant side effects caused by setting fire to tobacco. MI says because the aerosol is a vapour rather than a smoke due to the

absence of burning, smells and the chance of second-hand inhalation are significantly reduced.

There’s also no ash, because there’s no fire just spent sticks to dispose of.

At the opening my companion – a light social smoker – is given an Iqos 3 Duo starter kit to try, worth £89, complete with a selection of Heets tobacco sticks.

While hardly a scientific test, my nose can’t detect any obvious odour during the six minutes or so it takes for her to consume a stick in the shop via the matt blue holder. Like vapes, heated tobacco products can currently be used indoors provided the premises’ owner allows it.

I would love to believe PMI is sincere in its stated aim to switch smokers (and only smokers) onto similar products, not least because if true, the barrage of statistics offered by the company about Iqos suggests it could seriously improve millions of lives. PMI Continued on Page 12

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The devices come in a multitude of colours

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CHRISTMAS AT THE PEARSON ROOM THEPEARSONROOM.CO.UK +44 (0)20 7970 0920 | events@thepearsonroom.co.uk 2nd Floor, 16-19 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5ER Opposite Third Space

THI845_TPR Christmas Single Page-191118.indd 1

18/11/2019 14:56

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Canary Wharf

from Page 10

1

Week since trading began at Iqos’ Jubilee Place shop in Canary Wharf

states a study it funded found emissions from a tobacco stick heated with the Iqos burner contained 95% lower levels of harmful or potentially harmful chemicals when compared with a cigarette.

At the launch salesman Dan in the shop presents me with a box of stats that says Iqos is the result of more than a decade of research costing more than £4.5billion, involving over 430 scientists and it’s sold in more than 45 countries and has over 10million users. A colleague corrects him to say that it’s now more than 12million, they just haven’t had time to print a new fact sheet yet.

And that statistic jars. I can’t help but think back to a poster that appears on a wall in an episode of TV show The Simpsons stating “50 Million Cigarette Smokers Can’t Be Wrong”.

As an industry that has not historically covered itself in glory in terms of honesty about the effect on health of its products, it’s important to maintain a level of scepticism about its claims. The World Health Organisation says the jury is still out on quite how bad Iqos and similar products are for the human body.

Again to its credit, PMI is upfront about the fact 95% lower emissions of harmful chemicals does not necessarily translate into a lower risk for those using tobacco. To draw an analogy, whether you consume a cyanide capsule at a concentration of 200,000parts per million or one at 2,000ppm, you’ll be just as dead about a minute later.

There’s also the possibility that in launching a product that apes the look and feel of modern tech, heated tobacco products may find an audience beyond the smokers PMI says are its only target.

But then again, it might fail to convert the smokers. Despite a supply of Heets and a free Iqos machine, my companion has not chosen to use it more than once after acquiring her Duo, preferring instead to smoke as normal.

Wharfers who smoke must, of course, make their own minds up.

Go to uk.iqos.com

“

My companion has not chosen to use it more than once after acquiring it. Wharfers who smoke must, of course, make their own minds up Jon Massey, Wharf Life

The design of the Iqos shop in Canary Wharf feels like an aesthetic blend of gadget retailer, luxury leather goods store and optician with much use made of pale woods

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legal matters

by Philip Wild

Q

Years since Carluccio’s started trading from its Covent Garden premises

We’re in the process of starting up a company and are wondering whether we need a Shareholders’ Agreement?

How our assorted box of food reviewing 12 doughnuts with Carluccio’s spruced up for its 20th anniversary, how’s it holding up? looked after it arrived (pretty Veganese early in the plant-based morning in escalope a dedicated and, below,van) company arancini with their spiceless sauce and the abstract colours of Carluccio’s new branding

Sort your startup: Get a Shareholders’ Agreement

A

If your company is a partnership of two or more founders, it is usually advisable to sign a Shareholders’ Agreement as well as adopting appropriate Articles Of Association.

Such agreements can deal with a number of things, depending on the number of shareholders, their respective percentages and the deal between them.

They protect minority shareholders and provide mechanisms for resolving disputes, as well as the exit of shareholders. Some of these matters can be dealt with in the articles, but they can always be amended by a 75% majority of the shareholders attending a meeting.

A Shareholders’ Agreement, however, can normally only be amended if all the Shareholders who are parties to it agree in writing. The articles are also on the public record, available for anyone to When the author is an download for free from Companies House, employee who creates while a Shareholders’ work in the course of Agreement is a private document. his or her employment Many founders the copyright belongs understandably wish to keep costs down, to the employer so prefer to delay Philip Wild, Kidd Rapinet Solicitors putting a Shareholders’ Agreement in place until they are a bit more established.

Unfortunately this can be a false economy.

Starting up a business can be stressful, and founders can disagree on what course to take.

Even family businesses can fall out with each other. Shareholders’ disputes can be costly and difficult to resolve – especially in 50-50 deadlock companies.

Putting in place a Shareholders’ Agreement at an early stage can help work out agreed mechanisms as to how decisions will be taken, who will have a veto on certain key issues, how any deadlock should be resolved, and how a shareholder can exit and be bought out at a fair price.

This enables everyone to focus on running the business, rather than disagreements between the shareholders. I’d always recommend speaking to a solicitor who will be able to help draw an agreement up.

“

Go to kiddrapinet.co.uk or follow @KiddRapinetLLP on Twitter or @kiddrapinet on Instagram

taste test

Philip Wild is a partner at Kidd Rapinet LLP based at Harbour Exchange specialising in commercial, employment and intellectual property law

I

’ve long been a fan of Carluccio’s. Its straightforward offering of decent, keenly-priced Italian food and drink was a reliable winner. In a crowded ocean of options – Zizzi, Ask, Pizza Express, Jamie’s Italian, Strada, Prezzo – it managed to bob along on the top in my mind, perhaps in part due to the kindly features of its founder and former owner Antonio Carluccio.

Owned since 2010 by the sprawling, Dubai-based Landmark Group, there’s a possibility things are starting to slide. Its Canary Wharf branch recently celebrated the brand’s 20th with a refit and a shakedown of its menu.

Inside, the restaurant isn’t much altered. There are a couple of extra velvety banquettes and the walls have been jazzed up with semi-abstract colour panels, one depicting the estate.

But take someone from 2015 and they wouldn’t notice much difference.

Gone, however, is the majority of the deli near the front of the venue – presumably in favour of serving ready-packed lunches to the hordes.

Managing the flow of Wharfers must have been much on the minds of the refurb’s architects who have also gone for a land grab outside.

With hoardings for forthcoming neighbour The Alchemist blocking the direct path via the stairs to Reuters Plaza from One Canada Square, Carluccio’s has set up planters, forcing pedestrians to navigate around its seating area to reach the Jubilee – a

frustration for regular passers-by.

While staff serving al fresco guests will no longer have to contend with a stream of stressed commuters, this is a step away from the traditional Italian pavement eateries found all over that country.

And that in part is how the meal feels, distant from its national origins.

I order spinach and smoked mozzarella arancini with spicy sauce (£6.75) and veganese – a plant-based escalope of indeterminate composition presented with broccoli, peppers, almonds and vegan mayo (£13.50). My companion and I also share a bread tin (£3.95).

While the little balls that constitute my starter are delicious – a fair approximation of a classic – the dipping sauce they come with tastes like unadulterated tinned tomatoes. There’s no spice or tang at all.

My veganese is delicious, however, topped with luscious sweet peppers and almonds – even better with the flavourful mayo. But the flavours are more tagine than Milan and the woeful pile of limp broccoli chewy, overcooked and tasteless even when pepped up with some lemon juice. The bread tin is deficient too, lacking the usual pair of bread sticks. I can’t tell if this is cost cutting or an oversight.

In short, the whole business is like the Espresso Martinis we finish with, serviceable but unexciting.

Go to carluccios.com Jon Massey

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

Canary Wharf

£7.95

Price for a small plate of arguably the best squid in Canary Wharf

How our assorted box of address booking 12 doughnuts now No. 35 Mackenzie Walk is open and bustling, we find out what it’slooked like to go there after it for an evening after work arrived (pretty early in the morning in a dedicated company van)

No. 35 delivers a neutral backdrop rendering its spaces versatile and inviting, day or night. Right, bartender Ray Dias

N

difference here, as evidenced by a smartly o. 35 Mackenzie Walk is squarely priced charcuterie board that arrived aimed at drinkers. Owner Mel creaking with cured flesh for only £12.95.

Marriott is clear it’s a bar that Besides the diverse flavours of the cut happens to do food – a place to hangout, sausages and hams, a curious spiced pate, imbibe and refuel if necessary. a pile of pickles and a solid caponata But there’s a danger that description revealed the depth of the selection – a does something of a disservice to what meaty demonstration of the care taken to her recently opened bar in Canary Wharf choose and deliver good produce. actually offers those who work on or live And perhaps that explains why dishes near the estate. such as fennel spiced crispy squid Having visited twice in with chilli and aioli (£7.95) or the weeks since trading sharing boards (to serve 10 commenced, what stood out at £40 each) of miso sea to me was not the crisp bass skewers or butterwarmth of Beavertown’s milk chicken skewers are Neck Oil – probably quite so tasty. the most interesting of The running theme the beers on tap – the is of succulent, juicy well-mixed cocktails or morsels – food that the wine. On both trips tastes like it’s at its it was the food. best, arriving on the While knowing that plate in peak condition, dishes are prepared filling enough to support an fresh on the premises is a evening of intense, post-work comfort, it’s the quality of merriment. the ingredients that make the Above, No. 35’s charcuterie board Below, the calm

hot spot

before the rush

“

The running theme is of succulent, juicy morsels – food that tastes like it’s at its best, arriving on the plate in peak condition Jon Massey, Wharf Life

None of this is to say that the drinks offering is poor. A cursory glance over the cocktail list is enough to clock a healthy mixture of premium spirits and less familiar libations including white port, St Germain elderflower liqueur and Goslings Black Seal rum.

There are also plenty of options for those who prefer low or no ABV including Seedlip cocktails, kombucha and plentiful tap water poured by staff drilled in eagerness to hydrate their guests.

Looking beyond the consumables, No. 35 pulls off a neat trick. Its pale woods, slender steels and tasteful splashes of colour work as a cosy backdrop both during the day and at night with the music cranked up.

While the volume could do with coming down a notch or two, fundamentally this is a place for a good time – the ideal space for groups from Canary Wharf companies to colonise as a fresh wave of venues opens on the estate, more refined than those they’ve replaced.

Perhaps my favourite thing about No. 35, however, is the simple message it imparts to its male customers as they make use of the urinals. Picked out in bright green neon are the words “Don’t be a dick” for Wharfers to absorb as they relieve themselves. Good advice from a slick establishment that’s likely to prove a hit.

Go to no35mackenziewalk.co.uk Jon Massey

Images by Matt Grayson – find his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Creative Space

this space is yours

write your own fully costed political manifesto here – use the space around it to show your working out – share it with @wharflifelive or #keepittoyourself

PARTY NAME HERE

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

virtual viewpoint

by Chris Ezekiel

how Moonhub wants to immerse employees with its VR training to help them retain more information

by James Drury

Noise-cancelling headphones used to be big and bulky. Slicker designs free up functionality

E

ver since Sony produced the trailblazing Walkman in 1979, we have been on a path to being constantly plugged-in to a personal entertainment hub. The iconic iPod accelerated this trend, and high-speed mobile connectivity means it’s now possible to be plugged-in to the Internet virtually anywhere on Earth.

As we go about our busy lives in our noisy cities, we are increasingly looking for a calming comfort blanket to cover our overloaded senses. Noise-cancelling headphones are an example.

Until recently these were quite bulky but things have changed and truly wireless, noise-cancelling earbuds are starting to become popular – the Sony WF-1000XM3 or Apple AirPods Pro, for instance.

Walking around Canary Wharf with those AirPods in means I can make calls and listen to music and audiobooks without competing with the city sounds. And the outside world is available at the touch of a button via transparency mode.

The tiny size of these devices will revolutionise the way we go about our daily lives.

Augmented reality, Walking around Canary where virtual objects are superimposed on Wharf with AirPods in the real world, is now means I can make calls emerging and smart glasses will start to and listen to music gain traction. without competing with We’re only just at the beginning of the the city sounds wearable tech revoluChris Ezekiel, Creative Virtual tion, but we’re seeing its positive impact – the Apple Watch is already saving lives through its heart monitoring and fall detection capabilities.

The convergence of smartphones, watches, earbuds and glasses will deliver a fantasy world controlled by the app developers where even social interactions will be through virtual representations of ourselves.

Instead of augmented reality we’re on a path to an alternative reality, plugged into the Internet 24/7, and using transparency mode less and less as the virtual blanket is all too comforting.

Undoubtedly there will be elements that enhance and even prolong our lives, but we need to keep a balance with reality otherwise the machines really will take over.

“

Chris Ezekiel is founder and CEO of customer engagement solutions specialist Creative Virtual based at Cannon Workshops on West India Quay Go to creativevirtual.com or follow @creativevirtual and @chrisezekiel on Twitter

T

he dreaded words “staff training” conjure up images of stuffy rooms, ower oint presentations and the sound of brains drifting into neutral. But a company in Stratford is on a mission to change all that.

Moonhub aims to transform corporate learning by using irtual Reality R . The concept is that when a staff member needs training, they don a R headset and run through a scenario that has been filmed specifically for that lesson.

Moonhub’s platform tracks their performance and gives feedback on how they did immediately after the session is over.

Its argument is that because the trainee is fully immersed in the session, their mind doesn’t wander and, as a result, they are much more likely to remember what they’ve learnt.

The Stratford-based company says that while traditional corporate education setups result in people retaining just 5-10 of information, its technology means up to 5 is remembered by staff.

The idea was born when founder Dami Hastrup was working at Abercrombie Fitch. He felt the firm’s training could be more engaging, and thought R might be some help.

Having worked up the idea by talking with a number of major companies, Moonhub was born in 01 , raising 100,000 in firstround funding the next year.

Second-round fundraising saw the company’s investment grow significantly and it is now working with firms in the retail, banking, healthcare and automotive sectors.

It has also won recognition in the Evening Standard’s rogress 1000 initiative, which aims to identify the capital’s most influential people.

“We’re now in commercialisation stage and are working with companies on some early stage pilots, with a view to announcing who they are in early 0 0,” said Dami. With companies such as Walmart already using R to train their staff, it’s likely to be a fast-growing sector.

£100k

Investment raised by Moonhub in its first funding round in 2016

train express

Co-founder Hannah Sutcliffe said “We wanted to create something interactive and immersive, that was also fun.

“We started in retail, but quickly realised this could work for a variety of sectors from construction to on-boarding to medical scenarios.

“Our platform means companies can understand what their employees are learning on an individual level. ou get tangible, quantitative results that anyone can understand.” “ et’s take shoplifting training as an example,” added Dami. “We record a scenario where you have to spot the criminal. We monitor and score you on how well you perform in that training.

“The results enable companies to identify what each person’s

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

39

Innovation

From left, co-founders Hannah Sutcliffe and Vinh Ly with Moonhub founder Dami Hastrup

Images by Holly Cant – find more of her images at hollycant.com or via @hollycantphoto on Insta

Moonhub training sessions last between two and 10 minutes and make use of VR technology

specific strengths and weaknesses are and where further training might be needed.”

Moonhub’s training sessions are short between two and 10 minutes which minimises time away from work, and the results are instant. Each scenario is created on a bespoke basis for the client.

“Using R means staff are fully engaged, because there’s nothing to distract them from the task,” said Dami. “And being immersed means people retain information much better. For example, I could tell you to look both ways before you cross a road, but if you don’t do it and almost step in front of a bus you’ll remember that advice much better. This means we can play out real life situations without real consequences.”

Hannah said that for companies,

this translated not only into bettertrained staff, but higher rates of retention because employees felt more valued.

“The responses have been overwhelmingly positive across all ages and demographics,” she said.

“Everyone is interested in it

“

The responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone is interested in it.

No-one has said they don’t like it Hannah Sutcliffe, Moonhub

because it’s new and exciting. o-one has said they don’t like it.”

Based in lexal, the innovation centre housed in the former Media Centre in the Olympic ark, Moonhub has grown from hot desking into an office of its own.

The entrepreneurs agree on the benefits of being in a shared space with other tech firms, citing the visit of former prime minister Teresa May in une and senior Barclays managers as examples of the shared industrially-styled workspace’s clout.

“From a tech perspective, ondon wants to move forward, but the people that can enable that need to catch up,” said Dami.

Hannah added “I don’t know if this is a generational thing, but we’re of the generation that doesn’t feel the need to get a

specific job we can create our own solutions to problems we see.

“Sometimes it feels like in America people are more open to new tech, whereas here there’s more conservatism and people take more convincing.”

It’s a common refrain from tech companies in ondon, that sometimes it can feel investors are lagging behind the pace of technological change in the city.

However, Moonhub’s founders said they were cutting through, with significant interest from the media and “major companies”.

“Our aim is that R will be as familiar to people as an i ad an everyday part of training,” said Dami. Based on the early success of this startup, it won’t be many moons before that happens.

Go to themoonhub.com

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

by Jon Massey

10

Years since Cherryduck was founded in Wapping. It’s since gone on to expand with The Nest

T

aking a snapshot of Wapping-based video production firm Cherryduck is tricky.

Despite the inherent calm in its studios and The Nest – the neighbouring creative workspace it runs – there’s a sense of constant evolution about the place.

Founded in 2009 by husband and wife team ames ellacott and Michelle Grant, the business has grown and developed in concert with the meteoric rise of video on the internet and social media.

It’s the constant pressures and demands of working in that medium that gives the company its sense of energy. It’s an ethos embodied in the clear-eyed dynamism of business development director Kim French.

“For Cherryduck, the most important thing to communicate is that our services are there for businesses,” she said. “If you need video of any kind for your online presence then this is where you can come we also have facilities for podcasting and photography too.

“What you’ve got here is a team of people that are experienced in so many different kinds of video creation.”

With a client list including Ford, M&S, TUI, Cadbury, Lush, ASOS and odafone and a solid stream of business working with creative and PR agencies, it’s clearly doing something right. Cherryduck’s structure and flexibility means it’s equipped to offer packages to a very wide range of organisations, pitching itself in the gap between amateur shooters and standalone one-person video production outfits and the very top of the market meaning it’s equally capable of generating a stream of content for social media in addition to longer pieces.

“That’s exactly where it fits,” said Kim. “ I think it’s so fantastic that you don’t have to have a lot of money to create film and that’s getting rid of the elitist culture in the industry where everyone can shoot on their phones.

“However, that doesn’t suffice for certain professional environments where you absolutely need the process, the ability to give feedback and clients are looked after properly.

That’s what we are very, very well versed in.

“In terms of engagement online, video is worlds apart from things like

how the team at Cherryduck are ready to service firms’ video needs

Business development director at Cherryduck, Kim French

pieces putting together all the

Images by Matt Grayson – find his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

41

Wapping - Limehouse - Shadwell

Kim believes companies can get significant benefits from investing in video content in the digital age

businesses is its ability to organise live streaming from events, coordinating a crew to ensure content is relayed online or captured and then edited to create a record for posterity.

Kim said “We film events of all sizes one of our biggest involves a crew of 0 people covering multiple stages with live streaming and language translation.

“I’d be surprised at any company hosting a conference or an event that wouldn’t want to document it if you put all of this effort into organising something, bringing in speakers, getting everyone together, you need it to have a long life afterwards and one way of doing that is through video.

“It might not necessarily be for the public but it is really important for organisations to have for future reference or for people who couldn’t be there.

“Depending on the content it may also be possible to monetise it online – panel discussions, for example, work really well, because people want to watch and listen to their peers and industry experts.”

Kim said video could also play a significant role in helping companies to recruit and retain staff.

“What is happening and what it is so important for companies to understand is that when it comes to recruitment in the past – certainly when I was growing up – as a worker you were being employed by someone,” she said. “ ou were interviewed by someone and if they liked you, they might offer you the job. “ ow, more than ever, the person that’s coming in for interview is interviewing the company. “ ounger people have an expectation that a company will be clear about what it stands for what its purpose is. They want to know things like what its policies on sustainability and inclusion are – employees are demanding so much more information.

“I think that if you have a video or a series of videos that can communicate what your company is and what its culture is all about then that will have an impact on the people that work there and on those who are considering it as an employer. It’s not always

“

Good quality video really gives a brand or company personality – it does need to be shot well, but it doesn’t have to cost the Earth

plan your life from Nov 20-Dec 4 where?

Half Moon Theatre Limehouse

Kim French, Cherryduck

easy and I think that sometimes the reality is that certain firms don’t retain or attract people because they’re not doing this stuff.

“It’s not about ticking boxes, it’s about doing the right thing and, if you are doing those things, then communicating them through video content can make your organisation really enticing to talented people.”

Cherryduck managing director ames ellacott said “If there are stock images on websites. If you’ve any firms or marketing departments got a video with members of staff or considering using video to promote people who are actually talking and products or for any other purpose, engaging, you instantly get a sense of we would be happy to come in and the company and its culture. present to them or just talk them “It’s also about creating ongoing through the options. video content online whether that’s “The main thing is awareness for use on websites or over social getting people to realise the impormedia. Typically, brands will look at tance of video and most people are creating new campaigns every quarter starting to get it. and video needs to be part of that, “Our customers want value and really in order for them to register any we understand that we’ve been kind of success rate digitally. operating for the last 10 years during “To give an example, we recently a period where there hasn’t exactly worked with a brand of mouthwash been an amazing, bountiful economy and created a series of videos for and that has made us strong. social media.

“We’ve had to remain lean and the “Typically for that market we divide way we’ve done that is by bringing up into hero, hub and help content, film production in house all which basically means there is a under one roof in Wapping, rather main film that delivers a sweeping than having a dozen companies statement – you might look at that to charging for camera hire, lighting be 0seconds a longer-form video hire or bringing separate creative and that captures the overarching idea for production teams, then hiring a space the campaign. or a studio.

“From that you’ll create smaller “We don’t need to bring in a post pieces of content that educate and production team, pay for a grading inform people of different things suite or an audio suite what we’ve about the product. It’s creating got here is a very fluid setup where ongoing video content that’s everyone is sat next to each other consistent and regular, not just one and the production goes through the film that goes on T . The brand might various processes from concept all the post five days a week, way through to output. for example, so they “We can, of course will need new pieces of pick and mix any of content for each one. those services to suit our clients. aving grown “With ever faster to more than internet connections, the 0 members smart brands are looking of staff, with at creating helpful, a stable well-produced content of regular that’s of interest to their freelancers, Cherryduck target consumer.” is able to offer a Kim added: “Good completely tailor-made quality video really gives approach to each project, a brand or company whether that’s the personality – it does need full creative works or to be shot well, but it simply providing postdoesn’t have to cost the production facilities at Earth.”

The est. Another key Go to cherryduck.com for component in its offer to Some of the Cherryduck team at workspace The Nest more information

H

14 days later

KIDS | Outside The Igloo Led by Pixel, three penguins step outside their igloo for the first time after a power cut – adventures ensue. For ages four and up.

Dec 14, 11am, 2pm, from £7, halfmoon.org.uk where?

Troxy Limehouse

GIG | Some Voices A choir of 500, Andi Peters, Pat Sharp and music from the 1990s, this event pledges no tune will be left behind during its Christmas Countdown.

Dec 9, 7.30pm, from £9.90, troxy.co.uk where?

Jamboree Three Colt Street

GIG | Babesa Cubana The band promise to take Greek music back to its Latin roots reflecting the origins of its members – namely Greece, Cyprus, Brazil and Venezuela.

Dec 13, 7pm, £10, jamboreevenue.co.uk

to do before December 4

Head to Troxy for an evening headed up by electronic music giant Amon Tobin with sets

by Actrss and Luke Vibert. Taking place on November 23, the performance starts at 9pm with a 3am curfew. Tickets £24.75 troxy.co.uk

spot check worth a visit Visit the Fusilier Museum for free with entry to the Tower Of London fusiliermuseumlondon.org want more? @wharflifelive

42

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

how Parkour Generations coaches people to move and feel better at its bespoke base

13

Years since the foundation of Parkour Generations. It operates a training facility at Trinity Buoy Wharf

by Florence Derrick

O

move

learning to

a wide range of obstacles for practitioners to train on

Parkour Generations / Natalia Baker

The facility boasts

Parkour Generations / Viktor Andersson

n a damp Monday night at Trinity Buoy Wharf – a cobbled arts quarter one mile east of Canary Wharf – the concrete walls and metal scaffolds of urban London are recreated inside a listed brick building.

City workers who have knocked off for the day don tracksuits and trainers with grippy soles before taking turns with students and professional athletes to swing between railings and take measured leaps between huge blocks of concrete and small wooden crates.

The atmosphere flits between quiet concentration and loud vocal encouragement, as head coach Alex Pownall, arms folded, watches with approval.

This is a standard training session at the UK’s first purposebuilt parkour centre, and the British base of Parkour Generations – the world’s biggest parkour and freerunning organisation.

“Parkour Generations was started in early 2006, by three guys who met at a collection called Urban Freeflow,” Alex said.

“They had teaching backgrounds so became parkour’s first professional coaches, creating the organisation.”

Since then, the team has performed in Hollywood movies like District 13, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and World War Z – as well as in commercials for some of the world’s biggest brands.

They also teach parkour and freerunning techniques to Londoners looking to practise what they say is an art form.

“When I was 15 I saw the opening scences of Casino Royale and thought: ‘Woah, I can’t believe people can do that’, I googled parkour lessons and found these guys, who had been going for three months,” said Alex.

“I travelled up from Sussex with some pocket money and fell in love with it straight away. And now I’m the head coach for the UK branch.”

Alex is living, back-flipping proof that parkour is, contrary to popular belief, an extremely accessible activity.

“Our classes are deliberately for all abilities,” he said. “I can have

The gym offers classes suitable for all levels including beginners

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

43

Parkour Generations’ Trinity Buoy Wharf training facility allows practitioners of all levels to explore the discipline

Alex is head coach at Parkour Generations

Parkour Generations / Pawel Garonski

Isle Of Dogs - Poplar - Blackwall

10 people in the room who are super-advanced athletes, 10 who are intermediate with four or five years’ experience and 10 who have just walked in the door for the first time.

“The beauty of parkour is that the challenges can be very simple – a jump from here to there. But you can layer filters on top of it to find something that fits exactly what each person finds challenging.

“It’s not about making it easy for everybody, or hard. It’s about finding the limit of an individual’s comfort zone and tweaking it.”

In that way, jumping between concrete blocks and running up ramps isn’t always too physically demanding at least, not at first.

“Physicality is a limited aspect of parkour,” said Alex. “Most of it’s in your head. A subtle change to a challenge can completely change the feel of it. One moment you’ll be like: ‘Oh this is super easy’, then I’ll change one thing and you’ll be like: ‘Ugh, it’s gross’. And it’ll upset you. But you’ll do it.”

According to Alex, it’s this playful approach that not only makes parkour a challenge, but also a practice that can improve mental function.

“Parkour is known as a transformative practice,” he said. “It changes the way you think and is capable of completely rewriting your mind.

“It’s because parkour involves hard ground, solid things and challenges that can’t just be bypassed.

“Outside, in the real world, you can’t just move a wall – you have to adapt. And because it forces you to change rather than changing your environment, it forces you to adapt your method of thinking to the problem.

“People question themselves.

We teach them that effort is worth more than skill itself – and how to work together. We show the primary function of improving oneself is of benefit to humanity as a whole.”

It’s also great news for your figure, making it an increasingly popular gym alternative for those that are bored of reps and treadmills.

“Because they come here for fun, most people don’t really think about parkour from a purely physical perspective,” said Alex.

“

Because they come here for fun, most people don’t really think about parkour from a purely physical perspective Alex Pownall, Parkour Generations

“But you’ll develop every attribute, especially athleticism – the ability to utilise strength, speed and agility in a way that allows you to move very effectively.

“We develop strength, power, endurance, coordination, aerial awareness, and proprioception, which can lead to crazy levels of athleticism. But in a class, we break all the skills down into their component parts and add some physical training and entrench it in a giant bubble of fun.”

F

un” is the operative word, in a society where most of us struggle to squeeze workouts into our busy schedules – and need concrete incentives to move our bodies.

“There is a theory that most of the physical training methods in existence today are derived from athletic pursuits of old, like hunting and wrestling, which have been broken down into their component parts to the point that they’re not so much fun anymore,” said Alex.

“Picking up a boulder so you can throw it off a cliff to kill a bear, has become barbell back squats and crossfit thrusters.

“But we’re still training for the same old-school attributes – athleticism, strength, power. We want to be able to do things – to run away from someone, catch someone, throw a thing, climb a cliff while holding a baby.

“When early practitioners of parkour were looking for the limits of what they could do, they discovered in the process that they were essentially acting like children playing, just in a more hardcore way. Moving can be soulless, but moving with purpose is a very different thing.”

Alex and his fellow coaches encourage their students to take what they learn into the outside world – which they believe can turn into an adult playground when you’re equipped with the right training and mindset.

They offer training classes outside, too, in varying locations across the capital.

“London is fantastic in that we have very pedestrian-friendly public access laws,” said Alex.

“Provided you haven’t climbed over a locked gate or a boundary wall, you’re in a public access place.

“That’s one of the reasons parkour has become popular in this country – because we’re allowed to do it. There are literally hundreds of places in London where you can train. It’s one of the best places in the world for that.”

But it’s probably a good idea to start in the indoor centre first.

Go to parkourgenerations.com for more information on its classes and tness e ents

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

Poplar Union Poplar

GIG | Winter Folk Union This six-hour gig includes performances by Suntrap, Anna MacDonald, Jack Durtnall, Loshn and Tamesas – all celebrating the season.

Dec 7, 4pm, £10, poplarunion.com where?

The Space Isle Of Dogs

STAGE | The Madness Of George III Not the third play in a trilogy (as some Americans might be forgiven for thinking), but a fresh take on Alan Bennett’s play from in-housers SpaceWorks.

Dec 5-7, 7.30pm, £12.50, space.org.uk where?

The Space Isle Of Dogs

STAGE | The Prince Of Homburg A radical retelling of Kleist’s classic promises a gender-swapped lead as well as the chaos and confusion of reality. But is it all a dream?

Dec 10-14, 7.30pm, £15, space.org.uk

to do before December 4

Charlie Whinney Studio returns to Craft Central for a Steam Bending workshop on November 23. Participants in the course, which costs £150 and runs from 10am-5pm will make a bowl or a vase craftcentral.org.uk

spot check Find authentic Indian cuisine at King Of Punjab above the Ferry House on the Island Call 020 7537 7813 want more? @wharflifelive

44

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

Time is of the essence when you are buying or selling a property.

At Kidd Rapinet we believe a timely conveyancing transaction is only truly successful if the process and cost to you is completely transparent.

View our processes and example pricing Your purchase kiddrapinet.co.uk/purchaseinlondon Your sale kiddrapinet.co.uk/sellinginlondon

Request an online estimate or call 020 7205 4021

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Contact one of our expert property lawyers on 020 7205 4021 or email property@kiddrapinet.co.uk

kiddrapinet.co.uk

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

45

Rotherhithe - Bermondsey - Deptford

£20

The cost of three courses at Marcella in Deptford High Street A cosy retreat: The Italian restaurant was busy even on a Sunday evening

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

The Albany Deptford

STAGE | Standards Watch three-and-a-half-hours of performances led by creative young people as they take to the stage for music, dance, spoken word and comedy.

Dec 6, 7.30pm, pay as you feel, thealbany.org.uk where?

Canada Water Theatre Rotherhithe

how Marcella keeps Italian food simple and scrumptious – ideal for a chilly November night

by Mary Tadpole

I

t was a cold Sunday in Deptford – I was wearing my January coat in November.

What’s more, both my first and second choices for this review were closed when I arrived, despite Google telling me otherwise. My third choice had, it turned out, stopped serving food at 6pm.

So, my friend and I left things to chance.

When we came across Marcella in Deptford High Street, we went straight in. Brightly lit, this Italian stood out in a road of shuttered premises and was reassuringly filled with people.

A first glance at the sparse menu revealed the only food available was a three-course set menu for £20. It seemed good value for money, but with only two options for each course – described in a maximum of four per dish – a certain element of trust was involved.

I needn’t have feared. Marcella’s kitchen staff knew what they were doing. Our starters – ricotta, fennel, orange, pomegranate and sprout tops, nduja, almonds, lemon – arrived. Much care had gone into their presentation and the ingredients were zingy and fresh.

The cheese, which included slightly caramelised fennel and a hint of balsamic vinegar was just the right amount of contrast in texture to the orange and pomegranate seeds.

Next came ricciarelle pasta with, smoked aubergine and pomodoro. Cooked al dente, the serrated ribbons arrived covered in a flavourful sauce with a hint of chilli and proved a very welcome comfort against the bitter cold outside.

While I chose the chocolate ice cream, banana caramel, almond crumble for

STAGE | Polaris Directed by BBC Slam’s Sophia Walker, this poetic show follows one woman’s trip around the world looking for good food and a place to call home.

Dec 5, 8pm, £14, thealbany.org.uk where?

Matchstick Deptford

GIG | Steam Down The artistic and musical collective host regular sessions under the arches exploring sound via jazz, afrobeat, grime, hip hop and soundsystem music.

Wednesdays, 7.30pm, free, matchsticktheatre.com

to do before December 4 Ricotta cheese was served with fennel, orange and pomegranate seeds dessert – a melted mousse of delight – I looked on in envy at my companion’s olive oil cake, which was dense, moist and lightly sweetened.

While our starters arrived before our drinks, it’s more likely this was due to my ordering a cocktail – a tart, fizzy Italian 75 – rather than to neglect and the staff were generally happy and friendly.

My companion and I left pleasantly full, promising each other we would return soon – after all, £20 for three courses is nothing to be sniffed at, even less so when the ingredients are so fresh, the flavours exquisite and the surroundings cosy.

Go to marcella.london

Tunedin London presents London-based Brazilian singer Gabriela Kozyra at Sands Films Studio in Rotherhithe for an evening of Samba, Valsa, Choro and Marcha Rancho on November 27. Doors 7.15pm, tickets £14 tunedin.london

spot check worth a visit Try the Job Centre in Deptford for decent drinks and a pleasant vibe jobcentredeptford.com want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

by Laura Enfield

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

The O2 Peninsula

EXHIBITION | ABBA Super Troupers While the band persistently turns down offers of a reunion, here’s an opportunity to learn more about Benny, Bjorn, Frida and Agnetha.

Dec 6-Aug 31, daily, £27, theo2.co.uk where?

Cutty Sark Greenwich

COMEDY | Bill Bailey’s Cutty Sark Spectacular The comedian is set to bring laughter and music to the space beneath the hull in celebration of the ship’s 150th birthday year. Expect special guests.

Dec 15, 6.50pm, from £35, rmg.co.uk where?

Greenwich Market Greenwich

KIDS | Santa’s Grotto Take your offspring to meet the jolly old chap in red for a chat and a gift. Prices are per child with proceeds going to charity. Sessions must be booked. Until 3pm.

Dec weekends, 10am, £7, greenwichmarket.london

to do in December

Shop amid twinkling lights at Greenwich Market Lates on December 4, 11 and 18 as the traders ply their wares until 8pm on Wednesdays. Expect mulled wine, crafts and a suitably festive rush greenwichmarket.london

spot check one to try Sample, well, sausage at The Sausage in Greenwich Market @thesausage11 on Insta want more? @wharflifelive

I

t was just before Christmas 2013 when Jugpreet “Baj” Sandhu opened her fridge and realised she had all the ingredients for her late father’s beloved hot sauce. Growing up in Greenwich there was always a pot of it on the stove or in the fridge, but she hadn’t even contemplated making it in the 12 years since his unexpected death.

In that moment, however, the “stars aligned” and she decided to cook a batch and give it to her friends.

“I had shied away from making it because it was too painful,” said Baj. “I finally did because I saw I had the garlic, chillies, tomatoes, red peppers – everything was there and it felt like fate.

“It was amazing when it was bubbling away in the kitchen, the smell really took me back.”

She poured the resulting mixture into nine bottles and the next day a colleague designed a label with the name Dad’s Original, a drawing of her and she had it printed.

“I was really chuffed because I realised I had made an actual product,” said Baj, who was born in Greenwich Hospital.

The sauce was an immediate hit and soon she wanted to fulfil the dream her dad had passed down to her and work in food.

“My first memories of cooking were my a la carte toy kitchen I got for my third birthday,” said the 35-year-old. “My Dad gave me some real beans, a chocolate Swiss roll, a clove of garlic and an onion and told me to cook something.

“A year or two later he was giving me knives to chop with and everything I’ve learnt was from watching him and remembering.

“When I was six I would stand on a stool over the pot while he would throw in the ingredients.

He would tell me what it was and make me smell it. It was never measured quantities it was all to do with the smell and feel – hands-on learning.

“He was so patient with my cooking and would let me put in teaspoons of stuff and if I made a mistake, it was about learning.”

Four months after that first batch, she launched Baj’s Blazin Hot Sauce in April 2013 with the help of sister Jot. They handmade bottles of Dad’s Original sauce at their kitchen table and started selling it from a stall in Greenwich Market, a stone’s throw from the family home.

“The first bottle we ever sold, I’ll never forget the joy of us jumping up and down,” said Baj. “We were over the moon that someone had actually given us cash for it.

“A guy bought it for a hamper to send to Australia – all that way for our first bottle.”

Today her burgeoning business sells about 7,000 bottles a year, with Baj balancing a part-time career as project manager for TfL with producing four sauces, all inspired by her family. Dad Davinder was raised in Kenya and the first sauce Baj made was based on his fusion of African and Indian spices. In 2015 she created Smokin’ Sister based on a smoked chilli in honour of Jot and Mum’s Mango as a nod to her mother’s favourite fruit. Last year she launched Family Fire.

Baj said: “The ingredients are so different to anything that’s out there but they are what I ate growing up – the Kashmiri chilli, a lot of tamarind, greenfinger chilli and it is really throaty and punchy.”

Spice is in her blood as her mum Surinder’s family own chilli farms in the Punjab. And Baj has continued the tradition, Londonstyle, with 52 chilli plants dotted around her New Eltham home, which she harvests for her sauces.

She also recently launched Baj’s Blazin’ Fire Flakes which combines five varieties ground down by hand.

The rest of her ingredients are sourced as locally as possible from the UK and cooked in a commercial kitchen near Greenwich Station that Baj started using two years ago.

“When I first started the business I would probably do a cook every week but now I go in and do a batch once a month and make about 1,000 bottles and label them as I go when I need them,” she said.

“I get my friends and family and even work colleagues to help.

They come in with me and do a day of cooking in exchange for food, which sometimes is a homecooked curry from my mum.

“They have to chop and peel 10kg of onions and garlic – massive quantities – and they come out very different people.”

H

er day job involves overseeing TfL’s upgrade of the DLR network with the introduction of 43 new trains within the next few years. Based in Canary Wharf, she manages a team of five engineers who specialise in power, signalling, construction, bridges and an assistant project manager.

“It’s going very well, it’s a very busy programme,” said Baj. “It’s quite short in terms of delivery so the first new train will be in service by 2023. It’s one of the biggest programmes happening under TfL at the moment.

“It’s so different from hot sauce but the principles of management and organisation are the same.”

Her goal, however, is to make food her full time career.

“

I get my friends and family and even work colleagues to help. They come in with me and do a day of cooking in exchange for food Jugpreet ‘Baj’ Sandhu, Baj’s Blazin

“I absolutely love cooking and live and breathe food,” said Baj. “When I’m having breakfast I’m thinking about lunch and when I eat lunch I think about dinner.

“My dad was an amazing cook and he taught me everything. The reason I’m such a good cook is because of him.

A building foreman by trade, Davinder always made sure food was at the forefront at home.

“I think he would have loved to have done it for a living, I think it was his dream,” said Baj. “But I think he didn’t do it because of the responsibility and the pressure of having children.”

His sudden passing, aged 54, hit the family hard.

“We weren’t expecting it at all because he had been poorly on and off previously but we were expecting him to get better and come out of the hospital again, said Baj. “I was 20 when he died and it was the biggest shock and changed us so much. It took us a long time to recover and move on from it.

“Even now it’s difficult. I don’t think you ever recover from that sort of loss. You just learn how to deal with it a bit better.”

For more than a decade Baj could not bring herself to make his hot sauce recipe but now wishes she had done so sooner.

“I’m quite regretful and don’t really know why I didn’t do something in food sooner. But sometimes there is a reason behind things,” she said. “I had never made that sauce for friends before, it was something I kept at home and ate with my family.

“That Christmas I decided to give it out. I think because I was bored with going to the shops and buying generic gifts. I wanted something that was a bit of me.”

She has continued that ethos of keeping things as personal as possible, decorating her bottles in tribute to her family.

“Mum loves arts and crafts, knitting and sewing,” said Baj. “And she used to ride a bike a lot and likes mangos and cooking so those things are on hers and on Smokin’ Sister there’s a shoe, because she loves them and a pair of sunglasses because she’s always wearing them even if it isn’t sunny.

“Dad’s Original has his beard,

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Greenwich - Peninsula - Woolwich

hot

Baj’s Dad’s Original Hot Sauce costs £4.75 for 240g his turban, a tuk tuk and a drum he used to play. I think my family are really proud and happy with what I have done with the business and I like the fact that they’re always there with me because there’s a hot sauce for each of them.”

Her sauces are stocked in shops such as Hop, Burns And Black in Deptford and Dulwich and Costcutter in Brockley and she has recently added three more stockists. She will also be at this year’s Sample Christmas market on Greenwich Peninsula.

Running from December 7-8 it is set to bring together a plethora of independent fashion, homeware and craft traders with a focus on sustainability.

“I love Sample, I’m so excited,” said Baj. “The talent they have there is unreal and the people that attend are so lovely.

“I get to meet some other really cool businesses and we share experiences. It’s nice to meet other people in the same boat – they really understand, are supportive and give advice.”

Her business has been completely self-funded and managed and although she would love some private investment, for now she gets hands-on

some like it

how Baj’s Blazin sauces honour a family tradition of fusion food

try it

Sample, December 7-8

T

Baj will be selling her sauces at Sample on Greenwich Peninsula from December 7-8 Image by Holly Cant - find more of her work at hollycant.com or via @hollycantphoto on Insta

he Christmas edition of the Greenwich Peninsual market, curated by Hemingway Design, is back championing slow fashion and local makers.

Visitors will once again be welcomed by a rainbow arch designed by jewellery brand Tatty Devine and inside will be greeted by a choir with a twist and a giant Helter Skelter.

There are nine workshops on offer including the chance to make a willow star decoration, a sustainable wreath, decorate copper ornaments, learn the art of visible mending, sculpt a clay decoration and draw a Christmas illustration.

Stalls will include everything from socks to ceramics, African soft furnishings to art prints that fight for girls rights.

Shoppers can browse goods from healthy Greenwich bakery Arapina, charity Breadwinners, Fatty’s Organic Spirits and Black Bee Honey.

Street food vendors will range from Indian to Italian and feature Sunday roast burritos and shrimp buns.

Go to greenwichpeninsula.co.uk for more information and details of timings and prices

support from her mum and sister when needed and fiance Robert, although he is yet to be honoured with his own sauce.

“We’ve already said we’ll have hot sauce as our wedding favours,” said Baj. “He’ll only get one named after him if he’s lucky though.”

It takes eight hours to make each batch of sauce, which involves peeling onions, and garlic, washing the ingredients, which all come from the UK, weighing out everything and then slowly cooking it all.

Baj, who can eat a naga chilli without breaking a sweat, said: “The secret to a great hot sauce is having the right balance of flavour.

“It’s so easy to just put in a lot of chilli and get heat but for me if you just get that there is something missing. “ There have been plenty of missteps along the way such as burning batches of hundreds of bottles of sauce, putting in sugar instead of salt and smashing 20 bottles in crate. But Baj said she was really proud to have gone this far.

“Starting the business from nothing has been my biggest success,” she said.

“I had no advice of mentoring and the fact I’m still here doing it makes me really happy. I couldn’t imagine not doing it, I would be completely and utterly lost.

“I have gone part-time because the business is doing really well and hopefully in the next few years I can give up project managing and project manage my own business.

That’s definitely the dream.

“My next step would be how do I scale up while keeping it as close to home as possible?

“It’s quite difficult because in London you don’t get many handmade kitchens that can do it, all the ones I’ve found are outside London.”

She still gives the sauce out at Christmas and said her dad would be “ecstatic” that she was making a living from it.

“I think he would be quite surprised because, for him, the original hot sauce was something he would whip up at home and we would have with onion bhajis or something we’ve thrown together,” she said.

“But he would be very proud of the fact that I kept the business going and got an online shop.

“I think he’d be really pleased that what he showed me all those years ago when I was a tiny kid is what I’m doing now.

“He was the biggest people person ever and he’d talk to anybody on the street and invite them over for a curry, so he would be thrilled that so many people have his sauce in their fridges and cupboards.”

Go to bajsblazin.com

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Advertising Directory - Acknowledgements

find our advertisers’ messages here Third Space print Wrap, Page 13 online thirdspace.london

The Pearson Room print Page 11 online thepearsonroom.co.uk

Chase Evans print Pages 1, 30-31 online chaseevans.co.uk

Ballymore print Page 15 online londoncityisland.com

The Gun print Page 3 online thegundocklands.com

Higgins Homes print Pages 20-21 online higginshomes.co.uk

Harley Street Fertility Clinic print Page 4 online hsfc.org.uk

SiteSales print Pages 22-23 online site-sales.co.uk

Capeesh print Page 5 online capeesh.co.uk

Southern Homes print Page 25 online bowrivervillage.co.uk

Kidd Rapinet print Pages 6, 17, 44 online kiddrapinet.co.uk

Berkeley Homes print Pages 26-27 online berkeleygroup.co.uk

TfL print Page 7 online tfl.gov.uk

My London Home print Pages 28-29 online mylondonhome.com

Canary Wharf Group print Page 8 online canarywharf.com

Berkeley Forbury print Page 33 online forbury-blackheath.co.uk

Giant Robot print Page 9 online streetfeast.com

Vantage Properties And Management print Page 35 online vantage-uk.com

Creative Virtual print Page 10 online creativevirtual.com

Galliard Homes print Page 36 online galliardhomes.com

be part of the Canary Wharf conversation To advertise in Wharf Life call 07944 000 144 or email advertising@wharf-life.com

Wharf Life is published by Massey Maddison Limited, printed by Iliffe Print Cambridge and distributed by Willis News Distribution. Copyright Massey Maddison Limited 2019

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Canning Town - Royal Docks

£23.95

The cost per head of the vegetarian menu at Nakhon Thai The lush purple interior of Nakhon Thai in Royal Victoria Dock

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

Altitude Royal Albert Dock

EVENT | New Economy, Meet New City A series of seminars and panel discussions explore how the economy shapes the city and promises to showcase ‘first class projects’.

Dec 5-7, times vary, free, rad-event.london where?

Excel Royal Victoria Dock

why Nakhon Thai is the place to be if you’re after views over the docks and a plentiful, spicy feast

by Jon Massey

T

he air is fresh. The sun has started to dip in the sky, but the waters of the Royal Docks are calm. Long-located at their western tip is the angular steel and glass structure of Nakhon Thai, surrounded by palms in pots and festooned with hanging baskets.

Inside, the colour is purple, broken up by pale tiles and a formidable collection of statues depicting the Buddha.

It’s warm and hospitable, every table set with fanned napkins. Best of all are the views out over the chill water stretching into the distance, guarded by a platoon of disused dockers’ cranes.

Whoever did the sound insulation deserves a medal – planes zip overhead on the way to London City Airport but cannot be detected through the ears.

And sense-wise, that’s fine, because there’s plenty going on. We order the two-course set vegetarian menu to share.

At £23.95 it seems reasonable.

The staff ’s expectation that we might eat the enormous quantity of food provided isn’t. The problem is, it’s great. A selection of bite-size starters as an appetiser with filled dumplings and stuffed, impossibly spicy mushrooms.

Then the mains arrive with a mound of coconut rice. Everything is rich and tasty from the deep spice of the Monk’s Delight – a green curry with chilli, basil, peas, aubergines and bamboo shoots, to the gentle nuttiness of the Pad Thai Jay Noodles. There’s just so much we end up taking half away, defeated.

For a feed that will last well beyond the meal itself, Nakhon Thai is a must.

Go to nakhonthai.co.uk

EVENT | Halal Expo This business-to-business and consumer trade show promises more than 500 exhibitors and speakers offering a profile of halal in applicable sectors.

Dec 5-7, 10am, free (ticketed), excel.london where?

RA Fold Canning Town

CLUB | Ismus The high energy rave collective from Berlin brings Clouds, Remco Beekwilder, Trym, Philip Drube, and Becky Stroke to east London.

Dec 6, 10pm-6am, £15, residentadvisor.net

to do before December 4 Above, Pad Thai Jay Noodles with spring onions and, below, Monk’s Delight

St Margaret And All Saints Church in Canning Town hosts a Christmas Concert for homeless Charity Caritas Anchor House on November 27, with Jeremy Paxman and Soul Sanctury Gospel Choir. £10 donation, doors 6.30pm caritasanchorhouse.org.uk

spot check worth a visit Catch the Thames Clipper from the recently opened Royal Wharf Pier thamesclippers.com want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

how the London Academy Of Excellence puts Newham at the top of the league for education

by Jon Massey

T

he London Academy Of Excellence (LAE) in Stratford was set up to tackle a problem.

Before the free school opened in 2012, only 330 Newham sixth-formers were taking A-Levels at schools or colleges in the borough, less than 40 made it to the top Russell Group universities and only three to Oxford or Cambridge.

Since its first cohort of students left in 2014, LAE alone has sent more than 850 students to Russell Group universities, 67 to Oxbridge, with 97 studying medicine, dentistry or veterinary science.

Offering 1 traditional academic A-Levels over two years to ambitious 16-year-olds, students study four subjects in their first year.

Oversubscribed to the tune of about six applicants for each of its 488 places, it gives priority to those on free school meals – who make up more than a third of its intake and offers 50 of places to students from Newham.

More than half of its pupils come from families that have had no prior engagement with higher education and 45% live in either Newham or Tower Hamlets – the two London boroughs with the highest levels of child poverty.

It’s clear LAE’s model has found a way of tapping into a pool of talent and giving those students a viable way of studying in Newham as a route to future success. But how has it achieved these results, which place it among the top state schools in the country?

Current head master Scott Baker is no stranger to bucking the trend himself. Growing up in Dagenham, he got good grades against the odds at a school where only 10% of students were achieving five A-C grades at GCSE. The first member of his family to go to university, he was also the first student from his school in 50 years to get into Cambridge where he read history before returning to his roots to teach for a decade to “give something back to that community”.

“We take, bright, well-motivated students, and then give them a rigorous academic diet,” said Scott who was appointed as head master

at LAE in 2017 following more than 20 years working in the state sector.

“We make sure that they’re on the right subjects. They’ll start four A levels in Year 12, which is quite unusual for students in a state sixth form.

“There’s been a 25% cut to sixthform funding over the last 10 years in real terms. A lot of schools have now shed that fourth subject, or looked at reduced hours, as well as the extras and all that co-curricular stuff. What we’ve been able to do is to preserve that, with support from all sorts of different corners.

“I hope our students leave loving their subjects, that their teachers have lit a fire and cultivated in them a passion.

“I think that’s the great thing about A-Levels – when you come down to four subjects from 12 or so GCSEs, you can really immerse yourself in them.

“We’re trying not just to teach them the specifications and get them the grades, but we really try to take them beyond that and help them to understand what lies at the heart of those subjects as academic disciplines as well, so they’re ready for undergraduate study.

“I also hope we’re not just preparing them to be good undergraduates but that we’re setting them up with good life skills and a good set of values that will serve them well beyond university.

“It’s exciting, because our first wave of undergraduates have now left university and are in employment, so we’ve got a fledgling alumni association.

“They’re pioneers, if you like.

They took a risk on this school when it opened in 2012, and are now coming in to work with our current students. I can’t take credit for all of this by any stretch of the imagination, but the school has achieved amazing things.

“It was in the top five state schools in the whole of the UK last year in terms of A-Level results, and is the top mainstream sixth form provider in the whole of the UK, which is astonishing when you think where Newham was 10 years ago.

“We’ve gone from a situation where students were leaving Newham to go and pursue their post-16 studies elsewhere to a position where the borough is a hub of excellence.”

Originally set up as a project between Kingsford Community School in Beckton and independent school Brighton College after the heads met on a British Council-sponsored trip to China, LAE’s foundation and success owes a great deal to partnerships both with public schools and big companies.

In addition to Brighton, the school has links with Caterham

850+

Students accepted at Russell Group universities from LAE since 2014

LAE head master Scott Baker says the free school has benefited from its partnerships with independent schools and private companies

together better

Image by Matt Grayson – find his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

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Stratford - Bow - Hackney Wick

“

We’re inundated with visitors who want to find out what our secret formula is. It’s just a huge amount of hard work Scott Baker, LAE

the last 10 years. The challenge for sixth form providers has been to make up that shortfall and be creative and commercial partners have been instrumental in enabling us to do that – to start the school in terms of seed funding and also to maintain the offer at a time when other schools have had to pare it back. We’re very grateful to them for that and there’s lots of engagement.

“Above and beyond the financial commitment HSBC has made, there’s a mentoring scheme where their employees are paired off with our students who they support through networking events, coming in and supporting our careers provision and our pathways programmes.

“So there are a half dozen different points of engagement across the year and they are about opening students’ eyes to careers in different fields and where their qualifications could take them.

“It’s not just HSBC, of course, we’ve got fledgling partnerships with Salesforce, with Lockton and now with Excel and those kinds of companies are keen to engage and to give back.”

Beyond the core academic focus of the school – 70% of students take maths A-Level and there’s a clear emphasis on the benefits of Stem subjects – LAE strives to offer a range of extra-curricular activities to its students.

Scott said: “For example, on a Thursday afternoon they all do sport and games – about 30 different activities, some of them using the Olympic legacy facilities.

“There are clubs and societies on a Wednesday, with everyone involved – there’s also a lecture programme that everybody participates in and a whole raft of house competitions and other elements that sit alongside it.

“I think that this is something which has been lost in other sixth forms – either there’s a very narrow academic focus or there have been cuts.

“Our partner schools also support that by sending over music teachers and dance teachers, for instance. Although we don’t offer those subjects, we value those aspects of the curriculum and that’s important, because we’re not able to provide this without that specialist support.”

As for the future, Scott said he was keen to drive the school to even greater success, increase the number of students it recruits and also spread its message.

“We’re inundated with visitors who want to find out what our secret formula is. They leave saying: ‘Wow’ but it’s just a huge amount of hard work, a rich academic diet and high quality input from a range of different areas that enable us to do so well.”

Go to lae.ac.uk

student views

what it’s like to attend LAE Avesta-Saule Zardasht Year 13 I love the atmosphere and environment the school has in terms of the students and the staff. The teachers are really helpful and friendly and they want you to succeed. They push you hard to stretch you and make you think outside the box.

The students all have the same sort of mindset – we all want to be really ambitious to achieve the best that we can. I’m looking to study classics at university and I’ve applied to Cambridge – I’m waiting to see if I get an interview. I’ve already got offers from my other four universities, which are Bristol, Exeter, Leeds and Nottingham.

The school has high ambitions and really wants us to do well.

There have been so many opportunities for extra-curricular things which I’ve absolutely relished, including an essay competition as I love writing.

I’d eventually like to become a journalist or a teacher.

Image by James Grimshaw

School, Eton College, Forest School, Highgate School and University College School.

“All the heads of our partner schools are governors of LAE,” said Scott. “I have a wealth of educational experience to draw on.

When I took this job on, I thought this is going to be challenging, with all of these amazing schools, their track records and their sky-high ambitions.

“They also have five times the money per pupil that we have, but they do give very generously with their time and their experience, and that’s really important in keeping the school on the right strategic path.

“They support us in many other ways seconding staff here free of charge to teach students in this context, so students benefit from being taught by teachers who are employed in other contexts.

“All of our students are allocated to one of six houses, named after one of the six partner schools. They visit their school at the start of the year, and they have regular points of contact throughout the year.

“There’s a lot of intensive input into university preparation for tests and interviews, particularly for Oxbridge admission tests and 83 have applied this year.

“All of those students have to sit admission tests, and they will get at least one, but often two or even three external interviews, so we ship them over to Eton in coaches, sit them on an enormous throne in the Great Hall and they’re all given a mock interview to test them and challenge them in front of their peers for 10 minutes, which is outside their comfort zone.

“It’s quite powerful in terms of building their confidence and giving them the edge.”

Another key strand in the network that comes together is the involvement of private companies.

“They support the school on a number of levels,” said Scott.

“For example, HSBC has made a significant financial commitment to the school over an extended period of time, which helped to offset the sharp drop off in sixth form funding. We get about £5,000 from the state per student. We spend close to £6,500 per student – that’s a funding gap and, in the current climate, sixth form funding has been allowed to erode over

14 days later

plan your life from Dec 4-18 where?

Stratford Circus Stratford

STAGE | Windows Of Displacement Akeim Toussaint Buck blends dance, song and spoken word to explore ancestral memory, politics and the movement of people.

Dec 11-12, 7pm, from £13, stratford-circus.com where?

Stratford Circus Stratford

STAGE | Pantocchio Blue Sky Actors – a troupe with disabilities and learning difficulties – perform the tale of the Geppettos and their quest for a child of their own.

Dec 7, 2pm and 5pm, from £3, stratford-circus.com where?

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stratford

Batul Alimohamed Year 12 I’m in year 12 – I’ve just started – and it’s been a really great experience so far. The teachers are lovely as well, and the atmosphere here is different from my secondary school. Everyone’s really supportive and motivated, which makes me want to work harder.

I chose LAE because it had really good results but also through coming here and having taster lessons, I got to experience what the teaching was like and I preferred it to the other schools I visited.

I’m hoping to get good grades, then going off to a Russell Group university to study economics, and also become a better person in myself. I want to be more confident and prepared for the outside world, which I believe LAE is really good at doing, because there are so many opportunities here. Eventually I’d like to work for a big company, perhaps in marketing or sales.

EVENT | British Rowing Indoor Championships Competitors square up to pull 500m or 2,000m or take part in the 4,000m team relay. Who knew indoor rowing was a thing. It is and it’s here.

Dec 7, 9am-6.30pm, £10 (spectator), britishrowing.org

to do before December 4

Visit the Frost Fair at Cody Dock on November 30 and enjoy a blazing fire, mulled wine and cider as well as live music, crafts and a market to get your festive juices moving. Runs noon-5pm, free to visit codydock.org.uk

spot check worth a visit Book panto Dick Whittington at Stratford East from Nov 23-Jan 11 stratfordeast.com want more? @wharflifelive

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Wharf Life Nov 20-Dec 4, 2019 wharf-life.com

SUDOKU

Crossword - Sudoku

Tough

2

8 5 7 1 3 2 6 9 4 Sudoku 9 a1break 2 from 4 8 that 6 phone 5 7 3 Take 6 4 3 7 9 5 8 1 2 How 5 to3 play 9 8 2 1 7 4 6 To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 6 such 3 that 4 7each 9 row, 2 5column and 3x3 box one1to8nine contains every number uniquely.

2 7 4 5 6 9 1 3 8 2 find 8 strategies, 6 1 4 hints 3 5and9tips online You7can at sudokuwiki.org 4 6 1 9 5 3 2 8 7 3 to 9 play 5 2 7 8 4 6 1 More

4 3

6 7

3

7 9

5 9 3 7

6 1 7 8 7

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

6 5 3

4 1 9

7

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

Notes

© 2019 Syndicated Puzzles

4 2

Previous solution - Medium

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crossword Down

3.

1.

8. .

10.

11.

1 .

15.

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1 .

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5.

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Tense and certainly not flawless Some of the real athletes strip Is this musical piece the opposite of an obbligato He’s used to carrying strong drink ot worthy of the part of Annabel Owen 5 It could veer to the north, and it’s certainly piercing 5 This will undermine the breakwater Scour the bush country 5 Make trifling complaints about the fish Enlarge one’s gun-stock again 5 Tidy transcription about the start of the top song 5 A bat the nervous will find it difficult to stand roduced some power for which there could be a great need Ac. An opening for many a relation , ,1, See Across

. .

5.

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11.

1 .

1 .

1 .

1 . . . .

Some people think it’s funny to smack and cane Outstanding group of directors will be right at sea art of the house backing Othello Extract information from eastern dictator of Mediterranean country 5 Manage to comprehend a nautical measure String of notes we hear We’ve installed channels of circulation inside 5 Seed-fruit you need to cover with earth, one hears 5 Maid known to represent the ladies in general et trim dept. get in disarray about the end of the sale othing in translation of the Bard is coarse 5 Farm animal near one disturbed bird Brown bread that is given after the meal 5 Some of them pushed the drug aper not completely cream-laid

Quick Across . . .

10.

11.

1 .

15.

1 .

1 .

0.

1. .

5. . .

Retirement Ribbon Imaginary Minaret arden pest 5 Automobile 5 Disastrous Wrap 5 Midday Harden 5 Frightened 5 ight shoe Home-sick eading performer Impediment

Down 1. . .

5. . . .

11.

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1 .

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Assertion Action Way out Consumed 5 Dull Spoken Dreads 5 Doubtful 5 ut an end to Trinkets Shrub 5 Snuggle entleman’s gent 5 rave rain store

Across: 3 Recession; 8 Tape; 9 Fictional; 10 Turret; 11 Snail; 14 Motor; 15 Dire; 16 Shawl; 18 Noon; 20 Inure; 21 Nervy; 24 Sandal; 25 Nostalgic; 26 Star; 27 Objection.

Down: 1 Statement; 2 Operation; 4 Exit; 5 Eaten; 6 Stolid; 7 Oral; 9 Fears ; 11 Shady; 12 Liquidate; 13 Jewellery; 17 Lilac; 19 Nestle; 22 Valet; 23 Tomb; 24 Silo.

Across

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

Cryptic Solution

Cryptic

beating the

Across: 3 Imperfect; 8 Lath; 9 Voluntary; 10 Porter; 11 Below; 14 Thorn; 15 Mole; 16 Scrub; 18 Carp; 20 Rearm; 21 Ditty; 24 Racket; 25 Generated; 26 Once; 27 Upon a time.

Down: 1 Slapstick; 2 Starboard; 4 Moor; 5 Educe; 6 Fathom; 7 Cord; 9 Veins; 11 Berry; 12 Womankind; 13 Permitted; 17 Broad; 19 Pigeon; 22 Toast; 23 Hemp; 24 Ream.

The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

Quick Solution

No. 833